Organisations are fighting for survival

People in the UK are shunning charity donations as financial constraints bite.

The number of people who say they made a recent charity donation has fallen to its lowest level in at least 10 years, new figures show.

Data from the research consultancy nfpSynergy, published today, show that the proportion of people who said in August that they had given to charity in the previous three months had fallen to 54%, down from 69% in January.

The previous low recorded by nfpSynergy, since it began tracking the figures in the current way 10 years ago, was 63% in 2011.

The figure reached a high of 73% in 2013.

Researchers found the largest falls in the proportion of people who said they had given to charity came among those aged between 45 and 65.

The data from nfpSynergy, which is based on quarterly polling of 1,000 representative UK adults, also found that 28% of people said they had given less in the past 12 months than in previous years – a record high.

The previous high was 25%, which was recorded in 2013.

But the data showed that regular giving was holding steady compared with earlier this year, with 22% reporting they had a direct debit or standing order to charity.

Joe Saxton, co-founder of nfpSynergy, said that despite people’s concerns about their own situations, almost two-thirds believed charities should continue to fundraise.

He said more people planned to given more to charity in the next 12 months than said they expected to give less.

“The appetite to give is there; charities need to provide the opportunities,” he said.

“And that will mean using the full range of fundraising channels that are still open to them – TV, direct mail, telephone and online fundraising.”