The National Council of Young Men’s Christian Associations posted a surplus of more than £3m last year after a £2m rise in retail income, latest accounts show.

The youth charity recorded a £3.4m surplus in the year to the end of March 2024 compared with a £0.5m surplus in 2022/23, according to its accounts. 

But the figures include investment movements and changes to its pension liability, which if excluded would otherwise have shown an operating surplus of £40,000, the accounts say.

The charity recorded a total income of £22.8m in 2023/24, up from £21.7m in the previous 12 months.

“Underlying this there is an improvement in retail income to £16.7m (2023: £14.7m),” the charity said.

“But with a slight fall in fundraising income to £3.7m (2023: £3.8m).”

The YMCA’s expenditure increased to £22.7m in 2023/24 compared with £20.7m in 2022/23.

This change largely comes from an increased retail operational spend of £15m, up from £13.6m in 2022/23.

“Fundraising activity and support, representation and development spend for member YMCAs accounted for the majority of the remaining expenditure,” the charity said.

“The expenditure figures include payments to member YMCAs of £1.5m (2023: £1.9m) in relation to either projects, retail profit share or RoomSponsor [the charity’s accommodation aid scheme].

“If added back, as funds are remaining within the movement, albeit outside of YMCA England and Wales, this would have moved the reported operating surplus of £0.04m to an operating surplus of £1.3m.”

The charity said it continues to retain sufficient reserves to enable current and future challenges to be overcome.

“We are confident that these solid financial foundations will enable YMCA England & Wales to continue to generate sufficient income to subsidise the work undertaken for members and continue to align capacity to deliver against the federation strategy, increasing distributions to YMCAs while remaining on solid financial foundations,” the charity said.

“That noted, it is recognised that much of the financial success has been due to one-offs (with improved performance in one area offsetting reduced performance elsewhere), and consequently YMCA England & Wales does not remain complacent in the need to manage cost and risk to ensure it has sufficient reserves to meet obligations but also manage unforeseen events.”