The future looks “positive” for the Interlink Foundation, the umbrella organisation for strictly Orthodox charities, after two years of deficit.

Addressing Interlink’s annual meeting, held in Stamford Hill and attended by over 100 charity representatives, trustee Rabbi Aba Dunner said a lot of hard work had been done to generate fresh income.

“Services have not been cut. Things are looking positive. Working as a strategic partner with the government allows us to expand our work and put funding problems behind us for the time being. We’ve raised a fantastically phenomenal amount of money.”

Defending the introduction of charges for services, Rabbi Dunner said: “It’s not to put money in our pockets but to carry on the work we are doing.”

Over the year, Interlink raised more than £2.2million for the 74 charities it supports. It spends just £5,500 on fundraising and publicity.

It has also run 16 training courses on finance, governance, administration and legal requirements, provided accredited child protection training for 54 people and held 15 training days, explaining Orthodox Judaism to the public sector.

But grants and donations dropped by almost 20 per cent between 2008 and 2009 and the organisation has recorded a £10,000 deficit for each of the last two years.

The guest speakers were Robert Craig, chairman of the Jewish Museum and Jewish Association for the Physically Handicapped, and Selvin Brown, of the race equality and diversity division of the Department of Communities. Both praised Interlink for functioning efficiently on a “shoestring budget”.