Cathedral in plea for extra donations
LLANDAFF Cathedral is in financial difficulty and has called on worshippers to increase the amount of money they donate to it.
A statement on the cathedral’s website shows that in 2019 its outgoings were £62,000 more than its income, adding: “[Our] running costs have increased by 14% since 2016 and our income dropped by 6% in the same period, so our financial position was deteriorating even pre-Covid
“2020 was a difficult year, notwithstanding a number of one-off contributions to assist with the impact of Covid and the ongoing support from a number of bodies including the Friends of Llandaff Cathedral, the All Churches Trust and the Diocese of Llandaff.
“2021 is proving to be similarly challenging, and some of the support that we have received is coming to an end – for example the furlough scheme closed on September 30.
“Since 2018, monthly giving levels have dropped by around 11%.”
The statement goes on to ask worshippers to increase their contribution, stating: “We are grateful to every individual and organisation that makes a contribution, either financial or nonfinancial to the cathedral and its ministry but, if we are to maintain financial balance, we need to ask for your further support – if we cannot increase our income then we will be faced with some difficult choices to maintain financial balance as we cannot sustain deficits.”
In 2012, when the cathedral’s financial position was so dire that the then Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, made a personal plea to worshippers to increase their donations, a report by two academics from Cardiff Metropolitan University said it was facing bankruptcy and recommended that a development director should be appointed.
Nine years later a chief executive has been appointed and a development director is in the process of being recruited.
We asked the cathedral for a statement on how serious its current financial difficulties were and the treasurer Rob Lewis released to us a statement from its draft accounts which says: “The full closure of the cathedral at the end of March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, with only partial reopening since July, has had a significant effect both on income and costs. Chapter considered these in detail, alongside the potential future needs of the cathedral, and put in place a plan which aimed to preserve the cathedral’s cash reserves to the greatest extent possible.
“All expenditure was reviewed, and cost reductions were made in utilities, maintenance and in the office, although we took advantage of the vacant Cathedral for carrying out electrical and maintenance work where grant funding was available. Staff were furloughed where possible, and claims made to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
“In assessing the extent to which the charity is a going concern, the trustees prepared cashflow forecasts to December 2022 using a set of severely pessimistic assumptions, including giving not fully recovering, fewer staff, fewer choral services, lower event and rental income and no further grant receipts – although Chapter is confident that the cathedral will surpass each of the assumptions made.
“On this basis, the cash reserves fall to a point between three and six months of turnover, a level outside the reserves policy but well in excess of what is required to continue to operate.
“The only significant remaining risk is that giving falls substantially. We continue to be grateful to all those who commit to regular giving, and although there was a fall in other giving because of the lack of services, regular giving is largely unaffected, and we have no reason to expect it to fall significantly further.
“On this basis the trustees concluded that there are no plausible risks which would render the cathedral unable to continue to operate for at least the next 12 months and therefore prepared the financial statements on a going concern basis.”