Towards Improving Youth Mental Health - Annual Report 2018

Annual Report 2018 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland 

20th August 2019 

YSPI-AR2018-CP02

TOWARDS IMPROVING YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH ANNUAL REPORT 2018 

This publication is copyright 2019 to the Trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland, a registered charitable 

trust 20070670 and all rights are reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed 

other than in an authorised format either printed or electronic. This publications forms an authorised print 

version or authorised PDF. This publication may not be edited or condensed to form extracts for any purpose 

whatsoever without the written consent of the copyright holders. While every effort has been made to ensure 

that this publications is accurate and contains no errors it is possible that as a result of the editing, layout or 

printing of this publication errors or omissions may have occurred after the final proofing and approval 

process was completed. E&OE. 

YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION IRELAND PAGE 2


Table of Contents 

Foreword from the Chair ..................................................................................................................................................... 5 

Overview by the Chief Executive ......................................................................................................................................... 6 

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 8 

1.1 Youth Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention ................................................................................. 8 

1.2 An introduction to youth self-harm and suicide ............................................................................................... 8 

1.3 The Four Steps to Help Programme .................................................................................................................. 9 

1.4 Why awareness and vigilance are so important.............................................................................................. 10 

1.5 Fighting stigma ................................................................................................................................................. 10 

1.6 Mission Statement ........................................................................................................................................... 10 

2 Charitable Programmes and Activities ..................................................................................................................... 11 

2.1 Schools Programme ......................................................................................................................................... 11 

2.2 Outreach Activity ............................................................................................................................................. 14 

2.3 Awareness Events ............................................................................................................................................ 17 

3 Charitable Programme for 2019 ............................................................................................................................... 19 

3.1 Schools Programme ......................................................................................................................................... 19 

3.2 Mobile Crisis Service ........................................................................................................................................ 20 

3.3 Online Certificate Course ................................................................................................................................. 20 

3.4 Mental Health Champion Programme ............................................................................................................ 20 

3.5 Outreach Programmes ..................................................................................................................................... 20 

3.6 Awareness Events ............................................................................................................................................ 21 

4 Fundraising ................................................................................................................................................................ 22 

4.1 Fundraising Report 2018 ................................................................................................................................. 22 

4.2 Fundraising Plan 2019 ...................................................................................................................................... 23 

4.3 Fundraising Guidelines ..................................................................................................................................... 25 

5 Charity Finances ........................................................................................................................................................ 26 

5.1 Financial Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 26 

5.2 Charitable Income ............................................................................................................................................ 26 

5.3 Charitable Expenditure .................................................................................................................................... 26 

5.4 Cost of Fundraising .......................................................................................................................................... 26 

5.5 Cost of Governance ......................................................................................................................................... 27 

5.6 Cost of Administration ..................................................................................................................................... 27 

5.7 Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland Publications Limited ................................................................................... 27 

6 Financial Statements ................................................................................................................................................. 29 

6.1 Summary .......................................................................................................................................................... 29 

6.2 Trustees’ Report ............................................................................................................................................... 29 

6.3 Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement .............................................................................................................. 31 

6.4 Independent Auditor’s Report ......................................................................................................................... 32 

6.5 Statement of Financial Activities ..................................................................................................................... 35 

6.6 Balance Sheet ................................................................................................................................................... 36 

6.7 Notes on Financial Statements ........................................................................................................................ 37 

6.8 Surplus and Deficit Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 41 

7 Charity Governance .................................................................................................................................................. 42 

7.1 Board of Trustees ............................................................................................................................................. 42 

7.2 Board of Management ..................................................................................................................................... 42 

7.3 Move to new company structure .................................................................................................................... 42 

7.4 Financial Controls ............................................................................................................................................. 43 

7.5 Fundraising ....................................................................................................................................................... 43 

7.6 Administration Costs of the charity ................................................................................................................. 43 

7.7 Employees of the Charity ................................................................................................................................. 43 

7.8 Charity Volunteers ........................................................................................................................................... 43 

8 Approval and Certification ........................................................................................................................................ 44 

Appendix A – Donors’ Charter ........................................................................................................................................... 45 

Appendix B – Statement for Guiding Principles for Fundraising ....................................................................................... 46 

PAGE 3 

YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION IRELAND



As at 31 st October 2018 

Board of Trustees 

Nelius Enright (Chairperson) 

Yvonne Higgins (Secretary) 

Alan Redmond 

Marje Farrell 

Ian Kinane 

Gearóid O’Callaghan 

Board of Management 

Anthony Philpott (Chief Executive) 

Alan McKelvie (Administrator) 

Bankers 

AIB Bank plc 

Blackpool 

Cork City 

Solicitors 

BDM Boylan 

Bridge House 

Washington Street 

Cork City 

Auditors 

Raheny Accounts Ltd 

Unit 6 Abbey Business Park 

Baldoyle Industrial Estate 

Dublin 13 

D13 N738 

Republic of Ireland 

Insurance Brokers 

Wexford Insurance Brokers 

Main Street 

Wexford Town 



Foreword from the Chair 

As Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland I wanted to add a foreword to 

this Annual Report on behalf of the Trustees. 

I would like to begin by thanking you, the members of the public who have given your time and financial 

support to the charity throughout the year. As trustees we have the responsibility of overseeing and 

ensuring the management of these funds without which we as a charity could neither function nor exist. As 

a result of your contributions this year, through our schools programme, we have been able to reach a total 

of 53 new schools, this amounts to almost 12,500 students. 

We have also been able to make strides in developing our mobile outreach services and hope to run a pilot 

scheme for this next year. This programme, as with the schools programme, is funded totally by the public, 

through fundraising events, such as the skydive, (skydive.yspi.ie) as well as group events such as cake sales, 

pub quizzes and sponsored mini marathons. A new innovation for us this year has been individuals raising 

money for birthdays and weddings instead of gifts by using the fundraiser section of our Facebook page 

youth.suicide.prevention.ireland. We have received a tremendous amount of funding from these 

fundraisers and there is no cost to us as Facebook send 100% of the funds raised to us. These are just some 

of the ways that you have supported us and once again we are very thankful. 

I would also like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our facilitators, Alan and Tony and their team of 

volunteers. It is relatively easy to be a trustee but the real cogs in the wheel that keep everything running 

smoothly are our people on the ground. I acknowledge that this year was a particularly difficult year as some 

of the guys were off sick, however they still managed to keep the ship afloat and we are very grateful. Sorry 

you were sick guys, hope 2019/20 will be better. 

The Trustees are continuing to develop our own policies and standards in line with guidance from the 

Charities Regulator. We have been working towards the implementation of the Governance Code in 2020 

and our financial statements and this report include most of the features that will become obligatory. We 

continue to update and revise our Child Protection Policies so they reflect the high standards we aspire to 

and which the Trustees require our facilitators and volunteers to work to at all times. 

Once again, a massive thank you to my colleagues on the board of trustees, our administration team, our 

facilitators, our donors, fundraisers and volunteers. We could not accomplish the objectives of the charity, 

saving lives through education, and safeguarding the future of Irish youth, without your continued support. 

Thank you all. 

Nelius Enright 

Chairperson 

PAGE 5 



Overview by the Chief Executive 

2018 has been another exciting year of the Charity with increases in service funding, amazing support from 

our volunteers and supporters. The feedback from schools and students has been incredibly encouraging 

and we really feel that there may actually be light at the end of the tunnel with regard to improvements in 

youth mental health awareness. 

One area of concern for us has been the relevance of our delivery methods as our client group, 14 – 22 year 

olds, are increasingly turning from “offline” information to “online” sources delivered by mobile or tablet 

using social media platforms. We are re-examining our medium and long-term strategies for programme 

and service delivery going forward into 2019. 

Another area where we need further development is the recruitment of more facilitators. This need was 

highlighted by our own facilitators having to take sick leave during the year with a knock-on effect on our 

delivery of school visits. Facilitator recruitment will be a priority for us in 2019. 

Our Programmes 

We have mostly focussed our service resources and efforts into our Schools Programme so many parts of 

our services have been brought together under that single programme which is now a tightly integrated 

mental health awareness and suicide prevention programme. This now allows us to provide integrated 

services to our clients and constituents. We can focus on providing high quality services for schools, colleges 

and youth organisations either on an “as required” basis or through regularly scheduled provision. 

Feedback from Schools over the last 12 months has driven us to develop a new strategy for delivering our 

Schools Programme for 2019. With school schedules being so tight there is a reluctance to have outside 

speakers within class hours particularly, as is the case with our programme, where whole years are involved. 

Combining this with our desire to be more environmentally aware may take our programme delivery in new 

directions in 2019. 

Our Outreach work online and through social media is becoming more important, and will play a larger role 

in our Schools Programme going forward. 

For our Awareness teams the introduction of the Parents Programme has been incredibly well-received with 

over 100 awareness events being held around the country during 2018. 

Insurance Costs 

One of the issues we are now facing, along with many other organisations, is a notified increase in our 

insurance premiums. We are expecting our insurance costs to double in 2019 to around €3,000. 

Unfortunately our insurance is vital for our protection as it provides public liability cover for events and as 

well as volunteer liability protection. 

Cost of Governance 

Another important issue for us has been the increase in the cost of Auditing. The charity is required to audit 

our financial statements and this is a vital part of keeping public trust and providing transparency to our 

operations. Although we have managed to reduce our Audit costs in 2018 by €3,000 we are still looking at 

€6,500 in accounting and audit fees which is nearly 5% of our income. 

Preparation for Governance Code 

The Charities Regulator has been working on a new Governance Code for Charities and we have been 

working to prepare for the code’s implementation in 2020. 2019 will be a year of preparation and we are 

working to put the Governance Code structures in place from 2018 so we are fully compliant by 2020. 



Move towards green programmes 

The facilitators were asked by the Trustees to talk to students in schools and colleges about how they would 

like programmes like ours to be presented in the future. 89% that we surveyed said that they felt that 

receiving printed paper booklets and materials for the programme was not environmentally sustainable. 

With this in mind, and acknowledging that media distribution is now firmly moving online, we are working 

to provide all our materials for students and teachers through interactive services in the cloud which can be 

viewed on any device or downloaded for future reference at any time. 

Charity Funding 

We have never received a euro in State funding in all the time we have been working for the young people 

of Ireland. All our funding comes from personal supporters and some corporate sponsorship so we 

understand the trust you put in us because we know if we don't live up to that trust there will be no state 

agency there to bail us out. In the 2018 financial year it cost us just 13c per €1 to run the charity so 87c or 

87% of funds we receive are available to fund lifesaving programmes like the Schools Programme. 

• Our Trustees are all volunteers. 

• Our Trustees receive no salary or compensation of any kind for their time and service. 

• Our Trustees are entirely independent, they are not related to each other in any way. 

• Our Trustees do not have charity credit cards or any kind of direct access to charity funds but they have 

total access 24/7 to the charity's financial records and books so they can assure themselves that your 

donations are being spent properly. 

• The charity does not own or lease any property. 

• The charity has no mortgages, leases or outstanding debts of any kind. 

• The charity aims to keep cash reserves of 10% of annual income in case of emergencies. 

• The charity contracts two staff, both are trained facilitators who provide the Schools Programme 

around the country. They get paid around €25,000 per year each. 

• The charity also pays for an accountant to keep our accounts, and separate independent auditors to 

check our accounts are complete and accurate. 

On behalf of all of us at Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland I would like to thank you for your continued help, 

support and belief over the last 12 months. 

Anthony Philpott 

Chief Executive 

PAGE 7 



1 Introduction 

“Ireland has the fourth highest teen suicide rate in the EU/OECD.” 

Well-being of Young People Report 2017 UNICEF 

1.1 Youth Mental Health Awareness and Suicide Prevention 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland has been working for over 12 years to provide free mental health and 

suicide prevention education and training services to schools and colleges around Ireland. According to the 

World Health Organisation's 2016 report suicide is the 2nd highest cause of death amongst young people 

across the World. Sadly Ireland is not spared from this problem which affects almost every community in 

the country. 

In the European Union during 2015, according to Eurostat, there were approximately 56,000 reported deaths 

by suicide making it one of the leading causes of death. Males accounted for 43,000 of those deaths or 76%. 

According to research by UNICEF published in 2017 Ireland has the fourth highest teen suicide rate in 

the EU/OECD region. The organisation's latest report card on well-being of young people found that 

Ireland's suicide rate amongst adolescents aged 15 to 19 was 10.3 per 100,000 population and ranks well 

above the regional country average of 6.1 per 100,000. 

Schools and teachers are so important to the development of personality, social skills and self-worth in a 

young person. The WHO states that among the six most important ways of reducing suicide rates is through 

School-based Interventions. This is why the work of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland is primarily focussed 

on students first and then parents and adults. 

1.2 An introduction to youth self-harm and suicide 

Suicide and self-harm in the youth of Ireland is receiving an increasing amount of coverage over the last 

number of years, and with good reason. Unfortunately, Ireland is one of the most severely affected countries 

in the EU in this regard. While there is some recent cause for very cautious optimism, there is much work 

yet to be done. 

While depression and self-harm is far more common in females than males, completed suicide remains far 

more common in males. In the past, one of the explanations given was that while females were more open 

about describing their feelings, males tended to “bottle them up”, and often resorted to drugs or alcohol to 

deal with their emotional distress. However, recent work done by the HSE has shown that drug and alcohol 

misuse is at least as prevalent in teenage females as males, suggesting that we have to look elsewhere for 

reasons. 

While the suicide rate is a very important indicator, by no means does it tell the whole story. The rates of 

depression in young people are extremely important, because the level of impairment which depression 

causes can be marked, preventing young people from reaching their potential, and affecting them 

emotionally, academically and socially. 

The issue of self-harm has certainly generated much discussion over recent years, with some research 

suggesting that children as young as seven years old can engage in such activity. While this is very much the 

exception, it nonetheless backs up the impression that self-harm in young people is happening at a younger 

age, and appears to be more widespread. There are many reasons why people engage in self-harm, and it 

would be wrong to assume that everybody who engages in self-harm is suicidal, and equally it would be 



incorrect to assume that everybody who engages in self-harm is depressed. Nonetheless, it does represent 

a worrying act because of its associations. 

1.3 The Four Steps to Help Programme 

The Four Steps to Help Programme has been developed and approved by a consultant child and adolescent 

psychiatrist and has been deemed to be age appropriate for ages 16+. The programme is designed to 

increase awareness of suicide prevention and to provide information on the support and resources available 

to anyone who is concerned about suicide or is concerned about a friend or family member. 

The Four Steps to Help Programme focuses on providing simple, factual guidance for suicide awareness and 

prevention. The programme emphasises: 

• the importance of awareness of sudden changes in behaviour in friends, family or acquaintances; 

• Understanding how to recognise the mental health warning signs, as well as signs of other mental 

health issues; 

• promotion of ‘active listening’, giving simple listening skills and exercises which can be used in 

everyday situations; 

• emphasis on making appropriate family members or other adults aware of concerns so that action 

can be taken; 

• Practical information on dealing with a crisis situation and how to respond. 

We all need to know and understand that there is always someone that we can turn to in our life and talk 

about the issues facing us without fear of rejection if we are prepared to take the first step. What is much 

more challenging is being prepared to take that first step for someone else; to face possible rejection or 

ridicule by being prepared to use the Four Step Programme to potentially save a life. 

The Four Steps to Help Programme is a simple introduction to suicide prevention and mental health 

awareness information. The talks focus on four steps: 

Step 1: Watching 

This step focusses on raising awareness of the suicide warning signs and encouraging participants 

to watch out for sudden behaviour changes in their friends and family members. 

Step 2: Showing 

This step focusses on showing friends and family members that they can discuss any concerns with 

their friend or sibling, and they can turn to parents and trusted adults for support and advice. This 

step introduces the Active Listening skillset and provides techniques and examples. 

Step 3: Asking 

This step focusses on simple techniques for asking someone how they are feeling and encouraging 

them to feel safe to talk about their concerns. This step builds on the techniques introduced in step 

2 

Step 4: Helping 

This step provides guidance on how to help someone you are concerned about and focusses on 

getting assistance from a trusted adult or directly from a medical professional. This step also 

introduces a crisis scenario and provides information on how to deal with the need to get immediate 

assistance. This step links to the YSPI FreeText Crisis Information service. 

PAGE 9 



1.4 Why awareness and vigilance are so important 

Young males in Ireland between ages 10-24 are more likely to die by suicide than by any other cause based 

on CSO Statistical Data from 2014. According to research by UNICEF published in 2017 Ireland has the 

fourth highest teen suicide rate in the EU/OECD region. 

We know we can bring those rates of youth suicide down if we reach young people at their most vulnerable 

ages, if we can spot the early signs of distress and do our best to reduce those stressors as much as possible. 

As parents we can greatly assist in that process by being aware, knowing what to look for and encouraging 

our teens to do the same. 

1.5 Fighting stigma 

One of the most positive influences we can have is by fighting stigma. There is still a huge amount of stigma 

attached to suicide, and this can be further instilled by religious or moral teachings, 

Some teens have given us feedback that when they wanted to visit a friend who had attempted suicide they 

were actively discouraged by some parents from doing so; although the same parents had been encouraging 

their teens to visit a young teen from their school who had been diagnosed with leukaemia. The teens 

couldn’t see how the situations differed but they were being given different advice. 

None of us are perfect, and we all have prejudices, but it is so important that we allow our teens to develop 

their own attitudes to issues which challenge them, their friends and peers. This is particularly the case with 

suicide, where we often still see the young person who has lost their way and tried to end their suffering 

treated as a perpetrator rather than a victim. 

1.6 Mission Statement 

"saving lives through education" 

Our mission is focused on providing mental health awareness and suicide prevention programmes to schools 

and colleges where our facilitators work directly with students to promote awareness, provide skills and 

advice, and support teachers and staff as needed. 

We provide a wide range of online resources including online training and youth self-harm and suicide 

publications; we operate a FreeText service where people in need of crisis information can text our 

information service free of charge. 

Our Facilitators and volunteers also arrange and provide outreach events and awareness campaigns around 

the country for parents, community organisations and voluntary groups. We also provide services to youth 

organisations, youth diversion projects, clubs and sports organisations upon request. 



2 Charitable Programmes and Activities 

The charity has been focussing on three main areas of charitable activity: Schools Programme, Outreach 

Services and Awareness Events. 

2.1 Schools Programme 

YSPI developed the Four Steps to Help Programme for Schools with the assistance of Dr Keith Holmes, a 

consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, and Medical Director of St John of God’s Youth Mental Health 

Services. We have spent the last two years consolidating the programme, which is now a comprehensive 

mental health awareness and suicide prevention programme. 

The programme includes: 

• A 24 page Student Booklet for each student attending a workshop 

• A Teachers’ Handbook which provides in depth information and risk assessments for teachers and 

youth workers. 

• A set of 7 lesson plans which the schools can use to build on the programme workshops. 

• A Press and Media Pack which covers responsible reporting of suicide particularly youth suicide 

which carries a higher risk of copycat suicides amongst peers. 

• A full script of the facilitators' prepared presentation with slides as reference 

• Access to Free2Text Crisis Information Service 

From August 2019 the Schools Programme should also include: 

• A video presentation of the class talk that can be played to classes or used as a teacher training 

resources 

• Priority access for schools to local counselling resources 

• Access to educational assessments and psychometric evaluations 

2.1.1 School Visits 

The main focus of our programme remains the School Visits that our facilitators undertake on behalf of 

the charity. In 2018 our facilitators visited 53 schools around the country with 42% being in Munster. 

This is a 22% reduction on schools visited in 2017 due in part to both our facilitators being on sick leave 

during the school year. 

COUNTY SCHOOLS COUNTY SCHOOLS 

Carlow 1 Limerick 3 

Clare 1 Longford 1 

Cork 13 Louth 1 

Donegal 1 Offaly 2 

Dublin 9 Tipperary 1 

Galway 2 Waterford 2 

Kerry 6 Westmeath 1 

Kildare 2 Wexford 1 

Kilkenny 1 Wicklow 2 

Laois 6 

The total number of schools in our programme increased to 213 this year, an increase of 33%. This 

figure represents schools that have participated in the School Visits Programme directly rather than just 

receiving a Schools Resource Pack. 

PAGE 11 



Year 2017 2018 % Change 

Schools Visited 68 53 -22% 

Schools in Programme 160 213 33% 

Student Interface 16,800 12,443 -26% 

The total number of talks in 2018 was 307 with 114 being given to Transition Years. The total number 

of students that our facilitators worked with directly in 2018 was 12,440, a 26% reduction on 2017 but 

we are very happy to have been able to continue to provide our services in 2018 and to have successfully 

worked with so many students. 


Transition Year Talks 186 114 -39% 

5 th Year Talks 136 102 -25% 

6 th Year Talks 99 91 -8% 

Total Talks Given 421 307 -27% 

Teacher Training Events 28 13 -54% 

Parent Support Events 19 12 -37% 

The number of facilitators contracted to the charity remains at 2 although efforts to recruit 

appropriately skilled volunteer support facilitators have continued throughout 2018. (see 2.1.6) 


Facilitators Contracted 2 2 0% 

Facilitator Hours 1,400 1,500 7% 

Cost Per Facilitator € 13,294 € 15,061 13% 

Cost Per Facilitator Hour € 4.75 € 5.02 6% 

The number of facilitator hours increased in 2018 as both our facilitators had to take extended sick 

leave during the year and this is reflected in an increase in the cost per facilitator from €13,294 in 2017 

to €15,061 in 2018, and an increase in the cost per facilitator hour of 6% but a decrease in the number 

of students reached per facilitator hour of 31%. 

While we regret the increase in costs the health and well-being of contractors is paramount especially 

due to the highly stressful nature of their work and having both facilitators on certified sick leave 

presented significant challenges that we will learn from going forward. 


Students Reached per Facilitator Hour 6.00 4.15 -31% 

Cost per Student per Facilitator Hour € 0.79 € 1.21 53% 

The factors reported above increased the cost per student served in 2018 by 53% to €1.21 however this 

was an increase in specific costs required by the Trustees fulfilling their contracted employment 

obligations and will hopefully not be a recurring situation going into 2019. 

2.1.2 School Resource Packs 

We distributed 290 School Resource Packs during 2018. School Resource Packs allow teachers or 

guidance counsellors in schools to provide the Four Steps to Help Programme in their school without 



facilitation. This is useful for some schools in more remote areas, or for schools where an urgent 

situation has developed in the locality but our facilitators were already booked elsewhere. 

The number of student packs distributed at talks also decreased by 23% in 2018 but this was mostly due 

to the number of students who prefer to download the Student Pack materials from our website rather 

than use hardcopy resources. In 2019 we will be moving all our online resources to Yumpu for easy of 

download and online study. 


School Packs Distributed 310 290 -6% 

Student Packs Distributed 10,345 7,985 -23% 

Teacher Packs Distributed 241 421 75% 

2.1.3 Teacher Support Packs 

We received 421 requests for Teacher Packs which are teachers’ handbooks and lesson plans and allow 

teachers to structure their own classes based on our programmes. Of these requests 254 were 

distributed by PDF or download which reflects a trend by schools to greener teaching methods with 

downloadability a priority. 

2.1.4 Parents Programme 

2018 saw the introduction of our targeted Parents Programme which was driven by requests from 

Parents that they wanted to have similar information to that received by their children in school so that 

they were aware of the issues being discussed. 

To assist with this process we developed and printed a Parents Handbook and put together an extensive 

series of Parents Programme Awareness events around the country where our team were available to 

discuss concerns and provide the Handbook. We distributed around 5,000 booklets in the course of 

these events. 27,204 copies of the Parents Handbook were downloaded from the Parents Programme 

website (parents.yspi.ie) during the year. 

2.1.5 Students Programme 

Students are at their most stresses and vulnerable during exams and following requests from 6 th Year 

students we setup a website discussing exam stress and stress management at students.yspi.ie. The 

site received 9,823 unique visitors during the summer exam period. We are looking to expand the site 

for 2019 with more interactive features. 

2.1.6 Parent Mentoring Groups 

As part of the Schools Programme we have introduced informal Parent Evenings for parents who would 

like to be briefed on the schools programme and receive the Parents Programme workshop. Our 

facilitators held Parents Evenings at 8 venues which were much appreciated by the attendees. 

Sheldon Park Hotel, Dublin 6 th November 2017 

Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise 6 th December 2017 

Carnbeg Hotel, Dundalk 16 th January 2018 

Plaza Hotel, Tallaght 12 th March 2018 

Sheldon Park Hotel, Dublin 22 nd April 2018 

Maldron Hotel, Tallaght 11 th June 2018 

Celbridge Manor Hotel, Celbridge 8 th October 2018 

Abbey House Hotel, Roscommon 23 rd October 2018 

PAGE 13 



2.1.7 Facilitator Development Programme 

During 2018 we ran 8 facilitator recruitment events with 17 participants moving to level 2 induction. 

The events were a great success and many of those participants who felt unable to continue forward as 

facilitators are now volunteering in other capacities. 

Although we had a great deal of positive feedback many participants were not approved to move 

forward due to the extremely delicate nature of the facilitator’s role. We hope to have suitable 

volunteer facilitators vetted and trained for September 2019. 

2.2 Outreach Activity 

Our outreach activities have been steadily improving over the last four years and 2018 saw significant 

improvements in our online presence both web based and on social media platforms. 

2.2.1 Data Protection 

The charity has in-house IT expertise allowing us to operate our own dedicated server hosted in France, 

which makes us fully compliant with data hosting regulations under the General Data Protection 

Regulations (GDPR). We do not retain any confidential information on our servers but only on the 

computers in our office which are backed up to offsite storage daily. We do not action any financial 

transactions on our server or retain any financial information on donors other than contact data. 

2.2.2 Online Activity 

We have started compiling usage data from our server since January 2017 and we have been able to 

track the unique visitors to our sites as well as the number of page views. 

The main charity website, www.yspi.ie, received 459,304 unique visitors in 2018 with 716,162 pages 

views. Unique visitors are visitors to the website who have never viewed the website before. Future 

visits by the same user are logged but not noted for the statistics. 

Unique Visits 

Page Views 

November 27,542 72,966 

December 40,009 55,114 

January 42,702 46,812 

February 38,519 44,058 

March 47,160 80,646 

April 35,800 57,552 

May 32,334 57,546 

June 41,676 66,658 

July 23,620 50,943 

August 59,643 48,595 

September 39,553 75,683 

October 30,746 59,589 

459,304 716,162 

schools.yspi.ie 

Our Schools Programme website is located at https://schools.yspi.ie received 84,723 unique visitors 

during 2018 with the peak over nearly 16,000 in September at the start of the new school year. 

parents.yspi.ie 



Our Parents Programme website was launched in October 2017 so we now have a full year’s statistics 

for the site. There were 54,462 unique visitors to the site with 96,884 page views. We are very pleased 

with that level of visits for a new programme and it speaks well of the Parents Awareness events that 

took place around the country during 2018. 

www.ineedhelp.ie 

The ineedhelp.ie website is our main portal for Crisis Information and Assistance so the unique visits for 

this site are considerably higher than for our other sites. The site has been averaging daily visits of 490 

unique visitors with most visitors viewing the Crisis Information pages and the Resource Directory. 

2.2.3 Crisis Information Service 

Since 2014 when we introduced our FreeText service we have been working to make finding Crisis 

Support Information as easy and quick as possible. This year, as a response to changing usage patterns, 

we have introduced a new Web App through our websites that provides direct to mobile crisis 

information in the same format as the FreeText service. 

Use of the FreeText service has dropped by 58% in 2018 but as can be seen from the table the number 

of crisis information contacts through our websites and the mobile web app are now accounting for 

95% of all our information requests. 

64% of contacts are generated through contact forms on our websites and particularly through 

www.ineedhelp.ie but we are anticipating that the ease of use of the web app will recommend it to the 

mobile generation. 

FreeText Online Mobile Total 

November 245 2,472 1,133 3,850 

December 435 2,789 5,103 8,327 

January 394 2,960 1,694 5,048 

February 247 3,209 1,061 4,517 

March 64 3,481 1,167 4,712 

April 204 3,262 1,197 4,663 

May 229 3,456 1,232 4,917 

June 222 3,350 1,171 4,743 

July 48 3,529 1,208 4,785 

August 71 3,269 1,254 4,594 

September 121 3,306 1,196 4,623 

October 447 3,419 1,161 5,027 

2,727 38,502 18,577 59,806 

We have again noted a significant spike in requests for Crisis Support Information during December with 

a 76% increase in contacts in December 2017. 

Our hourly contacts data shows that the peaks for information requests are mid-afternoon between 

1pm and 5pm and again in the evening between 10pm and 1am. 

2.2.4 Social Media Activity 

The charity has a social media reach of around 52,000 with individual Facebook posts achieving an 

organic reach of up to 22,000. We are in contact with every primary and secondary school in the country 

twice a year as well as having good contacts with most Student Unions at third level. 

PAGE 15 



Our focus has been on Facebook promotion and this has served us very well however our demographic 

is changing with more 13-18 year olds moving their attention to Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. We 

will be addressing this change in direction in 2019 by recruiting a volunteer social media co-ordinator 

to diversify our social media presence into these new forums. 

This issue is arising in part due to our volunteer base being an older age group with limited, if any, social 

media skills. This is a skill shortfall that the Trustees are aware of and are very keen to address in 2019. 

2.2.5 Social Media Profile 

YSPI has been building our Facebook following over the last 11 years and we have now reached 52,000 

followers with roughly 200 new followers added each week. 51% of our followers are aged 18-24 with 

a 3:1 female to male ratio. 

Our followers are very socially aware and socially active which provides us with a very responsive 

volunteer infrastructure which is well spread across the country. Our Facebook demographics are 

shown below and show a significant change in engagement patterns this year. 

74% of our followers are women with 36% of those being in the 18-24 age group. We are working to 

change this gender balance to get more male followers as statistically our priority demographic are 

young males 16-22. Interestingly 61% of our posts are reaching our male followers but 61% of women 

are engaging with us through likes, reposts and comments. 

2.2.6 Social Media Interactions 

Our SM interactions have been quite limited due to a shortfall in social media knowledge within the 

volunteers however we are manging to get good response rates to specific campaigns and posts with 

a major spike around World Suicide Prevention Day, 10 th September and again over Christmas 2017. 

The reaction mix is mostly likes with peaks of sad depending on the post subject matter. Due to the 

age range of our followers we will be managing this reaction mix more closely in 2019 to limit sad 

reactions and increase likes. 

2.2.7 Facebook Promotions 

Although we do very well in terms of our organic reach we are having great success with promoted 

posts with reach of up to 45,000 with accompanying boosts in reactions, comments and shares. 

Age 13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Total 

Female 89,779 167,952 129,526 116,244 56,857 27,867 18,557 606,782 

Male 38,904 94,583 55,899 29,692 16,062 8,990 5,759 249,889 

128,683 262,535 185,425 145,936 72,919 36,857 24,316 856,671 

This year we have spent around €6,000 on targeted Facebook promotions highlighting our services, 

events and awareness programmes and our promoted posts reached over 390,000 people in our target 

13-24 demographic 

Our paid response rate is very high in proportion to our promotional spend. This is mostly due to the 

public support for suicide prevention and in particular youth suicide prevention. We get a very good 

response from parents of teenagers and from university students and graduates as shown with the 18- 

24 age group being the largest and most active of our target groups. 



Our promoted posts and promotions have achieved high penetration rates with 1.68 million views 

within our 13-24 demographic. We are looking at methods of targeting male audiences more effectively 

as, at the moment, they account for only a third of our penetration. 

Age 13-17 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+ Total 

Femal 

e 680,233 1,167,046 565,772 518,706 252,678 89,360 47,842 3,321,637 

Male 

210,407 432,450 199,107 110,057 45,355 21,086 13,889 1,032,351 

890,640 1,599,496 764,879 628,763 298,033 110,446 61,731 4,353,988 

2.3 Awareness Events 

2018 has been a great year for our Awareness Team with over 100 Awareness Events from Comic Cons, 

Mental Health Summits and small in-store tables, they’ve done them all. 

2.3.1 Mental Health Summit, Aviva Stadium 

The 2018 Mental Health Summit was held at the Aviva Stadium in October. Tony and Matthew attended 

for Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland and reported a very busy event with most of Ireland’s mental 

health charities in attendance. 

Events like these are a great opportunity to liaise with both the general public and other organisations 

in our field. 

2.3.2 Parents Programme Events 

With the roll-out of the Parents Programme our Awareness Team arranged a series of in-store 

Awareness Events, mostly through the good offices of Tesco Ireland and their stores around the country. 

In all we held 82 Parent Programme awareness events that developed into amazing opportunities to 

speak to the many parents passing through the stores about various issues affecting and concerning 

them and their children. 

During these events we distributed over 5,000 copies of our parents’ booklet as well as highlighting the 

other charity programmes available. As a result we also secured a number of invitations for school visits 

through these Parent Programme events. 

2.3.3 Shopping Centre Events 

In addition to the in-store events we were able to hold larger Awareness events in 16 shopping centres 

during 2018. Originally these events were fundraisers but the shopping centre visits have developed 

into amazing awareness events due to the high footfall and the number of teenagers spending time in 

the centres. These are ideal opportunities to interact with people who have mental health concerns 

and provide information and support. 

The contacts made at these events are also invaluable and one of these shopping centre events put us 

in contact with Penneys Wilton who voted to make us their charity of the year. 

PAGE 17 



2.3.4 Tough Mudder 2018 

A number of families who have been affected by suicide have put together fundraising and awareness 

campaigns for the charity over the past year. One example of this was the Ethan Harvey Tough Mudder 

event that raised nearly €18,000. Organised by Ethan’s father, Dwayne, it involved over 50 people 

competing in the Tough Mudder challenge in Co Meath over a 10-mile army assault style obstacle 

course. A number of people who took part in the event have expressed a desire to continue supporting 

the work of the charity and we promised to make the 2019 event bigger and better for all concerned. 

Apart from being a great fundraisers for the charity, these type of events also provide a much-needed 

avenue for those working through the grieving process to express their loss. 

2.3.5 Parent Information Workshops 

Our Awareness Team joined by a facilitator were also able to hold Parent Information events during the 

year. These events were an opportunity for the public to come along, meet the team, and have a Mental 

Health Awareness presentation based on the Parents Programme. The workshops were open to anyone 

and were very well received by those attending. 

Clayton Hotel, Leopardstown 26 th November 2017 

Clonmel park Hotel, Clonmel 29 th June 2018 

Kilmurry Lode Hotel, Limerick 25 th July 2018 

Maldron Hotel, Newlands Cross 27 th July 2018 

Dalys Inn, Donore 24 th August 2018 

Plaza Hotel, Tallaght 7 th September 2018 

Plaza Hotel, Tallaght 31 st October 2018 



3 Charitable Programme for 2019 

We will be working to develop our existing charitable programmes during 2019 as well as adding new 

elements to make our programmes more relevant to our clients. This will mean an increase in social media 

activity, a movement from paper to online publication and a more sustainable environmental model for 

2019. 

3.1 Schools Programme 

It is our intention to continue to develop the Schools Programme in 2019. We are pushing forward with 

new concepts for providing the Schools Programme to more schools around the country and for reducing 

our consumption of paper and materials as many students will no longer take paper publications when 

offered. 

3.1.1 Delivering maximum impact 

We have been looking at how we can deliver our Programmes to the maximum number of students and 

the largest possible number of schools. Feedback from schools is that they would prefer to have less 

impact on class schedules from outside programmes so, with this in mind, we are now developing an 

entirely school based programme that does not require facilitation. This will allow schools to fit our 

Schools Programme into their TY schedule for the year as well as adding it to 5 th and 6 th year classes as 

required. Schools Visits by Facilitators will still be our preferred option of delivery. 

Move to online 

Feedback from schools and students is showing that rather than providing printed materials we 

should move towards a fully online availability of all published materials. It is our intention to 

move all materials to Yumpu by September 2019 as they provide a platform independent 

viewing solution as well as full copyright protected PDF download facilities. 

Move to video presentation 

We have been providing resource packs to schools since 2014 which allow teachers to have our 

School Programme materials available including lesson plans. We want to take this a step 

further and have asked our Facilitators to put together a video presentation of the Schools 

Programme Workshop that teachers can use in class or students can use for self-study. 

3.1.2 Volunteer Facilitators 

We will be continuing the process of finding and retaining appropriately qualified volunteer facilitators 

during 2019. 

Although we have plenty of applicants who attend facilitator events we are finding a very high drop out 

rate due to the nature of the subject matter. We are also finding it difficult to find trainee facilitators 

with the time, commitment and skillsets due to work or other commitments during school hours. 

This process is on-going into 2019 and we hope to have a pool of 5 volunteer facilitators vetted and 

trained for shadowing in September 2019. 

3.1.3 Going Green 

We are seeing an increasing reluctance from students to take printed materials from the programme 

workshops due to their awareness of environmental impacts from paper usage. We are looking at 

PAGE 19 



introducing a Environmental Protection Policy for 2019 with moves to less printed materials and an 

increase in use of recycled papers where printing is a necessity. 

3.1.4 Impact of insurance cost increase 

Insurance is a necessity for the protection of the charity, its personnel and volunteers. We are starting 

to notice a significant increase in insurance costs since 2017 although the charity has made only a single 

accidental damage claim since we started our policy in 2011. Although the Schools Programme is run 

under separate liability insurance the costs of that policy are also starting to rise. We will be working 

to secure reduced insurance costs for 2019 without reducing our cover. 

3.2 Mobile Crisis Service 

When we visit schools and colleges one of the most frequent concerns raised by teachers and management 

is the availability of mental health services for referral. Most teachers are not trained in mental health 

awareness techniques and school guidance counsellors are often over-stretched particularly around exam 

time which is a high risk mental health period especially amongst Leaving Cert students. 

Our special project for 2019 is to raise funds to purchase and run Ireland’s first free mobile youth crisis 

service. This will be an amazing new, innovative, social project that will bring immediate benefits to young 

people and their families around Ireland. 

Project planning is ongoing and we are hoping to have an implementation plan available for the Trustees in 

January 2019. 

3.3 Online Certificate Course 

We have been working on creating our full School Programme into a online certificate course on the 

Teachable platform. The course is based on our schools programme, and although aimed at students 16+, 

it can be accessed by adults as well. All the school programme materials are now integrated into the course 

and we have used the lesson plans and worksheets as the basis of the 9 skill levels within the course. 

The completion of the schools video [3.1.2] will provide the final part of the certificate course and we should 

be able to start accepting students in time for the 2019 school year. 

3.4 Mental Health Champion Programme 

The Trustees have proposed that a new Mental Health Champion Programme be developed and 

implemented to follow on from the Online Certificate Course. Mental Health Champions would be students 

who have completed the Online Certificate and promote the principles of good mental health in their 

schools and community. We are working on developing this concept for roll-out in September 2019. 

3.5 Outreach Programmes 

Technology is improving and changing every year and we will be working to update our online services and 

keep them secure. Our main server will be upgraded in 2019 to provide more reliable and faster access for 

mobile based services. This will also increased data security and backup options. 

3.5.1 Social Media Development 

We are planning to recruit a volunteer social media coordinator who can move our social media to the 

next level. At the moment we are dealing with a knowledge deficit amongst our team on social media 



and this needs to be addressed to keep our information services accessible and relevant. We are 

planning to develop our Twitter and Instagram presences with more frequent tweets and posts. 

3.5.2 New Crisis Information App 

We have started development in-house of a new Crisis Information app for iOS and Android platforms 

which will be better able to provide geo-located information on local services than the existing web 

app. 

3.5.3 Geo-location of ineedhelp.ie 

We are also working to improve the indeedhelp.ie website geo-location service to ensure more accurate 

positioning for local services and sage places. This is device dependant but we feel that the reliability 

on all devices can be significantly improved. 

3.6 Awareness Events 

Our Awareness Events Programme for 2018 has been an amazing success. In 2019 we would like to focus 

on more youth based locations such as gamer conventions, youth forums and mental health awareness 

events. 

3.6.1 In-Store 

We will be continuing the in-store awareness events targeted at parents and adults as they have been 

very successful and require only a small team. 

In 2018 the events were located close to our bases in Cork and Killarney but we are planning to expand 

that network in 2019 to include more counties in Connaught and the North-East. 

3.6.2 External Events 

Most of our awareness team volunteers are 18-26 and we feel that they can be a great help in attending 

younger events where the charity can gain access for an awareness stand. We have been invited to 

provide awareness teams at a lot of concerts, festivals and other events when we did not have younger 

team members available so for 2019 we anticipate accepting more of these type of invitations. 

3.6.3 Volunteer Events 

We will continue to support and promote volunteer led events around the country ensuring that the 

volunteers are fully aware of our programmes and policies. We already supply numerous volunteer 

events with materials and we will continue this practice but try and emphasis the promotion of our 

online resources as well. 

PAGE 21 



4 Fundraising 

4.1 Fundraising Report 2018 

This was another successful year for fundraising, a critical life line for any charity. Our income only increased 

by 1.6% to €139,691 (2017 €137,405) but it allowed us to retain services at 2017 levels and in some cases, 

such as the Schools Programme, to increase funding to allow programme developments. 

There is always a cost to raising charity funds but this fell by 39% in 2018 due to improved management of 

events and sourcing of cheaper or alternative venues and materials. 

4.1.1 Facebook Fundraising 

Facebook have introduced a facility where registered charities can allow Facebook members to create 

fundraisers on their behalf. The fundraisers are hosted by Facebook and 100% of funds raised are sent 

to the charity bank account on a 30 day arrears cycle. Facebook charge no fees for this service which is 

a saving of the usual 5% transaction charges imposed on card transactions. We raised over €18,500 

through Facebook fundraisers in 2018. 

4.1.2 Skydive Against Suicide 

Skydiving has been a staple fundraiser for us for a number of years and 2018 was no different. We had 

a total of 431 sign-ups over the year, with 139 people completing their jumps. This brought in €58,667. 

The Skydive Against Suicide is a thrilling event where the tandem master does all the work during the 

skydive and training only takes 20-30 minutes. The tandem master will briefs participants on all phases 

of their jump and ensure that they get the most from the experience while every precaution is taken to 

ensure safety. This leave participants free to enjoy the experience and take in the wonderful birds eye 

views. 

A tandem jump is one of the best experiences for someone who has never jumped before and also 

allows participants, should they wish, to move forward to do training solo jumps at a very good 

discount!!! 

We would like to thank the Irish Parachute Club for running these events and for their cooperation 

throughout the year. 

4.1.3 Tough Mudder 

We had 42 sign-ups for Tough Mudder Ireland bringing in close to €18,000. This was mostly due to the 

work of Dwayne Harvey who was fundraising in memory of his son Ethan. 

The course is very achievable for most people regardless of ability and levels of fitness. If they work 

together and get their strategy right they will make it through to the finish line. The Classic course is 

13km and features over 25 obstacles such as Block Ness Monster (Voted Best obstacle of 2016), Arctic 

Enema (an ice bath that will chill you to the core), Everest (¼ pipe that requires a good starting run in 

order to get to the top) and Electroshock Therapy (10,000 volts that will bring out moves that you didn’t 

know you had). 

There was also a half event; all the mud over less than half the Classic distance, participants will 

complete 13 obstacles over 5km. Removing some of the more daunting obstacles such as the 



Electroshock Therapy, the half event appealed to those who would like the challenge of getting tough 

and dirty but aren’t yet quite ready to tackle the full 13km (8 mile) course. 

4.1.4 World Suicide Prevention Day 

We marked World Suicide Prevention Day with a 24-hour Fast Against Suicide. Despite a strong 

promotion campaign, centred mainly on Facebook, we only had eleven sign-ups, but they managed to 

raise €1,311. As there was very little cost to the charity to setup and promote this event this is a good 

return. 

This is an event we should do each year and, with some more promotion, could become a regular source 

of income. 

4.1.5 Volunteer Events 

We had a great variety of fundraisers around the country run by volunteers for which we are extremely 

grateful These ranged from a memorable mens’ waxing night in Fermoy through bake sales, music 

nights, concerts, fun runs and pub quizzes. We are incredibly grateful for the work of these fundraisers 

on our behalf. 

4.1.6 General Donations 

There were a number of unsolicited general donations throughout the year, but not as many as we 

could maybe expect for a charity that’s been in operation for as long as we have been. This is an area 

we should be looking at to increase donations in 2019. 

4.1.7 Corporate Sponsorship 

We had a few corporate sponsors during the year, the main one being Folens Publishers who gave us 

€5,000 in restricted funding towards School Visits and School Resource Packs. We would like to thank 

them for their support and hope that this is the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial 

arrangement. 

4.2 Fundraising Plan 2019 

Looking forward to 2019 it is critical that we are able to maintain our income levels at least at this year’s 

levels but our hope is to increase income by 10% in 2019. 

We have developed a number of new fundraising initiatives and events which we hope will appeal to a 

broader section of the public and allow more participation. 

4.2.1 Facebook Fundraising 

Due to the success of Facebook fundraisers in 2018, and with almost no costs involved for the charity, 

we will be working to promote these fundraisers in 2019 to people holding birthdays and weddings with 

a view to increasing the number of fundraisers by 25%. 

4.2.2 Events Plan 

We have planned a full schedule of fundraising events for the year, including bag packs, coffee 

mornings, our skydives, bungee jumps, the Tough Mudder challenge. We have websites created for 

most of these events as we are finding that people more and more prefer to donate online. Our full 

events programme is available at events.yspi.ie. 

PAGE 23 



4.2.3 Skydive For Life 

We have been running the Skydive challenge for the past five years and it has proved our most 

consistent fundraising event. 

For the coming year we are planning to increase the amount of sign-ups by targeting third-level colleges. 

We had great success with this in the past through UCD Student Union and we are hoping to recruit the 

help of the students’ unions in the colleges around the country in 2019. 

4.2.4 Other Charity Events 

For 2019 we are introducing a new range of fundraising events with broader appeal. These are: 

Great Wall Challenge 

One of the ‘New Wonders of the World’, the Great Wall of China is a thrilling challenge of ups, 

downs, twists and turns. With 10,000 uneven steps, this trip will challenge even the most 

dedicated trekker. Exhaustion will quickly vanish however, as you are rewarded with sweeping 

views over vast mountain ranges. 

Fundraisers need to raise a minimum of €3,750 to take part in the event. Half of that total, and 

anything else they raise above that, goes to support the work of the charity 

The Big Leap 

We have teamed up with the highest indoor bungee jump in the world, the incredible Abyss @ 

Magna in Rotherham, UK, to offer you a once-in-a-lifetime chance for fundraisers to face - and 

beat - their fears. 

Fundraisers need to raise a minimum of €500 to take part in the event. €250 of that total, and 

anything else they raise above that, goes to support the work of the charity 

The Big Bake Sale 

The Big Bake Sale gives people the opportunity to both fundraiser for Youth Suicide Prevention 

Ireland, but also raise awareness of our work in their communities. 

The concept is a pretty straightforward. They bake a few cakes and invite their family and 

friends around for coffee morning. Each person invited to the coffee morning is asked to make 

a donation to the charity. 

4.2.5 Increase Corporate Support 

Our 2019 Fundraising Plan puts more emphasis on corporate fundraising now that commercial finances 

are recovering. We will be introducing a number of sponsorship initiatives which can be found at 

www.sponoropportunities.ie. 

4.2.6 Increase Media Awareness 

We will be working to increase media awareness of fundraising events in local areas. 



4.2.7 Use of Fundraising Contractors 

The Trustees are considering the use of third-party fundraisers to combine house to house retail with 

awareness information distribution. This is a new area for us and we will be looking very carefully at 

the implications and benefits. 

Any subsequent use of such fundraisers and the approved contract will be registered with the Charities 

Regulator. 

4.3 Fundraising Guidelines 

We remain committed to complying with the Statement for Guiding Principles for Fundraising and have 

formally discussed and adopted the Statement at a meeting of the Trustees. We again confirm our 

commitment to the principles set out in the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising by a statement 

to that effect in this annual report. 

We have a published Donor Charter which is consistent with the Statement of Guiding Principles for 

Fundraising. The Trustees regularly monitors compliance with the Statement of Guiding Principles for 

Fundraising and compliance reports are received regularly by the board, and our administrators must 

consider the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising when planning all fundraising activity. 

The Donor Charter is available as Appendix A and the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising as 

Appendix B. 

PAGE 25 



5 Charity Finances 

5.1 Financial Overview 

In 2018 we increased our income from fundraising and corporate sponsorship by 1.6% to €139,691 (2017 

€137,405) while the cost of raising income was reduced by 39% in 2018 to €16,468 in spite of the increase 

in income. 

The cost of governance increased by 52% in 2018 to €5,617 as a result of increased audit costs. However 

cost of administering the charity fell by 7% in 2018 to 13% from 20% in 2017 and although this is still slightly 

above the Trustees’ target of 12% it is a big improvement over the previous year. 

5.2 Charitable Income 

2018 2017 

€ € 

Income 139,691 137,405 

There was an increase in charitable income of 1.6% to €139,691. Income for 2018 was derived from 

a mix of fundraisers, charity events such as skydives and corporate sponsorship. 

5.3 Charitable Expenditure 


€ € 

Charitable Expenditure 

Outreach Programme 12,701 23,393 

Schools Programme 72,625 39,362 

Awareness programme 18,294 5,633 

103,620 68,388 

We increased charitable expenditure in 2018 by €35,232 to €103,620. As parts of the Outreach 

programme were transferred into the Schools Programme in 2018 there was an increase in the 

Schools budget of €33,263 and a balancing fall in the Outreach budget of €10,692. The cost of 

facilitating the schools programme was €40,979, an increase of €5,837 on 2017, but still €18,000 

below the contracted costs. The costs of providing resource packs and the overall costs of printing for 

schools also rose during 2018 which contributed to the overall schools expenditure increase. 

Awareness expenditure increased by €12,661 as a result of the costs of providing the Parents 

Programme events. 

5.4 Cost of Fundraising 


€ € 

Cost of fundraising 16,468 27,099 



The cost of fundraising is always an issue for charities and we are delighted that in 2018 we were able 

to reduce the cost of raising income by 39% over 2017 while increasing income by 1.6% in the same 

period. 

5.5 Cost of Governance 


€ € 

Governance Expenses 

Accountancy 1,000 - 

Auditor's remuneration 4,617 3,690 

5,617 3,690 

The cost of governance of the charity, being the costs of fulfilling the charity’s statutory obligations 

under the Charities Act 2009, increased by 52% over 2017. This was due to the increase in the cost 

of auditing but also from the Trustees’ decision to use separate accountants to prepare the financial 

statements for auditing. 

5.6 Cost of Administration 


€ € 

Administrative Expenses 

Rent and storage 7,144 7,297 

Insurance 1,731 1,574 

Computer costs 1,806 3,282 

Light and heat 949 1,101 

Office costs 429 2,588 

Repairs and maintenance 280 - 

Telephone 1,349 3,279 

Legal and professional 224 - 

Bank charges 3,700 3,952 

General expenses - 845 

Depreciation 1,246 4,137 

18,858 28,055 

The cost of administering the charity decreased by 33% in 2018 due to lower IT and telephone costs 

as well as a decrease in asset depreciation of 70% over 2017. 

The ratio of administration costs to general income for 2018 was 13% a decrease of 7% from 2017. 

This means that in 2018 87% of general income was available to spend on charitable programmes or 

87c for each €1 donated. 

5.7 Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland Publications Limited 

The Trustees formed Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland Publications Ltd in December 2014 so that the 

Schools Programme could be operated from a limited liability company as this reduced the cost of 

public liability and professional indemnity insurance that the charity would have to pay to protect 

itself against any legal issues arising. There is a Service Agreement in place between the company 

PAGE 27 



and the charity reviewed and approved annually. 

The company’s financial year is not aligned with the charity and so runs from 1 st January 2018 to 31 st 

December 2018 but for simplicity we have shown full year figures for the company although there is 

some overlap with the charity’s 2019 financial year. 

In 2018 the company received funding from the charity of €40,979, paid from the School Visit 

Programme budget, to cover the costs for the company to operate the Schools Programme. This was 

a 17% increase in funding over 2017 but remains well below the full Service Agreement funding levels. 

For example the Service Agreement provides for salaries of €31,000 per facilitator before tax (€25,000 

net of tax) however in 2018 the facilitators received gross annual salaries of just €17,000 before tax 

as neither facilitator was paid their full salary due to illness and sick pay reductions. 

The company had expenditure of €38,837 with a small accumulated loss of €1,984 brought forward 

from 2017. This left the company with a surplus of €158 which was retained by the company. 

The company spent €33,984 on the facilitators’ salaries and €3,258 in employment taxes bringing the 

total employment costs to €37,152 which was a 39% increase on 2017. €1,685 was spent on insurance 

and fees which was a 36% decrease on 2017. 

Although these was no auditing requirements the directors felt that certifying the books of the 

company was important as it would confirm that funding was used appropriately and responsibly, 

and that the governance of the company was open and transparent. This was confirmed at the 

Company Annual General Meeting. The directors have appointed Raheny Accounts Limited to act for 

the Board of Directors in this matter. 


€ € 

Income 

Schools Funding 40,979 35,142 

Expenditure 

Facilitator Costs 37,152 26,587 

Administration Costs 1,685 2,631 

38,837 29,218 

Surplus / (Defecit) 2,142 5,924 

Accumulated Loss (b/fwd) -1,984 -7,908 

Retained Surplus / Defecit (c/fwd) 158 -1,984 



6 Financial Statements 

6.1 Summary 

The financial statements of the charity for 2017 are reported in this annual report and also reported 

separately. They include: 

• Trustees’ Report 

• Auditors’ Report 

• Statement of Financial Activities 

• Balance Sheet 

• Notes on the accounts 

• Profit & Loss Statement 

6.1.1 Charity Auditors 

The Board of Trustees have retained the services of Raheny Accounts Limited to act as 

statutory auditors for the charity in 2018. The role of the auditors is to check the financial 

statements prepared by the accountant and report to the Board of Trustees on the financial 

position of the charity and the accuracy of the book-keeping and financial systems. 

6.1.2 Auditors Findings 

The Auditor’s Report for the 2018 Financial Year was unqualified and the charitable trust 

remains a viable charitable body. 

The Auditors reported that the scope of the audit was extensive and covered our financial 

systems as well as the books and financial records. In the auditors’ opinion the books, 

records and systems give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial position; and that 

they have been properly prepared and maintained by us. The auditor’s report is attached 

in the following pages. 

6.2 Trustees’ Report 

The trustees present their Trustees' Report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 

31 October 2018. 

The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: 

Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in 

accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 

102). 

The Trustees' Report contains the information required to be provided in the Trustees' Annual Report 

under the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) guidelines. The trustees are charity trustees 

for the purpose of charity law and under the charity's deed of trust are known as members of the 

board of trustees. 

In this report the trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland present a summary of its purpose, 

governance, activities, achievements and finances for the financial year 31 October 2018. 

The charity is a registered charity and, although not obliged to comply with the Statement of 

Recommended Practice, the organisation has implemented its recommendations where relevant in 

these financial statements. 

PAGE 29 



Review of Activities, Achievements and Performance 

During 2018 we increased the number of schools in our Schools Programme by 33% although we had 

a reduction in the number of schools visited of 22% due to the transition to online training and school 

mentoring programmes. Our facilitators still worked directly with 12,443 students in 307 workshops 

held for Transition Year, 5th and 6th Years. In all we achieved a 54% increase in funding for our Schools 

Programme. 

Some corporate support was specifically ring-fenced for the Schools Programme. The number of 

School DIY resource packs distributed reduced by 6% over 2017. The cost of the Schools Programme 

on a per student basis increased by 53% over 2017 figures due to statutory sick leave entitlements 

and a consequential reduction in the number of students worked with by each facilitator was 36%. 

The cost of raising income dropped by 33% during 2018 and the cost of administering the charity 

dropped by 39%. 

Financial Review 

The results for the financial year are set out below and additional notes are provided showing income 

and expenditure in greater detail. 

Results and Dividends 

At the end of the year the charity has assets of €11,719 (2017 - €20,016) and liabilities of €5,155 (2017 

- €8,580). The net assets of the charity have decreased by €(4,872). 

Future Developments 

The trustees are not expecting to make any significant changes in the nature of the business in the 

near future. 

Reference and Administrative details 

The organisation is a charitable trust with a business address at 59 High Street, Killarney, Co Kerry. 

The charity has been granted charitable tax status under Sections 207 and 208 of the Taxes 

Consolidation Act 1997 under reference CHY18438 and is registered with the Charities Regulatory 

Authority under registration number 20070670. The charity has a total of 6 trustees. 

Compliance with Sector-Wide Legislation and Standards 

The charity engages pro-actively with legislation, standards and codes which are developed for the 

sector. Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland subscribes to and is compliant with the following: 

- The Charities SORP (FRS 102) 

Principal activities and objectives 

The charity has 6 trustees who meet on a regular basis and are responsible for the strategic direction 

of the charity. The charity is run on a day to day basis by the administrator and the chief executive 

officer. They are responsible for ensuring that the charity meets its long and short term aims and 

ensuring the day to day operations run smoothly. 

Our mission is focused on providing mental health awareness and suicide prevention programmes to 

schools and colleges where our facilitators work directly with students to promote awareness, provide 

skills and advice, and support teachers and staff as needed. 

We also provide a wide range of online resources including online training and youth self-harm and 

suicide publications; and we provide and operate a FreeText service where people in need of crisis 

information can text our information service free of charge. We provide crisis funding for immediate 

access to crisis counselling for at-risk teenagers. 



Our Facilitators and volunteers also arrange and provide outreach events and awareness campaigns 

around the country for parents, community organisations and voluntary groups. We also provide 

services to youth organisations, youth diversion projects, clubs and sports organisations upon 

request. 

Source of funding 

The principal source of funding for the charity is the generosity of the general public with donations 

as well as some corporate sponsorship. 

Reserves 

The charity needs reserves to: 

- Ensure the charity can continue to provide a stable service to those who need them. 

- Meet contractual obligations as they fall due; 

- Meet unexpected costs; 

- Provide working capital when funding is paid in arrears; 

- Meet the costs of winding up in the event that was necessary 

Based on this, the trustees are satisfied that it holds sufficient reserves to allow the charity to continue 

successfully. 

6.3 Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement 

The trustees are responsible for preparing the financial statements in accordance with applicable Irish 

law and regulations. 

The law applicable to charities in the Republic of Ireland requires the trustees to prepare financial 

statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities and financial 

position of the charity as at the financial year end date and of the surplus or deficit of the charity and 

otherwise comply with the Charities Act, 2009. 

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to: 

- select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently; 

- observe the methods and principles in the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and 

Reporting by Charities (2015); 

- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

- state whether the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the relevant 

financial reporting framework, identify those standards, and note the effect and the reasons for 

any material departure from those standards; and 

- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume 

that the charity will continue in operation. 

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the above requirements in preparing the financial 

statements. 

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and 

explain the charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial 

position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the 

Charities Act 2009 and the provisions of the charity's constitution and rules. They are also responsible 

for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention 

and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 

PAGE 31 



The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial 

information included on the charity's website. Legislation in the Republic of Ireland governing the 

preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other 

jurisdictions. 

6.4 Independent Auditor’s Report 

Report on the audit of the financial statements 

Opinion 

We have audited the charity financial statements of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland for the year 

ended 31 October 2018 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and 

the related notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies 

set out in note 2. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is Irish 

law and FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" and 

Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities 

preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. 

In our opinion the financial statements: 

- give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities and financial position of the charity as at 31 

October 2018 and of its net incoming resources for the year then ended; 

- have been properly prepared in accordance with FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard 

applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" as applied and having regard to the Charities SORP. 

Basis for opinion 

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (Ireland) (ISAs 

Ireland) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the 

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are 

independent of the charity in accordance with ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of 

financial statements in Ireland, including the Ethical Standard for Auditors (Ireland) issued by the Irish 

Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA), and the Provisions Available for Audits of 

Small Entities, in the circumstances set out in note 3 to the financial statements, and we have fulfilled 

our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit 

evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. 

Conclusions relating to going concern 

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which ISAs (Ireland) 

require us to report to you where: 

- the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial 

statements is not appropriate; or 

- the trustees have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties 

that may cast significant doubt about the charity's ability to continue to adopt the going concern 

basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial 

statements are authorised for issue. 

Other Information 

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the 

information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our Auditor's 

Report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, 



except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance 

conclusion thereon. 

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other 

information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with 

the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit, or otherwise appears to be 

materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, 

we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements 

or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we 

conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report 

that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. 

Matters on which we are required to report by exception 

Based on the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course 

of the audit, we have not identified any material misstatements in the Trustees' Report. 

Respective responsibilities 

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements 

As explained more fully in the Trustees' Responsibilities Statement set out on page 6 the trustees are 

responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true 

and fair view, and for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation 

of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity's ability 

to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to the going concern and 

using the going concern basis of accounting unless management either intends to liquidate the charity 

or to cease operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so. 

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements 

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole 

are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditor's Report 

that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee 

that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (Ireland) will always detect a material misstatement 

when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually 

or in aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken 

on the basis of these financial statements. 

Further information regarding the scope of our responsibilities as auditor 

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (Ireland), we exercise professional judgement and maintain 

professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also: 

- Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due 

to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit 

evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not 

detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, 

as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override 

of internal control. 

- Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit 

procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an 

opinion on the effectiveness of the charity's internal control. 

PAGE 33 



- Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting 

estimates and related disclosures made by trustees. 

- Conclude on the appropriateness of the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting 

and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to 

events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going 

concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in 

our Auditor's Report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures 

are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained 

up to the date of our Auditor's Report. However, future events or conditions may cause the charity 

to cease to continue as a going concern. 

- Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the 

disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and 

events in a manner that achieves fair presentation. 

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned 

scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in 

internal control that we identify during our audit. 

The purpose of our audit work and to whom we owe our responsibilities 

Our report is made solely to the charity's members, as a body, in accordance with the requirement of 

the charity’s deed of trust. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's 

members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's Report and for no other 

purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume any responsibility to 

anyone other than the charity and the charity's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, 

or for the opinions we have formed. 

__________________________________ 

RAHENY ACCOUNTS LIMITED TA IRISH ACCOUNTS 

Chartered Certified Accountants and Statutory Auditors 

Unit 6 

Abbey Business Park 

Baldoyle Industrial Estate 

Dublin 13 

D13 N738 

Republic of Ireland 



6.5 Statement of Financial Activities 

The Statement of Financial Activities is set out below and reflects the financial position of the charity 

as at 31 st October 2018. 

Unrestricted 

Funds 

Restricted 

Funds 

Total 

Unrestricted 

Funds 

Total 

Incoming Resources 

2018 2018 2018 2017 2017 

Notes € € € € € 

Charitable activities 

Fundraising and 

Sponsorship 

4.1 134,691 5,000 139,691 137,405 137,405 

Expenditure 

Charitable Activities 5.2 103,620 - 103,620 68,388 68,388 

Cost of Fundraising 5.3 16,468 - 16,468 27,099 27,099 

Administration Costs 5.4 24,475 - 24,475 31,745 31,745 

144,563 144,563 127,232 127,232 

Net incoming/outgoing 

resources before transfers 

Gross transfers between 

funds 

- 9,872 5,000 - 4,872 10,173 10,173 

- - - - - 

Net movement in funds for 

the year 

- 9,872 5,000 - 4,872 10,173 10,173 

Reconciliation of funds 

Balances brought forward at 

1 November 2017 

11,436 - 11,436 1,263 1,263 

Balances carried forward at 

31 October 2018 

1,564 5,000 6,564 11,436 11,436 

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. 

All income and expenditure relate to continuing activities. 

PAGE 35 



6.6 Balance Sheet 

The Balance Sheet is set out below and reflects the financial position of the charity as at 31 st October 

2018. 


Notes € € 

Fixed Assets 

Tangible assets 7 1,523 2,769 

Current Assets 

Debtors 8 1,695 1,598 

Cash and cash equivalents 8,501 15,649 

10,196 17,247 

Creditors: Amounts falling 

due within one year 

9 -5,155 -8,580 

Net Current Assets 5,041 8,667 

Total Assets less Current 

Liabilities 

6,564 11,436 

Funds 

Restricted trust funds 5,000 - 

General fund (unrestricted) 1,564 11,436 

Total funds 6,564 11,436 



6.7 Notes on Financial Statements 

These are the explanatory notes accompanying the Audited Financial Statements. 

1. GENERAL INFORMATION 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland is a charity incorporated in the Republic of Ireland. The business address of 

the company is 1st Floor, 59 High Street, Killarney, Ireland which is also the principal place of business of the 

company The financial statements have been presented in Euro (€) which is also the functional currency of 

the charity. 

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES 

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered 

material in relation to the charity’s financial statements. 

Basis of preparation 

The financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis under the historical cost 

convention. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of 

Recommended Practice (SORP) "Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in 

accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) 

(effective 1 January 2015)", "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland". 

The charity has applied the Charities SORP on a voluntary basis as its application is not a requirement of the 

current regulations for charities registered in the Republic of Ireland. 

The charity has varied the standard formats for the Statement of Financial Activities and the Balance Sheet. 

Departures from the standard formats to comply with the requirements of the Charities SORP and are in 

compliance with section 4.7, 10.6 and 15.2 of that SORP. 

Incoming Resources 

Voluntary income or capital is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally 

entitled to it, its financial value can be quantified with reasonable certainty and there is reasonable certainty 

of its ultimate receipt. Entitlement to legacies is considered established when the charity has been notified 

of a distribution to be made by the executors. Income received in advance of due performance under a 

contract is accounted for as deferred income until earned. Grants for activities are recognised as income 

when the related conditions for legal entitlement have been met. All other income is accounted for on an 

accruals basis. 

Expenditure 

All resources expended are accounted for on an accruals basis. Charitable activities include costs of services 

and grants, support costs and depreciation on related assets. Costs of generating funds similarly include 

fundraising activities. Non-staff costs not attributed to one category of activity are allocated or apportioned 

pro-rata to the staffing of the relevant service. Finance, HR, IT and administrative staff costs are directly 

attributable to individual activities by objective. Governance costs are those associated with constitutional 

and statutory requirements. 

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation 

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost or at valuation, less accumulated depreciation. The charge to 

depreciation is calculated to write off the original cost or valuation of tangible fixed assets, less their 

estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives as follows: 

Fixtures, fittings and equipment - 20% Straight line 

PAGE 37 



Debtors 

Debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any discount offered. Prepayments are valued 

at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due. Income recognised by the charity from government 

agencies and other co-funders, but not yet received at year end, is included in debtors. 

Cash at bank and in hand 

Cash at bank and in hand comprises cash on deposit at banks requiring less than three months notice of 

withdrawal. 

Taxation 

No current or deferred taxation arises as the charity has been granted charitable exemption. Irrecoverable 

valued added tax is expensed as incurred. 

The charity has been granted charitable tax status under Sections 207 and 208 of the Taxes Consolidation 

Act 1997, Charity No CHY 18438 and is registered with the Charities Regulatory Authority. 

3. PROVISIONS AVAILABLE FOR AUDITS OF SMALL ENTITIES 

In common with many other charitable companies of our size and nature, we use our auditors to assist with 

the preparation of the financial statements. 

4. INCOME 

4.1 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES Unrestricted Restricted 2018 2017 

Funds Funds 

€ € € € 

Fundraising and Sponsorship 134,691 5,000 139,691 137,405 

═══════ ═══════ ═══════ ═══════ 

5. EXPENDITURE 

5.1 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES Direct Other Admin 2018 2017 

Costs Costs Costs 

€ € € € € 

Summary 120,088 - 24,475 144,563 127,232 

═══════ ═══════ ═══════ ═══════ ═══════ 

5.2 Charitable Expenditure 2018 2017 

€ € 

Breakdown of Charitable Expenditure 


Outreach Activities 12,701 23,393 

Awareness Programme 18,294 5,633 

─────── ─────── 

103,620 68,388 

═══════ ═══════ 


€ € 

5.3 Cost of Fundraising 16,468 27,099 

═══════ ═══════ 



5.4 Administration Costs 


€ € 

Rent 7,144 7,297 


Bank fees 3,700 3,952 


Office 429 3,433 

Repairs 280 - 


IT 1,806 3,282 

Legal and Professional 224 - 

Electricity 949 1,101 

Audit & Accountancy 5,617 3,690 

─────── ─────── 

24,475 31,745 

═══════ ═══════ 

6. NET INCOMING RESOURCES 2018 2017 

€ € 

Net Incoming Resources are stated after charging/(crediting): 

Depreciation of tangible assets 1,246 4,137 

Auditor's remuneration: 

- audit services 4,617 3,690 

═══════ ═══════ 

7. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS 

Cost 

Fixtures, Total 

fittings and 

equipment 

€ € 

At 31 October 2018 13,461 13,461 

─────── ─────── 

Depreciation 

At 1 November 2017 10,692 10,692 

Charge for the year 1,246 1,246 

─────── ─────── 


─────── ─────── 

Net book value 


═══════ ═══════ 

At 31 October 2017 2,769 2,769 

═══════ ═══════ 

PAGE 39 



7.1 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS PRIOR YEAR 

Fixtures, Total 

fittings and 

equipment 

€ € 

Cost 

At 1 November 2016 11,267 11,267 

Additions 2,194 2,194 

─────── ─────── 

At 31 October 2017 13,461 13,461 

─────── ─────── 

Depreciation 

At 1 November 2016 6,555 6,555 

Charge for the year 4,137 4,137 

─────── ─────── 

At 31 October 2017 10,692 10,692 

─────── ─────── 

Net book value 

At 31 October 2017 2,769 2,769 

═══════ ═══════ 

At 31 October 2016 4,712 4,712 

═══════ ═══════ 

8. DEBTORS 2018 2017 

€ € 

Other debtors 1,695 1,598 

─────── ─────── 

1,695 1,598 

═══════ ═══════ 

9. CREDITORS 2018 2017 

Amounts falling due within one year € € 

Accruals 5,155 8,580 

═══════ ═══════ 

10. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS 

During the year the company, Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland Publications Limited provided outreach 

services to schools to the value of €43,529 (2016: €26,650). Youth Suicide Ireland Prevention Limited is a 

company that is 100% controlled by the trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland. 

During the year the charity received a loan from Alan McKelvie who is part of key management of the charity 

of €500. This loan was subsequently repaid to Alan McKelvie and the balance owed to him at the year end 

was €nil (2017 : €nil) 

11. CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS 2018 2017 

€ € 

Cash and bank balances 7,156 15,310 

═══════ ═══════ 



12. POST-BALANCE SHEET EVENTS 

There have been no significant events affecting the Charity since the year-end. 

13. APPROVAL OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees on 20 th August 

2019. 

6.8 Surplus and Deficit Analysis 

This is a breakdown of income, costs and expenses as at 31 st October 2018. 


€ € 

Income 139,691 137,405 

Charitable Expenditure 

Outreach Programme 12,701 23,393 


Awareness programme 18,294 5,633 

103,620 68,388 

Cost of fundraising 16,468 27,099 

Gross surplus 19,603 41,918 

Expenses 

Rent and storage 7,144 7,297 


Computer costs 1,806 3,282 

Light and heat 949 1,101 

Office costs 429 2,588 

Repairs and 

maintenance 

280 - 


Legal and professional 224 - 

Accountancy 1,000 - 

Auditor's remuneration 4,617 3,690 

Bank charges 3,700 3,952 

General expenses - 845 


24,475 31,745 

Net (deficit)/surplus -4,872 10,173 

PAGE 41 



7 Charity Governance 

7.1 Board of Trustees 

The Board of Trustees as at 31 st October 2018 were: 

Nelius Enright (Chairperson) 

Yvonne Higgins (Secretary) 

Alan Redmond 

Marje Farrell 

Gearoid O’Callaghan 

Ian Kinane 

7.2 Board of Management 

The Board of Management as at 31 st October 2018 were: 

Anthony Philpott (Chief Executive) 

Alan McKelvie (Administrator) 

7.3 Move to new company structure 

At the instructions of the Trustees a new Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) was formed on 3 rd 

January 2016. Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland Outreach CLG is now registered with the Companies 

Registration Office but remains dormant. 

The CLG structure has many advantages for charities as the level of public information available 

through the Companies Registration Office is much more comprehensive than is available through 

the Charities Regulator. The company accounts must be audited and published within 8 months of 

the financial year end. 

The CLG structure also provides limited liability for the directors which means that we can wind up 

our service company, YSPI Publications Limited, and move the staff from that company into the CLG 

company. This will be much better for reporting purposes and will also significantly reduce costs such 

as insurance and accounting / legal fees. 

The Trustees requested permission from the Revenue Commissioners to move the charitable tax 

exemption CHY18438 and the assets of the charitable trust into the new company structure in 

November 2015 and permission was granted in October 2017. 

The move to the new structure was delayed in order to await the revised regulations issued by the 

Charities Regulator on the change of structure for registered charities. The Trustees were also 

concerned that the Charities Regulator was issuing new Registration Numbers for the changed entity 

rather than allowing the existing registration number to carry forward with the charity. The Trustees 

felt that changing the registration number would cause confusion to the public as it would appear 

that the charity was new rather than well-established. 

Annual Returns and Dormant Accounts have been filed with the Companies Registration Office for 

2018. This company remains dormant. 



7.4 Financial Controls 

Any spending of charity funds requires the approval of at least two separate signatories. All spending 

must be authorised and recorded in detail. The charities’ financial records are maintained by an 

independent chartered accountant. The Trustees retain the services of different accountants to act 

as independent auditors to audit the financial records and prepare accounts each year. This provides 

two levels of independent scrutiny of the charities’ financial affairs. 

The charities’ audited financial statements were previously submitted to the Revenue Commissioners 

each year. Since 2016 we are required to submit our Financial Statements to the Charities Regulator. 

We also publish our full audited accounts on our website each year along with our Annual Report. 

7.5 Fundraising 

YSPI receives no state funding of any type. We fund our programmes through a mixture of personal 

donations, fundraising events such as sponsored fasts or skydives, corporate sponsorship and 

bequests. For example this year YSPI has been lucky enough to be UCD Student Union’s Charity of 

the Year. 

All funds that we receive are deposited directly into the charity bank accounts. All donors are issued 

with receipts for the donations and we keep a Donation Register which shows all funds received and 

deposited. 87% of our funding in 2018 was received online and the remainder was received as 

cheques or direct deposits to our bank accounts. 

7.6 Administration Costs of the charity 

The charity still has a low cost of administration although it did increase in 2016. The cost of 

administration is how much money it costs to run the charity as a percentage of income. YSPI 

currently spends 16% of its income on running the charity so 84c out of every €1 we receive is spent 

on the charities’ suicide prevention programmes. 

7.7 Employees of the Charity 

The charity has no employees but we contract two members of staff through Youth Suicide Prevention 

Ireland Publications Limited to reduce charity liability insurance costs. These are both trained 

facilitators who run our National School Visits Programme and the other suicide prevention 

programmes such as the Youth Counselling Service and the Four Steps Programme for Schools. Our 

facilitators work full-time under contract to the charity and receive an average salary of €25,000 per 

year. 

In 2018 School year our facilitators have visited 53 schools and worked face to face with around 

12,500 students. 

7.8 Charity Volunteers 

YSPI averages around 60 volunteers who work with us regularly and help us with promoting our 

services, getting information to schools, colleges and youth groups, joining our Awareness Teams and 

assisting with fundraising. 

PAGE 43 



8 Approval and Certification 

Approved for publication by the Board of Trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland. 

We the undersigned certify that to the best of our knowledge this Annual Report is a true and accurate 

representation of the financial position and charitable activities of the charity on 31 st October 2018 and 

for the 2018 financial year and order our seal applied hereto. 

______________________ ______________________ ______________________ 

Chairman Secretary Chief Executive 

Signed and sealed this 20th August 2019 



Appendix A – Donors’ Charter 

As a charity seeking donations from the public we, the Trustees of Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland, aim to 

comply with the ICTR Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising 

Our pledge is to treat all our donors with respect, honesty and openness. 

We commit to being accountable and transparent so that donors and prospective donors can have full 

confidence in Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland. 

We promise we will effectively apply your gifts to us for their intended purposes. 

We commit that you, our donors and prospective donors, will: 

• Be informed of the organisation’s mission, and of the way the organisation intends to use donated 

resources. 

• Be informed of the identity of those serving on the organisation’s governing board, and that the 

board will exercise prudent judgement in its stewardship responsibilities. 

• Have access to the organisation’s most recent financial statements. 

• Be assured your gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given. 

• Receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition. 

• Be assured that information about your donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality 

to the extent provided by law. 

• Expect that all relationships with individuals representing the charity will be dealt with 

professionally. 

• Be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organisation or 

hired third party agents. 

• Have easily available the agreed procedures for making and responding to complaints. 

• Have the opportunity for any names to be deleted from mailing lists and to be informed if the 

organisation intends to share the mailing lists with third parties. 

• Receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers to questions you might have of the organisation. 

If you have any feedback about our Donor Charter, positive or negative, please contact us so we can assist 

you as quickly as possible. 

PAGE 45 



Appendix B – Statement for Guiding Principles for Fundraising 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland is committed to complying with the Statement for Guiding Principles for 

Fundraising and has formally discussed and adopted the Statement at a meeting of the governing body. 

 

 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland confirms its commitment to the principles set out in the Statement 

of Guiding Principles for Fundraising by a statement to that effect in its annual report. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland has a Donor Charter which is consistent with the Statement of 

Guiding Principles for Fundraising. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland regularly monitors compliance with the Statement of Guiding Principles 

for Fundraising and compliance reports are received regularly by the governing body. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland considers the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising when 

planning all fundraising activity. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland has a policy on working with third party fundraisers. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland provides honest, open and transparent disclosure when fundraising 

from the public. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland has appointed a member of the governing body and/or a senior 

member of staff to be responsible for compliance with the Statement of Guiding Principles for 

Fundraising. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland ensures that fundraising staff are provided with information and 

training on the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising and its implementation. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland has a feedback and complaints procedure consistent with the 

Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising. Feedback is recorded for review by relevant staff 

including the CEO and governing body. Feedback is responded to promptly and appropriately. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland prepares financial reports consistent with the requirements of the 

Charities Act 2009 which include a statement concerning the extent to which control of the 

organisation is independent of its funding sources. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland ensures that all donations are tracked and recorded and complies 

with data protection requirements. 

Youth Suicide Prevention Ireland is accessible to the public through a number of readily available 

contact options. 



PAGE 47 


HELP AND ASSISTANCE 

If you are concerned about yourself, friends or family you can get immediate support and information 24/7 

FreeText HELP to 50015 or visit www.ineedhelp.ie 

Texting 50015 is free of charge from any mobile network and you can text this number even if you have no 

credit. 

For information on Emergency Contacts, National Helplines, Local Support Groups, Directions to your 

nearest GP or out of hours clinic or directions to your nearest safe place or refuge visit www.ineedhelp.ie 

Information Links 

Schools Programme 

Teacher Support 

Student Support 

Parent Support & Guidance 

Crisis Support 



students.yspi.ie 

parents.yspi.ie 

www.ineedhelp.ie 


Registered Charity 20070670 

Administration 

1st Floor, 59 High Street, Killarney, Co Kerry V93 N97 Ireland 

021 242 7171 01 485 3827 admin@yspi.ie 

Charity Website 

www.yspi.ie 

Social Media 

Facebook 

Instagram 

Twitter 

youth.suicide.prevention.ireland 

yspi_chy 

yspireland 

Event Websites 

events.yspi.ie

Towards Improving Youth Mental Health - Annual Report 2018

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