The Miscarriage Association continued its policy of managing its resources carefully in the year to 31 March 2008, enabling it to maintain and develop high-quality services and to make provision for the future. This was achieved both through the support of our donors, members and friends and by managing The M.A.’s limited resources with great care.

We were pleased to see significantly more income from sales of leaflets to hospitals and clinics this year, especially since this means that more patients are receiving our leaflets. Donations from M.A. members also increased while income from fundraising activities, particularly the London Marathon, remained steady. In contrast, income from government grants, membership fees, grants and non-member donations was less than in 2006/07.

We continued to maximise the value of all of our funds with a mix of instant access and high interest savings accounts.The combination of earned, investment and fundraising income made up nearly three-quarters of The Miscarriage Association’s general (unrestricted) income for the year.

The majority of restricted income during the year was raised by and for M.A. support groups, legally branches of The Association. We report those funds in our accounts, but they are held and used by those branches alone. Other restricted income was for sponsorship of two new leaflets and a local initiative for miscarriage patients in Nottingham.

As always, the generously donated services of all of our volunteers enabled us to keep the costs of providing direct charitable support relatively low – an estimated saving of £55,425 during the year. As a result, service provision accounted for less than two-thirds of our total expenditure. Spending on fundraising was similar to theprevious year as were the costs of governance, including legally required meetings, reports and accounting.

The accounts show a surplus of general (unrestricted) funds for the year, which has enabled us to increase our General Reserve Fund and to designate more of these General Reserves for two key programmes over the next three years.The restricted fund reserve constitutes branch funds only.

The Miscarriage Association continues to develop its services in response to both continuing and changing needs for support and information relating to pregnancy loss.We need to be equally responsive to the changing and more challenging economic climate, developing a more sustainable income base from a mix of earned, investment, fundraising and donated income and ensuring that we have sufficient reserves to enable us to cope with the uncertain funding futures faced by many charities.This is the way to secure the future of The Miscarriage Association for as long as it is needed.