Pro Bono Economics has launched its latest survey results, finding that 91% of charities and voluntary organisations expect COVID-19 to have a negative impact on their ability to meet their objectives over the next six months.

Just under half of these organisations said that they that they expect the negative impact to be ‘large’.

91% also said that they expect COVID-19 to reduce their income over the coming six months:

• 42% expect a reduction of up to 25%
• 26% expect a reduction of 25 to 50%
• 16% expect a reduction of 50 to 75%
• 7% expect a reduction of 75%+

The single biggest issue reported by these organisations was the impact of social distancing on their ability to deliver services. COVID-19’s impact on their ability to fundraise and on their ability to plan ahead were the two other top issues reported by organisations.

However, it appears that the malaise in the outlook of VCSE organisations may have hit its lowest point, as 55% said that their concerns were broadly unchanged over the last seven days and the proportion saying that their expectations had deteriorated fell markedly to 34%.

The weekly survey is designed to take the temperature of the VCSE sector as the Covid-19 crisis continues to unfold, monitoring the pressures being faced by charities and voluntary organisations across the country and understanding how the picture is changing over time. Over the course of 26 and 27 May 2020, a total of 323 respondents filled in the survey. The respondents were split between 114 ‘small’ charities (annual income of less than £500,000), 166 ‘medium’ sized charities (income between £500,000 and £10 million), 41 ‘large’ charities (income of £10 million or more), and 2 ‘other’.