Financial challenges

Running a small charity is probably the most challenging thing we have ever done ... and we certainly didn't ever plan to do it, it just happened! Over the past almost 13 years we have experienced many hard times but somehow we have always managed to keep going. While our income as a charity has increased significantly over the years, our expenditure has also increased, leaving us constantly struggling to balance the books.

Our current annual budget for the charity is approximately 20,000 euros per year - what does this cover?

• running costs for the Secret Garden Day Centre, where anything from 20 to 70 people come in a day to have showers, wash clothes, eat and participate in activities. 
• one full time paid staff member
• expenses for the 'Team House' in Sanleani where we accommodate all our short term volunteers and visitors to the charity.
• maintenance and repair for both properties, including building insurance
• transport costs eg home visits, delivery of aid to communities etc

Finances are so tight at present that we are having to consider cutting back on our services - this may include restricting people to a maximum of two showers a week, offering only one cup of tea or coffee per day and various other measures.

We believe that as a charity we offer 'value for money' to our supporters, we try to be good stewards of resources and to be economical in all that we do while attempting to also offer a quality service to all our 'clients'.