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CAF Research and Insight

UK RESEARCH HUB

Discover insight into donor behaviour, key issues affecting charities and responses to significant UK events.

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introducing CAF's UK research and insight

As an independent charitable foundation, CAF is uniquely placed to understand the charity sector.  Our UK research provides charities, government, individuals and companies with insight and knowledge into giving trends across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Our annual UK Giving report is the largest study of individual giving behaviour in the UK. Our Charity Landscape survey of charity leaders reveals the challenges they are facing.  The Charity Street series uncovers the vital role charity plays in everyone's lives.  Our corporate giving reports analyse charitable giving trends among the country's top corporations. For more insights, visit our Research Blog.

All of our research and insight is free and we are happy to discuss our findings.  Subscribe and be the first to hear about our latest research.  If you have any questions, please contact the insight team.

UK GIving during Covid-19: A special report

Despite Covid-19, giving remains in line with previous years but restricted in-person fundraising takes toll on some key causes.  Highlights from the report:

  • Despite less in-person fundraising, donation levels have held up during the pandemic.
  • Between January and June 2020, the public donated a total of £5.4 billion to charity – an increase of £800 million compared to the same period in 2019.
  • There was a large increase in the number of people donating or sponsoring to the cause ‘hospitals and hospices’ during the height of the pandemic’s first wave.
  • Trust in charities, which increased during 2019, has increased further since March 2020.

Read our special report on UK Giving

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CAF's Charity Landscape report 2020

Our annual research with charity leaders reveals the challenges they face, and assesses the impact these challenges have on the sector's ability to meet the needs of its beneficiaries. Insight from our 2020 report includes:

  • The practicalities of being able to operate in a Covid secure way (33%) and managing social distancing restrictions (33%) are the next biggest challenges for the sector.
  • More than half of charity leaders (55%) say that generating income and achieving financial stability is one of their top three challenges.
  • Three in 10 (28%) say that they now have more access to unrestricted funds than they did before the pandemic.
  • Three quarters of charity leaders (77%) believe that technological change is relevant but only one in five (18%) charity leaders say they know how to effectively manage online fundraising.

Read Charity Landscape 2020

The Charity Landscape report was previously called Social Landscape report.

Social Landscape 2018

Social Landscape report 2018

This report provides a unique insight into the voluntary sector from the perspective of its Chief Executives.

Read the report
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2019 Charity Landscape Report

Our research with charity leaders reveals almost two-thirds believe that Brexit will have a negative impact on their work.

Read the report
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2020 Charity Landscape report

Charity leaders reveal the challenges and opportunities they're facing in this unique year.

Read our 2020 report

COVID-19: What it means for giving

In these unprecedented times we find ourselves in due to the coronavirus crisis, CAF's research team has been monitoring public reactions to charitable giving as well as talking to charities about their concerns.

Visit our research hub to read our latest findings on the impact of the crisis.

Visit the COVID-19 research hub

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Giving in the UK

For over a decade CAF has annually researched giving behaviour in the UK.  To read our UK Giving reports before 2018, please visit our Publications pages.
  
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UK Giving 2018

Find out who gives to good causes, how people give and which charities are most likely to receive support.

Read the report
UK Giving

CAF UK Giving 2019

The number of people in the UK regularly giving to charity has declined for the third year in a row, according to our UK Giving report. Understand why in our latest report.

Read the report
uk-giving-2020-special report

UK Giving during Covid-19: A special report

Despite Covid-19, giving remains in line with previous years but restricted in-person fundraising takes toll on some key causes.

Read the report

Focus on: Regional Giving

Our Scotland Giving and Wales Giving reports provide unique insight into regional generosity. Our 2019 research revealed Scottish people are more generous than the UK as a whole when it comes to being charitable, but the percentage of people giving to charity is falling. In Wales a robust level of participation in charitable activities is reported, but unexpected issues have also been uncovered.
 
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Scotland Giving 2019

Our latest study provides key insights into the charitable landscape in Scotland and how these trends in giving have changed over the past two years

Read the report
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Wales Giving 2019

Our first ever Wales Giving report provides unique insight into Welsh generosity and the challenges for charity in the region.

Read the report

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Charities play a vital role in our national life - but are we fully aware of how much good they do? Our regular Charity Street reports reveal how different age groups, areas and households use and value charities in the UK today.

 

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Charity Street I

Read how charities played a vital role in our national life in 2014.

Visit our first Charity Street report
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Discover giving at a local level with Charity Street II

Published in 2016, Charity Street II explores how the UK public uses charitable services.

Read our insights
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Who is using charity? Find out in Charity Street III

We track the use of charitable services by households and individuals in 2018.

Visit Charity Street III

Trends in corporate giving

We reveal charitable giving trends among FTSE 100 companies and highlight the most generous industry. For the first time our 2018 research compares the British public’s perception of corporate giving by FTSE 100 companies, with the facts.

 

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Corporate giving by the FTSE 100, 2007-2014

The FTSE 100 gave £2.5bn to good causes in 2012, a £1.2bn rise since 2007 – despite the economic downturn.

Read the report
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Corporate giving by the FTSE 100, 2009-2014

Our analysis shows Britain’s biggest companies have largely protected their charitable giving in the face of falling revenues.

Read our corporate giving report
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Corporate giving 2018 by the FTSE 100

Our findings reveal the recent charitable giving trends amongst FTSE 100 companies and highlight the most generous industry.

Find out about corporate giving in the UK
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Want to know more?

CONTACT THE RESEARCH AND INSIGHT TEAM

Our research and insight programme is focussed on investigating and increasing understanding of charitable giving and philanthropy.

Get in touch today