The overall net surplus of $20.6 million for the year was a result of a $24.6 million surplus from the Blood Service offset by a $4 million deficit delivered by Humanitarian Services. Total revenues, including Blood Service of $894 million are down 7% on last year, and expenditure of $873.4 million is 10% lower than last year. Decline in revenue and expenditure over the last five years is largely a function of the scaling back of migration support programs.

• Community support for everyday work has increased 53% in the five years since 2012, despite levelling off in the last year. This growth has been largely driven through the substantial increase in regular giving donations, growing 190% on 2012 levels to over $42 million. Community support for everyday work is further supplemented by contribution from our retail network, which has grown revenues 13% in the last two years to over $23 million. Disaster appeals attracted a lower level of community donations than in recent years, a direct result of the number and severity of disasters occurring.


• Expenditure associated with fundraising for our services and the delivery of emergency appeals amounts to 8% of Humanitarian Services expenditure. The cost of fundraising ratio, reflecting the investment required to produce reliable and sustainable ongoing income streams, was 26% continuing the downward trend of previous years and when income from disaster appeals is excluded, it was 28%.


• Income and expenditure for Humanitarian services again contracted this year as a result of reduced government funding in support of our migration support programs. As a result, community support for Red Cross everyday work now contributes 38% ($86.8 million) of the $230 million received from government and community, a significant shift from 21% ($56 million) five years ago.


• Administration costs accounted for 11% of total expenditure and include costs critical to the running of the Society such as information technology, finance, human resources, occupancy expenses and program administration. In years prior to 2014, some of these costs were allocated within the specific program areas they supported.


• Through the Blood Service we supplied 601.2 tonnes of plasma to CSL Limited in 2015/2016 which represents more than a 20% increase from 2011/2012. The Blood Service has, through productivity measures, been able to significantly reduce the unit cost of producing plasma for fractionation.