The top 400 UK trusts gave away £2.3 bn last year, according to new figures. The top 25 trusts alone gave £959 million.

The figures for the top 25, which excluded gifts from The Big Lottery Fund and Awards for All, compared with a total gift of £217 million in 1991. Allowing for inflation, this shows a rise in giving of approximately 290% over 15 years.

“Even allowing for inflation, the generosity of wealthy individuals may not have been so great since that displayed by the great philanthropists of the nineteenth century, like Carnegie and Rowntree,” said Tom Traynor, editor of the Guide to the Major Trusts, in which the figures are published. “However the need for support and funding from charitable trusts and foundations is greater today than it has ever been.

“This is largely the case due to the proportion of funding in the form of grants from the government falling in favour of contracts to deliver public services,” Traynor added. “General grantmaking from trusts and foundations is often a lifeline to help operational charities to achieve their objectives.”

The guide is available from the Directory of Social Change. Visit www.dsc.org.uk