Deaconess Foundation Annual Report – 2024 was a year of impactful growth

2024 was an exceptional year of growth for Deaconess Foundation. It was also the final year of the current strategic period. The work at Deaconess Foundation focused on four priorities: a bold influencer, a national actor, united Deaconess Foundation, and the work community of the future.

Ryhmä ihmisiä pöydän takana. Ympärillä lippuviirejä.

Photo: Marissa Tammisalo.

The strategy, entitled Together the Boldest, was successfully implemented through both non-profit activities and business operations. During the strategy period, the Group’s operations expanded, financial results improved, and both client placements and staff numbers grew nationwide. Staff well-being and client satisfaction also remained high.

In 2024, the Foundation’s own contribution to human dignity work totalled €6.9 million. The Foundation also received project grants and donations of over €10 million in 2024. This enabled us to reach more than 130,000 people through our activities and to develop new, creative solutions for the needs of vulnerable people. The successful strategy period creates a strong basis for the future.

“Our aim is that the funds used for non-profit activities have an impact and bring about long-term positive change at an individual, community and societal level. Last year we invested particularly in social advocacy”, says CEO Olli Holmström.

Rinnekodit’s first full year

2024 was also the first full year of operations for Rinnekodit Ltd, which is wholly owned by the Deaconess Foundation. Despite the tight financial situation of the well-being services counties and challenges in the social and healthcare sector, Rinnekodit had a good year.

Dialogue with the well-being services counties was active, and we were able to respond to regional needs. Together with our staff, we also succeeded in significantly improving our operational efficiency. We improved administrative efficiency and filled client placements quickly. Reduced staff turnover significantly reduced the use of expensive agency staff. Operational efficiency did not compromise the quality of service. As proof of our good and sustainable work, Rinnekodit was awarded the Social and Health Quality Service (SHQS) certificate for social and health organisations. The social and health services of the Deaconess Foundation Group have been quality certified since 2002.

“We expected a much more difficult year for our social and health services. The credit for our success goes to our employees and especially to our line managers. A lot of work went into achieving this success, and I am truly proud of our results. For the Deaconess Foundation, a profitable business is a tool for human dignity activity. We use all profits from our business operations to benefit vulnerable people and to develop our work,” says Holmström.

“Our Group employs 3,400 professionals nationwide, from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. At the core is the individual and bold work for human dignity. This unites the different operations of the Group and also invites our partners to join us.”

Sustainability across the organisation

At the Deaconess Foundation, sustainability is an integral part of our strategy and one of our core values (human dignity, charity and sustainability). Sustainability means building a world that is socially, economically and environmentally sustainable. We take responsibility for the impact of our actions at an individual, community, societal and environmental level.

Through our sustainability programme, we advanced the UN Sustainable Development Goals across the entire Group in four areas: increasing societal trust, ensuring staff well-being and competence, strengthening client participation and agency, and environmental responsibility.

“During the past year, we continued development work on sustainability knowledge, measurement and reporting. We organised management sustainability training and developed reporting to meet the requirements of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). We are committed to advancing sustainability goals, and this work continues with the entire staff,” Holmström explains.

Group’s key figures for 2024 (2023)

The Group’s revenue from ordinary activities in 2024 was €283M (€258M).
The Group’s surplus for the financial year was €18.8M (€5.9M)
The result from ordinary activities was a surplus of €3.6m (-€4.8m).
Market value of the Group’s investment securities at the end of 2024 was approximately €239M (€210M)
Investments €6.8M (€9.2M)
The Group’s equity ratio at the end of 2023 was 81% (81%)
Staff well-being 4.1/5 (4.1)
Client satisfaction NPS 58 (61)