# Report: charity income reached highest level in 5 years in 2021

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2022/02/07/report-charity-income-reached-highest-level-in-5-years-in-2021/
- Published: 2022-02-07T09:45:00+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Charity income was 9% higher in the last 12 months than in the previous year and
at its highest level for the last five years, according to the Wood for Trees 2022
State of the Sector Report.**

The report looks at some of the key trends across 2021 and how these compared to
2020. It also takes a look back at the previous years, up to and including 2017,
to understand how the last two have impacted the ways supporters are engaging with,
and donating to, charities. It covers top level trends in income streams, recruitment
and supporters as well as engagement metrics such as lifetime value, cross-sell 
and regular giving attrition.

Among its findings, this year’s [State of the Sector Report](https://woodfortrees.net/state-of-the-sector-report-2022-request/)
shows that regular giving remained at a similar level to that seen in 2020, with
one-off donations falling just below 2020’s levels – still almost 50% higher than
the previous three years. Community fundraising saw a rise in income but remained
way below pre-pandemic levels. Gaming income rose too, although with a smaller increase
than that seen in the previous two years, while high-value giving continued the 
growth that started in 2020, showing the highest growth of all. Trading income fell
slightly on 2020’s levels but was still higher than the previous three years.

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By channel, income coming in via digital, direct mail, and DRTV all rose, with direct
dialogue showing a continued decline on the previous year’s levels. Digital’s 2021
income was two-thirds higher than 2017’s, while direct mail income is now at its
highest level of the last five years.

Supporter recruitment was also up in 2021 with an increase of 22% on the previous
year – higher than the levels seen in 2018 and before, while lapsed supporters fell
25%. The amounts people are giving at are increasing too, with average lifetime 
value after three years up from around £100 to nearer £120.

[Wood for Trees](https://woodfortrees.net/) Managing Director, Jon Kelly, commented:

> “These latest results show the resilience of the sector and the continued generosity
> of the UK population. They do show some shifts in the way that people are giving
> with more people giving in ad hoc ways rather than commitment of regular giving
> which had become standard in recent years. It is likely that this is partly down
> to the effects of the pandemic but also perhaps an underlying social trend. The
> next few years will be interesting to see if these trends continue.”

The data in this report was collected from Wood for Trees’ InsightHub benchmarking
reports, which collate raw CRM data from a range of charities across the sector.
From this, Wood for Trees aggregates fundraising KPIs up to a sector level. [A free webinar](https://register.gotowebinar.com/#register/9076170941054588175)
will be held on the findings at 11am on 23 March.

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