The International Paralympic Committee has posted a profit of just over €15,000 ($12,900) for the 2020 financial year, despite a drop in revenue of 26.7 per cent compared to 2019.
The revenue drop was caused primarily by a 91.3 per cent decrease in income from specific projects – this sector was understandably heavily impacted by the delay of the scheduled Tokyo 2020 Paralympics (alongside the Olympics) by 12 months, as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic swept through Asia early last year.
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With this 12-month delay to an event that is the IPC’s biggest revenue driver in mind, the governing body then instructed all internal departments to reduce their budgets by at least 20 per cent, in order to achieve a profit despite the substantial drop in revenues.
These figures have been recorded in the IPC’s annual report, released over the weekend.
In terms of the income that was secured, the total revenue came to €19.276 million.
The biggest single source (by far) was marketing and broadcasting, with that sector generating €14.2 million, up year-on-year by over €1.5 million.
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By GlobalDataExternal grants came to €2 million while broadcasting projects generated €870,000.
Expenditure, meanwhile, totalled €19.261 million, of which over €3 million was through the allocation of reserve funds to help the organisation deal with the financial chaos caused by the pandemic.
The income derived from the Tokyo Paralympics, which took place in August and September this year, will be shown in the 2021 IPC accounts.
Andrew Parsons, the IPC’s president, said in the report: “In 2020, the pandemic meant the IPC faced our biggest crisis to date…
“Thanks to a herculean effort by the whole team and cost-savings across the organisation, the IPC finished the financial year with a balanced budget achieved without the need for any external financial support, a tremendous achievement by all concerned.”
Aside from the organisation’s finances, the report also stated that the IPC is currently developing a strategic plan for 2023-26, which it claims will focus on a more sustainable way to develop Para sports.
