2023-03-31-accounts - The Spark Foundation

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 1 April 2022 To 31 March 2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name

The Spark Foundation

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1097058

Charity's principal address Hugh House Hugh Place Faversham, Kent Postcode ME137AD

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
DannyChesterman	Chair
Irene Hall
Sheila Patel
TraceySorrell
KirstyGinn
James Whitton	Treasurer
CathyWalker













Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name		Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser	Name Address	Name Address
Independent Examiner	Mrs Jennifer Sherwood FCA	1 The Heath, Whitstable, CT5 3HJ
Bankers	Charities Aid Foundation	CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, Kent ME19 4TA

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Trust Deed

Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Trust How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Interviewed by Chair and appointed by Board decision Trustee selection methods

(eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

Potential Trustees are invited to attend a meeting of the existing Trustees You may choose to include before a decision is made on appointment so that both parties can be additional information, where satisfied that the appointment is appropriate. relevant, about:

policies and procedures We have a document defining the responsibilities of Trustees which is adopted for the induction and explained to all new Trustees. training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

The Board reviews annually risks and actions to mitigate them.

relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

The Objects of the Trust are:

(a) to relieve young people who are homeless or in financial need
(b) to relieve young people who are suffering from mental or physical sickness;
(c) to advance the education of young people;
(d) to promote the training of young people who through their social and economic circumstances are unable to obtain employment;
(e) to provide facilities for the leisure time occupation of young people in

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order to improve their conditions of life and develop their physical, mental and spiritual capacities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society

by providing them with grants or loans in cash or in kind or in such other ways as the trustees in their absolute discretion think fit The Foundation made 136 individual grants (amounting to £52,786 in total in the calendar year 2022) compared to 167 (amounting to £55,236) in the previous year 2021. The successful applicants came via 71 different agencies in all parts of England and Wales, 17 of which had never previously applied to the Foundation. The number of grants applied for fell slightly from 303 in 2021 to 250 in 2022, partly we suspect as a result of Spark introducing a requirement for applicants for driving lessons to have passed their theory tests first. As in the previous year, our income was not sufficient to meet all applications even where they met our tight criteria. To keep within our means, we had to turn down 105 (compared to 136 in 2021). The average grant rose to £388, up from £331 (in 2021).

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

Applications were received for a variety of needs. For example, for young people who have left care, the Foundation provided key goods such as washing machines, carpets and beds. Grants were also given for a wide variety of other needs, for example, laptops, driving lessons, training courses. Grants were mainly given to young people in the age ranges 16 – 20 and 21 – 25. The Foundation’s application form asks for the applicant’s age, gender, nationality and ethnicity and whether or not the applicant has a disability. This information does not have to be supplied for an application to be considered. Twice a year the Foundation reviews this information both for applications it has approved and ones it has rejected. It uses this information, and data on the type of grants it has approved, to consider whether any changes should be made to its Grants Policy, website and application forms. The Foundation treats all applicants equally regardless of nationality, religion or ethnic background.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. Benefits are in the form of grants and nearly 100% of the Foundation’s annual expenditure relates to grant payments.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

As usual, the main achievement was in giving out over 95% of our income in grants, whilst continuing to manage a high number of applications with a minimal administrative cost (less than 5% of income). This is all achieved through the voluntary services of a small Board of Trustees and a part time administrator.

We continued the practice of determining grants entirely virtually. This was originally introduced during the pandemic to handle the high number of applications and adopt safe methods of work, but we have found that it works efficiently and have therefore continued the practice.

Following year on year increases each year since our inception, 2022 saw a slight dip in the number of applications, due partly we suspect to tighter criteria we introduced. In order to keep within Spark’s budget, we applied rigorous priorities within our grant policy and made sure any changes are reflected in the website.

Section E Financial review

The policy of the Trust is to maintain enough money in our accounts to Brief statement of the cover expenses and a buffer of £5000 towards grants in the next quarter. charity’s policy on reserves

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None

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Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Since 2014 the main donor to the Foundation has been the Tunstall Jubilee Foundation (TJF). The Foundation would like to record its thanks to TJF for this funding. It was agreed with TJF that the Foundation would submit an application for funding in January each year. This enables the Foundation to plan its grant giving for the next financial year.

We were also delighted to receive another generous donation from the Fostering Co-operative to supplement our annual grant from the Tunstall Jubilee Foundation. This enabled us to disperse a similar amount in grants as in recent years. It is clear that economic uncertainty and a rising cost of living continues to impact on the most vulnerable. Spark is therefore continuing to explore other complementary funding sources.

The Spark Foundation does not rent premises but it does pay a small amount for administration support. As in previous years, almost all The Foundation’s expenditure is in the form of grants.

The Foundation has a grant making policy and this is reviewed annually

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date
	Daniel	Chesterman
	Chair
	1 Dec 2023

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	Charity Name Spark Foundation	Charity Name Spark Foundation	Charity Name Spark Foundation	No (if any) 1097058
	For the period from	Period start date 4/1/2022	To	Period end date 3/31/2023

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Donations andgifts 47 Grants 65,000 Investment income 195 - - - - - 65,242 - - Sub total - Total receipts 65,242 A3 Payments Administration fees 2,100 Bank charges 72 Printing, postage and stationarycosts 196 Independent Examination Fee 315 Website and dataprotection costs 35 - Grantspayable 59,880 - - Sub total 62,599 - - Sub total - Total payments 62,599 Net of receipts/(payments) 2,643 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 14,256 Cash funds this year end 16,899 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ *Sub total*(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds	to the nearest £ Endowment funds	Total funds to the nearest £ 47 65,000 195 - - - - - 65,242 - - - 65,242 2,100 72 196 315 35 - 59,880 - - 62,599 - - - 62,599 2,643 - 14,256 16,899	Last year to the nearest £
		- - - - - - - - -	47	8,000
			65,000	28,440
			195	3
			-	-
			-	-
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			65,242	36,443

		- - -	-
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		-	65,242	36,443

		- - - - - - - - - -	2,100	2,100
			72	89
			196	141
			315	300
			35	223
			-	-
			59,880	54,584
			-	-
			-	-
			62,599	57,437

		- - -	-
			-
			-	-

		-	62,599	57,437

	-	- - - -	2,643	- 20,994
	-		-	-
	-		14,256	35,250
	-		16,899	14,256

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	Details CAF Cash account CAF Gold account Details Details Details Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	to nearest £ 13,182 3,717 - 16,899 OK to nearest £ - - - - - - Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates	to nearest £ - - - - OK to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds Restricted funds Amount due (optional)	to nearest £ Endowment funds
				-
				-
				-
				-
				OK
				to nearest £ Endowment funds
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				-
				Current value (optional)
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				-
				-
				-
				-
				Current value (optional)
				-
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				-
				-
				-
				-
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				-
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				When due (optional)
			-
			-
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Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

Signature

Date of Print Name approval

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES Independent examlner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examlner'g Roport Roport to the trustees e Jpafk f[da On accounts for the year ended Charlly no Ilf any) IOq1058 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity I'lhe Trust") for the year ended 31 03 2013. As the chanty's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Ad 2011 I'the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of th8 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515)Ibl of the Act. Responsibilities and basis of report Independent examinerfs statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below") which gives me cause to believe that in. any material respect.. the accounting records were nol kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act., or the accounts did not accord wrth the accounting records; or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounls give a 'true and fair. view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in thls report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in thè braGkets if they do not apply. Date: Slgned: 21 NIOd 2023 Name: mo5 JthJNIFE£ SH£RwD FCA I CA - Chorkered Acc(kok Oct 2018 R8lovant professional qualificatlon{s) or body IER

(if any): Address:

fv Heahi fcttko(Fffi_hlfsFaO l<entr, CT5 3HS Section B Disclosure Only comple16 il th6 éxaminer needs lo highlight mateiial malters of concéin (see CC32, Independent examination of charily accounts: dlreclions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief dètalls of any items that the examiner wishès to disdose. Ih,T ¥0 rewd . hronc401 p]ge5 pfeFof-KJ ard Chock. IER Oct 2018