OpenCharities

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

2025-03-31-accounts

Annual Report 2024 - 2025 Good Neighbours in North Cardiff

==> picture [11 x 10] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
1
----- End of picture text -----

Contents

CHAIR’S REPORT 2024-2025 3
BUSINESS PLAN ACHIEVEMENTS 5
ENGAGEMENT 6
NETWORKING 8
RECRUITMENT 9
FUND RAISING 12
INFRASTRUCTURE 13
2024-2025 EVENTS 14
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT 15
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITY 15
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 19
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES 22

Supported by in 2024–2025

VolunteeringGwirfoddoli Cymru Wales Administered

Thornhill Church Lloyds Bank Foundation J Crofts Davies Estate Agents Wood Terry Solicitors -

Supported by in 2025-2026

2

Chair’s Report 2024-2025

There is no doubt these past 12 months have been extremely stimulating and inspiring. The successful grant from the Welsh Assembly Volunteering Programme allowing us to modernise the way we operate was particularly challenging and I wish to thank all the employees for their fortitude in approaching this programme of work. Along the way we saw one of our administration team, Beverley Clay, decide that it was time for a change in her working life. As we said farewell to her, thanking her for loyal service, we were able to recruit two new administrators from the bank of our volunteers, and Louise Westlake and Ruth Gatward joined us. They both have been very helpful in taking us forward into adopting the new Volunteer Management System “Volunteero”. Our Operational Coordinator Julie Cull has been exceptional throughout the modernisation and staff changes, always bringing a positive attitude to the workplace and being supportive to staff and volunteers, some of whom found the changes a little perplexing. Via the grant funding, we also recruited a Community Volunteer Engagement Officer, Zoe Engstrom, for a period of 9 months. Her role was to help with the expansion into Rhiwbina and to re-energise the profile of the charity across North Cardiff.

Our Trustees also underwent changes to the Executive Committee’s work pattern when we moved to quarterly committee meetings which took a little longer than the previous 6-weekly meetings. I thank them for their constructive challenges and upbeat enthusiasm in the operational changes we agreed to make. I would especially like to thank all Trustees for always stepping forward to help at our fund raising and PR events as well as all doing the day job of being a Good Neighbour volunteer. I would like to thank my two Honorary Officers who have been encouraging and given me reassurance when I have sought their advice on the way we should take things forward. Our Secretary, Sue Stockdale, is always ensuring we are operating within the guidelines of the Charity Commission and prepares

3

and records all our meetings with exacting attention to detail. Our Treasurer, Jenny Smedley, has been on a very interesting learning curve, as the need to record how the grant money was spent to fulfil our reporting back to WCVA who administer the grant on behalf of the Welsh Government was an additional task that had not been factored into our understanding the previous year.

Part of the modernisation was introducing our new website, and we have developed a specific portal for our volunteers who can access information 24/7 whether they need an expenses claim form or to check on one of our policies. We know our monthly Newsletter is being read online as we see a spike in the number of page visits when we let volunteers know it’s been uploaded. Recruitment of volunteers has gone well this year, and we met our grant target of 16 new volunteers - in fact we exceeded it. We are now going to be focusing on getting more clients as sadly a few of our clients no longer need our support due to personal changes in their circumstances like moving into nursing care, and by the nature and age of those we help, some are no longer with us. So whilst we can show a 13% increase in clients, a number of those are not using our services. During the next six months we shall contact all existing clients to discern why some are not utilising our services as we have done in previous years.

Further on in this report we will be giving more detail about the modernisation programme and how we have progressed with our Business Plan.

Annual Account of Volunteering Tasks accomplished in 2024-2025

Activity Tasks Hours
Transport 658 1316
Shopping 495 990
Accompanied Shopping 230 460
Phone Companionship 327 654
Face 2 face Companionship 338 676
Totals 2048 4096

4

Business Plan Achievements

==> picture [330 x 505] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
STRATEGIC AIMS 2023-2026
Business Plan 2023-26
Engagement
Communications Improvement Plan
Networking
Recruitment
Co-ordinators Annual Work Plan
Fund Raising
Fund Raising Targets
Infrastructure
Policy and Procedure Review and
IT hardware and Software Plan
development
----- End of picture text -----

5

ENGAGEMENT

To ensure the population (political, business, and residential) within the geographical area covered by the charity has a clear understanding and knowledge of the work of the charity. Together, with a review of the current service offer and defining future provision.

Measurements of Success

We have yet to achieve developing a Client Survey, but we have run a second Volunteer Survey and shared the results with our volunteers via our new Volunteer Portal on our website. We saw a 33% return from our volunteers and in the main the responses were positive with some good suggestions regarding the modernisation proposals we have been discussing, including the introduction of a Volunteer Management System application. In addition to the survey results, the Volunteer Portal now carries regular newsletters, expense forms, Volunteer Advisory Handbook, Policy documents and other helpful information which can be accessed 24/7.

During the year we made good efforts to reach out to all the local councillors in our service area, as well as our MS and MP. The City Council’s Older Person’s Champion and the Wales Commissioner for Older People have both been engaged through our PR activities to better understand our work in North Cardiff.

The Chair of GNINC is now a Trustee of C3SC (Cardiff Third Sector Council) through which links to the wider voluntary sector are being developed further.

We have attended several wellbeing events held in our service area and our Operations Co-ordinator is regularly giving talks to local groups and to residents in supported living homes, with great success in gaining clients and volunteers. We have been supporting the newly established Repair Café that runs once a month in St Isan’s Parish Hall where we display our banners and leaflets and engage with those visiting the facility.

6

The entire refresh of the brand and website, which was launched at last year’s AGM, was rolled out during the summer. It has been positively received and the website is well used by volunteers and the public. Our other social media platforms have also been used to engage a wider audience.

There has been an increase in recruitment, with 26 new volunteers joining. There has been a similar increase in clients, however due to the age of our clients, sadly some are no longer using our services, but we are maintaining around 80 clients on our books.

The collection of this type of data commenced in January 2025. We have yet to analyse it in detail, but it does form a foundation for us to be able to measure our work and service delivery in this context. The new Volunteero application will further enhance our ability to examine the way we are working and measure and identify areas for improvement.

As part of the Volunteering Wales grant, we undertook case studies with two new volunteers which looked at the process of recruitment and induction and then at the impact on their personal wellbeing. For full details, click on this link: https://gninc.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/05/Case-studies-of-Carys-and-Suzanne.docx

7

NETWORKING

éé Develop opportunities to link with other organisations who d‘ dP are aiming to improve the wellbeing of people living in North Cardiff

Measurements of Success

This work will be developed in 2024/25.

During the tenure of the Volunteering Wales grant the Community Volunteer Engagement Officer regularly attended the 3 Hubs, distributed our new information leaflets, and engaged with local district nurses and the GP Cluster. We have not had the capacity to create a survey for professionals as it was intended to follow the introduction of the Volunteero App which has an automated process following completion of a referral form but will endeavour to do so in the coming year.

We have also engaged with the council’s Older Person’s Champion and the City’s Age Friendly team. The new 2025 Age Friendly Strategy now contains a reference to our charity and our interest in being involved in discussions regarding changes to transport policies such as congestion charges, parking, and access to controlled permit areas.

Below is an example of the data we can collect from the website.

8

RECRUITMENT

To increase the number of volunteers and clients the charity supports by 20% by 2026.

Measurements of Success

==> picture [460 x 538] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
i. Annual review of policies and procedures demonstrates where new policies have
been introduced to meet our improved service targets.
Cash and Card Handling
Policy
Volunteering Volunteering Policy
Boundaries and Gifting
Policy
Safeguarding
——t—
GDPR Policy
Risk Review Date May 2025
Management
Lone Working Policy
Policies
Health and Safety
Internal Financial Control
Finance
Policy
Welsh Language Policy
Review Date Nov 2025
-"= Business Environment
Management Policy
Equality, Diversity and
Inclusiveness Policy
Complaints Policy
Office
Management Procedures
==
Absence and Holiday
Procedures
Procedures Office
Disciplinary Procedures
Equipment Inventory
--=
Client Assessment Criteria
Client Client Welcome Pack
Guidance Health and Safety
Volunteer Volunteer Handbook
==
Policies and Procedures
----- End of picture text -----

9

The Volunteering Wales grant project set out specific targets for 2024/25 and below was what was achieved.

Month
1
Month
2
Month
3
Month
4
Month
5
Month
6
Month
7
Month
8
Month
9
Month
10
Month
11
Month
12
Month
13
Description Apr-24 May-24 Jun-24 Jul-24 Aug-24 Sep-24 Oct-24 Nov-24 Dec-24 Jan-25 Feb-25 Mar-25 Apr-25 Target Actual
Number of
volunteers aged
26 and over
40 0 0 1 2 11 2 1 1 1 1 3 3 62 66
Volunteering
hours
0 136 326 336 370 412 332 388 358 332 360 372 374 2420 4096
Number of
volunteers
achieving 1 or
more NQF level
2 or above
qualifications
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Number of
volunteers
achieving 1 or
more NQF level
1 or below
qualifications
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Number of
volunteers
undertaking
training
0 0 0 0 0 5 8 2 3 2 0 0 0 62 20
Number of
volunteers with
improved well-
being
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0 0 0 0 24 55 37

10

The targets set out in the chart reflect that whilst we had around 60 volunteers not all of them were active so for the grant purposes, we included 40 as our starting point. The NQF training accreditation was not accessible and for most of our volunteers they were not interested in undertaking training, other than the safeguarding training which was an online process and had been commenced in 2023. Wellbeing was measured through our annual Volunteer Survey and 28 volunteers responded to that survey.

In 2024/25 the data shown in our files delivered the following numbers for clients and volunteers, not all are actively delivering or using our services. With the new Volunteero system we will be able to produce more accurate records regarding usage of our services and volunteer engagement.

Number
Clients 87
Volunteers 80

Through the project run via the Volunteering Wales grant we ran three volunteer recruitment campaigns which resulted in exceeding our target of 22 by 4. We also made a strong focus on recruiting new clients and as mentioned in the Chair’s report earlier, the success rate was a 13% increase in client numbers.

11

FUND RAISING

To increase the income of the charity in line with all the strategic vision’s and business plan’s requirements.

Measurements of Success

The budget for 2025/26 sets out the targets and, as is the same in many businesses, we have seen an increase in our costs of around 9%.

We had hoped to establish a fund-raising working group but due to other activities it has been undertaken in the main by the Chair. The three areas for raising money are through:

Events: Our two main events, Tea Party and Christmas Concert, also aimed to attract £2,000 and we raised £1,718.

No activity.

This report is made via the Treasurer’s quarterly report to the Executive Committee.

12

INFRASTRUCTURE

To ensure the charity’s infrastructure is fit for purpose and develop an IT hardware and software plan.

Measurements of Success

This has been covered earlier in this report, under the Recruitment heading.

This has been covered earlier in this report, under the Recruitment heading. All policies are established, with a review process in place. The Secretary has a key responsibility for ensuring we meet our legal obligations in maintaining good standards of practice.

The modernisation of our process and equipment needed has been ongoing under the Volunteering Wales Grant. In January 2025 it was reported there were potential increases in running costs particularly around IT. Trustees agreed to reduce the number of Licenses required and adjusted the annual costs by around £1,800 during the next financial year will need to keep a close watch on IT costs. The late introduction of the Volunteero system (April 2025) and its license for 25/26 was paid for via the Grant awarded for 24/25. The full story of how we changed the way we work can be found on our website - https://gninc.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/05/Diaryof-WCVA-Grant-Activity.docx

The majority of the policies were reviewed as part of the Volunteering Wales grant application and, where necessary, new policies introduced.

Same survey as evidenced under the Engagement section earlier in this report.

13

2024-2025 Events

Tea Party

We hosted 35 clients and 15 volunteers in Christ the King Church Hall in September. This was the first Tea Party to be held since Covid. We are grateful to our sponsors – Sainsbury’s, Finsbury Food and Knight Frank Estate Agents.

Guests enjoyed a lovely afternoon cream tea and a sing along with the Ukulele Wolves group, plus a raffle.

Christmas Concert

We held our second Christmas Charity Concert at the Llanishen Rugby Club on Thursday 6 December. We were pleased to be able to tell our full-house audience that we had been successful in attracting a £20,000 grant from the Lottery Community Fund towards our annual running costs for 2025/26.

Over 100 guests and volunteers were wonderfully entertained by two choirs, Oriana and the Choir with No Name – with very different approaches, one traditional and the other rock style – along with a firm favourite, Ukulele Wolves, who brought a smile to everyone’s face with their cheeky renditions of well-known Christmas songs.

It was a great start to the festive season.

Events Photo Album

==> picture [17 x 10] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
14
----- End of picture text -----

Structure, Governance and Management

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE STRUCTURE

==> picture [432 x 302] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
Alison Gibbons
Treasurer
Jenny Smedley
Bob Lewington
Churches Together
Chair Secretary
Rosemary Mathews Sue Stockdale
Phil Patterson
Trustees
Julia Rayer
Vacancy
Sebastien Vanoni
----- End of picture text -----

STAFF STRUCTURE

Co-ordinator Julie Cull Administrator Administrator Louise Westlake Ruth Gatward

15

Statement of Financial Activity For The Year Ended 31st March 2025

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS

2023/24 RECEIPTS 2024/25 2024/25
£ Grant & Donations £ £
4,645 Client donations 5,146
2,096 Donations from businesses/ organisations 1,225
1,125 Grants 39,394
5,170 Individual donations 180
2,644 Standing order & direct debit donations 2,172
21 Gift Aid 4,201
15,701 52,317 52,317
Fund Raising & Events
1,530 Concert(1) 0
666 100 Club(1) 442
234 Tea Party(1) 723
1,178 Christmas Concert(1) 582
0 Volunteer Event(1) -56
3,607 1,691 1,691
358 Bank Interest 346 346
19,666 TOTAL RECEIPTS 54,354.25

NOTES

(1) Net income in this FY

16

2023/24 PAYMENTS 2024/25 2024/25
£ £ £
Personnel Expenses
16,958 Salaries (incl tax) 18,650
0 Staff expenses 0
562 Volunteer expenses 475
17,520 19,125 19,125
Office Expenses
193 Stationery/Office supplies 640
762 Telephones/Broadband 288
956 928 928
Other Expenses
373 Website maintenance 439
867 Insurance 984
148 DBS check fees 120
180 Subscriptions 0
2,440 Rent 3,050
350 Repairs and alterations 165
43 AGM/EGM 99
224 Miscellaneous expenditure 14
0 WCVA Project Costs - WCVA Funded 20,688
0 WCVA Project Costs - GNINC Funded 2,730
4,625 28,288 28,288
23,101 TOTAL PAYMENTS 48,341
-3,435 SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR 6,014
19,666 54,354

17

STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31ST MARCH 2025

2023/24 2024/25
£ GENERAL FUND £
34,820 Balance - 1st April 2024 31,385
-3,435 Surplus/(deficit) for year 6,014
31,385 37,399
ASSETS & LIABILITIES
28,563 Barclays Business Premium Account 33,909
1,326 Barclays Community Account 1,576
1,469 100 Club Account 1,911
28 Petty cash 2
0 Liabilities 0
31,385 37,399

18

Notes to the Financial Statements

Receipts

Client Donations

Our client donations were slightly above the budget set at the beginning of the year.

Donations from Businesses/ Organisations

We received a number of generous donations from businesses and organisations again this year, including:

Grants

We would like to acknowledge the following Grants which have been gratefully received by the Charity:

Individual Donations

We were fortunate to receive donations from a number of generous individuals and should like to thank in particular L.O'Reilly for donating £159.93 from the proceeeds of a coffee morning she orgnaised as well as A. Williams and A. Mellor for their kind donations towards supporting the Clients’ Tea Party. We are also very grateful to the many volunteers and Trustees who contributed to the fundraising events by offering to cover costs for items themselves.

19

Monthly donations made by Standing Order and Direct Debit reduced slightly again this Financial Year, but continue to form a substantial source of income and we are very grateful for these regular donations.

We thank all our donors for their generous contributions.

Gift Aid

Two claims for Gift Aid on client donations under the Small Donations Scheme were made this year. We received payments for Financial Years 2022-23 in April, and 2023-24 in December.

Fund Raising and Events

The Clients’ Tea Party and Volunteers’ Christmas Concert were both run again this year and raised considerable sums. Thank you to the numerous volunteers and Trustees who generously donated their time and covered some of the expenses, to make these events a success.

The 100 Club remained well-supported, and thanks go to several members of the Club who donated their winnings back to GNiNC. Takings were slightly down on the previous Financial Year as not all tickets were sold at the start of the year.

The Volunteer Event was run in June to celebrate the 40[th] anniversary of Volunteers’ Week; to recognise Alison Gibbons, our previous Treasurer and current Trustee, who was awarded Trustee of the year by the Cardiff Third Sector Council; and to bring together volunteers to thank them for their continued support and efforts. J Crofts Davies Estate Agents, and Rees Wood Terry Solictors kindly sponsored the event.

Payments

Personnel Expenses

Salaries for the Co-ordinator and two Administrators increased in line with the annual increase in the National Living Wage.

Volunteer expenses were slighly down on the previous year.

Office Expenses

Costs for client Christmas cards and postage; and the redesigned Gift Aid envelopes, welcome packs and postage were funded by two Grants from Forrester's Finance.

Other costs included an Events pop-up banner and leaflet stands with the new branding, and miscellaneous office sundries.

The telephone landline was transferred to Broadband during Financial Year 2024-25. Costs were therefore under budget as telephone costs are reflectd largely in WCVA expenses this

20

year and the Telephone/ Broadband line will be updated to reflect Telephones/Broadband costs in the next financial year.

Other Expenses

Our Insurance premium was a little higher than the previous year’s, reflecting the increased value of IT equipment held in the office, following the WCVA funded purchases.

The Rent on our office was paid in quarterly instalments to Llanishen Parish Church. Our annual rent remains at £2,440, however, due to the timing of payments there were 5 payments recorded in this Financial Year making the total payments slightly higher this year.

Following Repairs to the ceiling last year after water damage, we also redecorated the office walls this year due to the damp.

AGM costs were for hall hire and light refreshments.

Beyond the WCVA project costs which were funded by the WCVA (see main report for details), there were additional costs of £2,730 associated with the project which the Trustees agreed to fund through "in kind" contributions from the general accounts. These included colleague expenses, additional creative costs for the brand redesign, and additional Volunteer Management System costs. £500 of the IT costs were funded by the Local Giving ‘Magic Little Grant’ of £500 awarded for use towards IT equipment in 2022.

A number of the fundraising event expenses were again covered this year by various donors who wished to remain anonymous – thank you all.

Related Parties

No trustees received any remuneration or recompense from GNiNC in their capacity as trustees.

Restricted Funds

Please note that all funds in this financial year are unrestricted.

Summary

Thanks to the contributions of the Executive, government, local organisations, businesses and our continued financial support from clients and volunteers, we continue to remain resilient with strong cash reserves.

In line with the Charity Commission’s recommendations, some years ago the Trustees adopted the policy of maintaining an unrestricted reserve fund of at least one year’s running costs for GNiNC, so that we could continue to operate in the event of a loss of funding from any source. This year, we once again meet this objective.

Our thanks are due to Sheila Craig, who has examined our accounts and records, and issued her Independent Examiner’s Report in accordance with the Charities Act. The Independent Examiner does not receive any remuneration for her services.

21

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees

Independent examiner’s report to the members of the Executive Committee of the charity: Good Neighbours in North Cardiff (Charity Number: 1089128)

I report to the Executive Committee on my examination of the accounts of Good Neighbours in North Cardiff for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the Executive Committee you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination.

I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Name: Sheila Craig, B.A., F.C.A. Address: 15 Aldwych Close, CF14 9DR Date: 3.7.25

22

This page is intentionally left blank

23

Ebost | Email: support@gninc.org.uk Cymdogion Da ymg Ngogledd Good Neighbours in North Cardiff Caerdydd CDYNC GNINC 4 Heol Hir Caerdydd CF14 4 Heol Hir Cardiff CF14 5AE 5AE

Swyddfa Ffon | Office Tel : Elusen Rhif | Charity 029 2075 0751 No:1089128

24