UK charitable sector

• There are 164,415 general charities in the UK.
• The Charity Commission had 190,477 charities on its register in March 2007. This includes charities in other categories, for example, universities, housing associations, religious organisations and 'quangos', such as the British Council.

• Charities received £27.7 billion in 2004/2005, an increase of 2.8% from 2003/04.
• An increased share of money is going to a small group of the very largest charities. Just 18 charities generate one eighth of the sector’s income.
• Over 70% of the total income is generated by under 3,500 organisations, just 2% of the sector.
• Charities with incomes of more than £10m accounted for 43% of total income, and 72% of legacy income.
• 86.8% of organisations have incomes of less than £100,000, but generate less than 7% of the sector’s income.

Source: NCVO Voluntary Sector Almanac 2007

Private giving 2006

Source: Charity Trends 2007

• Charitable giving by individuals was £8.9 billion in 2005/2006 (UK Giving 2005/06). This is the same amount as in 2004/2005, and up £0.5 billion from 2003/2004.
• This represents an average of £15 a month for the UK adult population as a whole.
• 57.6% of the UK adult population – 28 million people – give at least once a month.
• 61% of women give in an average month, compared with 53% of men. Yet while men are less likely to give, when they do so they tend to give more than women.
• Individual giving represents a progressively bigger proportion of income for larger organisations. For those with incomes over £10m, individuals provide almost half (46.4%) of income compared with under a quarter (22.3%) for those organisations between £100,000 and £1m in size. This in part reflects the ability of larger organisations to use their brand status to attract donations from individuals.
• However, the smallest charities with income under £10,000 reverse this trend, receiving one-third (33.6%) of their income from individuals, perhaps as a result of local support for their causes.

Most popular causes

Source: UK Giving 2005/06, published in 2007 by NCVO and Charities Aid Foundation.

• There are around 8,800 independent trusts and foundations in the UK
• The majority are involved in grant-making; few are engaged in operational activities
• The top 500 trusts and grant-making charities (by grant-making expenditure) gave funds of around £3.3 billion in 2006, a 17% increase on 2005
• This represents around three-quarters of the value of all charitable grantmaking and around 10% of the UK voluntary sector’s income. It is broadly comparable with central government spending of £2.5 billion (2005 figure)

Top 10 charitable grant-makers, 2005/06

The top ten grant-makers account for over half of the top 500’s grantmaking expenditure, which indicates that in the UK there are a small number of very large trusts and other charitable grant-makers. The table includes trusts and
grantmaking charities that offer services.

Source: Charity Trends 2007

Community foundations are charitable trusts that support local community causes. Their role is to manage donor funds and build endowments as well as make grants to charities and community groups, linking local donors with local needs.

• There were 51 active Community Foundations in 2005/2006.
• They distributed funds of £71 million.

Source: Charity Trends 2007 (data originally from Community Foundation Network)