Ten things you never knew about… charity

1. The declaration was proposed by Hungary which suggested September 5 as the date of the death of Mother Teresa in 1997.

2. In 2006, the auction of one of William Shatner’s kidney stones raised $25,000 for charity.

3. In 2015, a 68-year-old slice of wedding cake from the marriage of the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip sold in a charity auction for £500.

4. Also in 2015, a piano autographed by several celebrities and licked by Miley Cyrus sold in a charity auction for $50,000.

5. “Charity begins at home and justice begins next door.” (Charles Dickens).

6. According to the 2017 World Giving Index, the people of Myanmar (Burma) are more likely to show charity to others than any other country.

7. Indonesia, Kenya, New Zealand and the USA come next. The UK is in 11th place.

8. There are about 163,000 charities in the UK that support good causes. Their annual income is about £44billion of which £42billion goes to those in need.

9. In any given month, around 44 per cent of British people donate to charity.

10. UK charities employ about 827,000 people, which is 2.7 per cent of the workforce.