Bridgehouse Charity Financials Article – October 2019

This month our Consultant Jo Steel appears in Charity Financials outlining what trustees can do to monitor, evaluate, and ensure their charity’s long-term resilience.

You can find a brief excerpt below of the article below.

To deliver their key duties, trustees must continuously consider the long-term resilience of their charity, by identifying any critical issues around financial resilience and solvency, as well as the resilience of its purpose, plans and governance…

A resilience strategy

Charities should have a strategy in place designed to achieve the long-term aims of their charity. Trustees should regularly consider whether:

• the charity is focused on the right activities;
• the funding in place supports the strategic plans;
• the current economic/political climate is affecting funding and delivery;
• there are immediate challenges, opportunities and risks and;
• continued operation is the best use of scarce funding and resources.

Making the most of finances

Trustees must ensure that the charity remains financially strong enough to continue providing for its beneficiaries. Trustees should ensure they are receiving accurate, timely financial information including cash flow and debt/obligation information to enable them to:

• consider the effects on future income;
• protect/increase current income;
• establish if it can continue current activities;
• identify cost efficiencies;
• fulfill current contractual obligations and financial commitments and;
• identify potential insolvency as early as possible.