Benchmark your charity's fundraising against its peers

The Charity Commission publishes a count for every charity with income over £500,000, because these charities must break their income down in their annual return. Its rule: where a charity "has received more than 70% of its total income from a single category", it is grouped under that category (Charity Commission register, charities by income category, 25 September 2026).

Under the charity accounting rules behind these accounts, the 4 categories mean (Charities SORP (FRS 102), second edition 2019, paragraphs 4.31 to 4.37; the Charities SORP 2026, for years starting on or after 1 January 2026, keeps these 4 headings and places grants the same way):

• Donations and legacies: gifts, gifts left in wills, and grants with no conditions tied to delivering a set service.
• Charitable activities: money earned by doing the charity's work: fees, contracts, and grants that pay for a set service.
• Other trading activities: money from selling things or holding events to raise funds, such as charity shops.
• Investments: interest, dividends and rent from property held as an investment.

On that day, 5,913 charities (39 per cent) were mainly funded by charitable activities, 4,427 (29 per cent) by donations and legacies, and 939 by trading or investments. The other 4,045 (26 per cent) had no single category above 70 per cent. The Commission dates this table by the day and its counts move from day to day, so a later visit will show slightly different numbers.

What it means for you: if your income is over £500,000 and 1 category brings in more than 70 per cent of it, you are in the majority, not an outlier. In our view, the board's question is not "are we diversified?" but "how secure is the source we depend on, and when does it next decide?".

NCVO sorts income by who pays it. "The public" is individuals: in its words, "This category includes voluntary donations, legacies, and earnings from trading activities, such as charity shops and membership fees." "Government" is councils and national bodies, covering "government grants, contracts, and service fees" (NCVO Almanac 2024, income sources). The third payer is listed in NCVO's tables as "Voluntary sector (including foundations and trusts)" (NCVO Almanac 2024 data tables, Definitions sheet).

In 2021/22, the most recent year NCVO has published:

• £1 million to £100 million: these charities took "a relatively greater share of their income from the public (51%) and less from the government (27%), compared to smaller organisations".
• Over £100 million: these received "a higher share of their income from the voluntary sector (23%) than all smaller organisations"; the public gave 40 per cent and government 28 per cent.

(Both from NCVO Almanac 2024, income sources.)

Use these shares as a backdrop, not a target. NCVO warns that income by size "is only available in 2021/22 for 82% of the organisations and is most likely to be missing for smaller organisations" (NCVO Almanac 2024, finances overview), and 3 or more years have passed since.

The register adds up the accounts of every charity above £500,000. On 25 September 2026, their spending on raising funds was £8.3 billion, out of £99.3 billion spent in total (Charity Commission register, sector overview; the Commission notes the page "is updated daily", so the sums shown there now may differ a little). Set against the £29.9 billion they received in donations and legacies and the £8.4 billion from trading, that is about 22p for every £1 those 2 sources brought in.

Read the line with care. "Raising funds" is a line in the statement of financial activities, the table in the accounts showing all money received and spent in the year.

It covers more than appeals and bid writing: under the charity accounting rules behind these accounts (the Charities SORP (FRS 102), second edition 2019, paragraph 4.45; the 2026 edition names the line "expenses incurred on raising funds" and says it may include the same costs), it includes the cost of running shops and other trading, and of managing investments, so the 22p is not the cost of asking for gifts alone. In our view, a charity with 40 shops and another with none will never look alike here.

• England and Wales. The Charity Commission's register is free to search and lists each charity's finances along with its trustees, aims and address. Charities that have not registered because their income is below £5,000 or because they are excepted, and charities exempt from the Commission's regulation, are missing from it.

• Scotland. OSCR, the Scottish regulator, says: "Every accounts document submitted to OSCR from 9 March 2026 as part of a charity's online annual return will be published in full, without any redactions, on the Scottish Charity Register." (OSCR, 19 February 2026)
• Northern Ireland. The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland keeps its own register search.

• The trustees' annual report. A charity that must have its accounts audited (a full check by an independent auditor) must also report on its fundraising, including "the fundraising approach taken by the charity or by anyone acting on its behalf", whether it is registered with the Fundraising Regulator, and "the number of complaints received by the charity, or by a person or organisation acting on its behalf, about its fundraising" (GOV.UK, trustees' annual report).

• For every charity form, whether a company, a trust or a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO, a charity form with its own legal identity), an audit applies once gross income is "more than £1.5 million" (or lower, if it holds large assets), for years closing from 30 September 2026 onwards (GOV.UK rules for companies, trusts and CIOs). In our view, these pages are often the plainest description of how a peer raises its money.

Accounts answer "how much" and "from what kind of source", rarely what a fundraising team most wants settled. Know the limits:

• The figures are late. A charity has up to 10 months after its year closes to report to the Commission (GOV.UK). A peer's latest figures may describe a year that ended long before your own.

• Detail shrinks with size. The income split above is published only for charities whose "latest income is more than £500,000". At £10,000 a year or less, a charity that is not a CIO reports only its total income and spending, not a full annual return (GOV.UK). A CIO, a trust or an unincorporated association (a charity with no legal identity of its own) "can prepare receipts and payments accounts if" its gross income is £250,000 or less (£500,000 for years ending from 30 September 2026) (GOV.UK rules for CIOs and trusts); these are simple cash-in, cash-out statements, so the lines you want may not exist. By contrast, "All charitable companies must prepare accruals accounts" (GOV.UK, accounts rules for charitable companies), the fuller format with a statement of every kind of income and spending.

• The method is hidden. Accounts rarely show what each fundraising method cost and raised, and they rarely show how many applications a peer sent and won, or how many donors gave again. In our view, those come only from your own records, or from peers willing to share theirs.

• National studies trail the present. NCVO's size figures describe 2021/22. Read them as the shape of the sector, not this year's bar.

1. Your main source of income. Work out what share each of the 4 categories gives you; the Commission's annual return guidance says the figures "will generally be found in the income section of your charity’s Statement of Accounts" (GOV.UK). Above £500,000, more than 70 per cent from 1 is the norm. Below that, the register's sector tables publish no split, so compare yourself with NCVO's figures for charities of £100,000 to £1 million in the small-charity guide. Good looks like a board that knows when its main source next decides, and what happens if it says no.

1. Your mix against charities your size. From £1 million to £100 million, the public pays about half; under £1 million, use the small-charity guide's figures for your band. If your mix differs from your band's, that is not a fault in our view; the board should still be able to say why.

1. What raising funds costs. Take your raising-funds spending as a share of all spending, for 3 years running. Across charities over £500,000 the figure was 8.4 per cent on 25 September 2026; the register's page moves daily, so the figure you work out there today may be a little different. In our view, a smaller charity with no paid fundraiser may spend close to nothing here, and that is a choice to record, not a saving to celebrate. Good looks like a figure you can explain by the methods you use, and a trend you chose.

1. Your grant requests against grants to charities your size. This works at any income. Good looks like asks that match what funders actually give charities of your income, cause and area.

1. Your donations against the national trend. In 2025 public giving fell almost 10 per cent, a yardstick for a village charity and a national one alike. Good looks like a donations line read against that, not against last year alone.