Health and children’s charities see drop in popularity among donors

Children’s and health charities, including those supporting medical research and hospices, are among good causes to see the biggest decline in popularity among donors over the last five years, research has found.

The research has revealed that the proportion of donations to medical research charities dropped from 25% in 2018, to 21% in 2022

Meanwhile, over the same period hospital and hospices charities saw their popularity among donors fall from 20% to 16%.

Children and young people’s charities have also lost appeal, dropping from 26% of all donations to 23%.

The children's charity sector figures support analysis released earlier this month by nfpResearch which found the children’s charity sector is facing a long-term decline in support, due to an ageing population and fewer people with a close personal connection to young people’s issues.

Other charity sectors to see a drop in popularity are those running shelters, which fell from 18% of donations in 2018 to 16% last year.

The proportion of donations going to disability charities over this period fell from 13% to 10%, and religious charities share of donations fell from 12% to 11%.

Increasing popularity

Good causes to see a rise in donation share include animal welfare charities, from 26% in 2018 to 28% in 2022.

Overseas aid and disaster relief charities have also seen their share of donations increase, from 17% to 21% over the same period.

The figures have been revealed by Raffolux based on analysis of Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) figures since 2018.

While children’s charities popularity has fallen researchers note they are the second most popular good cause, behind animal welfare charities, in 2022 and over the last five years.

They also say that Russian’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is a key factor in the increase in donations to international aid charities.

The fifth most popular good cause among donors in 2022 is food bank charities, which have been included in the CAF analysis for the first time.

“Not only have they become a lifeline for those living in poverty in the 21st century, but they are now one of the top sectors to which the British public donates most,” said researchers.