'Small' Charities Defined?

• A charity is often defined as ‘small’ if it has an annual income of under £1m (CAF, the FSI and SCC). Under this definition – as Small Charities Data highlights - 96% of UK charities are ‘small’.
• BUT, this sub-£1m definition is disputed by various charitable sector collectives and organisations – partly because more than half of charities in England and Wales have an annual income of less than £21,500.
• NCVO, for instance, divides charities into sub-categories:
  • Micro = total income under £10k
  • Small = £10k to £100k
  • Medium = £100k to £1m
• Elsewhere, Small Charity Support offers a qualitative definition of a ‘small’ charity. It says that they are:
  • ‘…primarily run 'hands-on' by their un-paid non-accountant trustees and other volunteers in their spare time - usually with minimal or no paid professional administrative and/or financial support staff’.

What do the UK's smaller charities do?

• According to Small Charities Week 2025, two thirds of smaller charities work at local levels – i.e. their outcomes and impacts aim to improve conditions within the charity’s locality.
• Close to their communities, these local charities can access places and people the bigger charities cannot. These connections mean that their services have the potential to be flexible, personal, and fast-acting.

Example of Local Charity Action

Firs and Bromford: Neighbours Together

Bromford, Birmingham (unregistered community group)

• A voluntary community group working with National Lottery Community funding of £1m (2014-26) to improve the lives of residents in Bromford.
• Offers locals the chance to win a preliminary fund of £200 to execute a community idea/project.

Problems Facing Smaller Charities

Socio-economic triple threat

• ‘Costs are rising, demand is increasing and funding is falling.’
• (Sarah Elliott, Chief Executive at NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations), addressing the pressures on small charities, June 2025).
• Small Charity Week 2025, in partnership with Big Give, Global’s Make Some Noise and NCVO found that nearly 50% of small charities at risk of closure (from a sample size of 700).

Generally overlooked by funders

• CAF Giving Report (Charities Aid Foundation, 2025), found that only one third of donors contribute to smaller charities.
  • This is significant as same report found in 2024 that charitable UK donors fell by 8% (58% to 50%) – an approximate loss of 4 million donors.
• ‘Underfunded and Overlooked’ – a 2024 report by the CSJ Foundation (Centre for Social Justice) – found that donors/philanthropists are often unaware of the small charities operating within their communities.

Lack of resources

• Smaller charities often operate without fully-formed websites, active social media accounts, financial/progress reports, professional fundraisers and evaluators – meaning they struggle to showcase their impacts, and connect to funders/donors.

SRB, through effective research and evaluation can help smaller charities overcome these problems and best demonstrate their local outcomes and impact.

SRB EXAMPLE: soundLINCS

Music charity, Lincolnshire

• SRB is currently working as the project evaluator for Future of the Past – a project lead by soundLINCS aiming to improve young people’s (aged 11-25) access and engagement with 6 Lincolnshire heritage sites.
• SRB’s mixed-method evaluation frameworks ensure that the project’s learnings are continuously captured. This framework shapes delivery, informs funder reporting, and builds a strong evidence base for the outcomes and impacts of FOTP’s work.