Alcohol Research UK has rebranded as Alcohol Change UK following its merger with Alcohol Concern last year.
The two charities completed the merger in April 2017, with the assets, undertakings and staff of Alcohol Concern, the charity which launched Dry January, transferring to Alcohol Research UK.
Alcohol Change UK paid about £25,000 to agency Offthetopofmyhead for the rebrand, which the charity’s chief executive Richard Piper said was a “great deal”.
Piper told Civil Society News there is “a crisis in the funding of alcohol treatment” and that his charity’s role is to provide “an independent, credible, trusted voice” to push for more funding.
The charity will not provide treatments to individuals itself but Piper says it will work with commissioners and treatment providers to encourage good practice.
Fundraising
Alcohol Change UK’s initial financial priority is to balance its books, as it recorded an income of £900,000 and an expenditure of £1.6m in the year to March 2018.
One way it is looking to do this is by starting to fundraise, which Piper said is a “big shift” for the charity.
The charity has not yet hired any fundraising staff but Piper said it will look to recruit after finalising a new financial plan with the board in March next year.
He said: “At the moment, we are utterly dependent on income from investments.
"What we are going to be doing is using those investments, firstly to invest in our new strategy and our new programmes, secondly to continue to generate income, thirdly to invest in fundraising and use that to develop a more diverse series of fundraising streams.”
Strategy
Alcohol Change UK has published a new strategy on a new website today, which says the five main changes it wants to help create are: improved knowledge, better policies and regulation, shifted cultural norms, improved drinking behaviours, more and better support and treatment.
Piper said the charity has had 10 strategic impacts approved by the board, which it is now turning into a work programme, but these are yet to be made public until the charity’s financial plan has been approved.
The charity, which has 14 members of staff, moved to a single premises in King’s Cross last year, which has just been repainted with Alcohol Change’s new brand colours.
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