Charity donations up £800m during first half of 2020

The British public gave an additional £800 million to charity during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, analysis suggests.

Charitable giving across the UK between January and June was at levels usually seen during the peak fundraising months leading up to Christmas, the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) said.

Between these months, the public donated a total of £5.4 billion to charity – £800 million more than for the same period in 2019.

However, the CAF found that some charities suffered unprecedented losses as donors shifted their donations to charities supporting the NHS and fundraising opportunities shrank.