Charity fun runs, cake bakes and sponsored slims are all well and good.

But when it comes to raising cash for good causes, we reach for a book of cloakroom tickets.

The old-fashioned raffle was the nation’s favourite way to raise money for charity in 2016, according to new research for the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Almost one in five people took part in a charity raffle in the past 12 months – making it the UK’s top fundraising activity of the year.

Tea and cake also play a big part in the nation’s charity fundraising efforts, revealed the CAF-commissioned YouGov poll.

The traditional charity raffle was a particular favourite among older people. People aged over 54 were twice as likely to have taken part in a raffle within the last year than those under 25.

Overall, more women than men said they had taken part in a fundraising event in 2016. This mirrors previous research which shows that women in the UK are consistently more likely than men to support charities. Numbers sponsoring people to do something for charity have increased significantly in recent years. About one in three people in the UK (32%) sponsored someone in 2015 according to CAF’s UK Giving 2015 report. When CAF conducted similar research in 2010/11, 11% of people said they had sponsored someone for charity.

The CAF top 10 list of unusual items donated to charity includes:

A sheep’s head (Sue Ryder)

A prosthetic leg (Emmaus)

A ventriloquist dummy (British Heart Foundation)

A Victoria Cross Medal (CAF)

Property (ranging from a townhouse in central London to rural chocolate box cottages)

A moon flask (Oxfam)

A pair of canaries (Cancer Research UK)

A live ferret (Blue Cross For Pets)

A wedding dress used in an episode of Coronation Street (Guide Dogs For The Blind)

A Kermit The Frog puppet from the 1970s

The 10 most popular fundraising events for people to have taken part in during 2016 were:

1 Raffle (19%)

2 Tea and coffee morning (11%)

3 Bake sale (9%)

4 Quiz (8%)

5 Fancy dress/dress down day (5%)

6 Second hand sale (4%)

7 Walking (3%)

8 Charity auction (3%)

9 Putting on a performance / doing something creative (3%)

10 Running (2%)