Helping people find their lives again - RNIB

Financial review
RNIB has had another strong year financially despite the economic conditions
that have emerged during this year for the UK and across the world. Overall
income reached £96million, down on the £98.7million for 2007/08. The main
differences between these two years are:
l A reduction in legacy income to £31.7million from £33.6million in 2007/08.
This follows two exceptional years, and reflects the fall in the value of the assets
(property, stocks, etc.) which make up much of the value of legacies.
l The main factor affecting income from charitable activities is the refocusing of
our operation at Redhill toward care and away from education resulting in a
fall in funding from the Learning and Skills Council.
Overall spending on RNIB’s charitable objectives rose to a new all time high of
£91.4million, up from £87million in 2007/08. Net outgoing resources were
£9.1million, representing the Trustees’ plans to spend some of RNIB’s reserves.
During the year strategic developments using designated funds amounted to
£8million. These were in planned one-off projects and the purchase of assets
including the reprovisioning of the school and children’s home in Coventry.
Further £1.2million of reserves were used to support ongoing services.
Significant changes or events affecting the comparison with the prior year
reported in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) are:
l The change in focus of our activities at Redhill. This reduced income, and
spending on supporting people to get the education, jobs and income they
deserve, while increasing our activity and spending on enabling people to live
independently through greater support for the community living at that site.
l The increase in spending to increase access to TV, culture and information
reflects our investment in new talking book players to support readers with
machines which are old and becoming expensive to maintain and difficult to
use; our investment in promoting audio description to ensure people know
what is available and how to use it; and working to ensure that there is a good
digital TV solution for blind and partially sighted people - particularly given
how digital TV works and the digital roll out across the UK.
l The increased spending on enabling people to get support and become
independent includes an investment of £1million in developing RNIB’s
helpline and support.
Free reserves at the end of the year were just over the minimum level required by
the reserves policy at 13 weeks (£21.8million), as compared to 13.5 weeks
(£22.6million) at 31 March 2008. This reduction reflects the planned use of
reserves to support services referred to above, and a reduction in the value of
RNIB’s investments affecting free reserves by £4.2million.
The changing economy has affected RNIB financially in 2008/09. The greatest
impact in the year has been the reduction in investment values which overall fell
22 RNIB annual report and accounts 2008/09