Five years at a glance: A review

Our net result shows a surplus of $28 million, largely provided by the Blood Service*. Total income (including the Blood Service) was $1,108.7 million offset by costs of $1,080.6 million. Both income and expenses have grown, largely linked to government funding for everyday work, although community support also continues to grow year on year.

Community support for Red Cross everyday, non disaster appeal work continues to increase, growing 9% in 2014. Over $37 million (an increase of $7 million year on year) was given by regular givers alone, who donate an average monthly gift of almost $30. There were 121,000 regular givers at the end of June 2014 (up from 107,000 in 2013).
Increased financial support from the general public is a result of increased investment in regular giving, bequests and supporter servicing, to grow funds for everyday work in future years. In 2014, $5.8 million was invested specifically to increase community support in future years. This resulted in $2.9 million from new regular donors in 2014, in addition to increased funding to be delivered from regular giving donors and bequests in future years.
Fundraising costs amount to 5% of total expenditure (excluding Blood Service). The increase in Fundraising costs from 2013 is a result of including costs for the first time from the sale of tickets for art unions and events as well as the investment in future years’ income.
Retail activities are now reported separately to other commercial operations such as Training, Employment and Disability Services. After some difficult market conditions in recent years, Retail delivered $3 million after costs to support Red Cross work in communities.
Both the income and expenditure of our Humanitarian Services grew, with $412.8 million spent delivering programs supporting vulnerable people in Australia and further afield.
Administration costs are 7% of total expenditure (up from 4% in 2013), and include all costs critical to the efficient and effective running of the Society such as Human Resources, IT, Finance and occupancy costs; some of these costs were allocated to the specific programs they supported in previous years.

	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010
	$’000	$’000 (restated)	$’000	$’000	$’000
FINANCIAL RESULTS ($’000)
Blood Service ²	581,800	574,587	578,461	567,471	574,207
Government Grants ³	362,846	288,804	217,663	115,086	80,072
Community Support - for everyday work	85,025	75,579	56,729	53,677	47,628
Community Support - for emergency appeals	14,399	20,186	4,102	55,586	21,173
Commercial Operations	11,613	33,498	34,336	34,766	36,664
Retail activities⁴	20,956	-	-	-	-
Government Grants for Commercial Operations	12,984	15,590	17,074	14,094	8,833
Other income⁵	19,060	15,546	46,567	24,913	28,896
Total income	1,108,683	1,023,790	954,932	865,593	797,473
Blood Service	555,897	561,749	539,317	465,798	474,248
Domestic programs	366,296	314,261	223,754	121,981	93,837
International programs	38,243	34,344	28,620	17,716	17,116
Emergency Appeals⁶	8,289	14,630	31,439	53,149	32,989
Commercial Operations⁷	24,774	46,052	47,753	49,988	43,404
Retail activities⁴	17,934	-	-	-	-
Fundraising Costs⁸	27,043	15,864	15,965	14,880	12,600
Marketing	4,166	3,353	5,981	6,356	6,170
Administration⁹	38,003	19,912	22,694	19,482	23,822
Total expenditure	1,080,645	1,010,165	915,523	749,350	704,186
Surplus/(Deficit)	28,038	13,625	39,409	116,243	93,287
Cost of Fundraising including Emergency Appeals	27%	17%	26%	14%	18%
Cost of Fundraising excluding Emergency Appeals	32%	21%	28%	28%	26%
Cost of Administration	7%	4%	6%	7%	10%
Program Investment Ratio without Emergencies	77%	67%	49%	48%	21%
¹ This calculation excludes Blood Service expenditure. ² Blood Service includes capital funding of $53m in 2014 and $52m in 2013. ³ Government Grants excludes Blood Service and Commercial Operations (shown separately), but includes grants for International Federation Statutory Meetings. ⁴Retail activities are now reported separately to other Commercial Operations such as Training, Employment and Disability Services. ⁵ Other includes investment income and cost recovery from International Federation. ⁶ Emergency Appeals includes Domestic and International Appeals. ⁷ Commercial Operations includes training, employment and disability services and Red Cross first aid products. ⁸ Fundraising costs (including employee costs) include costs for raising revenue and in-kind support from public, government and non-government grants. The increase is attributable to costs from sale of tickets for art unions and events as well as investment in future years’ income. ⁹ Administration expenditure increase is attributable to one off costs of $5.6m incurred in relation to International Federation Statutory Meetings (offset by government funding) and Australian Red Cross Centenary celebrations; and $9m of expenditure relating to internal costs which were previously classified under domestic program spend.

* The Blood Service is fully funded by Australian governments and financial accounts are produced separately. For further information, the annual report and full financial report can be obtained at donateblood.com.au.