Research by the Charities Aid Foundation has revealed that 75% of British businesses do not support charities, whether it is giving time (volunteering and skills), cash or goods. And that is set against a decline in giving cash donations by those companies that do support charities, in favour of in-kind donations.
CAF’s Corporate Giving Report 2025 also reports that cash donations from British businesses have seen “a significant drop” with an estimated £300 million less given in cash last year.
Those business that did support charities in 2024 donated an estimated £4.2 billion. Nearly half of this, £1.85 billion, was donated by FTSE 100 companies. But only 24 of the FTSE 100 gave at least one per cent of their pre-tax profits to charity last year, down from 28 in the previous year.
The report included the following stated reasons that businesses gave for not giving to charity:
Businesses in the North East are the most likely to support charities (41%), while those in the South East are the least likely to (12%). Only 3% of businesses in the South East give cash, compared to 31% of those in the North East.
In light of the report’s findings Charities Aid Foundation is calling for the Government to reintroduce the mandatory requirement to report corporate giving to improve transparency and motivate businesses to donate to good causes and invest in communities.
If more UK businesses gave 1%, including all the FTSE 100, it could mean charities receive almost £5 billion in additional funding.
CAF’s Corporate Giving Report 2025 can be downloaded for free from the CAF website.
Source: UK Fundraising