Charity donations plummet £5bn as Brits face squeeze

The cost of living crisis has had a devastating effect on the charity sector, with donations plunging by half in 2022 – from £9.3bn to £4.3bn – wiping £5bn from the coffers of good causes as Brits felt the financial squeeze.

So says Benefact Group’s inaugural Value of Giving report, which reveals that while the number of people giving and volunteering is higher than pre-pandemic levels, the average cash value of donations and amount of time spent volunteering have decreased during the cost-of-living crisis.

The study says that 76% of UK adults donated to charity in 2022, up from 64% in 2018-19, but average amount given by those donating over a year has more than halved since the beginning of the pandemic, falling from £261 in 2018-19 to £101 in 2022.

Even so, the research estimates that the annual value of voluntary work to the economy was £18.7bn, meaning that the combined value of volunteering and donations came to £23bn, representing 0.8% of total UK GDP.

This means that the charity sector is now larger than the sports and gambling sector, at £18.4bn, and the UK tourism industry, £2.3bn, combined.

The research says the value of volunteering rose sharply in the past decade, from £11.2bn in 2011 to £18.7bn in 2019. This fell to £11bn during the 2020 lockdowns and rose back to £18.7bn in 2022. It also found average volunteering hours have halved since 2020, from 12 hours over a four-week period to six hours in 2022.

Benefact Group CEO Mark Hews said: “The charity sector is a cornerstone of British society and this report quantifies the combined value of the charitable donations and volunteering to the economy, for the first time.”

Chartered Institute of Fundraising policy manager Charlotte Weatherley added: “The decline in charitable giving found in this research comes at a time when demand for services is at an all time high and must be addressed so charities and the communities they work with can thrive. There are many signs that the public will give when asked and last few years have seen some remarkable peaks in giving.

“Our members and partners are continuously exploring new ways to make giving a positive and rewarding experience for different demographics. But if we want to see a step change in giving, then there needs to be more support and investment in fundraising.”