Charity donations continue to grow with the biggest 20 institutions booking an 8% increase last year, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant.

In total charities received €584m in 2007, according to a survey by the newspaper.
The increase in charities’ revenues from fund-raising activities is almost three times as high as the country’s economic growth rate, the paper points out.
Charities are immune to economic setbacks, says Theo Schuyt, professor of philanthropy at the Free University in Amsterdam. ‘Giving is a question of mentality and actually a very Dutch characteristic,’ he tells the Volkskrant.
And there are also structural reasons for the annual increase in donations, he says. The population is getting older and older people tend to be more altruistic, says Schuyt.
The cancer research charity KWF Kankerbestrijding raised the most money last year (just over €77m, a rise of 12%) while the Salvation Army saw the biggest percentage increase (22% to €20m).