Foundation Giving Trends Report

3rd June 2014

A new report has been published as part of a series of research briefings entitled Foundation Giving Trends. The briefings reveal key data about the vast majority of trust and foundation giving in the UK. Although there are roughly 10,000 foundations in the UK , the top 300 account for 90% of the value of all their giving.

The research programme was headed by Professor Cathy Pharoah and is a collaboration between the Centre for Giving and Philanthropy at Cass Business School and the Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), substantially supported by the Pears Foundation. The data in the report comes mainly from foundations' annual accounts and a survey of ACF members. This year's report details important findings about the resilience and vitality of the UK foundation sector, as well as highlighting concerns.

New donations to foundations fell by nearly 10% in the 18 months leading up to March 2013 (the period covered by the report). However, despite that fall, foundation giving actually rose during the period by the same percentage in real terms. This is a rate of growth of nearly double that of foundations in the United States, a country renowned for the strength of its sector. In continuingly tough economic times the report shows that the foundation sector itself has been adversely affected as its individual and corporate donors faced challenging times.

To see the full report visit the ACF website -
http://www.acf.org.uk/uploadedFiles/Publications_and_resources/Publications/Publication_repositry/ACF_AW02_WEB%20(2).pdf