From Seeds June – July 2024
A summary of AUC’s 2023 finances from the Centre, Property & Finance Church Life Ministry Team
The traffic lights are back, swing-o-meter style! Below is a consolidated comparison between 2023 and 2022.* The 2023 results are largely influenced by two factors: cost of living challenges and a return to pre-Covid level usage of the building, which is welcome but increases costs.
Booking and rental income
Booking and rental gross income was up by £17k (13.75%).
Offering income
This was about £6k (10%) down. We are very grateful for everyone’s contributions, whether financial or otherwise, and recognise these are challenging times.
Gift Aid (including the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme)
This was down by about £3k (19%), but this is misleading and mainly due to a very generous donation in 2022, without which the underlying position was broadly comparable.
Building repair costs
Costs were down by about £5k (15%). Augustine being an old building routinely provides maintenance challenges as was particularly the case in 2022.
Utility costs (electricity, gas, water and phone/BB)
Costs went up by about £1k (5%) (reflecting the improved usage of the building). We have been shielded from the worst of inflationary energy charges through a fixed term contract which is nearing an end. We are actively looking for (a) a competitively priced green energy replacement contract, and (b) ways to improve the energy efficiency of the building, and associated grants.
Building running costs
These are proving particularly challenging and went up by circa 16K (over 16%).
NOTES
- Swing: each segment of the chart represents a 10% change for better (green) or worse (amber/red).
- *Indexation: To provide a like-for-like comparison, the 2022 figures have been adjusted by CPI.
- Gift Aid declaration forms are available on the website: www.augustine.org.uk/gift-aid-declaration