Reserves are the funds a charity keeps back so as to strengthen its resilience against, for example, drops in income or the unforeseen demands of a new project.

Asthma International puts aside 12% of all donations to meet these challenges in its operations. They include:

1. Operational challenges - for example if there is an unplanned hiatus in, or closure of, operations, and the impact on beneficiaries (in this case children with asthma) needs to be cushioned;
2. Capital purchase challenges - for example when an additional spirometer (an instrument designed to diagnose asthma) needs to be bought or upgraded.

Why does Asthma International have this particular reserve figure? The main reason is to do with protecting children. Children with asthma, a serious and life-threatening condition, must be protected from patchy or intermittent treatment, and this protection can only be achieved with a substantial figure for reserves. 

However, Asthma International’s trustees regularly monitor and review the reserves policy in response to changing funding and reserve levels. Currently, a level of 12%, neither too large to accumulate an unspent reservoir of money, nor too little to be unable to respond to the challenges above, is adjudged, in light of Charity Commission guidance, to be a reasonable level.