OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2022-12-31-accounts

End of Year Report 2022 The Thomas Project

About us

The Thomas Project is a Christian charity in Walsall that serves our local community, helping those in hardship, need and distress. From our community hub in Aldridge, we work alongside other local charities and community partners, to offer a range of activities and support services to everyone in our community, regardless of faith, and bring people together. The THOMAS Project began in 2013 by becoming the working name for the charity Family Welfare and Community Guidance, established in 1985 by Jan Coleman and volunteers from St Thomas Church in Aldridge to serve the residents of the Leighswood estate and surrounding areas, with the aims of relieving hardship, need and distress and for the advancement of the Christian religion.

In 2000, the organisation became a registered charity and in 2022 formally changed its name to The Thomas Project. The Thomas Project is well known and trusted because of our long-standing relationship with the community, and we have a long standing good reputation for providing help and support to people in need. We are currently already working in the community, reaching people in food and economic poverty and have success stories of people who have made the journey of life transition from food poverty to become financially stable and able to provide for their families. Our premises are in the heart of a community of shops and local businesses which is easy to access with bus stops just outside. The building is a neutral location which creates no barriers, has disability access and is open to everyone from all parts of the community.

The Thomas Project is located in Aldridge which is a borough of Walsall, and according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation report of September 2019 which measures levels of multiple deprivation, Walsall as a whole is ranked as the 25[th] most deprived area in England out of 317 and Aldridge sits at level 4 within the borough, on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the most deprived and 10 being the least deprived. The English Indices of Deprivation 2019, produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), identify small areas of England which are experiencing multiple aspects of deprivation. The figures are based on the concept that deprivation consists of more than just poverty; so while poverty is related to not having enough money to live on, deprivation refers to a much broader lack of resources and opportunities.

A high percentage of the people we provide services to are in a state of food poverty and need urgent help with essential food supplies and other basic household items. Many of these people are in families so need help for the whole family not just themselves. Many are in long term unemployment and need help and support to find pathways back into work. Most of these people lack the ability to change their circumstances without support and assistance. There is also a high population of people over age 65 in Aldridge who have a need for local services so they don’t have to travel far. Often they have experienced bereavement, experience loneliness and need a place where they can meet with others and find friendship, support and activities to stimulate them. Some lack the skills or have equipment to connect via the internet so need access to computers and internet and practical help with IT for form filling and connecting with family.

- Our strategy (2021 2023)

Our strategy for 2021-2023 is to increase our support and services, and grow our charity, enabling us to meet diverse needs, help more people and reduce the impact of poverty on people’s lives. Our current strategic plan was developed through consulting staff, volunteers, trustees and service users in late 2021 and commenced in January 2022. In this plan, we identified 4 key workstreams for the charity over the coming years. The aims of these workstreams are:

For our community

o We will provide a safe and welcoming community hub

o We will deliver a range of community activities

o We will bring people together to prevent isolation and loneliness For those in need

o We will deliver pastoral support to those in need

o We will work with partners to provide information, advice and guidance services o We will continue to provide our weekly foodbank

For people who want spiritual support

o We will provide an opportunity, for people who are interested, to learn more about the Christian Faith

o We will support our local churches and fellow Christian organisations o We will live our values, and our activities and services will reflect these For our future

o We will ensure trustees, staff and volunteers are supported to deliver our charitable aims o We will increase our income, growing our financial independence and financial security

o We will increase our impact, diversifying what we do and increasing the number of people we help

o We will raise our profile in our community and beyond and build strong relationships with key stakeholders and partners

How we started 2022

In 2022 we, as an organisation, the people we were supporting, and the people we wanted to support, had been and continued to be impacted by COVID. Whilst lock-downs were over, we were still dealing with the ongoing impact of the pandemic, and the lock-downs in 2020 and 2021. On top of this we were also dealing with the cost of living crisis and inflation. As a charity, this meant that the costs of running our charity were increasing and our income from donations were decreasing, whilst the need for our services and support was growing. Additionally, due to the instability of funding and income streams in the wider charity and voluntary sector, we were facing increased competition for grants and trust funding. This meant that during 2021 we experienced a significant difference between our income and expenditure, with our expenditure being roughly £10k higher than our income. This shortfall of £10k for 2021 was funded from reserves.

In January 2022 we launched our two-year strategy. At the end of 2021 our part-time Project Manager retired and our part-time Assistant Manager chose to resign at the same time. These staffing changes enabled us to re-visit the roles and skills we needed within the organisation and re-design our staffing structure. We created the new role of Charity

Manager, and set the hours and salary for this role. This role was a leadership role with defined financial and impact targets. We recruited to this role in January 2022 and appointed Liz McMeekin. This role was pivotal in ensuring we delivered our strategic aims during 2022 and rebuilding the foundations of our charity to ensure our future sustainability. Supporting this role was our committed volunteering team of 20 active volunteers, and one-off volunteers. They volunteered 2272.35 hours during 2022, equivalent to £21,587.32. We acknowledged once again that without our volunteers none of what we deliver would be possible. We reflected on this, and reframed how we thought about our service delivery. Our delivery model now better reflects this. We are delivered by the community, for the community, and we have a key role in bringing together people who need help with people who want to help. This enables us to engage with people in our community so they are able to have a greater impact than we could ever have with a delivery model which was wholly staff delivered.

We also have our board of Trustees. Together they contribute a wide range of skills, experience and connections that will help us to deliver these plans. Among our Trustees we have people who have worked in nursing, social work, senior level charity work, and in business and many of our board and our team have lived experience of the issues we are addressing as a charity. These skills and experience mean there is good understanding of the needs and issues as well as of how to help and to manage this project. We recruited a new Trustee in September 2022 and our Treasurer stepped down at the end of 2022 due to relocation. A summary of our Trustee Board during 2022 is below.

Name Position Status changes
Nikki-Dee Haddleton Chair None
Pete Brentall Secretary None
Keith Capp Treasurer Resigned Dec 2022
Marlene Bradburn Trustee None
Paul Bradburn Trustee New recruit – September
2022

In 2023 we will replace the role of Treasurer and increase the size and skills of our Trustee Board.

What we delivered in 2022

For our community…

For our community, our aim was to reduce loneliness and to provide a community where people feel welcome, safe and ultimately feel that they are a functioning part of that community. In order to reduce loneliness in people and get them together and help them to network and socialise with others we delivered a number of activities. We know from our previous delivery of services that our role in bringing people together is valued by our beneficiaries and that we are able to do this well. We also believe in the wider social value that is created by bringing communities together.

We know that loneliness and isolation has a negative impact on people’s health and wellbeing. According to the Office for National Statistics feeling lonely frequently is linked to early deaths. Research shows that loneliness is associated with a greater risk of inactivity, smoking and risk-taking behaviour; increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke; an

increased risk of depression, low self-esteem, reported sleep problems and increased stress response; and with cognitive decline and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s. Feeling lonely can make a person more likely to perceive, expect and remember others’ behaviour to be unfriendly. This can increase social anxiety and cause them to withdraw further, creating a vicious cycle. Feeling lonely frequently has a direct impact on individuals and can have wider effects for society. For example, lonely people are more likely to be readmitted to hospital or have a longer stay. There is also evidence that lonely people are more likely to visit a GP or A&E and to enter local authority funded residential care.

For those in need…

In order to reduce the impact of economic, fuel and food poverty in people’s lives we began to increase our offer of practical help. We know that Aldridge has significant isolated pockets of deprivation which struggle to access support due to the overall indices of deprivation ratings. We also support many people who are from an older demographic and the cost of living crisis and the ongoing impact of COVID in 2022 was having a significant impact on these individuals, due to factors such as pension shortfall and underemployment, and health issues and isolation. By supporting people in need we aimed to reduce the impact of social and economic inequality. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation ’UK Poverty 2022’ report, shows that, within the UK, 22% of the population are living in poverty, equating to approximately 14.5 million people and of these 8.1 million are working age adults and with the highest rate of child poverty in twenty-five years.

The effects of poverty and inequality are far reaching and can be long term. The British Medical Association (BMA) reported that although poverty can have a negative impact upon the health of people of all ages it can be distinct in relation to infants and children as it is associated with low birth weights, higher risk of deaths within the first year of life and shorter life expectancy. Children living in poverty are also more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as asthma, have issues with cognitive development and are three times more likely to suffer from mental health issues. All of these issues can have long term consequences on the life chances of children and on their health once adults. The Mental Health Foundation states that poverty produces a harmful environment in relation to individuals, families and communities’ mental health and increases the risk of mental health problems and that people with no previous history of mental health issues may develop them as a result of becoming impoverished. Adults within food insecure households are more likely to develop chronic diseases such as asthma, arthritis, diabetes and mental health issues alongside lower life expectancy.

Whilst we had our foodbank already well-established, the dependency upon food banks from those living in poverty and crises, has continued to increase at a rapid rate. Trussell Trust report that between April 2020 and March 2021, across the UK, they distributed 2.5 million emergency food parcels a 33% increase on the previous year and by 128% over the previous five years. We found that demand is increasing at our food bank too. Statistics for our foodbank show increases each year since 2018, with the number of people provided with food and the amount of food doubling in 2021 compared with 2020.

For people who want spiritual support…

According to statistics published by Statista, church attendance in England has fallen by approximately 300 thousand since 2009 up to 2019, with the average weekly attendance of

the Church of England being just 854.3 thousand in 2019. In the same year, just over a third of people in the United Kingdom identified as being Christian compared with two-thirds in 1983. Although there are several churches in the area served by The Thomas Project, attendance is falling and many of the people we provide services to do not attend any church. One of our core charity aims is to promote the Christian Faith. We know that this work is needed because we work with people at The Thomas Project on a daily basis who often open up and talk to us about their hopelessness, their difficult life circumstances and their needs and more often than not, they tell us that they do not have any faith nor do they attend a church. We have in place, some Christian volunteers who, alongside the Charity Manager, talk to people, and more importantly listen to them and build up relationship and trust with them. We began to see a need for specific activities and meetings for some of these people who were hungry for the love of God but just didn’t know it yet. Many of them told us that they did not want to attend a church. Our community hub is in a neutral location in a building which is part of a group of small local shops where people come regularly to visit the hairdresser, buy fish and chips, buy groceries etc and also to come to our activities. Because of this they are happy to attend courses etc here. Although there are Alpha Courses running in some of the local churches, these people did not want to attend them, however they are happy to attend in our community hub as it is familiar territory and with people they already know and trust. In 2022 we piloted our first Alpha Course.

Commencing in May 2022 we ran an Alpha Course for people we were connecting with who attend various activities in our premises who we found were showing an openness to/interest in exploring faith. We had five people sign up to it and attended regularly. Of those five people four were ‘unchurched’ and one attended church occasionally and wanted to increase her faith. At the end of the course three of them had made a first time commitment to follow Jesus. One of these three was baptised and is now attending regularly and helping out in a local Anglican church, is currently a helper on our second Alpha course, is sharing his faith with others and is volunteering regularly at our foodbank where he has opportunities to have conversations with people who attend about his faith and he tells them about our Alpha course. Another one of these three people attend a local Anglican church regularly but only to specific meetings due to her family circumstances. She is in regular contact with members of the church and has support from them.

The other of the three attends her local Anglican church occasionally and is happy to have connected with Christ. She attends The Thomas Project regularly and we continue to have conversations with her about her faith. The person who wanted to increase her faith is now attending her local Anglican church regularly and is happier with her relationship with Christ. The fifth person decided that he did not want to pursue a life of faith in Christ. However, he is still a regular attender at The Thomas Project, engaging with other activities and participating in events. After the Alpha course ended three of the people mentioned above wanted to continue as a group and be supported by us. We worked through an eight week discipleship course together which stretched out over 11 weeks. The outcome of this was a deepening of their faith and understanding of their new relationship with Christ. After this course we encouraged them all to look to their local church for further courses.

For our future…

In 2022 we had a team of 20 dedicated volunteers who, together provided 2272.35 hours of service to the work of The Thomas Project. This equates to an approximate value of £21,587.32 going by the national minimum wage in 2022 of £9.50. In October 2022 we held

a Volunteers Day to recognise and thank our faithful volunteers for the work they had done. We provided a lunch and had a visiting speaker. This gave them the opportunity to get together as a group, as many of them volunteer on different shifts so don’t always to get to see all of the other volunteers. In November we provided a Fire Safety Training session for them carried out by a professional fire safety instructor. We cannot deliver our services without the support of our volunteers and we want to increase the ways in which they can volunteer and the skills they can both offer and learn.

In our strategic plan we aimed to recruit four new trustees between 2021 and 2023. This will provide increased skills sets within the board, and a greater diversity of experiences, knowledge and perspectives which we hope will increase our innovation and resilience. To support recruitment of Trustees, in 2022 we created and implemented a Buddy role and Induction Process for new Trustees. We also re-drafted the Trustee Role description to provide greater clarity to potential Trustees about the role and the expectations regarding time commitment. We used this when recruiting our newest Trustee, Paul Bradburn, in 2022.

We recruited a Charity Manager for 25hrs per week over 5 days per week (flexible to meet with needs of service), redefining the role and reviewing the salary scale based on the new role description. The Charity Manager has been supported by the Trustees and been provided with direct training, and access to training relevant to their ongoing continuous professional development such as diversifying your income, Growing in resilience, fundraising, safeguarding, finance and fundraising, introduction to adverse childhood experiences and fire safety. The Chair of the Board provided line-management support to the Charity Manager, meeting with them fortnightly, and a formal supervision process and annual review was conducted. KPI’s, performance indicators and progress reporting mechanisms were formalised in line with the Strategic Plan and Impact Reporting requirements.

We continued to increase our impact, diversifying what we do and increased the number of people we help. We raised our profile in our community and beyond and built strong relationships with key stakeholders and partners. We updated our social media and website and have more actively promoted who we are and what we offer, and defined our key messages and communication routes which support our Strategic Plan. Our Charity Manager has been crucial in identifying stakeholders and other interested parties, and connecting with them.

Regular activities

We delivered the following activities:

Activity name: Place of Welcome

Number of sessions: 43 Number of visitors: 189

Description of service: Providing a warm welcome and a warm space, serving refreshments and light snacks. Tackles loneliness and isolation and fuel poverty where people can make new friends, chat, relax and keep warm.

Quote: I really enjoy coming to The Thomas Project Place of Welcome. The people

always have time for me to chat and listen to me. I've made some new friends here.

Activity name: IT Cafe Number of sessions: 43 Number of visitors: 113 Description of service: Providing a warm, welcoming space for internet access with gentle guidance from an IT expert. IT equipment, printing and internet access provided. Quote: It's been very helpful in giving me time and space to do job searches and complete job applications. And I've had help with any problems or errors in online applying.

Activity name: Walsall Workstations

Number of sessions: 43 Number of visitors: 47 Description of service: Practical support for those seeking employment. Participants must be unemployed and over 25 Quote: I receive help and support getting myself ready to get into work.

Where we ended 2022

2022 overall was a great year for our charity and we have been blessed to have such wonderful support throughout the year from our community and the communities we support. Financially, we were able to stabilise our income and expenditure, generating sufficient income to cover our financial costs, whilst ensuring our reserves remained static. We have steady staff and volunteer resources to enable us to deliver our charitable aims, and have begun to recruit new Trustees. We know that 2023 will be challenging due to the ongoing cost of living crisis and the longer-term impacts of COVID but we have a strong team, and detailed plans in place to ensure 2023 is a successful and impactful year.

Financial Review

Our financial period runs from 1[st] January to 31[st] December each year. At the beginning of 2022 we held £23,631.42 in reserves. At the end of 2022 we were pleased that our ongoing work to improve our stability and sustainability resulted in our income of £37,545 being slightly more than our outgoings (£37,343). The end of year balance was £23,873. The trustees aim to maintain cash reserves at no less than the equivalent of 3 months average expenditure and this was met. The income received in 2022 is 23% higher than the previous year, reflecting two main changes: increased income received from donations, fundraising events and charitable trading activities, and reduced cost by 8% due to the staffing changes at the beginning of 2022 as outlined in this report.

As a charity we raise funds from the public to enable us to deliver our charitable aims. The main source of income for the charity during 2022 was through personal and corporate donations. During 2022 our focus was on increasing our financial stability, exploring new income sources and increasing our engagement with our supporters and stakeholders. In 2022, volunteers formed a fundraising committee made up of interested volunteers. We have not worked with any professional fundraisers, nor paid for work delivered by professional fundraisers. Our volunteer fundraising committee worked together to plan and deliver fundraising events throughout the year, including our annual ‘Quiz and Chips’ night, a Greek BBQ and our Christmas Concert.

Grants are applied for when appropriate and required. We received a final payment from our grant funding from the National Lottery Community Fund during 2022.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees for the Thomas Project I confirm that this report is accurate to the best of our knowledge and the financial statements accompanying this report is accurate and has been independently examined.

Authorised by: Nikki-Dee Haddleton, Chair of the Board of Trustees Date: 27.10.2023

Signed:

Trading of "The Thomas Project "

Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 December 2022

2022 2022
£ £
Receipt Note Restricted Unrestricted
Donations
General fund 27,088
Fundraising 2,418
Trading
Gift aid claims 1,815
Room Hire 1,250
Refunds
Sundry income 223
Restricted income
Morrisons vouchers
Sundry sanitary products
Main Grant income 4,750
Total Receipts - 37,545
Payments
Wages and expenses 19,995
Training 210
Voluntary cost 54
Insurance 917
Rent 9,500
Rates 555
Heat and light 2,364
Pastoral items 239
Food bank and outreach 1 501
Cleaning materials 858
Postage and stationery 277
Repairs and maintenance 938
Tools and equipment 317
Sudries 619
Total Payments 37,343
Surplus/Defcit 201
Transfer of funds 0
Cash & Bank deposits at 1st January 2021 5508 18164
Cash & Bank deposits at 1stJanuary 2022 5,508 18,365

1. Foodbank and outreach

Foodbank Helping hands - Shop Gift shop stock Bedding for child Evangelism resources IT club Craft items Gift - services for clients Volunteer project Furniture etc for clients Artist for mosaic funding Other items including bags of joy

Restricted fund
Balance brought forward as 1st January 2021
Income
Payments
Balance carried forward as 31st December 2021
Foodbank
4
1000
-358
646
Restricted fund
Balance brought forward as 1st January 2022
Income
Payments
Balance carried forward as 31st December 2022
Foodbank
646
646

Cash funds Bank current account Petty cash

Total cash

Assets retained for the charity own use

Computers and equipment Photocopier

2022
£
Total
27,088
2,418
-
-
1,815
1,250
-
223
-
-
-
-
4,750
-
37,545
19,995
210
54
917
9,500
555
2,364
239
501
858
277
938
317
619
2021
2021
2021
£
£
£
Restricted
Unrestricted
Total
17,898 17,898
1,061 1,061
1,410 1,410
995 995
100 100
135 135
-
-
5,490 3,450 8,940
5,490 25,049 30,539
20,132 20,132
596 596
885 885
9,500 9,500
620 620
1,803 1,803
183 183
1,481 1,365 2,846
308 308
22 22
1,919 1,919
970 970
632 632
37,343 1,481 38,935 40,416
201
0
23672
4,009- 13,886 - 9,877
- - -
1,499 32,050 33,549
23,873 5,508 18,164 23,672

0

2022
£
2021
£
377
124
37
53
374
24
64
16
308
190
671
608
2846
Grant for toys
188
Total
192
0
1000
0
-358
0
188 834
Grant for toys
188
Total
834
0
0
0
0
0
188 834
2022
2021
£
£
23,833
23631
40
41

23,873 23672 restricted unrestricted

The Thomas Project

Analysis of income and expenditure Selected period: 01 January 2022 to 31 December 202

General
Designate
d
Restricted
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
101 - Standing Order Donations 5,678.49 - -
102 - Cash Donations 1,748.77 - -
104 - Fund Raising Events 2,418.42 - -
105 - One Off Donations 6,026.79 - -
107 - Corporate Donations 680 - -
108 - Community Donations 11,939.38 - -
111 - Endowments 1,015.00 - -
Donations and legacies Totals 29,506.85 - -
Income from charitable activities
109 - Grants and Trust - Unrestricted 4,750.00 - -
112 - The National Lottery Community Fund -
-
-
Income from charitable activities Totals 4,750.00 - -
Other trading activities
103 - Room Hire 1,250.00 - -
Other trading activities Totals 1,250.00 - -
Investments
Investments Totals -
-
-
Other income
106 - Gift Aid Claims 1,814.52 - -
110 - Sundry Income 223.21 - -
113 - Grants and Trusts - Restricted -
-
-
Other income Totals 2,037.73 - -
Income and endowments Grand totals 37,544.58 - -
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Raising funds Totals - - -
Expenditure on charitable activities
201 - Salaries 19,995.24 - -
202 - Rent 9,500.00 - -
203 - Utilities 1,602.87 - -
204 - Phone and Broadband 760.72 - -
205 - Council Tax 555.07 - -
206 - Cleaning 857.78 - -
207 - Repairs and Maintenance 983.57 - -
208 - Equipment 317.09 - -
209 - Subscriptions 475.19 - -
210 - Sundries 618.65 - -
211 - Printing & Stationery 277.31 - -
212 - Foodbank 25.78 - -
213 - Pastoral 76.34 - -
214 - Volunteer Costs 53.59 - -
215 - Insurance 916.84 - -
216 - Christian Outreach 162.63 - -
Expenditure on charitable activities Totals 37,178.67 - -
Other expenditure
217 - Training 210 - -
Other expenditure Totals 210 - -
Expenditure Grand totals 37,388.67 - -

22

Total
Endowme
nt
This year Last
year
- 5,678.49 -
- 1,748.77 -
- 2,418.42 -
- 6,026.79 -
- 680 -
- 11,939.38 -
- 1,015.00 -
- 29,506.85 - 27,088.43
- 4,750.00 -
- - -
- 4,750.00 -
- 1,250.00 -
- 1,250.00 -
- - -
- 1,814.52 -
- 223.21 -
- - -
- 2,037.73 -
- 37,544.58 -
- - -
- 19,995.24 -
- 9,500.00 -
- 1,602.87 -
- 760.72 -
- 555.07 -
- 857.78 -
- 938 -
- 317.09 -

Amendment as per th

938

- 475.19 -
- 618.65 -
- 277.31 -
- 25.78 -
- 76.34 -
- 53.59 -
- 916.84 -
- 162.63 -
- 37,178.67 -
- 210 -
- 210 -
- 37,388.67 -

155.91

ie latest

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Thomas Project On accounts for the year ended 31st December 2022 Charity no {if any) 1082423 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above oharity ("Ihe Trusl") for the year ended 3111212022which are set out on the attached pages. Responsibilitie3 and AS the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {"the Act,). I report in r8speGI of my examination of the Trust's acooLJnls carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in Carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515}{bl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come lo my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in, any malerial respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not aGcord with the accounting reGDrds Independent examinerfs statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which altenlion should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Date: 2411012023 Namé.. Mrs Joanne Hunt Relevant professional qualification{s) or body {if any): FMAAT Address". 184 Rugeley Road, Chase Terrace, Burntwood, Staffs WS7 INT IER October 2018