The merger of NCVO and Volunteering England helped NCVO end the last financial year with an income uplift of £1.5m – though even without the VE revenue, the umbrella body grew its income by 14 per cent during the year.
It also finished the period to 31 March 2013 with 12 more staff than it started with, despite cutting around 11 jobs.
Total income topped £8.9m, including £542,000 transferred from Volunteering England at the merger. Taking this out, overall income grew by 14 per cent over the year. Expenditure also increased, from £7m to nearly £8.3m.
The assimilation of Volunteering England into its bigger cousin meant that NCVO’s membership jumped by around 1,800 organisations to nearly 10,000 on the day of the merger – 1 January 2013 – and has since grown to over 10,500 as a result of a move to offer free membership to more small charities.
Subscription income fell from £961,000 in 2012 to £836,000, amounting to 9 per cent of total revenue, though membership renewal rates held steady at 93 per cent.
More than 5,000 people attended NCVO training and events during the year, and NCVO became a living wage employer.
Chair Martyn Lewis (pictured) said: “I believe the year was a successful one for us.”
During the year, the umbrella body spent just under £2m finishing off its fourth floor – this comprised a £1.2m loan and £741,000 drawn from its reserves. The market value of the building at June 2013 was £14m.
During the current financial year, NCVO is devising a new strategic plan for the merged organisation that is aimed at ensuring its sustainability when its strategic grant from the Office for Civil Society finally expires at the end of March next year.
This grant, at £469,000, was the organisation’s biggest grant during 2012/3, and statutory sources also provided its two next-biggest grants – the Office for Civil Society provided £358,000 for Compact Voice and the Department for Work and Pensions gave £302,000 from the European Social Fund.
The Big Lottery Fund was another major funder – it provided £273,000 for the Sustainable Funding Project, £216,000 for KnowHow NonProfit and £206,000 for the Stronger Communities programme.
However, NCVO also increased its income from charitable activities, including advisory services and information, from £3.9m to £4.6m, and its fees for services from £270,000 to £401,000.
Five employees earned more than £60,000 during the year, an increase of one on the previous year; the salary band of the highest-paid employee, presumably chief executive Sir Stuart Etherington - £120,000 to £130,000 – did not change.
Sir Stuart’s expense claims also stayed comparable with 2012, at £17,599.
The accounts reveal that professional fees of £68,699 were paid to law firm Bates Wells Braithwaite – where Sir Stuart’s wife Rosamund McCarthy is an equity partner – during the year, for legal services.
