How our charity is funded
All charities have running costs, also known as overheads, core or operating costs. These are needed so the charity can run effectively and within charitable regulations. Such costs include staff salaries, fundraising, marketing, software, bank and audit charges. Some larger charities have investments, endowments and charity shops which cover all their running costs, whereas others – like Raise – finance their running costs from their funds. A ‘funding formula’ was introduced at our Trust in 2019, and running costs are proportionately spread across each of our charity’s funds, and are deducted quarterly.
How our charitable funds are managed
Raise, like all hospital charities, manages a number of ‘charitable funds’. These may relate to ‘women’s and children’s services’, ‘Breast cancer’ and ‘neonatal’, for example. So if a supporter asks for their donation to benefit the neonatal unit, their gift will be allocated to the ‘neonatal fund’.
Raise also manages ‘unrestricted funds’ which aren’t allocated to a particular service. These unrestricted funds are extremely useful as they can be spent flexibly, supporting projects anywhere in the Trust.
Raise is currently proactively ‘investing to grow’, with its new lottery and regular giving programmes. These will help to grow unrestricted funds which can be spent wherever the need is greatest and on running the charity itself.
- For more on how charities fund their running costs, see NCVO’s article on Charitable Spending.
- You can see Raise’s annual report and accounts here.