The Small Charity Finance List 

The Small Charity Finance List

This is a work in progress.

A living, breathing list of all the finance resources for small charities that we signpost to regularly, with some additional recommendations by small charities and people who work with small charities. Usual caveats apply; always seek proper professional advice where needed. Please take this list, make it better and pass it on.

The Essentials

Where to start -   going back to first principles

• Charity Commission The Essential Trustee The gateway to it all
• Charity Commission 5-minute guide to finance Not sure where to start on the finances? Start here!
• Our very, very brief guide Small Charity Finance - Where to start
• Our blog on why all social leaders need to embrace finance

Test your knowledge

• Charity Commission Trustee quiz 2024

You will need a budget, maybe a cashflow forecast and a cashbook to keep accounting records.  Free templates:

• A budget to tell you if you can survive
• A cashbook to keep good financial records
• A cashflow forecast to tell you if/when you are going to run of cash
• Charity Excellence Framework, WYCAS, CA Plus
• Our blog on cashflow forecasting
• Our blog on management reports

You will also need a set of annual accounts to file with the Commission:

• Charity Commission guidance CC15d on reporting and accounting
• Not sure what type of accounts to prepare? Check here
• Charity Commission Receipts and Payments Annual Accounts Template
• Charity Commission Accruals Accounts Template 
• Charity Commission example accounts
• Charity SORP - the rule book for accruals accounts
• A technical note on converting from cash to accruals accounting for small charities

And these accounts will probably need external scrutiny:

• Charity Commission guidance for Trustees on independent examinations
• Charity Commission guidance to Independent Examiners on reporting matters of material significance
• Beyond Profit blog on independent examinations

And you will also need to get on top of the financial controls:

• Charity Commission financial controls guidance
• Charity Commission financial controls checklist Super helpful. Tick off and triage with a cup of tea.
• NCVO Financial procedures manual - guidance is in front of the paywall, template is behind
  

Some great charity finance books 

These are not written specifically for small charities but all contain some great content that will be useful:

• It's a nightmare with the numbers, Caron Bradshaw OBE
• Resilience and the Management of Nonprofit Organizations: A New Paradigm, by Young and M. Searing 
• Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Deciscions for Financial Viability, by Bell 

Build your financial confidence

Where to start with asking smarter questions

We are often told by social leaders that it can difficult to know where to start and know what finance questions to ask even. As a social leader, asking good finance questions is a super power. Below are some of our go to finance question banks:

• Charity Commission 15 finance questions 
• Lloyds Bank Foundation’s Guide to Organisational Resilience
• Very helpful checklists from the Charity Finance Group
• Association of Chair's Financial Leadership in Small Charities; Reflections, Recommendations and Resources for new Chairs of small charities

Where to find free and affordable charity finance training

• NCVO - Charity Finance Skills and Finance Skills for Trustees (paid)
• Getting on Board - To infinity and beyond and Trustee Learning Programme (free)
• Directory of Social Change - Finance for non-finance managers, financial governance for Trustees (pd)
• ICAEW - Online finance training for trustees (free)
• Sayer Vincent - Great range of short 1 hr sessions (free)
• Money4You - various programmes for social leaders
• Embrace Finance - commission a bespoke training session or book in  121 professional mentoring (pd)

Where to start with some good small charity finance blogs   and newsletters which we enjoy

• Beyond Profit Blog - always good technical updates and guidance in this
• Embrace Finance Blog - random thoughts and irregular news
• Lime Green Fundraising Blog - love this blog, I always learn something
• Nova Fundraising - great newsletter with info and free surgeries

Where to find general resources (that are not behind a pay wall)

• NCVO - pages and pages of great finance stuff mainly by our brilliant Rachel Cooper ACA
• Small Charity Finance Programme - also by the brilliant Rachel Cooper ACA
• Association of Chairs - blog on support for small charity Chairs
• New Philanthropy Capital’s The Little Blue Book – this is a fabulous guide on how to analyse charity finance
• ACEVO’s A Gentle Guide for the Non-Financial Charity Trustee – long but highly readable
• Sayer Vincent – Made Simple Guides - all of these are brilliant. Clear and simple.
• NAVCA - find your local CVS (if you still have one....)

Where to get top tips on reserves

• Charity Commission CC19 Reserves and Resilience - the bible on reserves. wordy but good.
• Example reserves policy from the Charity Commission for a smallish charity (£500kpa) - v helpful
• Sayer Vincent’s Reserves Made Simple - again, brilliant
• IVAR’s report on the benefits of strategic reserves management - love the schematic on what it means to be strategic
• Bond’s report on building reserves for financial resilience - good tips on building reserves (spoiler, it's not easy)
• Blackbird Charity Finance’s Asking Smarter Questions About Reserves - BCF has a lovely turn of phrase
• Charity leaders talking about reserves - interesting podcast with CFG, ACEVO and NCVO chiefs
• CAF's approach to treasury management and reserves

Where to start with resilience and sustainability

• Charity Commission 15 finance questions - a good starting place
  
• Lloyds Bank Foundation’s Guide to Organisational Resilience - simple, useful question banks by smalls for smalls 
• National Lottery Community Fund – Full Cost Recovery - a super simple easy to follow guide on full cost recovery
• Bayes Business School – Cost Recovery - a more sophisticated approach but really useful if you want to up your game
• Embrace Finance Asking Smarter Financial Resilience Questions - a simple 7 step pathway to building resilience
• Lime Green fundraising - great name, great people, great support
• Nova Fundraising - lovely friendly experts who love smalls
• Funding School - great for lots of things but also for notifications on new grants for small charities
• Cranfield Trust's Making the case for unrestricted funding
• Government Grants Finder
• The Social Change Nest - provides support to grass roots community orgs
• Our blog on financial resilience in small charities

Where to start with tax stuff

• Claiming gift aid as a charity - gov.uk
  
• Charities and Tax - an introductory page from gov.uk
• Charity Tax Group - super useful resource on all things charity tax
• Charity Commission CC35, Charities Trading and Tax – know when you can and can’t trade
• Sayer Vincent’s Gift Aid Made Simple – gift aid is chronically underclaimed, don’t let that be you

Where to start with banking

• UK Finance guide co-created with sector specialists
• Charity Commission guidance on banking 

Where to start with payroll

• To register with HMRC as an employer
• To set up payroll
• To make a salary budget for 2024/5 and 2025/26
• To read up on the changes to the employer's national insurance from 6 April 2025

Bring in some free expertise



Where to start with finding great volunteer support

• Reach Volunteering – to find finance volunteers
• Charterpath – to find chartered accountant volunteers
• ICAEW volunteers – for accountant volunteers

Where to start with finding great pro bono support

• Cranfield Trust – for pro bono consultancy support
• Pilotlight – range of opportunities
  

Where to find professional support

• Charity accountant at the Charity Practitioners Forum
• Independent examiner at the Association of Independent Examiners
• Small charity consultant across a range of disciplies Small Charity Friendly Collective

Where to start as a Trustee

• Charity Commission The Essential Trustee The gateway to it all
• Charity Commission 5-minute guide to finance Not sure where to start on the finances? Start here!
• Charity Finance Group - Essential Finance for Trustees
• The Charity Treasurer’s Handbook - my Treasurer's bible, updated version coming soon
• Honorary Treasurer’s Forum – (brilliant) membership organisation for Treasurers with good website with example JD
• Association of Chairs blog on the Chair's role with respect to the finances
  

Small Print

• Working in the commons At Embrace Finance we believe the world’s problems are too tricky to resolve without sharing and learning together. Our resources are provided on a Creative Commons License basis. Please read these terms when using https://www.embracefinance.org.uk/open-working-commitment
• Disclaimer Any guidance provided herewith is illustrative only and is not intended to replace professional advice. Please consult an appropriately qualified professional adviser as appropriate.
• Third Party Disclaimer When working with Third Parties the usual caveats apply. Always due your due diligence.