What do voluntary organisations spend their money on?
Overview
In 2021/22, the voluntary sector's total spending was £65.8bn, a slight increase compared to £64.5bn spending in 2020/21. After adjusting for inflation, this marks a small 2% rise, as the sector continues to recover from the challenges brought by the covid-19 pandemic.
The biggest area of expenditure remains charitable activities, which accounted for £52.3bn or 80% of all voluntary sector spending. This was followed by £6.7bn (10%) on grants, and £6.3 bn (10%) on activities for generating funds.
Spending on charitable activities has increased considerably from £44.7bn in 2020/21 (up 17%), while spending on grants has decreased from £11.5bn (down 43%).
Spending on the activities for generating funds has decreased overall from £7.5bn (down 16%) but this is largely related to the costs of fundraising trading. This trend suggests that the sector is increasing its focus on service delivery while decreasing its support for grant-making activities.
Over time
Between 2020/21 and 2021/22, the voluntary sector's spending increased by 2%, reflecting a cautious recovery since the covid-19 pandemic.
Historically, the sector has seen periods of consistent growth in spending, with steady growth from 2012/13 to 2019/20, but the impact of the pandemic in 2020/21 ended this trend with a small decline.
The return to modest growth in 2021/22 indicates that many organisations are adapting to the post-pandemic landscape and resuming normal operations.
Key spending patterns:
- Charitable activities saw an increase to £52.3bn from £44.7bn.
- Grants decreased to £6.7bn from £11.6bn.
- Spending on activities for generating funds dropped slightly to £6.3bn from £7.5bn.
By size
Spending patterns vary significantly based on organisational size:
- Major and super-major organisations (with income over £10m) accounted for 57% of all voluntary sector spending, contributing £37.1bn in total.
- Micro and small organisations (with income under £100,000) made up 80% of all voluntary sector organisations but only contributed 3% of total spending, equating to £2.1bn.
- Spending patterns were similar by size of organisations with spend on charitable activities standing at 78% of micro and small, 79% of medium, 74% of large and 83% of major and super-major organisations.
