JVN Blog

So, it’s small charity week and we decided to lend our support to the countless small charities out there by examining how difficult it is for them to make the impact and difference they want.

There are 180,000 registered charities in England and Wales, all of which are recorded on the online register of charities. In addition, there are countless small charities below the income threshold (£5,000 per year) that aren’t required to register.

Although most charities are small, it’s the larger charities that generate the sector’s income.  The below figures from the charity regulator for England and Wales, Charity Commission, highlight this issue:

• Only 6% of all charities generate almost 90% of the total annual income recorded
• The largest 500 charities (0.3% of those on the register) generate almost 50% of the total income.*

The number of charities, particularly the smaller ones, rises daily.  With the increase of charities, where there is a large overlap of similar work, it has become a very competitive landscape.  In London alone there are just over 620 cancer charities, and more than 200 charities working with homeless people.

Whilst it’s fair to say that all charities deserve our help it is worth pointing out that it’s predominantly the “big boys” that grab the most attention and funding (as the above graph highlights).

There is no denying that every charity deserves help.  And we often give (either in time or financially) to the charities that have had an impact on us in someway – either directly or indirectly.

But it’s important not to overlook the smaller charities that have little or no funding – (indeed many small charities don’t have funding to pay for staff, meaning all the help is done via volunteers).  In fact, while writing this article we carried out a search on Google: “why small charities shouldn’t be overlooked”.  Apart from viewing “over looked tax deductions” the search results found little else!  This alone highlights the fact that online there needs to be more available – both to support the charities as well as raising awareness of smaller charities.

But just because a charity is small does not mean that they don’t make a difference.  On the contrary, they do.  But they need to be acknowledged and celebrated for the work that that they do.

Not only do they make a difference and an impact on so many people’s lives, but they also face constant challenges of raising funds and getting volunteers, while trying to raise their brand awareness at the same time.  A lot to do with very little resources!

Indeed, many smaller charities don’t have the funds to invest heavily in marketing, and in many cases have no marketing budget.  This creates a paradox of constantly attempting to raise their brand awareness while trying to attract more funding.

Although supporting small charities comes with many challenges there are also lots of advantages.  They tend to have more control over where the money is spent.  Conversely, bigger charities are often treated as a business and have similar issues that come with running a large business – large overheads, staffing, offices, logistics, HR requirements, and so on.

Smaller charities, on the other hand, are able to do a lot more with a larger proportion of the money that the public donates to them – they don’t have stakeholders and P&Ls to be restricted by.  In other words, you money goes a lot further with smaller charities.

There are so many inspirational and wonderful small charities out there, but they need your support now more than ever.  Don’t overlook the smaller charities because you haven’t heard of them.  Take the time to see the good that they do.

Smaller charities should be embraced and encouraged – wouldn’t you much prefer it if nearly all of your £10 donation was used to make a difference?

What do you think? Are small charities overlooked?  How will you be supporting Small Charity Week?  Here are a few small charities who would appreciate your support and would really benefit from the promotion this week; Camp Simcha, Emunah, Gefiltefest, Etgar, Rene Cassin, JCoRE, Jewish Music Institute.

Please do leave us a comment and share J

For more information about small charities or volunteering visit our website, Twitter or Facebook.