An estimated £13.9 billion was donated last year, but by fewer people according to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) 20th UK Giving Report.

Although it's an increase on the £12.7 billion given in 2022, the report said that the increase was driven by some people giving larger amounts, rather than by more people giving to charity.

These larger donation amounts pushed the average monthly donation up to £65 in 2023, approximately 40% higher than it had been before the pandemic (£47 in 2019).

However, there are fewer people regularly donating to charity compared to before the pandemic, according to CAF. Nearly six in ten (58%) donated or sponsored in the past 12 months, compared to 65% in 2019 and 69% in 2016.

It found that the typical donation to charity – the amount given by most people- has remained unchanged at £20 for seven years. A donation of £20 to charity in 2017 would need to increase to more than £25 for a charity to buy the same amount of goods and services in 2024.

For the first time, the UK Giving Report used statistical modelling by Electoral Calculus to reveal that some of the least affluent areas in the country are among the most generous in supporting charities. For instance, people in Belfast West gave an average of 2.2% of their household income to good causes each year. This is more than four times higher than the new constituency boundary of Kensington and Bayswater, where people donate just 0.5% of their household incomes– the lowest proportion in the whole country. The constituency of Sheffield Hallam is the most generous, where people donate 3.2% of their income to charity.

Overall, the report found that compared to England, areas in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are over-represented in the country’s most generous constituencies.

CAF chief executive, Neil Heslop OBE, said: “Britain is a generous country, and CAF’s UKs Giving research shows how we can come together, to give more to causes that matter to us, even when times are tough. But it’s concerning that we’re relying on a dwindling group of regular givers, and the typical donation is static and eroded by inflation.

“That’s why we need to foster a more widespread and sustainable culture of giving to support charities that are squeezed from all sides. Government can set the tone by committing to drawing up a national strategy for philanthropy and charitable giving, ideally as part of a renewed approach to the whole of civil society in every part of the UK.”

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