Databook: the changing shape of UK charity finances
Like a lot of people in the sector, we leaned on NCVO's UK Civil Society Almanac to make sense of charity finances. It is a careful, long-running piece of work and we are not setting out to replace it. Its most recent edition covers 2021/22, though, and the next has been delayed to 2026, so the freshest published picture is now a few years old.
In the meantime we have recreated the cuts we reach for most, drawn from the same raw material the Almanac uses, the accounts and annual returns that charities file with their regulators, and run them through to the 2023/24 returns. This is a lighter, finance-only take, and it counts charities slightly differently, which is why the totals here run higher. There is a short explanation of that in the notes below.
Some things we noted:
The longer term trends of slow accumulation of income in larger charities has continued
The mix is tilting from money given to money earned. Income from donations and legacies grew about 12% in cash, to £30.7bn, but its share of the total slipped from roughly 32% to 28%.
Commercial trading is the fastest-rising source. Income from trading that sits outside a charity's core mission, meaning shops, events and sales, rose around 84% to £10.9bn
Service income remains the core. Fees, contracts and grants earned through delivering charitable activities grew about 27% to £58bn and still make up more than half of all income.
Charity finances
Charity finances across England, Scotland and Wales
A finance view of the voluntary sector, built from the public charity registers. Switch between England and Wales, Scotland, or the two combined, then read income by size of charity, where income comes from, and how it is spent. Years shown are 2021 to 2024, where coverage is complete.
Sources and limitations
Scope. Every registered charity that filed a return, whole population, by financial year of the reporting period. Hover a block for the amount, its share of the year, and the number of charities in that band.
Concentration. The super-large band, charities above £10m, is a tiny share of filers but the large majority of income everywhere.
Change over 2021 to 2024
Sources and limitations
Scope. The income breakdown exists only for charities above £500k, which hold most of the sector's income but are a minority of organisations, so this describes the financial core.
Reading the change. Part of the cash rise comes from more charities crossing £500k over the period, so each source's shift in share is the sounder read. Categories follow the charity SORP; voluntary income is donations and legacies, earned is charitable activities plus other trading.
Sources and limitations
Scope. Charities above £500k. Spending is shown in the three categories reported consistently across registers: charitable activities, the cost of raising funds, and other. England and Wales also reports grants to other bodies separately within charitable activities.
Thin margins. Spending runs close to income across the nations, so the core operates with little surplus.
About this data
Sources. Charity Commission for England and Wales, and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, register extracts from July 2026. Figures are total gross income declared on annual returns, by the financial year in which the reporting period ended. Gross income double counts grants that pass between charities.
How this compares with the NCVO Almanac. This counts all registered charities. Combined income for England and Wales was £102bn in 2024, matching the Charity Commission's own figure, with Scotland adding around £18bn. NCVO's UK Civil Society Almanac reported a smaller total, near £69bn for 2021/22, because it measured a narrower “general charities” definition that leaves out schools, NHS charities, housing associations and public bodies. The two count different things rather than disagreeing.
Northern Ireland is excluded. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland publishes no open bulk download, and its register is still being populated, so a large share of Northern Ireland charities are not yet recorded. Including that partial data would understate the nation and distort comparisons, so it is left out, and the combined view covers England, Wales and Scotland only.
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