Everything you should know about us
At spunout and 50808, we believe in being transparent and accountable to our readers, donors, funders and the public. This page aims to present the facts and figures behind our activities in a clear, readable format.
If you have any queries about any of the below you can contact us at [email protected] or [email protected] or by phone on (01) 675 3554 and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.
Our legal structure
spunout and 50808 are services run by Community Creations CLG (Company Registration Number: 384783). Community Creations is a non-profit organisation, the aim of which is to benefit the young people of Ireland through youth information and support services.
Community Creations is governed by a Board of Directors made up of 12 experts with a range of experience in law, healthcare, technology, finance, strategy and youth affairs. Two members of the Board are young volunteers nominated by the spunout Youth Action Panel.
The current Chairperson of Community Creations is Tara Doyle who was appointed in March 2022.
Our Governance
Community Creations CLG trading as ‘spunout’ and ‘50808’ aims to be at the forefront of best practice in openness and transparency. Our Board of Directors and staff executive team are fully committed to ensuring the highest standards in corporate governance.
In 2021, Community Creations CLG reported compliance with the Charities Regulatory Authority Governance Code in Ireland. This governance code is issued by the Charities Regulator under section 14(1)(i) of the Charities Act 2009, to encourage and facilitate the better administration and management of charitable organisations.
It is intended to provide support to charity trustees to meet their legal duties, by putting in place systems and processes which focus on advancing the charitable purpose, and for providing a public benefit and ensuring charities are managed in an effective, efficient, accountable and transparent way.
Our Strategic Plan
Our strategic plan for the period 2018-2020 can be viewed here. In light of the pandemic, the Board approved an extension of the life of the existing strategy for a further year to end 2021. The Board is currently drafting a new corporate strategic plan to guide the organisation through the period 2023-2026.
Our Impact in 2021
Reach
spunout had just under 2.1 million visits to spunout.ie in 2021, comprising 1,777,697 individual visitors accessing 2,702,371 pages of content.
Our largest source of website traffic in 2021 was from Google search, comprising of 1,480,833 visitors in total (71% of of visits), with a further 12% coming from Google Ads and 8% from social media.
During 2021, we reached more than 2.5 million people through campaigns on Instagram and Facebook, as well as nearly 640,000 people on TikTok.
In addition, 2021 was spunout’s busiest year yet for climate action content.
Reader Outcomes 2021
86% agreed that they felt supported by spunout:
“spunout to me makes me feel supported with the information they provide on sensitive topics. I have turned to spunout for access to information I would otherwise feel embarrassed to ask for.” – Woman, 22-25, Cork.
89% agreed that they felt informed by spunout:
“The information shared on spunout is relevant and makes me more aware of issues that I didn’t even know I should be aware of. [It] has helped me feel more informed about things that I would be embarrassed to talk about as a young person… There’s a lot of resources and links that makes it easier to reach out and get help. Also, makes me feel less alone about dealing with certain things.” – Woman, 22-25, Sligo.
77% agreed that spunout had helped them to make more informed decisions:
“spunout gave me an early on headstart in life.” – Man, 18-21, Galway.
78% agreed that spunout had helped them to be more open to seeking help:
“There’s an open and caring atmosphere which generally promotes an outlook where seeking help is OK.” – Man, 18-21, Dublin.
Reader testimonies
“The information shared on spunout.ie is relevant and makes me more aware of issues that I didn’t even know I should be aware of. [It] has helped me feel more informed about things that I would be embarrassed to talk about as a young person… There’s a lot of resources and links that makes it easier to reach out and get help. Also, makes me feel less alone about dealing with certain things.” Woman, 22-25, Sligo
“spunout’s presence on social media has helped normalise issues that me as a young person may be experiencing. It’s a very positive influence, an excellent platform.” Man, 22-25, Dublin
“They showed me what I was feeling was normal and that there was help there if I need it.” Nonbinary, 18-21, Kildare
“I’ve found articles in the past around anxiety and similar topics reassuring and informative. Whilst going through treatment for an eating disorder, it’s a good place to come and get reliable, evidence based information on issues I may be struggling with during recovery.” Woman, 22-25, Wicklow
Top 20 Most Read spunout Pages of 2021
- What to do if your partner doesn’t want to have sex – 169,238 readers
- How to care for self harm wounds – 123,335 readers
- 10 facts about climate change – 100,585 readers
- Someone has threatened to share my nudes. What do I do now? – 79,710 readers
- What is the difference between a close and casual contact? – 48,661 readers
- How can I help someone in a toxic relationship? – 29,949 readers
- What I’ve learned about myself during the COVID-19 pandemic – 25,487 readers
- Your rights and the Gardaí – 22,986 readers
- The difference between the combined pill and the mini pill – 22,887 readers
- Applying for a student grant from SUSI – 22,634 readers
- Everything you need to know about your penis – 22,254 readers
- What should I do if I receive unwanted sexts? – 19,908 readers
- What is toxic masculinity? – 18,943 readers
- 8 different team sports for keeping fit – 18,364 readers
- The importance of raising awareness of cancer – 16,954 readers
- Jobseeker’s Allowance and Jobseeker’s Benefit – 16,378 readers
- The effects of social media on mental health – 16,111 readers
- How to register for the COVID-19 vaccine – 12,684 readers
- What to say to someone who self harms – 12,374 readers
- How to answer interview questions – 12,103 readers
Our Finances in 2021
In 2021, Community Creations CLG (the charity that operates spunout.ie and 50808) spent €2,345,009 out of a total income of €2,293,664.
The increase during 2021 can be attributed to increased staff and running costs associated with the first fully operational year of the 50808 service following public launch mid-2020 and also additional project costs arising from grants awarded to the spunout service in the year. Overall, the largest part of our spending was on staff-related costs.
Annual Financial Statements
We’ve provided our audited Director’s Report and Financial Statements for 2021 to the Companies Registration Office. You can download a copy here.
Compliance with the Charities Regulatory Authority Governance Code
The Charities Governance Code outlines the minimum standards charities should meet in order to effectively manage and control their charity. It defines six principles of governance which all charities should comply with, the core standards that we expect all charities to meet when putting the principles into action, and additional standards that reflect best practice for charities with high levels of income and/or complex organisational and/or funding structures and/or significant numbers of employees. We ensure that these standards are met, and we provide an annual report to the Charities Regulator to ensure we are in compliance with the Governance Code.
Community Creations is committed to meeting these six principles in all its endeavours, and our compliance with the CRA Code demonstrates our respectable reputation to our funders and donors and improves our ability to raise funding and to attract new board members and volunteers.
spunout and the Triple Lock Standard
Community Creations is a triple-locked member of the Charities Institute Ireland. This means we are committed to best practice in transparency, accounting, fundraising and governance.
As part of meeting the standards of the Triple Lock, our Board of Directors has signed up to the Guidelines for Charitable Organisations on Fundraising from the Public. We are also in full compliance with the Charity SORP in our accounting, and have been working hard to ensure we always meet the standards of the Governance Code.
SORP
The Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is a set of best practice guidelines for how charities should prepare their annual accounts and report their finances. Compliance with the SORP obliges a charity to provide a very high level of information about its operations and to prioritise transparency and accountability in its financial management.
Our Fundraising Principles
Community Creations is among the 9% of charities in Ireland preparing their accounts using SORP.
Our signed copy of the Statement can be viewed here.
We have produced a Donor Charter outlining our commitment to users, donors and funders, which can be read here.
Management Remuneration
Our highest earning member of staff is our CEO, who was paid €75,000 in both 2021 and 2020.
No employee was paid more than €75,000, or less than €24,000 per annum.
You can find a list of our current staff members here.
Our Board of Directors
All Board members are entitled to be refunded for vouched expenses associated with attending our Board meetings, of which there are no fewer than six per year.
There were no Board expenses claimed in 2021.
You can find a list of our current board members here.
spunout Action Panel
The spunout Action Panel is a group of 130 young people from all over Ireland who play a pivotal role in our governance structure and ensure our service and message stay relevant to the people we serve.
You can find a list of our action panel members here.
Funders
Our main funders in 2021 were:
- The Health Service Executive (HSE) which has funded our work through a Section 39 grant every year since our foundation
- The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth through;
- the Youth Services Grant Scheme administered by Pobal,
- the Youth Climate Justice Scheme administered by the Youth Affairs Unit,
- the Youth Funding Capital Grant Programme administered by the Department,
- the Youth Information Centre Scheme administered by the City of Dublin Youth Services Board.
- The Department of Health through the Sláintecare Integration Fund, administered by Pobal
- Rethink Ireland through the Innovate Together Fund
- Community Foundation Ireland through the COVID-19 Fund
Legal Entity
spunout.ie and 50808 are registered trading names and projects of Community Creations CLG.
spunout is currently one of two projects being run by Community Creations CLG, along with 50808 https://text50808.ie/
Complaints
We take all feedback seriously, especially complaints. If you have a comment about any aspect of our work, including fundraising, you can contact Community Creations CLG by email, phone or in writing.
Please give us as much information as possible and let us know how you would like us to respond, providing relevant contact details for yourself. We aim to respond to all complaints within five working days.
You can email us at: [email protected] or [email protected]
You can phone us at: 01 675 3554
Or you can write to us at:
Complaints
spunout or 50808
Sean MacBride House
48 Fleet Street
Dublin 2, D02 T883.
If you make a complaint relating to fundraising activities that we cannot resolve to your satisfaction, the next level of the complaints procedure is to contact the Monitoring Group of the Statement of Guiding Principles for Fundraising. You can email the group at [email protected]
Any and all matters of illegality will be addressed immediately to An Garda Síochana.
