As a rule, charitable giving lags falls in other parts of the economy by about a year. Right on schedule, charities in the U.K. are seeing donations decrease, forcing them to lay off staff, seek new sources of funding or close entirely.

Nearly a thousand charities in the U.K. shut between 2007 and 2008, according to a Charity Commission report published last month. Nearly 60% of the 1,000 respondents said they had experienced a reduction in income because of the recession.

By the last quarter of 2008, a quarter of the charities interviewed had reported a fall in donations; 61% said they were concerned the economic downturn would affect the work they did or the activities they fund. More than half of those U.K. charities that focused overseas said sterling's fall against other currencies had affected them.

"Each pound that we spend in developing countries is buying us up to 20% less than last year," said a spokeswoman from Oxfam.

The Robert Gavron Charitable Trust, which has given to a variety of social charities and artistic organizations over the past few years, said in its latest annual report "the trustees are unlikely to be able to consider further applications for funding in the current financial climate." The report said the decision followed "a considerable fall in the value of the trust's investments, which the trustees view with concern."