CAF Charity Resilience Index
About the Index
The Charity Resilience Index focuses on three key dimensions: charity income, demand for services, and operational costs. Charities were asked to rate their confidence on the following six statements/measures (two for each of the three dimensions):
Income stability
• Our current funding is secure (e.g. donations, fees from services, grants, etc.)
• We have a plan for maintaining or growing our income over the next 12 months
Demand for services
• We have the funds to meet current demand for our services
• We expect to have the funds to meet demand over the next 12 months
Operating costs
• We are able to meet our current overheads (e.g. energy, buildings, supplies)
• We can afford to maintain current staffing levels over the next 12 months
The value of the Index is calculated using the self-reported scores of charities on an 11-point scale (from 0 ‘not at all confident’, to 10 ‘extremely confident’). The combined score for the six questions is calculated, and the mean is found (i.e. the combined score is divided by six). The Index is the mean score, expressed as a percentage. Scores above 80% indicate ‘resilience’, whilst scores between 40% and 80% indicate that a charity may be ‘somewhat vulnerable’. A score below 40% indicates those charities that may be ‘at risk’.
