Corporate donations to charity by UK listed companies have shown their
first rise for three years. However, although they have risen in
absolute terms, they have fallen as a proportion of profit.
The annual Charity Trends survey of the FTSE500 found contributions in
cash and kind grew by 3.4 per cent to nearly £900million ($1.6bn) in
2003/04, which represents an increase in real terms of £30m compared
with the previous year.
But despite this increase, contributions as a proportion of pre-tax profits have declined over the past two years.
The Charities Aid Foundation, which compiled the survey, says its
analysis of Charity Trends figures over several years has
‘consistently’ found no positive correlation between the level of
pre-tax profits and the amount donated by companies. ‘It is not clear
why this is occurring,’ says the foundation.
The findings suggest banks, which account for five of the top seven and
a fifth by value of the total contributed, are beginning to dominate
corporate giving.
When figures from GSK are stripped out, growth was nearly ten per cent
in real terms. GSK, whose contributions included donations of drugs,
accounted for more than a third of the total, even though its giving
fell this year by £20m.
