CASSH 2018: feeling the squeeze

It's that time of year again, where "charities" are forced to release their annual accounts, and semi-numerate baboons such as your humble correspondent paw through the numbers to try to uncover a story. Today's tale is about "Consensus" Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH).

I have perused the CASSH 2018 accounts and noted in passing that no-one actually checks them. They're still referring to Blood Pressure (UK) as charity number 1059844 (page 2) - this is actually Wetherby Sports Association, they actually meant 1058944. I'm not surprised that the Charity Commission doesn't apply this level of rigorous scrutiny, but it's an interesting data point.

Anyhoo, the CASSH accounts are 50 pages long, and at least 30 pages is tedious self-promo on their salt- and sugar-related activities. News flash, people - nobody cares. The Charity Commission is skipping right to the end to check out the numbers, as did I.

And oh, what numbers. Props to CASSH for cutting their coat according to their cloth, they've basically halved spending on their main "awareness" activities year-on-year; £141K vs £251K. Nevertheless, their reserves dropped from £564K to £483K - down 15% in one year. Their accounts note:

A delay in payment of a large expected donation this Financial Year, plus the return to work of two employees who had been on maternity leave (with reduced pay), accounts for a deficit in income and a surplus expenditure, prompting action by Trustees. The Trustees reviewed the financial position and agreed to release funds from the reserves to cover all core salary costs until such time as the funding gap was filled, expected March 2019.

Hmm. And so we'll see a corresponding rebound in next year's accounts? Colour me sceptical.

Even with a sudden donation increase from £4K to £56K, and the aforementioned throttling of expenditure, the charity is still spending way more than it receives. Unless they can latch on to the teat of a government entity, they're going to run out of money in a few years. It turns out, shockingly, that most people don't really care about sugar and salt consumption, at least not to the point of spending their own money to reduce that consumption in others. Revealed preferences, darlings!

Good luck for 2019, CASSH. Looks like you'll need it.

No cash for CASH

For those following along with our previous adventures with the prodnoses of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) their 2014 accounts make an entertaining read, with not a little schadenfreude.

Deprived of the £100K that our friends at the Marcela Trust sent in their direction in 2013, via OMC Investments, their fairly steady expenditure rate of £150K per year is maintained this year, but since their income was £30K rather than £140K they ended up with a £120K deficit in spending, eroding their capital down to £766K. At this rate, in 6-7 more years they will be out of funds and out of luck. It seems that no-one really likes CASH or wants to give them money in any quantity - at least, not while the world is watching.

The note in the "Movement in funds" section on p.33 is amusing:

The designated fund will provide working capital to the charity to enable it to continue its unique activities whilst the trustees implement their fundraising strategy.

Yes, I'd be interested in what that strategy is going to be. Are they going to try to tap government funds in the classic fakecharity game - lobby the government to give them money to lobby the government? I'll be watching the CASH website and their subsidiary organisation Action on Sugar to see what they're up to.

Now CASH are going after beer

Dear little green apples, it seems that our beer is too sugary:

Cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra said: ‘The levels of sugar in some of these drinks is quite staggering.
'There's nothing wrong with the occasional drink but unfortunately we are consuming much more than is good for us.' Dr Malhotra said alcohol-related ill health is costing the NHS £3.3 billion a year.

Nine teaspoons of sugar in a pint of real ale, apparently. Whoop de doo. That's about 36 grams, or two and a half tablespoons. And on the (unsourced) £3.3 billion, I note that alcohol duty is £10-11bn so it would seem to be more than covering its alleged costs.

Who is cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra? Oh look, he's listed as one of Action on Sugar's medical advisors:

Dr Aseem Malholtra, Cardiologist and Science Director of Action on Sugar

And yet, he doesn't publicise any academic connection unlike most of the Action on Sugar advisors. How curious. He's a HuffPost contributor who identifies as "Cardiologist and writer with a special interest in improving the nation's diet". A bit of digging indicates that he's a cardiology registrar at Croydon University Hospital. I'm sure he's a perfectly good registrar but, let's face it, CUH is not known as one of the great medical research establishments. Even his BMJ article is "Observations", not a research paper.

So CASH/Action on Sugar's science director seems to be a rather second-rank medic. Shallow calling unto shallow, I guess.

Action on Sugar - the revenge of CASH

I've been vaguely following the UK War On Sugar, but not paying much attention. However, Simon Clark at Taking Liberties spotted that Action on Sugar have more than a passing connection to our Marcela Trust funded friends at CASH:

The [actiononsugar.org] link takes you to the website for Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) so when Action on Sugar say "staff share other research projects" I imagine that's what they mean.

And indeed, here's the relevant "whois actionsugar.org" information:

Domain Name:ACTIONONSUGAR.ORG
Created On:02-Oct-2013 15:03:20 UTC
Last Updated On:02-Dec-2013 03:45:39 UTC
Expiration Date:02-Oct-2015 15:03:20 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:8259a6739c6b982d
Registrant Name:Katharine Jenner
Registrant Organization:Consensus Action on Salt and Health
Registrant Street1:Wolfson Institute; Charterhouse square; Queen Mary Universit
Registrant Street2:London
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Queen Mary University of London
Registrant State/Province:London
Registrant Postal Code:ec1m 6bq
Registrant Country:GB
Registrant Phone:+44.2078826018
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:cash@qmul.ac.uk

Back in 2012 I probed into CASH which turned up the Marcela Trust as a funding source. What's happened in the past year?

CASH's 2012-2013 report drops hints that their interests are broadening out from salt to include sugar (sugar-sweetened beverages in particular) and saturated fats. Their registered charity number is 1098818 which let me find their end of 2013 accounts:

• CASH doesn't seem to be very popular in terms of public donations, and their finances aren't looking that good: total income for the year was £141,335 (2012: £261,590) and expenditure was £140,490 (2012: £169,750)
• OMC Investments Ltd (proxy for the Marcela Trust) gave them £200K in 2012, but only £100K in 2013. Perhaps they didn't like the publicity that they got last year... Note that they're still 70% of CASH's funding.
• The rest of their income is made up of donations (4k), interest (17K), fund generating activities (17K) and "other" (2K). Their interest is basically 2% on £880K of funds.
• The British Heart foundation gave them 30K in 2012 but nothing in 2013.
• CASH shifted 300K of cash into long-term investments during the year.

Looks like CASH can run for a few years on their reserves, but without continuing OMC (Marcela Trust) investments, they're screwed.

actiononsugar.org domain registrant and nutritionist Katharine Jenner is quite the campaigner:

Katharine is a Registered Public Health Nutritionist and the Campaign Director of the award winning salt reduction charity CASH (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) and its international arm WASH (World Action on Salt and Health) [...] Katharine worked as a media strategist for several years and as such is very interested in developing innovative approaches to communicating public health.

Specifically, banning salt, sugar, and who knows what else...

I wondered how CASH got their 880K in funds so I dug back a few years.

• In 2009 they went from 200K to 370K via 240K in "voluntary income" which include 200K from OMC.
• In 2010 OMC pitched in another 200K, and the British Heart Foundation 90K
• In 2011 OMC pitched in 200K and the BHF 60K.

One is left with the inescapable conclusion that CASH (and hence actiononsugar.org) is principally a lobbying arm of the Marcela Trust, funded through OMC Investments. Don't put sugar in the tea you offer Dawn Pamela Rose from the Marcela Trust, she'll tell you that she's sweet enough.