The UK Trust Landscape Report 2026
A complete analysis of 20,591 grant-making organisations across England, Wales & Scotland, distributing approximately £17.3 billion annually, revealing a sector that is consolidating around fewer, larger funders while the themes attracting new money shift dramatically.
20,591
UK funders analysed
England, Wales & Scotland
£17.3bn
Total expenditure
Annual grant-making capacity
-818
Net funders lost
Since 2020, yet spending grew
58%
Controlled by top 100
Just 0.5% of all funders
Key Findings
-818
Fewer Funders Since 2020, But £379m More in Grants
2,940 funders closed since 2020 while 2,122 new ones registered. But new funders are 4.3x larger than those they replace. After adjusting for spend-out effects, the sector gained £379 million in annual grant-making capacity. The sector is consolidating, not declining.
58%
Of All Expenditure Controlled by Just 100 Funders
The top 100 funders, just 0.5% of the UK total, control 58% of all grant expenditure. The top 1% control two-thirds. 71% of funders spend under £100,000 per year. The headline funder count is deeply misleading for most fundraisers.
42.7%
Of All Funders Exclusively Fund One Theme
8,406 of 19,677 registered funders list just one cause area. These are your highest-probability targets. The other 57.3% fund multiple themes, meaning your application competes against bids from every other cause they support. Exclusivity ranges from 40.2% for General Purposes to 1.0% for Overseas Aid.
10x
Competition Varies Tenfold Between Sectors
Recreation has 31.3 charities competing for every funder. Armed Forces has just 2.9. Your trust fundraising strategy should look fundamentally different depending on which number you live with. Application volumes, conversion expectations, and income forecasts should all reflect your sector’s competitive reality.
42.6%
Of Scottish Funders Can Fund Work Outside Scotland
One of the most persistent assumptions in trust fundraising is that Scottish funders only support work in Scotland. Nearly half have a geographic scope covering the wider UK or overseas. If your charity aligns with a Scottish funder’s theme and criteria, do not exclude them from your pipeline.
-14.4pp
Health Lost 14.4 Percentage Points of Funder Attention
29.3% of closed funders listed health as a theme, compared to just 14.9% of new funders. Overseas aid collapsed from 15.6% to 1.5%. The themes attracting new funders look nothing like those losing them. Only disability (+3.6pp) and general charitable purposes (+8.4pp) gained meaningful ground.
