Little more than half of charities saw income increase in 2018, report shows
Melanie May | 14 August 2019 | News
Just over half of charities across England and Wales (53.3%) increased their income in the last financial year, according to the latest Charity Financials Income Spotlight report, with overall income growth up 5.8% to £4.3 billion.
46.7% of charities in England and Wales saw income decrease, while two fifths of all revenue generated came from the capital.
This year, the 2019 Charity Financials Income Spotlight report looks at income by location for the first time and shows that nearly 21,000 charitable organisations are located or registered in London, which holds 40% of the revenue generated in 2017-18. 17% more came from the South East and 12% from Anglia and Eastern.
London charities also made the most annual gains, increasing their annual revenue by £2.2bn, while charities in the South East, the Midlands and the North West increased their income by nearly half a billion in the latest year. Wales was the only region to see a decrease in annual income. In percentage terms London charities grew their income by 8%, the Midlands 10% and the North West by 11% over the latest financial year, while Welsh charities saw a 2% decline in revenue.
Overall, just 7.3% of charities in England and Wales have an income greater than £500k, while small organisations with an annual income of £100k or less account for 71% of charities and generate 3% of the total income.
Organisations with an annual income of over £50 million make up just 0.1% of the charity population yet generate over a third of the total income; 36.7%. In fact, the number of charities with income over £50m continues to increase with these driving much of the sector’s growth. In 2018, these organisations increased annual income by £2.9bn, representing 68.5% of the total annual change.
The report also reveals that:
- 157,995 organisations reported their income in 2018
- 92.7% of charities have income less than £500k
- 52% of income is from charitable activity, 30% from voluntary sources, 9% from trading subsidiaries, and 5% from investments
- Total income for charities across England and Wales has grown by more than 75% in the last decade.
The Charity Financials Income Spotlight report is published by Charity Financials, a branch of Wilmington Charities, in partnership with Charles Stanley Investments.
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.