Difficult follow-up record for charity.

last year was a record in the charity. The swedes opened both the hearts and wallets when the unrest in the world drove millions of people on the run. When 2016 comes to an end, several big organizations conclude that the desire to give gifts has slowed somewhat.

Relief organisations in Sweden received record contributions from the general public last year. Although this year brings many gifts, even if the willingness to donate seems to have slowed down somewhat. Arkivbild.Image: Ulf Berglund / TT

finally, you can’t defend yourself. The really big disasters, they will close, they affect us.

last Year was marked by the large stream of refugees leaving the war-torn Syria, and many opened their wallets to help. The funds were donated to charities from the public grew by nearly a billion dollars compared with the year before, from 6,15 billion to 7,13, according to statistics from Svensk insamlingskontroll.

– We doubled our funding between 2015 and 2014. It was due to the events around the Mediterranean sea. Syria and the whole situation, ” says Anna-Karin Modén, head of communications at Sweden for UNHCR.

it was also in 2005 when many swedes were affected by the tsunami in Thailand on boxing day the year before. The year increased the funds collected by more than a billion dollars compared to 2004, but in 2006 fell again they gathered the gifts.

In the same way it looks to be this year.

“We still see a huge commitment, but I don’t think it will be a quite as big a collection as of last year,” says Anna-Karin Modén.

She’s careful with the figures because the feasts surrounding christmas is usually the time when the swedes give the most. But when the UNHCR compares the figures for January–november of this year with the same period last year, showing a decline. The donations which have been received corresponds to around 90 per cent of last year’s level.

Also of Save the Children, Sweden’s largest humanitarian organization, noticed a change.

– Images by Alan Kurdi meant a lot last year and the effect we see in year, which is terrible given the situation in Syria today, ” says Malin Morell, head of communication and fundraising.

Save the Children see a continued strong trend among private individuals, but have not been quite as large as the contribution from the company.

“But it is in the last few weeks as we see the most funding, so it is a little early to make any prediction yet,” says Malin Morell.

– Images by Alan Kurdi meant a lot last year and the effect we see in year, which is terrible given the situation in Syria today, ” says Malin Morell, head of communication and fundraising at Save the Children.

the Facts: They collected the most in 2015

the Top ten collected gifts from the general public in 2015 (millions of dollars):

Unicef 453

Doctors without borders 448

the Swedish cancer society, 445

Save the Children, 344

the Red Cross 308

Heart-lung foundation, 269

SOS children’s villages, 247

the Swedish church, 227

the salvation army 227

the children’s cancer foundation 202

Source: Svensk insamlingskontroll

the Facts: This gives the most money

Together with Novus, UNHCR has investigated was in Sweden people are most likely to donate money to the charity. Seven of the ten have donated money in 2016.

Among people aged 65-79, the number is almost nine out of ten.

Women are more likely to donate money than men. 76 per cent of the surveyed women have donated money, compared with 66 per cent of men.

Most bountiful regions:

the southern part of Sweden 76 %

west of Sweden 71 %

Småland and the islands (Öland, Gotland) 71 %

Stockholm 70 %

middle Sweden 69 %

the northern sweden 68 %

Source: UNHCR/Novus