Almost half of Great Britain’s largest charities think that this year’s London Olympics and Paralympics will benefit the country’s charity sector as a whole, while a third think the games will have a positive impact on their own charity.

According to a new study by specialist charity insurer Ecclesiastical published this week, 46% of the country’s top 300 charities are expecting the charity sector to benefit from the games.

Of these, education charities are the most optimistic about the impact of games with 62.5% of them seeing the potential for benefit.

When asked about the prospects for their own organisation, 32% of top 300 charities saw direct benefit from the games rather than just the sector as a whole.

Raising awareness of a charity’s cause was the benefit most commonly cited (62%) with financial benefit through sponsorships in second position (31%).

In terms of getting involved, 34% of the top 300 charities said they would be running their own events alongside the games while 32% will send volunteers to the Olympics.

Ecclesiastical’s care and charity underwriting manager Martyn Turner said: “With charities facing reduced funding from both government and the public, the Olympics couldn’t come at a better time for the sector.

"It represents a major opportunity to attract funds and raise profiles. This seems only just as a large proportion of charity funding was redirected from the National Lottery to support the games themselves.”

Ecclesiastical’s survey of 100 British charities was conducted in May 2012 by independent research company FWD.

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