Demand for services has risen ‘a lot’ for more than half of charities in past year
Melanie May | 15 October 2024 | News
More than half of UK charities have seen demand for their services rise by ‘a lot’ in the past year, with increased competition for funding adding to the challenges, according to research from Charities Aid Foundation.
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) surveyed 784 UK charity leaders in England and Wales and found that 86% of the charities they lead had recorded increased demand for their services over the last 12 months, with 54% of those reporting that it had risen by ‘a lot’. This has increased from 43% in 2023 when a similar survey was carried out.
Organisations most impacted are poverty-relief charities (67%), human rights/equality and diversity charities (66%), and those helping people in need (55%), such as through food banks, debt advice, and domestic abuse support.
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One Chief Executive of a human rights charity in the North of England said: “We’re not even meeting the demand that exists now and we’ve got 70 people on our waiting list for counselling.”
28% of charity leaders are uncertain that their organisation will be able to meet the rising demand.
Half (50%) of the leaders surveyed said increased competition for funding was one of the main challenges. As a result, nearly a third (30%) have either reduced the size of their workforce or are planning to do so, and 18% are not confident they will have the funding necessary to continue their work by the end of the decade.
The Chief Executive of a medium-sized refugee charity in the Northeast commented: “We’ve already seen a lot of mergers already, a lot of charities winding down and we are thinking about it quite seriously as well.”
Ashling Cashmore, Head of Impact and Advisory at the Charities Aid Foundation, said:
“While the worst effects of inflation may have subsided, charities are still having to do much more with less. They are dealing with ever-increasing demand which is only expected to rise as we head into winter – yet their income is not keeping up and there is less funding to go around.
“We need to work together to create a stable environment for our hard-working charities and those they support. The new Government has said it wants to reset its relationship with civil society and an important next step would be to introduce a national strategy for philanthropy and charitable giving to make sure charities receive the support they desperately need.”
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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.