Recommendation 18

The Department recognised that charities had lost traditional sources of income during the pandemic, such as fundraising through large events like the London Marathon and the closure of charity shops. However, it also suggested that moving fundraising online may have increased overall funding levels. In addition, the Department highlighted that charities could access other government support throughout the pandemic, such as the furlough scheme.56 It explained that introducing match funding on the Community Match Challenge scheme sought to encourage the continuation of an “explosion in private philanthropy and fundraising” that it believed had been witnessed up to that point.57 Written evidence we received about charities’ income levels was more mixed; the Charity Commission told us that in the first half of 2020 individual donations increased by £800 million. We also received written evidence from the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), which told us that charities might have lost as much as £4.3 billion between March and May 2020. Pro Bono Economics ran a survey which suggested as much as £6.7 billion had been lost in income.58 The Department told us that it will not know whether the funding it distributed has met the increased demand caused by the pandemic until the evaluation is conducted.59