Smaller charities facing closure

LEADING charities defied the recession by increasing their income 6 per cent ahead of inflation last year, though analysts fear the trend may have been halted in recent months by the deepening recession.

In the report Charity Trends 1992, the Charities Aid Foundation said the largest charities employing aggressive fund-raising campaigns had the most success. It warned that smaller groups could fold this financial year.

Britain's 171,434 charities received pounds 16.18bn, a drop of more than 4 per cent in real terms on 1985, due to smaller Government and local authority fees and grants, and declining corporate donations. It was the first fall since comparative records began in 1975. The National Trust was again the top fund-raiser with more than pounds 63m, followed by Oxfam and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.