Overview

  • In 2019/20, small charities’ total income was £9.9bn, equating to 17% of the overall income in the voluntary sector.
  • Over a six-year period, small charities have experienced a year-on-year decline in the amount and proportion of their income as a share of the voluntary sectors’ overall income.
  • The largest source of income is from the general public, which amounted to just over half (51%) of their total income in 2019/20.

What is the amount and proportion of income by charity size?

  • In 2019/20, small charities accounted for nearly one-fifth (17%) of the total income, and make up 96% of the overall number of charities in the sector.
  • Charities with an income of between £10m – £100m account for nearly a third (32%) of the total income, despite comprising less than 1% of the number of charities.

What sources make up small charities’ income?

  • In 2019/20, small charities' total income was £9.9bn, which is 17% of the overall sectors' income (£58.7bn).
  • The largest source of small charities' income is from the general public, which amounts to over half (£5bn, 51%) of their total income in 2019/20.
  • Just over a fifth (£2bn, 21%) of small charities' income comes from government, which is the second largest source of income for small charities.

How do the main sources of income differ by charity size?

  • In 2019/20, the general public was the largest income source for charities of all sizes.
  • The largest (over £100m) and the smallest charities (under £100k) received the largest proportion of their total income from the public (58% and 57% respectively).
  • Charities with an income of £100k-£1m received the largest proportion of income from government sources, 30% compared to only 12% for charities under £100k and 23% for charities between £100k-£1m.

How have small charities’ total income changed over time?

  • The overall size of the voluntary sector has continued to grow year-on-year since 2013/14.
  • In this time, small charities’ total income has remained relatively stable. In 2019/20, small charities' total income was £9.9bn.
  • By contrast, large charities have experienced an increase. Charities over £100m have grown from £12.2bn to £13.8bn from 2018/19 to 2019/20.

How have the main funding sources changed over time?

  • Since 2013/14, small charities have experienced fluctuations in the share of income from different income sources.
  • As a proportion of total income, income from the general public has slightly increased since 2013/14 (48%), although this dipped in 2019/20 (50%).
  • Income from government, as a share of total income, has decreased by 4 percentage points since 2013/14.

How do charities get their income?

  • The voluntary sector gets its income in three ways: as earned income, voluntary income, or through investments.
  • In 2019/20, earned income accounted for 41% of small charities’ income, compared to 49% of large charities’ income.

Insights

Grants and donations

How do small charities fundraise from the general public and elsewhere?

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Insights

Trading and Enterprise

Explore data on how small charities earn their money through trading, social enterprise and delivering contracts

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Further reading

NCVO 2020 UK Civil Society Almanac 2020

Third Sector Trends Research 2020 The Strength of Weak Ties: How charitable trusts and foundations collectively contribute to civil society in North East England