Reports and finances

Donkeys in fields

Achievements and performance

As with most charities and businesses 2020 has been a difficult year due to Covid-19. As our sanctuary business was essential to tend to the animals in our care we had to remain open throughout. This meant changes in staff and work rotas to ensure the safety of our people and adequate animal care. Many of our non-essential projects were put on hold including a number of important capital developments intended to improve our donkey care facilities.

The charity's income is generated through various campaigns, appeals, events, visitor engagements and legacies as well as grant funding. The temporary closure of the visitor facilities to our sanctuary at Knockardbane since March 2020 has meant that a number of our onsite areas of income generation were severely impacted. Over 65,000 visitors spent time at the open sanctuary in 2019 allowing supporters to see first-hand how their donations are helping donkeys in the charity's care and offering the opportunity to sing up for our newsletters or adopt a donkey to support our work.

As with previous years demand for our support for donkeys in the community is increasing and as well as caring for 1,966 donkeys directly in our care (2019 - 1,892) we attended to the welfare of 1,500 others (2019 - 1,202). Following this policy has proved very beneficial as it affords the charity to reach and care for the wellbeing of more donkeys in need.

Due to the pandemic we had to refocus our fundraising activities as many of our traditional income generating activities were not viable. By directing our efforts towards online and social media opportunities donation income at €775k was just 2.5% below the previous year. Our legacy income proved quite resilient with income of €456k which was a 5% increase on the previous year. During such a difficult year we are extremely thankful to all our supporters for their continued generous support.

The support we receive from The Donkey Sanctuary UK continues to be essential to bridge our funding requirements to meet our welfare needs. As a result of the pandemic support in the year of €2m was 36% below the 2019 level resulting in an overall 26% fall in income excluding State subsidies.

Our operation expenditure at €4.2m (2019 - €4.7m) was 9% down on the previous year and 11% down when excluding payroll costs. This reduction in spend was principally due to Covid-19 impacts with the main areas of underspend being in fundraising costs, estate management, vehicle and travel costs and staff costs. The charity did invest 142k in capital expenditure during the year but a number of projects were put on hold due to the pandemic.

Due to the ongoing uncertainties with the pandemic we are forecasting external income levels to increase by just 3% in 2021 assisted by some new fundraising activities and the continued support of our loyal supporter base.

Full reports

Full reports are available to download below.