Financial summary 2017

During the financial year 2016/17 we increased our income, improved our business planning processes and strengthened our operations. 

2016/17
Children in Zambia travel to school. IIED has been working to make cotton policies work for the country's smallholder farmers over the past 12 months (Photo: Simon Lim)

Children in Zambia travel to school. IIED has been working to make cotton policies work for the country's smallholder farmers over the past 12 months (Photo: Simon Lim)

The audited accounts for the year ended 31 March 2017 demonstrate continued growth for IIED. 

Income has increased by 29 per cent since 2012/13, to £21 million in 2016/17. One contributory factor is the award of large grants working in collaboration with our partners, which has seen payments to collaborating entities increasing to £7.6 million. 

The average number of employees has increased by some 23 per cent over the past five years (from 102 employees in 2013 to 125 in 2017). 

Support costs increased from £3.4 million in 2015/16 to £3.8 million in 2016/17. This increase is attributed to a full year's rent increase (£110,000) on the London office, a review of information technology strategy resulting in software under construction being fully written down in the year (£98,000), and statutory staff-related payments, including sickness, maternity and redundancy (£98,000).

Investing in institutional performance 

We invested in staffing, process and system changes to support increased effectiveness. Following the recruitment of the head of business development in 2016/17, we carried out a review of the proposal development process, with cross-institutional capacity building to support implementation. We launched a contact relationship management system, built in 2015/16, alongside an extensive training programme and data quality review. 

Following a review of our existing human resources, finance and project management systems, the board approved investment for 2017/18 in an enterprise resource planning system. We will develop this to link to IIED's intranet (launched in 2016) for document management, and to the contact relationship management system for partner and donor information management. 

Reserves policy

The reserves policy requires an annual review to reassess the risks and any changes in IIED's income, financial obligations and expenditure. 

As set out in Note 8 of the accounts, our unrestricted reserves closed the year at £2.384 million, an increase of £22,000 over last year (£2.362 million). 

This increase follows a £172,000 reduction in the Building and Capital Fund designated reserve, which tracks the value of leasehold improvements over the remaining lease period on the Gray's Inn Road site. 

The decision to write off the full development cost of software under construction negatively impacted our reserves contribution by £98,000. After removing the impact of designated funds, free reserves increased by £194,000 (from £1.573 million to £1.767 million in the year) which is below the £250,000 target set for the year under our policy. 

The current free reserves of £1.767 million therefore fall beneath the lower end of this target range and the board has endorsed the target growth of free reserves by £250,000 for the coming year 2017/18. 

In accordance with the requirements of FRS 102 – the financial reporting standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland – we recognise liabilities resulting from employee benefits, which restated the opening unrestricted reserves by £0.31 million (from £2.56 million to £2.25 million).

Investment policy 

We invested our reserves in a combination of high-interest cash deposits and fixed-term treasury deposits during 2016/17. This policy produces an acceptable rate of return while giving us flexibility to access funds. 

Related parties 

Some IIED trustees are also trustees of other charities or directors or senior officers in other organisations IIED works with as a normal part of its research activities. Where such work involves payment, they enter into arm's length contracts and any payments related to these contracts are detailed in the notes to these accounts. The board operates a conflicts of interest policy. 

Looking ahead 

Although 2018 will be a challenging year for IIED, operating in an uncertain political and financial climate, we enter the new financial year optimistically. We continue to strengthen our operations by improving cost recovery, organisational development and fundraising. 

The trustees' report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2017 contains detailed financial information, including a breakdown of all income received by IIED above £10,000.

Previous reports

See the financial summaries from previous years: 2016201520142013

Government and government agencies

Austrian Development Agency
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Department for International Development (DFID)
Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
GIZ GmbH
Department of Energy and Climate Change
Federal Ministry for the Environment
Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Ireland
Irish Aid, Department of Foreign Affairs
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Norwegian Embassy, Mozambique
Royal Government of Bhutan
Sida
United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
 

International and multilateral agencies

Asian Development Bank
Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
Commonwealth Scienti c and Industrial Research Organisation
European Commission
International Fund for Agricultural Development
United Nations Of ce for Project Services (UNOPS)
United Nations Development Fund, South Africa
United Nations Development Fund, Kyrgyzstan
United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
United Nations Environment Programme, Kenya
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization
United Nations Population Fund
World Bank
 

Foundations and NGOs

3ie International Initiative for Impact Evaluation
Aecom
Acclimatise Group Ltd
Ag Innovations Network (Sustainable Food Lab)
Aidenvironment
American Jewish World Service
ANDES
Annenberg Foundation
Arcus Foundation
Arran Lule Sami Centre
Binks Trust
British Council
Ceso Ci Internacional
Climate and Development Knowledge Network
ClimateWorks Foundation
Conservation Through Public Health
Cordaid
CARE Denmark
Ecosystems Service for Poverty Alleviation
ESRC
Eventbrite
Ford Foundation
Open Society Foundations
Global Green Growth Institute
GIZ
Hivos
International Council on Mining and Minerals
Institute of Development Studies
International Development Research Centre
International Livestock Research Institute
International Union for Conservation of Nature
Kings College London
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Mava Foundation
The Mary Robinson Foundation
Mercy Corps
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Near East Foundation New Venture Fund
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Overseas Development Institute
Oxfam
The David and Lucile Packard Foundations
Pyoe Pin
Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre
Rockefeller Foundation
RSF Social Finance
Said Business School
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation
The Christensen Fund
The Tiffany and Co Foundation
University College London
University of Copenhagen
University of Edinburgh
University of York
University of Southampton
University of Evora
University of Oxford
Wageningen University
World Conservation Monitoring Centre
World Resources Institute
Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)
WYG International Ltd
 

Corporate

Adam Smith International
Landell Mills Ltd
Palladium International Limited