At our AGM last week, I held a workshop with our newly launched small charities network.  When asked their top concern, they almost all pointed to the difficulties of raising funds in the current climate.  Funds and fundraising are always the top headache for charities but in this sort of economy the difficulties are accentuated.

Today the Charities Aid Foundation and NCVO published their annual ‘UK Giving’ Report. It shows an increase in public donations on last year but that the total amount raised remains behind pre-recession levels.

But one bit of good news for AMRC member charities, scientists and patients is that medical research remains the most popular cause for donors, accounting for 32% of all donations and 17% of total value.  The figures also show that the UK is one of the countries with the highest proportion of the population giving to charity – this matches the Eurobarmoter data published earlier in the year and which I posted here.