The Charity Finance Group’s income rose to over £2m for the first time after a £135,000 grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to work with smaller charities, according to its annual report, published yesterday.
The annual report for the period to March 2016 shows that income rose 11.4 per cent, from £1.81m to £2.01m, chiefly as a result of the grant. Expenditure rose 5.6 per cent to £1.66m. Membership rose by 2 per cent to 1,385.
CFG, which has historically relied entirely on earned income, has said it will seek to move towards a more grant-funded model in the future, in order to better serve the parts of the sector it cannot help through its traditional model – mainly smaller charities.
“With our current business model it’s harder for corporate partners to engage with small charities on limited budgets and therefore these charities do not attract the same level of corporate funding and time from our partners,” the CFG said in its annual report.
“We are therefore very pleased that we have secured this financial support from The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.
“We will continue to seek additional sources of funding to better reflect our service delivery needs and the outcomes we are aiming to achieve whilst retaining the solid foundations of our membership and earned income.”
CFG said it also plans to grow its reserves to around £225,000. A sharp drop two years ago prompted disagreements among the charity’s supporters, but reserve levels have since recovered to £166,000. The charity has £678,000 on the balance sheet, but most of this is designated for improvements in technology and for the Small Charities Programme.
Chief executive Caron Bradshaw is the highest paid member of staff and the only one earning more than £60,000. Her salary during the year was £91,967.
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