I have been a non executive director for a not for profit charity for 11 years. In that time I have seen the challenges charities face, the regulations expectations, and the number of charities that collapsed, increase year on year.

It has never been more important to be business process led when executing the purpose of the charity.

The Guardian leader column shared their less than cheery festive view just at the end of 2025, talking of scale back in some of our best known and established charities across the UK, with closures of centres, reduction of staff, and many smaller charities having to chip away at their reserves just to stay afloat.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/31/the-guardian-view-on-hard-times-for-britains-charities-struggling-to-do-more-with-less

Here I share my perspective on what the watch outs are and how charities will need to be running to survive the turbulence.

In 2026 all charities will need to be agile

Charities that don’t change how they fundraise will see a decline. That decline for some will be damaging beyond return. Running the same campaign, because we have done it for decades, will not produce more. In fact, if reviewed it would in most cases show a flattened income from the campaign year on year over the last 4 to 5. This year in the UK corporate belts will tighten to take the hit of cost of headcount increase, cost of living pinches almost all harder, and youth is less engaged with the heritage models of charitable fundraising.

If you keep rolling out the same, without changes, you will recieve less.

Your management need commercial experience. Doing good is not good enough.

Smaller Charities that are founder led are often set up as a edge of the table project alongside a professional interest. They then develop in to a larger entity, and a full time job. It is important to say that until just over 8 ears ago, these Charities could survive quite well. The first major shake up to charity governance happened then and rigor for running a charity came in to place. As a trustee at that point, the governance and quality of this increased and being strategic and budget focused became more important. Post COVID any charity not workjng as a business, and not being agile, started to see a sharper decline in their annual report of income. The regulation body realised it was building process that was restrictive and has over these last eight years worked to reduce some of the complexity with the latest code and regulatory guidance https://www.charitygovernancecode.org/ https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regulator-updates-guidance-after-legislative-changes-on-moral-payments

One thing is clear, to keep a charity afloat, and aim for growth, you need to run it like any other business. That means evaluating and analysing focusing on growth, decline and retirement of products services or campaigns through portfolio management, tracking and reporting, and agile experimentation.

Focusing on a good audit result at end of year from a regulatory viewpoint is not enough.

Giving is down so you need to be clear on the value you bring to gain your share

The biggest mindshift for established Charities is the approach to raising funds. The UK Giving 2025 Report tells the story of giving in 2024: Charities are now relying on donations from only 50% of people, down from 58% in 2019 — equivalent to approximately four million fewer donors.

The next generation are not engaged with what you are doing

From that same.report, we see that only 36% of 16- to- 24-year-olds say they donated or sponsored in the past 12 months. This is a decline of around a third since 2017, when 55% had done so.

The percentage of young people who give to charity has been in steady decline since that time, with an acceleration seen during the pandemic and then again during 2024.

Reasons given to those surveyed were themed around not interested, aware or clear on why giving to that charity was important.

Charities that don’t market and communicate in a business way, audience insight and behaviour led, will be drowned out and be the hardest hit be the decline in donors.

There is a way to survive and thrive

It is not all doom and gloom. The next generation care passionately about things but have a very different view on transparency, authenticity and connection.

Here are my top recommendations for any Charity reviewing the budget again to try to tighten and make the year with minimum deficit.

1️⃣ Revisit your why

Step back and look at your vision misson and values and check the world hasn’t shifted. If the purpose is still true, revisit all campaign work in the last year. Is it clearly purpose led. Are you trying to be everything to everyone and therfore drowned out.

2️⃣ Show them the money

Can people clearly see where their donation goes. Not just in the annual report. But daily in your communications. In our dopamine rich digital world, instant gratification is important to people, as is transparency. If they can’t see where their money goes, and if it seems not to be aligned to the purpose, then the engagement will not come.

3️⃣ Test and learn

Spend time testing. Test communication. Test campaigns. Test new areas of funding. If you work with a growth mindset, in an agile way, you will innovate. And those that innovate have a better chance of survival.

4️⃣ Don’t hold on to tradition

Unless it is working, don’t hold on to ‘but we always do’ campaigns. Tradition is good for building trust, but only if modernised to mean something to an audience who thinks and feels in a different way. Doing the same thing ,and expecting a different result, year on year, is going to accelerate decline in this difficult year.

Instead, think of starting new traditions, as often happens when generations age, and consider what matters to each generation and how your why fits with their why.

5️⃣ Hire for business experience not subject matter expertise

It will be a tough year yes, and the next 10 will be bumpy and fast too. Hire management that is focused on the business health versus the subject matter. Yes, they need purpose and passion. But that alone will not keep you afloat. The blind spots caused by deep knowledge in a core area can even be a hindrance. Hire people who problem solve, analyse, course correct and see the path through. Who know when a campaign or product has reached the end of its lifecycle. Let them be guided by the subject matter experts, supported by a diverse board, but be focused, in a commercial way, on the health of your charitable business.

2026 will be a challenging year, so step out, reset, and remember your why.