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'Challenging year' for Acevo as it misses budget targets

Finance | Celina Ribeiro | 14 Aug 2012

Acevo has characterised 2011/12 a “challenging year” for itself, as its accounts show a deficit blowout of £150,000 more than budgeted.

The umbrella organisation had forecast a deficit of £16,000 for the year ending 31 March 2012, but the actual deficit came in at £169,000. In 2011, Acevo reported a £38,543 surplus. Accounts show that a fall in member numbers and below-target attendance at its reduced number of conferences contributed to the drop in its latest performance figures.

Acevo’s director of finance, Louise Harris, echoed the sentiment in her organisation’s accounts that 2011/12 had been a difficult time. “As for many of our members, this has been a challenging year for Acevo, with many different areas of funding becoming more challenging. Our range of work and services continues to grow, and we are fortunate to have a strong financial position to support us through this challenging time,” she said. 

“The board are committed to ensuring Acevo’s sustainability and we have strong plans for the future to ensure that we continue to meet our members’ needs.”

Trustees are now reviewing the organisation’s two-year financial forecasts, but in its accounts Acevo said it was fortunate to have strong reserves, which sit above £530,000, to see it through.  

The filing of the accounts follows the announcement in May that Acevo was to make three staff redundant, and comes ahead of the organisation’s move in to NCVO’s offices in September.

Overall membership numbers fell from 1,877 to 1,749 over the year-on-year period. Acevo had hoped to grow the number of full members from a base of 1,586 in 2011 to 1,600 in 2012, but missed this target; instead the numbers of full members fell to 1,510. Income from member services was down by nearly 10 per cent. Conference delegate numbers were also just over 330 short of the organisation’s 4,500 target.

Acevo said that it recognises the challenges which face its members and is increasingly focusing on developing support services for members.

Total income for Acevo fell by more than £1m to £1.85m for 2012, compared with £2.97m in the year previous. Accounting for a significant part of this fall was the loss of a Capacitybuilders grant of £797,880. However, the organisation enjoyed a near doubling of its grant from the Office for Civil Society, which reached £415,000 in 2012.

Directory: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) | National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)