Charity surpluses dropped by 60% in two years of recession
Howard Lake | 25 May 2011 | News
The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) reports that charities’ surpluses dropped by 60% between 2007 and 2009 during the recession, demonstrating that many charities are now operating “on a financial knife-edge with little room to breathe”.
Analysis of charities’ annual returns on CAF’s recently launched website, Charity Trends, shows that registered charities in England and Wales had on average £24,507 of surplus in 2007, compared to £10,240 in 2009, which is the last year with complete data.
Overall these charities’ total surplus dropped from £3.59 billion in 2007 to £1.45 billion in 2009. Adjusted for inflation, this total is even less than that recorded for 2002.
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CAF defines surplus as total income minus total expenditure.
Colin Walton, Head of Charities at the Charities Aid Foundation said: “Our analysis shows just how difficult the last few years have been for charities financially.
“The fall in surpluses makes things extremely difficult for charities as it means less to invest in their organisation and staff, less opportunities to expand their services and less to put aside into reserves. Charities have always had to work efficiently, but the situation over the last two to three years has meant more and more charities are working on a financial knife-edge.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.