Charity forced to act as recession causes decline in donations and decrease in revenue from its shops, writes GORDON DEEGAN
THE BOARD OF Age Action has introduced a series of cost-cutting measures that includes a five per cent pay cut, two weeks unpaid leave for all staff this year and a pensions holiday for 2011, it has emerged.
The cuts come after the organisation – which provided services to 30,000 older people last year – incurred a €671,783 loss in the 12 months to the end of December last year.
Head of advocacy and communications with Age Action, Eamon Timmins, said yesterday that 2010 was a “very challenging period for Age Action and all charities” in Ireland.
“In part, the deficit reflects the pressure which our various funding streams are under. These include grants, public donations, charity shops and corporate sponsorship.
“The deficit also reflects a number of one-off costs, such as redundancies, which were incurred during 2010.”
The figures show that donations received by Age Action last year declined by 35 per cent from €277,396 to €178,015, with revenues from its charity shops decreasing from €785,732 to €579,877.
The figures show that the numbers employed by Age Action last year increased by three to 77, with the organisation’s staff costs reducing from €2.1m to €1.8m in the wage cuts introduced this year. Staff on very low income are not affected.
Mr Timmins confirmed that last year, the organisation made eight people redundant after closing charity shops in Galway and Castlebar.
Mr Timmins said that “steps taken by the board to address the organisation’s finances mean that Age Action is on course to make a modest surplus in 2011”.
Mr Timmins explained that the bulk of the 2010 deficit – more than €553,000 – was accounted for by a change in accounting policy and the cost of redundancies.
“The accounting policy change relates to how grants for service-led projects are accounted for in the years the monies are received and when they are spent. Redundancy and lease costs accounted for €147,000 last year,” he said.
“The greatest challenge for Age Action and its staff has been to cut costs to address our financial situation, without impacting on the services we provide to older people,” he said.
Mr Timmins said that the organisation’s workload and services for older people had increased in 2011.
“Some of the most vulnerable of older people have borne the brunt of the recession and need our services now more than ever,” he added.