Surge in donations sees CAF distribute record £958m
Melanie May | 2 September 2021 | News
Charities Aid Foundation has paid out more than £958 million to good causes around the world in the past year, as donations from private philanthropists and businesses have risen.
CAF’s Trustees’ Report for 2020/21 reveals that donations increased by 43%, or more than £300 million, with the funds entrusted to CAF topping £1 billion for the first time. As a result tens of thousands of charities in more than 100 countries have been supported.
The Trustees’ annual report highlights:
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- Donations into CAF increased by over £300 million to more than £1 billion
- Donations into CAF America increased by 71% to £364m
- More than £100 million of pandemic response funding was generated by an innovative three-way partnership with the UK’s insurance and long-term savings industry’s Covid-19 Support Fund, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Community Match Challenge, and CAF. As part of this, the CAF Resilience Fund of £40m was created to support charities working with the UK’s most vulnerable populations
- CAF Bank, which serves UK charities and social enterprises, increased committed loans to £164.7m
- Venturesome, CAF’s pioneering social investment arm, supported 117 organisations with £5.6m of loans and 15 more with £663,000 of grants through new, blended finance packages.
Neil Heslop, OBE, Chief Executive of CAF, said:
“The Charities Aid Foundation exists to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all. This remarkable year of generosity, with more than £1 billion donated into our care, demonstrates that the philanthropists and businesses that we partner with share this ambition.
“Together, we enable charities to do more life-changing work with lasting benefits and true impact where it matters most. We collaborate across sectors and borders, with governments and fellow funders seeking innovation so civil society may thrive.
“The donors we are privileged to work with have been inspired by charities’ remarkable response to the pandemic in communities everywhere. Those charities have been the frontline heroes in this pandemic and many have survived and thrived because of CAF’s partners. We are immensely grateful to have played our part during this difficult time.”
CAF launched its Resilience Fund in 2020 to help charitable organisations in England supporting those hardest hit by the pandemic. By February this year it had distributed its first £10m.
2019-20 was also a record year for giving, with CAF distributing a then record of £702m.
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.