Uniquely among its peers, Tate raises the majority of its revenue from self-generated income, and Trustees would like to express enormous gratitude to the many individuals, sponsors, trusts and public bodies from all over the world who have supported Tate in these last two years. Although we are proud of Tate’s entrepreneurial flair, we strongly support the aim of complementing these skills with strong financial management so that maximum value is gained from each public and private pound earned by, or donated to, Tate. Under continuing pressure from government to reduce the cost of public bodies, we were pleased to make our contribution to a project called Effective Tate, which was initiated and concluded between 2004 and 2006, and which reviewed the effectiveness of many areas at Tate, exploring ways in which cost could be reduced.
One of the consequences of the high proportion of Tate’s self-generated income is a vulnerability to economic downturn and achieving break-even in 2005–6 was encouraging given the impact of the tragic bombing of London on 7 July 2005. This was in no small part due to the continuing success of Tate Enterprises Limited, the trading arm of Tate. Trustees’ thanks go to the many staff and to the gallery visitor service teams whose high standards of customer care are key to these results.
In a further effort to improve effectiveness, a governance review was initiated and concluded in 2004, and Trustees continue to support the implementation of its findings. Significant steps have been taken to date and further improvements are planned; we have been pleased to work with the Charity Commission and DCMS on this. Trustees are committed to setting standards of effective governance in the sector and to maintaining public trust and confidence in the probity, transparency and accountability of Tate.
