A voice of the sector

Public Affairs and Policy

We act as a voice of the charitable sector with Government, policymakers and regulators to ensure appropriate conditions for donors, charities and social enterprises.

Meet the public affairs and policy team

Comment and Insight
Latest Briefings
Our Campaigns
Contact Us

Our work with the public sector

We are champions for charity, campaigning for a better world. We work to influence government policy makers and create a positive environment for charities and the people who support them. Our work with local councils and community groups is Growing Local Giving and our Groundwork for Global Giving campaign is building a stronger civil society across the world. Our Future:Good campaign aims to ensure new technologies and social trends have a positive impact on the future giving.

Our latest campaign, with a collaboration of charities and #NeverMoreNeeded, is to grow Gift Aid to give more support for charities struggling from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

What is the most generous area in England and Wales?

In partnership with Polimapper, we’ve developed an interactive heatmap showing the most generous areas of England and Wales. The map uses data from CAF’s UK Giving survey and salary data from the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earning (ASHE). By using our interactive heatmap, you can see how your county scored on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most generous for donating money to charity, relative to average local salaries.

Find out how generous your local area is

Latest briefings

Giving civil society the right response

We examined national policy responses to supporting philanthropic giving and civil society in the context of the pandemic and discovered government responses varied widely and some used the pandemic to silence critics.

European policy responses to Covid-19

How are governments reacting in the light of the Covid-19 crisis?

A COVID-19 philanthropy stimulus package

In this briefing we outline a number of immediate and medium term policy measures we believe should be taken to support charities at this difficult time.

Our campaigns

Sheffield Peace Gardens image header 380

Place-based giving

We believe the time is now to look again at philanthropy, not only as a route to financial investment, but also as a way of reconnecting people with places and spaces.

Visit our place-based giving hub

Future:Good

We are campaiging for technology from Artificial Intelligence to Blockchain to transform charities and become a huge force for good.

Discover Future:Good

Gift Aid Emergency Relief

We are campaigning to help charity supporters give more, and to better support our amazing charities meet the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis.

Join the campaign

Latest comment and insight from our blogs

Read our insights into giving and our thoughts on how developments in society and technology can open up new opportunities for doing good.

1 December 2022

Charity reserves are in focus more than ever – what have we learned?

Thee cost-of-living crisis and gloomy economic outlook are testing the operational endurance of charities, their adaptability, and financial resilience. The current inflationary environment is increasing costs, eroding donations, and increasing the number of people who rely on their services. The Bank of England is now expecting a prolonged recession – which likely means that the high levels of demand many charities are seeing will continue.
11 November 2022

Why the aid budget should be restored to 0.7%
Those working in international development and their supporters will be looking at the Autumn Statement next week for an indication that the Government intends to increase foreign aid in the near future. Returning to the original goal of keeping spending at 0.7% of Gross National Income seems to become increasingly long-term goal, given the current economic climate and additional pressures on the public purse.
8 July 2022

Has the pandemic put a dent in charities' political engagement?
Charities play a central role in the public debate and enable supporters to advocate for wider policy change. However findings from the recently published UK Giving Report, which looks at donor behaviour, indicate that levels of political engagement declined in 2021. In this blog we dig into key factors behind this drop.
23 May 2022

The Queen’s Speech 2022: Will Government make use of opportunities to improve charities’ resilience?
The Queen’s Speech focused this year on the Government’s priority of containing public spending and controlling the deficit. The consequences of Covid spending and resulting pressures on the public purse are to be mitigated mainly through economic growth. Regional growth and addressing disparities across the UK featured heavily across the 38 bills included.