Shortly after the last CMF News went to press, it became clear that the financial challenges we faced in 2020 were even more significant than previously anticipated. Maintaining the ministry capacity built up over recent years was dependent on achieving significantly increased sustainable income. While we have made definite progress, thanks to our members, by the end of 2019, our remaining financial reserves were significantly depleted. We needed to make difficult decisions about what we could afford in 2020 and cut our previously planned expenditure by 13 per cent.
A very significant part of our regular expenditure is staff salaries. We made the hard choice to say a sad goodbye to two valued staff members in February. Philip Martin and Oluwatosin Oyeniyi worked hard in our communications team, producing video and printed materials respectively (see staff movements section). We also had to reduce the sessions of some of our senior staff and implement a wage freeze on almost all other staff. Furthermore, we have had to cancel the Sydenham 2 pre-conference for international junior doctors in October and omit the summer round of printed publications (hopefully in both cases, just for this year).
Thankfully, because of those difficult decisions, we appear to be on target. We were delighted that the 2019 Christmas Appeal hit its goal of £80,000. The generosity of our members has been an enormous encouragement. We have made steady progress catching up on accounting, and the first draft numbers for the 2019 financial year were released in early March. These show a modest surplus of just over £27,000, after a deficit of almost £58,000 in 2018. Work continues to refine the figures before they are presented to the General Committee in June. This has also been a massive encouragement, giving us the financial buffer that we need.
CMF's ministries rely almost entirely on donations and subscriptions from our members. While many challenges remain, especially during the current pandemic, God has been faithful through you our members. We thank each one of you who gave generously to the Fellowship in 2019
Graham Sopp, Operations Director
A very significant part of our regular expenditure is staff salaries. We made the hard choice to say a sad goodbye to two valued staff members in February. Philip Martin and Oluwatosin Oyeniyi worked hard in our communications team, producing video and printed materials respectively (see staff movements section). We also had to reduce the sessions of some of our senior staff and implement a wage freeze on almost all other staff. Furthermore, we have had to cancel the Sydenham 2 pre-conference for international junior doctors in October and omit the summer round of printed publications (hopefully in both cases, just for this year).
Thankfully, because of those difficult decisions, we appear to be on target. We were delighted that the 2019 Christmas Appeal hit its goal of £80,000. The generosity of our members has been an enormous encouragement. We have made steady progress catching up on accounting, and the first draft numbers for the 2019 financial year were released in early March. These show a modest surplus of just over £27,000, after a deficit of almost £58,000 in 2018. Work continues to refine the figures before they are presented to the General Committee in June. This has also been a massive encouragement, giving us the financial buffer that we need.
CMF's ministries rely almost entirely on donations and subscriptions from our members. While many challenges remain, especially during the current pandemic, God has been faithful through you our members. We thank each one of you who gave generously to the Fellowship in 2019
Graham Sopp, Operations Director
