Finances
eco looks back on a very positive financial year. We are pleased to report that 2025 was concluded with a significant surplus against budget.
In 2025, eco gained 38 new members, whose membership fees amounted to just under €93,000. Unfortunately, however, this growth was unable to offset the cancellations from the previous year, resulting in an overall reduction in membership fee income of 3.6 per cent in total, to €1,962,033.
On the other hand, revenue from the Certified Senders Alliance (CSA) developed positively once again and increased by 1.1 per cent to €1,146,797.
As in previous years, other revenue includes, among other things, recharged benefits in kind, personnel costs and the reimbursement of expenses. It also includes income from the “eco External Data Protection Officer” service as well as newly added revenue from the subcontract “Learn2RAG”. Competitiveness requires efficient use of data. Learn2RAG investigates how Retrieval-Augmented Generation and new AI methods can improve the use of large language models in SMEs.
Overall, eco recorded a decline in revenue of just under 10.9 per cent compared with the previous year. This is due in particular to the expiry of two funded projects (Tango and FAME) in 2025, as well as the postponement of a major event as part of the FACIS funded project. As a result, funding revenues stood at €971,857, around 29.2 per cent below the previous year’s level.
The following table shows the financial results of the eco Association results:
Profit and Loss for the Financial Year 2025
| eco e.V. | Actual Value 2025 | Share in per cent | Actual Value 2024 | Change from the preceding year in per cent | Plan 2026 | Share in per cent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | |||||||
| Member fees | 1,962,033 | 44.4% | 2,036,325 | -3.6% | 2,012,600 | 46.6% | |
| CSA | 1,146,797 | 25.9% | 1,134,460 | 1.1% | 1,207,404 | 28.0% | |
| Event revenue | 41,125 | 0.9% | 81,861 | -49.8% | 37,800 | 0.9% | |
| Funding proceeds | 971,857 | 22.0% | 1,371,986 | -29.2% | 813,134 | 18.8% | |
| Other revenue* | 298,300 | 6.7% | 336,137 | -11.3% | 248,273 | 5.7% | |
| Total revenue | 4,420,112 | 100.0% | 4,960,769 | -10.9% | 4,319,211 | 100.0% | |
| Costs | |||||||
| Personnel costs | -2,665,010 | 60.8% | -2,925,718 | 0.6% | -2,589,067 | 60.3% | |
| Further education costs | -30,286 | 0.7% | -13,454 | -3% | -26,400 | 0.6% | |
| External service providers | -647,141 | 14.8% | -1,117,909 | -36% | -732,582 | 17% | |
| Travel costs | -111,382 | 2.5% | -129,368 | 8% | -138,437 | 3.2% | |
| Administrative costs | -430,290 | 9.8% | -365,331 | 9% | -427,104 | 9.9% | |
| Marketing/Projects | -103,302 | 2.4% | -406,512 | -63% | -162,370 | 3.8% | |
| Business Enabling | -117,204 | 2.7% | -288,111 | -49.3% | -131,756 | 3.1% | |
| Other** | -239,943 | 5.5% | -223,824 | 19.4% | -48,260 | 1.1% | |
| Depreciation and amortisation | -40,299 | 0.9% | -53,968 | -27.2% | -41,102 | 1% | |
| Total costs | –4,384,856 | 100.0% | -4,953,900 | -11.4% | -4,297,079 | 100.0% | |
| EBIT | 35,256 | 6,869 | 413.3% | 22,132 | |||
| Interest and similar income | 111,287 | 51,527 | |||||
| Taxes | -22,690 | -44.122 | -48.6% | -20,000 | |||
| Net profit/loss for the year | 123,853 | 14,274 | 767.7% | 2,132 | |||
| Neutral income | 1,421,146 | 1,722,311 | -17.5% | 0 | |||
| Neutral expenditure | -1,421,146 | -1,722,311 | -17.5% | 0 | |||
| Net profit/loss for the year after FACIS | 14,274 | 14,274 | 767.7% | 2,132 |
** Other costs: e.g. value adjustments of open items, disbursed costs, etc.
Despite increased travel and administrative costs, eco was able to reduce its total costs by 11.5 per cent. Administrative costs, comprising premises costs, vehicle costs, insurance, ICT costs, as well as costs for financial accounting, tax advisory and legal advice, increased by 8 per cent compared to the previous year. This development is attributable primarily to the increase in premises costs (rent and repairs) and licence costs. The expiry of the funding projects enabled a significant reduction in expenditure on marketing and events, as well as on external service providers. Similarly, efficiency improvements in the procurement of external resources have had a positive impact on cost development.
Furthermore, the reduced use of transfer services (Business Enabling) had a markedly positive impact on the association’s overall costs.
Expenditure on marketing and events comprised event costs, sponsorship costs, representation costs and public relations costs. Other expenditure consists of reimbursed costs and impairments of outstanding receivables.
Despite the 59 cancellations of member companies, some of which will not take effect until 2026, eco anticipates a positive result in the 2026 budget.
