JustGiving in 2022

From a giant crochet blanket of Sir David Attenborough to the completion of the UK’s ‘rudest walk’ 2022 was the year of JustGiving

• Over £590m raised through JustGiving for 23,000 charities and good causes in 2022
• Bristol topped the list as the most generous area, followed by Bedford and Luton
• Over 300 million miles were recorded on Fitbits and Strava apps
• And over 3,000 people raised almost £2m shaving their heads for good causes

Over half a billion pounds has been raised for 23,000 charities and good causes in 2022, according to the UK’s leading giving platform JustGiving. Insight from the platform shows that despite the rising cost of living crisis, people dug deep throughout 2022 to support charities and individuals.

According to JustGiving’s insight, over 850,000 new crowdfunding and fundraising pages were set up throughout the course of the year.

Pages created to support the people of Ukraine garnered the most donations, with over 21,000 pages set up and a staggering £52m raised.

This was followed by those taking part in the London Marathon, who collectively helped raise over £40m, which is the most ever raised on the platform for the marathon.

Meanwhile, over £10m was donated to the Mighty Hike and the late, Dame Deborah James was a rebellious hope for all, raising almost £9m for the Bowelbabe Fund.

Highlighting the distance people are prepared to go to support the causes closest to them, over 300 million miles were recorded on fundraisers’ Fitbits and Strava apps.

Records were broken by Gary Mckee and Imogen Boddy. Gary completed 365 marathons in 365 days raising over £1m for Macmillan Cancer Support and Hospice at Home West Cumbria.

And Imogen became the youngest female to run the length of the UK at just 22 years old, raising almost £40,000 for Young Minds.

JustGiving’s youngest fundraiser was 16-month-old Violet, who raised over £700 for Yorkshire Brain Tumour Society, by taking part in a Step into September challenge.

Meanwhile, one of the platform’s eldest fundraisers Margaret spent her 100th year making over 115 jars of marmalade to raise money for Nightingale Cancer Support Charity.

When looking at which areas of the UK donate the most to charities and good causes, Bristol tops the list as the most generous area, followed by people in Bedford and those in Luton.

Top 10 most generous areas across the UK

1. Bristol
2. Bedford
3. Luton
4. North Somerset
5. London
6. Preston
7. Nottingham
8. York
9. Peterborough
10. Gwynedd

In terms of the most creative things people have done to support charities and good causes in 2022:

• One man completed what he believes to be the UK’s rudest hike, travelling 526km to some of the ‘rudest sounding places’ across the UK
• 11-year-old, James completed the 4-peaks whilst playing the bagpipes
• Residents on a street in Sheffield decorated their houses with giant Quality Street sweets, to raise money for a local food bank
• Reka hand-crocheted a giant blanket of Sir David Attenborough to raise funds for WWF, the global conservation charity
• And Steve was one of over 3000 people who shaved their heads for charity and he did so on his wedding day

Pascale Harvie, President and General Manager of JustGiving said: “The generosity shown and the incredible lengths that people go to in order to raise funds for charities and good causes is astonishing.“This year has been really hard for so many people, yet we’ve seen a tremendous outpour of support for crowdfunders and charities. Every single person that has donated and or fundraised is truly helping to make the world a better place and for that I just want to say thank you.”

Notes to editor

For more information contact: [email protected]

This press release is based on JustGiving insight 2022

Donation figures quoted include GiftAid

JustGiving does not charge a fee on donations but instead operates a voluntary contribution model, meaning people donating can choose to tip if they wish. The only non-optional fee is a 1.9%+ 30p to cover card payment charges.

About JustGiving

JustGiving is the world’s most trusted platform for online giving. We help people raise money for the charities and people they care about the most. In 2000, JustGiving.com began with one simple goal – to enable charities to receive donations online from anywhere in the world. Fast forward 22 years and over £5 billion has been raised for good causes in almost every single country in the world.

JustGiving became part of Blackbaud, the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good in 2017