Share slump rings alarm bells at Norwood
Norwood this week took the bold step of admitting that the collapse of the UK stock market ‘set alarm bells ringing at Norwood’ and that Anglo-Jewry’s leading children & family services care organisation foresees ‘things getting worse before they get better’. The comments come from Norwood Treasurer, Russell Tenzer and follow the publication in a leading national Sunday newspaper of an article, which reported that Britain’s charities are facing a funding crisis after suffering huge losses because of the big falls in the stock market.
Just one month after making public an £800,000 shortfall in local authority funding, and two weeks after launching a hard-hitting legacy campaign with its theme ‘If you die without leaving us a legacy, so could we’ it came as no surprise to Norwood to read the article published in The Sunday Times (Feb, 2nd 2002), which reported that ‘nearly every big charity in the UK was having to cut its programme of donations or work because of market declines’.
“Over the past six months it became all too obvious that the volatility in the UK stock market was having a significant impact on levels of voluntary income secured by the charity” explained Norwood Treasurer, Russell Tenzer. “The organisation is being hit on three fronts. It is feeling the effects of a reduction in the levels of voluntary income received from individual major donors and businesses, many of whom have been affected by the massive losses in their share portfolios and it is being hit by Gordon Brown’s tax changes that reduced the credit received on dividend income. But perhaps most significantly of all, between October 2000 to date, nearly 50% has been wiped off the value of Norwood’s own share portfolio.”
The impact of the stock market crash intensifies if one takes into account the number of donors who make bequests to Norwood which include share portfolios. The market crash has reduced the value of these bequests, leaving Norwood in the same position as a number of high profile national charities – with their legacy income falling away just as the market is falling away.
In a final comment Tenzer says “I urge the Chancellor of the Exchequer to do something quickly to ease the growing financial burden on charities. It seems that whichever way charities turn at the moment, they are being adversely affected. Despite the continuing uncertainty, Norwood’s prudent spending policy proves that the organisation is as determined as ever to ensure that it continues on a safe financial footing. In these volatile times, Norwood is more committed than ever to pursuing its goal of safeguarding the future for our community’s most vulnerable children and families. However, to succeed in our goal we are going to need the community’s continued financial support.”
For more information contact...
Ronit Shebson
Public Relations Manager at Norwood
tel : 020 8420 6900
email : ronit.shebson@norwood.org.uk
