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Not-for-profits, clubs and member organisations

Charity financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a charity and community service provider, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

A registered charity delivering community services (family support, homelessness, mental health, employment, emergency relief) funded by government grants and contracts, donations and bequests, and trading such as op shops; NDIS and home-care lines use care.services and care.workforce from healthcare.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours, on illustrative figures: every sheet as Excel draws it, or live.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Charity sample model.xlsx
The Summary sheet of the sample charity model

Illustrative figures: the sample describes no real business. The live preview shows values; your model’s Excel file has every formula.

How it works

How the model works for a charity.

  1. How it earns revenue3 formulas
    Grants and restricted funding · All programs
    Closing unspent grantsOpening unspent grantsGrant cash receivedGrant revenueUnspent funds refunded at acquittal
    Government service contracts and fee-for-service · All programs
    Service contract revenueClients or outputs deliveredUnit price
    Capital grants and contributions · Across the business
    Closing unspent capital grantsOpening unspent capital grantsCapital grants received (ahead of spend)Capital grants and contributions (income)
  2. What drives its costs2 formulas
    Program delivery costs · All programs
    Frontline staff costsSalaries at award ratesOn-costs
    Program delivery costs · All programs
    Program delivery costsFrontline staff costsBrokerage and client supportProgram operating costs
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Corporate fixed assets
    Capital expenditureRevenuefrom statementsCapex as % of revenueAdditional planned capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    DepreciationDepreciation of the opening asset baseDepreciation of new capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valueCapital expenditureDepreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

14 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • Capital grants and contributionsFunding mix by capital projectGrants to build or acquire assets the entity will control, recognised as income as the asset is built (AASB 1058 paragraphs 15–16; a conditional-grant liability under IPSAS 23 and similar standards), with unspent amounts held as a liability and the income kept below the operating result. Used by councils, agencies, health services, charities, clubs and housing providers.
  • LeasesLease register
  • Reserves policy and restricted fundsFund roll-forwardFund balances by class — restricted, endowment, designated and general (free) reserves — and whether free reserves meet the reserves policy target.
  • Grants and restricted fundingDeferred until deliveredGovernment and philanthropic grants funding a program — recognised under AASB 15 where the agreement is enforceable with sufficiently specific performance obligations (deferred until delivered), otherwise on receipt under AASB 1058 — with unspent funds refunded or rolled over on acquittal.
  • Government service contracts and fee-for-serviceClients or outputs × unit pricePayments for delivering services to government or clients — per-client or per-output fees, outcome and milestone payments, block payments with KPIs and payment-by-results contracts — recognised as services are delivered (AASB 15).
  • Program delivery costsCaseload × staffing ratio × award ratesDirect cost of delivering a program — frontline staff under the relevant award, client support and brokerage, program premises and travel.
  • Overhead allocation and full cost recoveryFunded overhead against true costAllocates shared support costs to programs to show each program's full cost, the overhead its funders pay for, its contribution, and the functional expense split (program, fundraising, administration). Allocation only — it does not change entity totals.
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01operating result before capital grants
  2. 02income by source
  3. 03largest funder share
  4. 04program expense ratio
  5. 05cost to raise a dollar
  6. 06overhead recovery gap
  7. 07free reserves in months
Used for

What it is used for.

Also used for
  • Scenarios and sensitivities
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Looking for a charity financial model template? Ours arrives built for your business, with your figures in it.

See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.