Charity finances 2021 to 2024: more deficits, concentrated income

Key findings

How many charities spend more than their income?

About four in ten charities in these registers spent more than their income in FY2024, up from about three in ten in FY2021. The table follows the same charities in each register through all four years, so the change cannot come from different charities filing in different years. In most registers the share peaked in FY2023 and eased slightly in FY2024.

Share of each panel whose total expenditure was higher than total income in that fiscal year. Change is in percentage points, FY2021 to FY2024. Private foundations are shown for completeness only: their income moves with investment results (FY2022 was a market-loss year), so they tell a different story from operating charities.

Deeper deficits rose too. The share of charities spending more than 110% of their income went from 20.2% to 27.0% in England and Wales and from 15.0% to 23.0% among US Form 990 filers, on the same panels.

Two deficit years in a row are common. Between 19.1% (Australia, New Zealand) and 25.8% (Scotland) of panel charities spent more than their income in both FY2023 and FY2024. In England and Wales the figure is 24.3%; among US Form 990 filers it is 23.7%.

Ten-year context: New Zealand and Ireland

FY2021 was the lowest deficit year of the decade in both registers where we hold ten consecutive years of filings. The panels hold charities that filed income and spending above zero in every year from FY2015 to FY2024.

Panels of 14,507 charities (New Zealand) and 3,956 charities (Ireland). Ireland was higher in FY2015 and FY2016 than today, so the recent rise is a return from an unusual low, not a new record. Why FY2021 was low is our interpretation, not something the filings show: pandemic emergency funding counted as income, together with reduced activity, is the likely explanation.

How concentrated is charity income?

Charity income is highly concentrated: in each of the six registers, the largest 1% of filing charities report more than half of all reported income for FY2024, and the smaller half of filers together report about 1% or less. Most charities are small. 60.4% of England and Wales filers and 57.7% of New Zealand filers reported income under 100,000 in local currency.

FY2024, all charities in each register that filed income above zero. Share of total reported income held by the largest 1%, the largest 10% and the smaller 50% of filers, ranked by income. United States = Form 990 and 990-EZ filers combined (501(c)(3) public charities), excluding private foundations. Compare shares, not amounts: currencies differ.

"Reported income" is not the same as donations. It includes government contracts, fees for services, trading and investment income. That is why large service providers such as hospitals, universities, housing and care organisations dominate the top of each register, especially in the United States.

How we measured this

Every figure comes from the financial data each official register publishes, as held in the GiveRadar database on 15 October 2026. We counted organisations only; no individual charity is named or ranked here.

• Sources. United States: IRS Form 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF e-file data (total revenue, total expenses). England and Wales: Charity Commission annual return figures (total income, total expenditure). Scotland: OSCR. Australia: ACNC Annual Information Statements. New Zealand: Charities Services annual returns. Ireland: Charities Regulator annual reports. Organisations GiveRadar has excluded as not being charities are left out.
• Fiscal year. A fiscal year is labelled by the calendar year in which it ends. Year ends differ by charity and by country (many Australian charities close on 30 June, many New Zealand charities on 31 March), so FY2024 covers financial years ending at any point in 2024.
• Deficit. A charity is counted as in deficit for a year when total expenditure in its filed accounts is higher than total income. A deeper deficit means expenditure above 110% of income.
• Panel method. For Finding 1, a charity enters a register's panel only if it filed figures with income and expenditure both above zero for every year FY2021, FY2022, FY2023 and FY2024 with that register. Every year therefore describes exactly the same charities. Where a charity has more than one filing for the same year, we use the highest figure. US filers are split by return type, and a charity enters the panel of the form it filed in all four years.
• Concentration. For Finding 2, all charities with FY2024 income above zero are ranked by income within their register. The top 1% is the first 1% of that ranking (rounded up), and so on. Each group's share is its total income divided by the register's total.
• Registers left out. Canada, because GiveRadar holds only one fiscal year (2023) of CRA filings. Latvia, because the filings we hold carry no usable pair of income and expenditure. Northern Ireland, Belgium, Norway and Israel, because their filing sets are small or recently imported, so a four-year panel would be too thin. Countries without register financial data are not included.

What this does not mean

A deficit year is not wrongdoing. Charities spend more than they take in for ordinary, planned reasons: drawing on reserves built up for that purpose, receiving a multi-year grant in one year and spending it over several, booking depreciation, absorbing higher costs from inflation, or meeting higher demand after the pandemic. These figures describe pressure on the sector, not the conduct of any organisation.

• FY2024 is still arriving. US Form 990 can be filed up to 10.5 months after year end and IRS e-file releases lag further, so the US panels lean towards earlier filers. Late filers in other registers will also add to FY2024. Quote these as "FY2024 filings published so far".
• The smallest organisations are under-represented. US organisations filing the Form 990-N e-Postcard report no figures, and charities with income of GBP 10,000 or less are under-represented in the England and Wales financial data. Including them would most likely make income concentration higher, not lower.
• Why 2021 was low is an interpretation. Pandemic emergency support counted as income (such as forgiven US Paycheck Protection Program loans) and reduced activity are the likely causes. The filings do not prove it.
• Amounts are nominal. We do not adjust for inflation. The deficit share does not depend on it; growth in income would.
• Scotland overlaps with England and Wales. Charities registered with both OSCR and the Charity Commission appear in both registers. Cross-border charities based in England also report their UK-wide income to OSCR, which raises Scotland's total and its top 1% share.
• Income is not donations. See the note under Finding 2. Do not describe these shares as shares of giving.

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The aggregate tables behind this note are free to reuse under CC-BY-4.0. They contain counts and shares per register and year only, with no per-charity rows.