The share of people giving to charity in the United Kingdom continued its downward trend last year, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a report from the Charities Aid Foundation finds.

Based on monthly surveys of more than four thousand adults ages 16 and up, the UK Giving Report 2021 (30 pages, PDF) found that in 2020, on average 62 percent of respondents reported making a donation in the previous four weeks, down from 65 percent in 2019 and 2018, 67 percent in 2017, and 69 percent in 2016. At the same time, those who did donate gave more, with the average donation amount rising to £54 ($72.29), from £46 ($61.57) in 2019, and estimated total giving for 2020 increasing to £11.3 billion ($15.12 billion), from £10.6 billion ($14.19 billion), despite lower rates and amounts of end-of-year giving in November and December.

According to the report, older donors increased their giving significantly, with those between the ages of 55 and 64 giving an average of £71 ($95.08), up from £45 ($60.26), and those ages 65 and older giving £63 ($84.37), up from £48 ($64.13). The share of respondents who gave cash in person declined sharply between March and April 2020 but the percentage of those who donated via a website or app jumped in April and May, which may have helped boost the average donation amount. Among donors between the ages of 55 and 64 and those ages 65 and older, the percentage of those giving online grew from 17 percent and 13 percent in 2019 to 25 percent and 18 percent in 2020.

The study also found that average monthly gift amounts remained slightly higher than in previous years for most of the first eight months of 2021 and that the share of donors who report using Gift Aid — which allows them to direct the income tax they would have paid on their donation to the charity — has steadily risen from 51 percent in 2018 to 53 percent in 2019 to 55 percent in 2020. And while respondents supported the same five top issue areas as in 2019 — animal welfare (27 percent), children/youth (24 percent), medical research (22 percent), hospitals and hospices (20 percent), and homelessness (19 percent), medical research saw a decline, from 25 percent.

“While we rightly celebrate a rise in the total amount given to charity over the course of 2020, there has been a worrying trend over the last five years that the number of people donating continues to decline, despite the tremendous generosity we have all witnessed during the pandemic,” said CAF chief executive Neil Heslop. “Although those who give are giving more, we know that for charities to survive and be there for those they help, they rely on mass giving.”