St Vincent de Paul Society Ireland reports fall in voluntary income
Howard Lake | 27 November 2019 | News
St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) in Ireland had voluntary income of just over €37 million last year, down from over €39 million the year before, according to their latest accounts.
The organisation’s largest source of income is donations, which fell by nearly €1 million in 2018, from €15.2 million to €14.3 million. SVP’s round-the-year collections outside churches also fell, from €9.6 million to €9.2 million.
To address the increasing trend towards contactless payments, SVP trialled a new contactless donation solution called the CollecTin, developed by SumUp. The trial was Visa-sponsored and tested ease of use for volunteers and willingness of donors to give non-cash payments. CollecTin use was expanded in 2019.
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SVP and legacies
SVP is one of the largest recipients of legacies in Ireland and brought in €8.5 million in 2018, compared to €9 million the year before. The charity has 228 charity shops in Ireland, whose income grew slightly to €29.6 million from €28.9 million. Total charity income, including some government grant income, was €80.5 million in 2018, down from €82.2 million in 2017.
Reflecting SVP’s strong reliance on fundraising volunteers, fundraising expenses were a relatively low €1 million last year, roughly similar as 2017.
SVP is Ireland’s largest social welfare charity and last week it launched its Christmas appeal using TV, radio, press, outdoor, and on social media over the next five weeks. Nichola Mullen, SVP head of fundraising, said the appeal would feature two stories based on real experiences where children would have lost out were it not for the generosity of the public allowing SVP to step in.
Source: SVP Ireland annual accounts
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.