The Salvation Army had a record income of £196m in the year to March 2014, according to annual report and accounts published this week.
Income rose 8 per cent compared to the previous year. The figure marks a fifth consecutive year of growth for the charity.
The biggest contribution to last year’s income hike came from trading activities which generated £67.2m – up from £65.3m the previous year.
The largest increase came in legacy donations, which grew by £9.1m. In 2013 the figure was £38.7m but last year that rose to £47.8m.
The Salvation Army is the 25th largest charity in England and Wales, according to Charity Commission data. It specialises in providing Christian activities as well as social services such as drop in centres, youth clubs, debt advice and emergency food parcels. Its website says it “exists to save souls, grow saints and serve suffering humanity”.
The charity has two wholly owned trading subsidiaries - the Salvation Army General Insurance Corporation Limited (Sagic), which specialises in property insurance, and the Salvation Army Trading Company Limited (Satcol) which trades second hand clothes and publishing.
Last year Satcol provided the charity with its biggest trading income at £46.3m. Its sister company Sagic generated just £3.7m. But Satcol also cost the charity some £36.6m in trading activities.
Public donations totalled £43.2m in 2014 – a rise of 8 per cent from the previous year, while member donations rose from £19.4m in 2013 to £20.8m last year.
“Fifty eight per cent of the charity’s income is voluntary and despite this difficult economic climate this has held up well,” the report said.
Despite the record income, the charity spent less money on generating income. In the year ending 2014 it spent £500,000 less than the previous year at £8.9m, down from £9.4m in 2013.
The charity employed a total of 2,279 full time staff with one employee working for a subsidiary taking home a salary of between £140,000 and £150,000. The highest earner working for the trust, earned between £90,000 and £100,000.
