The Fundraising Regulator has set aside over £800,000 worth of cumulative surplus until March 2017, according to budgeting figures it sent to the top 50 charities that agreed to pay its start-up costs.
The Fundraising Regulator’s budget up until 31 March 2017 shows that the regulator is planning on having a cumulative surplus of £313,239 in the seven months until 31 July 2016, which will grow to £809,706 in the 15 months up to 31st March 2017.
A spokesman for the regulator said that the reserves were needed to cover “revised costings for the FPS and the CRM systems needed once we know how these are developing” as well as money to cover leasing office space and to meet costs and obligations should the regulator cease to operate.
The budget figures, which the spokesman said were at least three months old, also show that the Fundraising Regulator plans to spend around £200,000 up until March 2017 on the Fundraising Preference Service.
In its notes which accompany the budget figures, the regulator said that this figure will cover “initial set-up costs, research, promotion and running costs” and does not take into account the “additional sums in following years for system developments”.
The regulator said that the FPS “go-live date is late 2016” and that permanent staffing of this project is “budgeted for October 2016 onwards”.
The figures were originally set out with the plan to implement the proposed levy on 2,000 charities from July 2016 but a spokesman for the regulator said that this has now been pushed back until August. The Fundraising Regulator has yet to publish its consultation on the levy with the sector.
The regulator also plans to spend over £100,000 on ‘Board and AGM costs’ – with £65,000 budgeted up until 31st July 2016, while a further £77,000 is being allowed up until the 31 March 2017, the end of its first financial year.
The budget figures also show that over £60,000 has been set aside by the regulator for a ‘Scottish Office’, complete with two staff members, despite the fact that it is still unknown whether or not the Fundraising Regulator’s remit will stretch north of the border.
The spokesman said that, if any charities had an issue with the numbers put forward, they should speak to the Fundraising Regulator directly.
The new regulator recently announced that it plans to launch at the beginning of July.
