Demand for services “outstrips small charities’ income”
Howard Lake | 30 April 2014 | News
Income to small charities is not keeping track with demand for their services, figures from the Foundation for Social Improvement’s Small Charity Index show.
The latest three-monthly figures – from December 2013 to February 2014 – show that 77 per cent of the 350 charities taking part in the survey reported that their statutory funding hadn’t changed in that period while 46 per cent reported no movement in their voluntary income either. However 32 per cent reported an increase in voluntary income.
Over the same time 62 per cent reported an increase in demand for the services.
“This steady rise in demand will at some point, probably in the not too distant future, see small charities reach breaking point,” the FSI report says. “Given small charities’ crucial role in delivering local services to local people a funding solution needs to be discussed sooner rather than later.”
The report says that initiatives such as the Transition Fund – under which £100m was set aside for distribution through the Big Lottery Fund to assist small organisations adapted to new funding environments – had simply papered over the cracks.
“If the Small Charity Index is correct, these initiatives have only served to mask the deep-rooted problem that funding is flat-lining for small charities,” the report goes on.
“Results from the Small Charity Index point to the need for government to continue to show their support through funding initiatives and skills development for those small charities delivering front line services through a mixture of grants and contracts.”
The survey results have been published to coincide with the launch of Small Charity Week from 16-21 June. Now in its fifth year, the programme for 2014 includes a ‘policy day’ (offering small charities across the UK the chance to meet with and engage with policy makers, commissioners and influencers to discuss the issues affecting them) a fundraising day and a volunteering day.
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.