# Major fundraising charities lose £23 million in investment assets during recession

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/04/22/major-fundraising-charities-lose-23m-investment-assets-during-recession/
- Published: 2010-04-22T07:07:46+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Cass Business School reports that income from investments for the UK’s major fundraising
charities fell by £23 million during the recession, while investment asset values
fell by £1.5 billion (10.2%).

Cathy Pharoah, Professor of Charity Funding at Cass Business School, led the research
which will be published in Charity Market Monitor in June 2010. The collective investment
fund value of the UK’s 500 largest fundraising charities fell by 21.4%, and income
from investments dropped by 8.4%.

Charities which saw a fall in the value of their investments in 2008-09 include:

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* Cancer Research UK (down from £230 million to £154 million);

* Royal National Lifeboat Institution (down from £281 million to £221 million);

* NSPCC (down from £73 million to £49 million);

* The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (down from £145 million to £127 million).

The table below gives a snapshot of the changing fortunes of the UK’s largest fundraising
charities which provide many of the vital services on which government and the public
rely.

| ** UK’s largest 500 fundraising charities |  2007/08 |  2008/09 |  real change | 
|   |  £m |  £m |  % | 
|  Income from investments
 |  506.5 |  483.7 |  -8.4 | 
|  Investment funds |  8,538.2 |  6,991.9 |  -21.4 | 
|  Assets |  19,537.9 |  18,282.9 |  -10.2 |

 

Professor Pharoah explained the significance of these falls: “Many of the major 
service-providing charities rely on investment income to provide a cushion, or an
independent source of income, against fluctuations in their income from legacies,
statutory contracts or shop trading. A fall in the value of their assets makes it
much harder for charities to plan future activities or commit to developing much-
needed new services.”

[Charity Market Monitor 2010](http://www.wlrstore.com/cmm%22) is a collaboration
between Cass Business School and CaritasData. Through analysis of the finances of
the UK’s major fundraising charities and causes, provided by CaritasData, CMM provides
up-to-date annual perspectives on the funds they raise.

www.cass.city.ac.uk

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