Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH) has seen its income grow in 2021-22, despite some of the challenges presented by the pandemic.
Income for the year to March 2022 was £74.5m, an increase of £6.1m against the year prior. Some £71.5m of this (96%) came from fundraising income streams.
Meanwhile, the charity’s expenditure was £59.2m, which is £13.1m higher than the year prior.
“While Covid-19 had a negative impact on fundraising, the charity was able to increase its activities against prior year and delivered a strong financial performance,” the charity’s accounts read.
It adds that though Covid-19 did have a negative impact on fundraising in the year, this was less so than in 2020-21.
Investing in fundraising infrastructure
The accounts state the charity has invested in fundraising infrastructure to deliver an “ambitious” fundraising strategy.
Indeed, in 2021 the charity “set a bold fundraising ambition to diversify and grow” income and came up with a new fundraising strategy. The fundraising team aims to raise £100m a year by the end of the five-year strategy.
The accounts read: “Whilst the ongoing restrictions created in response to the pandemic slowed down our ability to restart some face-to-face activities planned for this year, we managed to raise more money than last year as well as laying the critical foundations to deliver significant income growth in the long term.”
During 2021-22 one of the main forms of fundraising was regular giving, with more than £194,000 supporters making regulator donations as well as over 25,000 supporters playing the weekly lottery.
Other main forms of fundraising included individual donors, community fundraising, corporate fundraising, and legacies.
GOSH continues to use third parties for certain elements such as door-to-door and telephone fundraising, and partnered with three new fundraising agencies in the year.
For the year 2021-22, the charity received 676 complaints, which is higher than the year prior.
The accounts state this is attributable to an increase in face-to-face fundraising, though add “it is also a crucial form of fundraising that provides us with an opportunity to talk to donors about the impact of their donation”.
GOSH received 63 requests from individuals who no longer wished to receive communications through the Fundraising Preference Service. This compares to 44 the year prior.
The charity’s accounts also tell of its focus on partnerships; for example, with Omaze and Morgan Stanley.
There were no major hospital property redevelopment funding appeals in the year, though this will change in 2022-23 as GOSH fundraises for the Children’s Cancer Centre.
EDI focus
The charity has put in place a new EDI strategy, which launched in March 2021. The accounts state 2021 saw “significant broadening” of the charity’s workforce profile with an increase in ethnic diversity.
The proportion of senior charity staff from under-represented ethnically diverse groups increased from 10% to 19% whilst levels increased from 9% to 21% across all charity staff.
GOSH’s median gender pay gap narrowed, from 16% to 13.6%.
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