CAF's Trustees' Report has revealed donations increased by more than 40%

Supporters of charity came to the fore to help organisations in their time of need, a new report has revealed.

More than £958 million has been paid to good causes around the world from the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), as private philanthropists and businesses responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with remarkable generosity.

The Trustees’ Report for 2020/21 reveals that donations rose by 43%, or more than £300 million, with the funds entrusted to the Charities Aid Foundation topping £1 billion for the first time. As a result tens of thousands of charities in more than 100 countries have been supported to deliver lasting benefits in communities around the world.

Experts in safe and effective cross-border giving, CAF is a UK-based foundation that works with private philanthropists, businesses, individuals and Government in the UK, US and Canada to send funds to charities working across hundreds of causes around the world. Many donations are made immediately to the donors’ cause of choice while others use their CAF accounts to grow their philanthropic funds for future donation to their chosen charities.

Neil Heslop, chief executive of CAF, said: “The Charities Aid Foundation exists to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all. This remarkable year of generosity, with more than £1 billion donated into our care, demonstrates that the philanthropists and businesses that we partner with share this ambition.

“Together, we enable charities to do more life-changing work with lasting benefits and true impact  where it matters most. We collaborate across sectors and borders, with governments and fellow funders seeking innovation so civil society may thrive.

“The donors we are privileged to work with have been inspired by charities’ remarkable response to the pandemic in communities everywhere. Those charities have been the frontline heroes in this pandemic and many have survived and thrived because of CAF’s partners. We are immensely grateful to have played our part during this difficult time.”

The Trustees’ annual report highlights:

• Donations into CAF increased by over £300 million to more than £1 billion
• Donations into CAF America increased by 71% to £364m
• More than £100 million of pandemic response funding was generated by an innovative three-way partnership with the UK’s insurance and long-term savings industry’s Covid-19 Support Fund, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Community Match Challenge, and CAF. As part of this, the CAF Resilience Fund of £40m was created to support charities working with the UK’s most vulnerable populations
• CAF Bank, which serves UK charities and social enterprises, provided stability in a turbulent year by increasing committed loans to £164.7m
• Venturesome, CAF’s pioneering social investment arm, supported 117 organisations with £5.6m of loans and 15 more with £663,000 of grants through new, blended finance packages.