Transparency and Publications

The Charities Governance Code outlines the minimum standards charities should meet in order to effectively manage and control their charity.

spunout has reported full compliance with the Charities Regulatory Authority Governance Code in Ireland. Our most recent annual declaration of compliance was on 31 October 2024.

spunout is guided by our strategic plan Supported to Thrive: Strategy 2027, which sets out our vision, strategic goals, priority action areas, enablers and our commitment to young people across Ireland. This plan informs everything we do – from digital mental health information and support to youth engagement and innovation. We report on our progress to our Board of Directors at each of their meetings and each year in our Annual Report.

You can view our current strategy here.

spunout is a non-profit organisation. Our legal entity is Community Creations which is a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity. Our Company Registration Number is 384783. Our Charity Registration number is 20057923.

spunout Board of Directors

Our Board of Directors provides strategic leadership, governance, and oversight of the work we do at spunout. Board members are appointed for up to two terms of three years. Two members of the Board are elected from our Youth Action Panel, reflecting our commitment to meaningful youth participation. The Board can co-opt members to bring in specific skills and is supported by standing sub-committees focused on areas like risk, finance, fundraising, people, safeguarding and quality. Together, they ensure we stay accountable, values-led, and focused on delivering impact for young people.

You can find more information on the Board of Directors and a list of our current Board Members here.

spunout Youth Action Panel

The spunout Youth Action Panel is a group of 100+ 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 more information on the Youth Action Panel and a list of our current Youth Action Panel members here.

In 2024, we spent €3,343,002 out of a total income of €3,381,664.

Staff costs, professional services and marketing costs were our most significant areas of expenditure during 2024.

We are a triple-locked member of the Charities Institute Ireland. This means we are committed to best practice in transparency, accounting, fundraising and governance.

Triple Lock Standard is awarded annually to charities that demonstrate the highest standards of transparency, governance, and ethical fundraising.

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 CRA Governance Code.

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. spunout is among the 10% of charities in Ireland preparing their accounts using SORP.

A signed copy of our Statement of Guiding Principle of Fundraising can be viewed here.

We have produced a Donor Charter outlining our commitment to users, donors and funders, which can be read here.

The Board consider the remuneration paid to the CEO to be the total remuneration paid to key management personnel. The total remuneration paid to the CEO in the year was €78,286 (2022: €76,095).

No full-time employee was paid less than €30,000 per annum. You can find out more about our current staff members here.

Our main funders in 2024 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;
  • Youth Services Grant Scheme
  • Youth Climate Justice Scheme
  • Youth Funding Capital Grant Programme
  • Youth Information Centre Scheme
• The Department of Health through the Sláintecare Integration Fund
• Rethink Ireland through the Innovate Together Fund
• Community Foundation Ireland through the COVID-19 Fund
• Pobal through the Scheme to Support National Organisation
• Lakeside Funding

Throughout 2024, we were honoured to be chosen as the charity partner with the following:

• 48
• AIB
• Accenture
• Schuh
• Ireland Inc. Digital
• Google

See here for further information.

In 2024, we recorded a total of 697,494 visits to the spunout site from people based in Ireland. Each of these represents a step towards fulfilling our ongoing mission to work collaboratively with young people to support our mental health and wellbeing. We do this by creating evidence-based, person-centred digital solutions and safe, validating support spaces.

In 2024, spunout continued to expand its reach and impact. We hosted 1,664,496 website sessions, including 697,494 sessions from Ireland. Through our Youth Information Chat service, we supported 2,234 individuals, and our Text About It service facilitated 45,000 conversations, providing critical support to 23,195 texters. Of these, 598 conversations required Emergency Service Interventions for texters in crisis situations.

On social media, spunout achieved 3.2 million views on TikTok, with 1.3 million views on Instagram, marking substantial growth in engagement across platforms. In total, our content on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok was viewed over 4.5 million times.

Our work continues to be powered by a community of dedicated volunteers. In 2024, 334 volunteers actively contributed to the Text About It service, ensuring young people had access to immediate and compassionate support.

For more insights into our achievements, you can access our Annual Report for 2024.

This year, spunout received an 89% satisfaction score for the quality of our youth information content, with 70% of readers reporting that our resources helped them feel more informed and 58% stating that spunout enabled them to make more informed decisions.

For Text About It, 85% of texters rated the service as helpful, and 73% received a response within five minutes of reaching out. Additionally, our Youth Information Chat service achieved a 78% satisfaction score in 2023.

“I was so hard on myself after engaging in self-harming activities, and they comforted me and helped me get the help I need. Thank you for keeping me alive.” – ‘Sarah’, 14, Cork.

“They were really helpful and gave me all the information I needed. Great service.” – ‘Quinn’, 24, Donegal.

“Youth Information Chat were really nice and helpful and they clearly care” – ‘Nat’, 18, Co. Mayo.

“Thank you very much, our conversation helped me feel much better, and now I think I can start working on trying to make myself better.”

– Anonymous.

“When I was in my worst times, spunout helped me feel I wasn’t alone.”

– Anonymous.

We take all feedback seriously, especially complaints. If you have a comment about any aspect of our work, including fundraising, you can contact spunout 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]

You can phone us at: 01 675 3554

Or you can write to us at:

Complaints

spunout

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 Audit, Finance and Fundraising Sub Committee. You can email the group at [email protected]

Any and all matters of illegality will be addressed immediately to An Garda Síochana.

The gender pay gap (GPG) is the difference in the average hourly pay of men and women in an organisation, irrespective of the nature of the work. The GPG is expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings, and the GPG data captures insights as to women’s representation across an organisation. While a GPG cannot determine whether men and women are being paid unequally for the same work, or whether they are subject to bias and discrimination, a GPG typically indicates that men and women are not equally represented at the different levels of an organisation.

The Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 requires organisations to publicly report on their hourly GPG across a range of metrics. In 2025, this became a requirement for organisations with more than 50 employees. Based on a snapshot date in June, employers must publish mean, median and quartile GPGs in November, as well as a narrative including reasons why there is a GPG and the measures being planned to reduce or eliminate these differences.

As an organisation with 53 employees, 2025 is the first year that spunout has been required to publish information on our GPG.

Definitions

Gender Pay Gap (GPG)

The GPG is the difference on average across a population between men’s and women’s pay. The GPG is usually represented as the average difference in gross hourly earnings of men and of women, expressed as a percentage of men’s average gross hourly earnings. A GPG which is positive indicates that, on average across the employed population, women are in a less favourable position than men. Where the GPG is negative, this indicates the reverse – that, on average, men are in a less favourable position than women. 

Mean

All salaries are converted to an hourly rate and added up for males and females respectively. The difference between the mean (average) pay for male and female colleagues is then calculated and expressed as a percentage of men’s pay. If this figure is positive, the average hourly rate of males is higher than the average hourly rate of females on the snapshot date.

Median

All male and female salaries are converted to hourly rates and listed from the highest to lowest paid respectively. The difference between the median hourly rate of males and females is expressed as a percentage of men’s median pay. This can provide a more accurate representation of the ‘typical’ differences in pay. 

Quartile Pay Bands

Pay quartiles are calculated by splitting all employees in an organisation into four even groups according to their level of hourly pay. Looking at the proportion of men and women in each quartile gives an indication of the gender representation at different levels of the organisation. 

spunout 

spunout is Ireland’s youth information and support platform, working towards an Ireland where all young people are supported and empowered to thrive. Through our platform and channels, spunout shares trusted information on mental health and wellbeing. We provide immediate, free and anonymous text support to anyone who wants to talk. We share the stories and experiences of young people across Ireland to amplify young voices, and so that we all feel a little less alone. We can also connect people to trusted services and resources around the country for further support. 

Some of the services that we provide include:

spunout Information

spunout is a trusted, factual, non-judgemental information resource for young people living in Ireland

Text About It

Text About It is a free, anonymous, 24/7 messaging service providing everything from a calming chat to immediate support for our mental health and emotional wellbeing.

Youth Information Chat Service

Youth Information Chat is a free, one-on-one chat service available weekday evenings for information, advice and guidance. Professional Youth Information Officers answer questions on topics like accommodation, education, employment, social protection and more.

Voices by spunout

spunout Voices is a people-powered online platform, amplifying our opinions, experiences and perspectives for the benefit of our peers.

spunout Academy

spunout Academy is an online learning platform to engage in self-directed courses across a range of skill areas.

spunout Navigator

spunout Navigator connects young people with reliable, relevant mental health and wellbeing resources based on our specific, individual needs.

spunout works collaboratively with young people to support mental health and wellbeing. A community of young contributors and volunteers powers our services, guides the work we do, and ensures we stay true to our values and mission. 

Employment Profile 

The GPG reporting snapshot date for spunout was 25th June 2025. On this date the headcount of the organisation was 53 employees.

Gender Pay Gap Metrics 

All Employees on 25th June 2025

Gender Proportions – Contract Types

Mean and Median Gender Pay Gap and Pay Contract Type

Looking at the distribution of employees across the four Quartile Pay Bands helps us examine pay at different levels of the organisation. These Quartile Pay Bands show the distribution of male and female employees by Pay Band across the organisation. For there to be no GPG, you would expect to see the workforce demographics reflected more closely in each quartile.

Gender Proportions – by Quartile

Mean and Median Gender Pay Gap and Pay Band Quartiles

spunout does not have bonus payments or benefit in kind payments in place. Therefore, reporting on GPG bonus or benefits in kind is not applicable.

Analysis of difference 

The above analysis reveals a slight GPG in favour of men. We believe that this can be explained largely by the gender distribution of our employees. 

We have a workforce that is predominantly female (74% female to 26% male). This profile is typical of the charitable sector in Ireland, particularly in human health and social work activities. While there are more women working than men in all quartiles, the proportion of women working in the lowest three quartiles is significantly higher than men.  When looking at the entire organisation, this results in a higher average hourly pay for males. 

In addition, for the period analysed in 2025, four of the most highly remunerated specialist roles in the organisation (CEO, IT, Data Analyst and Head of Marketing) were filled by men. This impacted the overall GPG in spunout. However, the gender distribution of these roles has changed since the snapshot date.

Measures to reduce differences 

Pay grade scales

Consistent pay grade scales have been implemented in the organisation. This means that there are identical rates of pay for people in the same level roles. Furthermore, the pay grade scales mean that those at the same level will receive pay increases at the same pace.

Changes in personnel

As mentioned, two of the roles in the highest Quartile that were filled by men on the snapshot date are now filled by women. We expect this to result in a negative GPG in 2026.