Development Ratings

Executive Officer, Simon Wakely, spent 20 years in the diamond business before joining the Duke of Edinburgh Awards organisation to set up donor support groups abroad. He helped establish another small charity before joining POCT in late 2006. Simon has moved from part-time Trust direction to nearly full-time recently. The founder, Sir Richard Butler, an Irish philanthropist and ex-financier, is the driving force behind fundraising. Trustees include a financier and an investment banker. The Trust’s patron is the Dalai Lama. It is planned that Simon may retire in 2010/11. At that point, a new director will be hired to take over many of the functions of the founder and the Executive Officer, and coordinate the three country trusts’ development and fundraising.

Income growth has been variable, partly a characteristic of smaller charities but also particular to POCT as it has historically been a largely trustee-supported organisation. An example of this was the exceptional £1m trustee donation in 2005 to establish capital reserves. This substantial donation may also have had the effect of suppressing 2006 income. Project expenses have varied, dependant somewhat on whether higher cost capital projects are undertaken in any one year, such as £230,000 for the Asian Village in 2005. Capital costs might include the purchase of land or the building of hostels or skills centres. The Trust does not have a high profile and does not spend significantly on fundraising as yet. 2008 forecast income is difficult to predict. The trustees personally bear 100% of the running costs of the organisation while it is still small. As a result, other donations can go directly towards supporting talented scholars. Consequently, the administrative expenses ratio given below for POCT is not comparable with other charities, but this is not at all a cause for concern.

The Trust is tightly run and the ratios have been very attractive. The project expenses to income ratio varies depending on the cyclical variations in income growth, itself partly dependent on specific capital demands. The high restricted income in 2005 is directly related to the income specified to increase capital reserves.

Each scholarship covers school fees, travel to and from the scholars’ homes, accommodation, food, clothing, medical costs and all other living expenses. The accommodation cost includes the staff salaries for running the hostels, where there are also volunteer ‘mothers’ to care for the children.

The breakdown of the scholars by place of origin currently is as follows: Nepal 34%, Malawi 26%, Thailand 14%, India 11%, Zambia 8% and Tibet 7%.

Expenditure in 2007 by project type was as follows: school fees 63%, capital projects 37%, much the same as in 2006. In 2005, the figures were reversed with 67% of costs related to capital expenditure.

In 2007, 25% of income was raised by the Pestalozzi US Children’s Charity Inc., 5% was from investment income on the reserves, and 70% from the trustees and individuals.