The Fundraising Regulator has published its budget for the next 15 months, which show it currently has just over £1,000 worth of surplus.
The Fundraising Regulator published its budget for the next 15 months on its website yesterday afternoon. The figures show that at the beginning of September, the regulator had a budget surplus of just over £1,000.
Because the accounts are prepared on an accruals basis, meaning that income and expenditure are recorded when they are probable, rather than when the money is actually spent, meaning the regulator probably has more than £1,000 actually in the bank.
Budget figures also show that the Fundraising Regulator spent over £140,000 in September on numerous costs including staff salaries, Fundraising Preference Service set-up, IT, office premises and its board.
The budget, which goes up to March 2017, show that the Fundraising Regulator is aiming to have a surplus by the end of its first 15 months of nearly £500,000.
Achieving this surplus figure is almost entirely reliant on the cooperation of the nearly 2,000 charities who fall within the bounds of its levy, and the registration of any other organisations.
The Fundraising Regulator has budgeted for £500,000 worth of income from the levy being raised in October, £600,000 in November, £750,000 in December and a further £550,000 in January 2017, with nothing in either February or March.
A spokesman for the Fundraising Regulator said that the figures were “a mix” and were best treated as projections. He said that while a number of charities have already committed to paying the levy, “there are an awful lot more to do the same yet”.
At the time of writing the Fundraising Regulator had yet to respond to questions over any contingency plans it may have in place, should the levy not raise as much money as has been projected in the coming months.
Regulator aims for nearly £500,000 surplus by March 2017
The regulator has budgeted to have a surplus by the end of its first 15 months of £494,624.
While the figure is high, it is significantly less than the surplus target of over £800,000 that the regulator set aside in a draft budget which was seen by Civil Society News in June.
At the time, a Fundraising Regulator spokesman said that the surplus was necessary to cover “revised costings for the FPS and the customer relationship management systems needed once we know how these are developing,” as well as new office space and salaries.
The budget states that any surplus “will be returned to the charities if the FR does not continue”.
Up-to-date figures for the Fundraising Regulator
The new budget figures show that up until this month, the Fundraising Regulator has received a total income of £624,000, all of which has come from the charities which agreed to fund its stet-up costs.
To date the regulator has spent all but £1,109 of this initial figure.
The budget shows that it has so far spent £130,690 on “FPS set up costs”, £86,548 on “secretariat costs” and over £80,000 on “board and governance costs”.
According to the budget, the secretariat costs relate to the salaries of staff seconded from other organisations, while the ‘board and governance costs’ relate to board remuneration and the salary of Stephen Dunmore, interim chief executive.
To date, the Fundraising Regulator have also spent £50,910 on Public Relations costs pertaining to its work with communications agency Pagefield.
Fundraising Regulator income and expenditure until March 2017
The Fundraising Regulator has budgeted for the first tranche of payments from its levy to come in from October. It has projected that it will receive the £2.4m set aside for its annual budget by January 2017.
Total expenditure out to March 2017 show that the Fundraising Regulator will spend £1.2m on FPS set up costs, including large monthly sums of over £300,000 for December, January and March.
The Fundraising Regulator will also spend £214,731 on ‘policy and communications’ costs, which will include its website and the costs of staff working on policy.
Total secretariat costs up to March 2017 will be £192,097; board and governance costs £166,495 and just over £150,000 has been budgeted for adjudication and casework in relation to complaints, covering staff costs of those who work in the adjudication process.
A spokesman said that the regulator wouldn't comment further on "a spreadsheet".
A full copy of the budget can be seen here.
This story has been amended to explain that the regulator had a surplus of £1,000, rather than cash of £1,000.
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