Methodology
How we compute a flag.
Charity Receipts looks at a charity’s filed accounts and surfaces patterns worth asking about. Every flag below is a rule you can read. Nothing is proprietary. We’d rather be argued with than trusted blindly.
Data source: the Charity Commission register, via findthatcharity.uk. Refreshed daily.
Active rules
What we flag today
Fires when the latest filed year-end is more than 18 months ago.
The Charity Commission requires annual accounts within 10 months of year-end. 18 months of silence suggests either a serious operational problem or a charity winding down without announcing it.
Caveat: A handful of very small charities self-report late but run fine. The flag tells you to check, not to walk away.
Fires when annual income is under £5,000.
Below £5k most charities are effectively paper entities. Your money may sit in a bank account with no operational capacity to spend it.
Caveat: Some brand-new or deliberately tiny charities are real. Check whether activity matches income.
Fires when spending exceeds income by more than 10% in the latest year.
Running a deficit once is normal. Repeatedly is a runway problem. This flag notes the deficit; our multi-year rules tell you whether it's a pattern.
Caveat: Grant-funded charities often deliver programmes on last year's income. A one-off deficit from a big project is healthy.
Pending rules
What unlocks with the next data layer
These rules need line-level spending and balance sheet data. They go live the moment we plumb CharityBase or the Charity Commission API into the tool. The rules, thresholds and reasoning are all fixed; only the data is missing.
Fires when governance spend is more than 8% of total spending.
Sector norm is under 5%. Above 8% suggests top-heavy structure, legal fees, or boardroom bloat that isn't funding the mission.
Caveat: A year of major restructure can spike governance costs. Check the accounts narrative.
Fires when spending on raising donations is more than 35% of donations received.
Over a third of each donated pound going to the ask is a bad deal for donors who assume their money goes to the cause.
Caveat: Early-stage or rapidly scaling charities spend more on acquisition. The ratio should fall as the charity matures.
Fires when income is more than 20% lower than two years ago.
Sustained declines usually mean trouble raising funds. Trouble raising funds usually precedes trouble delivering.
Caveat: Planned wind-downs look identical. Check the trustees' report for context.
Fires when unrestricted reserves would cover more than 3 years of spending.
Reserves are prudent. Large reserves mean donated money sits on the balance sheet rather than funding the mission. Donors deserve to know.
Caveat: Some causes (pensions, disaster relief) correctly hold multi-year reserves. Check the reserves policy.
Fires when unrestricted reserves cover less than 3 months of spending.
A charity this close to the line is one bad month away from closing. Vulnerable to any income shock.
Caveat: Grant-dependent charities with confirmed multi-year grants can run lean safely.
What this isn’t
Receipts aren’t outcomes
Charity Receipts is a financial hygiene check. It tells you whether the accounts add up, whether filings are on time, and whether the spend pattern matches the story.
It does not tell you whether a charity is effective. Effectiveness requires a counterfactual: what would have happened without this charity? For that, look at meta-evaluators like GiveWell for global health or Founders Pledge for climate.