The income entry point for charities to claim membership of the UK’s biggest 350 charities has fallen for the first time in 17 years, exclusive research by Charity Finance magazine has shown.
The fall in the average three years’ income level required to be included in the Charity 250 Index mirrors that of the Charity 100 Index, which also dipped last month for the first time since the Indexes were launched in 1996.
The findings show that the double-dip recession is finally affecting the UK’s biggest charities, though it has taken five years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, widely acknowledged as the start of the current downturn, for the impact to filter through.
The figures are shown in the annual constituent reviews of the Charity 100 and Charity 250 Indexes, which report the average three years’ income of the UK’s 350 biggest charities by income.
Last month’s review of the Charity 100 Index found that the minimum average three-year income level for entry into the list had fallen for the first time since the Index was launched in 1996. At £48.7m it was 2 per cent lower than last year’s £49.7m.
This month’s review of the Charity 250 Index, published in the May edition of Charity Finance, also reveals an unprecedented fall in the income entry point, though only of 1 per cent, from £16.8m to £16.6m.
The income level at the top end of the Charity 250 Index has also fallen this year, by 2 per cent, from £49.4m to £48.3m.
However, the charity sector is still faring pretty well compared with other sectors of the UK economy – income levels have continually outpaced the share price increases of companies in the FTSE 250 Index, except for 2007 when the FTSE 250 peaked.
There are 14 new entrants to the Charity 250 Index this year. Those that fell out of the Charity 100 Index because their income was outpaced by other charities include the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Youth Hostels Associations for England and Wales, the Gatsby Foundation and the Football Foundation.
They were overtaken by charities including the British Film Institute, National Trust for Scotland, Water Aid, Plan UK and Catch22. All of these organisations climbed up out of the Charity 250 Index and into the Charity 100 Index.
The income data is extracted from accounts with financial year-ends up to and including 31 March 2012.
Subscribers to civilsociety.co.uk can click here to read the full Charity 250 Index report and see the table. And click here to benchmark your charity’s income streams against the top 350 charities.
