Context

Oxfam’s Annual Report & Accounts for 2009/10 includes the word ‘lobby’ on its front page as one of the keywords in the graphic, and campaigning is one of the three areas in the ‘What we do’ section of the report. Although Oxfam lobbies private companies in addition to governments, a quarter of its income comes from government sources. In a summary of its five aims, it says it spends 8% of its income on:

The right to be heard…raising people’s awareness of their rights and helping them lobby their government and other decision-makers.

Details

[chart percent=26]

Oxfam’s latest accounts are for the 11 months to March 31, 2010. In the reported income from government they include income from other organisations, such as other members of Oxfam International, so the total here is less than the total in their accounts. The biggest identified government sources include the Department for International Development (DFID):

• European Union: £42.5 million
• United Nations: £13.4 million
• Non-UK governments: £16 million
• UK Government (mostly DFID): £11.9 million
  —
• Total: £83.8 (26% of all income)

Context

Butterfly Conservation’s accounts for 2009/10 estimate that:

…volunteers contributed work worth over £9 million…

If that figure were actually in the accounts as income, then the charity’s state funding would fall just below our 10% threshold (but still be above the £1 million threshold). As it is, the charity receives more than a third of its income from the state, income that it maintains by lobbying.

Recently it declared its support for one of its state donors, the Forestry Commission, which has been widely criticised for policies that harm wildlife. The money was apparently more important.

Details

[chart percent=38]

The charity’s accounts for 2009/10 list grant income from dozens of sources including several local councils. Here are some of the larger amounts:

• DEFRA via Natural England: £384,000
• Lottery: £309,000
• Landfill Communities Fund via Grantscape & SITA: £210,000
• Scottish Natural Heritage: £123,000
• Countryside Council for Wales: £ 119,000
• Forestry Commission: £36,000
• N.I. Environment Agency: £55,000
  —
• Total: £1.2 million (38% of all income)

Context

Turning Point’s Strategic Plan for 2007 – 2012 has the title, Transforming health and social care. Turning Point provides health and social care services in areas like learning disability, young people, substance misuse, mental health and employment, under contracts and with grants from government and the NHS.

The Strategic Plan makes the extent of Turning Point’s ambitions clear:

Turning Point intends to be a major national influence in the health and social care sector.

and:

We will use our position as an influencer of local and national policy to ensure that services are delivered how and where they are needed most.

In December 2010, for example, it announced a project funded by the Department of Health:

The first of its kind in the UK, the Community Leadership Network aims to help local people develop the skills and confidence to bring about the change necessary to drive community-led services.

Details

[chart percent=77]

Turning Point’s accounts are difficult to analyse. The Charity Commission’s figure for the total group income in 2009/10 appears nowhere in the actual accounts, though the discrepancy is not large. However, the last available Annual Report, for 2008/9, conveniently provides these percentages:

• Health authority grants/contracts 28.8% (£19.5 million)
• Local authority grants/contracts 47.2% (£31.9 million)
• Central Government 0.7% (£474,000)
  —
• Total: 76.7% (£51.9 million of £67,664,000 income)

Context

Islamic Relief works with vulnerable communities around the world, responding to emergencies and supporting development, inspired by Islamic humanitarian values. However it also campaigns and lobbies on issues such as debt and climate change. According to its 2009 Annual report:

We have increased our work with other international NGOs, speaking out against poverty and raising awareness about the issues facing those with whom we work. We do this by developing policies, awareness-raising, researching, lobbying and campaigning.

Details

[chart percent=12]

The charity’s annual report for 2009 lists grant income from the following government sources. It has income from many other sources, some of which might also have an element of government funding.

• Department for International Development: £1.6 million
• European Commission: £2.6 million
• Scottish Government: £75,000
• United Nations: £2.5 million
  —
• Total: £6.8 million (12% of all income)

Context

In addition to its work with the world’s poor, CAFOD is a campaigning organisation with substantial state funding, whose 2010 Annual Report boasts:

A core part of our mission is to challenge those with power to adopt policies and behaviour…

The targets that it set itself to achieve by 2011 included:

• …20,000 campaign actions to have been taken…
• …a network of 500 CAFOD campaign supporters who are regularly lobbying MPs in over half the constituencies in England and Wales…
• …a lead agency with Stop Climate Chaos in delivering the largest lobby of parliament [sic] in history.

Details

[chart percent=19]

In 2009/10, although CAFOD received £4.2 million (less than 9% of its income) from various Catholic agencies, it received more than twice that amount from governments, the largest state contributor being the Department for International Development (DFID).

• DFID: £7.4 million
• European Union: £1.6 million
• Isle of Man & Jersey governments: £212,000
• United Nations: £198,000
• Lottery: £154,000
  —
• Total: £9.5 million state funding (19% of all income)

Context

According to Global Action Plan’s website, its Chief Executive, Trewin Restorick is:

…one of just 150 people in the UK & 2,500 worldwide to have been trained by Al Gore to act as one of his climate Ambassadors.

He makes regular political pronouncements, announcing them on his blog. Some examples:

Trewin discusses how the government should support a transition from high fossil fuel dependency…

Trewin discusses his Radio 4 interview, the reality of Big Society…

Trewin on the critical state of the world’s population…

Details

[chart percent=34.3]

A large amount of this charity’s activity is funded by the state. Its 2009/10 accounts include:

• DEFRA: £481,852
• Local Government: £222,558
• London Development Agency: £189,224
• London Councils: £114,214
• Lottery (some via NESTA): £72,496
• British Council: £ 55,562
  —
• Total: £1,135,906 (34.3% of income)

Context

The Scottish Society for Autism’s 2010 Annual Review hints at its reliance on state funding, although it gives few actual figures:

…the Society derives the majority of its income from the fees paid, mainly by Local Authorities…

and:

Funding from the Scottish Government…allowed the Society to recruit and train instructors…

Details

[chart percent=99]

A chart in the 2010 Annual Report indicates that income from donations and fundraising is only around £160,000 (having been nearly £2 million a few years ago), suggesting that the remaining 99% of the charity’s income now comes from the state.

Context

Mainly state funded, the Refugee Council also lobbies the state. In its 2010 annual report it says about itself:

The Refugee Council plays a key role in influencing asylum and refugee policy…challenging UK and European policies…through analysis, research, information and lobbying.

Details

[chart percent=88]

Accounts for 2009/10 include the following state funding:

• Home Office (via UK Border Agency): £15.7 million
• Lottery: £1 million
• Department for Education (mostly via Training and Development Agency for Schools) : £681,000
• Norfolk County Council: £209,000
• Leeds City Council: £128,000
  —
• Total: £17.8 million (88% of all income)

Context

Mind combines contract and grant-funded work for the state with campaigning to bolster its own importance to the state, describing itself as:

…a force for change. We campaign vigorously to create a society that…

Nearly two hundred organizations combine nationally under the Mind brand, but they are not registered as subsidiaries with the Charity Commission.

» Read more: Mind

Context

In February 2011 this charity announced its support for the government’s mental health strategy, quoting its joint Chief Executive, Bob Grove (whose c.v. includes four years working at the Department of Health):

We warmly welcome the Government’s commitment…

This was not very surprising, as the charity’s annual report in 2010 said that the charity:

…has continued to work closely with the Government’s Health, Work and Wellbeing programme to develop a national strategy for employment and mental health.

Bob was apparently welcoming the results of his own organisation’s work.

Details

[chart percent=15.7]

The 2009/10 accounts show £2 million income from the Sainsbury group of charities, through the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Much of the rest, however, seems to come from the state in the form of “grants and consultancy fees”.

The exact sources of this funding are not revealed. Page 16 of the accounts, where the information might perhaps be found, is missing from the Charity Commission’s copy, and the charity does not appear to publish its accounts in full on its website.

• Employment Support Programme: £118,986
• Prisons & Criminal Justice: £223,735
• Research and Policy: £36,523
  —
• Total: £379,244 (15.7% of income)