Financing strain in the current economic environment

The charity and voluntary sector is particularly vulnerable to experiencing drops in financing due to the current recession. In a recent article by Keith Hicke, CEO of the Charities Finance Directors' Group (CFDG), he discusses the results of a November 2008 survey by the CFDG, Institute of Fundraising and PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Although this survey indicated that apart from investment, legacy and corporate income, charity income was expected to hold up during the recession, anecdotal information seems to be indicating that this is no longer the case.  In another survey by the Charity Commission, published in February 2009, 35% of charities said that they have greater demand than they are able to supply services for; a further Charity Commission survey published in March 2009 indicated that 64% of charities with income greater than £1 million were concerned about services or funding.

2011-14 Spending Review threatens funding reductions 

Mr Hicke goes on to say that the CFDG survey indicated that 32% of charities had taken steps to limit the impact of the recession, for example, reducing costs, increasing fundraising efforts, drawing on reserves, holding or cutting new services and reducing staff.  But it is likely that the 2011 to 14 Financial Spending review is going to hit charities hard.  Those charities that receive funding from the public sector are likely to have some or all of their funding threatened; for example 50% of charities with income of between £100k and £1m have more than 50% of their income from statutory bodies.  Currently, charity investment income is falling, legacies are falling and corporate donations are falling.

The case for procurement efficiencies

This brings the focus on effecting procurement efficiencies to the fore for the charity sector.  Spikes Cavell's spend management solutions can help charities to improve procurement efficiency and save money through our data transformation and spend analytics tools.

To find out how Spikes Cavell's solutions can help your charity or voluntary organisation achieve efficiency savings, contact us for more information.