Chief executives’ body Acevo saw a 10 per cent drop in membership in the year to March 2014, and a fall in income for the fifth successive year, according to its annual report and accounts filed today.
Acevo’s membership fell from 1,520 to 1,373 in the year to March 2014, the annual report shows.
The report said the drop reflected changes in the sector and financial pressures on charities. It also said less than 1 per cent of those who left were dissatisfied with Acevo’s work, and that Acevo has a three-year strategy to grow membership again.
“Feedback from our members points to consistently high levels of satisfaction across our range of services, but we are determined to improve year on year,” Acevo said.
“This will include demonstrating better value for money, responding more closely to member needs, using the member community to provide more peer support, and making better use of technology to deliver services and benefits.”
Income down by 4 per cent
Acevo’s income was down 4 per cent from £1.99m to £1.93m, with a £90,000 deficit on the year. However the body said it had instituted a series of measures to grow income, including improvements to its website, membership database and trading subsidiary.
Altogether income is down around 40 per cent from a high point of £3.18m in 2010.
However staff numbers rose during the year, from 18.6 full-time equivalent employees to 21.6.
Acevo also reported that the organisation’s profile was increasing, with 311 items of significant media coverage.
In their joint introduction Sir Stephen Bubb and Lesley-Anne Alexander, chief executive and outgoing chair of Acevo respectively, said that the year had been “a challenging and an exciting” one.
“The voluntary sector continues to be affected by the fallout from the recent economic recession, as well as the ensuing reductions in public spending,” the introduction said. “The support, representation and assistance that Acevo provides to its members is consequently more needed than ever.
“We have chosen to invest significantly to develop Acevo’s capacity to support its members and the sector as a whole, while expanding Acevo’s policy and communications team to ensure that we continue to represent members’ interests across government and the media.”
Total salaries were £777,000. The salary of the chief executive, Sir Stephen Bubb, was £106,000.
