# St Vincent de Paul Society Ireland reports fall in voluntary income

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2019/11/27/st-vincent-de-paul-society-ireland-reports-fall-in-voluntary-income/
- Published: 2019-11-27T12:26:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**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

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