Icon Impact Report 2021-2022

Download Icon's full Impact report below:

Impact Report 2021-2022.pdf

Chief Executive’s Summary

We might have hoped that the coronavirus would not play such a dominant role in our thinking as we entered the 2021-22 financial year, but the reality was somewhat different.

Although the restrictions were gradually eased from March onwards, the pandemic continued to have an impact on finances and on organisational planning for many organisations in our sector.

In our case this manifested itself as a form of organisational long COVID, with a general downturn across all our key income streams in the first half of the year. Our prudent response was to pause the re-recruitment of vacant staff roles and to submit a second application to the Government-backed Culture Recovery Fund. The funding bid was successful, allowing us to ensure that core costs were covered.

While these sensible measures ensured that we protected our unrestricted reserves, the cost of reducing staff capacity meant that less project work was undertaken. So, 2021-22 could be characterised as being focused on maintaining a steady course, supporting our members, and engaging in policy and advocacy activities, rather than pressing ahead with new or risky projects. That said, there were still many moments to celebrate this year – and our strong focus on international engagement stands out:

• Three major international conferences delivered
• New Conferences Committee launched
• Icon's Annual Lecture reached a global audience
• Support for our colleagues in Ukraine

During the year we also continued to review and strengthen our internal governance.

Firstly, we benefitted from taking part in the National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported Heritage Compass programme - a scheme designed to address operational skills gaps and to build resilience within organisations.

Secondly, we placed new emphasis on financial governance training for trustees and initiated a scoping discussion about the benefits of reviewing the size and composition of Icon’s Board of Trustees. The new annual surveys of Board diversity and the diversity of the wider membership were also implemented and the results published on the Icon website

Finally, recognising that the Board would benefit from a broader range of perspectives, we also created a new seat for an emerging professional and welcomed Louise Davison into the role.