The Charities Aid Foundation has had over £500m paid into it for the first time, according to its latest annual report.
CAF has had a record £524m paid into charitable accounts by donors, with £462m distributed to charities. This is slightly down from £480m last year, with CAF saying that this decrease reflected the wishes of its donors.
CAF manages donations on behalf of wealthy philanthropists, 2,500 businesses and more than 250,000 people. Many donations are paid out right away to tens of thousands of good causes, while some use their CAF accounts to grow philanthropic funds over time.
CAF said that the level of giving among individuals and companies who use CAF to support good causes has risen for the fourth consecutive year, as its “donors increased the charitable funds available to give to charity”.
Its annual accounts for the year ending 30 April 2016 show that just under £467m of this income came from donations and legacies, up from £434m in 2015.
The accounts also show that among major donors, there was a 10 per cent increase in in donations into CAF Charitable Trust accounts and legacies compared to the previous year. The amount they paid out to charities also rose - from £156m to £164m.
It also showed that regular givers donated £104m to their favourite causes through CAF, which was up by £4m on the previous year.
Companies paid £85m into CAF Company Accounts, which was up £3m on 2015. And more than £76m was donated by employees of more than 2,500 firms through their payroll under Give As You Earn.
John Low, chief executive of CAF, said: “The role of CAF has always been to support the work of charities and help people to give. Over the past year this has happened on record scale, with the amount being donated through CAF passing half a billion pounds for the first time.”
However, he warned about the impact on charities of the current economy.
“Uncertainty over the economy and record-low interest rates are undoubtedly going to have an impact on charities, including CAF. Over the next year we will continue to build on the strong progress we have made to provide greater support to charities and encourage people to give even more generously,” he said.
The highest-paid member of staff earned between £170,000 and £180,000. The year before the highest-paid member of staff earned between £160,000 and £170,000. There were 31 members of staff earning more than £60,000. CAF employed 460 full-time equivalent people, down from 475 in 2015.
It also said it has moved its legacy defined benefit pension schemes from the multi-employer Pensions Trust Growth Plan to a new closed CAF-only scheme, “securing pensions for our staff past and present, and limiting CAF’s exposure to the pension liabilities of others”.
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