After the recent announcement about Acorns, MCO have been asked a whole host of questions from folk, wanting to understand why this decision has been made. We thought it would be helpful to share the most frequently asked questions with you.
Read on for a summary of why MCO have had to make this difficult decision and why we are also asking you to support both charities through this difficult time.
1. Why can’t Acorns stay at MCO beyond August 2028?
Government childcare funding is insufficient to enable Acorns to pay a meaningful amount for their space. Meanwhile MCO funding only covers 40% of its costs leaving us to generate additional funds for ourselves, but still we have a shortfall. By August 2028, MCO will have drawn deeply on the financial reserves that the Charity Commission expects us to mainta.in. We can’t afford NOT to maximise our income or by then, we will inevitably need to cut services.
We all need to explore all available options as soon as possible.
We believe Mashamshire families need a pre-school and a primary school. That’s why over one-third of MCO’s available space has been dedicated to Acorns under a flexible low-cost annual agreement since 2003. That’s why, even after Local Authority funding cuts in 2010 when we were forced to become more self-funding, Acorns room hire was unchanged. That’s why post-Covid, once we had purchased the building in 2023, we only increased the Acorns room charge to £860 per year. We have proven our commitment to Acorns throughout 23 years of support.
But Acorns is a separate charity and MCO cannot continue to carry this responsibility without jeopardising its own services. Already we’re working hard to pay for 60% of service costs ourselves. Already we do as much as we can with as little as we can – over 60 volunteers are a wonderful free resource, but they don’t organise themselves. With a ratio of around 18 volunteers to only 1 FTE paid staff member – that’s thrifty in comparison to the average staff to volunteers ratio for charities in the UK
2. Who made this decision?
MCO is a charity with a board of volunteer trustees who oversee financial decisions and planning for the future. We have 10 trustees, all members of the community of Masham and surrounding villages, who have relevant skills and experience and a desire to give back to their community. The board of Trustees made the extremely difficult decision not to extend Acorns room hire agreement beyond August 2028.
We are an independent charity – we are not part of NYC or any other Government body. Day-to-day operating decisions are made by our great team of part time staff. They organise services and ensure we deliver in line with legal requirements and financial regulations. Much of the actual work is done by our 60+ volunteers who contribute over 10,000 hours of unpaid work a year with hands on support and guidance provided by the staff team.
MCO’s purpose is to support the whole community, local businesses and visitors. Find out more about what our charity actually does here.
Find all staff and trustees listed on our website here.
3. Why does MCO want a Charity Shop instead of Acorns?
We don’t want a Charity Shop instead of Acorns, but we MUST ensure our own future sustainability. So many of our services are either not funded at all, or only funded as far as the initial set up. So, finding funds to keep them going is a constant challenge.
We are not alone – look around, Mashamshire is losing facilities with community groups and charities, including Acorns, all short of funds to do anything.
The board of trustees at MCO is working hard exploring all avenues to address our funding shortfall, but we can’t see how it will be possible to continue without a way of generating significant extra income. We are inspired by Nidderdale Plus in Pateley Bridge whose Charity Shop is extremely successful at creating funds, not just for Nidderdale Plus, but for other Pateley community projects too – £20K to community projects last year.
A charity shop in Masham, dedicated to Masham, could safeguard MCO’s work and in addition, create a Community Fund for our town and surrounding villages too.
While the cost of commercial shop premises would eat into profits, making the most of our own building would both save money and make the most of the existing footfall to our building.
Plans are only in their infancy as we have assured Acorns of their space until August 2028. After that, once it is up and running, we have committed to ringfence 15% of the new Community Fund to support Acorns and pre-school provision in Masham permanently.
4. Why has the decision been made when the community raised £215K to buy the building?
In fact most of the money raised was awarded to MCO by grant giving bodies. We were so grateful for the local support, which was invaluable, but with such a short deadline, making numerous grant applications was the only way to reach the target.
None of these applications focused on early years education – it isn’t eligible for most grants since it’s already funded. Instead, funders responded because securing the building was the only way to make sure that the broad range of MCO’s services, which benefit the whole community, could continue.
A physical building is worthless without services delivered from it and providing services, especially with increasing costs, needs constant funding. Since purchase, money has become much harder to come by for everyone – individuals, businesses, charities, Parish Councils and Public Sector alike. Like all charities, MCO and Acorns fight to do their best with insufficient income. Read more about the challenges here.
It is not a decision taken lightly, but doing nothing beyond August 2028 is sadly not an option.
5. What can I do to help?
It’s not a choice between MCO or Acorns. We want to fight for ALL our communities’ services and the best way to help is to pull together and make positive things happen for us all.
Ways to help:
- Come forward with new ideas for a viable location for Acorns
- Early years education is underfunded. This is especially important as families struggle with the increased cost of living. This is a problem only resolved by central government, so write to your MP – julian.smith.mp@parliament.uk
- If you have insights or experience with funding for early years, Acorns could benefit from your help
- Volunteer to help with fundraising to help support Acorns, MCO and all charities in Mashamshire
- Support all local charity fundraising events and activities if you possibly can
