Voluntary Services Overseas saw its income increase by 20 per cent to £68.7m in 2013/14, according to its latest annual report.
Over the last three years, the international development charity has been diversifying its sources of income by increasing fundraising expenditure from 7 per cent in 2010/11 to 10 per cent in 2013/14 of its income.
In the year to 31 March, VSO's total income was£68.7m, up from £57.1m in 2012/13. It spent £68.2m.
Individual giving increased 17 per cent to £4.4m with more than 14,400 new regular givers signed up across the UK and Ireland, VSO’s annual report shows.
Legacies grew by 75 per cent to 725,000, including the charity’s largest-ever gift in a will from Agnes McIntyre.
Funding from trusts and foundations were also up nearly 90 per cent to £998,000, from £533,000 the previous year. But donations from companies were down slightly to £1.9m from £2.1m in 2013.
VSO received 32 per cent of its income from the final instalment of a three-year strategic grant from the Department for International Development, which was down from 46 per cent in 2012/13.
The annual report says that over the past three years the unrestricted money has been used to leverage further funding – in 2013/14 each £1 of the funding enabled the charity to raise a further £2.
Dfid has awarded VSO a two-year extension to the strategic grant that will see it receive £22m this year and the same sum in 2015/16.
The report says that by investing in fundraising to reduce the charity’s reliance on the strategic grant from Dfid, it has won significant restricted funding, including the Girls Education Challenge Fund in Nepal and Mozambique.
The charity also saved £400,000 a year by moving its UK offices from Putney to Kingston upon Thames.
Its annual report says £923,000 was spend on severance pay in 2013/14, which was mostly due to a reorganisation of the UK office. The total number of UK-based employees were down five to 261. One person at VSO is paid in the top salary band of £140,000 to £150,000.
Marg Mayne (pictured) stood down as chief executive this month.
Amanda Bringans, VSO’s interim chief executive and former director of global fundraising and communications, said: “VSO has a very positive story to tell. Over the past year the organisation has helped improve the lives of over two million people, living in 35 countries.
“Our country offices have some really strong programmes in place and built new partnerships at a grassroots and corporate level, highlighting the unique and vital role we play in development. As well as securing new income, VSO improved how we evidence our impact and this all paints a picture that there is growing appreciation of the power of volunteering for development.”
VSO also opened a new office in the Myanmar capital of Yangon after working with migrant communities on the Thailand-Myanmar border since 1999. The first three international volunteers arrived in February and a further 13 teachers are scheduled to arrive next month.
The charity said it is playing a growing role internationally by contributing to the wider development debate and is an active participant in discussions about the next stages of the Millennium Development Goals.
It has released an annual report film on YouTube that features Cath Nixon, a volunteer health worker from the UK who attended the Commission on the Status of Women, held in New York this March.
