NCVO publishes 'Voluntary Sector Almanac 2004'
Howard Lake | 18 February 2004 | News
The completely revised 5th edition of the “UK Voluntary Sector Almanac” offers a detailed guide to the latest trends in the voluntary sector.
NCVO’s latest analysis of trends in the voluntary sector reports that the UK voluntary sector in 2001/2002 had a total income of £20.8 billion, with assets of £70.1 billion. It employed 569,000 paid employees (2% of the UK workforce), and contributed £7.2 billion to UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The latter figure does not, however, include any assessment of the contribution of the unpaid volunteer and trustee workforce.
The sector has grown considerably over the previous 10 years. In 1991 an estimated 98,000 general charities generated a combined expenditure of £11.2 billion; in 2001/2002 over 153,000 general UK charities had a total income of around £20 billion. Government funding (in the form of grants and contacts) and voluntary donations account for the majority of this income.
Advertisement
However, this growth has been uneven. The increasing statutory funding has been enjoyed by the larger charities at the expense of the smaller organisations. Indeed, organisations raising over £1 million a year have managed to maintain income growth but small and medium-sized organisations have actually seen their income shrink.
Charities have heeded the call to be more entrepreneurial and have increased the amount earned through sales of goods and services. Fees from these accounted for £8.9 billion in 2001/02.
The Almanac reports that two-thirds of the population still engage in charitable giving. While the number of donors has been dropping over the longer term, the average donation has increased, probably due to the increasing use of tax-efficient methods such as Gift Aid.
The paperback fifth edition of the Voluntary Sector Almanac 2004 costs
£25 (and £20 to NCVO members).
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.