2014/15 has been a difficult year for the charity with operating
deficit of £258,430 being reported.
The main reasons for this are:
•
our legacy income at only £50k is significantly less
than we have experienced for the last 7 years
•
donations of cash has decreased from the
previous year
•
our trading income has fallen compared to the previous
year due to:
o Unforeseen shop closures for essential repair work
o Problems with volunteer recruitment
o A fall in donated goods
o Difficulties in recording gift aid claims
o Lack of cover for our ecommerce activities
o A management vacancy.
On the positive side, in addition to our contract income fromSouth
Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), we managed to
secure addition funding from Sunderland CCG and Gateshead
CCG for their residents accessing Hospice services.
During 2014/2015 we have struggled to control expenditure.
We had no option but to commit additional monies to bolster our
out of hours and on call arrangements and also pay for essential
repair work on our retail premises.
Decisions taken at the AGM in July 2014 to change the status of
the Charity to become a CIO came too late for the budget setting
exercise and therefore the cost of legal fees and expenditure on
non-staff items have contributed to our over spending position.
The Board of Trustees are committed to improving our income
position for 2015/2016 and made decisions which will lead to
investment in addition fundraising capacity and the strengthening
of our retail management arrangements. It is anticipated that this
investment will lead to increases in income in order to support
the continuous improvement of the services St. Clare’s offers.
Financial review
15
