Charity reserves: Guidance

Charity reserves are funds which can be freely spent on any of your charitable purposes. Reserves are crucial for the financial stability and sustainability of your charity, and they can help you to budget for unforeseen emergencies, unexpected bills or other short-term deficits.

It’s important for all Scottish charities to have a reserves policy, and for charity trustees to understand what this means and how much money you should have in reserves.

This guidance is relevant to all charities, no matter how big or small your reserves pot may be. Reading this guidance will help you to understand:

• What reserves are and why they are important
• How to decide how much you should have in reserves
• What your reserves policy should say
• How to maintain and monitor your reserves for financial stability