The number of small charities

Overview

There are 165,758 voluntary organisations in the UK, of which 96% are small charities.
In 2019/20, there were 159,041 small charities in the UK.
Small charities comprise 96% of the UK voluntary sector.
Scotland has the highest proportion of small charities per 1,000 people in the population.

Small charities comprise 96% of the voluntary sector in the UK.
In 2019/20, the overall number of charities in the UK was 165,758 – 159,041 of which were small charities with an income of under £1m.
The figures in this table use the NCVO ‘general charities’ definition.

Scotland has 367 small charities per 100,000 people in the population, the highest proportion in the UK.
Wales has the lowest proportion of small charities, with 215 per 100,000 people.

The overall size of the charity sector has remained relatively stable since 2013/14, with a small 2% decline in 2018/19 which picked up again in 2019/20.
The makeup of the sector continues to change, with the proportion of charities over £1m and £10m growing year-on-year.
In contrast, small charities have not increased significantly. The number of charities with an income of under £10k declined most sharply in 2018/19 but saw an increase in 2019/20.

places

Explore key regional differences on income, funding and causes for small charities

Insights

Explore our curated dataset about what activities that small charities do and where they work