TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT
1[st] APRIL 2023–31st MARCH 2024
A LOCAL CHARITY MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY
CHARITABLE PURPOSE: The relief of poverty for people in need who reside in Lincolnshire, through the provision of furniture and food.
WHO WE ARE: Furnichurch is a registered charity founded in 2005 in Mablethorpe by a group of local Christians in order to help local people in need, initially through the provision of items of furniture. However, we received a lot of requests for food parcels too, so in response to that, the Mablethorpe Community Food Larder which is based at and run by Furnichurch was set up in 2008. In 2011, we expanded our work into Skegness as the coastal strip there is an area of high deprivation, and we remained there till April 2017. We then closed the Skegness warehouse mainly due to a lack of volunteers. We now work solely out of our Mablethorpe warehouse covering mainly the LN 12 area, but we still respond to referrals along the coastal strip. We provide practical help to those in need in the following ways:
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Supply and deliver furniture free of charge to those who are in desperate need
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Supply good quality second-hand furniture to people on low incomes in return for a small donation.
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A food larder service, which provides 3 meals a day for a week for people facing financial hardship.
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A free collection service for surplus furniture.
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Supply hygiene packs, baby packs and pet food when necessary.
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Act as a referral point to other services that can assist our clients.
– FURNITURE 1[ST] April 23 31[st] March 2024
The downward trend of donations for furniture has continued although we did have some very good months during the summer. This year, the donations for furniture amounted to £39,833 which is an increase on the previous year when we received £35,965.
While we usually receive donations for our services, we also continue to give items of furniture away free every week and this has often proved to be a lifeline for people in situations such as eviction or being rehomed due to domestic violence. We were delighted to receive £10,000 from Coastal Community Challenge.
FOOD LARDER from ELDC
Our food larder continues to receive high demand. We supply 5 days’ food to local people who are in need, both individuals and families. We were delighted to receive a grant of £5000 in July and October from ELDC, Household Support Fund. They also gave us a top up of £3000 and £2000. We were successful in obtaining £550 and £500 from Neighbourly which is Lidl. In March 2024 we received £1026 from ELDC – Councillors Community Challenge. All of these have enabled to keep going and ensure we can deliver the much-needed food parcels.
A number of individual supporters send us regular monthly financial donations which help greatly with our work. A huge thank you to all who support us in any way.
Because of an ongoing shortage of volunteers at Furnichurch, we have had to rely on the help of a very committed volunteer from Open House who has worked tirelessly for the Food Larder for many months, and we are most grateful to her for everything she does.
The Food Larder is always busy and in the first 8 months of this last financial year, we had already served 833 people with 20,834 meals.
133 hygiene packs providing soap, toothpaste, sanitary towels, washing up liquid etc.
56 baby packs containing nappies, wipes etc and 80 lots of pet food.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
TOTAL INCOME
| 2023/24 | 2022/23 | INCREASE % | DECREASE % | REASON IF ANY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £60,528 | £65,326 | 7.2% | There has been a lot of changes during this year |
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
| 2023/24 | 2022/23 | INCREASE % | DECREASE % |
|---|---|---|---|
| £72,156 | £74,122 | 2.65% |
The warehouse donations for furniture are our largest source of income and this year, they were down by 7.2 % This is probably due to the fact that since April 2017 we have had only one warehouse, and we have also had a reduced number of volunteers. There were also a lot of changes.
A full financial report is attached.
CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT
I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of Furnichurch during the past year and in particular, all our volunteers, trustees and the manager of Furnichurch, Michael Collins, for all their hard work and commitment. Thanks to your efforts, we have been able to achieve our charitable purpose which is to help local people in need through the provision of furniture, and food from the Community Larder which is based at Furnichurch. I would also like to say a big thank you to our newest Trustee Sandra Kemble, she is a huge asset with the correct skills and more. We would like to say a massive THANK YOU for Dot McMillan who has been at the helm for many years but due to ill health had to step down in December 2023, her knowledge, work ethnic and commitment has been truly inspiring.
We were experiencing problems with FareShare: – the food was often not entirely suitable or appropriate for people who were struggling financially. It could give false expectations of what they could afford to buy the delivery on a Thursday was too late in the week for us, especially with fresh produce and use by dates – it was difficult to get it all distributed by the end of Friday more than half of the food we put in the food parcels we were buying locally
At the end of January, we decided to stop using FareShare altogether and cancelled all future deliveries. This took a while to sort out but eventually was all settled.
Nuclear Waste Services (NWS) grants
With the help of Paul Scott’s, we have been successful in obtaining a large grant from NWS, this is spread over 3 years: which enables us to employ a part time Office Administrator, a part time warehouse supervisor and for further help with the cost of food.
Financial considerations
We are extremely grateful to all those who support us, financially and with donations of food and furniture and for those who have given us grants between Christmas 23 and March 31[st ] 24: £1,500 from Julie Martin’s fundraiser £7,000 from the Household Support Fund and ELDC £1026 from ELDC Councillors £3,000 from Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council
We identified one cost saving – the independent examiner charges £400 to examine our accounts each year. Chris Lilley offered to ask a fellow Rotarian if he would do it for a cheaper rate – we are extremely grateful to him – he is doing it for free! Michael has tried reducing the size and streamlining the food parcels to give 4 days of food and aim for only one parcel per month per person/family. This seems to be working. Also, all requests for food parcels now have to come via email or telephone through one of the support agencies (e.g. CAB)
Going forward in the new financial year:
We have been awarded a grant from NWS for £118,000 spread over 3 years. With this we are to employ a part time administrative assistant, a part time warehouse supervisor, between them equalling one full time appointment, and the rest of the grant is to help with the cost of food for the food larder. This is really good news but will involve regular reporting back to NWS – a job for the administrator!
We also need help with the area behind the back warehouse – it gets over-run with weeds, brambles etc and we had a complaint about it. The suggestion is that the whole area behind the back warehouse is put down to concrete – only part is concrete at the moment.
We plan to advertise, interview and hopefully appoint a part time warehouse supervisor by next April.
We are indebted to the many individuals, organisations and agencies within our local community who offer us support either directly or indirectly. Thank you very much indeed for all you do.
We are most grateful.
Christine Collins.
Chairperson.
TRUSTEES’ STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT
Furnichurch operates in an area of high deprivation in and around Mablethorpe and the coastal strip of Lincolnshire. The principal areas of deprivation concern health, income and employment.
Many of the coastal wards continue to be in the bottom 15% nationally for deprivation, some in the bottom 10%. Some areas of Mablethorpe are amongst the 3% most deprived in England. The services we deliver provide a practical short-term solution to the deprivation that many people in our area experience. We work closely with a number of agencies who make referrals to us and in response we deliver good quality second-hand furniture, white goods and food to those in need. Where people are referred to us, we provide our service free of charge or in return for a small donation towards our work. We are the only provider of this type of service in the coastal area of Lincolnshire.
As our furniture is second-hand, there remains a very slight risk of injury to the client, but we make basic checks to see if anything is faulty prior to delivery thus minimising that risk. We try to reduce other potential risks by not supplying any second-hand electrical items or items that do not have a flame retardant label attached.
We believe that any potential risks have been significantly reduced by these measures. T
RESERVES POLICY
Our cash at bank stood at 25,836 on 31st March 2024 which is a 27% increase on the previous year We aim to hold a minimum of 20,000 and a maximum of 30,000 at year end, as in a downturn or an emergency, we need to be able to cover our overheads and any unforeseen costs. We also run expensive vehicles which may require repairs.
AGM:
This was held on Tuesday 10th September 2024
One new trustee, Sandra Kemble was elected at the AGM.
Two trustees were re-elected:
Christine Collins. Ann Briggs.
No trustee receives remuneration.
The charity is run by the trustees and a team of volunteers who are under the direction of one paid manager, Michael Collins. Last year we created one new paid part time post for a hardworking member of our team of volunteers.
CHARITY DETAILS
Name of Charity: Furnichurch
Charity Registration No: 1110984
Date of Registration: 23rd August 2005
Address for Correspondence:
FURNICHURCH
97A VICTORIA ROAD
MABLETHORPE
LINCOLNSHIRE
LN12 2AL
TELEPHONE 01507 477007
furnichurch24@outlook.com
CURRENT TRUSTEES
Christine Collins (Chair) Sandra Kemble (Treasurer)
Ann Briggs (Secretary)
Furnichurch Statement of Income and Expenditure 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 Opening Balance £ 20,208.16 Income Food Larder £38,281.22 Furnichurch £39,633.00 Less Refunds £ {130.00) £39,503.00 Total Income £77,784.22 enditure Combined £72,155.83 408•knt for the year £ 5,628.39 Closing Balanc• £ 25,836.55 / Re on Illatlon Balance at Bank at 31 st March 2024 Food Larder £ 11,056.87 / Furnichurch £ 14,349.30 25,406.17 / Plus Cash in Hand (Focrfj Larder) Plus Cash in Hand {FurThKhutth) 955.IJQ 955.00 Sub Total 26,361.17 Less uncleared payments (Furnichurch) 524.62 524.62 Total 25,836.55
Notes 1 Food Larder Grants Mablethorpe and Sutton Town Council Resilience Fund £6,000 East Lindsey Distnct Council £16,026 2 From returns of unwanted furnrture 3 Fumichurch Grants Lincolnshire Com £10,000 4 Miscellany Includes Independent Examinevs fee - £400 5 Vehlcle Assets Adjustment of £1,374.45 to show depreciation of 300/0 for the year. 6 Offlce Equlpment Assets Adjustment of £24.70 to show depreciation of 300A for the year, Examiner's report I confirm that all the entries through the bank account have been processed through the books, except that, at the end of the year to 31-03-23, £5630 of cash in hand, processed in that year, has also been listed in bank income for the currentyear, albeit clearly marked as prior year income and not included in current year's book income. Probably better to have omitted from this year's books altogether. l agree with the reconciliation of both bank accounts A post office credit receipt (no 1521 dated for 28-03-24, totsl £55, does not show in the bank account, presumably in following year. Rwst th phenson. 19 September 2024