from METRO, July 16th 2007:

By Anne Campbell

THE money given to Britain's top 500 charities rose by 8.6 per cent to £10.9 billion last year.

That is more than three times the increase in the consumer price index for the same financial year.

But the boost prompted a warning about the plight of smaller charities. They are a third more reliant on voluntary income - donations, grants and gifts - than big organisations.

The Charities Aid Foundation said bigger groups could do a 'tremendous amount' to support smaller good causes.

Major players 'need to develop the same sense of social responsibility we now expect from companies.'

Spending by the top 500 grew by eight per cent, but staff in the sector fell by 1.8 per cent. Most money - 38 per cent - came from donations, grants and gifts-in-kind. Fund-raising accounted for 11 per cent and the lottery two per cent.

Cancer Research UK and Oxfam remained the top two charities. Overseas causes, such as fighting poverty and responding to disasters, made up 27.7 per cent of voluntary giving.

The Top Five

1. Cancer Research UK £297m

2. Oxfam £176m

3. British Red Cross £115.7m

4. Royal National Lifeboat Institution £108.4m

5. Save the Children (UK) £95.6m

Cancer Cases 'To Hit 300,000 Annually'

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor, and Gary Cleland
Last Updated: 6:14am GMT 04/12/2007

England is facing a cancer timebomb, with cases of the disease predicted to rise by a third within 15 years.

An ageing population, a rise in "lifestyle" cancers and the obesity epidemic will see the number of people diagnosed with the disease rise from 230,000 a year to almost 300,000 by 2020.

A landmark report published yesterday said major changes in the way people lived were necessary to prevent the disease and proposed new regulations to ban cigarette vending machines as well as moving tobacco under the counter in shops and putting new curbs on the use of sunbeds by under-18s.

The spiralling number of cancer cases will put huge pressure on the NHS and, under the Cancer Reform Strategy, which sets out a blueprint for cancer services in England for the next five years, £370 million of extra funds will be invested by 2010 on top of the present annual spending of £4.35 billion....

Article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/04/ncancer104.xml