New research from the Covid-19 Survey 2021 (published by the Charity Commission) has found that 91% of charities do not plan to make any staff redundancies over the next 12 months. The same percentage of charities revealed that Covid-19 has impacted them negatively (as expected) however most made less than a quarter of their staff redundant.

For charities, the largest issue the pandemic has caused has been a hit to services and delivery (85%).

Almost 60% of survey respondents said that planned work and events had been cancelled due to the pandemic, as the majority lost income from charitable activities (60%).

 

Charities frustrated by uncertainty

The general consensus was that charities were frustrated by the uncertainty of when their operations could return to a level of ‘pre-covid’ normality. To help counteract this some charities decided to adapt their services during the restrictions while others used their financial reserves and paused operations temporarily.

 

What about the future?

Over a third of charities predict that they will generate less revenue in 2022 from donations and fundraising. Many charities foresee their immediate financial viability under threat over the next 12 months. This could see some charities forced to make more tough decisions in the short term to ensure their future.

20% of charities have accessed funding support via their local authorities and 14% via national government schemes. Respondents said that additional clarity on funding and how to access it would be beneficial, going forward.

 

Positives

Whilst the pandemic presented many challenges for charities, positives can be taken. Many have increased their use of digital technology and streamlined their operations to increase the frequency of online events and digital giving. Others have taken the opportunity to improve infrastructure in a period where they could never have anticipated so much downtime and are now better positioned to deliver their services. Overall, the sector has proven itself to be resilient and adaptive to a changing environment which should give confidence as we move into 2022.

 

How can we help?

At Hawsons we have a dedicated team of charity and not-for-profit accountants at our offices in Sheffield, Doncaster, and Northampton.

Our dedicated team fully understands the complex, ever-changing regulatory requirements of the charity and not-for-profit sector. Irrespective of your size we wish to support you to maximise the benefits you could achieve through our specialist professional advice.

Charities & not-for-profit organisations are currently facing extensive changes in their regulatory and legal framework. Given the additional pressures on fundraising, complex tax regimes, internal risk exposure, and stakeholder demands, it has never been more important to obtain specialist professional advice.

More from our charity experts

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