Annual Report 2013-14
little by little by little by little
globalgiving.co.uk
Contents Chairmans Letter Our Ambition, Our Passion Our Aims Our Year In A Graphic High Atlas Foundation Gateway Challenge (aka Crowdfunding) Joy Babycare Matched Funding Promotions Laura Vicuna Foundation Our Fee - why 10% First To React Access Access Access Financial Statement Financial Data Conclusion: Out Of Failure, Fruit
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While this annual report will, of course, fulfil the legal obligations required of it, we hope too it will leave you feeling lighter in heart and happier with all humanity, especially for its generosity and richness of purpose, than is usually the case after reading such a document. After all, the whole rationale of our business is to help people who are helping people and what could be more joyous than that? So we invite you to read of the amazing – and for once the word is employed with good cause – work being undertaken by our partners. Our role is as mere facilitators for those whose impulse is to improve the life of those around them, for we believe, little by little, all things are possible.
Chairman’s Letter
Matthew Scott Chairman
Dear GlobalGiving friend, It is always inspiring to be reminded how generous the public are even when times are tough. In the past year austerity measures have inevitably affected the purses of many, yet still people gave. 2013/2014 proved our most successful year of operations so far. The UK charity sector continues to feel the pressure of the current economic climate. Statutory funding, at a local and national level, has been drastically cut and will continue to be squeezed at least until 2020. This places small local charities under significant pressure to find alternative sources of income while, paradoxically, the demand for their services is increasing dramatically.
Chairman’s Letter | Annual Report 2014
Internationally, the value local non-profits can bring to complex social problems is gaining wider recognition. International non-profit organisations are increasingly sub-contracting to local grassroots charities to deliver their services. GlobalGiving UK provides charities, domestic and international, with direct access to donors, be they individuals, companies or foundations, so that projects can be need-driven rather than donor-driven. In doing so, we help diversify and improve income, whilst also eliminating the inefficiencies of the sub-contracting chain and reducing the potential for inflexible and misguided restricted funds.
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Compared to the revolution we have seen technology bring to the commercial sector and the emergence of significant new business leaders, we have yet to see a comparative transformation in the charity sector. Traditional brands still dominate not least because of their marketing capacity and access to funding networks. There is a desperate need to innovate in this sector. Smaller charities, who tend to be the most flexible and responsive in meeting the needs of their communities, need a champion to speak up on their behalf and to democratise funding access and distribution. It is a role that seems destined for us to fulfil given our wide experience of working with grassroots charities and our dynamic fundraising platform. This is further underlined by our volunteering and peer training services which provide access to knowledge and specialist skills which would not usually be either available or affordable to smaller organisations.
“Finding GlobalGiving UK has been a life saver. The best thing for small NGOs.� GlobalGiving UK non-profit partner
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Annual Report 2014 | Chairman’s Letter
Part of this innovation is to use technology in imaginative ways, bringing training and volunteering services directly to organisations irrespective of geography. In other words, to bring the teacher to the class and not demand that the class makes the journey to the teacher.
“Bring the teacher to the class and not demand that the class makes the journey to the teacher.�
We are very grateful for your continued support and look forward to work with you over the next year to make more positive change happen. Thank you.
Matthew Scott Chairman Of Trustees, GlobalGiving UK
Looking to the future we expect to see the demographic profile of donors changing to become more representative of the UK population. We are delighted to note that already the majority of our donors are under 50 years of age, men and women equally represented, with strong representation across all ethnic groups. One sector we are looking to tap into is the tech-savvy millennials and it is our ambition, in the coming year, to be at the forefront of their minds when it comes to giving. So though the past year has been successful, the future, given the economic pressures, will present new challenges which we believe we are in a strong position to face.
Chairman’s Letter | Annual Report 2014
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Our Ambition, Our Passion “We wish each and every one of our partners, no matter how small, to become self-reliant, self-determining, independent entities free to make their own decisions as they see fit.� The ambition we hold for our partners, most of whom are small, grassroots charities, is simply stated: We wish each and every one, no matter how small, to become self-reliant, selfdetermining, independent entities free to make their own decisions as they see fit, who can look to their futures with confidence. To this end, we utilise technology to minimise the distance between donor and beneficiary, between need and response, between input and impact. We have developed programmes to train, coach and mentor our partners in all aspects of fundraising, communications, governance
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and good practice. We are advancing our Monitoring & Evaluation Programme with every report we receive from the field. We are improving our curation of skilled volunteers from our corporate partners, who offer their expertise to help our grassroots charities resolve macro and micro tasks. Finally, with the aid of our sister organisation in the US, we continue the never ending task of refining our website, to make it as friendly, informative and easy-peasy to negotiate as possible for partners, potential partners and donors.
Annual Report 2014 | Our Ambition, Our Passion
Our Aims 1 Funding: To provide a transparent, communal, easily accessible and cost-effective fundraising platform for smaller charities. 2 Volunteers: To promote, engage and encourage volunteers to make positive social change happen through sharing their skills and abilities, and through giving their time and energy.
Our Year In A Series Of Stories The story of our year emerges from the many individual stories of ingenuity, hard work, entrepreneurship, sheer bloody-mindedness and courage of our partners. So it makes perfect sense to illustrate some of our work through their achievements.
3 Peer Learning and Training: To build a strong network for peer learning, training and support for the organisations working with us; constantly striving for the highest levels of charity effectiveness. 4 Impact and data: To invest in, engage with and share our learning and experience on what makes projects outstanding in terms of their necessity, their impact, and the welcome with which they are received locally. The stories and voices of communities, families and children served by projects are critical in this.
Our Year In A Tweet
@GlobalGivingUK little by little by little we achieved lots more in 2013 than ever before.
Our Aims | Annual Report 2014
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Our Year In A Graphic ACK
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Annual Report 2014 | Our Year In A Graphic
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We raised £687,473 for our partners.
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8,188 Unique Donors
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486 Non-profit Organisations
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921 Projects working in 89 Countries during the financial year.
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Benefited at least 92,100 World Citizens in need.
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Average Donation £94.25, significantly higher than the sector average.
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We ran 2 Gateway Challenge campaigns for 59 smaller non-profits.
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67 volunteers gave their time, skills and knowledge to the organisation with a net financial value of £41,199.
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500 skilled corporate volunteers gave their time online through our award winning GlobalGivingTime platform; helping 237 non-profit partners.
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1,397 volunteer answers were provided to the challenges posted by our partners during the year.
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6 volunteers visited 23 non-profit partners in 5 countries.
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244 Organisations benefited from our capacity building training.
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We delivered 9 peer learning sessions online to 41 organisations across 25 countries.
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88% of non-profits who participated in our June 2013 Gateway Challenge described the experience as “extremely good”.
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We received 100% positive feedback on the quality of training we delivered to our partners during the year.
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95% of those using GlobalGivingTime are satisfied with the experience.
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Doing Good Online Award, Nominet Internet, July 2013. Groundbreakers Scholarship for GGUK CEO, Eleanor Harrison, August 2013 UK Fail Festival winners, March 2014
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Our Year In A Graphic | Annual Report 2014
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High Atlas Foundation HERE TO HELP
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Morocco
Founded in 2000, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) is a Moroccan-U.S. non-profit organisation operating mostly in the rural, disadvantaged areas of Morocco. Yossef Ben-Meir, HAF’s President of Operations, recognised early on, if projects were to succeed, the community itself needs be the force to design, manage, develop and implement them. So HAF is totally committed to the goal of enabling a participatory approach to development at a local level.
In a blog on the Tassa Ourigane Co-op, Aicha Galef, an HAF intern, quotes Charlotte’s observations at the time:
Its operations are widely diverse. They include clean drinking water projects; women and youth educational and development initiatives; hands-on technical training programmes; and fruit tree agriculture with all that that entailsbuilding nurseries, creating irrigation systems, securing organic certification and exportation.
Aicha continued, ‘We are so grateful for our GlobalGiving supporters who enable us to work with the amazing women and girls of Tassa Ourigane. With local partnerships and your support, the Coop will continue to flourish and will expand its literacy program.’
In September, 2013, Charlotte Burrows, one of GlobalGiving’s first evaluation volunteers, visited four HAF projects. Her final report ran to nine pages of detailed analysis and recommendations. It concluded with the very positive observation that HAF ‘is making a huge impact in the communities in which they are working, and that they are highly trusted and respected by these communities’.
“As we sat down around an impressive spread of home-cooked food, the women talked freely about the insufficiency of girls’ education in their rural community. The nearest college is 30km away, a commute which families cannot afford, and so education stops at the age of 16 at the latest, although often as early as the age of ten.”
We created the Evaluation Programme in 2013 as there is only so much assistance you can offer an organisation from behind a computer screen. Meeting face-to-face is far more rewarding for all concerned. From our partners’ perspective, it demonstrates tangible evidence of our commitment to their work. It also means that we can better monitor and evaluate their operation in depth and so offer more precise advice on ways and means to meet their
“I am absolutely exhausted, but I wouldn’t have missed out on this experience. I really feel that I have the power to make a difference with my work here this summer. The stories of the inspirational individuals I’ve met have nested in a quiet corner of my heart.” Laura Brassington, evaluation volunteer
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Annual Report 2014 | High Atlas Foundation
needs and improve their operation. From our perspective, such meetings allow us to assess how efficiently and effectively donors’ money is being used, which, in turn, means we are able to report back to our donors with every confidence on the difference their support is making. Volunteers for the Evaluation Programme are self-funding and contribute £650 towards their professional training. The intensive four-day training covers every detail imaginable: from cultural etiquette, norms and behaviour to governance & accountability, finance & administration; to environment & wellbeing; to staff development; to report writing.
we have already expanded the programme. We leave the last word on the subject to a partner in India, who e-mailed, ‘Formidably useful. Thank you so much. We have already started implementing the recommendations.’
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“Formidably useful. Thank you so much. We have already started implementing the recommendations.” Partner in India
The first six volunteers set off on their travels in 2013. Between them they conducted audits on twenty-three different organisations in five countries. From the response, it is apparent the programme has proven invaluable for all concerned; for our partners; for the wider local community; for staff and volunteers; for donors; for government and other stakeholders. The feedback has been so overwhelmingly positive,
High Atlas Foundation | Annual Report 2014
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Gateway Challenge The Gateway Challenge represents a process every charity must complete if they wish to have access to all our facilities, including our online donation platform. The challenge is to raise £2,000 from 50 separate individuals within 30+ days-the buzzword commonly used being crowdfunding. The hurdles are deliberately set at a height to challenge the applicants because of our belief that to succeed and endure organisations must have a broad base of supporters, as well as the skills and competence to raise the funds necessary to complete their projects.
programme with the consequence we saw the December challenge raise £75,073 from 1,553 donors for 24 partners. (Both totals exclude Gift Aid.) The feedback we receive is that, through the challenges, partners find they attract new supporters which helps them build their sustainability for the long-term, and enables them to expand their work.
However, we do support all the charities whose applications are successful. In the six weeks leading up to the challenge, we offer them a comprehensive training course that covers every aspect of fundraising with a series of online webinars and face-to-face meetings.
“Through the challenges, partners find they attract new supporters.” We ran two Gateway Challenge campaigns in 2013 for 59 smaller non-profits. This led to the most significant increase in new donors, as smaller non-profits put their online fundraising and communications training into action. The challenge in June raised £59,558 from 1,341 donors for 25 participants. A post-mortem helped us refine and improve our training
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Annual Report 2014 | Gateway Challenge
Joy Babycare Nairobi
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Joy Babycare allows unsupported, single mothers in Nairobi to leave their babies in safety while they seek work on the streets to earn food for the day. Every day is a challenge for these ladies. Some have come from rural communities to try to find work in the city; others come from families torn apart by AIDS/HIV. Earning enough money to survive is a daily struggle. So they can find themselves faced with the devil’s choice of either taking their babies into what can be dangerous or unsafe environments in their search for casual work, or leaving their babies unattended at home. The mission of the wonderfully named Joy Babycare is to offer stable, safe care and support to these families so they can stabilise their lives, support each other, and build themselves a more secure future.
in November, 2013. Their representative in the UK, Andria Falk, previously a volunteer with GlobalGiving UK, was involved with the project early on. Initially Andria was concerned about the conditions she found. The organisation was founded principally on love and hope. Given her understanding of what was required if the project was to clear the first hurdles of the Gateway Challenge, Andria helped the charity set up a board and proper constitution. On the process of completing the challenge, Andria commented, ‘GlobalGiving UK helped them professionalise and to professionalise their approach to fundraising. They raised virtually all the money they need and are now almost self-sufficient and looking to expand into new projects.’
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The project is supported by Tiba Africa Foundation and is particularly close to their heart because it meets their aim ‘to give people a hand-up rather than a hand out’. We first learned of Joy Babycare when they applied to take part in our Gateway Challenge
“Stabilise their lives, support each other, & build themselves a more secure future.”
Joy Babycare | Annual Report 2014
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Matched HERE TO Funding HELP Promotions The arguments for matched funding are powerful. By rewarding charities for their efforts, matched funding encourages them to evaluate their means and objectives, and to engage fully with their supporters. It motivates them, and helps them further develop the fundraising skills that ultimately will help them become self-reliant and self-determining.
“Projects are driven by community needs and not donor requirements.� The second argument is that matched funding is usually unrestricted. Too often, funds arrive with strings attached which pull the beneficiary organisation in directions that they may not find the most sensible, or appropriate. Unrestricted funding, on the other hand, is of greater worth to grassroots organisations as it allows them to respond to their immediate circumstances rather than a predetermined agenda. Of course, unrestricted funding does not equate to unaudited funding. We are most rigorous in ensuring that if a partner asks for monies to fund a specific project then the monies are spent on that project. But how that project is implemented we leave to them. This is to ensure projects are driven by community needs and not donor requirements.
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Annual Report 2014 | Matched Funding Promotions
Laura Vicuna Foundation Philippines
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The Laura Vicuna Foundation in the Philippines urgently need to rebuild their home for abused and exploited girls in Manila. The existing wooden structure is deteriorating rapidly and is a serious fire hazard (a fire gutted the ceiling in 2010). In October last year, they took full advantage of an initiative sponsored by Stars Foundation, with support from Charities Aid Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Pears Foundation. Fund the Front Line guaranteed Laura Vicuna a 100% match for every donation received during the course of the campaign. Such encouragement spurred the charity to such an enthusiastic drive for funds that it raised £20,132 excluding Gift Aid. The monies received will go a long way to seeing the construction of a four storey building that will become a Centre for Transformation of Children in difficult circumstances. It will not only be a residential facility for abused and exploited girls, but also a resource for families, communities, school and parishes on issues relating to child protection.
raised was £148.13 during the campaign and £60,199 was raised for six award-winning local organisations. GlobalGiving UK organised the training for all the frontline participants and facilitated all donations. We are now continuing to monitor the projects and are planning to visit them through our Evaluation Programme. In addition, we organised two other matched funding events in 2013-14: The Children’s Matching Campaign offered a 25% matched contribution and ran during May, 2013; and, in March, 2014, the 50% Bonus Week helped 41 partners raise a total of £36,367 for their work. We work in partnership with trusts, foundations and companies to deliver matched funding campaigns.
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Fund the Front Line led to 172 high value new donors engaging with local non-profits and GlobalGiving UK. The average donation
“The average donation raised was £148.13 during the campaign.”
Laura Vicuna Foundation | Annual Report 2014
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Our Fee why 10%? HERE TO- HELP As a charity, our objective is to be transparently open in all we do with everyone concerned, with donors, partners, funding bodies and government. So we unashamedly advertise the fact that our fee is 10% of all donations. This figure is totally inclusive, and even covers transaction costs charged by debit and credit cards. We do not charge our partners a signingon fee, nor a monthly charge to maintain their presence on our site. Being a charity, every penny raised is reinvested in the same organisations that donors wish to support. So to offer a different perspective, donations made through GlobalGiving UK can be split as 90% going directly to the project and 10% going to assessing, training and supporting the organisation running the project.
Due Diligence It is an act of calculated trust and faith to donate to an organisation that in all probability you will never see and may know little about. So it is of vital importance to everyone concernedourselves, our donors, funding bodies, and our partners – that the organisations we encourage people to support are who they say they are, and undertake the work that they claim to. Therefore, we follow a rigorous three stage due diligence process to ensure only organisations carrying out charitable activities as defined by UK law are supported, and those whom have adequate financial and governance systems. As far as we are aware, we are the only online funding platform who is as rigorous in their researches and supports internationally registered organisations to raise funds directly in the UK.
“We were fundraising novices and so the training enabled us to go from nothing to executing a successful campaign.� Salem Union, Kazakhstan
90% of your
donation goes directly to the project.
10% we use to train
and mentor the organisation.
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Annual Report 2014 | Our Fee - why 10%?
First To React Rapid Disaster Response
8th November, 2013. Around 6,000 people died and some 3.6 million were displaced.
Three major natural disasters of cataclysmic proportions occurred during the past year: The Lushan earthquake, which struck in the Sichuan province of China on 20th April 2013, with a magnitude of Ms 7.0 on the Richter Scale, left 196 dead and nearly 12,000 people injured. Our donors have supported the re-building of nurseries and schools, school fees for displaced students, training and support on mental health in the area and basic needs support.
“Indeed, we were one of the first to react to the Philippian disaster.”
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On the 20th May, 2013, a tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m. local time at Moore, Oklahoma, USA. Thirty-nine minutes later the tornado lifted having devastated a strip 1.3miles at its widest and seventeen miles long with wind speeds peaking at 210 mph. Twenty-four people were killed, including seven school children at Plaza Towers Elementary. Our donors have helped to rebuild community facilities in Moore, improve disaster preparedness and meet urgent needs. Most damaging of all was Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record to make landfall, which battered the Philippines on the
First To React | Annual Report 2014
In every event GlobalGiving UK were able to respond promptly. Indeed, we were one of the first to react to the Philippian disaster with an Internet appeal. One of our major strengths is the fact that we are in direct contact with grassroots organisations on the ground who, in times of disaster, know exactly where funds are needed and how they are best utilised. Our work in the Philippines includes building low cost pour flush toilets, ensuring food security and investing in agriculture.
Northern Cebu was one of the areas devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Kapamagogopa Incorporated (KI) a Muslim volunteering organisation, identified a need to give relief and support to People With Disabilities (PWD) in the region-a very specific need that could easily be overlooked. Volunteers were trained in sign language so as to be in a position to interpret and offer advocacy in helping PWD survivors assert their rights to support. KI also trained volunteers to assist 2,000 households rebuild their livelihoods. The appeal raised £5,000, just £800 shy of overall target.
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AccessTO Access HERE HELPAccess At GlobalGiving UK, you will hear the constant use of the word ‘access’. We talk of access to funding, access to training, access to volunteers, access to this, access to that. The use of the word is perfectly correct grammatically and descriptively, but it is a very passive definition of what we do. It evokes an image of a doorway discreetly marked ‘Entry’ on a busy thoroughfare overlooked by the crowds as they hurry by. That is not how it is. We use all the resources available to us to attract people’s attention to the benefits we offer. In another life we might well have been barkers at a fair. So wherever you see the word access, think of us at the entrance with a megaphone shouting, ‘Roll up! Roll up!’ and encouraging all to enter. In short, we use every means available to us, given our limited marketing budget, where we can and when we can, to advertise our activities to our different audiences to invite them in and help them prosper.
Access To Funding Any attempt to summarise the nature of the work undertaken by our partners around the world would be as doomed as an attempt to summarize the bible in a single paragraph.
It proves more informative to list the categories in which their projects fall. Even then it cannot be a totally accurate reflection of affairs with different categories inevitably overlapping. For instance, there is an obvious correlation between children and education as well as issues affecting technology and economic development. As we have intimated, the diversity of work supported by GlobalGiving UK is only matched by the diversity of need faced by communities around the world. The successful conclusion of each project is of equal importance and as vital to every community concerned, so if we are to stress any point it would be to stress the value of every donation received. And because, as a charity, we are more than just a technical means of transferring money from one side of the globe to the other, we are as passionate about the difference a donation can make as we are in motivating an individual to donate in the first place. We want to see our partner organisations thrive as much as those who support them do. So we encourage our partners to report back regularly on their progress.
“I have donated to bigger NGOs before and been very frustrated. The money didn’t get to the community as promised. I was nervous about using you (GlobalGiving UK) because of that. But, actually, the vetting is great and the updates are wonderful. I will be donating again.” Male, age 48, London
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Annual Report 2014 | Access Access Access
Access To Skilled Volunteers
Access To Peer Learning & Training
Three years ago, in 2011, we launched GlobalGivingTIME in partnership with our corporate partner who was then simply Aegis Media. Our objective was to support grassroots charities around the world get better at what they do, i.e. making a direct impact in the local community.
We launched our Peer Learning Network in January 2013 with the objective of providing a forum for peer sharing and training. Since then we have activated the network each month with a online interactive webinar structured around various aspects of organisational development. In the financial year, we facilitated nine online sessions to 41 organisations across 25 countries. Topics included good governance, staff supervision and appraisal, best practice in HIV/ AIDS work, best practice working with street children, local fundraising and child protection.
GlobalGivingTIME was as instant a success as only an instant success can be. In the first year of its launch volunteers responded triumphantly to 171 challenges initiated by 133 of our partners. And last year the numbers of volunteers increased to 573, who between them responded to the challenges from 217 partners. As an addendum, it is worth observing that it is not only our grassroots partners who benefit from GlobalGivingTIME. We ran a questionnaire to discover how Aegis Media volunteers rated the scheme. The overall consensus is taking part in the scheme gave the volunteers an enhanced sense of self-worth and wellbeing as well as an increased ability to empathise, communicate and work with others. Importantly, from Aegis Media’s perspective, respondents reported that the experience helped improve their professional abilities as well as their relationship with their employer.
Children
Education
Technology
Access Access Access | Annual Report 2014
9% 11%
C Donations by top 5 themes
12%
37%
Te
H
E D
31%
Health
E
Economic Development
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Financial Statement GlobalGiving UK Financial Statements for the year ended 31st March 2014 Statement Of Financial activities Restricted Funds 2014
Unrestricted Funds 2014
Total Funds 2014
Total Funds 2013
£
£
£
£
INCOMING RESOURCES Incoming resources from generated funds: Voluntary income Investment income Incoming resources from charitable activities
812,097 -
81,732 148 86,523
893,829 148 86,523
753,870 100 40,909
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES
812,097
168,403
980,500
794,879
Cost of generating funds: Costs of generating voluntary income Charitable activities Governance costs
60,813 600,682 1,756
1,084 127,641 3,331
61,897 728,323 5,087
55,892 684,713 4,280
TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED
663,251
132,056
795,307
744,885
NET INCOMING RESOURCES BEFORE TRANSFERS
148,846
36,347
185,193
49,994
TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS
(11,365}
11,365
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS FOR THE YEAR AFTER TRANSFERS
137,481
47,712
185,193
49,994
Total funds at 1st April 2013
226,646
140,440
367,086
317,092
TOTAL FUNDS AT 31ST MARCH 2014
364,127
188,152
552,279
367,086
RESOURCES EXPENDED
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Annual Report 2014 | Financial Statement
Financial Data INCOMING RESOURCES Voluntary Income Investment Income
0%
Incoming Resources from Charitable Activities
RESOURCES EXPENDED Costs of generating Voluntary Income
1%
Financial Data | Annual Report 2014
Charitable Activities Governance Costs
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Conclusion: Out Of Failure, Fruit HERE TO HELP At the turn of the year, there was intense activity in our office as the GlobalGiving UK team wrestled with a matched funding proposal to put before Department for International Development (DFID) on behalf of partner organisations. The caveats were, firstly, that the charities had to be involved with education; secondly, that applications had to come from DFID’s priority countries, applications being acceptable from a maximum of five. Though we ultimately failed in our bid, the process proved to be an invaluable lesson for us and our partners. For a start, it demonstrated the paradox of funding at this level: though the virtues of grassroots organisations are widely recognised and lauded, what makes them flexible and responsive to local needs, i.e. their size, means they do not necessarily have the skills, organisation or time to respond to the demands of a complex bidding process. The eleven partner organisations who joined us on the bid all found the process a challenge. Those familiar with logical frameworks will appreciate how demanding they must appear to a novice. This is not to say that the discipline of thinking
“Grassroots Organisations need championing if they are not to miss out on funds.�
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Annual Report 2014 | Conclusion: Out Of Failure, Fruit
Eleanor Harrison speaking at 2014 Blanket & Wine celebration
“Next year the bywords are effectiveness and focus. We need to collate our various products so that they become a meaningful whole to our partners rather than a pick & mix assortment. And we need to focus our branding and message so all have a clear understanding of who we are and what we stand for.� through one’s operation in-depth is something a small organisation can afford to ignore. Though initially painful, the process can deliver real benefits in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. It also places those organisations who successfully manage the practice in a strong position when they next apply for funding. (It is no coincidence that two of the top organisations to benefit from our own matched funding programme later in the year came from those whom we supported with the DFID bid.)
monies invested in them are monies invested wisely. In the parallel world of commerce, the energy and efficiency of small enterprises are constantly being promoted by government as an example to follow-a parallel that we believe international development offices could well heed. The second part of the challenge would be to encourage the relevant bodies to become less risk averse, or at least reformulate their processes to make them more user-friendly, bearing in mind who their user in this instance is.
From our perspective, working almost on a oneto-one basis at this strategic level gave us the opportunity to assess the level of skills available to our partners. We are now in a much better position to tailor our online training programme to address a number of specific issues.
This is very condensed presentation of what is a complex issue. However, we believe GlobalGiving UK is ideally situated to act as advocate for grassroots organisations and that this is a torch we should seize and bear aloft.
It reinforced our view that grassroots organisations need championing if they are not to miss out on funds from government and larger funding bodies. We see the challenge, firstly, as being to gather the evidence that small organisations are as efficient and effective, if not more so, than larger bodies so as to reassure funding bodies that
It has been hectic year with much that we can be proud of and much that we can improve, so as to achieve the greatest levels of impact to which we strive.
Eleanor Harrison CEO, GlobalGiving UK
Conclusion: Out Of Failure, Fruit | Annual Report 2014
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Our Debt Of Thanks Is Overdrawn The list of those to whom we are indebted, our volunteers, our partners, our corporate partners, our staff, our trustees, runs so long perhaps only a particular gushy winner of an Oscar on Academy Awards Night could possibly do it justice. The number of people who directly or indirectly support this organisation is overwhelming. Last year we had 573 skilled volunteers working online, 67 volunteers working in our office, 6 volunteers working in the field, 6 full and part-time staff, and 9 Trustees who served during the year. We appreciate the hours you have devoted, the talent you have shared, your willingness, your generosity and your company far beyond glib words. Thank you.
GlobalGiving UK 6 Great James St. London WC1N 3DA 0207 242 8079 ukinfo@globalgiving.co.uk globalgiving.co.uk
Thank You Charity No. 1122823