CAF Research and Insight

UK research hub

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

Regional giving
Insight from charity leaders
How people use and value charity
Corporate giving
CAF UK Giving

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 report 2022

The UK Giving 2022 report explores the changes in people’s giving behaviours throughout the pandemic and lockdowns, that defined most of 2021. Key findings include:

The British people donated £10.7 billion to charity in 2021, a substantial decrease from £11.3 billion given in 2020.
The trend of fewer people giving is now firmly established, with donations still remaining way below the pre-pandemic figures.
A third of people gave in response to the crisis in Ukraine, with much larger donations than usual.
Around two thirds of people plan to cut back in the face of rising living costs and around one in seven say that this will include charitable donations.

Read UK Giving 2022

Volunteers collecting donations to support charities responding to the war in Ukraine war

CAF's Charity Landscape report 2022

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 2022 report includes:

Nearly three-quarters (71%) of charity leaders believe the public are more aware of their contribution to society because of the pandemic
Just under two thirds of charity leaders (64%) think that the Government sees charities as vital connections to local communities, rising to 80% in Scotland.
Financial sustainability is the main challenge for the majority (58%) of charity leaders but nearly two thirds (64%) of them are pessimistic about Government support for the sector.

Read Charity Landscape 2022

The Charity Landscape report was previously called Social Landscape report.

2020 Charity Landscape Report

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

Read our 2020 report

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 our 2019 report

2018 Social Landscape Report

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

Read our 2018 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

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.

UK Giving Report 2022

The UK Giving report is the largest study of household donor behaviour in the UK. This report tracks giving trends throughout 2021 and into the first four months of 2022.

Read the report

The UK Giving Report 2021

This report marks the continuation of our examination of the impact of Covid-19 on the UK Giving landscape.

Read the report

UK Giving during Covid-19: A special report

Despite Covid-19, giving remains in line with previous years but fundraising challenges takes a 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.

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

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

charity street UK

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.