## **Annual Report and Financial Statements** Year ended 31 March 2024
Registered Company: 3451979 Registered Charity: 1065552
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## **The Nationwide Foundation’s trustees’ report for the year ending 31 March 2024**
## **About the Nationwide Foundation**
The Nationwide Foundation is an independent charity that improves the lives of people in need, tackling the root causes of social problems that lead to disadvantage, poverty, and inequality. We do this by funding charitable causes and influencing for meaningful, long-term, and lasting change. We want to create a legacy, so that more people experience positive social outcomes in the future thanks to timely and innovative intervention today.
The Foundation’s strategy has evolved and changed significantly in the decades since the charity was set up, but its current focus is on housing and making the housing system work for all.
The Nationwide Foundation was established by Nationwide Building Society in 1997 as a fully independent charitable foundation. The Nationwide Foundation’s main benefactor is Nationwide Building Society, and it receives an annual donation.
## **Charitable objects**
The Nationwide Foundation was established with the objects:
_“To promote such purposes being exclusively charitable according to the law of England and Wales as the trustees shall from time to time determine. In carrying out the objects the Foundation may make and receive donations.”_
## **Decent Affordable Homes strategy overview**
The Nationwide Foundation believes that everyone should have access to a decent home that they can afford. The Nationwide Foundation uses its knowledge, networks, and funding to influence changes to the housing system and achieve its aim of increasing the availability of decent affordable homes for people in need.
The Nationwide Foundation is committed to its Decent Affordable Homes strategy, which started in 2013 and is due to run until at least 2031. This is in recognition of the severity of the housing crisis and the significant changes needed to transform the housing system so that it works for everyone.
The strategy has progressed in phases: the first ran from 2013-2016; phase two from 2016-2022; and in 2022 the Nationwide Foundation entered its third phase, which it has been focused on throughout 2023/24. In the year ahead, the Foundation will commence the development of phase four of its strategy.
## **Public benefit**
To be able to thrive, we all need a home that is decent, secure, and affordable. Yet the lack of decent, affordable housing is one of the most pressing social problems facing the UK today, impacting the mental and physical health of individuals, families, communities and society at large.
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The UK is facing a long-term housing crisis: homeownership is increasingly unaffordable; there is a severe shortage of social housing; and the options available in the private rented sector are often unaffordable and of poor quality. The high cost of housing in many areas is a direct cause of poverty and homelessness, and poor-quality housing is causing real harm to the health of individuals and families. The lack of decent and affordable homes is trapping people in an endless cycle of poverty - narrowing, or even blocking, the pathways available to people to improve their health, and achieve aspirations for employment, education and family life.
The Nationwide Foundation understand that the conditions, stability and cost of housing have farreaching impacts on the quality of people’s lives. What is more, those who are vulnerable are most deeply affected by the damaging impacts of inadequate housing, while at the same time, are often those with the least resource available to proactively change the housing system.
We know the housing system is failing, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The Nationwide Foundation’s Decent Affordable Homes strategy tackles the root causes of the housing crisis by engaging with and/or funding the right experts, academics, policymakers and activists to increase the availability of decent and affordable homes for all who need them. We are grateful for their expertise and commitment to change.
The Nationwide Foundation’s trustees refer to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Nationwide Foundation’s aims and objectives, in planning future activities, setting grant-making policy and making funding decisions.
## **Summary of the year**
In 2023/24, the Nationwide Foundation continued to deliver phase three of its Decent Affordable Homes strategy. The object of phase three is to build on the progress of the second phase, which generated a host of useful evidence about the housing system, and to generate interest in that evidence amongst key decision-makers so that it is used to inform policymaking.
The Nationwide Foundation has increased influencing activity in its own right, while continuing to support the campaigning of its funded partners. Exploring the Nationwide Foundation’s capacity to influence, and assessing the impact of this work, is key to phase three of the strategy, and will continue to be a key focus for the year ahead. Some projects which began in phase two have also continued into phase three, continuing to gather and use evidence.
## **Learning and evaluation**
Learning is a vital part of phase three of the Decent Affordable Homes strategy. The Nationwide Foundation seeks to gain an understanding of how its work and the work of its funded partners is influencing wider change across the housing system and so has partnered with an external organisation, The Curiosity Society to understand three key questions:
1. What system change is and how it happens
2. How the work we are doing is influencing change
3. How we can apply learning to our future work
This learning will be used to make evidence-led decisions about what the Nationwide Foundation and others do next. We will do this by looking for indicators of what has helped or hindered progress, and
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by focusing on trying to understand how progress happened, the paths to systems change can be made clearer.
In 2023/24, the Nationwide Foundation and The Curiosity Society have continued to gather the experience and knowledge of the Foundation’s funded partners and stakeholders. Our learnings will be useful not only for our team and trustees and funded partners of the Nationwide Foundation, but for the wider housing and funding sector. Work has also begun on building understanding of the housing system itself, by mapping its complexities and revealing levers for change.
## **Grant-making policy**
The Nationwide Foundation’s trustees and staff strive for a robust, transparent governance and grant-making policy, including commitment to:
- Ensuring that the Nationwide Foundation’s funds are deployed for maximum benefit.
- Developing its funding programmes by incorporating research and learning.
The Nationwide Foundation:
- Seeks to fund work that addresses the root causes of social issues.
- Identifies specific funding criteria to make best use of the funds available; this is based on research, evaluations of previous work and stakeholder engagement.
- Awards funding to organisations delivering work in the UK.
The Nationwide Foundation is a Living Wage Friendly Funder and is committed to ensuring that fair wages are paid, as an obvious and simple way of helping to tackle poverty and disadvantage.
## **The Nationwide Foundation’s impact on the environment**
The Nationwide Foundation helps to reduce carbon emissions by:
- Making environmentally responsible decisions about travel, avoiding unnecessary travel and using public transport.
- Including environmental considerations in the Foundation’s investment policy.
- Supporting funded partners to make environmentally responsible decisions by ensuring that the level of funding awarded is not a barrier to doing so.
The Foundation is also conscious of the environmental impact of the projects it funds and the opportunity these present, not just to improve the housing system, but to provide benefit from an environmental perspective and adapt to the impacts that climate change may present.
One such example is WeCanMake, which enables council-owned land to be transferred into a community land trust to help people create homes on small parcels of land in a low-density housing estate. This project creates local homes that are low carbon, sustainable and built using local materials. With sustainability and the environment in mind, this means that WeCanMake is not just providing more homes, and creating local jobs, but also contributing to the fight against the climate emergency.
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As one of the Foundation’s three key programme areas, community-led housing also provides a significant opportunity for the Foundation to have a positive impact on the environment. Across the sector, developments within community-led housing often prioritise eco-friendly building practices, ensuring homes are built to high environmentally sustainable standards, promoting community cohesion and long-term sustainability.
Recent research funded by the Foundation and carried out by Dr Tom Archer and Ian Wilson at Sheffield Hallam University, explored the effects of high levels of energy efficiency, a predominant feature of new community-led homes. The research estimated that households in new communityled homes may be saving £490 on average per year, compared to equivalent EPC D-rated homes. While this has a significant cost-saving impact for residents, it also has a positive environmental impact too. The reduced need for fossil fuels for heating and lighting in energy efficient homes delivers environmental benefits, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, travel times, costs and associated carbon dioxide emissions may also be reduced if new community-led homes enable people to live closer to work, friends and family.
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## **Decent Affordable Homes Phase Three**
In 2022/23, the Nationwide Foundation refined its strategy as it moved fully into phase three of Decent Affordable Homes. While the overall strategic direction remained unchanged, the three highlevel pillars that initially outlined the phase three strategy were fine-tuned into five more detailed strategic objectives, outlined below. The Foundation has remained focused on this iteration of the strategy during 2023/2024:
Our purpose is to tackle the root causes of disadvantage, poverty, and inequality.
Our vision is for everyone in the UK to have access to a decent home that they can afford.
Our mission is to increase the availability of decent, affordable homes for people in need by using our funding and other assets to influence changes to the housing system.
Decent Affordable Homes phase three has three strategic priorities **:**
- Generating the evidence for meaningful ways to change the housing system, continuing support of work begun in phase two.
- Using the evidence to influence changes to the housing system.
- Increasing shared understanding of the housing system and how change happens, so that we and other change-makers are better informed to make decisions about where our contribution will have the most impact.
These are supported by five organisational objectives **:**
- Ensure the Foundation has the capabilities, capacity and confidence to deliver phase three of Decent Affordable Homes and beyond.
- Create an inclusive, efficient and empowered organisation where its staff and partners thrive.
- Embed learning into our governance and culture.
- Create collaborative and supportive partnerships based on trust and common purpose.
- Strengthen the Foundation’s profile and influence with key decision-makers.
## **Values**
The Nationwide Foundation’s values shape the decisions its staff make, from big to small. They reflect the way we have conversations, the way we work with others and individually, and the way we see the world. We believe our values help us achieve our mission: to increase the availability of decent affordable homes for people in need by using our funding and other assets to influence changes to the housing system.
The Nationwide Foundation’s values were established in 2022/23. They are:
We are courageous
Changing systems requires ambition, action and conviction. Driven by our mission and compassion, we take measured risks and bold steps to explore the system and to influence those with the power
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to change it. We are not afraid to ask difficult questions, to challenge our own thinking or to try an approach for the first time. We are independent thinkers who confront stereotypes, nurture innovation, and break down barriers in our work to make the housing system fairer for people in need.
We are collaborative
We value the experience, expertise and views of others. We believe that the greatest success comes from collaboration and in pursuing collective goals. To achieve this, we listen to voices from across the spectrums of backgrounds, politics and beliefs. We convene, connect and champion those diverse voices to learn from each other and influence change in the UK housing system. Committed to social justice and inclusivity, we are equitable, decent and empathic in all our dealings with others.
We trust
Our integrity, transparency and credibility mean that we are trusted for our knowledge. We do what’s right and take decisions by considering which action will lead to the greatest long-term improvement in the lives of people in need. In turn, we place trust in our colleagues and in our partners, creating an environment in which they have the space to do their best work.
We are evidence-led
Our work is led by evidence. With an open-minded approach to new ideas and the rigour to test them, we nurture innovation. Our work is focused through the lens of long-term systems change: we seek to understand what works, what doesn’t work and what we could do better. We learn from all that we do, reflect on our own work and turn our new understanding into action. Through sharing our insightful learning openly, we advance knowledge and help others to make a difference too.
We are committed
We believe that change is possible and that we can catalyse it. We know that change can take a long time, and we have the perseverance, patience and conviction to pursue long-term systems change. Our vision of a positive, hopeful future is clear in our minds. We are optimistic, but we are prepared for challenges along the way: by being creative and adaptable, we will find ways through difficulties.
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## **Activities and achievements in 2023/24 across phase three**
## **Grant-making**
In the year 2023/24, the Nationwide Foundation awarded £850,280 in grant funding across its three main programmes for work that aligned with the objectives of Decent Affordable Homes phase three. This figure includes grants awarded to existing phase three projects and for added-value grants, which are made to make the most of opportunities that arise to extend the reach of the funded work directly, or to support an organisation to build resilience or skills, so that it is better placed to deliver the funded work.
## **Influencing change**
Influencing key decision-makers and stakeholders is fundamental to achieving the Nationwide Foundation’s vision.
The Nationwide Foundation influences for positive change in two ways; indirectly, by funding others that share the Nationwide Foundation’s vision and partnering with funded partners to disseminate and amplify their evidence and learning; and directly, through its own activities, such as meetings, events, writing consultation responses, and engaging with governments and other stakeholders. The Nationwide Foundation also convenes and connects as a way of building consensus and voice across sectors and between stakeholders.
A key organisational objective of phase three of the Decent Affordable Homes strategy is to increase the stakeholder engagement and external affairs activity carried out by the Nationwide Foundation. In 2023/24, the Foundation has continued to support the influencing work of funded partners across all three of its programmes and has also raised its own profile amongst key stakeholders in the housing system.
Significantly, in 2023/24 the Nationwide Foundation developed its first manifesto-style document, titled ‘Decent and affordable homes for all: five proposals for a fairer housing system’. This document presents the Foundation’s recommendations to the new government to help achieve a fair housing system. Key to this, is the primary ask for the new government to make addressing the housing crisis a priority with a clear long-term vision for housing and a robust governance structure to drive action.
In the year ahead, the Foundation will use ‘our recommendations’ to influence policymakers and ultimately contribute to the long-term improvement of the housing system for people in need.
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## **The Nationwide Foundation’s Programmes**
## **Nurturing Ideas to Change the Housing System**
## **Activities, achievements and outcomes**
**The Nurturing Ideas to Change the Housing System programme ensures that ideas for protecting and creating decent, affordable homes flourish. And that these ideas can lead to an increased number of homes for people in need.**
## Ensuring that our homes support our health
The Nationwide Foundation continued to fund the Town and Country Planning Association’s Healthy Homes campaign, which sought to introduce a Healthy Homes Act to prevent the creation of poorquality, health-damaging housing. The campaign aims to implement 11 high-level principles for newbuild housing which, taken together, define what is meant by a decent home.
In September 2023, peers voted to support the Healthy Homes amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which set out a new regulatory framework for housing. However, when the Bill returned to the House of Commons through the parliamentary process, the government removed these amendments, deeming them too broad for the scope of the Levelling up Bill. Despite this, the work has sparked significant conversations on integrating health into housing policy, leading to numerous parliamentary debates and meetings with ministers, and has continued to influence key debates and discussions since. We are continuing to push for health to play a key part in housing policy, though additional legislative opportunities, as well as via a local policy approach.
## Accessing land to support the delivery of decent, affordable homes
Accessing land is one of the biggest barriers to building genuinely affordable homes, so it seeks to find ways to change the system to release suitable land more easily.
In Bristol, the Nationwide Foundation continued to fund WeCanMake, a project by Knowle West Media Centre that is pioneering an approach which enables council-owned land to be transferred into a community land trust to help people create homes on small parcels of land in a low-density housing estate. Homes are built using sustainable, local materials in response to specific housing need, such as overcrowding or homelessness. The ambition is to enable other areas in England to replicate this proven and tested model, through raising awareness amongst national and local powerholders, as well as community groups.
## Shifting public attitudes on housing
In February 2023, the Nationwide Foundation and its co-funder, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), launched the 'How to talk about Homes’ toolkit as part of its narrative change project. In 2023/24, the Foundation and JRF promoted the toolkit, including hosting a series of webinars and workshops delving deeper into the framing guidelines, and developing the suite of resources. The project is reaching a breadth of stakeholders in the housing space, who are adopting use of the How to Talk About Housing Frameworks; as well as deeper work with key strategic voices, for whom bespoke support is developed.
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## Driving forward ideas for greater affordability
In March 2020, the Nationwide Foundation funded the Affordable Housing Commission, which later produced a set of seminal reports in 2020/21 assessing problems with housing affordability in the UK and proposing solutions. Since then, the Foundation has been carrying out work focused on the report’s recommendations.
The first of these recommendations proposed replacing the current definition of ‘affordability’ with a definition linked to income, which would alleviate the reality of ‘affordable’ housing increasingly being unaffordable for many people. This year, the Foundation has supported a new report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which examined the genuine affordability of Affordable Rent schemes, which traditionally link the cost of rent to other privately-rented homes in the local area. This new report proposes a ‘Living Rent’ model, which would instead link rent levels to local incomes, as a viable alternative. The report also documents how some regional authorities are addressing their own affordability issues by creating policies and initiatives linking rents in some social housing schemes to local incomes, rather than the rental market.
Another recommendation from the Affordable Housing Commission reports referred to the creation of a national strategy for housing in England. Since 2023, the Nationwide Foundation has been working in partnership with the Church of England, who also called for such a strategy in its ‘Coming Home’ report. In 2023/24, this partnership grew to become a coalition, working with a cross-party steering group of peers, experts from across the wider housing sector, and lead researchers - the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence. Together, the coalition developed a vision for what a good housing system should look like for England, outlining 25 outcomes for our homes, housing market, housing systems, and policy, that would deliver affordable, accessible, secure, quality homes for everyone.
The main aims of this coalition, and the method for delivering the vision, include a cross-party commitment to a long-term strategy for England’s housing system; a system-wide approach to policy; and a new Housing Strategy Committee to guide and hold government to account. The coalition worked together to prepare for a launch in April 2024, with support from across the political spectrum, housing sector and beyond.
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## **Backing Community-Led Housing**
## **Activities, achievements and outcomes**
**The Backing Community-Led Housing programme is investing in the community-led housing sector to deliver more homes for people in need.**
Improving access to information, support, advice and technical expertise that is needed to progress a community-led housing scheme
As part of its work to support the strengthening of community-led housing infrastructure, the Nationwide Foundation continued to provide additional funding to the Community Land Trust Network (CLTN) to support its review of infrastructure provision across the UK. This will consolidate learning about what kind of infrastructure is needed so that the sector can be most effective, selfsustaining and deliver the most promising models to scale and grow.
## Influencing wider policy changes to support the community-led housing sector
The Nationwide Foundation and CLTN have continued to campaign in England for reinstatement of the Community Housing Fund or an alternative. Our work has included raising the profile of the fund at conferences, targeted meetings and asks of MPs, and maintaining strong links with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (at the time of writing, now the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).
A revised version of the National Planning Policy Framework was published in December 2023, containing several policy changes relevant to the community-led housing sector, most notably a new exception site policy specifically for community-led development. This is a big victory for the sector, something that the Foundation, alongside CLTN, its members and the wider sector have been lobbying for since 2010.
## Affordability research with Sheffield Hallam University
As the cost of materials, staffing and land rose in 2022/23 for all developers, the Nationwide Foundation commissioned Sheffield Hallam University to research current affordability within community-led housing.
In early 2024, the Nationwide Foundation published the results of this research, which concluded that community-led homes are highly affordable, with 91 per cent of the homes studied found to be genuinely affordable (cost below 35 per cent of household incomes), as well as having high levels of energy efficiency. This valuable evidence will now shape the Nationwide Foundation’s support of the community sector, in addition to helping the wider sector to consider future strategies.
## Taking community-led housing to the next level in Wales
In 2022/23, the Nationwide Foundation granted an additional three years of funding to Cwmpas, with the aim of building on its knowledge and growing reputation so that more groups take forward community-led housing schemes across Wales. In 2023/24, the Foundation has continued to
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collaborate with Cwmpas in strengthening support for community-led housing in Wales in partnership with the Welsh government.
In 2023, funding was also awarded to the Bevan Foundation to fund research into ways to unlock the supply of affordable land across Wales, enabling an in-depth examination of how land could be utilised to deliver more affordable homes across Wales. The Bevan Foundation will work with Housing Justice and Cwmpas to demonstrate the potential of church land and other socially-owned land to create high quality social or community-led homes.
## Boosting community-led housing in Scotland
In September 2023, the Nationwide Foundation announced a new partnership with the Scottish government to invest a total of up to £940,000 in two community-led housing organisations – Communities Housing Trust and South of Scotland Community Housing. The investment will help the Scottish government deliver good quality and genuinely affordable homes in Scotland and will offer support to both trusts until June 2026.
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## **Transforming the Private Rented Sector**
## **Activities, achievements and outcomes**
**The Transforming the Private Rented Sector programme wants to ensure the private rented sector provides which are more affordable, secure, accessible and better quality.**
Influencing private sector tenancy reform
In May 2023, the government released the long-awaited Renters (Reform) Bill, which began the parliamentary process. The Bill represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve the rights and protections given to private renters in England. It links clearly to the Nationwide Foundation’s long-term aim to strengthen the voice of renters and improve their protections from poverty and harm. Through its funded partner, the Renters’ Reform Coalition, and through its own direct activity, the Nationwide Foundation has been working to influence the Bill so that it can have as positive an impact as possible on the lives of renters, particularly those most in need. The focus is on addressing pressing issues within the sector, such as quality, safety, security of tenure and access to justice.
The basis for this work is the Renters’ Reform Coalition’s _Safe, Secure and Affordable Homes for All: A Renters’ Blueprint for Reform_ , which sets out solutions for reform shaped by the experiences of the renters with whom Coalition members work. Alongside this, the Foundation’s views are informed by our wider work on the private rented sector, including multiple research projects and work to promote tenant’s voice.
Additional funding has been agreed for the Renters Reform Coalition to continue to lead the campaign for change in the private rented sector during a critical period. Alongside ongoing influencing and campaigning around the RRB (or a similar future Bill proposed by a new government), the RRC will also have an important role to play in coordinating and undertaking wider and more varied campaigning to secure further changes for renters on affordability, quality and security.
Keeping the Renters (Reform) Bill in the spotlight
Throughout 2023/24, progression of the Bill was slow, leading to consistent pressure from the Foundation in the form of statements, blogs, and joint letters calling for the government to speed up its passing of the Bill and rethink the areas in which the Bill needs to be strengthened.
The Bill received its second reading in parliament in October 2023, with MPs debating the legislation for the first time. November 2023 saw the beginning of the committee stage of the Renters (Reform) Bill, in which the committee reviewed the Bill in full, as well as the additional amendments introduced by the government. During this stage, the Foundation’s interim CEO sat before the committee to explain how changes to the Bill could help ensure private renters have safe and secure homes.
## Sharing timely findings from Scotland
In 2023, the Foundation launched the third and final phase of its RentBetter research, which explores the impacts of 2017 tenancy reforms in Scotland on renters with lower incomes and those in housing need, as well as the experiences and future plans of landlords. This final phase seeks to answer fundamental questions, including finding out what difference the changes in the tenancy regime in Scotland have made since 2017, what impact rent controls in Scotland have had, what else is still to
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be achieved, and how might the system be improved further. The results of the research are expected to be released in Summer 2024.
The Foundation has continued to use the findings from the first two phases of research to influence change, including through meetings with key powerholders such as MPs and civil servants.
## Tenants’ voice projects
The Nationwide Foundation continued to fund seven tenant voice projects with the overall aim of empowering tenants and supporting them to make their voice heard in debates around private rented sector policy and practice. The projects are spread across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and use a variety of methods to engage renters and support them to have a voice.
This year, projects have achieved key policy wins at all levels of government: locally, regionally and nationally. All this work has been led by renters. Nationally, in Scotland, the funded project - hosted by the organisation Living Rent - was influential in extending key protections for tenants during the cost-of-living crisis and is now campaigning for long-term change to be delivered through the Scottish Housing Bill. Regionally, in Greater Manchester, the funded project - hosted by Greater Manchester Tenants Union - influenced the development of the Good Landlord Charter, which will be a voluntary landlord scheme with multiple criteria that demonstrates good landlord practice. And locally, in Bristol, the funded project - hosted by Shelter - directly informed Bristol Council’s Living Rent Commission recommendations into how to improve private renting in the city.
## Using evidence from place-based funding
Over the past 6 years, the Nationwide Foundation has funded Shelter to deliver the Fair Housing Futures project in Greater Manchester. This has brought together stakeholders from across the private rented sector in Greater Manchester and tested several pioneering projects to improve the private rented sector for the most vulnerable people. In the past year, learning from across the project has been used to influence policy and practice changes to private renting.
The project has now ended, and an evaluation of the project will be published in June 2024. Additional funding has been awarded to Shelter to deliver community organising with renters, continuing the work for Fair Housing Futures and promoting its calls for policy change locally, regionally and nationally.
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## **Future Plans**
## **Strategic focus**
The Nationwide Foundation’s strategic focus during 2024/25 will be on delivering phase three of the Decent Affordable Homes strategy, while commencing development of phase four. This will include:
- Delivery of the strategic priorities of the Decent Affordable Homes phase three, ensuring that funded projects from phase two continue to generate and use evidence to give these projects the best chance of success. These projects will receive both financial support and support using the Nationwide Foundation’s other resources, such as its staff, advice and convening power.
- Learning from funded projects to increase our knowledge and understanding of how systems change happens in the UK housing system and applying the learning to the development of the next phase of the strategy.
- Increasing and developing the Nationwide Foundation’s reputation and profile as a knowledgeable voice in systems change so that it is better able to contribute to making changes happen alongside its funded partners.
- Increasing the Foundation’s own impact and understanding of best practice in shaping positive change to the housing system. In July 2024, the Foundation launched ‘Decent and affordable homes for all: five proposals for a fairer housing system’ which it will use to influence policymakers and support the delivery of its strategic plan.
## **Grant-making activities**
The Nationwide Foundation’s grant portfolio is mainly comprised of multi-year grants that will be ongoing during 2024/25. Some of these projects will receive additional funding under phase three to take them to the next level of generating more evidence and using what has been discovered. Work to be undertaken or completed by funded partners in 2024/25 includes:
## **Nurturing Ideas to Change the Housing System**
- The Nationwide Foundation will continue to call for a national strategy for housing in England, in coalition with the Church of England. This coalition launched its vision for a cross-party housing strategy in April 2024 and will continue to promote and build momentum to gain cross-party support following the general election and the establishment of a new government.
- With the support of the Nationwide Foundation, Knowle West Media Centre will continue to raise awareness of WeCanMake and encourage other areas to utilise its pioneering model for creating affordable homes.
- Housing Justice will continue to test and refine the Faith in Affordable Housing partnership model, improve access to and understanding of legal guidance, and influence denominations to put in place policies and processes that enable faith groups to turn land into affordable housing. It will also influence Welsh government to support more smaller affordable housing sites and conversions.
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- The ambition for the Talking about Housing project is that the framing is adopted, normalised and used by those voices pushing for change. In support of this, the Nationwide Foundation and co-funder JRF will continue to engage with key stakeholders, as well as seeking new relevant audiences. Work will continue on an indepth evaluation of the Talking about Housing project and recommendations will be made for the future iteration of the project, beyond its end date in January 2025.
## **Backing Community-Led Housing**
- The Nationwide Foundation and its funded partners within community-led housing will continue to campaign for sustainable funding of the sector, including a replacement for the Community Housing Fund in England. This will include further support to rollout a Community-Led Housing Growth Lab that has been developed by the Community Land Trust Network to develop a more effective and financially self-sustaining ecosystem of intermediaries capable of delivering community-led housing at a significant scale.
- Research by Leeds Community Homes, which began in 2022, will deliver recommendations for ways in which the community-led housing sector can support black and minority ethnic communities to create the affordable homes they want and need. The findings will be shared with sector representatives, funders and policy-makers at local, regional and national level, with the longer-term aim that more black and minority ethnic people access community-led housing.
- The Bevan Foundation will work with Housing Justice and Cwmpas to demonstrate the potential of church land and other socially owned land to create high quality social or community-led homes. By combining their collective voices, they hope to increase their ability to reach and influence a greater number of decision makers.
## **Transforming the Private Rented Sector**
- The Nationwide Foundation will continue to play an active role as a member of the Renters’ Reform Coalition to help shape the Renters (Reform) Bill and ensure it has the power to offer real protection for vulnerable renters in the private rented sector.
- The third wave of the RentBetter research into Scottish tenancy reforms will be released in 2024.
- The Nationwide Foundation will begin funding research into the English private rented sector. This builds on seminal analyses of the sector completed by Julie Rugg in 2018 and 2021. Phase one of the research will assess the private rented sector to identify where gaps in knowledge exist, and how research into these gaps could further the case for systemic change. Phase one will be published in September 2024, followed by phase two which will then complete further research on the identified areas.
- The seven tenant voice projects will continue empowering tenants and support them to have their voices heard in public housing debate.
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## **Future uncertainties**
The Nationwide Foundation is aware that the national and global context can affect our programmes. The following have been identified as potentially impacting on our and our funded partners’ work in 2024/25:
- The ongoing war in Ukraine may continue to increase prices and affect the capacity and resources of the government and other public sector bodies.
- The continued cost-of-living crisis and global economic uncertainty may increase homelessness and raise costs for projects.
- High levels of inflation and the cost of construction may affect the financing and affordability of community-led housing and other projects, as well as further reducing affordability for renters and home-buyers.
- Climate change is already having visible effects on the world and many aspects of our society are already having to adapt to the far-reaching and increasing effects of the climate crisis. Specifically, the foundation considers what impact the climate crisis could have on its work around healthy homes and the infrastructure needed to tackle the shortage of homes.
The Nationwide Foundation trustees and team will monitor these and other issues that arise and adapt accordingly.
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## **Structure, Governance & Management**
## **Governance**
The Nationwide Foundation:
- Is a company limited by guarantee (no. 3451979) and a registered charity (no. 1065552) which operates in accordance with its Articles of Association and Revised Memorandum.
- Is governed by a board of up to ten trustees which set the policies and strategy of the Foundation and approves large grants. During 2023/24 ten trustees served on the board.
- Has seven trustees who are appointed by the board, following open recruitment, and three trustees who are appointed by Nationwide Building Society.
- Can appoint trustees for up to three terms of three years, following the consideration and approval of the board. All trustees undergo an in-depth induction and are offered training as well as opportunities to attend meetings with funded organisations alongside Nationwide Foundation staff. The board typically meets four times a year, plus an annual strategic away day. In 2023/24 the board held all four meetings in person.
- Has trustee committees and in-year task and finish trustee groups, to which it delegates various aspects of the Nationwide Foundation’s work, with oversight and ratification of their decisions by the board:
1. Finance and risk committee (comprising five trustees, the chief executive and accountant): in 2023/24 this committee advised on audit, risk oversight, budget and investments.
2. Nominations and Remunerations Committee (comprising five trustees including the chair, vice-chair and at least one Society appointed trustee who is included in the quorum).
- Reviews its application of the Charity Governance Code every three years. This last took place in September 2022. The review concluded that the Foundation fully applies most of the recommended practices and its approach is in keeping with the spirit of the code. Actions were agreed to make improvements to recommended practices in relation to diversity. The next full review will take place in 2025.
- Undertakes an independent audit of its internal controls every three years. This last took place in 2023/2024 and assessed the key controls in place to ensure the Foundation delivers its strategic goals through its allocation of funding. The audit concluded a satisfactory result with no substantial findings. Minor improvements have been identified and will be implemented during 2024/25.
- Has a conflicts of interest policy for both trustees and staff and maintains a register of declarations that is regularly shared with the board. Trustees declare conflicts of interest at the start of each meeting and withdraw from decisions where there is a conflict. A code of conduct also exists for trustees.
- Reviews its governing document every three years. This last took place in 2019/20 and will next be reviewed as part of an external review of Nationwide Foundation’s governance to be undertaken during 2024/25.
Page 18
## **Risk management**
Trustees undertake an annual risk assessment exercise to review the major risks to which the Nationwide Foundation is exposed. During the year the trustees undertook a significant review of the risks the Nationwide Foundation currently faces and assessed the measures in place to deal with them. Trustees identified six main areas where risks may occur: Governance, external/reputational, financial, funding strategy, fraud and operational.
The ongoing major risk identified over the following 12 months was the loss of, or underperforming, staff and key personnel due to capacity issues in a period of change and growth for the Foundation.
## **Diversity, equity and inclusion**
The Foundation recognises the power and position it holds as a funder. Our work is made possible by the people and institutions around us and we seek to be inclusive, accountable and transparent in how we work. The Foundation continued its focus on advancing its diversity, equity and inclusion goals by establishing a DEI working group to set a strategic plan and establish how the Foundation can be a diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation through its mission, strategy and values. The group will report to the trustees through the Governance, Nominations and Remunerations Committee.
## **Staff**
- The staff implement the policies and strategies set by the board.
- The trustees have delegated responsibility to the chief executive to approve grants of up to £75k.
- All staff are employed by Nationwide Building Society and receive remuneration in accordance with their employment contract with the Society. The Foundation’s Nominations and Remunerations Committee sets the chief executive’s salary within the parameters of Nationwide Building Society’s salary bands.
- The Nationwide Foundation appointed a new CEO during the year.
## **Key relationships**
- Nationwide Building Society is the Nationwide Foundation’s main benefactor and supplier of inkind support, including offices.
- The Nationwide Foundation is a member of the following networking and support organisations: Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF), Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) and National Council of Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).
## **Fundraising activity**
The Nationwide Foundation had no fundraising activities requiring disclosure under S162A of the Charities Act 2011. Almost all the Nationwide Foundation’s income comes from an annual donation from Nationwide Building Society and a funding agreement is place which sets out the basis for the donation.
Page 19
## **Statement of trustees’ responsibilities**
The trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the situation of the charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the trustees are aware:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and
- the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Guarantees**
Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.
Page 20
## **Auditors**
Godfrey Wilson Limited were appointed as auditors to the charitable company during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.
Page 21
## **Financial Review**
## **Income**
Income for 2023/24 totalled £4,277,871 (2022/23: £2,594,001). This is primarily made up of an annual donation from Nationwide in 2023/24 of £3,950,278 (2022/23: £2,405,000) and donated services from the society to the Nationwide Foundation totalling £102,642 (2022/23 £124,342). This represents the provision of office space, technology, legal and accountancy support.
The Nationwide Foundation’s principal source of income is an annual donation from Nationwide Building Society. The donation is received annually and is at least 0.25% of Nationwide’s pre-tax statutory profit averaged over three years. Nationwide provides a three-year donation floor to provide the Foundation with a commitment that supports the Foundation to plan for the medium term. The floor can only be adjusted in specified extraordinary circumstances.
## **Expenditure**
Expenditure for 2023/24 totalled £2,308,524 (2022/23: £2,635,057). The majority of the Nationwide Foundation’s funds are used to award grants for charitable purposes, and to cover the costs of running the Nationwide Foundation. Grants are paid in instalments, and multi-year grants are released annually, subject to approval from the chief executive. Each grant is subject to monitoring to ensure satisfactory progress.
## **Reserves policy**
Trustees annually review the adequacy of the Foundation’s reserves, which in this case are the Charity's accumulated surpluses that are available to spend once it has met its grant commitments and covered its other planned expenditure, often called free reserves.
Trustees aim to keep at least six months running costs (being total costs less grants payable) to cover unexpected reductions in income, amounting to approximately £500,000.
The Foundation has accumulated £3.9M in free reserves up to the end of 2023/24. This is held largely in liquid investments, so can be easily accessed if needed. At the time of writing these Annual Statements, the trustees are aware of the higher level of reserves (aligned to the Foundation’s reserves policy) and this will be a significant consideration for the future strategy. Trustees expect the foundation’s free reserves to reduce over time.
Note 15 of the accounts provides details of the amounts designated at 31 March 2024.
## **Investment policy**
During 2023/24 the Nationwide Foundation undertook a review of its investment policy to ensure that the policy allowed for the Foundation to make the best use of its assets.
The Nationwide Foundation’s investment policy sets out the following objectives:
- to maintain real value; the overall return across the portfolio should be in line with inflation.
Page 22
- to hold sufficient levels of liquid funds to make grant payments, award new grants, cover running costs and any unanticipated cashflow requirements.
The investment policy identifies the Foundation’s attitude to risk, which recognises that charitable activity is funded from the annual donation and the Foundation’s activity is not reliant on income from investments. The policy specifies the criteria that must be applied when making different types of investments to manage the risks. This includes spreading the funds across different financial institutions that meet a set of requirements, such as minimum credit ratings and being based in the UK.
The trustees have considered the ethical standards that the Foundation wishes to meet through its investments and the following statement is included in the investment policy:
“The Nationwide Foundation is committed to ensuring that all investment decisions are made responsibly. The Foundation has a strong preference for an ethical investment portfolio that is consistent with the values and objectives of the Foundation.”
In addition to broad ethical considerations that consider the impact that the assets being invested in have on society, specific consideration will be given to investment in assets that directly relate to the strategy at the time. The Foundation will not invest in assets that conflict with the strategic objectives.
For example, while delivering the Decent Affordable Homes strategy, funds will not be invested in residential property that does not support the creation of decent, affordable homes.
The policy permits trustees to manage the Nationwide Foundation’s investments up to an agreed amount. In 2023/24 this amount was £7.5m. The use of an investment manager is reviewed annually.
## **Investments**
Most funds are held in either fixed term or instant access cash accounts on which interest is earned. Interest earned in 2023/24 totalled £222,791 (2022/23: £62,639).
In 2023/24 the Foundation held funds in CCLA’s COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund as it met the Foundation’s risk requirements and ethical standards.
On 31 March 2024 the value of the investment was £769,857 (31 March 2023 £680,541), an increase of £89,316. The investment performance was strong throughout the second half of the year.
## **Programme related investment policy**
The policy on social investments adheres to the following guidance from the Charity Commission:
_“Programme related investments (also known as social investments) are made directly in pursuit of the organisation’s charitable purposes. Although they can generate some financial return (funding may or may not be provided on commercial terms), the primary motivation for making them is not financial but to further the objects of the funding charity.”_
Page 23
During the year:
- No new programme-related investments were made during the year
- Repayments were received from existing social investments (£2,840 from Communities Housing Trust) and one existing social investment was partially written off and awarded as a grant (£100,000 from the Community Led Housing Fund).
- Interest earned during 2023/24: £2,160 (2022/23: £2,020).
## **Financial outlook**
The Nationwide Foundation has a minimum donation committed from Nationwide for 2024 and 2025 which remains high due to inflated profits. The Nationwide Foundation’s trustees monitor this throughout the year and are prepared to be responsive and flexible to any changes.
## **Approval**
The trustees have agreed these financial statements which have taken advantage of the small companies’ exemptions provided by section 415a of the Companies Act 2006.
Approved by the board of trustees on 5 September 2024 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by the chair and another trustee:
## Saphié Ashtiany
Chair ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Saphié Ashtiany
Trustee……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Terrie Alafat
Page 24
## **Trustees/Directors**
**Terrie Alafat ◊**
**Saphié Ashtiany (chair)** ∞
**Antonia Bance** ∞ (retired September 2023)
**Kit Beazley ◊**
**Tony Burton ◊** (appointed in January 2024)
**Rob Collins** † ◊
**Catherine Kehoe** † (appointed in November 2023) (retired on 29 July 2024)
**Baroness Alicia Kennedy** (appointed in January 2024)
**Gill Leng** ◊
**Judith McNeill (vice-chair)**
**Sarah Mitchell** ◊ ∞ (retired December 2023)
**Rachael Sinclair** † **∞**
- Appointed by Nationwide Building Society
- Member of the Finance and Risk Committee
- **∞** Member of the Nominations and Remunerations Committee
**Interim Chief Executive:**
Sam Stewart
**Company Secretary:**
Joanna Sheppard
**Accountant:**
Kayleigh Keville
**Auditors:**
Godfrey Wilson, Fifth Floor, Mariner House, 62 Prince Street
Bristol, BS1 4QD
**Bankers:**
CAF Bank, 25 Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4JQ
**Investment fund managers:**
CCLA Investment Management Limited and CCLA Fund Managers Limited, Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4V 4ET
**Solicitors:**
Bates Wells Braithwaite, 10 Queen Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE
Page 25
## **Registered charity no. 1065552 Registered company no. 3451979**
## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Nationwide Foundation**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of The Nationwide Foundation (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and the related notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 March 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Page 26
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns;
- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit;
- the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
## **Responsibilities of the trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out in the trustees’ report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Page 27
## **Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The procedures we carried out and the extent to which they are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, are detailed below:
(1) We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, and assessed the risk of non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Throughout the audit, we remained alert to possible indications of non-compliance.
(2) We reviewed the charity’s policies and procedures in relation to:
- Identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations, and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
- Detecting and responding to the risk of fraud, and whether they were aware of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud; and
- Designing and implementing internal controls to mitigate the risk of non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud.
(3) We inspected the minutes of trustee meetings.
(4) We enquired about any non-routine communication with regulators and reviewed any reports made to them.
(5) We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and assessed their compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
(6) We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected transactions or balances that may indicate a risk of material fraud or error.
(7) We assessed the risk of fraud through management override of controls and carried out procedures to address this risk. Our procedures included:
- Testing the appropriateness of journal entries;
- Assessing judgements and accounting estimates for potential bias;
- Reviewing related party transactions; and
- Testing transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. Irregularities that arise due to fraud can be even harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.
Page 28
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charityʼs members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charityʼs members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditorʼs report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charityʼs members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Date: 5 September 2024
Alison Godfrey
## **Alison Godfrey FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)**
For and on behalf of: **GODFREY WILSON LIMITED** Chartered accountants and statutory auditors 5th Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD
Page 29
## **THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)**
||Notes|**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|£|
|**INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM:**||||
|Donations and legacies|2|**4,052,920**|2,529,342|
|Income from investments|3|**224,951**|64,659|
|**Total income and endowments**||**4,277,871**|2,594,001|
|**EXPENDITURE ON:**||||
|Charitable activities|4|**(2,308,524)**|(2,635,057)|
|**Total expenditure**||**(2,308,524)**|(2,635,057)|
|**Net gains/(losses) on fixed asset investments**||**89,316**|(13,903)|
|**Gains/(losses) from movements in foreign exchange**||**-**|74|
|**Net (expense)/income and net movement in funds**||**2,058,663**|(54,885)|
|Fund balances brought forward||**3,820,057**|3,874,942|
|**Fund balances carried forward**|15|**5,878,720**|3,820,057|
The notes on pages 34 to 44 form part of these financial statements.
All income is unrestricted. All amounts relate to continuing operations. Movements in designated funds are disclosed in note 15 to the accounts.
There were no recognised gains or losses other than the net income for the year in the Statement of Financial Activities (2023: £nil).
Page 30
## **THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2024 COMPANY REGISTERED NUMBER: 3451979**
||Notes|**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|---|
||||(Restated)|
|||**£**|£|
|**FIXED ASSETS**||||
|Programme related investments|9|**98,223**|201,176|
|Investments|10|**769,857**|680,541|
|TOTAL FIXED ASSETS||**868,080**|881,717|
|**CURRENT ASSETS**||||
|Programme related investments|9|**37,744**|37,631|
|Debtors|11|**69,637**|21,195|
|Fixed term deposits||**3,000,000**|1,100,000|
|Cash at bank||**2,484,644**|2,652,846|
|TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS||**5,592,025**|3,811,672|
|**CURRENT LIABILITIES**||||
|Creditors|12|**(581,385)**|(873,332)|
|**NET CURRENT ASSETS**||**5,010,640**|2,938,340|
|**TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES**||**5,878,720**|3,820,057|
|**NET ASSETS**|13|**5,878,720**|3,820,057|
|**UNRESTRICTED FUNDS OF THE CHARITY**||||
|Designated funds|15|**1,966,079**|2,434,441|
|General funds|15|**3,912,641**|1,385,616|
|**TOTAL FUNDS**||**5,878,720**|3,820,057|
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.
Page 31
The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 5 September 2024 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by the chair and another trustee.
Saphié Ashtiany Chair – Saphié Ashtiany Trustee – Terrie Alafat
Prior period funds have been restated due to a removal of designations on unrestricted funds. The restatements are purely reclassifications of unrestricted funds and do not affect total funds. The restatement has been disclosed in note 18.
Page 32
## **THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|**Cash flows from operating activities**|||
|Net movement of funds per statement of financial activities|**2,058,663**|(54,885)|
|**Adjustments for:**|||
|Interest from investments|**(224,951)**|(64,659)|
|(Increase)/decrease in debtors|**(48,442)**|(10,944)|
|Increase/(decrease) in creditors|**(291,947)**|203,594|
|Losses/(gains) on fixed asset investments|**(89,316)**|13,903|
|Gains from movements in foreign exchange|**-**|(74)|
|**Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities**|**1,404,007**|86,935|
|**Cash flows from investing activities**|||
|Fixed term deposits redeemed|**1,100,000**|2,000,000|
|Fixed term deposits issued|**(3,000,000)**|(2,000,000)|
|Interest from investments|**224,951**|64,659|
|Receipts from programme related investments|**102,840**|6,730|
|**Net cash generated from/(used in) investing activities**|**(1,572,209)**|71,389|
|Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents|**-**|541|
|**Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the**|**(168,202)**|158,865|
|**year**|||
|**Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year**|**2,652,846**|2,493,981|
|**Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year**|**2,484,644**|2,652,846|
The charity has not provided an analysis of changes in net debt as it does not have any long term financing arrangements.
Page 33
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **Charity information**
The Nationwide Foundation is a company limited by guarantee (registered number 3451979), which is incorporated in the UK. The address of the registered office is Nationwide House, Pipers Way, Swindon, SN38 1NW.
## **Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2019), applicable UK accounting standards including the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Companies Act 2006.
The Nationwide Foundation meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).
## **Going concern**
The Nationwide Foundation has cash resources and has no requirement for external funding. The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Nationwide Foundation has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. They continue to believe the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate in preparing the annual financial statements.
## **Significant judgements and estimates**
The management consider that there are no material judgements in applying accounting policies or key sources of estimation uncertainty.
## **Accounting policies**
The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in the preparation of the financial statements:
## **(i) Income**
Both donation income and interest income are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities when a receipt is probable, there is evidence of entitlement and it can be measured reliably.
## **(ii) Grants**
Grants are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities when an unconditional commitment has been made to provide the grant. Grant commitments made with conditions are pledged and provided for in the designated fund. Multi-year grants are subject to conditions (such as annual reviews) which, until met, prevent the recognition of the liability.
- **(iii) Programme related investments** Programme related investments that are loans are accounted for at the outstanding amount of the loan less any provision for unrecoverable amounts. Programme related investments are held at cost as the Foundation is unable to obtain a reliable estimate of fair value.
## **(iv) Donated goods and services**
Donated goods and services represent Nationwide Building Society specialist staff services and accommodation costs which have not been directly charged to the Foundation.
Page 34
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **1. Accounting policies (continued)**
## **(v) Allocation of expenditure**
Staff costs have been apportioned on the basis of the approximate time allocated by the Chief Executive and other officers between the Foundation’s charitable objectives and governance. Where possible, other costs are allocated on an individual basis to the relevant objective or to governance costs. If costs are not directly attributable to particular objective(s) or to governance, they are apportioned using the same basis as the staff costs. Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. These costs have all been allocated to charitable activities. The allocation methodology is reviewed annually to ensure that it is still appropriate.
## **(vi) Designated funds**
Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of such designated funds is set out in the notes to the financial statements.
## **(vii) Irrecoverable VAT**
Irrecoverable VAT is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities.
## **(viii) Cash flow statement**
A cash flow statement has been prepared under FRS 102. Cash and cash equivalents represent cash in hand and notice deposits of less than 30 days.
## **(ix) Pension costs**
The officers of the Foundation are part of Nationwide Group pension arrangements. The only pension costs incurred by the Foundation are the employer’s pension scheme contributions which are re-charged to the Foundation. Pension scheme liabilities are borne by the Society.
## **(x) Debtors**
Debtors are measured at transaction price, less any impairment. Loans receivable are measured initially at fair value, net of transaction costs, and are measured subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment.
## **(xi) Creditors**
Creditors are measured at the transaction price. Other financial liabilities, including bank loans, are measured initially at fair value, net of transaction costs, and are measured subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
## **(xii) Financial instruments**
The Nationwide Foundation holds financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments include debtors and creditors. Debtors and creditors are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.
## **(xiii) Fixed asset investments**
Investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The Statement of Financial Activities includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluations throughout the year.
Page 35
The Nationwide Foundation Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **1. Accounting policies (continued)**
## **(xiv) Gains and losses**
All gains and losses are taken to the Statement of Financial Activities as they arise. Gains and losses are calculated as the difference between the market value at the balance sheet date and opening market value (or purchase value if the date is later).
## **(xv) Foreign currency translation**
Foreign currency transactions are translated into sterling using the exchange rates prevailing at the dates of the transactions. Monetary items denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the rate prevailing at the balance sheet date. Foreign exchange gains and losses resulting from the retranslation are recognised in the statement of financial activities.
## **2. Donations and legacies**
|||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**£**|£|
|Nationwide BuildingSociety||**4,052,920**|2,529,342|
|Total||**4,052,920**|2,529,342|
|**3.**|**Income from investments**|||
|||**2024**|2023|
|||**£**|£|
|Bank|interest receivable|**222,791**|62,639|
|Interest fromprogramme related investments||**2,160**|2,020|
|Total||**224,951**|64,659|
## **4. Analysis of total expenditure**
## **2024**
|**2024**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Decent Affordable||||
|Charitable activities by
objective|Homes funding
strategy|Support costs|Governance costs|**Total**|
||£|£|£|**£**|
|Staff costs (note 5)|408,782|-|115,218|**524,000**|
|Administration and IT|-|96,125|13,329|**109,454**|
|Learning and evaluation|-|159,427|-|**159,427**|
|Grants (note 7)|1,413,001|-|-|**1,413,001**|
|Donated services|-|88,332|14,310|**102,642**|
|**Total**|**1,821,783**|**343,884**|**142,857**|**2,308,524**|
|Reallocation|343,884|(343,884)|||
|**Total**|**2,165,667**|**-**|**142,857**|**2,308,524**|
Page 36
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **4. Analysis of total expenditure (continued)**
|2023|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Decent Affordable||||
|Charitable activities by
objective|Homes funding
strategy|Support costs|Governance costs|Total|
||£|£|£|£|
|Staff costs (note 5)|383,300|-|76,458|459,758|
|Administration and IT|-|69,793|16,368|86,161|
|Learning and evaluation|-|18,862|-|18,862|
|Grants (note 7)|1,945,934|-|-|1,945,934|
|Donated services|-|111,458|12,884|124,342|
|Total|2,329,234|200,113|105,710|2,635,057|
|Reallocation|200,113|(200,113)|-|-|
|Total|2,529,347|-|105,710|2,635,057|
For further analysis of staff costs see note 5.
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|**(a) Donated services**|||
|Specialist staff services|**51,492**|58,342|
|Facilitycosts|**51,150**|66,000|
|Total|**102,642**|124,342|
Donated services represent the cost of specialist staff services and accommodation which have not been directly charged to the Foundation by Nationwide Building Society. In addition, Nationwide Building Society provides the Foundation with other services such as IT support which cannot be readily quantified. IT costs for the maintenance of the Foundation’s grants administration system are paid by the Foundation and are included in support costs.
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|**(b) Analysis of governance costs**|||
|Staff costs|**115,218**|76,458|
|Trustees’ reimbursed expenses|**2,264**|1,340|
|Audit costs (inclusive of irrecoverable VAT)|**11,040**|15,000|
|Other administration costs|**25**|28|
|Donated services|**14,310**|12,884|
|Total|**142,857**|105,710|
Page 37
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **5. Staff costs**
The officers of the Foundation are employed by Nationwide Building Society and assigned to the Foundation for the duration of their employment under the terms of the Framework Agreement between the Society and the Foundation.
The amounts charged as direct staff costs comprised:
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Salaries|**386,834**|335,144|
|Social security|**47,915**|42,760|
|Pension contributions|**89,251**|81,854|
|Total staff costs|**524,000**|459,758|
The average number of persons employed by the Society who acted as officers of the Foundation was 9 (2023: 8). The number of employees of the Society who acted as an officer of the Foundation receiving emoluments of over £70,000 and less than £80,000 was 1 (2023: 2). All staff receive emoluments, including benefits in kind, in accordance with Nationwide Building Society employment policies. For details of pensions costs see note 1(ix).
The average number of employees during the year comprises the following:
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
|Decent Affordable Homes funding strategy|**7**|6|
|Governance|**2**|2|
|Total|**9**|8|
The key management personnel of the charitable company comprise the trustees and the chief executive officer. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel were £158,492 (2023: £95,266).
## **6. Net income resources for the year**
Net income for the year is stated after charging:
|et income for the year is stated after charging:|||
|---|---|---|
||**2024**|2023|
||**£**|£|
|Trustees’ expenses|**2,264**|1,340|
|Auditor’s remuneration:|||
|Audit services (inclusive of VAT) – current year|**11,040**|15,000|
None of the trustees / directors received any emoluments in respect of services to the Foundation (2023: nil).
## **Trustees’ expenses**
Trustees’ expenses include amounts reimbursed to trustees for out-of-pocket expenses and amounts paid for by the Nationwide Foundation to third parties for costs such as travel, accommodation, subsistence and training. During the year, three trustees (2023: four) received reimbursements of personal travel and subsistence expenditure, amounting to £2,264 (2023: £1,340).
Page 38
The Nationwide Foundation Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **7. Grants payable**
The Nationwide Foundation committed to the following grants during the year in relation to its Decent Affordable Homes strategy.
|All grants are made to institutions.
**DECENT AFFORDABLE HOMES FUNDING STRATEGY**
Bevan Foundation
Camden Federation of Private Tenants
Centre for Social Justice
Citizens Advice
Communities Creating Homes DAH3
Communities Housing Trust
Communities Land Trust
COVID-19 support fund (note i)
DAH Added Value (note i)
DSS Discrimination case (Shelter)
East Midlands CLH (EMCLH)
English Housing strategy
Fair Housing Futures
Faith in Affordable Housing
Frameworks
Greater Manchester Community Organiser
Greater Manchester Tenants Union
Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust (HSCHT)
Housing First England
Housing rights
Indigo House
Living Rent
National CLT Network (NCLTN)
Networking and best practice for TVP
Renters Reform Coalition
Shefield Hallam University
Shelter
South of Scotland Community Housing
Tenants together
Test & Learn Fund
The New Economics Foundation
Town & Country Planning Association
University of York
We Can Make
Zacchaeus 2000 Trust|**2024**
2023
**£**
£
**25,000**
-
**13,216**
73,165
**60,000**
-
**19,479**
77,916
**84,846**
123,618
**54,000**
34,552
**100,000**
-
**-**
10,000
**11,010**
2,000
**-**
-
**-**
20,223
**5,000**
-
**48,043**
90,284
**92,875**
135,096
**97,522**
124,000
**28,900**
-
**19,912**
119,596
**-**
13,334
**60,978**
119,938
**17,567**
25,972
**159,185**
-
**23,811**
65,364
**19,500**
144,757
**10,000**
8,580
**195,165**
371,895
**-**
21,975
**9,750**
38,280
**40,500**
42,726
**-**
12,742
**-**
(17,965)
**30,000**
-
**177,996**
-
**-**
(195)
**-**
238,849
**8,746**
49,232|
|---|---|
|Total|**1,413,001**
1,945,934|
Page 39
The Nationwide Foundation Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **8. Taxation**
The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.
## **9. Programme related investments**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|**Non-current assets**|||
|Communities Housing Trust|**48,223**|51,176|
|CommunityLed HousingFund|**50,000**|150,000|
||**98,223**|201,176|
|**Current assets**|||
|Communities Housing Trust|**2,953**|2,840|
|CommunityLand Trust Fund II|**34,791**|34,791|
||**37,744**|37,631|
|Totalprogramme related investments at 31 March|**135,967**|238,807|
The Foundation has three ongoing programme related investments:
- Community Led Housing Fund II is interest-free and is due to be repaid during 2024-25.
- Community Led Housing Fund is interest-free and is due to be repaid during 2025-27.
- Communities Housing Trust, which bears interest at a rate of 4% per annum, is due to be repaid over the next 15 years.
## **10. Fixed asset investment**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Balance at 1 April|**680,541**|694,444|
|Gains /(losses)|**89,316**|(13,903)|
|Balance at 31 March|**769,857**|680,541|
The fixed asset investment comprises cash equivalents on deposit held in CCLA’s COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund.
## **11. Debtors**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Accrued interest|**61,531**|14,086|
|Prepayments|**8,106**|7,109|
|Total|**69,637**|21,195|
Page 40
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **12. Creditors**
|**12.**
**Creditors**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2024**|2023|
||**£**|£|
|**Amounts falling due within one year**|||
|Grants payable|**485,857**|685,463|
|Programme related investment commitments|**-**|100,000|
|Other creditors|**47,570**|48,946|
|Accruals|**47,958**|38,923|
|Total|**581,385**|873,332|
## **13. Analysis of net assets between funds**
|**2024**|**General Funds**|**Designated Funds**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Fixed assets|**868,080**|**-**|**868,080**|
|Current assets|**3,625,946**|**1,966,079**|**5,592,025**|
|Current liabilities|**(581,385)**|**-**|**(581,385)**|
|**Total**|**3,912,641**|**1,966,079**|**5,878,720**|
|2023 (Restated)|General Funds|Designated Funds|Total|
||£|£|£|
|Fixed assets|881,717|-|881,717|
|Current assets|1,377,231|2,434,441|3,811,672|
|Current liabilities|(873,332)|-|(873,332)|
|Total|1,385,616|2,434,441|3,820,057|
## **14. Financial instruments**
||**2024**|2023|
|---|---|---|
||**£**|£|
|Financial assets measured at fair value|**769,857**|680,541|
|Total|**769,857**|680,541|
Financial assets measured at fair value comprises a fixed asset investment.
Page 41
The Nationwide Foundation Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **15. Movement in funds**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Gains As at 31
As at 1
Movement in funds 23/24 Incoming Expenditure Transfers and March
April 2023
losses 2024
Designated funds
- - - -
Contingency fund 550,000 550,000
Grant commitments 1,884,441 - (961,406) 493,044 - 1,416,079
Total designated 2,434,441 - (961,406) 493,044 - 1,966,079
General funds 1,385,616 4,277,871 (1,347,118) (493,044) 89,316 3,912,641
Total unrestricted 3,820,057 4,277,871 (2,308,524) - 89,316 5,878,720
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Purposes of designated funds:**
## _Contingency fund_
This fund is ring fenced to ensure the Nationwide Foundation holds sufficient funds to deal with an unexpected significant event such as the withdrawal of support from our main benefactor as described in the trustee report.
## _Grant commitments_
To hold sufficient funds to meet all funding commitments to grants that have been awarded but not yet released in line with accounting policy 1(ii).
**----- Start of picture text -----**
As at 31
Restated As at 1 Gains and
Incoming Expenditure Transfers March
Movement in funds 22/23 April 2022 losses
2023
Designated funds
Contingency fund 550,000 - - - - 550,000
Grant commitments 815,310 - (435,215) 1,504,346 - 1,884,441
Total designated 1,365,310 - (435,215) 1,504,346 - 2,434,441
General funds 2,509,632 2,594,001 (2,199,842) (1,504,346) (13,829) 1,385,616
Total unrestricted 3,874,942 2,594,001 (2,635,057) - (13,829) 3,820,057
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Restatement of movement in funds:**
A restatement was recognised in the year to remove the designation from all designated funds except the contingency fund and grant commitments.
In addition, donated services from Nationwide Building Society are included in general funds income and expenditure (£124,342).
See note 18 for detail of restatement.
Page 42
The Nationwide Foundation Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **16. Related parties**
The Nationwide Foundation is an independent charity, set up and funded by Nationwide Building Society (“the Society”). A legal contract called the Framework Agreement sets out the working relationship between the Society and the Nationwide Foundation and encompasses the provision of funds and donated services including office space, technology and other support. All financial donations and donated services are disclosed in the financial statements. The Society can appoint three of ten trustees. In the opinion of the board, there is no ultimate controlling party of the Nationwide Foundation.
All staff and trustees are asked annually to record any conflicts of loyalty or interest and to declare them at the start of each board and committee meeting. During the year ended 31 March 2024, one related party transaction was registered: One trustee (Saphié Ashtiany), was also a trustee of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). In 2022/23 the Nationwide Foundation agreed to jointly fund the Frameworks Institute with JRF, making grant payments of £97,552 (2023: £124,000) At the year ended 31 March 2024 the charity owed the Frameworks Institute £48,559 (2023: £82,482), which is included in grants payable in note 12. All transactions were carried out at arms length.
## **17. Post balance sheet events**
In June 2024, a donation of £4,670,000 was received from Nationwide Building Society. These funds were designated for the Decent Affordable Homes Strategy as per the reserves policy in the trustees’ report.
Page 43
The Nationwide Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
## **18. Prior period restatement**
The prior year comparatives have been restated to remove designations on unrestricted funds.
The prior year designated funds note also excluded donated services of £124,342 from income and expenditure. This has been brought into the movement in funds note as shown below.
The impact upon prior year funds movements is shown below.
Per prior year accounts:
|Per prior year accounts:|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|2022/2023|As at
1 April 2022
Incoming
resources
Resources
expensed
Transferred
Gains and
losses
As at
31 March 2023||||||
|Decent Affordable Homes
strategy:|||||||
|Future funds|-
2,469,659
(2,455,830)
(13,829)
-||||||
|Allocated:|||||||
|Phase 2|80,605
-
(37,173)
(43,432)
-
-||||||
|Covid-support fund|224,845
-
(10,000)
(214,845)
-
-||||||
|Phase 3|1,958,645
-
(1,463,546)
270,572
-
765,671||||||
|Pledged|815,310
-
(435,215)
1,504,346
-
1,884,441||||||
|Programme related
investment|245,537
-
-
(6,730)
-
238,807||||||
|Learning & evaluation|-
(18,862)
400,000
-
381,138||||||
|Running costs|-
-
(545,919)
545,919
-
-||||||
|Other designated funds:|||||||
|Contingency fund|550,000
-
-
-||||-
550,000||
|Total|3,874,942|2,469,659|(2,510,715)|-|(13,829)|3,820,057|
|Impact:
Designated funds
reclassified as general
Donated services
General unrestricted funds
at 31 March 2023
Revised designated funds
Grant commitments
Contingency fund
Total Funds|As at 1 April
2022
2,509,632
-|Incoming
2,469,659
124,342|Expenditure
(2,075,500)
(124,342)|Transfers
(1,504,346)
-|Gains and
losses
(13,829)
-|As at 31
March 2023
1,385,616
-|
||2,509,632|
2,594,001|(2,199,842)|(1,504,346)|
(13,829)|1,385,616|
||815,310
550,000|-
-|(435,215)
-|1,504,346
-|-
-|1,884,441
550,000|
||3,874,942|2,594,001|(2,635,057)|-|
(13,829)|3,820,057|
Page 44
The Nationwide Foundation Nationwide House Pipers Way Swindon SN38 1NW
## b NationwFoundat **i** onde
Telephone: 03304 600709 Twitter: @NationwideFdtn enquiries@nationwidefoundation.org.uk www.nationwidefoundation.org.uk
Alison Godfrey FCA Godfrey Wilson Limited Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors 5[th] Floor Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD
5 September 2024
Dear Alison,
## **Letter of Representations on the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
This representation letter is provided in connection with your audit of the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024.
We confirm that the following representations are made on the basis of enquiries of the trustees, management and staff with relevant knowledge and experience (and, where appropriate, of inspection of supporting documentation) sufficient to satisfy ourselves that we can properly make each of the following representations to you:
1. We have fulfilled our responsibilities as trustees, as set out in the terms of your engagement letter dated 26 March 2024, under the Companies Act 2006 for preparing financial statements, in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
We confirm that in our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view and in particular that where any additional information must be disclosed in order to give a true and fair view that information has in fact been disclosed. We confirm that the selection and application of the accounting policies used in the preparation of the financial statements are appropriate, and we approve these accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024.
2. We confirm that all accounting records have been made available to you for the purpose of your audit, in accordance with your terms of engagement, and that all the transactions undertaken by the charity have been properly reflected and recorded in the accounting records. All other records and related information, including minutes of all management, trustees’ and members’ meetings, have been made available to you. We have given you unrestricted access to persons within the charity in order to obtain audit evidence and have provided any additional information that you have requested for the purposes of your audit.
3. We acknowledge that it is a criminal offence to make a false statement in this regard, and where any director either makes a false statement; is aware that the statement is false; is reckless in preventing this statement; or fails to take reasonable steps to prevent the trustees’ report from being approved, we acknowledge that each director will be guilty of a criminal offence.
The Nationwide Foundation is a registered charity (no. 1065552) and has limited liability being a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (no. 3451979). Registered office address: Nationwide House, Pipers Way, Swindon, SN38 1NW
4. We confirm the charity has satisfactory title to all assets and there are no liens or encumbrances on the assets, except for those disclosed in the financial statements.
5. We confirm that significant assumptions used by us in making accounting estimates, including those measured at fair value, are reasonable. We confirm that we have no plans or intentions that may materially alter the carrying value and where relevant the fair value measurements or classification of assets and liabilities reflected in the financial statements.
6. We confirm that the charity has no liabilities or contingent liabilities other than those disclosed in the financial statements.
7. We confirm that all known actual or possible litigation and claims whose effects should be considered when preparing the financial statements have been disclosed to you and accounted for and disclosed in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework.
8. We confirm that there have been no events since the balance sheet date which require disclosing or which would materially affect the amounts in the financial statements, other than those already disclosed or included in the financial statements.
9. We confirm that we are aware that a related party of the charity is a person or organisation which either (directly or indirectly) controls, has joint control of, or significantly influences the charity or vice versa and as a result will include: trustees/directors, other key management, close family and other business interests of the previous. We confirm that the related party relationships and transactions set out in appendix 1 are a complete list of such relationships and transactions and that we are not aware of any further related parties or transactions.
10. We confirm that the charity neither had, at any time during the year, any arrangement, transaction or agreement to provide credit facilities (including advances and credits granted by the charity) for trustees, nor provided guarantees of any kind on behalf of the trustees.
11. We confirm that the charity has not contracted for any capital expenditure other than as disclosed in the financial statements.
12. We confirm that the charity has complied with all aspects of contractual agreements that could have a material effect on the financial statements in the event of non-compliance.
13. We confirm that we are not aware of any possible or actual instance of non-compliance with those laws and regulations which provide a legal framework within which the charity conducts its activities and which are central to the charity’s ability to conduct its activities, except as explained to you and as disclosed in the financial statements.
14. We acknowledge our responsibility for the design, implementation and maintenance of internal controls to prevent and detect fraud. We confirm that we have disclosed to you the results of our risk assessment of the risk of fraud in the organisation. There have been no deficiencies in internal control of which we are aware.
15. We confirm that there have been no actual or suspected instances of fraud involving trustees, management or employees who have a significant role in internal control or that could have a material effect on the financial statements. We also confirm that we are not aware of any allegations of fraud by trustees, former trustees, employees, former employees, regulators or others.
16. We confirm that, in our opinion, the charity’s financial statements should be prepared on the going concern basis on the grounds that current and future sources of funding or support will be more than adequate for the charity’s needs. In reaching this conclusion, we have taken into account all relevant matters of which we are aware, and have considered a period of at least one year from the date on which the financial statements will be approved.
17. We confirm that in our opinion the effects of uncorrected misstatements are immaterial, both individually and in aggregate, to the financial statements as a whole. A list of the uncorrected misstatements is set out in the management letter.
18. We confirm that, in respect of the restatement to correct a material misstatement in prior period financial statements that affects the comparative information (and any other period covered by your work), the adjustment relates to the correction of a fundamental error which has no bearing on the results of the current period, and accordingly, should be accounted for by restating prior periods.
19. We confirm that we are not aware of any matters of material significance that should be reported to regulators. We confirm that all correspondence with the Charity Commission has been made available to you.
20. We confirm that all grants, donations and other income, including those subject to special terms or conditions or received for restricted purposes, have been notified to you. There have been no breaches of terms or conditions during the period regarding the application of such income.
21. We acknowledge our legal responsibilities regarding disclosure of information to you as auditors and confirm that: (a) so far as each trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which you as auditors are unaware; and (b) each trustee has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that you are aware of that information.
22. We acknowledge that it is a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly make you as an auditor, a statement (oral or written) that conveys, or purports to convey, information or explanations that you require in your capacity as auditor, or are entitled to require, that is misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular.
Yours sincerely
## Saphié Ashtiany
Saphié Ashtiany – chair For and on behalf of the trustees of the Nationwide Foundation
## **Appendix 1: Summary of Related Parties**
**Connected Organisation Name Nature of Connection** Joseph Rowntree Foundation Saphié Ashtiany Jointly funding the Frameworks project. Nationwide Building Society Rob Collins Three NBS nominated Nationwide Building Society Catherine Kehoe trustees on the Foundation’s Nationwide Building Society Rachael Sinclair board.