FINANCE

2005 represented the restart of a new cycle in terms of the Youth Forum management, as apart from the new Bureau and Work Plan adopted for the following two years, we had the responsibility that represented the recognition given by the European Parliament and the European Council by approving a record subvention to the Youth Forum of EUR 2.200.000.

These, together with other external factors like the recent changes in the Belgian legislation for International Non-profit Organisations and also the setting-up of the new structure, the European Youth Forum, that our Member Organisations have approved at our Gene ral Assembly held in Madrid on 11 November 2004, defined the main challenges to the management of the Youth Forum during 2005.

There were also relevant changes in the Secretariat, as the Youth Forum counted at the end of 2005 with a total of 21 staff members working in the Youth Forum, of which 11 started during 2005, both replacing vacant positions and covering new ones.This increase reflected the demand from Members and partners of more working areas and higher quality in the tasks performed by the Secretariat. Nevertheless, the major effort has been placed in allocating more of its financial resources to the actions and activities carried following up the work plan.

As shown in the following graph, the Youth Forum was able to decrease the running costs of the organisation, from a total of 1.450.477EUR in 2004 ( 50,72% of the total costs) to 1.397.611 EUR in 2005 (50,33% of the total costs), despite the increase in the social reserves following the increase on the staff number.

Concerning the funds allocated to the execution of the work plan, namely activites and actions related to Youth Policy Development and Youth Work Development, as well as statutory bodies and meetings, the division was as follows:

The expectation from our member organisations and partners to increase the number of activities, together with the need to respond to the new Belgian regulations for AISBL, led to the revision of the accounting procedures. This opportunity was also used to improve the system, creating a better management tool, through the usage of two parallel, though integrated, accounting systems – general accountancy and analytical accountancy (cost-centers). This new system also allowed for the introduction of planning and monitoring tools, like a Cash-Flow Plan and “Tableaux de Bord”.

Besides these management tools, the Youth Forum also strives for the correctness and clarity of the accounts, essential towards the members and partner institutions. That is also why the auditing procedures are so relevant, both the internal audit and the consultancy done by the Financial Control Commission and the external auditors, Ernst & Young (appointed in the Madrid GA for 2005-2006).

This is so much relevant as more than 78% of the Youth Forum incomes come from annual grants from international institutions. 74% of the total incomes came from a grant from the European Communities' Budget, through a grant from DG Education and Culture, while around 3,5% come from grants from the Council of Europe.

These grants are given to support all the activity of the European Youth Forum (from salaries of the staff to costs of the different events) and are ruled by annual contracts.

The partnership projects are also an essential part of the Youth Forum income. It included the support of partner organisations to concrete activities, like for instance, member organisations hosting meetings of the Youth Forum. or grants from foundations or other entities, such as the United Nations, Governments or Local Authorities.

The Volunteer Time Contribution is an essential part of the external funding requirement of the Youth Forum, in order to fulfill co-funding requirements from the European Commission. This is also relevant as it is one more example that the volunteer work is recognised as being an important contribution to society and to the work of Youth organisations. These contributions represent today 5% of the Youth Forum budget.