# Donations to children & animal-related causes decline as more give to NHS charities

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2020/05/15/donations-to-children-animal-related-causes-decline-as-more-give-to-nhs-charities/
- Published: 2020-05-15T08:08:40+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Donations to children and animal welfare charities have declined during the pandemic
with people giving more to support hospitals and NHS organisations.**

Research from the [Charities Aid Foundation](https://www.cafonline.org/) (CAF), 
which tracks UK household giving patterns every month, found that 35% of people 
who had given to charity in the past four weeks had given to hospitals and hospices,
up from the long term average of 21%.

The number of people giving money to children’s causes and animal welfare has dropped
in the same period. In the 2019 CAF UK Giving report, which [tracked trends across all of 2018](https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/05/07/caf-uk-giving-report-shows-drop-in-regular-givers-for-third-year-running/),
children’s charities and animal welfare were the joint most popular causes to which
people donated their money.

## Advertisement

 [⌊Posthub advert. You create the campaign. We'll handle the postal journey. Get started at post-hub.co.uk.⌉](https://fundraising.co.uk/ads/posthub-20261007-300x250/)

Animal charities have seen the number of people making donations in the prior four
weeks fall to 23% of donors in April, down from 31% in March, while donors supporting
children’s charities have declined to 18% in April, below the long term average 
of 26%.

Survey respondents singled out NHS charities, donating to feed NHS staff and supporting
Captain Tom Moore’s fundraising drive as examples of how they were donating their
money.

CAF’s research is based on polling of 1,105 people carried out by YouGov between
20-23 April.

In addition to the big increase in money going to hospitals and the NHS, the survey
also found that despite economic uncertainty and worries about job security, overall
levels of giving to charity has remained high, with 34% of people saying they had
donated to charity in the past four weeks – up from 30% in March.

Ben Russell, CAF’s Director of Policy, said:

> “The British people continue to demonstrate the UK’s history of remarkable generosity
> and these figures are no exception.
> “The willingness to help the dedicated NHS staff and the charities that support
> them shows the openheartedness and care the country feels towards people in great
> need and an inherent desire to stand with those on the frontlines.
> “As we recover from this crisis, we will also need to think about how we maintain
> the tens of thousands of other charities working on so many issues which make 
> a difference to all our lives because we’ll need them more than ever.”

 

## WATCH: Latest insight into how charities and donors are reacting

Here is CAF’s webinar from 30 April 2020 on its latest insight into the impact of
COVID-19 among donors and charities.

 * **[UK drops out of CAF World Giving Index top 10](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/06/15/uk-drops-out-of-caf-world-giving-index-top-10/)**(
   15 June 2021)
 * **[Surge in donations sees CAF distribute record £958m](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/09/02/surge-in-donations-sees-caf-distribute-record-958m/)**(
   2 September 2021)
 * **[CAF to grow cross-border giving services with launch of international network](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/11/03/caf-to-grow-cross-border-giving-services-with-launch-of-international-network/)**(
   3 November 2021)

![Loading](https://fundraising.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/page-views-count/ajax-loader-
2x.gif)