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CEP Finances: how to do more with less?

Publication date: 21-4-2010

Article:

The presentation on CEP's finances for the period 2011-2013 will be pivotal in the General Assembly (GA) in Malaga. Two contrasting trends are playing at the background. On the one hand the developments in the sector of probation in Europe are as many as before the outbreak of the economic crisis, if not more. On the other hand the member organizations of CEP all face budget cuts and try to save costs. Leo Tigges, CEP Secretary General sheds a light on the CEP's financial developments. "In this situation we have to make concessions to our members. Therefore we will propose budgets in which subscription fees won't be increased, not even for inflation for the first year", he announces.

At the General Assembly (GA) in Tallinn three years ago, the member organizations agreed with the professionalization of the organization and an expansion of the activities. In order to finance this, the CEP member organizations also agreed with an overall raise in membership fees, and a fairer contribution system, based on the relative wealth of each country, the GDP element.

"In the last three years we have made considerable progress in the professionalization", says CEP Secretary General Leo Tigges. "Nevertheless there are still some important steps to be made. Being a professional organization implies to be an independent organization in every respect. In a budgetary sense, CEP is still too much leaning on the financial benevolence of Reclassering Nederland, the Dutch Probation Service. Since the establishment of CEP almost 30 years ago, Reclassering Nederland has provided CEP with office space and services at a strongly reduced fare. In addition, as by courtesy toward CEP, Reclassering Nederland is covering my salary costs for days that I work for CEP. As a result of the wish of our member organizations to develop CEP into a professional organization, we have made the arrangement with Reclassering Nederland to gradually reduce the in-kind support after 2010." 

This would mean that operating costs will be raising over the years, whereas the CEP Board will propose not increase the membership fees at the GA. "As a consequence our income won't be in line with our expenditure in the financial proposal that we will present in Malaga", announces Leo Tigges. "In 2013 there even is foreseen a deficit. Therefore CEP can only maintain its present level of services if we find new sources of income. We can do that by attracting more member organizations, which also has a positive effect on the enlargement of our network."

However, in order to keep pace with the dynamics in the sector of probation in Europe, CEP should not only maintain, but also step up its number of activities. "As a result the Board decided in 2009 to apply for an operating grant from the EU. Until today it is not clear yet if this application is going to be granted by the EU, but we are hoping to be informed prior to the GA in Malaga", tells the CEP Secretary General. "These type of grants are only procured for a year. Therefore we would need to apply every year for an operating grant. As there is no guarantee that we will receive such a grant it can never be a fixed source of income for CEP. Moreover I expect that in the years to come many more organisations will applying for an operating grant, which would mean that the competition would be tougher. Therefore the Board choose to only use it for the extension of our services, but not for our ‘basic costs'."

In any case the application for an EU operating grant has already contributed  the professionalization of CEP. Leo Tigges :"Traditionally the annual account of CEP was only controlled by an Auditing Committee, consisting of two representatives from CEP member organization. In the last couple of years these were Jean Detienne form Belgium and François Kimmel from Luxemburg, who will step down as an Audit Committee after the GA. However, one of the annexes of our operating grant application had to be an auditor's report issued on the financial statements of CEP by an independent accountant. So for the first time our financial statements for 2008 have been controlled by Ernst & Young. We will keep on doing this in the following years."