Annual Budgeting Framework for Charities
An Excel budgeting workbook for small UK charities. Build next year's budget from the work you plan to do, see what each programme costs and check the bank balance month by month. Built-in tests tell trustees if the budget is ready to approve. Built around the Charities SORP 2026 and the Charity Governance Code 2025.
The Charity Governance Code expects the board to agree on an annual budget consistent with the charity’s strategy, and to receive regular financial information about how the year is going. SORP 2026 asks the trustees’ annual report to summarise the charity’s plans, explain its reserves against its policy and, where there are no reserves, explain why the charity is still a going concern. A budget is where all of that starts. If it’s last year’s figures with a percentage added, trustees have nothing to work with when a grant ends, or income falls short.
The problem this framework solves
A budget that balances over the year can still leave the charity short of cash in the spring. Restricted money gets counted as if it were free to spend. Running costs sit apart from the work, so every programme looks affordable on its own. This workbook prices the work in full, keeps funders’ money separate from general money, shows the year month by month, and flags the gaps while there is still time to act on them.
What’s included
Workbook (Excel)
- A structured budget built from your programmes and activities, with a prompt beside every figure to record what it is based on.
- The full cost of each programme, so trustees can see which ones rely on general funds and by how much.
- A month-by-month cash flow that shows when money runs short, including money that belongs to restricted funds.
- A reserves check against your own policy, showing what the year needs to contribute.
- Built-in checks that confirm what is in order, mark real problems in red and give trustees one clear answer on readiness.
- Draft wording for the trustees’ annual report, linked to the SORP 2026 requirements.
- Quarterly monitoring of actual against budget, with flags for the differences that need explaining.
- Links to the Annual Fundraising Planning Framework and the Income Tracker, so the three work as a set.
Guidance notes (PDF)
- What the Governance Code and SORP 2026 expect of trustees when they set and monitor a budget.
- What to gather before you start, and how to work through the workbook step by step.
- How to read the results and what to do when the budget does not hold.
- What to put in front of trustees, the questions they should be ready to answer, and what the minutes should record.
- How to monitor through the year, and when to revise the budget instead of explaining variances.
- The common ways budgets go wrong, and how to avoid them.
Who it’s for
Treasurers, chief executives and finance leads of UK charities preparing a budget for trustees. It suits CIOs, charitable companies, trusts and unincorporated associations, whether you run one programme or several. It is designed to sit alongside the Annual Fundraising Planning Framework and the Income Tracker, and it also works on its own.
FAQ
Why cash and not the figures in our accounts?
Cash is what runs out, and it is easier to follow during the year. The workbook counts money in and out of the bank in the year it moves. The guidance notes show where that differs from your accounts and what to check at the year end.
Do we need the Annual Fundraising Planning Framework and the Income Tracker?
No. They make the budget quicker and more reliable, and the three are built to work together. Without them, you enter those figures from your own records.
We have restricted funds for several programmes. Will it handle that?
Yes. Restricted and general money are kept apart throughout, and the workbook shows how much of your bank balance belongs to funders at each point in the year.
Does it help with the trustees’ annual report?
Yes. It gathers the figures the report needs and drafts wording linked to the SORP 2026 requirements, which you then edit into your own words.
Can we adapt it to our work?
Yes. You name your own programmes and can rename the delivery cost lines to suit what you do. The core structure stays fixed, so the checks keep working.
Do we need any special software?
Microsoft Excel is recommended. Calculations are protected, so they can’t be overwritten by mistake.
Excel workbook + guidance notes (Instant download)
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