Dutch charities are benefiting from the economic recovery, with donations rising 3.6% last year, according to research by the Volkskrant.

Without a drop in the number of legacies, the rise would have been higher because personal donations have increased even more, the paper said.

The Volkskrant analysed the results of fund raising at 40 of the country’s largest charities. Top of the list is the anti-cancer fund KWF Kankerbestrijding which raised nearly €117m last year, up 5% on 2014. Of this, €44m came from legacies.

Both the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders raised €51m, but the Red Cross boosted its income by 26% on the previous year. The organisation put the sharp increase down to the impact of the refugee crisis. Unicef and heart charity Hartstichting completed the top five.

Thirteen of the big funds did not raise as much money last year as in 2014.

Scandal

The biggest loser was environmental charity Greenpeace, which lost 8% of its funding. This may be the knock-on effect of the 2014 scandal about the charity’s director who commuted by plane from Luxembourg to the headquarters in Amsterdam.

The green group told the Volkskrant the negative publicity had an impact but that this year ‘luckily looks better’.