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ELF announces restructure to protect future of charity

Like many charities, the Exeter Leukaemia Fund relies heavily on public donations for the majority of its income. However, over the past 12 months the charity has suffered a huge financial shortfall from both face-to-face fundraising events and its retail stores across Devon. Despite the best efforts and unwavering commitment of our fundraising team, supporters and volunteers, the impact of the pandemic has caused us to take certain unavoidable measures.

We’ve been exceedingly proud of the support we provide to those affected by blood cancer and attend the Haematology Centre at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital. But as a result of Covid-19, we anticipate a reduction in funding of between 30-40% this year alone, with next year looking equally as challenging. This has put a number of staff positions at risk, added to which the hospital has had to make urgent and costly changes to accommodate patients suffering from the virus.

In order to safeguard ELF’s future we must reduce the number of employed staff as part of a widespread organisation redesign and restructure. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we are now starting this process.

Our proposal for the new ELF structure follows a recent comprehensive organisational review, which resulted in a change of priorities and a modified approach to how the charity generates income going forward. Under the proposal, ELF will deliver a new vision and plan with fewer staff and a leaner operation. This is designed to ensure both ELF’s sustainability and continuity of support for our staff and patients of RD&E.

As you can imagine, this decision has not been taken lightly and we aim to ensure that the process is managed equitably and fairly, and that all colleagues are treated with compassion and care. And be assured, the Board of Trustees, with your support, will make every endeavour to bounce back from this as quickly as possible.