Age UK expects its income to be down by 30% because of the coronavirus crisis this year, its fundraising director has said.
In an interview with Civil Socidety Media's Fundraising Magazine, Laurie Boult, fundraising director at Age UK, said that while it is difficult to predict how things will evolve over the next few months, the charity will “likely” see a loss of 30% of its overall income.
The national Age UK, which supports a network of around 130 local Age UK charities, had an income of £127m in 2018-19. In April, it announced it would furlough 70% of its staff, most of whom work in its retail chain of almost 400 charity shops.
Age UK launched a £10m emergency appeal in March, which has raised more than £7m so far. But Boult said that the figure “does not even touch the sides of what we really need in order to deliver our emergency response”.
She talked about how the charity created the appeal and how digital has allowed it to reach and engage with new audiences.
She also discussed suspending legacy fundraising during the pandemic and “leading by example” by taking part in all Age UK’s fundraising challenges – including dancing a marathon on Zoom for the 2.6 Challenge.
Age UK recently cancelled one of its main mass-participation fundraising events, the Leeds Abbey Dash, which was due to take place in October for the 35th time and was expected to raise about £250,000.
