Charity reserves policy checker

Use this before trustees approve reserves wording, annual-report disclosures, budget review, funder explanations, or recovery plans. The checker estimates reserves cover and highlights evidence gaps, but it is not accounting advice, audit advice, insolvency advice, investment advice, legal advice, or a Charity Commission filing check.

Reserve contexts6Small charities, restricted funds, service delivery, property, volatile income, and recovery contexts.

Evidence checks10Weighted around free reserves, target justification, forecasts, risks, annual report wording, and monitoring.

Official sourceCC19Links point to Charity Commission reserves guidance for England and Wales.

Data entryLocal onlyInputs run in the browser and are not submitted.

Official sources to check

Charity reserves: building resilience (CC19) is the Charity Commission starting point for reserves policy guidance in England and Wales.
Charity reserves: building resilience explains trustee duties, free reserves, annual-report reporting, monitoring, and simple or integrated approaches.
Charity reporting and accounting: the essentials (CC15d) should be checked when annual-report and accounting requirements are in scope.

What this checker should prevent

Copying a template reserves paragraph that does not explain the charity's actual unrestricted funds, risks, commitments, and target.
Treating restricted funds, designated funds, endowments, fixed assets, or unavailable commitments as free reserves.
Publishing high reserves, low reserves, or no reserves without a trustee-approved reason and action plan.
Waiting until year end to notice reserves are materially above or below target.

Accounting, finance, payroll, VAT

Xero for nonprofits

Xero's UK non-profit page says registered not-for-profit organisations on a business pricing plan can get 25% off Xero.

Official Xero UK non-profit page verified2026-06-22

Accounting, MTD, expenses, payroll status tracker

QuickBooks nonprofit accounting status

Status tracker: QuickBooks UK has general accounting software pages, but no official UK nonprofit discount page was verified during the latest check.

Official QuickBooks UK accounting page verified; nonprofit discount not verified2026-06-22

CRM, donor management, fundraising, volunteer management, accounting, low-code, AI

Zoho for Nonprofits

Zoho's official nonprofit page says Zoho offers exclusive credits for nonprofits that cover up to 50% of subscription costs, including a one-time USD 5,000 credit to use across Zoho products.

Official Zoho nonprofit page verified; terms and excluded apps still need current review before purchase2026-06-22

CRM, finance, service operations, automation

Microsoft Dynamics 365 nonprofit discounts

Microsoft's official Dynamics 365 and Power Platform nonprofit page lists discounted nonprofit pricing for Business Central, Service Enterprise, Sales Enterprise, Copilot Studio, and Power Automate Premium.

Official Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform nonprofit page verified2026-06-22

Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics, security

Microsoft for Nonprofits

Microsoft publishes nonprofit grants and discounts including Microsoft 365 Business Basic free for up to 300 users, annual Azure credits, and discounted business applications.

Official nonprofit offers page rechecked2026-08-12

Email, documents, meetings, shared storage

Google Workspace for Nonprofits

Google's official Workspace nonprofit page lists Google Workspace for Nonprofits at USD 0 per user per month and discounted Business and Enterprise nonprofit offers.

Official Google Workspace for Nonprofits page verified2026-06-22

Secure content management and collaboration

Box.org

Box.org states that nonprofits receive the first 10 licenses free on the Starter plan, with discounted pricing on other plans and add-on services.

Official Box.org page verified2026-06-21

E-signatures, agreements, contract workflow

Docusign for Nonprofits

Docusign has an official nonprofit industry page for modernising agreements, automating processes, and digitising nonprofit documents.

Official nonprofit industry page verified; fixed discount not quoted2026-06-21

Document automation, proposals, contracts, eSignatures, payments

PandaDoc for Nonprofits

PandaDoc offers a general Free eSign plan. Its current comparison lists five documents per month for current Free accounts and distinguishes older 60-document annual accounts. Confirm charity-specific pricing with sales rather than assuming a published discount.

Official nonprofit and plan pages checked on 12 October 2026; charity-specific pricing needs confirmation2026-10-12

Data visualization, charts, maps, tables, impact reporting, communications

Datawrapper nonprofit discount

Datawrapper's official pricing page says it gladly offers a 20% discount on annual and monthly Custom plans for non-profit organizations.

Official Datawrapper pricing FAQ verified; discount applies to Custom plans, not a universal plan discount2026-06-22

Software donations and validation

TechSoup nonprofit technology marketplace

Marketplace and validation network used by nonprofits to access donated or discounted technology products.

Official marketplace entry verified2026-06-21

UK charity technology, payments, training

Charity Digital

UK-focused charity technology hub with shop, payments, training, events, and selected discounted products for charities and non-profits.

Official UK charity technology hub verified2026-06-21