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Working with small charities can make a big impact, says Ellen Blessington, communications manager and senior fundraiser at Theodora Children’s Charity…

Across the UK, thousands of charities make an extraordinary difference by meeting needs in local communities that might otherwise go unmet.

While many large national charities are household names, smaller organisations make up the overwhelming majority of the UK’s voluntary sector. According to research published by Lloyds Bank Foundation, charities with an annual income of less than £1 million account for 96 per cent of the sector. Yet despite their numbers, small and local charities receive just 17 per cent of the sector’s overall income.

For a small charity, support from one business can extend far beyond the initial donation. It can provide long-term financial stability alongside increasing the charity’s reach and awareness. This gives a charity the confidence to plan for the future.

The good news is that making a difference to a small charity does not necessarily require a major fundraising campaign. For pharmacy teams or individuals considering supporting a smaller organisation, there are many ways to get involved.

Firstly, no amount raised is too small. An office bake sale or team challenge can raise hundreds of pounds towards essential costs or services. Employers can also offer payroll giving, enabling employees to donate directly from their pay before income tax. If you are a standard rate taxpayer, a donation of £8 means a charity will receive £10.

Secondly, support does not always have to be financial. Small charities often have limited training, marketing and professional development budgets. Offering time, expertise or practical skills, whether in communications, design, finance, HR or another specialist area can be enormously valuable.

It is worth considering if your organisation could offer paid volunteering days as an opportunity to give back to society and generate a team building environment.

Finally, help small charities to be heard. Many organisations remain relatively unknown outside the communities they serve, despite supporting thousands of people every year.

Talking about a charity with colleagues, patients, friends and family, or sharing its work through professional and social networks, can introduce it to audiences it might otherwise struggle to reach.

At Theodora Children’s Charity, our head office team of five works alongside specificall trained Giggle Doctors who visit children in hospitals across England. Through play, music, magic and laughter, they aim to reduce stress and improve children’s experience of being in a hospital.

Companies from banking and the legal sector have organised fundraisers through comedy nights, summer party fundraisers or football sweepstakes, while in the healthcare sector: Alliance Healthcare, a Cencora company, has supported Theodora initiatives since 2021 through fundraising activities including: cross-country cycling challenges and an annual football and netball event.

Support can also be in the form of volunteering, where this summer, Cencora colleagues handmade almost 300 teddy bears for children at a hospital near their service centres.

The passion of Alliance Healthcare’s team members for Theodora sparked additional investment from its charitable giving organisation, the Cencora Impact Foundation, which has provided grant support for the Giggle Doctors since 2025. This partnership is one example of what corporate support can look like for a smaller charity; last year Cencora’s fundraising efforts covered a year’s worth of weekly Giggle Doctor visits at two specialist children’s hospitals.

For a charity like ours, support on this scale provided something particularly valuable, the ability to plan and deliver existing services with greater certainty and increase hospital partners to reach more families.