New edition of Charities Aid Foundation's Dimensions
Howard Lake | 9 October 2002 | News
The latest edition of “Dimensions”, an analysis of the UK’s top 500 fundraising charities, is available online for the first time.
Published by CAF (Charities Aid Foundation), the study covers the income and expenditure of the largest charities over the turn of the millennium. The results show impressive real-term increases in virtually all areas of charity income, creating a high baseline against which giving in the new century will be measured.
The report presents encouraging news for fundraisers. Reversing the decline of the previous three years, total income for the top 500 charities had grown by 6.7% in real terms, standing at £5.6 billion in 2000. Voluntary income also rose by 7.1% to £3.1 billion, with increases in legacy income, gifts-in-kind, general donations and grants, raising it from 55% to 56.3% as a proportion of total income.
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The largest UK charity in 2000 was the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which is now part of Cancer Research UK. It was followed by the National Trust and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. The latter made a surprise leap up the rankings.
The top five rankings are:
- Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now part of Cancer Research UK)
(previous position 3)
Voluntary income: £111,180,000
Total income: £135,638.000 - National Trust (previous position 2)
Voluntary income: £106,258,000
Total income: £192,210,000 - Royal Opera House (previous position 26)
Voluntary income: £105,239,000
Total income: £133,896,000 - Oxfam (previous position 1)
Voluntary income: £101,127,000
Total income: £158,294,000 - British Heart Foundation (previous position 6)
Voluntary income: £88,769,000
Total income: £100,735,000
The majority of charities featured in “Dimensions” had grown dramatically compared to the previous year, with the number with a voluntary income above £10 million rising by 4%, while the amount with an income under £1 million fell by 1.6%.
Once again, international causes remained the most popular field of charitable activity, followed in order by cancer, animals, children and the environment/heritage. There were also increases in voluntary income across the board, with AIDS charities the only area to show a decline in funding.
Charitable expenditure rose, with the UK’s top 500 charities spending slightly more on their fundraising, although the proportion remained fairly constant at around 9% of total expenditure. The proportion spent on management and administration costs, however, actually fell slightly from 4.2% to 4.1%, while direct charitable expenditure rose by £606 million to £5.3 billion.
Why was 2000 such a successful year for the top 500 charities? Director of Research at CAF, Cathy Pharoah, author of Dimensions, suggests that it is due “not only [to] the inevitable groundswell of sentiment, but [is also] undoubtedly… a result of some extremely successful fundraising.”
She was optimistic about the future: “while the year 2000 is going to be a hard act for many charities to follow, such an upsurge in all sources of income clearly demonstrates that there is scope for continued growth in philanthropy”.
You can download “Dimensions” online for £20. Details of how to subscribe are available on the site itself and from the CAF Research Department on 01732 520 125.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.