Charity in a Box
How it works

How we work out the hours.

The estimate is built from sector averages and your own numbers. It is a starting point; your hours log replaces it with fact.

The reference charity

No UK dataset publishes headcount by function for charities under £10m, so we model one: income £1m, 15 paid staff (12 FTE), 80 volunteers, 8 trustees. About 4.6 FTE of that charity goes on back office and fundraising. Each playbook carries the hours that function takes in that charity and the share current AI tools can take with a person approving.

PlaybookHours a year (reference)Share AI can takeScales with
Voice: social media and newsletter66085%Team size
Grant applications82565%Income
Funder reports49565%Income
Bookkeeping and management accounts66060%Paid staff
Board papers, policies, annual return49565%Trustees
Volunteer rota and records49550%Volunteers
Donor thank-yous49555%Income
Inbox, phone and suppliers49555%Paid staff
Case notes and referrals49560%Paid staff
Recruitment pack33055%Paid staff
Objectives and appraisals33035%Paid staff
Contract bids33055%Income
IT and data protection33050%Paid staff
Gift Aid16575%Income
Payroll checks16540%Paid staff
Health and safety16545%Volunteers

The score

score = hours_released × ease × (1 + pain)
hours_released = reference hours × your scaling × share AI can take (halved if you marked that zone "not yet")
ease = 1.0 with a system Claude connects to (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Xero) · 0.7 to 0.9 with an export · 0.5 with nothing in place
pain = 1 if you named the task on the "where the time goes" screen

Missing safeguarding or data protection policies, and any function nobody owns, go to the top whatever the score. The headline number is the sum of the "this month" and "next three months" playbooks.

Legal thresholds

England and Wales, financial years ending on or after 30 September 2026: annual return from £10k income; accounts filed from £25k; independent examination above £40k; accruals accounts and a qualified examiner above £500k; audit above £1.5m. Fundraising Regulator levy from £100k of fundraising spend. Scotland (OSCR) and Northern Ireland differ; the plan notes this.

Sources