Our performance

Starlight program reach

At the very heart of every Starlight decision is one question, "What is best for the children and young people Starlight supports?" During the past two years Starlight continues to make all decisions asking this same question.

Starlight is an essential service, and as in-hospital and community restrictions continued, Starlight programs were needed more than ever. This was not only for the children and young people we support but also for the health professionals who were facing unprecedented challenges. Starlight was there in any way we could to provide moments of fun and positive distraction supporting wellbeing and resilience.

To deliver Starlight programs to meet the growing need we must continue to expand our reach, which will require continued increases in our fundraising.

Amplifying our impact

Our Programs growth will be stronger over the next three years than it would have been without COVID-19, as our programs which "Transform" and "Connect" rebuild, and our new programs which "Entertain" grow. In 2021 these combined to deliver over 1.1M positive Starlight experiences to sick and hospitalised children and young people. More than double the prior year.

We know the quality and impact of our programs is high and we continue to invest in research to ensure what we do continues to be effective and efficient.

We are also committed to understanding and improving the impact of our Starlight programs.

We have completed two Social Return On Investment studies (SROI) to quantify our impact and community value.

2021 Income and expenses

In 2021 Starlight earned fundraising income of $37million. While our fundraising was down vs our 3-year plan, it has increased 25% vs 2020. We saw a return to some event fundraising and a focus on digital peer-to-peer.

Expenses over the same period were $38million.

Program spend disappointingly remained constrained by COVID-19 restrictions across the country.

2021 Program spend

With ongoing restrictions to program delivery holding program spend at levels similar to 2020 and fundraising increasing, the % of expenditure on programs for 2021 sits at 50.6% (57.7% in 2020).

It is important to note, we finished the year with 956 children waiting for their Starlight Wish to be granted, and this equates to $6.2M or a further 17.1%

We received $2,743,067 total value of donated goods and services used in program delivery.

This includes:

• Volunteer hours - significantly down due to Covid-19 restrictions

• Toys, games from amazing partners like EB Games and art supplies for our Starlight Express Rooms and Livewire.

Thank you to all our volunteers and all who have donated other goods and services critical for program delivery.