Southampton event warns charities to evolve or face tough times ahead
The annual Charity Roundtable seminar in Southampton warned charities in the south of England that they need to be agile to survive.
The event, hosted by HWB Chartered Accountants and Handelsbanken, highlighted the challenges faced by the sector.
With continued economic instability, individual donations are on the decline, forcing charities to adopt new methods to sustain their essential services.
James Sproule, UK chief economist at Handelsbanken, delivered a keynote speech on the UK economic outlook, forecasting a subdued recovery.
He said UK economic growth was supported by an overly optimistic annual house-building target of 300,000, and predicted that inflation would stay above the 2 per cent target until 2027.
James said the Government would likely raise taxes to a record high in autumn, but that the budget would remain in deficit.
READ MORE: Business awards night in Southampton raises nearly £6k for Heartbeat
Kim Christopher, corporate account manager at Handelsbanken, co-chaired the event, and said: "A forum such as this is an excellent way for charities to take a step back from their daily work and meet others in a similar position to collaborate, share ideas and best practice and simply find out what others are doing and how they are coping with today's pressures.
"Much of the discussion centred on the importance of charities remaining agile to adapt to the ever changing financial, social and economic environment."
Michaela Johns, director at HWB Chartered Accountants, said: "We talked about IHT planning and the opportunity that exists for charities to appeal to those who may have spare savings to make one-off gifts.
"There were also good discussions about mergers and shared resources, and it was felt that collaborations are more prevalent than ever in the sector."
The Charities Aid Foundation's UK Giving 2025 Report reveals that charities are now relying on donations from only 50 percent of people, down from 58 percent in 2019.
However, the UK public still donated an estimated £15.4b to charity in 2024.
Despite these donations, challenges such as resourcing issues, staff retention, and increasing service demand continue to affect the sector.
Delegates at the event also spoke about the difficulty finding funding for longer-term projects.
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