Five ways to give to charity

There are plenty of ways to help charities at Christmas without having to buy a goat. Tim Bennett has five tips on giving generously.

Recessions are tough on everyone, but they're particularly bad news for charities. A recent survey of 362 charities by the Charities Commission shows that as times get harder, 72% are finding demand for their services rising, particularly those involved in mental illness and homelessness. Yet one third also reported increased cancellation rates for direct debits, as consumers try to cut costs where they can. Meanwhile, falling house prices and slow sales mean that the value of bequests which account for 25% of the revenue received by a typical charity is tumbling too. And a full 70% expect corporate donations either to fall or stay static over the next 12 months. Chuck in the diversion of an estimated £620m of National Lottery funding to the 2012 Olympics, and the sector could be facing what The Independent's Julien Knight calls a £2.3bn "black hole".

The good news is that you don't necessarily have to spend money to help charities there are plenty of other ways to help. And if you do feel you can contribute something this Christmas, there are ways to make sure your gift goes that much further, which will be more important than ever in 2009.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.