Recent research by Third Sector has indicated that the most prominent charities in the UK keep on average (mean) reserves of £23.3m. The research, carried out among 157 charities, suggests that this equates to almost four months’ of expenditure sitting in their bank account. Keeping reserves is very important for a healthily run charity – but how do you make the most of this money?

Our experience, from speaking to many charities over the past six months, is that they do very little to maximise income from their reserves – largely because of the hassle of selecting and changing banks. On the whole, money stays in accounts where the return is at best 0.1% but mostly 0%.

This was the exact problem that Akoni founder, Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, encountered when she was Finance Director in the insurance industry.

“We became frustrated that UK banks weren’t rewarding the cash held in accounts. So we tapped into the power of technology to generate better returns on cash holdings.”

And so Akoni was born. With the Akoni platform you can access and open multiple accounts just by opening one hub account. And with market leading interest rates on offer, from a number of partner banks, it’s simple to manage multiple accounts and increase returns without the usual hassle.

Our research shows that on average charities can make 11x more interest by creating a cash portfolio with Akoni. Assuming the 157 charities in the Third Sector research received 0.1% interest rate (on an average reserve of £23.3m), using Akoni could see their cash returns grow from £23,300 to £256,300 – a significant amount for any size of charity.

Please feel free to get in touch with me at Stephen.harvey@akonihub.com if you’d like to find out how Akoni Hub can help your nonprofit to maximise your cash.

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