Consultation: | FYEG General Assembly 2022 |
---|---|
Agenda item: | 2. Plans |
Proposer: | FYEG |
Status: | Published |
Submitted: | 05/11/2022, 13:21 |
P3: Financial Plan 2022-2023
Plan text
FYEG - Financial Plan 2022 - 2023
Note: This is the written financial plan for the budgets of 2022 and 2023. They
run from:
January 2022 - December 2022
January 2023 - December 2023
Summary
FYEG’s Executive Committee and Secretariat planned the activities for 2022 after
a lot of thoughtful and strategic consideration but also under very uncertain
and stressful financial circumstances.
One of FYEG’s biggest administrative grants is the Erasmus+ grant of the
European Commission. As explained in detail in various other reports presented,
because of the political decisions of the European Commission, the fundings the
youth organisations receive are more precarious and unstable than ever. Thanks
to the hard work and the expertise of the FYEG Secretariat, FYEG was able to
receive an increased administrative grant from the European Commission for the
year of 2022. However, among 130 organisations that applied, only 30 received
this grant. Only 8 out of 20 members of the European Youth Forum have received
the grant. First, FYEG has no guarantee of receiving the grant for 2023 as the
grant format will change again and the assessments can vary a lot from a year to
the next. Moreover, because of the high number of European youth organisations
that did not receive the grant, the Commission is considering decreasing the
annual grants starting from next year.
FYEG’s 2022 budget plan shows the growth and strength of the organisation. With
its increased revenues for 2022, FYEG will have more capacities and organise
more activities, especially this fall. However, because of the reasons explained
above and inflation rates, FYEG’s financial stability is far from solid and the
same challenges will also affect 2023 planning. This means FYEG Secretariat and
Executive Committee will have to focus a lot of their capacities on fundraising
in 2022, in order to provide more stability and sustainable incomes to the
organisation.
FYEG’s financial plans for 2022 and 2023 are presented below. In order to
increase the accessibility of the information the 2022 budget plan is first
presented through a simplified version with a few important comments and then
through a detailed version with both a narrative breakdown and the full budget
plan in Annex. This financial plan also includes a section on gender budgeting
and the new participation fee system. The 2023 budget plan annotated is
presented in Annex.
2022 Budget plan
Simplified version
Below you will find a simplified version of FYEG 2022 budget plan annotated to
briefly explain the difference between the provisional budget voted by the
General Assembly in 2021 and the updated budget.
Explanation of the difference between the budget voted and the budget report:
FYEG increased salaries and working hours in the administrative unit
Administrative expenditures will be higher because FYEG plans to open an
additional bank account and budget slightly more for extraordinary costs
to allow more flexibility
Expenses will increase towards training, support for CDN and
representation at partners meetings, in line with the Activity Plan
Expenses will increase as FYEG will organise more ad hoc activities (see
details below)
Allocation to the payroll safety fund will increase to reflect the raise
in salary and the Erasmus+ operational grant situation
Revenues from this category will increase due to the carry over from joint
activities with EGP and the raise in the Erasmus+ operating grant
Revenues from this category are lower as they are not needed to organise
FYEG’s activities this year, given the increase in other funding sources
Detailed version
Annexed to this plan you will find a table with the detailed budget plan for
2022. The difference between the budget voted at the GA 2021 and the updated
budget plan is briefly explained in the ‘Comment’ column, only when it diverges
by more than 10%. Below is the detailed narrative version.
Expenditures - Category 1: Personnel costs
This budget category includes all the personnel costs for FYEG: salaries,
benefits, social security and other employment tax contributions, payroll
service fee, worker’s insurance, etc.
The total personnel costs for 2022 will see a raise compared to 2021. Thanks to
the increase in the Erasmus+ operational grant FYEG will be able to: (1) raise
the salaries of all employees to be closer to the wages in the non-profit sector
in Belgium (the raise in gross monthly revenue will be between 11 and 23%); (2)
raise the working hours for it’s Administrative Assistant to 65% (from 50%); and
temporarily raise the working hours for it’s Office Manager to 80% (from 70%)
until the end of the year. The raise in working hours will allow the FYEG
Secretariat to better manage the workload and tasks for the year, especially
toward fundraising and organisational growth.
Please note that under Belgian regulation, salaries are automatically indexed to
follow inflation. The salary raise and the total personnel costs for 2022 were
calculated to take this into account, with an estimated 8% indexation compared
to January 2022 as basis, in line with the current inflation rate in Belgium and
official projections. These calculations and the proposed budget for 2022 might
however need to be adapted following the evolution of the inflation rate.
Expenditures - Category 2: Infrastructure and operating costs
This budget category includes all office-related expenses: rent, office meetings
and retreats, staff training, softwares and equipment, office supplies, postal
charges and utilities, etc.
The total infrastructure and operating costs for 2022 will marginally increase,
mainly because of an increase in the IT budget to cover the costs of new digital
tools such as an accounting software, a password manager and a CRM tool. The
addition of these new tools will help streamline and improve the work of the
Secretariat, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the workload. In
addition and following the recommendation of the FCAC, the Staff Training budget
line will no longer include the consultancy budget (moved to the Ad-hoc project
budget line) and will only be dedicated to training. Through this budget line,
the Secretariat will get training on the new accounting software and will get
the opportunity to receive training to improve specific competences related to
their job position.
Expenditures - Category 3: Administrative expenditure
This budget category includes all FYEG’s general administrative expenses:
extraordinary administrative costs (such as work-permit costs, costs related to
the internships, etc.), external accountant, official registration of newly
elected Executive Committee members, bank account fees and insurances.
The total administrative expenditures for 2022 are expected to be relatively
stable compared to 2021. FYEG plans to open a second bank account to get better
services and have a safety net, given the shrinking financial services offered
to small nonprofits in Belgium. A bit more budget was also allocated to
extraordinary costs to allow more flexibility.
Expenditures - Category 4: Meeting and representation costs
This budget category includes all expenses related to the meetings of FYEG’s
network and bodies, as well as representation in partners meetings: Executive
Committee meetings and allowances, the General Assembly, Member Organisations
training, Young Greens Forum, FCAC meeting, membership fee to EYF, contribution
to CDN, visits to Member Organisations and representation to meeting of the
European Green Party, the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament and other
partners.
The total meeting and representation costs for 2022 will be higher than
previously planned for three main reasons: (1) the implementation of the new
Young Greens Decentralised Training (see Activity Plan for details); (2) the
increase of FYEG’s contribution to CDN for 2022, permitted by the increase in
membership fee and other administrative revenues; (3) the implementation of
bigger youth events during the European Green Party’s Councils held this year in
Riga and Copenhagen. These changes are respectively in line with FYEG’s new
strategic objectives and focuses towards capacity building, strengthening its
network and membership coordination and bringing forward the youth perspective.
Expenditures - Category 5: Direct Costs: projects and campaigns
This budget category includes all expenses related to projects and campaigns:
the Annual EYF work plan, the Spring Conference organised together with the
General Assembly, the activities organised around COP, Study Session organised
with the Council of Europe’s Youth Department, Campaigns, Ad Hoc projects and
working group projects.
The total direct costs for projects and campaigns in 2022 will be higher than
originally planned because of the higher costs of ad hoc projects in this year’s
budget.
Expenses for seminars and conferences will be overall lower than expected,
mainly because COP will happen outside of Europe in 2022 and FYEG will only send
a delegation and not organise an AlterCOP event.
Ad hoc expenses will be very high this year as a lot of activities specific to
2022 will take place: (1) Consultancy for the renewal of FYEG Strategy; (2)
through the Erasmus+ operational grant FYEG will organise activities for the
European Year of Youth, including a big event in the fall; (3) FYEG will update
its website; (4) FYEG will organise small ad hoc projects with GEF and EGP.
In addition, following the Activity Plan, Working Group projects for 2022 have
been integrated as part of educational activities and this is also reflected in
the budget plan.
Expenditures - Category 6: Allocations to the next year and reserves
This budget category includes allocations and reserves for next years. As of
2022 FYEG only has two strategic reserves: a campaign fund for the 2024 EU
elections and a payroll safety fund as a safety net for salaries in case of a
decrease in administrative grants.
The allocations and reserves for 2022 are much higher than the budget plan
adopted at the 2021 GA. Indeed, FYEG will continue to allocate an additional 5
000 EUR yearly to its Campaign Fund, on track to collect the 20 000 EUR planned
for 2024. But FYEG will also increase its payroll safety fund to reflect the
raise in salary and the continued uncertainties related to the transformation of
the Erasmus+ operational grant.
Revenues - Category 1: Administrative Income
This budget category includes all of FYEG’s administrative grants and revenues
as well as the funds available for joint activities with EGP. The total of this
category for 2022 is significantly higher than previously planned, mainly
because of the increase of the Erasmus+ operational grant.
The application process for the 2022 Erasmus+ operational grant has drastically
changed last year and has been one of the Secretariat’s biggest challenges ever
since. For 2022, the grant amount has more than doubled but the application
process now covers only 1 year instead of 4, the work needed to apply also more
than doubled with shorter deadlines and longer waiting periods for the results
which were announced only at the end of April 2022. In addition it looks like
the application process will again change completely for 2023. This puts FYEG
and other European youth organisations in a very complicated and uncertain
position. Nevertheless, for 2022 this will allow a significant increase in
FYEG’s capacities through raises in salaries, working hours, infrastructure and
operating expenses, as well as additional autonomy in funding activities.
In addition, FYEG was able to carry over the funds available for joint
activities with EGP that were not used in 2021, this explains the difference
with the budget plan voted by the GA in 2021. FYEG also expects an increase in
the membership fee collected for 2022, following the trends from the past few
years.
Finally, in order to improve transparency and compliance with accounting
requirements, FYEG will delete budget line 7.3.5 (Allocations from previous
years) from the revenue section of its budget. In the past, this budget line was
used to indicate the amount of savings used to balance budget plans and be able
to present a budget plan with a zero balance (profit or loss). FYEG will from
now on present its budget plan with a negative or positive balance when
applicable, the result of the year's balance will then be reflected in the
allocation and reserve section at the end of the budget, under section 6.4.
Revenues - Category 2: Projects & Campaigns income
This budget category includes all of FYEG’s projects grants and revenues as well
as the funds available for cooperation with the Greens/EFA Group in the European
Parliament. The total of this category for 2022 is lower than previously
planned, mainly because the increase in the budget available for joint
activities with EGP means FYEG can reduce the number of funding sources needed
to organise its activities, thereby also reducing the workload needed to
organise said activities. FYEG will nevertheless continue its cooperation with
the Greens/EFA Group and GEF, especially in organising its annual EYF work plan
on Mental Health.
Gender budgeting
As a feminist organisation, FYEG believes it is important to realise its budget
from a Gender perspective. Through its quota systems and attention to balanced
representation within all its bodies FYEG already has the essentials in place
for gender budgeting. For 2022 FYEG will also continue to plan its activities
and work through the gender budgeting lense by implementing the following
measures:
Ensure the basis elements of a safe space when budgeting and planning for
activities;
Improve the working conditions and workload for all its employees;
Improve the conditions and workloads for its volunteers, especially
amongst volunteers in elected positions;
Review the use of the gender budgeting and reporting framework to better
fit the needs and vision of FYEG and its member organisations.
Participation fee system
In order to increase the transparency and fairness of its participation fees,
FYEG will experiment with a new participation fee format for its educational
activities in 2022.
In previous years, the participation fee system for educational activities was
twofold. On one hand, FYEG collected payment of a fee and participants residing
in EU/EEA countries paid a bit more than those residing in non-EU/EEA countries.
On the other hand, FYEG collected a percentage of travel costs through lower
reimbursement rates and residents from EU/EEA countries got reimbursed 70% of
their travel expenses while non-EU/EEA residents were reimbursed 90%. This
system was very complicated to implement, it often resulted in misunderstandings
with participants who could not easily estimate their participation fee in
advance and made budgeting difficult for FYEG. It was also sometimes unfair as
the percentage collected on travel expenses put more burden on participants
travelling from further away, independently of their socio-economic
circumstances.
To solve these issues FYEG will implement a new system in 2022. It will no
longer be based on travel expenses and will just have one single component, the
payment of a fee. The new participation fee will have 3 category to reflect the
socio-economic diversity within Europe:
Category 1: for Northern and Western European countries resident;
Category 2: for Central and Southern European countries resident;
Category 3: for Eastern European countries resident.
For each category participants will be able to select between a basic fee and a
solidarity fee. The basic fee will be calculated as the minimum needed for the
funding of the activity and the solidarity fee will allow FYEG to offer a fee’s
reduction for participants who can not afford to pay.
On average this new system will not change the amount participants contribute to
the activity but it will be more transparent from the start and outlined in the
call for participants. This will increase the fairness of participants'
contributions and create a solidarity mechanism between participants and member
organisations. The new system will be evaluated when closing the financial year
and adapted for 2023 accordingly.
2023 Budget Plan
In Annex to this plan you will find a table with the detailed budget plan for
2023. Given the uncertainty linked to FYEG’s administrative funding for 2023,
this provisional budget plan is based on a scenario. In this pessimistic
scenario, FYEG is only able to secure the Erasmus+ operational grant for 2023
and the amount of the grant is reduced by the Commission. If this scenario comes
true and as shown in the budget plan, FYEG will still be able to function by
limiting its expenses and carefully using around 25 000 EUR of its savings to
mitigate the loss in administrative funding. The Executive Committee and
Secretariat will be working on securing additional funding for 2023 and will
hopefully be able to present an improved budget plan at the next General
Assembly.
Explanation
Tables and annexe mentioned can be found here: https://fyeg.org/sites/fyeg.org/files/plan_Financial_GA22.pdf