Budgeting and best practice - A rough guide to our running costs

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Charity running costs or ‘administration’ costs have been given a lot of negative attention of late, with the implication being that many charities convince kind hearted people to part with their hard earned pounds and pennies, only to pocket most of it for their own UK staff, fundraising systems and glitzy offices.

We really don’t want our current or potential donors worried about this kind of thing. We want you to know that the utmost amount of your donation goes to the great cause that has moved you to give in the first place, but we also need to debunk a few myths about ‘running costs’.

Running costs and administration have been demonised somewhat, when in real terms, charitable organisations need professionalism, best practice and effective management structures just as much as any organisation in the private or public sector. As a charity that values each child as individual and believes that every person should be treated with dignity, our first priority cannot be spending the very least we can on running costs, it has to be providing the very best we can.

This means we won’t skimp on areas like research, planning, delivery, safeguarding, data protection, monitoring and evaluation. We’ll use staff who are up to the task, and work as efficiently as possible. It means we focus on ensuring a regular income, to guarantee stability for those we work for and are able to deliver programmes safely and smoothly.

That said.. we ensure that this part of the cost is as streamlined as possible. We can’t line donation tins with fairy dust that instantly transforms your fiver into the realisation of children’s rights around the world, but we can do the following:

• Work with local partners, local staff and local suppliers rather than flying in people and resources;
• Have the majority of our staff on part time contracts, keep wages modest and get help from our fantastic team of volunteers where-ever we can;
• Invest in genuine relationships with our donors, keeping them informed about where their money is going in the way they prefer, rather than sending them glossy chunks of the rainforest every month;
• Refrain from using expensive (and annoying) cold calling or ‘face to face’ fundraising agencies (chuggers); 
• Avoid huge mail outs with random gifts in them (if you desperately want a floral notelet or a fluffy sticker with googly eyes on it, sorry);
• Just as we value each child as an individual, we value our amazing supporters. You are not robots to be queued in an impersonal ‘donor journey strategy’. If you decide to give us a regular donation, we also won’t write and ask you to ‘up it’. That’s rude.
•  Our office is clean, bright and comfortable, not fancy. Anything that looks wildly expensive has been given to us by someone awesome. When lockdown is over, come and see for yourself, we’ll push the boat out and make you a cup of tea.
  
  

We’re hugely grateful to all our donors and supporters and want to remain approachable and transparent with our actions. Our Annual Report is available on our website and you can see more about how we spend your money here. 

We are always happy to answer any questions you might have about this subject and keen to know your preferences about how much or how little you prefer to be contacted. Just keep in touch. 

Thank you.