May your charity increase as much as your wealth, goes an old proverb. But in Britain, giving has failed to keep pace with wealth, leaving charities ever more dependent on the generosity of a dwindling supply of donors.

Household wealth has doubled over the past decade but donations to charity have struggled to keep pace with inflation – much less the increase in wealth. The proportion of national income given to charity has been static at 0.9 per cent for the past five years. It has fallen from 1.2 per cent 15 years ago and is well below the 1.9 per cent equivalent for the US, according to the Charities Aid Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.