After a holiday crammed with food and festivities, indulgence and indigestion, crackers and cringeworthy-jokes, the doors finally re-opened to nfpSynergy Towers today. Only a few of us are here flying the purple and blue flag, while several more work from their temporary offices scattered around Europe.

The team will return en masse this Monday from Scotland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Germany and Doncaster. So while it’s quiet, what better opportunity to look at five reasons the charity sector has to be cheerful this year.

Trust in charities is high

Public trust in institutions is notoriously volatile, but charities are flying high at the moment. Our latest data shows that charities begin 2014 as the fourth most trusted institution, with the trust of two thirds of people. By way of comparison, this is the second highest since we began asking in 2003.

Volunteering is high, especially among the young

Charities rely on volunteers and our research shows that attachments to organisations are formed early on. It's therefore encouraging that 16-25 year olds are now twice as likely to volunteer as they were ten years ago and a third of them did so in the last three months. Volunteering itself is at a ten year high, with over a quarter of people contributing.

Donors are happy

Those who empty their wallets into charitable coffers are pretty satisfied with the experience right now. Over a third feel their wishes are taken seriously and more than half feel that charities strive for professional standards. What’s more, over half of donors actually gave to between three and five charities, not just one.

Total recall

Charities thrive on people having heard of them and our latest stats are positive for this area as well. An impressive 68 charities received prompted awareness scores of more than 50%, while 42 of them exceeded 75%. What’s more, two in three people can recall charity publicity from the last three months.

The people are ok with lobbying

The Lobbying Bill has understandably dominated the political agenda, not to mention the news. Thankfully, 58% of people think charities should be able to campaign politically, 46% think it’s worthwhile and it puts just 4% off giving.

In the time it took to read this, 315 children under the age of 5 died worldwide. Here in the UK, two people were killed by a heart attack and seven were diagnosed with cancer.

2,309 of us slept rough last night and seven million people woke up this morning to face another day with a significant mental health problem.

As the population grows, charities have never been more needed and there are plenty of reasons to feel positive. With trust, awareness, volunteering and donor satisfaction high, charities look set for a prosperous and lucrative 2014.

A very Happy New Year to everyone in the sector - the fight continues.

Are year in agreement? Or is does this positive outlook come across weekly? Leave us a comment below.