A little bit of charity

Interesting little side bar in the Observer Magazine last Sunday, looking at Britain's top earning charities (according to the Charity Commission).

Skewed in places by the national lottery. But what most surprised me most was 1) that it disproved the supposed preference Brits have for looking after animals rather than kids and 2) how few of them I had heard of, or if I was aware of the name, knew what they actually did.

1. Arts Council England (£584,158,000)
2. British Council (£517,493,411)
3. Nuffield Hospitals (£507,750,000)
4. Cancer Research UK (£380,813,000)
5. The National Trust (£306,266,000)
6. Wellcome Trust (£295,018,000)
7. Oxfam (£293,100,000)
8. Charities Aid Foundation (£254,864,000)
9. Anchor Trust (£238,087,000)
10. British Red Cross (£233,100,000)
11. CITB- ConstructionSkills (£230,835,000)
12. NCH, The Children's Charity (£219,456,000)
13. Mencap (£164,039,000)
14. Save The Children (£161,187,054)
15. Barnardo's (£155,977,000)
16. British Heart Foundation (£155,208,000)

So is your money going to the right place?