Are the big givers still giving?

The FT today picked up a report by Coutts and researchers at the University of Kent which shows that UK charities have not been as badly hit by the recession as was expected, at least in terms of their biggest donations.

According to this report the big givers, philanthropists and foundations, still gave in large amounts, only down very slightly from £1.62bn in 2006/07 to £1.14bn in 2007/08. Similarly there were 189 donations of £1m+ in 2007/08 down from 193 the year before – half from individuals, a third from foundations and 10% from companies (SF – I am intrigued who the other 7% came from - 50+33+10=93%)

‘The Coutts Million Pound Donors Report’ by Beth Breeze shows that Higher Education gets the most money, followed by arts and culture programmes and international aid: “People are still trying to make big donations even though the size of their contributions might be dented. But they aren’t cutting charity out of their budgets.”

But the report contradicts the all the other reports we keep seeing in sector and national press about charity income. Even the “rich list reports” seem to disagree, as the 2009 The Sunday Times Rich List showed a 37% fall in wealth and the CEBR reported that UK-based millionaires have halved since 2007 to 242,000.

To add to the impact of the recession more are giving their money anonymously, making it harder for the charities to work their fundraising magic, and more are giving their donations as investments.

Salvatore La Sala, CEO of the Institute for Philanthropy in the UK, reports that the young rich are taking a more active interest in how charities are run: “Younger donors not only want to give, but they also want to get involved in the organisations they support,” La Sala says. “They are keen to volunteer and give their time as well as direct financial resources.”

The full article is Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009 and can be read at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0418fb8a-cb02-11de-97e0-00144feabdc0.html