Britain has a long history of charitable giving
Our oldest registered charity dating back to the Twelfth Century. Many of our earliest charities were founded by religious groups, the nobility, or wealthy individuals to help the neediest members of society.
This was normally the poor – especially orphans and widows and the sick or disabled. Help would be provided in the form of shelter, food, clothing and caring for the sick. Charitable organisations often took the form of hospitals, orphanages and poor houses.
As the number of charities has increased over the centuries, so has the range of causes. While many charities are still focused on helping the poor and caring for the sick and injured, many others are tackling global issues like climate change, conflict, and HIV and AIDS. It's interesting to note that in Britain health charities like Cancer Research remain the most popular cause to donate to.
How many charities are there in the UK?
Today there are over 180,000 registered charities in the UK employing thousands of people to work all over the world on a huge range of issues. This usually includes working 'on the ground' to provide support and relief services like vaccinations, pet care, sanitation or shelter, as well as campaigning to change government legislation and raising awareness to change people's attitudes.
What kind of people donate to charity?
In the UK, about 50% of adults donate to charity which means we have one of the highest giving levels of any country in the world. As most UK charities don't receive any money from the government, donations from individuals are the most important source of funding for a charity to carry out its work.
In the past, charitable donations tended to be quite localised – for example giving to the parish church or hospital, but today around a quarter of donors give to overseas causes. International aid charities like the British Red Cross and Oxfam use a lot of their funds to help people in countries affected by natural and man made disasters – for example the earthquake in Haiti, the Pakistan floods and the conflict in the Ivory Coast.
