Income and Expenditure

Estimating the economic size of the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector in Northern Ireland is a complicated task and one that is determined by the availability and accessibility of data from a wide range of sources. 

The analysis presented in this section will examine the funding environment in 2021 – 2022.  To create a more complete picture, the majority of sections also include funding data for the previous financial year 2020 – 2021. Acknowledging that information is submitted by departments and local councils retrospectively, and often with lengthy delays, the figures for 2019 -2020 have been updated where relevant. 

Data was collected from the Government Funders Database, Grant Making Trusts, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, NICVA's Individual Giving Survey 2020, 360 Giving GrantNav. It was also sourced directly via funders and through Freedom of Information requests. Comparisons to previous years findings were made where possible, but are limited.

You can find out more about the methodology behind the Income and Expenditure section here.

This section examines the income distribution of voluntary and community organisations in Northern Ireland. The most up-to-date information is based on data for 3,768 registered charities who submitted their annual return to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI), for the year 2021-2022 (excludes registered universaities).

• The register of charities has grown in the last few years, and continues to increase as more organisations are invited by CCNI to register. Data was available for 3,768 organisations in 2021-2022, compared to 3,323 organisations reported in the previous edition. 
• The percentage of organisations reported within each income bracket in 2021-2022, is broadly similar to those reported across each category in 2019-2020. 
• In 2021-2022, more than one quarter of organisations (28.7%) reported an income of less than £10,000. Just over half (51.7%) reported an income of less than £50,000.  
• In 2021-2022, almost one third of organisations (32.1%) reported an income of between £50,001 and £250,000 
• The CCNI data shows that of the organisations that have updated accounts, 1.1% fell within the £5 million+ income band which remains unchanged from the last update, and since 2017-2018. 

 2.1  Central Government Funding (Grants)

The section below focuses on central government funding (grants) to the voluntary and community sector in 2021 – 2022. However, to provide a complete picture since the previous update, the figures reported below in Table 2 outline direct departmental expenditure in each of the financial years between 2019-2022. The available data was sourced from the Government Funding Database. There are some limitations to using this Database, notably that information may still be updated retrospectively by departments and local councils.  

The figures for central government funding in 2019 – 2020 have been updated since those reported in the previous State of the Sector report (£450,874,681), resulting in an increase of £75,158,339, and an overall funding amount of £526,033,020. Notably, within the total direct central departmental funding to the voluntary and community sector, the updated figure increased the Department of Communities contribution by 5% from 49.2%, to 54.4%. 

In 2021-2022:

• The Department for Communities continued to provide the highest amount of funding, with 46.8% of the total direct central departmental funding to the voluntary and community sector coming from this department (almost £247 million). 
• The Department of Health remained the second largest contributor of central government funding to the sector, providing 32.3% of funding worth over £170 million. 
• The Department of Education awarded almost £47 million to the sector, and 8.9% of overall departmental funding. 
• The Executive Office provided 4.4% of direct departmental funding with almost £23 million awarded to the sector. 
• The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) provided 2.8% of direct departmental funding to the sector, compared to 0.8% in 2019-2020. 
• The Department for the Economy provided 2.3% of direct departmental funding to the sector with over £12 million awarded from this source; while the Department of Justice provided 1.4% of funding. 
• The lowest proportion of direct departmental funding to the voluntary and community sector (1.1%) came from the Department for Infrastructure. 

 2.2  Non-Departmental Public Bodies and Other Statutory Bodies (Grants)

This section presents the amount of funding provided by non-departmental public bodies to the voluntary and community sector in 2021-2022, with Table 3 presenting all available data in each of the financial years between 2019-2023. A further breakdown of the health sector funding is presented at Table 4, and for the education sector at Table 5.

The figures for funding by non-departmental bodies in 2019 – 2020 have been updated since those reported in the previous State of the Sector report (£332,837,426), resulting in an increase of £65,507,717, and an overall funding amount of £398,345,143. The majority of the updated funding related to the NI Housing Executive. 

In 2021-2022:

• Similar to the updated figure recorded for 2019–2020, almost £400 million was awarded by non-departmental public bodies to the voluntary and community sector in 2021-2022. 
• The Northern Ireland Housing Executive continues to award the largest funding to the sector each year, with a total award of just over £182 million in 2021-2022. 
• The heath sector, which includes the Public Health Agency, Health and Social Care Board and all five Health and Social Care Trusts (see Table 4), provided the second largest amount of funding with almost £160 million awarded in 2021-2022. 
• The education sector awarded almost £35 million, followed by The Arts Council Northern Ireland who provided funding of almost £12million to the sector. 
• Smaller funding grants were also provided by Sports Northern Ireland, Foras na Gaeilge, Ulster Scots Agency and the Northern Ireland Museum Council totalling £8,147,280. 

*Health Sector: The Health Sector figures are based on funding to the voluntary and community sector from the Public Health Agency, the five HSCTs and the HSCB.  

**Education Sector: The Education Sector figures are based on funding to the voluntary and community sector from the Education Authority and Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta. 

 2.3  Local Government (Grants)

The section below outlines local council funding to voluntary and community organisations in 2021-2022, with Table 6 presenting all available data for each of the financial years between 2019-2022. There is no data provided by three Councils in 2020-2021, with reporting that year likely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. 

*Please note that the varying totals of funding provided by different Councils to VCSE organisations in their area may simply reflect the numbers of the VCSE organisations located in that Council area.

The figures for 2019 – 2020 have been updated since those reported in the previous State of the Sector report (£4,977,439), resulting in a relatively small increase of £88,231, and an overall funding amount of £5,065,670. 

In 2021 – 2022: 

• Derry City and Strabane District Council continues to award the largest amount of funding each year, with over £2 million provided to the voluntary and community sector in 2021-2022. 
• Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council awarded the second largest amount of funding to the sector this year, totalling almost £850,000.  
• Two councils (Causeway Coast and Glens & Fermanagh and Omagh) each awarded almost £500,000 to the sector. 
• The council which contributes least funding to the sector was again the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, awarding £29,746 in the 2021-2022 financial year. 
   

 2.4  Central Government Funding (Contracts)

Note: This is likely to be an under-estimate. Some information is not publicly available / the Department were unable to provide it. Further FOI requests to individual Departments is required. 

In 2021-2022:

• According to data obtained from the Department of Finance regarding contracts awarded to the VCSE sector in NI, the Department of Health provided the highest contract funding to the sector in 2021-2022, at over £9.3 million. 
• The Department of Education provided £404,618 from this source; while the Department for Communities awarded £291,000; and the Department for the Economy provided £214,398. 
• The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) provided £86,000 of funding from this source to the sector. 
• No figures are available at present for The Executive Office, which was the second highest funder to the VCSE from this source at the last update; or the Department of Infrastructure.  
   

 2.5  UK Government Funding

The previous State of the Sector (August 2021) highlighted, but did not include any income from the UK Government’s Covid-19 response schemes, or its ‘Levelling Up’ and post-Brexit funding such as the Community Renewal Fund, as none or very little of this income had yet been received by the end of the sample period (i.e., financial year 2019/20). The United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda, of which Northern Ireland has been allocated around £127 million over the period 2022-23 to 2024-25. Funding allocations to the voluntary and community sector will therefore be profiled in future updates.   

UK Renewal Fund 

A total of £12,362,975 of funding was allocated to Northern Ireland in November 2021 from the UK Renewal Fund, which is part of the Levelling Up funding, for completion by March 2022. Of the 31 funding awards made, this includes £6,436,396 million for 19 voluntary and community sector organisations. While the period of completion was subsequently extended to September 2022, the full funding allocation to the sector has been included in this update for the 2021-2022 financial year.  

Covid-19 

In 2020-2021, the NI Executive received more than £3 billion of Covid-19 funding from the UK Government in order to implement its Covid-19 response and recovery. This was then allocated and spent at department level, for example, it is estimated, that funding provided to the voluntary and community sector via the Department of Communities included almost £24 million to cover running costs and to enable the continued deliver of key services during the pandemic. This, and other Covid-related income was allocated in financial year 2020-2021, so is not profiled in this current update for 2021-2022. However, the amount of funding received by the sector from government departments can be tracked via the Government Funding Database.  A briefing paper, ‘Covid-19 Funding: Allocations & Spending in Northern Ireland’ commissioned by the Assembly’s Finance Committee also explains how and when Covid-19 funding was received by the Executive from the UK Government, and then allocated and spent at departmental level in NI.  
 

 2.6  Irish Government

Through the Reconciliation Fund, the Irish Government awards grants to organisations working to build better relations within and between traditions in Northern Ireland, between North and South, and between Ireland and Britain. An examination of data held by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFA) for the Reconciliation Fund Tranche 1 and 2 concluded that a total of £1,703,023 was awarded to the voluntary and community sector in Northern Ireland in the calendar year 2022. As shown in Table 8, this represents £1m less in funding compared to 2019. 

 2.7  European Union

The voluntary and community sector continued to receive funding beyond the previous 2014-2020 funding period from European programmes, including PEACE IV, INTERREG VA, the European Social Fund Programme and the Rural Development Programme.  

PEACE IV and INTERREG VA 

NOTE: The PEACE IV and INTERREG VA figures provided in the last update for 2019-2020 were based on an annual average for VCSE organisations, over a seven-year funding period. In this update, specific figures have been sourced and calculated at an 85% intervention rate, for each of the individual financial years 2021-2022 and 2020-2021.  

• In 2021-2022, the voluntary and community sector received just over £11.2 million from PEACE IV and INTERREG VA, which was 85% of total programme funding that year for each of these programmes. The remaining 15% came from match (PEACE IV) or other funding (INTERREG VA). 

European Social Fund (ESF) 

The third Call ended on 31 March 2023, and the programme has now closed following the UK’s exit from the European Union. It is important to note that delivery of the ESF programme comprised funding from Europe (ESF), the Department for the Economy, and a range of match funders (including government departments; Health and Social Care Trusts, local Councils, further education colleges, and private sources). The four project areas funded were unemployed/ Economically Inactive; NEETs; Disability; and Community Family Support. Most of the participants would have been supported by projects from the voluntary and community sector. Table 10 presents the percentage breakdown of funding in each of the financial years between 2019 and 2022 across the core funders, including the total amount specifically funded by the ESF in column 2.  

The figures for 2019 – 2020 have been updated to £19.47m since those reported in the previous State of the Sector report (£8.7m). 

• In 2021 – 2022, the voluntary and community sector received £21.01m from the European Social Fund, which was 55% of total ESF programme funding that year (£38.2m)

Rural Development Fund 

The previous update calculated an annual average of available funding for the 7-year duration of the last programme across all recipients, but did not provide a figure specifically for the VCSE (so it was not included in overall sectoral total). As the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, the UK was not part of the next Rural Development Programming period (2021-2027). However, some projects have continued to receive EU funding until 31 December 2023 or until EU funds are exhausted (whichever is earlier).  

• Between 16th October 2021 – 15th October 2022, the voluntary and community sector received £1,226,420.48 from the Rural Development Fund (Source: DAERA) 

 2.8  Lottery

Each year, The National Lottery Community Fund awards millions of pounds to causes across Northern Ireland through a range of funding programmes. The National Lottery Community Fund made a commitment that 80% of its funding will be distributed to the voluntary and community sector. The actual percentage varies on a year-to-year basis depending on the nature of the funding programmes available. The remaining 20% is distributed to partnerships involving the sector. The Community Heritage Fund supports small-scale projects in Northern Ireland which help connect communities to the heritage in their local area. 

• In 2021 – 2022, the voluntary and community sector received just over £14.1 million from the National Lottery Community Fund, which is a decrease of around £10m since 2019 -2020. 
• The sector received just over £4.4 million from the Community Heritage Fund in 2021 – 2022.  
   

 2.9  Grant-making organisations

This section includes funding to the voluntary and community sector from funds such as the Community Fund Halifax Foundation, BBC Children in Need, Comic Relief, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

• In 2021 – 2022, the voluntary and community sector received just over £13.6m in funding from grant-making organisations. 

 2.10  General Public

The Individual Charitable Giving Survey 2022 found that 64.5% of the adult population donated to charity over the last 12 months. On average respondents donated £140.71 to charity.  

• In 2022, the general public donated £138,052,643.80 

(Sources: Individual Charitable Giving Survey; NISRA Mid-Year 2022 Population Estimates) 

 2.11  Charities Earned Income

Data on earned income was only available for those charities in Northern Ireland with an income of over £250,000, which equates to 622 out of the 3,768 registered groups who submitted their annual return to CCNI, for the financial year 2021-2022. The data shows an earned income of £120,152,533 for those charities in 2021-2022.  

Data on expenditure was only available for those charities in Northern Ireland with an income of over £250,000, which equates to 622 out of the 3,768 registered groups who submitted their annual return to CCNI, for the financial year 2021-2022.  

• 86.2% of expenditure of organisations with an income greater than £250,000 was used on charitable activities. 
• 9.3% was used on the cost of fundraising, and 4.5% was used on other areas. 

This update also examined the percentage of expenditure broken down by organisations' income level.

Please note that the data for income and the data for expenditure in this update were taken from different sources. Consequently, there may be discrepancies between both the income and expenditure figures 

* The Charity Commission NI refers to Charitable Activities as Charitable Trading; and the Cost of Fundraising as the Cost of Voluntary Income.

** Other expenditure’ includes all expenditure not related to either fundraising or charitable activities, as defined in the SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) Financial Report Standard for the UK and Ireland

• Organisations with an income between £250,000-£500,000 spent 82.8% of their expenditure on charitable activities. On the other end of the scale, organisations with an income of more than £5 million spent 86.7% of their expenditure on charitable activities. 
• Organisations with an income over £5 million spent the most on the cost of fundraising (10.2%) and organisations with an income of between £250,000-£500,000 spent the least (5.9%).