AGM Finance Report and Audit disapplication 2023
FINANCE REPORT
Review of the 2022/23 financial year ending 5th April 2023
Overall our finances remain in a healthy position. In a “normal year” we continue to spend more than we bring in, we have enjoyed a number of “unusual years” (in a good way) which have left us with a sizable surplus. It is right that we are looking to spend some of this surplus to build our organisational capability, aiming to make Freegle more sustainable.
We had a total income of £151,188 (2022: £103,772).
Donations were £111,054 (2022: £62,505) - which includes £73,000 from the PayPal Small Charities Campaign. (2022: £6,000 from PayPal Giving Fund's Favourite Charity and a further £29,000 from PayPal's Give at Checkout Scheme) and £9,818 for our Server Heroes Appeal (2022: £0). We received £7,200 (2022: £7,200) from our very generous anonymous sponsor and Gift Aid reclaims amounted to £5,286 (2022: £6,371). Our income from advertising was £19,018 (2022: £22,550), and we received £6,000 (2022: £3,437) in grants from local Councils, plus a donation from Norfolk Freegle of £1,030. The remaining income included £350 (2022: £322) from Give As You Live and £1,164 in bank interest (2022: £24).
Our expenditure was £90,213 (2022: £68,863).
IT costs were £54,124 (2022: £39,080) with most of the increase due to app development and server migration. We spent £22,700 (2022: £17,973) on media and local events, £11,400 (2022: £10,798) on work with local councils to promote Freegle, £759 (2022: £272) on volunteer support, £129 (2022: £0) on fundraising, and £1,101 (2022: £740) on administration and insurance.
The result for the year was a surplus for the year of £60,975 (2022: £34,909).
This surplus was entirely due to the PayPal Small Charities Campaign, and we have decided to spend some of it on improving our technology, especially our mobile app, and boosting our work with councils. We had a surplus brought forward from last year of £81,138 (2021: £46,229) so are left with reserves of £142,113 (2022: £81,138), of which £5,042 (2022: £0) is restricted for specific expenditure.
AUDIT
Request from the Freegle Board:
The Board would like the AGM to approve the dis-application for a full audit for the Freegle Ltd accounts 2023/24. This would be in line with previous procedure and is due to the level of expense for an external auditor and time required from the volunteer Treasurer for a full audit.
Industrial and Provident Societies must have a full audit if they are a charitable IPS with a turnover of over £10,200,000 or assets in excess of £5,100,000.
As we don't get near to these figures the expense and time for a full audit seems unnecessary when our transparency is confirmed by a qualified accountant’s Independent Examination. More information can be found in the legal explanatory note here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/14/section/84
Link: AGM 2023 Agenda
