DONATIONS to charity fell in 2006-07, the annual UK Giving Survey reported last week. The exception to the trend was giving to religious causes.

The survey is carried out by the Charities Aid Foundation and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Among the findings was the news that religious causes now attract 16 per cent of the total, almost as much as medical research, which attracts 17 per cent. High-level donors (those giving more than £100 a month) give disproportionately more to religious causes. Churches, mosques, and synagogues received 70 per cent of their donations from high-level donors.

Children and young people, and then hospitals and hospices, were the next highest recipients.

A total of £9.5 billion was given in the last year. Fifty-four per cent of people gave to charity in the four weeks before the survey, a fall of three per cent from the previous year. The total amount given was also three per cent down, in real terms. Data for the survey is collected from participants’ own calculations of how much they give.

Dr Sylke Schnepf of the University of Southampton, who conducted the survey, said: “Women are more likely to give, and are also more generous with their gifts.”