Transparency at The Wheel: Governance & Finances
We believe that charities should emphasise their impact and trust-worthiness through transparency to the public.
In The Wheel, we are committed to maximising transparency and demonstrating clear accountability in how we do our work.
As a result, we have adopted in full a range of ‘good practice’ standards: During 2020 we worked to adopt the Charities Regulator's new Charities Governance Code (and had previously been a founding member and early adopter of the now retired Governance Code for Community, Voluntary & Charitable Organisations); the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) for our annual reporting and all of the guidelines and recommendations for charities published by the Charities Regulator.
This website is one of our primary channels for delivering transparency in how we do our work and we encourage anyone with ideas on how we can do better to contact our colleague Tony Ward at tony@wheel.ie.
In order to make information about important things like finances and salaries as easy as possible to find, we provide the most pertinent points from the Director’s Report and the Audited Accounts from 2019 below.
In 2019, Rotha (trading as The Wheel) had an income of €1,866,719, an increase of just over 10% on the 2018 income of €1,692,753. Our expenditure was €1,850,070, just over 11% higher than 2018 expenditure of €1,665,276.
Income
Financial performance and income diversification
In 2019 both statutory and income from other public sources (EU) performed strongly, as did earned income from membership, training delivery, and other projects.
The main difference between income for 2019 of €1.866m and income in 2018 of €1.692m is the increased funding through the National Training Fund — an increase from €375,000 in 2018 to €600,000 in 2019. Membership and other earned income continued to perform strongly in 2019.
Incoming Resources:
Restricted income:
- Community and Voluntary Pillar Funding: €73,476
- Scheme to Support National Organisations: €89,540
- Advocacy for Philanthropy: €21,437
- National Training Fund: €600,000
- National Rural Network: €129,250
- Spark Change: €114,000
- European Schools Ambassador Programme: €26,258
- Europe for Citizens: €50,000
- Other European Union: €58,699
- Charity Impact Awards Grant from DRCD: €5,000
- Charity Impact Awards sponsors: €32,614
- Commissioned income: €43,870
Total: €1,244,144
Unrestricted income:
- Training & Events: €123,351
- Commissioned income: €38,074
- Leadership training: €17,270
- Tailored training: €28,363
- Membership: €260,473
- Other trading activity: €133,308
Total: €467,531
Total income for 2019: €1,866,719
Please see Note 4 on Page 40 of Audited Accounts 2019 for detailed breakdown of income.
Expenditure
The major elements of expenditure in 2019, as with previous years, were staffing costs related to:
- Member services, training, information provision, research, and advocacy for the sector; and
- The implementation of the National Training Fund co-funded Sector Skills programme of specific training and supports.
Please see Note 5 on Page 41 of Audited Accounts 2019 for detailed breakdown of expenditure.
Total expenditure for 2019: €1,850,070
The full results for the year are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities.
Salaries
The average number of persons employed by The Wheel in 2019 was 19.
5 senior employees earned remuneration (salaries and any benefits in kind, excluding employers pension costs) in excess of €60,000 as follows:
- €60,000 - €70,000: 2 members of staff
- €70,001 - €80,000: 2 members of staff
- €80,001 - €90,000: n/a
- €90,001 - €100,000: 1 member of staff.
Senior management comprised of the CEO, Director of Public Policy, Director of Programmes, Director of Business Development and Director of Finance.
The Chief Executive Officer was the highest earning employee and the remuneration package was comprised as follows:
- Gross salary: €91,115
- Benefit in kind (income protection plan): €1,164
- Employers pension contribution: €5,476
Total package: €97,755
Directors Remuneration
The directors gave their services free of charge and are not compensated for their work. The Wheel operates a policy of reimbursing directors and sub-group members for out of pocket expenses and is grateful to a number of member organisations who actually cover directors and sub-group members out of pocket expenses (detailed in our full accounts).
Please see Note 7 on Pages 42 & 43 of Audited Accounts 2019 for more information on salaries and remuneration.
The Wheel has a staff team based in an office in Dublin, and headed by a Chief Executive Officer who reports directly to the board through the Chairperson. A senior management team of four reports to the Chief Executive and all other staff report to members of the senior management team.
Decision-making?
Decisions reserved for only the board of directors to make include:
- The Company’s strategic plans and annual operating budgets;
- Projects outside the scope of the strategic plan;
- Business acquisitions and disposals;
- Decisions on Litigation;
- Appointment/Removal of Subgroup Chairs and Members;
- Appointment/Removal of Chief Executive Officer;
- Appointment/Removal of Auditors;
- Approval of Borrowing/Finance Facilities;
- Approval of Contracts with term exceeding one year or financial liability on The Wheel exceeding €60,000;
- Annual Review of Risk and Internal Control;
- Approval of new staff positions at director level;
- Approval of changes to membership categories or rates.
Further Documentation
- The Wheel's Constitution
- Terms of Membership
- The Wheel's Election Rules
- The Wheel's HR Strategy
- The Wheel's Remuneration Policy.
Feedback to the Board
The Wheel is eager to strengthen and develop channels of accountability between our members and the Board. To that end, we have a special Membership-Board Accountability Process, which includes the following:
The board, through the CEO and Director of Public Policy, will regularly report to members about progress being made in implementing The Wheel’s “Stronger Charities, Stronger Communities” strategy.
Members will are invited to provide their feedback directly to the Board (via a dedicated email address: boardofdirectors@wheel.ie and at our member forums across the country). Feedback and comments received by the board will be recorded and reviewed annually by the board.
The Importance of Collaboration
The Wheel's strategy, Stronger Charities, Stronger Communities (2017 - 2020), demonstrates how much we value collaborative working in the Irish community and voluntary, charity and social enterprise sector.
We value collaborative working as a way of increasing the value and impact of our work and strengthening our sector.
Collaboration in Action
In 2018 we collaborated with a wide range of partners to influence policy and deliver programmes and services. Key amongst these were our wide range of national and EU-funded programmes, and our various engagements with the Charities Regulator.
In addition to the snapshot above, you can download a list of our collaborations below.
Privacy Policy
The Wheel initiated and completed a comprehensive review of our communications channels in 2017, for the purpose of ensuring our adherence to the forthcoming GDPR legislation, as well as to assist our members in preparing for the same.
The Wheel is involved in a significant amount of communication with various stakeholders from across the Irish community and voluntary sector, as well as the wider society. The purpose of our privacy policy in that regard is to be as open and transparent as we possibly can be about the types of information we collect and what we do with it. Our privacy policy has been revised and updated in accordance with GDPR requirements.
Complaints Policy
The Wheel has a vigorous complaints policy, put in place for the purpose of upholding the standards and quality of the interaction of all representatives of The Wheel with our members, the general public and other stakeholders.
We have designed our complaints policy to be as straightforward and efficient as possible, to ensure that any individual or organisation who may see fit to lodge a formal complaint that The Wheel takes their feedback and input seriously and in the spirit of full openness.
The Wheel's Annual Accounts