How we spend the money you donate
Employee costs of day-to-day administration, performed by a single part-time employee : £7500
IT and Website hosting : £1000
Insurance : £500
Other sundry running costs (approx.)* : £1800
Capital Costs** : £200
TOTAL : £11,000
* Other sundry running costs: bank fees, stationary, postage, necessary subscriptions, incidental costs, specific project costs, occasional expenses e.g. for guest speakers (SMiRA trustees and volunteers usually cover all their own expenses).
**Capital costs: for replacement of items belonging to SMiRA such as IT equipment.
What do we do with the money we receive?
In addition to the day-to-day running of the charity, including our two online shops and other fundraising activities, SMiRA spends the money it receives on:
Providing information, advice and resources
This is given either to those who contact us directly, or via our website and Facebook groups. Every year we help thousands of people in this way.
Raising awareness of Selective Mutism
We take every opportunity to do this, and in the past we have run two major national awareness campaigns in 2008 and 2015. Raising awareness is a year-round activity, but every October we have a dedicated Selective Mutism awareness month. We are often contacted by members of the media asking for information on Selective Mutism for their use in articles, TV and radio programmes and in films.
Webinars and conferences
Periodically we run online webinars and conferences featuring both British and international speakers who are experts in the field of Selective Mutism. Our trustees are sometimes asked to speak at national or international events and conferences.
Training
We sometimes give online or face to face training on Selective Mutism to interested bodies and produce training resources.
Influencing national policy
As a member of the Speech, Language and Communication Alliance Communication Consortium we help to influence national policy.
We contributed to the Bercow report of 2008 on speech, language and communication needs, and again in 2018 to the Bercow Ten Years On report, and also attend meetings of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Speech and Language Difficulties.
In 2015 we held a parliamentary reception in the Palace of Westminster to raise awareness.
We have also had an international influence by contributing to the ICD-11 diagnostic manual during its development.
Research into Selective Mutism
We advise and liaise with the Selective Mutism research community as well as undertaking our own research. Many of our members have contributed to the advancement of the understanding of Selective Mutism and treatment of it by taking part in research studies advertised through our web and social media sites.
These are just some of the activities SMiRA undertakes, there are too many more to list them all.
What could we do if we had more money?
Increase staffing
We currently have just one part-time employee, our Coordinator. This puts restrictions on the number of activities we can undertake.
We prioritise responding to requests for information and advice, but as we increase awareness of Selective Mutism we receive more and more requests. This then reduces the Coordinator’s time available for other tasks and activities. The current Trustees are all volunteers who have busy lives and jobs themselves, but increasingly they are having to bear more and more of the day-to-day workload which is not sustainable.
With more money we could increase employee hours or numbers and undertake more activities, reduce some of the burden on the Coordinator and the Trustees and improve our service to the community.
Fund a CEO
SMiRA is currently run by the Trustees and the Coordinator. With more funding we could employ a CEO to take charge of the strategic running and development of SMiRA and improve our service to the public.
Fund a Fundraising Department
Many hours of our time are taken up in raising funds so that we can continue the work we were set up to do. A dedicated fundraising department would free up a lot of the Coordinator’s and the Trustees’ time from raising funds, writing funding bids and general administration associated with the ongoing struggle to keep SMiRA sustainable financially.
Provide more Webinars, Conferences and Training opportunities
We are currently limited in what we can provide by the time and resources available to us. It is very time-consuming to organise events like these, and it can be expensive. SMiRA has always tried to supply information and events either for free or at the lowest price possible. We would wish to continue to do this, but without further funding we will inevitably have to start charging or charge more for our services.
Undertake more Research
At present SMiRA can only do very small-scale research except for the few occasions when we have managed to secure a dedicated research grant. We would like to do more substantial research going into the future, but as research is highly expensive and time consuming, this will only be possible if we obtain more funding.
Donate
If you would like to donate or fundraise for SMiRA please consider using the following:
Paypal
Via the 'Donate' button on this site (see footer, or the 'Donate' page in main menu), or
Email a Paypal payment to donations@selectivemutism.org.uk (please use the friends & family option if available).
To donate and claim Gift Aid, which adds an additional 25% to your donation, please use www.cafonline.org or www.peoplesfundraising.com (where you can also set up your own fundraising campaign for SMiRA).
