Charities hit by slowing economy

CHARITIES are asking for more money to meet a rising demand and to cope with a drop in one-off donations, figures show.

CHARITIES are asking for more money to meet a rising demand for their services and to cope with a drop in one-off donations, figures show.

Perpetual, Australia's largest manager of charitable trusts, said charities were feeling the pinch of the economic crisis and had applied for a lot more funding from its philanthropic trusts this year.

Charities made applications for $60 million in funding this year, a 44 per cent increase on the $41 million sought in 2008, Perpetual said.

The company said 942 charities applied for funding from its trusts this year, up 26 per cent on the 745 charities that requested funding in 2008.

Perpetual general manager of philanthropy, Andrew Thomas, said the number of applications and the dollar amounts they sought had increased across every area where charities operate, from social welfare and health services to education and the arts.

"There has been much speculation about the impact of the worsening economic climate and the effect this is having on charities, but this information is the first quantitative evidence that charities are starting to feel the pinch,'' Mr Thomas said.

As Australians tightened their belts, organisations were seeing a 'donation-demand squeeze' with one-off donations declining as the demand for charitable services rose, he said.

Mission Australia chief executive, Toby Hall, said his organisation was experiencing an increase in demand for its services, particularly financial counselling.

"With families on tight budgets, this means many are starting to fall over the edge and we are seeing a strong growth in the level of demand for financial counselling services across the country,'' Mr Hall said.

Perpetual, which manages over 400 charitable trusts and has more than $1 billion in funds under advice, said that despite the financial markets crisis, grants from its trusts would not decline in 2009.