This year’s review of the haysmacintyre / Charity Finance 100 Index has resulted in four new entrants, led by Historic Environment Scotland (HES). It enters the Index at position 81, based on three-year average income of £82m.
Created by the Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014, HES is a non-departmental public body responsible for promoting and developing Scotland’s historic environment. It was formed from the merger of Historic Scotland, a government agency responsible for properties of national importance, and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), which managed records about Scotland’s historic environment.
HES commenced operations in October 2015. Alongside the management of over 300 properties of national importance and national collections of manuscripts, drawings and photographs, it is responsible for the implementation of Scotland’s ten-year historic environment strategy “Our place in time”, and for providing funding and guidance for conservation works and education across Scotland.
HES receives grant-in-aid from the Scottish government to help it maintain the properties in its care and carry out its regulatory and charitable activities. However, the contribution made by government funding to total income has fallen from 43 per cent to 38 per cent over the last year, as other sources of income – particularly from admissions and trading – have grown at a faster pace.
The other three new entrants to the Charity 100 this year are all promotions from the Charity 250 Index. They are, with their new Charity 100 positions shown in brackets: Care International (87), Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain (90) and Mercy Corps Europe (95).
Income requirements
Membership of both the Charity 100 and Charity 250 Indexes is reviewed every spring to take into account income fluctuations, new charities and charities for which it had previously not been possible to obtain a three-year run of audited accounts. Income data is extracted from accounts with financial year-ends up to and including 31 March 2018, with the index ranking based on average total income over the last three years.
The minimum income requirements for entry into the Charity 100 Index rose this year by 4 per cent from £62.1m to £64.6m, resulting in four charities moving down into the Charity 250 Index. These four, with their former Charity 100 positions shown in brackets, are: Motability (47), Royal Voluntary Service (93), Shelter (97) and ActionAid (98).
This year’s constituent review has resulted in comparatively modest changes to both the composition and the pecking order of the Charity 100 Index. This is particularly the case at the upper end, with Nuffield Health, Cancer Research UK and the National Trust occupying the top three positions for the 15th successive year.
Indeed the composition of the top 15 has remained the same with just a light reshuffling, as the Wellcome Trust and Save the Children switch position: the former moving up one place into sixth position and the latter moving down one place into seventh. There are, however, some big position changes lower down the ranking.
Risers and fallers
The highest riser is Care International UK, which jumps 54 places from position 41 in the Charity 250 Index to position 87 in the Charity 100 Index, based on three-year average income of £74.4m.
The humanitarian charity reported a 52 per cent increase in income to £78.2m in 2015/16 followed by a 20 per cent increase to £93.4m in 2016/17. This was due mainly to increased institutional funding, primarily from the Department for International Development (DfID), with smaller amounts from the European Union (EU) and the European Commission’s Directorate- General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).
The Francis Crick Institute also made a big jump in the rankings, rising 31 places from position 66 to position 35, based on three-year average income of £135.9m. Formed in 2015, this biomedical research centre only joined the Charity 100 Index last year, when its position in the ranking was based on just two rather than three years of full operating income. Its move this year into the upper half of the Index comes, therefore, as no surprise.
Another high riser that – like Care International UK – owes its success to a strong increase in institutional funding is Mercy Corps Europe, which jumps 28 places from position 23 in the Charity 250 Index to position 95 in the Charity 100 Index, based on three-year average income of £69.1m. The Scottish humanitarian charity reported a 55 per cent increase in annual income to £93.1m in the financial year ending 30 June 2017. The increase results mainly from a 226 per cent increase in funding to £37.6m from the European Commission (EC) and ECHO.
As well as boosting overall income levels, the increase in EC/ECHO funding serves to reduce the charity’s reliance on UK government funding, which fell from 57 per cent of all institutional funding in 2016 to 37 per cent in 2017. Donor diversification and the expansion of European funding sources is a key strategic objective of MCE, which has set up a new office in Geneva to mitigate the impact of the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Conversely, the biggest faller is Scope, which drops 24 places from position 62 to 86. The disability equality charity reported a 48 per cent fall in total income to £44.9m in the year to 31 March 2018 (excluding gains from asset sales, which are not recognised for the purposes of calculating the Index). The decrease reflects the transfer in April 2018 of Scope’s regulated and day services to private company Salutem Healthcare, which involved 51 services (including 3 specialist schools, 38 care homes and 10 day services) used by over 1,000 clients and around 1,300 staff.
The restructuring is part of Scope’s five-year Everyday Equality strategy to evolve from a service provider to a social change organisation, campaigning for the rights of all disabled people. With the transfer of services that are primarily funded through local authority commissioning, Scope has become, according to its trustees, a “voluntaryfunded organisation.”
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100 Index 2019
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