Alcohol Concern: Still a fake charity

The new year brings with it the plaintive sound of the begging bowl being rattled once again by fake-charity Alcohol Concern in the form of Dry January.

Personally I have no plans to ever stop drinking for an entire month if I can avoid it so will instead be an enthusiastic participant of Drinkuary. No doubt the beer and wine I picked up from Waitrose on Monday will come in handy!

Given that the temperance lobby are going to be all over sections of the media like a cheap suit, it would seem like a good time to take a look at the 2013 accounts for Alcohol Concern – conveniently filed with the Charity Commission barely three weeks ago.

Alcohol Concern’s total income for the year ending 31st March 2013 was £1,028,828. This breaks down into £765,890 in voluntary income (grants, donations etc), £260,449 from operating activities (consultancy, training etc) and £489 in interest.¹

The voluntary income is, as always, the interesting bit. In the 2012/13 financial year Alcohol Concern received grants from the following:²

Name (£) Amount
Welsh Assembly Government 225,626
Department for Education (DfE) 222,298
Comic Relief 106,398
Tudor Trust 50,000
Esmee Fairburn 40,000
Trust for London 29,976

That’s a total of £674,298 from third-party organisations (2 governmental, 4 charitable) and only £91,592 in ‘Donations & Sundry Receipts’. In percentage terms:

Grouping Amount (£) % of Voluntary Income % of All Income
Totals: 765,890 100 74.44
Governmental 447,924 58.48 43.54
Other Charities* 226,374 29.56 22.00
Donations 91,592 11.96 8.90

43.54% of all of Alcohol Concern’s income is provided to them by thee and I via the taxes the government levies on us for having the temerity to earn a living and consume things. Less than 9% of their income comes via ‘Donations & Sundry Receipts’ – for which no further breakdown is provided so it may hide a multitude of sins.

Alcohol Concern still fit the Devil’s definition of a fake-charity, me thinks.

¹ Page 15
² Page 18
* Investigation of the finances of these charities to determine how much of their income is via the taxpayer is required.

8 Comments

  1. DICK R says:

    ALCOHOL CONCERN more self appointed busybodies just tell ’em to get stuffed!

  2. Alex says:

    Thanks, useful to know the next time anybody in the government says that they are
    a) short of money, so need to cut services, and
    b) not in favour of Big Government.
    Obviously both claims are a lie.

  3. bunny says:

    I have reduced my drinking, that is my choice, I don’t need some self appointed cretin to tell me to do that. The Welsh Assembly and the D of E can save themselves 450k a year by not giving these idiots any money.

    • Misanthrope Girl says:

      If you still drink then you haven’t reduced your intake enough for these shrills.

  4. JuliaM says:

    Comic Relief gives them money?!?

    • Misanthrope Girl says:

      If we’re lucky it’s the profits from investing in the likes of Diageo. I imagine their heads would explode if that were the case. 🙂

  5. Alan_t says:

    Dry January? Dry Gin, Dry White Wine, Dry Cider, “A Painfully Dry Martini” (copyright Hawkeye Pearce) ?

  6. Gildas says:

    Spot on! Slainte!