2024-05-31-accounts - The Football Foundation

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Registered Company Number: 3876305 Registered Charity Number: 1079309

THE FOOTBALL FOUNDATION

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

The Football Foundation

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

Contents Page
Trustees, Directors, Officers and Advisors ................................................................................... 3
Report of the Trustees:
Structure, governance and management ............................................................................ 4
Strategic Report ............................................................................................................... 11
Independent auditor’s report ...................................................................................................... 32
Consolidated statement of financial activities .............................................................................. 36
Balance sheets ........................................................................................................................... 37
Consolidated cash flow statement .............................................................................................. 38
Notes to the financial statements ................................................................................................ 39

The Football Foundation – Trustees, Directors, Officers and Advisors to 31 May 2024

Trustees, Directors, Officers and Advisors

The Trustees and Directors of the company who were in office during the year and up to the date of signing the annual report were:

M R Glenn (Chair) P D G McCormick OBE J D Pearce J C Bird (Resigned on 1 May 2024) W M Bush (Resigned on 12 February 2024)

T Hollingsworth M W Bullingham K Taylor E Narozanski R Masters (Appointed on 12 February 2024) W Shaifta (Appointed on 1 May 2024)

Executive Team

R J Sullivan – CEO

D Evans – CFO S Bunis – Director of Brand, Marketing and Communication

M Coulson – Director of Programmes

J Goodman – Director of Business Services

D Potter – Director of Grant Management

Company Secretary

J Goodman

Registered office

Wembley Stadium Wembley Park LondonHA9 0WS

Independent auditor

RSM UK Audit LLP 25 Farringdon Street LondonEC4A 4AB

Solicitors

Bates Wells 10 Queens Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Bankers

Barclays Bank PLC 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Trustees Report

The Trustees, who are also Directors of the company for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their annual report and the audited consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 (FY24).

The Trustees have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on reporting on public benefit (section 4 of Charities Act 2011) when reviewing the Charity's aims and objectives, and when planning the Charity's activities. The Trustees are therefore content that the Charity meets the public benefit requirements.

The information with respect to Trustees, Directors, Officers and Advisers set out on page 3 forms part of this report. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Reference and administrative details

The Football Foundation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in the United Kingdom in November 1999 as The Football Trust Charitable Trust, changing its name to The Football Foundation (the Foundation or Charity) in April 2000 (company registration number 3876305) and registered with the Charity Commission (Charity number 1079309). The Football Foundation’s Memorandum and Articles of Association detail the charitable objectives.

The Football Foundation receives funding from three partners: The Football Association (The FA), the Premier League and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The Foundation does not raise any funds from the public nor enter into any fundraising activities.

Structure, governance, and management

The Foundation is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 6 August 2020.

Trustees

The Trustees and Directors were appointed to the Board as follows:

Independent Chair	Appointed by the Board of Trustees
	for a three-year term
The FA	Two Trustees
Premier League	Two Trustees
Sport England	One Trustee
DCMS	One Trustee
Independent	Two Trustees

The other company included within the Group is the non-charitable wholly owned trading subsidiary The Football Foundation Trading Limited (FFTL), which was incorporated in April 2001 (company registration number 4202574).

The report and consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 relate to the total activities of the two legal entities.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

The Board supports the principles of good governance set out in the Code for Sports Governance and the continuous improvement model which the Code promotes. During the year ended 31 May 2024, the Board continued to work with Sport England to deliver an action plan to support the full transition to the Code.

During the year ended 31 May 2024 there were changes in our trustees and these are as detailed on page 3. The process for any new Trustees is that they undertake a structured induction process including one-to-one meetings with the Chair of the Board and CEO and are offered the opportunity to visit a Foundation-funded facility. The Board receives relevant training, including legal and regulatory updates, on a periodic basis. In accordance with our Articles, The FA, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Sport England each have the power to nominate one Trustee. The Board then have the power to appoint an Independent Trustee, a Senior Independent Trustee, and to co-opt up to two additional Trustees. These appointments are limited to three terms of three years, with all independent members being appointed via open recruitment nationally.

The Foundation is committed to develop a membership that is as inclusive as possible, and which effectively represents the broad, diverse constituency that the Foundation is looking to support. The aim is therefore to bring together a diverse, informed body of individuals. As a recipient of public funding, 25% of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees are to be Independent Non-Executive Trustees (INET). INETs are initially appointed for a three-year term and are limited to serving two additional terms of three years (a max of nine years), before being required to step down.

The Trustees may appoint an independent, non-executive Chair for a period of up to three years, after which they can be reappointed. M R Glenn was appointed as Chair on 1 January 2020 for three years and renewed for an additional three years on 1 January 2023.

Qualifying third party indemnity insurance for the benefit of all of the Trustees was in force throughout 2024 and continues to be in place.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also directors of The Football Foundation for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees (including the Strategic and Director’s 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 state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing these 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 (2019)
make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 102, 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 charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting reports which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and the group

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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.

In the case of each Trustee in office at the date the Report of the Trustees is approved, that:

(a) so far as the Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and

(b) he/she has taken all the steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Trustee to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

Chief Executive

The Chief Executive is responsible to the Trustees for the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the Foundation within defined policy. The Chief Executive reports to the Chair.

Organisation

The Board of Trustees administers the Foundation and meets on a quarterly basis. The Trustees have an established panel to review and award grants in accordance with delegated financial authority granted by the Trustees, or to make recommendations to the Trustees in respect of applications to the various grant streams managed by the Foundation. The panel is made up from representatives of the Funding Partners (The FA, the Premier League, and he Government) and includes unpaid independent members, who bring specific expertise, knowledge and experience.

The Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee is independently chaired by M Kirkby. The Committee has responsibility for remuneration of key management personnel and consideration of remuneration policy and governance. The Committee reviews the benchmarks and parameters used by the Foundation’s Executive team as detailed on page 3, to identify any employees who may be eligible to receive an exceptional pay rise based on their performance and benchmarking. The Committee meets four times a year and has its decisions ratified by the full Board. The Football Foundation uses salary benchmarking software to give us instant data on the market rate for job roles across the UK. Data can be filtered by sector, location, and organisation size (headcount and income), enabling us to complete a full review of all salaries and benefits and make informed decisions about our reward strategy. Based on need, this is periodically supplemented by independent and bespoke benchmarking to provide an accurate reflection of the current market for specific roles.

The Foundation has chosen in accordance with Companies Act 2006, s. 414C(11) to set out in the company's strategic report information required by Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008, Sch. 7 to be contained in the directors' report. It has done so in respect of likely future developments, risks in relation to financial instruments, engagement with employees, suppliers, customers and others and carbon reporting disclosures.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

The Football Foundation Trading Limited (Reg no: 4202574)

The Football Foundation Trading Limited (FFTL) was established to trade and generate funds for the Foundation with no restriction on the activities. Further to the successful divestment of Upshot in FY21, there was no activity in FFTL, with there being no principal activity in FFTL in FY24. FFTL’s only activity in FY24 was a dividend payment up to the Foundation. The next step in FY25 is to make the entity dormant.

One of the Directors of the FFTL, P D G McCormick OBE, is also a Trustee of the Foundation. The other Director, R J Sullivan, is the Chief Executive of both FFTL and the Foundation.

Objectives and activities

The Foundation’s charitable objectives, as stated in the governing document, are to promote all purposes recognised as charitable under the law of England and Wales from time to time through an association with sport. The Charity’s current and ongoing objectives are:

Put into place a new generation of outstanding facilities in parks, schools, colleges and universities;
Provide capital and revenue support to increase participation in community football;
Strengthen the links between football and the community, and harness its potential as a force for good in society; and
Work with other charities to help achieve the Foundation’s objectives.

Governance and accountability at The Football Foundation

Articles of Association

The Football Foundation’s Articles of Association are part of our governing documents and are the agreed written rules about how the charity should be managed and run. No changes have been made to the Articles of Association in Financial Year 2024 (FY24), 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2024.

Scheme of Delegation

The Football Foundation’s Scheme of Delegation provides a summary of key matters for decision and the level to which such decisions are delegated including matters for decision by Board Committees, the Chief Executive, members of the Senior Management Teams (SMT) and managers reporting to directors.

This facilitates the effective and informed decision-making at an appropriate level of responsibility so that the Board can direct and oversee the Charity effectively

Board of Trustees

The Football Foundation Board currently comprises nine Trustees of which three are exofficio Trustees, as set out in the charity’s Articles. The ex-officio Trustees are not subject to term limits.

In accordance with our Articles, The FA, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Sport England each have the power to nominate one Trustee. The Board then have the power to appoint an Independent Trustee, a Senior Independent Trustee, and to co-opt up to two additional Trustees. These appointments are limited to three terms of three years, with all independent members being appointed via open recruitment nationally. The

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

trustees who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:

Martin Glenn – Independent Chair
Jack Pearce - The FA nominated representative
Mark Bullingham - The FA CEO (ex-officio)
Bill Bush – Premier League nominated representative (Resigned on 12 February 2024)
Richard Masters - Premier League nominated representative (Appointed on 12 February 2024)
Peter McCormick OBE – Premier League Stadium Fund Chair (ex-officio) *
Elena Narozanski - DCMS nominated representative
Tim Hollingsworth OBE - Sport England CEO (SE representative)
Jemima Bird - Senior Independent (Resigned on 1 May 2024)
Karen Taylor – Independent
W Shaifta – Independent (Appointed on 1 May 2024)
Peter McCormick OBE joined the Board as an Ex-Officio Trustee in August 2008. The remaining Trustees have served on the Board for less than 9 years.

Board Meeting Attendance FY24

The following table outlines Trustee attendance at Board meetings for FY24.

Total meetings Attended Martin Glenn 4 4 Jack Pearce 4 4 Mark Bullingham 4 4 Bill Bush 2 2 Richard Masters 2 2 Peter McCormick OBE 3 3 Elena Narozanski 4 4 Tim Hollingsworth OBE 4 4 Jemima Bird 3 2 Wais Shaifta 1 1 Karen Taylor 4 3	Total meetings Attended Martin Glenn 4 4 Jack Pearce 4 4 Mark Bullingham 4 4 Bill Bush 2 2 Richard Masters 2 2 Peter McCormick OBE 3 3 Elena Narozanski 4 4 Tim Hollingsworth OBE 4 4 Jemima Bird 3 2 Wais Shaifta 1 1 Karen Taylor 4 3
Martin Glenn	4 4
Jack Pearce	4 4
Mark Bullingham	4 4
Bill Bush	2 2
Richard Masters	2 2
Peter McCormick OBE	3 3
Elena Narozanski	4 4
Tim Hollingsworth OBE	4 4
Jemima Bird	3 2
Wais Shaifta	1 1
Karen Taylor	4 3

Committees

The Foundation has two Committees that support the work of the Board of Trustees:

Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee

The Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee advises the Board on The Football Foundation’s processes relating to audit, risk and governance, along with policy compliance.

Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee Membership

Matthew Kirkby – Independent Chair
Karen Taylor – Independent
Serena Jacobs – Independent and co-opted member of the Committee
Peter McCormick OBE – Premier League Stadium Fund Chair (ex-officio) *
Peter McCormick OBE joined the Committee as an Ex-Officio Member in August 2008. The remaining Members have served on the Committee for less than 9 years.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee Attendance FY24

The following table outlines attendance at Committee meetings for FY24.

Total meetings Attended	Total meetings Attended
Matthew Kirkby	4 4
Karen Taylor	4 4
Peter McCormick OBE	4 4
Serena Jacobs	4 4

Football Foundation Grants Panel

The Football Foundation Grants Panel (the Grants Panel) provide independent scrutiny of all applications for grant funding, once these have been developed and assessed by the Foundation Executive, in line with approved Foundation processes and policies.

The Football Foundation Board of Trustees has fiduciary responsibility for all activities related to The Football Foundation. This includes awarding grants. However, the Board has delegated to the Grants Panel authority to approve grants up to a value of £1,000,000. The Grants Panel will also consider applications in excess £1,000,000 with a view to making a recommendation to the Board.

Grants Panel Membership

Paul Spooner - Independent Chair
Palma Black - Independent member
Richard Smale - Independent member
Rahul Bissoonauth - Independent member
Sue Catton - Independent member
Sue Bowers - Independent member
Nick Perchard - Premier League representative
Phil Woodward - FA representative
Patrick Brosnan - Sport England representative

Grants Panel Attendance FY24

The following table outlines attendance at Panel meetings for FY24.

Total meetings Attended Paul Spooner 4 4 Palma Black 4 4 Richard Smale 4 4 Rahul Bissoonauth 4 4 Sue Catton 4 4 Sue Bowers 4 3 Nick Perchard 4 4 Phil Woodward 4 4 Patrick Brosnan 4 4	Total meetings Attended Paul Spooner 4 4 Palma Black 4 4 Richard Smale 4 4 Rahul Bissoonauth 4 4 Sue Catton 4 4 Sue Bowers 4 3 Nick Perchard 4 4 Phil Woodward 4 4 Patrick Brosnan 4 4
Paul Spooner	4 4
Palma Black	4 4
Richard Smale	4 4
Rahul Bissoonauth	4 4
Sue Catton	4 4
Sue Bowers	4 3
Nick Perchard	4 4
Phil Woodward	4 4
Patrick Brosnan	4 4

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Measuring the effectiveness of our Board, Committee and Panels

Evaluations of the different groups are undertaken periodically, and a record of each group’s skills, performance and effectiveness is recorded. The below table sets out the frequency of the evaluations and the last reported evaluation.

Measuring the effectiveness of our Board, Committee and Panels Evaluations of the different groups are undertaken periodically, and a record of each group’s skills, performance and effectiveness is recorded. The below table sets out the frequency of the evaluations and the last reported evaluation.	Measuring the effectiveness of our Board, Committee and Panels Evaluations of the different groups are undertaken periodically, and a record of each group’s skills, performance and effectiveness is recorded. The below table sets out the frequency of the evaluations and the last reported evaluation.
Frequency Reported
Board (internal)	Annual Sep-23
Board (external)	Every 4 years Dec-20
Audit, Remuneration & Governance (internal)	Every 2 years Sep-23
Grants Panel (internal)	Every 2 years Jul-24

Register of Interests

The Football Foundation’s register of interest lists all interests declared by the organisation's Trustees, Panel and Committee Members, Directors and employees. All are invited to review and update their declaration annually, at the beginning of the financial year. The up-to-date register is then presented to Board at its meeting in September.

Code for Sports Governance Compliance

The Code for Sports Governance sets out the levels of transparency, diversity and inclusion, accountability and integrity that are required from those organisations who seek – and are in receipt of – UK Government and National Lottery funding from Sport England and/or UK Sport. The Code was launched in 2016, and revisions published in December 2021, for compliance by February 2024.

The Football Foundation is committed to meeting the ambitious standards of governance set out in the Code and believe this will further support The Football Foundation to take effective decisions in the best interests of the charity, our team, and those who benefit from our work.

Like many organisations in receipt of Government funding, The Football Foundation team has worked hard to make sure the revised standards are met. We are currently waiting for our efforts to be assessed, at which time The Football Foundation is confident of achieving compliance with the Code.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Strategic Report Chair’s foreword

It has been 24 years since The Football Foundation was founded by the Premier League, The FA and Government. The initial task at hand was to help improve the provision of pitches across the country, but over time, the remit of The Football Foundation has grown significantly.

Our approach is now more holistic and not only do we provide grants to clubs and organisations to build 3G pitches and changing facilities; floodlights to enable pitches to be used day and night; small grants for goal posts, fencing and storage containers; as well as funding to help improve grass pitches. Our team provides advice to clubs and organisations on how to raise or find ‘match funding’ from the local Council or community groups to ensure the local community are fully invested in a project. The Foundation also offers helps with planning applications. This package of support provides a more sustainable and long-lasting impact across the grassroots game.

This year has been another record year for the Foundation, having secured the largest investment from our funding partners to date, totalling £129.2m. We have been able to secure this additional injection because our funding partners can clearly see the return on their investment through both sporting and social outcomes. We are able to deploy grant money swiftly and sustainably and have been able to cope with a doubling of grant giving with only a small increase in fixed costs.

To ensure that we fully understand the nature of demand for sports facilities we are refreshing our Local Football Facility Plans. With the growth of all forms of the game, but particularly that of women and girls and youth football, there has been an increase in demand, far more so than that anticipated a few years ago. This work will continue into FY25.

Our expected grant giving for FY23-25 is £326m, and for FY24 specifically this was £152.4m, of which £76.0m was committed towards 3G pitches, Changing Room and Clubhouse works and our Hubs programme (of which £7.8m related to Lionesses Futures Fund projects), with an additional £17.8m going towards improving grass pitches (including equipment this year), £5.8m towards small grants (such as goalposts, 3G machinery and fencing), £14.1m to The Football Foundation PlayZones programme, £0.1m to Grass Pitch Maintenance Capital grants to support multi-sport activities, £2.6m to Grass Pitch Maintenance revenue grants to support other National Governing Bodies (Rugby Union and Rugby League) activities, £3.0m towards the Active Through Football Scheme, and this left £33.0m uncommitted at year end which is being brought into our FY25 commitment target.

We’re lucky enough to already have our funding from the Premier League and The FA confirmed for our next funding cycle. As we’re in the final year of our current three-year funding cycle, the Board and Foundation management are already underway in developing the next stage of our strategy. I look forward to working together on this to ensure every community has a great place to play.

We finally had closure on a fraud case that carried over from FY23 into this year. It resulted in a custodial sentence and demonstrated that The Football Foundation and its funding partners will not tolerate fraud. We continue to work with facilities and clubs to ensure they are carrying out due diligence and fully understand their governance responsibilities.

This year marked a year on from our commitment to invest 40% of the Foundation’s funding into multi-sports projects by 2025. These projects support both football and at least one additional sport, such as rugby, cricket, netball and basketball. A great example of this in

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

action is our PlayZones programme. We opened our first site this year in Normanton Park, Derby, hosting football, netball, touch rugby, quick-stick hockey and dodgeball. It’s fantastic to see these community led facilities come to life to get more people active.

This year, I’ve had the privilege of visiting facilities and meeting many people who have felt the impact of The Football Foundation grant awards. I always find this hugely motivating and energising. Hearing from sites themselves how lives in their communities have been changed by the power of pitches is something I take great pride in.

Martin Glenn ( ~~S~~ ep 22, 2024 20:07 GMT+1)

Martin Glenn, Chair of The Football Foundation

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

CEO’s introduction

As we reach the end of FY24 and two thirds of the way into The Football Foundation’s threeyear plan, I’m pleased to report that the Foundation is making excellent progress in meeting both its core delivery targets and the wider strategic objectives we set ourselves back in 2022. This year has been a great source of pride. Another record-breaker, getting grants out to the grassroots game and providing more communities with great places to play, and of course none of this would be possible without our funding partners The Premier League, The FA and Government.

The first of our Football Foundation PlayZones opened at Normanton Park in Derby and we’ll now see a swathe of these brilliant small-sided sites open into FY25. This programme, along with our established Active Through Football projects, dig deep into providing communities with more opportunities to get active in the informal and inclusive way that works for them.

Our commitment to deliver ‘good’ quality grass pitches has delivered 6,088 ‘good’ quality grass pitches against a target of 5,000 for this year (represented in our investment KPIs). This is reflected in how popular PitchPower usage continues to be, with 7,000 pitch inspections being submitted in FY24: that’s more than any other year. The quality of England’s grass pitches is in the early stages of a quiet revolution.

But despite that progress, we do know that in a country where 150,000 games a season played on grass pitches get called off due to bad weather, 3G floodlit pitches are a vital resource that enable games to go ahead all year round, day and night. The amazing 3G pitches we fund give communities the opportunity to come together, play sport, and improve their physical and mental wellbeing.

In the last year we have continued our commitment to provide financially and environmentally sustainable 3G pitches by launching our Pitch Replacement Fund and reducing the impact of 3G pitches on the environment. We’ve already implemented a number of measures, making revisions to the design of facilities and recently funding a site that is testing alternative pitch solutions.

In order to continue to attract increased levels of funding from the Premier League, The FA and Government, it’s crucial we’re able to demonstrate value for money and meaningful impact of our work. Our research into demonstrating social return on investment has begun, and we’ll be launching a longitudinal research plan in early FY25. We continue to share the great stories from a wide range of people who have benefited from our grant awards to demonstrate our impact and inspire more people to apply for funding.

A year on from its launch, this year we reviewed our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion plan, “Together For Football”. This document is an important source of support for our team in its commitment to inclusion. It helps the organisation to see diversity as a strength and further understand and represent the communities we serve.

It’s been a busy year all round, with sites opening across the country, from East London to Newcastle, from Derby to Portsmouth. I’ve been out hearing first-hand just how important grassroots facilities are to communities. Along with team-mates I’ve had the opportunity to meet local MPs, Metro Mayors and local councillors so they can see first-hand how much of an impact Foundation-funded facilities have on their communities.

This year we’ve hosted two drop-in sessions in Parliament alongside our funding partners. These events always provide a great opportunity to talk to MPs about the plans we have for their

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

constituency; and the value of continued investment into incredible facilities that their local community use day in day out. With the General Election called at the end of our financial year, this coming year provides a new cast of MPs to meet as we begin FY25. As ever, I look forward to meeting with as many Ministers, MPs and Metro Mayors as I can, to demonstrate how impactful Government funding through The Football Foundation is for their constituents, far beyond the immediate benefits of playing the nation’s favourite sport.

Thanks to a £30m cash injection from the Government and The FA, thousands of women and girls across England are set to benefit from The Lionesses Futures Fund. In recognition of the Lionesses’ recent historical achievements, 30 new state-of-the art 3G pitches and accompanying facilities will be designed to prioritise women and girls’ football. The first of these will start breaking ground in early FY25 and I look forward to seeing how they progress over the coming year. In addition, it has been a privilege to be included in the Implementation Group for the Women and Girls Review led by Karen Carney – a clear demonstration of just how important the Foundation’s voice is around the table, as we continue to fund facilities that offer equal access to football for women and girls.

As part of our commitment, we commissioned Kelly Simmons OBE to undertake an independent review of our work in the women and girl's space. The findings and actions will be finalised for the start of FY25, ready for us to celebrate where we're doing well and go even further, where there's opportunity to make the game even more accessible for the fastest growing demographic in football.

As part of our HERe to Play campaign, we opened two more Lioness legacy facilities, The Rachel Daly Pitch in Harrogate and The Chloe Kelly Pitch in East London. This campaign demonstrates our commitment to providing equal access to women and girls at Football Foundation funded facilities.

I’m excited about the year to come, seeing our three-year strategy coming to fruition and working with our Board and Foundation Team to devise a strategy that will ensure through grassroots sport, The Football Foundation gets ahead of the game and continues to transform lives and communities the length and breadth of the country from FY25 and beyond.

Robert Sullivan

Robert Sullivan (Sep 20, 2024 13:35 GMT+1)

Robert Sullivan, CEO of The Football Foundation

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Purpose, objectives and focus

This Strategic Report covers highlights of The Football Foundation’s priorities and performance over the last financial year (1 June 2023 to 31 May 2024). It also provides an overview of the priorities we have set to deliver in FY25 and beyond.

The Football Foundation

The Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK. We unlock the power of pitches to transform lives and strengthen communities ensuring everyone has a great place to play regardless of gender, race, disability or place.

The Foundation receives money from the Premier League, The FA and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, through Sport England. This is matched with partnership funding and awarded as grants to deliver high quality grassroots facilities that enable better games and attract more players, helping to transform communities.

Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded more than 73,000 grants to improve facilities worth more than £1.1bn - including 1,169 artificial grass pitches, 13,419 natural grass pitches and 1,479 changing rooms. This has attracted an additional £1.4bn of partnership funding – totalling over £2.5bn investment in grassroots football so far.

Investment focus

The Foundation achieves its charitable objectives through directing investment into areas of greatest need and potential impact, by awarding grants to organisations to refurbish or develop new facilities. It also provides the expert guidance and support that organisations might need to develop facilities or apply for funding.

The following types of grant funding are available:

Football Foundation funding – grants, covering everything from 3G football pitches and changing facilities to goalposts and machinery.
Football Foundation Hubs programme – A portfolio investment model, providing an area-wide solution. Each Hub has a network of 3G football pitches, grass pitches, catering, changing facilities and social spaces. When combining the Hubs Programme and Football Foundation funding, from above, we awarded grants totalling £76.0m in FY24.
Active Through Football – A Sport England Programme, funded by The National Lottery and delivered by the Foundation. Working with communities to overcome barriers and help local people get active. Active Through Football funding from Sport England is restricted to the operational costs to run the programme and the revenue grants to the applicants. All grants were awarded in 2021 and 2022 to a total value of £12.7m, in FY24 we paid claims out against this scheme totalling £2.3m.

Local Football Facility Plans

The Football Foundation aims to deliver thousands of new pitches, while also investing in the improvement of existing grass pitches and off-pitch facilities across the country. To guide this investment, we have divided the country into 317 regions with a bespoke Local Football Facility Plan created for each local authority in England, highlighting the facilities and work required in each area.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

The first generation of local plans provided a strong starting point in providing the grassroots facilities that every community needs and deserves. The Football Foundation recognises community need changes, and along with our new multi-sport commitment, an increase in participation across all areas of the game, and our pledge to target those who will benefit from our facilities the most through investing 50% of our funding into the 40% most deprived and inactive communities, we are currently working our way through the local plans to ensure they reflect the most up to date situation for each community. We expect this piece of work to be completed by the end of FY25.

Grass Pitch Improvement Programme

Even with the wider availability of 3G pitches, the majority of grassroots football is still played on traditional grass pitches. Improving these remains a priority for the Foundation. Working alongside The FA, we have developed the Grass Pitch Improvement Programme to ensure every affiliated football fixture is played on a quality football pitch and keep grassroots football where it started and still gets played - on grass.

We aim to have improved 5,000 grass pitches to a ‘good’ quality standard by 2024 and 20,000 by 2030. By the end of FY24 we had improved 6,088 grass pitches to a ‘good’ quality or better.

We currently have 8,180 quality grass pitches against a target of 7,312. The FA have set a new four-year KPI of an additional 5,000 pitches (on top of the FY24 target) over four years and therefore the FY25 KPI for the Foundation has been set at an additional 1,250 pitches (8,562 cumulative total). In FY24 we offered £17.8m in new grants for this scheme, to help support the improvement of even more pitches.

In FY24, the Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and how the Foundation’s work aligns with this.

FY24 Objectives

FY23-FY25 priorities and plans

With the announcement in October 2021 that the Government was committing to a further £168m of funding for The Football Foundation over three years between 2023 and 2025, The Football Foundation Executive Leadership team set a 3-year plan. This gives The Football Foundation, and its funding partners focus through to May 2025 and the Foundation have had further funding confirmed beyond May 2025.

For FY23-25 three main objectives across three key areas were identified to form the focus for The Football Foundation’s work. Key priorities and projects identified for FY24 were:

Consolidate delivery

To meet the new scale of investment in a challenging operating environment

Develop sustainability

To ensure our investment is transformative in its outcomes and longevity

Demonstrate impact

Our investment demonstrates the outcomes we’re looking to achieve, also with a view to attract the future funding we need

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Core Grant Pipeline

During FY24, The Football Foundation awarded more than 2,700 core grants valued at £109.2 million. A breakdown of the core items they delivered are shown in the table below (which does not include our framework costs).

Grant Category	£25k+	Small Grants	Grass Pitches	PlayZones
Grants Issued	90 Grants	1,741 Grants	817 Grants	64 Grants
Grant Value	£70.2m	£5.8m	£20.1m	£13.1m
Delivery	87 AGPs 60 Changing Rooms 2 Grass Pitch Works 1 Hybrid Pitch	1,371 Goalposts 38 Clubhouse Works 132 Floodlights 2 Boiler Replacements 94 Storage Containers 8 Drainage Projects 45 Fencing Projects	6,088 Grass Pitches 130 Multi Sport GPMF Pitches	69 New PlayZones facilities

Achievements and performance

Delivering Brilliant Programmes

Active Through Football – Launched in summer of 2020, the Active Through Football (ATF) programme from Sport England, funded by the National Lottery and delivered by The Football Foundation, sees the delivery of targeted revenue investment through a ‘place-based’ approach. Its aim is to increase activity levels and create sustained behaviour change amongst those facing the greatest inequalities to getting active. Following the successful launch of the programme, further investment from Sport England has been secured to support an additional 12 places in England. The 25 projects are fostering creative and innovative partnerships with community organisations.

The Active Through Football team is now working with Sport England to consider the sustainability of the programme beyond year five. This is also being worked through at each project as part of a 6-month review process.

Most recent data (mid-April 2024) highlight the programme has delivered 17,591 sessions over the course of some 272,487 contact hours (equivalent to over 30 years) and engaged with 12,820 unique participants (and 10,024 repeat attendances), who have attended a total of 198,980 times.

There is a gender split of 46% female and 54% male, and 75% of participants are from communities within the top 40% Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). Over a third of participants (34%) had never played football before and nearly a quarter hadn’t played since school (25%) and a fifth (21%) had previously played as an adult but stopped.

At 34%, ‘improve my health’ remains the most important reason people decided to join the programme, followed by ‘wanted to play more football’ at 17%, and ‘something fun to do’ 16%.

Active Through Football Plymouth is targeted to men and women in the area aged 30-50 who live in four of the most deprived areas of the city. The programme offers recreational sessions for men and women, and fitness classes for women. The timetable of activity includes weekly well-being walk-and-talks and works to engage the local community with seasonal parties, health checks, family fun days and offering tickets to games at Plymouth Argyle FC.

Active Through Football Plymouth participant “‘I know all I do is turn up for a football session twice a week, but it’s done me the world of good. A month or so before I started coming, I had a nervous breakdown and lost my job and my home. I now feel like the

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

support network we all have with each other is invaluable. I genuinely think that without something like this, any amount of counselling, medication etc. wouldn’t have done the trick. You’ve all been amazing so thank you’.”

Football Foundation PlayZones – development of the 3-year pipeline is progressing, and the end of FY24 saw the opening of the first PlayZone in Normanton Park, Derby. The Normanton Park pitch will host football, cricket, netball, touch rugby, quick-stick hockey and dodgeball. We launched our PlayZones campaign film, explaining what a PlayZone is and highlighting how the community plays a key part in shaping the site and the sport played.

To make sure the new PlayZone was designed in a way that works for the needs and preferences of the local community, Sporting Communities gathered the views of more than 200 local residents, representing a cross-section of the community, including people from a range of ages and backgrounds.

Based on the findings of this consultation, the pitch will host football, cricket, netball, touch rugby, quick-stick hockey and dodgeball. Across these sports and activities, the facility is expected to be used by more than 1,500 people within five years of opening. A local primary school will also use the PlayZone for 10 hours a week as currently the school has no on-site PE facilities for its 600 students.

Ben Rigby, Managing Director at Sporting Communities:

“This PlayZone represents our commitment to ensuring that sport, physical activity and play are central to the well-being of communities and that everyone can access high-spec facilities."

"This space will not only enhance physical well-being but also serve as a gathering place for families and friends to bond over their shared passion for sports and for people to develop new, positive experiences with sport, play and physical activity. We look forward to welcoming everyone to experience the excitement and energy of the Normanton Park PlayZone.”

Consolidate Delivery

Local Football Facility Plan Refresh - The Foundation is continuing its phased refresh of the Plans in line with the agreed investment priorities, taking multi-sport and Levelling Up agenda into consideration. Internal Delivery Teams are reviewing this alongside County FAs to agree a final list of Local Authorities that will begin this refresh and the priority order.

Home Advantage Programme - 19 projects (representing 86 pitches) continue to work on their Community Asset Transfer and getting investment ready. The first full application is expected in the Summer of 2024.

Equipment Bank - Forty-seven organisations (mainly Local Authorities and a handful of County FAs) have submitted Expressions of Interests for the Equipment Bank fund.

Grass Pitch Programme – FY24 has been our most successful year to date – in total we now have 8,180 quality grass football pitches against a target of 7,312.

Grass Pitch Multisport Fund - £2.6m worth of Grass Pitch Maintenance grants (for multi-sport sites) were committed to in FY24.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Review Artificial Grass Pitches (AGP) procurement -The framework review and procurement was successful in FY24 with the new framework now in place.

Develop sustainability

– Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Together for Football

March 2024 marked the one-year anniversary since the launch and publication of ‘Together for Football’, the Foundation’s first EDI strategy, covering the period 2023-2025. Together for Football is designed to help the Foundation progress towards our goal of embedding EDI principles at the heart of what we do to bring about meaningful change to the way we operate.

In its first year we can report the progress of many of the areas of work including the Foundation’s review of Women and Girls football, the delivery of ‘Conscious Inclusion’ the Foundation’s mandatory training course for all teammates, the development of schemes such as our VIP (Values in Practice) volunteering initiative and our internal mentoring scheme, guidance. We have also produced documents and tools such as the Foundation’s Community Engagement Toolkit designed to support applicants and progress share our learning across various EDI topics.

Environmentally friendly infill solution

This year we opened a hub site that is testing alternative pitch systems that do not include rubber infill. Located in Sheffield, this is the first of its kind in Europe and includes six pitches that use alternative infill solutions. The Foundation has also funded a three-year research project working with SportsLabs (a FIFA Accredited Test Institute) and Loughborough University collecting performance data and player feedback to ensure every element of the playing experience is taken into consideration.

It’s an innovative project, working with brilliant partners who are just as passionate about providing great, sustainable places to play. We’re at the early stages of testing and it’s exciting to be leading the way in exploring possible solutions. Work will continue into FY25.

Data & Technology

The current focus of the Technology team has been developing, testing and finally integrating the new ‘Power Pages’ Portal for applicants. The project is on track to finish in the first half of 2024.

The transition to a new finance system has now been completed. We moved from Access Dimensions to NetSuite’s Not-for-Profit system and launched it across the Foundation in February 2024.

Governance review

The governance review is nearing completion and has added a level of robustness to our policies and processes. A comprehensive Scheme of Delegation, procurement policies and a fraud awareness programme have already been rolled out. In addition, an internal audit function has been introduced at the Foundation, with Grant Thornton being the procured supplier to support on this.

Demonstrate Impact

Post award assurance; including Pitch Replacement Fund

This year we have made real progress in narrowing the scale of the potential deficit relating to previously funded pitches which require replacement and working with clubs to understand the reasons for their shortfalls. We have created, through the Pitch Replacement Fund, a long-term solution which combined with the post-award and assurance review to deal with historically funded clubs should help mitigate this challenge.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

This project is continuing into FY25 where the focus will be shifted towards the review and further development of the Foundation’s post award and assurance provided to grant applicants after award. This includes areas of technology developments and process improvements, to best support our applicants going forward.

Longitudinal impact research including Football Foundation PlayZones

This project has been deferred to FY25 and will enable us to understand and quantify the wideranging impact of our facilities.

Financial Review

The consolidated statement of financial activities for the year is set out on page 36. A summary of the financial results and the work of the Charity are set out below

Key Performance Indicators

The Football Foundation KPI performance:

Investment KPIs

CATEGORY	TITLE	KPI	FY24 TARGET	ACTUAL
	UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS	% OF PROJECTS ENGAGING WITH UNDER- REPRESENTED GROUPS	75%	99%
TACKLING	ACTUAL IMPACT FOCUSED MEASURE ON PROJECTS TACKLING INEQUALITY	POST ASSURANCE PROJECTS DELIVERING 3 OR MORE WITH UNDER REPRESENTED GROUPS	75%	60%
INEQUALITIES	REGIONAL LEVELLING UP	% OF FUNDING INTO 40% MOST DEPRIVED LOCAL AUTHORITIES	50%	50%
	WOMEN & GIRLS	% OF PROJECTS PROVIDING EQUAL OPPORTUNITES FOR WOMEN & GIRLS	100%	100%
PITCHES	QUALITY PITCHES	NUMBER OF NEW QUALITY PITCHES	5,000	6,088
	ON/OFF PITCH	% OF FUNDING TOWARDS ‘ON PITCH’ ITEMS	75%	74%
MULTI-SPORT	VOLUME	% OF PROJECTS ADDING VALUE THROUGH MULTI-SPORT OUTCOMES	35%	74%
	VALUE	% OF PROJECTS ADDING VALUE THROUGH MULTI-SPORT OUTCOMES	35%	77%
CLUBS & COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS	INVESTMENT	% OF PROJECTS INVESTED IN, OR BENEFITTING, CLUB & COMMUNITY ORGANISATIONS	38%	38%

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

All targets were achieved or surpassed in FY24, the two exceptions were a 1% miss on on/off pitch and Actual Impact Focused Measure on Projects Tackling Inequality. This later metric focuses on performance after opening and as such has a very small sample. The trend is showing an upward movement. references projects committed in previous years.

Income generation

The income of the Foundation is comprised primarily of donations from football and sport related organisations, with an additional amount of interest earned on cash and investment balances. Donations received during the year were £128.8m (2023: £101.9m). In addition, the Foundation received income of £0.8m (2023: £1.3m) from The Premier League Stadium Fund Limited to cover salaries and other administrative costs incurred on the company’s behalf. There were no other income generating activities carried out by the Charity during the year.

Donations from the Premier League, The FA and the Government (through Sport England) are accounted for on a receivable basis in the year in which the income falls due.

Operating Expenditure

The operating expenditure of the Foundation is comprised primarily of grants payable (including specific grant legal costs and AGP framework costs) of £109.2m (2023: £81.0m), with additional expenditure items such as direct staff costs £3.8m (2023: £3.3m), and other support costs £6.4m (2023: £6.1m) (such as consultancy support and recruitment and training).

Grants committed

In the last 12 months the Foundation awarded grants with a total value of £109.2m (2023: £81.0m). Grants outstanding at the 31 May 2024 totalled £168.7m (2023: £150.1m).

The movement in funds in the year reflects the balance between income recognised and the grants awarded.

The Foundation awards the grant to the applicant once the assessment of the application is complete, and this award is the trigger for the project to start. Grants are then paid when the applicant is able to claim their costs, which must include a paid or partially paid invoice as evidence of the costs incurred. A single grant can be covered by a single or multiple claims and is dependant on how the applicant incurs the invoices and how often they wish to claim.

Funds

Funds increased by £16.1m to £36.5m. These funds comprise of two elements: unrestricted funds and restricted funds.

Each of these categories are described as follows:

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are those funds that we can use for any activity that meets our charitable objectives. At the end of 2024 unrestricted funds amounted to £32.7m (2023: £18.2m)

Unrestricted funds comprise of two types of reserves: general and designated funds. There were no designated funds in 2023 or 2024.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

The increase in unrestricted funds from £18.2m in 2023 to £32.7m in 2024 was due to the Foundation receiving more funding from our Funding Partners in comparison to the new grants offered by the Foundation.

Restricted funds

These are unexpended funds that have been donated to The Football Foundation with specific conditions attached to their use. As at 31 May 2024 restricted funds were £3.8m (2023 £2.3m). These cover areas such as Active Through Football, Sport England Core Funding, Sport England multi-sport funding, Lawn Tennis Association support funding, Rugby Football Union funding towards multi-sport work and The Football Association Post Event Assurance funding.

Reserves Policy

It is the Foundation’s policy that the aggregate of grants awarded will not exceed known current and future funding therefore the present Reserves Policy is to hold reserves at a level to cover the Foundation’s operations for three months in the event of a major fall in income or unforeseen expenditure while plans to replace income or change activities are put in place. Given these requirements the Trustees consider the target for unrestricted funds should be no lower than £2.7m. The level of free reserves as at 31 May 2024 is £32.7m. The level of free reserves is significantly higher than our target of £2.7m, this is because the Foundation operates on a threeyear funding plan and due to the increased amount of funding received in it has taken longer to formally award the grants. However, our pipeline of projects is strong and indicates that we will fully commit all funds by the end of FY25.

Should there be any indication of a cessation of funding to any major extent the Foundation would have to implement an exit strategy that would allow all grant awards to be honoured, including the provision for sufficient staff to remain in place to meet such a requirement. Given the cyclical nature of the Foundation’s funding, the Trustees will investigate with the funders an approach that will give a greater certainty to future funding and, where necessary, may include an exit strategy that will ensure operating costs are met. This Foundation Reserves Policy statement is reviewed on an annual basis.

Balance sheet

The Foundation’s net assets at 31 May 2024 were £36.5m (2023: £20.5m); principally comprising cash and other investments of £132.2m, amounts due from the Funding Partners of £71.4m, other debtors of £1.3m, the management charge owed from Premier League Stadium Fund to the Foundation, along with other intercompany items of £1.1m, fixed assets of £0.7m less grants outstanding of £168.7m, less other creditors of £1.4m.

Investment powers, policy and performance

Investment powers are governed by the Charity’s Articles of Association, which permit any surplus funds to be invested by the Board of Trustees. The Trustees intend that the real value of the Charity’s investments be maintained and enhanced over the long-term by investment in a lower risk portfolio comprising solely of capital protected cash funds. Decisions on investment purchases and sales are made by the Audit, Remuneration & Governance Committee, which the executive team then actions. No environmental, social or governance (ESG) or ethical considerations are specified. The performance of investments has been in line with Trustees’ expectations.

The Group had cash on deposit of £77.1m (2023: £54.5m), short-term investments of £55.2m (2023: £52.6m), and debtors due within the next 12 months of £73.8m at the end of the financial

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

year. These will be used in future periods to pay grants that the Trustees have authorised and communicated to recipients. At the end of the financial year there were outstanding grants payable totalling £168.7m (2023: £150.1m). The Trustees’ policy is not to commit funds beyond known funding.

As part of the terms and conditions attached to every grant awarded, an applicant agrees and accepts that payments of a grant can only be assured to the extent that the Foundation has available funds.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. Future funding has been confirmed in writing from the Premier League, The FA and the Government (via Sport England) through to May 2025. As it the Trustee’s policy to not to commit funds beyond known funding, the trustees are confident that the Foundation is a going concern for 12 months from the signing of the accounts.

Financial risk management

The Foundation’s operations expose it to a variety of risks that include liquidity risk, interest rate risk and credit risk. The Trustees delegate day-to-day responsibility for managing these risks to the Chief Executive, supported by the Chief Financial Officer.

Liquidity risk. Investments and cash are managed to ensure that there are sufficient funds available to meet the liabilities of the Foundation in a timely manner. Consequently, significant levels of funds are held on short-term deposit and are therefore, available at short notice.

Interest rate risk . Interest rate risk is managed by exploring the investment options available to the Foundation and investing where the best returns possible can be achieved at the lowest possible risk.

Credit risk . Credit risk is managed by reducing the cash collection period for trade debtors. The investments and cash are all held within UK-based banking institutions and building societies.

FY25 priorities and plans (including plans for future periods)

We have retained the three main objectives across three key areas to form the focus for our work across FY25:

Consolidate delivery - To meet the new scale of investment in a challenging operating environment

Develop sustainability - To ensure our investment is transformative in its outcomes and the longevity

Demonstrate impact - Our investment demonstrates the outcomes we want, and we attract the future funding we need

How the Board complied with its Section 172 duty

The Board have a duty to promote the success of the Charity and, in doing so, are required by section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006 to have regard to various specific factors, including:

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

1. The likely consequences of decisions in the long term.

Sustainability

A two-phase research project looking into Sustainable Infill solutions for 3G football turf pitches. The first stage which included looking at the current market has laid groundwork for phase two which began in FY23. This will include investing into a multi-pitch site for the purpose of “reallife” research of different pitch systems would provide a unique opportunity to gather objective “live” performance data.

The Trustees have also considered the impact of key long-term matters, such as the rubber crumb environmental impact of our AGPs and supporting the Foundation executive with the test hub in Sheffield looking at alternatives. Another key area the Trustees considered and have pushed the Foundation on is Women & Girls focus of our facilities further to the Karen Carney report on raising the bar for Women and Girls football.

2. The interests of employees .

The Trustees regularly reviews staff engagements through pulse surveys and assesses outcomes and actions as reported by the executive team at the Foundation. The Foundation have a group representing (includes members from each department) the culture and values the Foundation want to present and embody. This group and staff are widely consulted on matters on equality, diversity and inclusion matters. In addition, the Foundation regularly consult with employees so that their views can be considered in making decisions that are likely to affect their interests, via all staff meetings, all staff calls and the regular staff surveys.

The need to foster the Charity’s relationships with third-party stakeholders which, in the case of the Foundation, include people affected by our facilities, the people managing our facilities, supporters of grassroots football, the local councils and local authorities, key opinion leaders and other influencers.

Engagement with the Charity’s main stakeholder groups, including our staff, facility participants, facility operators, local councils, local authorities and relevant MPs, and other key opinion leaders and influences is undertaken by both the Trustees and the Executive team at the Foundation. As detailed in our Trustees and Directors section of the accounts, we have trustees from the Premier League, the FA and Government (via DCMS and Sport England) who promote the Foundation’s aims and objectives themselves as well as across their organisational platforms.

The Foundation regularly consult with our applicants, including grassroots football clubs, schools and local councils. This is often through our pre-application engagement via our grant management team which is based across England to provide quick and effective support and guidance to applicants. We also conduct post-award support days and surveys to various grantees; this helps us identify grantees that require additional support post-grant award as well as gaining valuable data for the Foundation.

3. The impact of the Charity’s operations on the community and the environment.

As mentioned above, the Trustees have considered the impact of key long-term matters, such as the rubber crumb environmental impact of our AGPs and supporting the Foundation executive with the test hub in Sheffield looking at alternatives, which will make our pitches more environmentally sustainable in the future.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

In addition, the Trustees and the Executive have been undertaking key work around three areas, firstly Social Return on Investment (SROI), to better understand the social benefits the Foundation facilities offer to communities, and what benefit future facilities will be able to provide. Secondly, the Foundation have tendered for a partner to help complete a longitudinal study to help the Foundation ascertain site benefit and usage over a multiple year period. Finally, the Trustees have encouraged the Executive to look at diversification of their applicant types to make sure they are reflective of the communities the Foundation is funding. All of these projects will continue into FY25.

4. The desirability of the Charity maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct.

The Board delegates day-to-day management and decision making to the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive team at the Foundation, who are required to execute the Charity’s strategy and to ensure that the Charity’s activities are carried out in compliance with the policies approved by the Board.

The Board holds four Board meetings a year, as well as an annual one-day strategy meeting with the executive team at the Foundation, to assess progress and identify areas of focus for the following years. Several policies have been identified by the Board, as well as the Foundation’s Audit Remuneration and Governance Committee (“ARG”), as being of fundamental importance and are reviewed on a cyclical basis by the Board and the ARG.

The Board receives updates on the Charity’s performance and plans at each Board meeting, at which it reviews these in detail. By monitoring performance and ensuring that management is acting in accordance with the agreed strategy and plans, and in compliance with specific policies, the Board obtain assurance that in promoting the success of the Charity, due regard is given to the factors set out in section 172.

Delegation of authority

The Board believes governance of the Foundation is best achieved by delegation of its authority for the executive management of the Foundation to the Chief Executive, subject to defined limits and monitoring by the Board.

The Board routinely monitors the delegation of authority, ensuring that it is regularly updated, while retaining ultimate responsibility. The Board has adopted a long-standing governance framework, which includes principles outlining:

The Board’s relationship with Funding Partners and Executive management.
The conduct of Board affairs and the tasks and requirements for all sub-committees.
The Board’s focus on activities that enable it to develop strategy, monitor Executive action and ongoing planning of Board and Executive management succession.

The governance framework covers the following principal areas:

Direction: Focusing primarily on strategic issues, while having regard to economic, political and social issues and other relevant external matters which may influence or affect the development of the Foundation and exemplify through the board principles (including the executive limitations), its expectations for the conduct of the Foundation and its employees.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Strategy: Responsibility for establishing and reviewing the long-term strategy and the annual business plan for the Foundation, based on proposals made by the CEO for achieving the Foundation’s core objectives.
Monitoring decisions and actions of the CEO and the performance of the Foundation: This includes the implementation of, and performance against, the strategy and the plan as well as the exercise of authority delegated to the CEO. The Board satisfies itself that emerging and principal risks to the Foundation are identified and understood, systems of risk management, compliance and controls are in place to mitigate such risks and expected conduct of the Foundation and its employees is reflected in a set of values established by the CEO.
Succession: Ensuring systems and processes are in place for succession, evaluation and compensation of the CEO and senior management. Those delegated to by the directors to take decisions have access to functional assurance support to identify matters which may have an impact on a proposed decision.

The Companies Act 2006 sets out a number of general duties which Directors owe to the company. Legislation has been introduced to help stakeholders better understand how Directors have discharged their duty to promote the success of the company, while having regard to the matters set out in section 172(1)(a) to (f) of the Companies Act 2006 (section 172 factors). In 2023/2024, the Directors continued to exercise all their duties, while having regard to these and other factors as they reviewed and considered proposals from senior management and governed the company.

5. The need to act fairly as between members of the Charity .

Put into place a new generation of outstanding facilities in parks, schools, colleges and universities;
Provide capital and revenue support to increase participation in community football;
Strengthen the links between football and the community, and harness its potential as a force for good in society; and
Work with other charities to help achieve the Foundation’s objectives.

The Foundation and the Trustees engage with stakeholders across these areas and act fairly across all stakeholders.

Energy and Carbon Reporting

As part of the obligations set out under the Energy and Carbon Report Regulations 2018, the Foundation is required to disclose the energy and carbon created as an organisation over the last year starting on or after April 2019. To fulfil this, we have measured our UK Energy and greenhouse gas emissions as classified within scope 1 and 2 (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR)) which are presented in tables 1, 2 and 3.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Organisational and Operational Boundaries of the Foundation

The Foundation does not have a complex structure and therefore it accounts for 100 percent of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operations over which it has control. The Foundation’s structural and operational boundaries are the same with the company operating from its sole operating base in London, and nearly half of the Foundation staff being remote workers who work from home and travel to Foundation funded sites to progress their work.

The office is located on a hosted site and therefore receives its energy from third parties. As such, consumption data is based on sub-meter readings taken by these parties.

Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The methodology used for determining energy and carbon emissions within this section of the report come from the UK Government HGH conversion factors for Company Reporting:

Fuel consumption in vehicles that are used for business including staff-owned vehicles (Scope 1).
Electricity used for lighting, cooling, heating and air conditioning in office.

There is no Electricity consumption in FY24, as this was our first full financial year where we have been at Wembley Stadium, and the Foundation’s office electricity usage is now covered by our service charge. Therefore, we have no electricity information to include within the carbon reporting for FY24.

Fuel consumption is measured from the direct use of employee’s personal vehicles and journeys by employees travelling to Foundation funded sites. As per Scope 1, where employees have used their own vehicles for business purposes a mileage allowance is paid, and this is identified by mileage claims put through our expense’s software for FY24.

The Foundation’s consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions for the financial year 1 June 2023 to 31 May 2024 are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below, along with the same information for FY23 for comparative purposes.

Table 1: Total energy consumption associated greenhouse gas emissions from Scope 1 and Scope 2 for SECR Year 1 Reporting period.

Energy Type FY24	Energy Use (kWh)	% Split kWH	Emissions (tCO2e/yr.)	% Split CO2e
Transport (Scope 1)	201,199	100%	46.76	100%
TOTAL	201,199	100%	46.76	100%

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Energy Type FY23	Energy Use (kWh)	% Split kWH	Emissions (tCO2e/yr.)	% Split CO2e
Electricity (Scope 2)	23,959	9.49%	4.96	8.51%
Transport (Scope 1)	228,642	90.51%	53.36	91.49%
TOTAL	252,601	100%	41.14	100%

Table 2: Energy and Carbon Conversion Factors

Activity FY24	Fuel	Unit	Year	Kg CO2e
Transport (average car)	Petrol (average biofuel blend)	kWh	2024	0.23240
Transport (average car)	Petrol	Mile	2024	0.26473

*UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, 2024, BEIS and DEFRA

Activity FY23	Fuel	Unit	Year	Kg CO2e
Electricity Generated	Electricity: UK	kWh	2023	0.207074
Transport (average car)	Petrol	kWh	2023	0.23338
Transport (average car)	Petrol	Mile	2023	0.26379

*UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting, 2023, BEIS and DEFRA

Vehicle use is based on employee travel using their own vehicles for business use. An assumption has been made that all vehicles use standard petrol and have and fall into the average petrol car for conversion figures. The fuel conversion factor applied (kWh/mile) is 0.26473 kg CO2e per mile / 0.23240 kg CO2e per kWh = 1.13911 kWh/mile.

Intensity Ratio

Intensity ratios compare emissions data with an appropriate business metric or financial indicator. This allows comparison of energy efficiency performance over time and with other similar types of organisations. We have chosen to compare our overall emissions with our annual income for the 2023/24 year.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Table 3: Intensity Ratio – Energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions per £100,000 of annual income

Energy Consumption FY24	Total green- house gases emissions	The annual group income (£’m)	Intensity Ratio	Intensity Ratio
(kWh)	(tCO2e)	FY24	(kWh / £100,000 income)	(tCO2e / £100,000 income)
201,199	46.76	135.5	148.48601	0.03451

Energy Consumption FY23	Total green- house gases emissions	The annual group income (£’m)	Intensity Ratio	Intensity Ratio
(kWh)	(tCO2e)	FY23	(kWh / £100,000 income)	(tCO2e / £100,000 income)
252,601	58.32	106	237.63068	0.05487

Energy Efficiency Key Points

The Foundation is committed to reducing its carbon and greenhouse gas emissions and one of the major areas of focus around this in 2024/25. We have now been at Wembley in our downsized office for over a year now. The Foundation continue with their model of hybrid working methods going forward. In addition, the Foundation is researching and reviewing potential electrification of the vehicles the remote staff are using for the mileage (site visits) which is where our main mileage is incurred.

The Football Foundation Trading Limited (Reg no: 4202574)

FFTL’s policy is to make an annual gift aid payment to the Foundation, thereby transferring all its current realised profits to the Charity. Due to no trading activity in FY24, there is no such profit was available for gift aid in the year under review (2023: £nil).

One of the Directors of the FFTL, P D G McCormick OBE, is also a Trustee of the Foundation. The other Director, R J Sullivan, is the Chief Executive of both FFTL and the Foundation.

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024

Related Parties

In the pursuit of its charitable objectives, the Foundation has historically utilised its trading subsidiary, FFTL, which in 2024 had no trading activity.

Employees of the Foundation have joint employment contracts with the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited to deliver grants from both entities. The Premier League Stadium Fund Limited does not incur any direct salary costs, the salary costs incurred by The Foundation on the company’s behalf form part of the annual administrative expenses recharged to the company, £0.8m in 2024 (2023: £1.3m).

Principal risks and uncertainties

The business, its management and execution of the Charity’s strategy are exposed to several risks; these risks are identified and mitigated where possible. Within the work of the Foundation, there are broadly three types of risk:

Strategic risks : These are major concerns, such as reputational risk or the risk that the Foundation will fail to deliver on a major strategic target, objective or project. They are more often external issues with high impact which require a response plan to mitigate the effects of the risk event happening, as controlling the occurrence may be outside the Foundation’s sphere of influence. The Foundation’s risk assessment process analyses these risks to establish their root cause and then considers appropriate management responses. These are collated into the Strategic Risk Register, which is reviewed monthly by the Executive Team. The Strategic Risk Register is presented at every Board meeting.
Operational risks: Operational risks are part of day-to-day management, and the executive team are expected to articulate an understanding of the key risks in their area of operation, together with an explanation as to how these are being managed and mitigated. With the support of Heads of Department, each Director inputs into a risk and control framework annually, which is monitored regularly throughout the year. Whilst each risk is “owned” by the relevant Head of Department, any risks which increase significantly in terms of either Likelihood or Impact are escalated to the Executive Team and are then managed as a part of the Strategic Risk Management process. Operational risks are presented quarterly to the Audit, Remuneration and Governance Committee.
Grant project risks : These are risks arising from a particular programme or project (such as increased project costs and the on-going inflation risk) and are managed as part of the grant-giving governance for that activity. These are regularly reviewed and monitored. This is part of effective project governance and management.

The Foundation’s Risk Register contains two sections: strategic risk and operational risk. Strategic risk is managed by the Executive and Board; whereas operational risk is managed within functional teams, except for operational risks that are considered significant which are reported to the Board ”.

Throughout 2023 and 2024 we continued to monitor the following strategic risks:


Risk	Mitigation
People Leadership and Culture: the ability to recruit and retain	The employee proposition is regularly reviewed and adjusted if necessary to ensure the Foundation is an attractive place to work. This is supported by succession planning and investment into salary and training to

The Football Foundation – Trustees’ Report to 31 May 2024


	support progression of key personnel and those with specialist skills.
Income and financial sustainably (potential reduction in funding levels)	The external environment and political landscape are monitored, and the organisation has strategies that it can deploy to emerging issues e.g. cost volatility. The financial resources are reviewed over an annual and a three-year period, including cashflows and budget and plans.
Cyber security, malware, ransom ware and phishing scams	The Foundation has robust Information Systems security processes in place, software and password requirements. Awareness training modules are mandatory for all staff.
Failure to deliver inclusive outcomes	KPI’s have been established and performance is reviewed monthly by the Executive team and quarterly by the Board. This ensures that we remain on track or take corrective action if necessary.
Ban on rubber infill & failure to find alternative	Football Foundation have a research project ongoing to test alternative infill solutions. The project is on track and will enable a proposal to be discussed within the timeline
Impact of climate change on pitch quality	The Football Foundation educate site owners on how to deal with draught and flood conditions through communications and guidance. The Grounds Management Association, whom we work with, provide additional advice on dealing with harsh conditions across the year.
Funded sites having insufficient pitch replacement fund and/or no plan to replace surface	Grant terms and conditions are in place which obligate Grant Recipients, to set aside funds for pitch replacement. The National Pitch Replacement Fund, introduced this year, strengthened this requirement.

The Report of the Trustees prepared under the Charities Act 2011, which also contains all the information required in a Directors’ Report by the Companies Act 2006, and the incorporated Strategic Report prepared under the Companies Act 2006, were approved by the Board of Trustees on 12 September 2024 and signed on behalf of the Trustees by Jennie Goodman, Company Secretary.

Approved by order of the Board

JGOodman

JGOodman (Sep 20, 2024 14:15 GMT+1)

J Goodman

Company Secretary 12 September 2024 Reg no: 387630

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE FOOTBALL FOUNDATION

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Football Foundation (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 May 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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 group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 May 2024 and of the group’s 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 group and parent charitable company 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 group’s or parent charitable company’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 Report of the Trustees other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Report of the Trustees. 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.

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

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 course of 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. 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.

Opinions 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 Report of the Trustees, which includes the Directors’ Report and the Strategic 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 and the Strategic Report included within the Report of the Trustees 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 group and the parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Directors’ Report, or the Strategic Report included within the Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate and sufficient accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
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.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities set out on page 5, 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 group’s and parent charitable company’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 group or parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

Auditor’s 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.

The extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities,

including fraud

Irregularities are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of noncompliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.

In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.

However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity's operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the group audit engagement team:

obtained an understanding of the nature of the sector, including the legal and regulatory frameworks that the group and parent charitable company operate in and how the group and parent charitable company are complying with the legal and regulatory frameworks;
inquired of management, and those charged with governance, about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, including any known actual, suspected or alleged instances of fraud;
discussed matters about non-compliance with laws and regulations and how fraud might occur including assessment of how and where the financial statements may be susceptible to fraud .

As a result of these procedures, we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, Charities SORP (FRS 102), Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011, the parent charitable company’s governing document and tax legislation. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliances which may have a material impact on the financial statements which included reviewing the financial statements including the Trustees’ Report, remaining alert to new or unusual transactions which may not be in accordance with the governing documents and evaluating advice received from internal advisors.

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

The group audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls as the area where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments and evaluating the business rationale in relation to significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside the normal course of business.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is provided on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at http://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 charitable company’s 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 charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s 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 charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Nicholas Sladden (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of RSM UK AUDIT LLP, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants 25 Farringdon Street London EC4A 4AB United Kingdom

Date 24/09/24

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

Consolidated statement of financial activities (including the income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 May 2024

Note Charitable Activities 2 Investment Income 14 Interest income 4 Other income 4 Income Trading costs 3 Net expenditure from trading activities Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities 5 Loss on Disposal of Assets Total expenditure Net income 7 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Funds brought forward at 1 June Funds carried forward at 31 May 17	Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Total funds Total funds 2024 2024 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 93,411 35,390 128,801 101,924 - 2,545 2,545 1,306 - 2,820 2,820 1,556 - 1,339 1,339 1,537
	93,411 42,094 135,505 106,323
	- - - (2)
	- - - (2)
	93,411 42,094 135,505 106,321 (91,852) (27,594) (119,446) (90,387) - - - (291)
	(91,852) (27,954) (119,446) (90,678)
	1,559 14,500 16,059 15,643
	1,559 14,500 16,059 15,643
	2,277 18,211 20,488 4,845
	3,836 32,711 36,547 20,488

The notes on pages 39 to 54 form part of these financial statements.

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 Group and Charity Balance sheets as at 31 May 2024

Note(s) Fixed assets Intangible assets 11 Tangible assets 12 Current assets Stock Debtors: amounts falling due within one year 13 Debtors: amounts falling due after one year 13 Investments 14 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 15 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Net assets 17 Funds Unrestricted funds: Funds retained within the Charity 16 Funds retained within a non- charitable subsidiary 16 Restricted Funds: Funds retained within the Charity 16 Total funds 16,17	Group Charity 2024 2023 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 619 720 619 720 68 55 68 55
	687 775 687 775
	- 27 - 27 69,004 57,804 69,004 57,804 4,800 6,873 4,800 6,873 55,181 52,636 55,181 52,636 77,057 54,517 77,055 54,517
	206,042 171,857 206,040 171,857 (170,182) (152,144) (170,180) (152,144)
	35,860 19,713 35,860 19,713

	36,547 20,488 36,547 20,488

	36,547 20,488 36,547 20,488
	32,711 18,211 32,711 18,211 - - - - 3,836 2,277 3,836 2,277
	36,547 20,488 36,547 20,488

A separate statement of financial activities and income and expenditure account are not presented for the Charity itself as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The net income for the Charity for the year was £16.1m (2023: net income of £15.9m).

The financial statements on pages 36 to 55, which comprise the Consolidated statement of financial activities, the Group and Charity balance sheets, the Consolidated cash flow statement and the related notes were approved by the Board of Trustees on 12 September 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Martin Glenn ( ~~S~~ ep 22, 2024 20:07 GMT+1) M R Glenn Chair

The Football Foundation - Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 May 2024

Consolidated cash flow statement or the year ended 31 May 2024
Note (a) Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities Net movement in funds (as per the consolidated statement of financial activities) Adjustments for: Amortisation of intangible assets 11 Depreciation of tangible assets 12 (Profit)/Loss on disposal of tangible assets 12 Income from interest on cash deposits 4 Interest received on investments 14 Interest accrued on investments 14 Decrease in debtors 13 Increase in creditors 15 / Decrease in stock Net cash provided by operating activities (b) Statement of cash flows Net cash provided by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Income from interest on cash deposits 4 Purchase of tangible assets 12 Purchase of intangible assets 11 Net cash used in investing activities Net cash inflow / (outflow) Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents at 1 June Cash and cash equivalents at 31 May	2024 £’000 2023 £’000 16,059 15,643 213 192 26 57 - 291 (2,820) (1,556) (2,082) (930) (463) (376) (9,127) (47,814) 18,038 28,258 27 103
	19,871 (6,132)
	19,871 (6,132) 2,820 1,556 (39) (19) (112) (4)
	2,669 1,533
	22,540 (4,599)
	22,540 (4,599) 54,517 59,116
	77,057 54,517

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

1. Principal accounting policies

General information

The Football Foundation (the ‘Foundation’ or the ‘Charity’) is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in the United Kingdom in November 1999 as The Football Trust Charitable Trust, changing its name to The Football Foundation in April 2000 and registered with the Charity Commission. The other company included within the group is the non-charitable wholly owned trading subsidiary The Football Foundation Trading Limited (FFTL), which was incorporated in April 2001. The consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 relate to the total activities of the two legal entities.

The address of the Foundation’s registered office is Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park, London HA9 0WS.

Basis of accounting

The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Charity, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

A summary of the principal accounting policies, which have been applied consistently unless stated, is set out below.

Going concern

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated statement of financial activities, the consolidated balance sheets and the consolidated cash flow statement include the financial statements of the Charity and its subsidiary undertaking (together the ‘Group’) made up to 31 May 2024. The subsidiary has been consolidated on a line-by-line basis. Intra group transactions and profits and balances have been eliminated on consolidation, where material.

The Charity has adapted the Companies Act formats to reflect the Charities SORP and the special nature of the Charity’s activities. A separate SOFA has not been presented for the standalone Charity, as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and 2019 SORP.

Currency

The Charity’s functional and presentational currency is pounds sterling. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £’000.

Income

Donations that provide core funding or are of a general nature are included in the statement of financial activities on the following bases:

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

1. Principal accounting policies (continued)

All donations received are recognised when the Foundation is entitled to funds, where there is probability of receipt, and the amount can be reliably quantified. The Foundation has three-year funding cycles with its funders The FA, the Premier League, and the Government (via Sport England). The FA and the Premier League’s funding is accounted in the financial year to which the funders have indicated that income is for in their funding agreements and these funds can be used for operational and grant expenditure. Donations from the Government (via Sport England) is received in arrears following evidence of grant expenditure. Donations to the restricted fund are recognised on a receivable basis, where there is a signed funding agreement and there is commitment by the Foundation of such funds to the agreed programme.

Income from commercial trading activities is recognised as earned (as the related goods and services are provided). Income from cash deposits and other investments is recognised on an accruals basis.

In addition, as part of the sale of the Upshot business, the Foundation Board agreed to the deferred consideration of the asset purchase over a four-year period. The Foundation Executive believes that this will be paid in full as the Upshot business was already a successful profitmaking operation prior to the divestment.

Investment income

Income from cash deposits, held with a maturity of greater than three months, is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred.

Grants payable are recognised in the statement of financial activities when the grant has been authorised and communicated to the recipient. This is deemed to have created a constructive obligation and liability as there are no significant conditions attached to payment of the grants.

Charitable activities include expenditure associated with sport related grants and include both the direct and support costs relating to these activities.

Governance costs include those incurred in the governance of the Charity and its assets and are primarily associated with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Support costs include the central functions of finance, human resources, information technology, external relations and general administration, and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources (see note 6) including travel & meetings, office & premises, public relations & marketing, recruitment and training, consultancy and accountancy & professional costs.

Operating leases

Rental costs are recognised in the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

1. Principal accounting policies (continued)

Recognition of liabilities

Liabilities are recognised when an obligation arises to transfer economic benefits as a result of past transactions or events.

Fund accounting

The funds of the Charity have been segregated as follows:

Restricted funds consist of donations received, for which the donor has specified the purposes for which the resources can be utilised. Expenditure on restricted funds reflects the appropriate expenditure that has been charged to those funds.

All other funds are unrestricted and available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Group and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Pension costs

The Group makes contributions to defined contribution pension schemes on behalf of certain staff members, the assets of which are held separately from those of the Group in an independently administered fund. The cost of these contributions is charged to the statement of financial activities as incurred.

Tangible assets and depreciation

Capitalisation and replacement

The cost of tangible assets is their purchase cost, together with any incidental costs of acquisition. Assets of over £250 are capitalised.

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated on a straight-line basis so as to write off the cost or valuation of tangible assets, less their estimated residual values, over the expected useful economic lives of the assets concerned. Assets in the course of construction are not depreciated until they are brought into use. The principal annual rates used for this purpose are:

rought into use. The principal annual rates used for this	purpose are:
	Years
Fixtures and fittings	10
Computer software and equipment	4

Intangible assets

Intangible assets represent software development costs and are capitalised when it is probable that the expected future economic benefits that are attributable to the asset will flow to the entity and there is a readily ascertainable market value for the asset being developed, and the cost of these assets can be measured reliably, consistent with the requirements of FRS 102 Section 18. Those costs are amortised on a straight-line basis over seven years, in line with the amortisation period for computer software.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

1. Principal accounting policies (continued)

Deferred taxation

A provision is made for deferred taxation using the incremental liability method where the Group consider deferred taxation has a material impact on the financial statements. Material deferred tax assets are only recognised to the extent they are recoverable.

Irrecoverable Value Added Tax

Any irrecoverable VAT is charged to the statement of financial activities or capitalised as part of the cost of the related asset, where appropriate.

Stock

Equipment, for The FA’s Respect scheme, is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) method of calculation.

Investment Policy

Our investment policy is:

To protect the value of our investments in real terms while seeking an appropriate return.
Not to invest directly in any company with a significant interest in any activity that runs contrary to Football Foundation’s charitable objectives and mission.

We consider this to be a prudent policy that challenges managers to produce excellent results.

Our Audit Remuneration & Governance Committee reviews investment performance on an annual basis.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents includes cash in hand, short-term deposits held at call with banks and other short-term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.

Critical accounting judgements and key estimates

The preparation of the financial statements requires judgements, estimations and assumptions to be made that affect the reported values of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses. The nature of estimation and judgement means that actual outcomes could differ from expectation. There are no estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year

Critical areas of judgement

(a) The Charity allocates support costs between different charitable activities using Executive Management’s judgement of the proportion of effort expended on each category during the year.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

2. Charitable Activities

1 May 2024 . Charitable Activities
Unrestricted The Football Association (FA) Premier League Restricted The Government funds managed by Sport England Sport England – Multi-Sport Rugby Football Union – Multi-Sport The Football Association - PEA Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) Total	2024 £’000 17,790 17,600	2023 £’000 17,858 19,340
	35,390 88,700 4,600 56 55 -	37,198 64,200 344 56 97 29
	93,411 128,801	64,726 101,924

3. Subsidiary undertaking

The subsidiary undertaking of the Charity, FFTL, is a company registered in England and Wales (no. 4202574) in which the Charity holds 1 £1 ordinary share representing 100% of the issued share capital.

There was no business activity in FFTL during 2024. The subsidiary donates any available realisable profits to the Charity each year by gift aid and incurs an annual royalty fee of 2% of its turnover to the Charity under an agreement as consideration for the use of the Charity’s name and logos. The Board of Directors passed a resolution for a final dividend to be paid from FFTL to The Football Foundation at the May 2024 Board meeting, and the £196 dividend payment was subsequently made. The next step in 2024/25 will be to make FFTL dormant necessitating the adoption of a non-going concern basis of accounting. FFTL’s trading results for the year, as extracted from the audited financial statements, are summarised below:

Upshot Income Administrative expenses Dividend to the Foundation (Loss) of subsidiary Current assets Current liabilities Net assets		2024 £’000 - - - - 2024 £’000 2 (2) -	2023 £’000 - (2) (310)
			(312)
			2023 £’000 - -
			-

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

4. Interest and Other income Interest receivable on cash deposits Other income Management fee (Premier League Stadium Fund) 5. Analysis of expenditure Direct staff costs Other direct costs Activity: £’000 £’000 Awarding of grants Unrestricted: Grants payable 3,724 17,790 Governance costs (see note 6b) - - Restricted: Grants payable 103 91,397 3,827 109,187 Trading costs - - Total 3,827 109,187	4. Interest and Other income Interest receivable on cash deposits Other income Management fee (Premier League Stadium Fund) 5. Analysis of expenditure Direct staff costs Other direct costs Activity: £’000 £’000 Awarding of grants Unrestricted: Grants payable 3,724 17,790 Governance costs (see note 6b) - - Restricted: Grants payable 103 91,397 3,827 109,187 Trading costs - - Total 3,827 109,187	2024 £’000 2023 £’000 2,820 1,556 529 277 810 1,260 4,159 3,093 Support costs 2024 Total 2023 Total £’000 £’000 £’000 5,518 27,032 24,457 562 562 592 352 91,852 65,338
	3,827 109,187 - -	6,432 119,446 90,387 - - 2
	3,827 109,187	6,432 119,446 90,389

Grants awarded during the financial year are summarised in note 22. Support costs are further analysed in note 6a.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

6. Allocation of support costs and analysis of governance costs 6a. Allocation of support costs

Support costs: Indirect staff costs Apportionment of staff costs Travel and meetings Office and premises Public relations and marketing Recruitment and training Consultancy Accountancy and professional	Unrestricted Grant payable £’000 2,046 - 218 804 615 135 1,693 7 5,518	Governance costs £’000 - 407 7 25 19 4 52 48 562	Restricted Grant payable £’000 - - 1 - - - 351 - 352	Trading costs £’000 - - - - - - - 2 2	2024 Total £’000 2,046 407 226 829 634 139 2,096 57 6,434	2023 Total £’000 1,417 396 248 1,096 730 91 2,028 50 6,056

6b. Analysis of governance costs

b. Analysis of governance costs
Costs/category: External audit Apportionment of staff costs Apportionment of support costs Trustee Board costs	2024 £’000 47 407 107 1 562	2023 £’000 42 389 154 7
		592

The apportionment of staff costs has been assumed by using an estimated percentage of total employee time spent on governance related work. This varies depending on employee roles.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 7. Net income

Net income is stated after charging: Depreciation on tangible assets Amortisation on intangible assets Loss on disposal of tangible fixed assets Amounts payable under operating leases Auditor’s remuneration for: Audit services Tax and other services	2024 £’000 2023 £’000 26 57 213 - 192 (291) 2 2 39 36 6 6

The Charity incurred audit costs of £36,700 excluding VAT (2023: £32,200) and taxation and other services costs of £2,500 excluding VAT (2023: £2,400). Audit costs of £5,000 excluding VAT (2023: £4,730) and taxation and other service costs of £1,750 excluding VAT (2023: £1,950 incurred by the trading subsidiary are included within the trading costs.

8. Employee information

Average monthly number of persons employed by the Group and Charity during the year was: Foundation FFTL Staff costs Group and Charity Wages and salaries Social security costs Other pension costs		2024 Number 108 - 108 2024 £’000 5,190 554 410 6,154	2023 Number 84 - 84 2023 £’000 4,221 482 333 5,036

The Group operates a defined contribution pension scheme contributing 8.0% (2023 8.0%) of gross salaries on behalf of employees.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

8. Employee information (cont.)

The number of employees whose emoluments exceeded £60,000 was:

Group	2024	2023
	Number	Number
£60,001 - £70,000	11	6
£70,001 - £80,000	6	6
£80,001 - £90,000	2	2
£90,001 - £100,000	1	1
£100,001 - £110,000	1	1
£110,001 - £120,000	1	1
£130,001 - £140,000	-	1
£140,001 - £150,000	1	1
£150,001 - £160,000	1	-
£230,001 - £240,000	-	1
£240,001 - £250,000	1	-

For those staff whose emoluments exceeded £60,000, pension contributions amounting to £161,005 (2023: £67,265) were for the provision of money purchase benefits. No Trustee received any remuneration from the Group during the year. Two Trustees were reimbursed for expenditure on travel and subsistence, incurred for attendance at Board meetings on behalf of the Foundation totalling £530 (2023: Nil).

Senior employees who have the authority and responsibility for planning, directing, and controlling the activities of the Group are considered to be key management personnel. Total remuneration in 2024 in respect of these six (2023: Six) individuals was £875,600 (including Employer’s NIC) (2023: £833,897).

9. Taxation

The Foundation is a registered charity and, as such, is entitled to certain tax exemptions on income and profits from investments, and surpluses on any trading activities carried on in furtherance of the Charity's primary objectives, if these profits and surpluses are applied solely for charitable purposes.

The Charity is not registered for VAT and, accordingly, all its expenditure is recorded inclusive of any VAT incurred.

FFTL is registered for VAT and, consequently, all its income and expenditure is recorded net of VAT. As per policy, FFTL gift aids all of its available realised profits to the Charity.

A deferred tax asset of £113,129 (2023: £113,117) has not been recognised on the losses arising in FFTL on the basis that sufficient profits cannot be guaranteed at this stage of FFTL’s development and historical deficits brought forward exceed profits generated to date.

10. Net income dealt with in the Charity’s financial statements

The income attributable to the Charity was £135.5m (2023: £106.3m). The expenditure for the year attributable to charitable activities was £119.4m (2023: £90.7m).

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

11. Intangible assets

Group and Charity Cost At 1 June 2023 Additions At 31 May 2024 Accumulated amortisation At 1 June 2023 Charge in year At 31 May 2024 Net book value At 31 May 2024 At 31 May 2023		Total £’000 2,479 112
		2,591
		1,759 213
		1,972
		619
		720

Intangible assets comprise software development, Pitchfinder, PitchPower, Facilities Central and the Foundation website.

12. Tangible assets

Group and Charity Cost At 1 June 2023 Additions Disposal At 31 May 2024 Accumulated depreciation At 1 June 2023 Charge in year Disposal At 31 May 2024 Net book value At 31 May 2024 At 31 May 2023	Fixtures and fittings Computer software and equipment Total £’000 £’000 £’000 290 3,194 3,484 - 39 39 (257) (649) (906)
	33 2,584 2,617
	280 3,149 3,429 1 25 26 (257) (649) (906)
	24 2,525 2,549
	9 59 68
	10 45 55

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

13. Debtors

1 May 2024 13. Debtors
Amounts falling due within one year: Amounts owed by PLSF Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income	Group Charity 2024 2023 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 1,056 1,271 1,056 1,271 282 73 282 73 - 2 - 2 67,666 56,458 67,666 56,458
	69,004 57,804 69,004 57,804

DCMS (via Sport England) committed to funding up to £14.5m for Active Through Football to the Foundation of which £6.8m remained outstanding as at 31 May 2024 (2023: £9.8m). This was included as part of accrued income and is expected to be received in full by 31 May 2026, with £3m expected to be received in 2024/2025. In addition, there is £15.5m (2023: £46.9m) remaining outstanding from DCMS’s core funding for FY23, due to live projects claims which will fall into FY25and beyond, it is expected this will be received in full by 31 May 2025. Also, there is £41.4m (2023: Nil) remaining outstanding from DCMS’s core funding for FY24, due to live projects claims which will fall into FY25 and beyond. It is expected that this will be received in full by 31 May 2025.

Amounts falling due after one year: Upshot Systems CIC Prepayments and accrued income 14. Investments Group and Charity At 1 June Interest received on investments Interest accrued on investments At 31 May	Group 2024 £’000 - 4,800 4,800	Group 2024 £’000 - 4,800 4,800	2023 £’000 73 6,800 6,873	Charity 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 - 73 4,800 6,800 4,800 6,873 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 52,636 51,330 2,082 930 463 376 55,181 52,636	Charity 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 - 73 4,800 6,800 4,800 6,873 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 52,636 51,330 2,082 930 463 376 55,181 52,636	Charity 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 - 73 4,800 6,800 4,800 6,873 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 52,636 51,330 2,082 930 463 376 55,181 52,636
						6,873
				2024 £’000 52,636 2,082 463 55,181		2023 £’000 51,330 930 376
						52,636

The Foundation invests available funds into notice accounts and fixed-term cash deposits. The maximum duration was twelve months.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

15. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Group 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 1,059 1,319 164 155 20 - 168,677 150,091 262 579 170,182 152,144	Group 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 1,059 1,319 164 155 20 - 168,677 150,091 262 579 170,182 152,144	Charity 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 1,057 1,319 164 155 20 - 168,677 150,091 262 579 170,180 152,144 Investment income 2024 Balance £’000 £’000 2,545 32,711 - - - 1,715 - - - 2,121 - - - - 2,545 36,547	Charity 2024 2023 £’000 £’000 1,057 1,319 164 155 20 - 168,677 150,091 262 579 170,180 152,144 Investment income 2024 Balance £’000 £’000 2,545 32,711 - - - 1,715 - - - 2,121 - - - - 2,545 36,547
		170,180
Income £’000 39,549 2 - 88,700 4,600 56 55 132,962	Expenditure £’000 (27,594) (2) (273) (88,700) (2,768) (56) (55) (119,448)	Investment income £’000 2,545 - - - - - - 2,545
			36,547

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

16. Funds (continued)

Group Unrestricted funds General funds retained within the Charity General funds retained within FFTL Restricted funds Active Through Football Income Sport England – Core Funding Income Sport England – multi- sport Income RFU – multi-sport Income The FA – Post Event Assurance LTA – Procurement Support Total funds	2022 Balance Income Expenditure Investment income 2023 Balance £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 1,644 40,601 (25,340) 1,306 18,211 312 - (312) - - 2,148 - (160) - 1,988 - 64,200 (64,200) - - 741 344 (796) - 289 - 56 (56) - - - 97 (97) - - - 29 (29) - - 4,845 105,327 (90,990) 1,306 20,488

Charity Unrestricted funds General funds retained within the Charity Restricted funds Active Through Football Income Sport England – Core Funding Income Sport England – multi- sport Income RFU – multi-sport Income The FA – Post Event Assurance Total funds	2023 Balance £’000 18,211 1,988 - 289 - - 20,488	Income £’000 39,549 - 88,700 4,600 56 55 132,960	Expenditure £’000 (27,594) (273) (88,700) (2,768) (56) (55) (119,446)	Investment income £’000 2,545 - - - - - 2,545	2024 Balance £’000 32,711 1,715 - 2,121 - - 36,547

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024 16. Funds (continued)

The restricted funds detailed above have been provided by two funders. Firstly, Sport England are funding the “Active Through Football” programme in full, which is being undertaken at the Foundation, this includes all operating and grant costs. Secondly, Sport England’s core funding from DCMS is restricted for 2023 and 2024, these cover the grants on capital projects in 2023 and 2024 of which all funding was utilised. Thirdly, Sport England’s multi-sport funding and RFU’s multi-sport funding which is for operational and grant costs relating to multi-sport activities. Fourthly, The FA post event assurance funding is for use of review and improvements to the Foundation’s assurance processes.

Charity Unrestricted funds General funds retained within the Charity Restricted funds Active Through Football Income Sport England – Core Funding Income Sport England – multi-sport Income RFU – multi-sport Income The FA – Post Event Assurance LTA – Procurement Support Total funds	2022 Balance Income Expenditure Investment income 2023 Balance £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 1,644 40,601 (25,340) 1,306 18,211 2,148 - (160) - 1,988 - 64,200 (64,200) - - 741 344 (796) - 289 - 56 (56) - - - 97 (97) - - - 29 (29) - -
	4,533 105,327 (90,678) 1,306 20,488

17. Analysis of the net assets between funds

Group Intangible assets Tangible assets Net current assets Net assets	Unrestricted funds £’000 619 68 32,024 32,711	Restricted funds £’000 - - 3,836 3,836	Balance 2024 £’000 619 68 35,860
			36,547

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

17. Analysis of the net assets between funds (continued)

Group Intangible assets Tangible assets Net current assets Net assets Charity Intangible assets Tangible assets Net current assets Net assets Charity Intangible assets Tangible assets Net current assets Net assets	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £’000 £’000 720 - 55 - 17,436 2,277 18,211 2,277 Unrestricte d funds Restricte d funds £’000 £’000 619 - 68 - 32,024 3,836 32,711 3,836 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £’000 £’000 720 - 55 - 17,436 2,277 18,211 2,277			Balance 2023 £’000 720 55 19,713
				20,488
				Balance 2024 £’000 619 68 35,860
				36,547
				Balance 2023 £’000 720 55 19,713
				20,488

18. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds Group 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,540 (4,599) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 59,116 Net funds at 31 May 77,057 54,517 Charity Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,538 (4,283) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 58,800 Net Funds at 31 May 77,055 54,517	18. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds Group 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,540 (4,599) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 59,116 Net funds at 31 May 77,057 54,517 Charity Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,538 (4,283) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 58,800 Net Funds at 31 May 77,055 54,517	18. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds Group 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,540 (4,599) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 59,116 Net funds at 31 May 77,057 54,517 Charity Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,538 (4,283) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 58,800 Net Funds at 31 May 77,055 54,517	18. Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds Group 2024 £’000 2023 £’000 Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,540 (4,599) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 59,116 Net funds at 31 May 77,057 54,517 Charity Change in net funds: Increase / (Decrease) in cash 22,538 (4,283) Net funds at 1 June 54,517 58,800 Net Funds at 31 May 77,055 54,517
		77,055	54,517

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

19. Operating leases

Annual commitments in respect of land and buildings under operating leases:

	2024	2023
Group and Charity	£’000	£’000
Operating leases which expire:
Within one year	-	-
Two to five years	2	2
	2	2

20. Commitments

All grant commitments have been recognised once a grant offer letter has been issued.

21. Capital

The Charity is a company limited by guarantee. Each member has undertaken to contribute £1 to the assets of the company to meet its liabilities if called on to do so. The total amount guaranteed by members at 31 May 2024 is £2 (2023: £2).

22. Related party transactions

The only transactions between the Foundation and The Football Foundation Trading Limited, is the Dividend payment from FFTL to the Foundation which has been covered in further detail in note 3, which in 2024 was £196 (2023: £310k).

Employees of the Foundation have joint employment contracts with the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited to deliver grants from both entities. The Premier League Stadium Fund Limited is funded by the Premier League and is also a grant giving entity, and the employees of The Football Foundation help to identify and deliver these grants under their joint employment contracts. The Premier League Stadium Fund Limited does not incur any direct salary costs, the salary costs incurred by The Football Foundation on the company’s behalf form part of the annual administrative expenses recharged to the company, £0.8m in 2024 (2023: £1.3m). Mr R Master is the CEO of the Premier League. The Premier League donated £17.6m (2023: £19.3m) to the Foundation during the year. At the year end, Nil (2023: £1.3m) of the donated amount was outstanding. Also at the year end, the annual administrative expenses recharge from the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited to The Football Foundation of £0.8m in 2024 (2023: £1.3m) was outstanding.

Mr P D G McCormick OBE is an employee of the Premier League (Chairman of the Football Board and nominated Director of The FA (including currently serving as interim Chairman), Senior Partner at McCormick Solicitors (including Executive Chairman of the Legal Advisory Group to the Premier League) and Chairman of the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited.

Mr M W Bullingham is the Chief Executive Officer of The FA and Director of the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited. The FA donated £17.8m (2023: £17.9m) to the Foundation during the year.

Mr J Pearce is member of The FA’s Board (National Game representative), Remuneration Committee, Judicial Panel, National Game Finance Committee and Alliance Committee. He is also a member of the Premier League Stadium Fund Limited Investment Panel, the General Manager and Vice-Chairman of Bognor Regis Town F.C. and a council member of Sussex County FA.

The Football Foundation - Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

Mr T Hollingsworth is the Chief Executive Officer of Sport England. The Government (via Sport England) donated £88.7m (2023: £64.2m) to the Foundation during the year. DCMS (via Sport England) committed to funding up to £14.5m for Active Through Football to the Foundation of which £6.8m remained outstanding as at 31 May 2024 (2023: £9.8m). This was included as part of accrued income and is expected to be received in full by 31 May 2026, with £3m expected to be received in 2024/2025. In addition, there is £15.5m (2023: £46.9m) remaining outstanding from DCMS’s core funding for FY23, due to live projects claims which will fall into FY25 and beyond, it is expected this will be received in full by 31 May 2025. Also, there is £41.4m (2023: Nil) remaining outstanding from DCMS’s core funding for FY24, due to live projects claims which will fall into FY25 and beyond. It is expected that this will be received in full by 31 May 2025.

23. Grants awarded during the financial year

Grants awarded during the financial year amounted to £109.2m (2023: £81.0m). A list of the 50 largest facility grants awarded during the year is provided below. Each of these organisations received at least one grant in the financial year. The grants payable disclosed exclude grant delivery costs amounting to £10.2m (2023: £9.0m). No grant has been made to any individual (2023: same).

(2023: same).
*Single Fund*	£	*Single Fund*	£
Leeds City Council	5,700,000	Meridian Trust	790,019
Leeds City Council	5,400,000	City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC)	784,077
Southampton City Council	4,000,000	Mangotsfield and Blackhorse Sports & Community Association (MBSCA)	775,499
Wealden District Council	3,500,000	Newport Pagnell Town Community Football and Sports Club	774,515
Plymouth Argyle Football in the Community Trust	2,247,952	Hartismere Family of Schools Trust	764,455
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council	1,521,750	Euxton Villa Football Club	750,000
West Ham United Football Club Limited	1,500,000	Berkshire County Sports Club	749,407
Hull Kingston Rovers Foundation	1,262,693	Laurus Trust	747,617
East Bierley Community Sports Association	1,159,591	Sandstone Trust	740,512
Shenley E-ACT Academy	1,119,009	Court Fields School	736,893
Trafford MBC	1,000,000	South East Essex Academy Trust	735,309
Chadderton FC (2009) Ltd	1,000,000	Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council	727,342
Winchester City Council	982,214	City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (CBMDC)	724,331
Wisbech St Mary Sport & Community Centre	978,583	Hampshire County Council	714,682
Peacehaven And Telscombe Community Football Club Limited	948,761	St Thomas More RC College	712,309
Stockport School	925,665	Kings Langley School	708,117
Glebe Football Club	911,284	Prince Henry's High School	668,860
Debdale Park Sports Club	894,410	Academy Transformation Trust	643,043
Eden Learning Trust (Seaham High School)	869,782	South Manchester Learning Trust	626,237
Three Bridges Football Club Limited	855,022	Worcester City Council	624,782
Blackbridge Charitable Community Benefit Society	850,000	Birmingham County Football Association	622,821
Coalville Town Youth Football Club	849,895	The Burgate School and Sixth Form	603,255
Portishead Town FC Limited	839,760	Together Learning Trust	590,916
Ashford Town (Middlesex) FC	831,667	The Youngs Community Sports Trust	543,816
Presdales School AcademyTrust	824,161	Breckland District Council	524,447
	40,972,199		17,383,261

Grants	Total value (£m)
50 largest facility grants	58.4
Other	50.8
Total	109.2

24. Ultimate controlling party

There is no ultimate controlling party of The Football Foundation.

Football Foundation Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2024

Final Audit Report

2024-09-24

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