The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has reported a £72.8m increase in its expenditure, while its fundraised income has decreased.
According to the charity’s recently published accounts, its costs rose by 24% to £370m in the year to March 2023.
The rise was driven by a £36.6m increase (61%) in research grants made by the charity in 2022-23 compared to the year before.
It also spent a third more (£8.4m) on healthcare innovation costs last financial year.
BHF’s retail costs increased by £24.5m (14%) to £201m, while its shops brought in £222m, a £27m rise on the year prior. This helped to drive BHF’s total income up by £29.6m to £381m.
The charity spent £33m on raising funding in 2022-23, a 5% increase on the year before.
Meanwhile, BHF’s total fundraising income decreased by £4.8m to £142.2m last year.
This was driven by a dip in legacies income from £103m in 2021-22 to £95.0m last year.
The charity’s staff costs rose by £12.1m to £111m, as its average number of full-time-equivalent employees rose by 62 to 3,409 during the year.
BHF’s highest-paid member of staff earned between £210,000 and £220,000 during the year.
Energy costs double
The charity’s accounts say its retail trading costs rise was partly due to an increase in energy costs.
“This increase reflected the challenge of significant and volatile inflationary conditions, with our energy costs more than doubling and the pressure of a very competitive employment market.
“The cost increase also included the withdrawal of Covid related rate relief granted in the prior year.”
BHF ended the last financial year with 677 charity shops, 14 fewer than a year before as it closed 20 sites and opened six in 2022-23.
“Whilst we continue to review the store portfolio with an ongoing objective of increasing lease flexibility and reducing fixed cost, we aim to build on the strength of the recovery through continuing to re-site into larger, better located units, as well as opening new stores in several improved and expanded formats,” its accounts read.
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