Charity costs

How much does it cost to raise £1?


Most UK charities find that it costs between 15 and 25p to raise £1, but such aggregate figures can be very misleading.

Fundraisers typically spend about 80% of their effort working with their existing supporters (donor development) and 20% trying to find new supporters who might give to the organisation (donor recruitment).

This is an important distinction as it costs most charities money to recruit new donors. Most recruitment activity is undertaken at an initial loss - with charities achieving an immediate return of only 50-70p for every £1 invested. Of course undertaking this work does still generate a very satisfactory return, but it does so over the duration of the relationship developed with each supporter.

Development activity generates a very good rate of return and it is not unusual for charities to achieve £4 - £5 back for every £1 invested.

So the balance between recruitment and development activity adopted by a particular charity will drive the fundraising ratios it is able to report.