Financial summary
Total income £824,849
How we raised money
Once again, we are hugely grateful to the individuals who remember Music in Hospitals & Care in their Will, and our committed fundraisers and supporters throughout the year.
Our income strategy continues to focus on recovery and diversification of funds to share live music with people who couldn’t otherwise experience it. We are raising funds against an increasingly difficult financial and fundraising landscape, but we continue to invest in diversification to allow us to achieve our strategic ambitions. Not all areas of fundraising received the expected in year return. However, we have applied learnings and insights from new fundraising activities to our future income generation plans.
Our continued recovery saw an increase in generating more funds partnerships and donations from health boards, hospitals and social care. We raised £186,182 in 2024/25, marking an increase of 17% compared to the previous year (£158,662).
Alongside this, we sought funding from trusts and foundations, companies and individual donors, which accounted for 67% of our income.
Total expenditure £1,582,095
How we spent our money
In 2024/25, we spent £1,582,095 a £127,262 increase compared to 2023/24 (£1,454,833). This is because we introduced extra resource and infrastructure to support the team with the delivery of our investment strategy.
Whilst our deficit was higher than anticipated; we did plan for a deficit in 2024/25 in line with our investment strategy. Before investment gains and losses, the deficit was £757,246. This is in line with the strategy agreed by the board of trustees to invest in the future of the organisation and support our long-term ambition – to make sure people in hospitals and care enjoy a better quality of life and improved health outcomes.
This year’s deficit is representative of the second year of a three-year investment strategy and considered affordable within that strategy. We had more one off in-year costs as part of this investment; specifically, the delivery of our digital transformation and bringing in specialist knowledge to support future financial business planning. Both bring long term gains to the organisation in furthering our strategic aims.
Our musicians
We paid our musicians’ fees and expenses and hosted training which cost the charity £262,021 in 2024/25, compared to £242,987 in 2023/24. We were pleased to increase the fees paid to our musicians which is the primary reason for the 8% year on year increase.
Planning for the future
2025/26 is our final investment year in the strategy to ensure we have the infrastructure and systems to deliver sustainable live music. We also still have restricted funds to spend over the next year.
Year three is a pivotal year in our strategy. We continue to focus on the impact of live music building on the implementation of our evaluation framework and revised theory of change. This remains crucial to our recovery as we develop more partnerships so we can share live music with people who wouldn’t otherwise get to experience it.
Our approach to income generation will continue to seek out a mix of funds from individuals, trusts and foundations and health and care partners. We aim to connect with more music lovers throughout the year by sharing authentic stories and experiences.
We are also grateful to Creative Scotland as we enter year one of three years of funding to support our live music in Scotland and our wider organisational aims around investing in EDIA and our organisational capability including our environmental responsibility.
You can view our full annual report and accounts here.