The Regulator for Charities in England and Wales

Facts & Figures

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Latest Quarterly Facts & Figures for 2008

Income of Registered Main Charities In England & Wales, March 2008.

During March 2008, 364 charities were registered. Of these 357 were "main" charities and 7 were subsidiaries. This brings the total of charities registered for 2008 to 1289.

At the end of March 2008, there were 190,387 charities on our Register. Of these, 21,054 were subsidiaries or constituents of other charities. This means that there were 169,333 "main" charities on the Register that are required to prepare accounts. This figure includes 2,480 "group" charities. Group charities are separate charities but share the same registered number because they have been grouped together for ease of administration.

The Register showed that at the end of the 1st quarter, the total annual income of "main" registered charities was £45.910 billion.

When this income is broken down by individual charities we find that many are very small organisations indeed, and that the financial wealth of registered charities, measured by their annual income, is concentrated in just a few very large charities. This is demonstrated in the following figures:

  • the majority of registered charities have an income of £10,000 or less. They represent over 50% of registered charities but have less than 1% of the income recorded.
  • around 8% of charities receive over 90% of the total annual income recorded.
  • the largest 706 charities (0.42% of those on the register) attract nearly 50% of the total income.

The table below sets out in more detail how the total income is broken down.

Annual income bracket (£) Number of main charities % of registered main charities
Graph
Total annual income (£bn) of charities in each bracket % income of registered main charities
Graph
£0-1,000

35,491

20.96%

0.007 bn

0.01%

£1,001-10,000

58,749

34.70%

0.272 bn

0.59%

£10,001-100,000

49,812

29.42%

1.714 bn

3.73%

£100,001-250,000

10,910

6.44%

1.752 bn

3.81%

£250,001-1million

8,822

5.20%

4.360 bn

9.50%

£1m-5m

4,028

2.38%

8.712 bn

18.98%

£5m-10m

815

0.48%

5.781 bn

12.60%

£10m and over

706

0.42%

23.312 bn

50.78%

Total

169,333

100.00%

45.910 bn

100.00%