With around 200,000 charities, the UK has the most established voluntary sector in the world. However, according to the Charities Aid Foundation, there are just 14 main causes to which the public donates. Admittedly, a significant proportion of registered charities are not “charities” as the public would recognise them.

For example, there are 12,500 parent teacher associations, 7,000 village halls and 2,500 independent schools in the UK, all with charitable status. Even if these less “traditional” forms of charity were removed from the equation, there would still be well over 100,000 charities supporting a handful of causes.