Oxfam faces financial challenges like many others

This morning, many of you will have spotted CAF Research Director, Richard Harrison, appearing on BBC Breakfast. He was interviewed as a charity sector representative in response to this story which reveals financial woes at Oxfam, whose income has fallen by £17.6m to £367.9m over the past year to 31^st March.

Both fundraising income and income from charity shops are down, with the organisation blaming the tough economic climate for dealing them these financial challenges, as well as the additional demands on Oxfam’s resources due to troubles in Syria, Yemen and West Africa.

The article quotes Bob Humphrey’s, Oxfam’s finance director:

“We are fortunate that regular donations held up well. However, the lack of a single, high-profile emergency appeal alongside an unexpected shortfall in legacy income led to a drop in the overall contribution from UK public fundraising”.

Richard was able to broaden out the picture, citing figures from the UK Giving 2012 report which revealed a 20% drop in individual donations and polling undertaken for the Back Britain’s Charities campaign which said that 1 in 6 charity chief executives feared closure within 12 months (December 2012).

Earlier in the month the British Red Cross, another household name charity, reported a £14m drop in income to £200m, though representatives speculated that this was due to having to deal with fewer emergencies, and hence running fewer appeals.

As part of this campaign we’ve very much focused on small charities, many of whom have really felt the combined impact of a drop in income and an increase in demand for their services. These sorts of reports, however, show that even the charities we know the best – big, international charities – are not completely insulated from this phenomenon.   

Financial troubles are, indeed, sector wide – worrying charity workers up and down the country, regardless of their area of work, regardless of their size.

If we’re to make this a high profile issue, then we need to work together. That involves two important measures –

One is making sure that we catalogue and build case studies of the valuable work we do as charities, and the other is making sure that it is broadcast, made known and firmly set in the context of these worrying financial times.

If you do brilliant work and want more people to know how valuable you are, please do send us a case study of how you work and the sorts of people you help and we’ll happily publish it on this website.

The best email address to send them to is: contact@backbritainscharities.org.uk.

We’ll look forward to receiving them!