VSO income falls by £10m

22 Aug 2019 News

The International volunteering charity VSO has seen its income fall by £10m to £63m, following a fall in funding for its management of the government’s International Citizen Service programme. 

The charity has recently filed its accounts for the financial year to 31 March 2019 with Companies House. Spending fell in line with income to £64.8m. 

VSO has a contract with the Department for International Development (DfID) to oversee the International Citizen Service programme on a payment-by-results basis. It earned £17.8m from this contract, down from £25.9m the previous year. 

The charity also saw a £3.5m fall in institutional grants to £16m, but its £17m contract with DfID to deliver the Volunteering for Development programme remained level. 

Encouraging social cohesion 

In the foreword to the accounts, chair Sam Younger outlined VSO’s plan to do more to build peace and encourage social cohesion in communities. 

“In the coming year our volunteers will begin to tackle a new area of focus for VSO: to build peace in communities and encourage social cohesion.

“We have begun this work in the southern Philippines, where national volunteers are encouraging conversations between people of different cultures and faiths to build common understanding.”

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