Wipe Your Tears Charity No: 1103897
Year Ended 31 August 2022
Report and Accounts
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Full Charity name Wipe Your Tears Chief Executive Wendy Hutchins Trustees Mark Foster (appointed 12 October 2017) Paul Hutchins (appointed 12 October 2017) Kathryn Worthington (appointed 12 March 2018 Offices 1[st] Floor Office, Healthcall House 25 Bolton Road, Salford M6 7HL Contact 08433 082 898 wendy@wipeyourtears.org.uk Website www.wipeyourtears.org.uk Bankers CAF Bank (Part of Charities Aid Foundation) Independent examiner Mr D A McCormick Perdata Limited 16 Brookfield Drive Worsley Manchester M28 1JY
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Wipe Your Tears Annual Report Year Ending 31 August 2022
Structure and governance
Wipe Your Tears was registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales (Charity No: 1103897) as an Unincorporated Charity on 24 May 2004 with a governing document in the form of a constitution adopted 20 April 2004 (since amended 4 October 2018).
The Charity is run by a Chief Executive and a Board of Trustees, who meet no less frequently than quarterly. Trustees are appointed by majority vote of the existing Trustees.
All Trustees and staff have been DBS checked.
Objectives
The objectives of the Charity are:
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To provide support and assistance to seriously and terminally ill children and their families or carers.
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To advance the understanding of the wider public in the needs of seriously and terminally ill children, and their families or carers.
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To provide support and assistance to child victims of domestic violence in need, hardship, or distress.
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To provide support and assistance to children and families who are in need, hardship, or distress.
Activities
During the year, we have focussed on:
Providing advice and significant practical support to a targeted number of children and their families, where the children are seriously or terminally ill. Providing small gifts to many children in sometimes desperate situations. Building up a financial reserve to enable us to respond quickly to a newly identified need.
Working to ensure we have continuing means of funding;
Seeking support from a range of grant-making
foundations; Improving our internal systems and controls.
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Promoting the name and objectives of the Charity.
Providing significant practical support to a targeted number of children and their families where hardship and/or distress was identified.
The nature of our practical support has ranged from providing “cuddle bags” for children affected by domestic violence to providing life-enhancing medical equipment for seriously ill children.
Here are a couple of examples of our work:
Freya – 11 Years Old
We first met Freya when she was 9 years old and her Father Darren in October 2018, via a referral to Wipe Your Tears Charity. After learning of her condition, we pledged to support Freya’s imperative physio sessions at a ratio of one per month for a 12-month period.
Here is Freya's story:
Freya was born with quadriplegic spastic diplegia cerebral palsy through a difficult delivery. She also has 2 holes in her heart. Freya has had open heart surgery 3 times at 5 months old, 2 years old and again at 5 years old.
She needs to use a wheelchair everyday of her life, utilise various equipment such as walkers and standing frames daily. She has medicine called baclofen daily to reduce the pain she has in her legs.
Freya was also diagnosed with tonic chronic epilepsy in November 2017 and is on medication to control it.
Fundraising with the help of the community took place from April 2017 to August 2017 to raise £16,000 for an operation called SDR. Freya had the operation in January 2018. This involved severing numerous nerves in her lower back to improve her mobility and her speech. Hopefully one day Freya will take her first step.
The all - important physio required for the operation to be a success costs £240 per session as the NHS do not fund this physio.
Here is what Freya’s Dad had to say:
Thank you so much to the Wendy and the team at Wipe Your Tears Charity.
My 11-year-old daughter Freya was born with cerebral palsy, a severe disability there is no cure for.
Your help and donations have been invaluable in helping Freya with her rehabilitation and recovery from yet another major operation she’s recently undergone.
It has helped us put in place physiotherapy sessions and allowed us to provide specialist equipment which unfortunately is not provided for by the NHS.
She is such an inspiration and so is everyone at Wipe Your Tears Charity. Keep up your good work putting smiles on all these children’s faces.
Thank you again so much
From Darren and Freya
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Children in Domestic Violence situations
These children arrive at a refuge with mum or dad who have been abused and as a child in this unforeseen circumstance they often arrive with little or no personal belongings of their own. It is difficult to imagine how a child may feel in this situation, leaving everything they have been familiar, comfortable, and safe with behind. We are confident that - like us - many people would endeavour to help make a very sad time a little bit happier, helping each child to gain some confidence and the hope that life will get better.
We offer support all year round with ‘Project Cuddle Bags’ helping to give these children some comfort in difficult times.
In addition, Christmas time sees our annual Toy Appeal ensure that each child has a gift to open on the 25[th] of December.
Wendy Hutchins Chief Executive
9[th] April 2024
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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Chief Executive & Trustees of Wipe Your Tears
I report on the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 August 2022 which are set out on page 6
Respective responsibilities of the Chief Executive, Trustees and Examiner
The Chief Executive and Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts, and they have elected to prepare them on a receipts and payments basis under Section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act).
Further, because the income reported in the accounts falls within the relevant band specified by legislation, the Chief Executive and Trustees have elected for Independent Examination under section 145(1) of the Charities Act
My responsibilities, inter alia, as Independent Examiner are to:
Check accounting records are kept to the required standard
Check that the accounts are consistent with the accounting records Compare the trustees’ annual report with the accounts
Report on matters of material significance
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
D A McCormick
D A McCormick Perdata Limited 16 Brookfield Drive Worsley Manchester M28 1JY 9[th] April 2024
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Statement of Financial Activities Year Ending 31 August 2022
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| from: | 01 Sep 21 | 01 Sep 20 | |||
| Notes | to: | 31 Aug 22 | 31 Aug 21 | ||
| Income | |||||
| donations | |||||
| 128,287 | 128,287 | 77,999 | |||
| fundraising events | 1,972 | 1,972 | 1,630 | ||
| grants | 4,576 | 4,576 | 30,894 | ||
| investment income | 1 | 1 | - | ||
| Total | 134,836 | 134,836 | 110,523 | ||
| Expenditure | |||||
| charitable activities | 89,209 |
89,209 |
89,926 |
||
| cost of fundraising events | 2,871 | 2,871 | 188 | ||
| cost of generating income | 15,477 | 15,477 | 14,523 | ||
| administration | 27,743 | 27,743 | 22,245 | ||
| Total | 135,299 | 135,299 | 126,881 | ||
| Net Income | (464) | (464) | (16,358) | ||
| Assets and Liabilities | |||||
| cash at bank at end of period | 5,565 | 5,565 | 6,270 | ||
| ` | |||||
| donations in kind at end of period | 24,160 | 24,160 | 24,560 |
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Notes to the Accounts
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The Accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis in accordance with Section 133 of the Charities Act 2011.
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There were no restricted or endowment funds.
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In addition to the total donations figure were donations in kind (e.g., toys) which are given to the Charity for onward transmission to children and families in need. During the course of the year £3,595 was donated in this way (2021 £18,210), of which £3,995 (2021 £12,280) was distributed within in the year (leaving a balance of £24,160 (2021 £24,560) for future distribution).
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The cost of staff time has been allocated across the following areas of activity based on an estimate of the actual time expended: charitable activities, cost of generating income, administration.
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In addition to the allocated staff time, administration includes all other indirect costs such as rent, office costs, insurance, and accountancy.
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The Charity has some office equipment of minimal value and no liabilities other than a small amount of monthly PAYE.
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