The Fundraising Standards Board has slashed its marketing budget to £35,000 this financial year in order to ensure it breaks even without any further government funding, according to its chief executive Alistair McLean.

The FRSB launched as an offshoot of the Institute of Fundraising in February 2006 and since then has used up just over £2m of public money setting itself up,  marketing itself to prospective members, explaining its existence to the general public and considering complaints.

The intention was always that the public funding tap would eventually be turned off and the organisation would be able to sustain itself through membership fees alone.

But as time has gone by the organisation’s ability to be self-sustaining has never seemed certain, particularly given ex-CEO Jon Scourse’s comments in September 2008 that it would need 2,000 members by June this year in order to stand on its own two feet. So far it has managed to attract 1,187 members.

But this week McLean (pictured) told Civil Society that despite falling well short of 2,000 members the organisation has been able to reduce costs enough to balance its books without further government help.  It has done this mainly by slashing its marketing spend - this was £255,678 in 2006/7, £213,000 in 2007/8 and £172,000 in 2008/9.  This financial year, however, it budgeted to spend just £35,000 on marketing.

The FRSB's total income for the year will be in the region of £400,000 to £450,000, McLean said.

McLean said the new marketing model relied on the FRSB’s members promoting the ‘Give with confidence’ campaign to their supporters and the wider public.

“We intend that by the end of this financial year, 30 June, we will have broken even and will be financially viable,” he said. The Welsh Assembly has committed to continue to fund the FRSB Wales office for a further two years, amounting to a further £67,000.

The organisation also hoped it would be able to hold fees at the current level for another year.