I wonder how the charity sector is doing in the recession

I haven't been keeping up with the news but I wonder if charities are
facing hardship too. It's logical that many people will reduce the
amount they donate when times are tough. Given the way the current
crisis and the CSR cuts are going I fear the worst. I fear that many
charities may go bankrupt. The charity model was slowly evolving towards
new ways of fundraising other than typical donations, e.g. providing
services such as Mind Workplace or offering credit cards (RSPCA) and
using systems like everyclick. But these are new revenue generation
channels, they're Stars rather than Cash Cows. Regular giving has always
been the bread and butter of charities.

Of course there are charity shops and more people will be using them as
more people experience poverty though Primark and other very low cost
retailers may end up taking market share away from charity shops. They
have the marketing nouce available whereas charities, in general, are
full of good hearted people who know little about business.

Their services will be desperately needed. I think that the application
of Keynesian economic theory could be altered to fund job creation in
the charity sector rather than boosting infrastructure as is typically
expected from countries following established economic practice.

We don't need more trains. We need more support for the poor because
there's going to be so many more in the next four years.