More than £180m was raised for pages related to coronavirus on JustGiving during 2020, the donation platform has said.
Donations to arts and environment charities increased by 11% and contributions to international charities were up 77%.
This spike in donations for international charities was primarily down to the £6.5m raised for Impact Lebanon’s fundraising page following the Beirut Explosion in August.
Chester Zoo’s page was the biggest animal-related fundraising appeal on JustGiving in 20 years, raising £2.8m.
There were also a number of successful fundraising efforts such as those led by Captain Tom Moore.
Southampton the most charitable city in the UK during 2020
Southampton was the most charitable city in the UK in 2020, with Stoke-on-Trent following in second and Manchester close behind in third place.
There were over 6,830 pages raising money for food banks set up in 2020, as well as 1,410 pages which specifically related to the support of the Black Lives Matter movement. More than 40,000 pages were created to help raise money for the NHS.
Pascale Harvie, general manager for JustGiving, said: “This year has been like no other for the fundraising sector. We’ve seen dramatic changes in the causes people have chosen to support, which in turn has had a major impact on charities. The generosity that we’ve seen on the platform from people across the world during 2020 has been humbling, and we’re proud to have played a small part in it.”
JustGiving did not say how much money had been raised through it's platform for pages not related to the pandemic, or what proportion of fundraising pages were connected to the pandemic.
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