Smaller Charities Under Threat in Britain – Survey Warns
Charity News Online
The wealth gap between Britain's largest charities and their smaller counterparts is so wide that it could threaten the survival of those at the bottom of the sector, fund-raisers have warned. The Charity Trends 2006 report showed that "big name" causes at the top of a list of 1,000 groups were thriving from public donations in comparison to small to medium-sized charities, which were struggling to maintain their position.
Cancer and heart charities fared well, while groups dealing with disabilities and mental illnesses were absent from the top end of a table listing the income of charities gained from public donations in 2004 and 2005. Income from voluntary donations for the largest 500 charities grew by 5 per cent, the survey found, but there was a sharp decline after that, with charities placed in the bottom 100 of the table showing the greatest loss of income at minus 12 per cent.
The stark disparity was highlighted in the total income figure for the top 500, which amounted to £5.3bn compared with the bottom 500, which totaled £700,000 to £1m. Cathy Pharoah, the co-author of the report and director of research for CAF, a non-profit organization which commissioned the report, said the "huge skew" could threaten the life of smaller, niche charities, The Independent reported Thursday. She said small to medium-sized charities would have to think about collaboration if they were going to compete with the "big brand" name charities such as Cancer Research UK, which was in first place, followed by Oxfam and the National Trust.
Overall, the public has been gradually giving less each year for the past decade, donating 0.9 percent of the GDP last year compared to 1 per cent in 1995. Richer people continued to donate just 1 per cent of their annual income compared to 3 per cent donated by the poorer sections of society. Donations to religion-based charities for international causes rose by 49 per cent, believed to be due to appeals for disasters including the Asian tsunami.
charity, donation
Charity News Online
The wealth gap between Britain's largest charities and their smaller counterparts is so wide that it could threaten the survival of those at the bottom of the sector, fund-raisers have warned. The Charity Trends 2006 report showed that "big name" causes at the top of a list of 1,000 groups were thriving from public donations in comparison to small to medium-sized charities, which were struggling to maintain their position.
Cancer and heart charities fared well, while groups dealing with disabilities and mental illnesses were absent from the top end of a table listing the income of charities gained from public donations in 2004 and 2005. Income from voluntary donations for the largest 500 charities grew by 5 per cent, the survey found, but there was a sharp decline after that, with charities placed in the bottom 100 of the table showing the greatest loss of income at minus 12 per cent.
The stark disparity was highlighted in the total income figure for the top 500, which amounted to £5.3bn compared with the bottom 500, which totaled £700,000 to £1m. Cathy Pharoah, the co-author of the report and director of research for CAF, a non-profit organization which commissioned the report, said the "huge skew" could threaten the life of smaller, niche charities, The Independent reported Thursday. She said small to medium-sized charities would have to think about collaboration if they were going to compete with the "big brand" name charities such as Cancer Research UK, which was in first place, followed by Oxfam and the National Trust.
Overall, the public has been gradually giving less each year for the past decade, donating 0.9 percent of the GDP last year compared to 1 per cent in 1995. Richer people continued to donate just 1 per cent of their annual income compared to 3 per cent donated by the poorer sections of society. Donations to religion-based charities for international causes rose by 49 per cent, believed to be due to appeals for disasters including the Asian tsunami.
charity, donation
posted by Lisa Vronskaya at 11:22 AM
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