Comic Relief - What happened....

ThumbRemote

battleborn wrote: »

We should just raise money for people in the UK

You feel free to donate to whoever you want. Please don't try to impose restrictions on everyone else.

battleborn wrote: »

these third world nations will never change.

Why is that then?

Hoof_Hearted

The Comic Relief accounts make interesting reading here. I thought the money came in and the money went out, but I am wrong.

I am not an accountant but from what I read of the 2012 accounts:

£134 million was not spent and was carried forward to this year.
£13 million was spent on 286 staff.
£88 million is invested and not donated to charities at all.
Expenses of £6,657 were incurred in the year for 1 trustee.
The remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive, was £130,823.
Five other staff earn around £100,000.

Obviously, the event needs managing, but I am more concerned that the money is invested rather than given to charity directly.

ThumbRemote

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

The Comic Relief accounts make interesting reading here. I thought the money came in and the money went out, but I am wrong.

I am not an accountant but from what I read of the 2012 accounts:

£134 million was not spent and was carried forward to this year.
£13 million was spent on 286 staff.
£88 million is invested and not donated to charities at all.
Expenses of £6,657 were incurred in the year for 1 trustee.
The remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive, was £130,823.
Five other staff earn around £100,000.

Obviously, the event needs managing, but I am more concerned that the money is invested rather than given to charity directly.

Remember that the income to Comic Relief tends to come in big chunks - at Comic Relief and Sport Aid - while spending will be much more spread throughout the year. The balance sheet is as of 31st July 2012 - at that point they had received money from Sport Aid, but it will be spent throughout the year.

Also they need to keep some in reserves - their report notes that if a years fundraising has to be cancelled they still have ongoing commitments to meet.

Investments doesn't necessarily mean long term, plus it's entirely sensible to earn interest off the money they hold - the accounts show £6m investment income. That doesn't mean it's not used at all, just that it's not been used so far.

The salaries look on the high side to me - both the individual salaries you mention and the number of staff employed. Even without the top executive salaries there's a high average figure. (Note I'm not suggesting the staff work for peanuts, but I'm just surprised how much goes on salaries).

notanewuser

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

The Comic Relief accounts make interesting reading here. I thought the money came in and the money went out, but I am wrong.

I am not an accountant but from what I read of the 2012 accounts:

£134 million was not spent and was carried forward to this year.
£13 million was spent on 286 staff.
£88 million is invested and not donated to charities at all.
Expenses of £6,657 were incurred in the year for 1 trustee.
The remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive, was £130,823.
Five other staff earn around £100,000.

Obviously, the event needs managing, but I am more concerned that the money is invested rather than given to charity directly.

I looked at the accounts last night and don't think you've interpreted them correctly AT ALL.

Equaliser123

battleborn wrote: »

We should just raise money for people in the UK, these third world nations will never change.

Absolute rubbish. The progress in a huge number of developing countries has been absolutely enormous over the last couple of decades.

Suggest you see a bit more of the World.

Hoof_Hearted

notanewuser wrote: »

I looked at the accounts last night and don't think you've interpreted them correctly AT ALL.

Explain....

notanewuser

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

Explain....

I will do as soon as I'm on a laptop and not my phone.

Hoof_Hearted

You may well be right that I have misinterpreted them but four of the six points need no interpretation -- number of staff, salaries, trustee expenses...

Equaliser123

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

£134 million was not spent and was carried forward to this year.
£13 million was spent on 286 staff.
£88 million is invested and not donated to charities at all.
Expenses of £6,657 were incurred in the year for 1 trustee.
The remuneration for the year, excluding pensions, for Kevin Cahill, Chief Executive, was £130,823.
Five other staff earn around £100,000.

I don't think that you are reading the accounts correctly either.

In the latest period, income received was £89.465m. Total expenditure was £104m of which £86.51m was for charitable purposes.

It is absolutely not correct to say that £88m is invested and not given to charities. The accounts clearly state that many of the grants are over a 2 or 3 year duration and so the retained funds need to be invested.

Your comment regarding trustees is also a little disingenuous as the accounts make clear that NONE of the trustees received any remuneration.

Hoof_Hearted

I accept what you say. I obviously did not interpret the investment bit appropriately. The trustee issue was highlighted to show that one trustee claimed £6,657 in expenses (what for?). Nobody else claimed anything at all.