Tearfund chief executive Matthew Frost has announced he will step down from his role after almost a decade in the job.
“My years with Tearfund have been among the most important of my life and I count it a daily privilege to serve some of the world’s poorest people, alongside inspiring and highly professional colleagues,” he said.
Frost will step down in a year's time at the end of September 2015, marking ten years in the role. His decision to give a year's notice was made in conjunction with the board of trustees in light of the charity’s planned work in the year ahead.
“During the year ahead, there are a number of important strategic developments we expect to achieve and I am committed to seeing these through,” he said.
In 2014, Tearfund reported its lowest income for the past five years at £59.3m. The figure was down from £60m in 2013 and £70.2m the previous year.
Institutional income also fell to £15.1m, down from £18.6m in 2013. But according to Tearfund’s annual report, the drop was a result of funding delays and “security situations in a number of the countries” which resulted in "delayed implementation".
The charity is expecting to make redundancies over the coming year. Its 2014 accounts report a figure of almost £400,000 set aside for up-coming redundancy costs. This includes £170,000 towards the planned closure of its fairtrade business, Created.
There were 15 redundancies from among the 1,200 UK and overseas staff.
"Many of them had been with us for a long time, hence the total amount paid in redundancy payments," said a Tearfund spokesperson.
Henrietta Blyth, organisational development director at Tearfund told Civil Society News: “As you'd expect, we're continually reviewing the ways we serve people living in poverty to make sure our focus is on the countries and issues where we can make the most difference.
"In the last year, in order to achieve this and to make some necessary savings, we have made some head office posts redundant in order to concentrate our resources in the places where we can have the most impact.
“We've done this through vacancy management where we can, but there have been some unavoidable redundancies among some of our support roles.”
The year 2013/14 saw a drop in staff numbers of nearly 13 per cent - from 1,307 in 2013 to 1,139 in 2014. That figure includes a loss of 166 overseas staff based on local contracts. This is partly due to the nature of Tearfund's work in responding to disasters and recruiting people locally on a short-term basis for the work.
Tearfund spent a total of £24.4m responding to disasters in the financial year 2013/14 – and provided support for partners working in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. Assistance was also provided for the Sahel countries (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad) and a response to typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines as well as the Central African Republic, Sudan, Afghanistan, DRC and South Sudan.
Frost said: “I’m very keen to use the year’s transition as a smooth and effective handover to my successor.”
Recruitment for a new CEO will begin shortly.
