​correction: an earlier version of this article said that the true and fair foundation report showed 1,000 charities spent less than half of 'the cash raised by members of the public' on good works. we wish to clarify that this proportion related to charities’ total income. this includes income from trading subsidiaries in addition to donations from the public. some of the income attributable to these sources is necessary to cover the costs of trading and this can be a significant proportion of the total. when these trading costs are excluded, the proportion of charities’ expenditure on charitable objects is invariably significantly higher. the article has been amended accordingly.
one in five of britain's biggest charities spend less than 50 per cent of total income on good works, new report claims