Charity Finance Group restores financial reserves to agreed target

The Charity Finance Group has restored its reserves to within target levels after a restructure and office move had reduced it to about a third of the minimum amount it had set for itself. The CFG's report and accounts for the year to the end of March 2015 show it made a surplus of £245,433, compared with a loss of £160,575 in the previous year. The accounts show the membership body's income increased by 7 per cent during the year to £1.8m and expenditure fell by 16 per cent to £1.6m. They also show that the CFG increased its free reserves to £184,271 in 2014/15 - which, the report notes, is at the lower end of its target range of between £180,000 and £225,000. The fall in spending happened because there was no repetition of some costs incurred in 2013/14 by the CFG's change programme, and because of improved efficiency and better procurement. Earlier this year, Uday Thakkar, managing director of the social change consultancy Red Ochre, resigned after three years as a trustee of the CFG, citing "management and governance shortcomings" and "defensive and negative responses" to any challenge made to the organisation's strategy.