Charitable organisations benefited from £646 million paid out from the Charities Aid Foundation in 2018/19 as giving via CAF reached record levels.

The charity’s annual report shows that money paid out to charities in the UK and 95 countries around the world during the last fiscal year jumped from £505 million the year before.

CAF manages donations on behalf of philanthropists, businesses and individuals. Many donations are paid immediately to their cause of choice, while some use their CAF accounts to grow philanthropic funds so they can make grants to charities at a later date.

The report shows donations paid to charities from CAF Charity Accounts totalled £125 million, up from £108 million in 2017/18 – an increase of 16 per cent. Donations to CAF charitable trusts reached £170.8 million and donations made to the CAF American Donor Fund increased by 23 per cent to £86.9 million and the amount granted to charities in 2018/19 reaching £78.4 million. CAF Venturesome, their social impact investment arm funded by private donors, made 35 social investments worth £3.2 million – nearly double the number made the previous year

Sir John Low, Chief Executive of CAF, said:

‘The scale and diversity of the giving that we have seen from people and companies over the past year has been truly remarkable. Given the uncertain times, the willingness to give is ever more striking and is a true vote of confidence in the power of charity to bring people together.

‘At CAF, we take great pride in helping to ensure those donations reach people across the UK and beyond. Without that incredible spirit of generosity reflected in the UK and around the world, and in the phenomenal record of CAF America in particular, all of that giving simply would not be possible.

‘We are also very happy to see some of our innovative ways to help charities proving so popular with CAF Donate, our award winning CAF Investment Account and our services aimed at helping our charity partners build their own resilience in a challenging environment.’

Read Charities Aid Foundation’s 2019 Annual Report here.