**FIGHT AGAINST BLINDNESS (FAB) Charity No 1124806**
## **TRUSTEES REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**
## **Summary**
In 2022 FAB continued to deliver its Specialist Sight loss and Visual Impairment Clinical Psychology Service to Children and Young People (CYP) in the UK in accordance with its trust deed. FAB’s service is free, unconditional and confidential. It is not available or commissioned by the NHS. We work in partnership with NHS eye clinics to successfully deliver our service to the charity’s beneficiaries.
We continued to expand our service in East Anglia, and established a new partnership with GOSH London planned to start in 2023 subject to recruiting a clinical psychologist to the post.
FAB trustees’ unrestricted fundraising to pay the charity’s running costs and fundraising advice and bid-writing, by craft fairs, events and the sale of greeting cards increased by over 50% on the previous year.
In 2022, FAB’s service was available at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for East Anglia, the Oxford Eye Hospital (John Radcliffe) for Central England, Southampton General Hospital for the South, St James’s Leeds for the North and Royal Bristol Hospital for Children for the South West. We agreed to recruit an Assistant Psychologist to meet the need in Bristol to reduce wait-time. A staff vacancy occurred at St James’s Leeds. Staffing levels were challenging as part of the current lack of professionally qualified psychologists in the UK.
Our service is for children with any eye condition eg Retinitis Pigmentosa, Choroideremia, Stargardt Disease, Cone-Rod Dystrophy, Best Disease, Leber Amaurosis, Gyrate Atrophy, Bullseye Dystrophy, Alstrom Disease and Syndromes such as Usher and Stickler. FAB includes the CYP’s family, school and other support agencies in its work as they are all needed to help successful outcomes. In East Anglia we have found that 90% of children need our liaison with school.
The clinical psychologists liaised with schools, Sensory Support Services as required and provided training to consultants and doctors, orthoptists. Please see our website for our highly successful podcasts with the RNIB for CYP and parents. A further six were recorded in 2022.
FAB’s research project, “The Impact of Clinical Psychology on CYP with Sight Loss and VI” was delayed due to the pandemic but started in September 2022 for 2 years after recruiting and Assistant Psychologist working full time.
FAB continued its prudent financial policies to ensure continuity of service, so essential for our beneficiaries.
We gratefully acknowledge the most generous grant of £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation towards our work.
1
## **Trustees’ Remuneration and Expenses**
All trustees are unpaid. Trustee’s expenses are paid in accordance with internal control, given below.
## **Review of Accounts**
Income for the accounting period was £91,326.02 from all sources including grants of £72,530 from Trusts and Foundations (79% of income), the principal funding source for the charity.
Expenditure on Charitable Activities in the period was £67,316.05, 74% of income; outstanding payments for work completed in 2022 was £17,173. Funding for charitable activities contracted for 2023 and later years was £185,887. FAB’s policy is to have sufficient funds to cover those contracted activities at the start of 2023 to ensure confidence in continuity of service so essential to our beneficiaries. The fund balance at the end of the period was £40,307.25.
The running cost of the charity was £4,197.67, 4.6% of income for all support activities including travel, charity insurance, website, office, fundraising goods for sale at fetes etc. We spent £4,350.75 on our new website and communications planning for our forthcoming anniversary year, both extraordinary items essential for proper communication to our beneficiaries, the general public, specialists, other charities and supporters. £16,450 was spent on fundraising consultant fees, which enabled FAB to meet its planned service expansion targets, partnerships particularly GOSH and to meet our future income targets.
## **Reserves Policy**
The trustees are satisfied that the balance of the unrestricted fund is sufficient to meet the day-to-day operating costs of the charity.
A contingency reserve of £10,000 is held to cover emergency funding requests.
FAB maintains restricted reserves amounting up to one year's psychology costs to ensure continuity of service essential to our beneficiaries, (see Grants). Restricted funds above these one year’s costs are invested into current or new projects, subject to staffing levels and/or recruitment.
## **Grants**
Grant income is recognised on a received basis and grants payable are accounted for on an accruals basis reflecting FAB’s contracted commitments to pay.
FAB’s policy is to hold one year forward grant funding to ensure confidence in continuity of service so essential to our beneficiaries. Grants are funded to completion on a year-to-year basis and are given permission to continue subject to a satisfactory year end project review.
## **Independent Accountant’s Report and External Control**
An Independent examiner has examined the accounts for the reporting period in accordance with all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. No concerns were found. This statement is supported in a formal letter to FAB.
2
## **Internal Control**
The trustees of the charity meet formally four times a year. Meeting minutes are agreed by the trustees and signed by FAB chair. The trustees prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with charity law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statement the trustees have selected suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently, made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent, and kept proper accounting records.
Expenses are paid to cover reasonable costs by formal application of signed and authorised expense forms complete with receipts.
Payments for the charitable activities are made on receipt of invoices paid in arrears. Agreements are made by formal letter from FAB to an officer of the organisation concerned. Each project organisation is required to submit quarterly reports and have a quarterly progress review with the clinicians involved. FAB makes no payments to private individuals.
Funding requests to trusts and foundations are made by formal letter/email/application including information on the charity as required. Funds are used in accordance with the donor’s wishes.
## **Future Plans**
The charity’s plans for 2023 include,
- Establishing our service in GOSH for London
- Maintaining our higher level of service in Bristol
- Increase our income to meet future plans
## **Transactions with Connected Persons and Companies**
FAB used Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants for fundraising advice.
Clive Fisher Chairman FAB July 2023
3
|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||||||||||||
|**FIGHT AGAINST BLINDNESS(FAB) CHARITY NO 1124806**|||||||||||||||||
||||||||**£**||**£**||**£**||**£**||**£**||
|**1. INCOME**|||||||**UNRESTRICTED**
**FUND**||**RESTRICTED**
**FUND**||**TOTAL**
**FUND**||**2021**||**2020**||
||||||||||||||||||
|EVENTS, CRAFT GOODS SOLD AT FAIRS, COFFEE
MORNINGS ETC|||||||6198.30||||6198.30||3948.67||1870.18||
|STORE COLLECTIONS|||||||0.00||||0.00||0.00||773.00||
|PRIVATE DONATIONS|||||||1559.46||||1559.46||12338.21||2163.70||
|GIFT AID|||||||176.75||||176.75||2838.13||181.25||
|BANK INTEREST|||||||441.51||||441.51||222.68||802.30||
|TRUST GRANT UNRESTRICTED CONTRIBUTIONS|||||||420.00||||420.00||||||
|GRANT FROM GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION|||||||10000.00||||10000.00||||||
|GRANTS FROM TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS||||||||||72530.00|72530.00||96549.00||57610.00||
|RETURNS|||||||0.00|||0.00|0.00|||-100.00|0.00||
|TOTAL INCOME|||||||18796.02|||72530.00|91326.02||115796.69||63400.43||
||||||||||||||||||
|**2. COSTS**|||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITIBLE ACTIVITIES||||||||||67316.05|67316.05||45611.87||46647.04||
|RUNNING COSTS|||||||||||||||||
|FUNDRAISING CONSULTANT FEES|||||||16450.00||||16450.00||16625.00|||8840.04|
|SUPPORT - STATIONARY, OFFICE SUPPLIES, TRAVEL,
INSURANCE ETC|||||||4197.67|||||4197.67||3098.22||1695.59|
|COMMUNICATIONS & NEW WEBSITE|||||||4350.75||||||||||
|RETURNS||||||||-50.00|||||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL|||24948.42||||24948.42||19723.22||10535.63||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES AND RUNNING COSTS|||||||24948.42|||67316.05|92264.47||65335.09||57182.67||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL INCOME LESS TOTAL CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES AND RUNNING COSTS|||||||-6152.40|||5213.95|-938.45||50461.60||6217.76||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES TO 31 DECEMBER 2022 AS YET UNPAID(WORK COMPLETED IN 2022)|||||||||||||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT SOUTHAMPTON||||||||||2250.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT OXFORD||||||||||2310.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT BRISTOL||||||||||3000.00|||||||
|FAB RESEARCH PROJECT OUH||||||||||9613.00|||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL||||||17173.00|17173.00||17207.56||16764.30||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED FROM 1 JANUARY 2023|||||||||||||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT CAMBRIDGE(EAST ANGLIA)||||||||||37000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT SOUTHAMPTON(SOUTHERN)||||||||||12000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT OXFORD(CENTRAL)||||||||||13000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT BRISTOL(SOUTH WEST)||||||||||19500.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT GOSH(LONDON)||||||||||32000.00|||||||
|FAB RESEARCH PROJECT OUH||||||||||72387.00|||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL|||0.00||185887.00||185887.00||199250.00||148500.00||
||||||||||||||||||
|CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||0.00||10000.00||10000.00||10000.00||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL CONTRACTED WORK AND CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||203060.00||213060.00||226457.56||175264.30||
||||||||||||||||||
|**3. BANK BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2021**|||||||38539.49||215766.21||254305.70||203844.10||197626.34||
||||||||||||||||||
|**4. BANK BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||32387.09||220980.16||253367.25||254305.70||203844.10||
||||||||||||||||||
|**5. BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2022 INCLUDING CHARITABLE ACTIVIES**
**YET UNPAID, CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED AND**
**CONTINGENCY RESERVE**|||||||22387.09||17920.16||40307.25||27848.14||28579.80||
||||||||||||||||||
|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
||||||||**£**|**£**|**£**|
||||||||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|||||||||||
|**CASH AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||32387.09|220980.16|253367.25|
|||||||||||
|**LIABILITIES**||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES TO 31 DECEMBER 2022 AS YET UNPAID
(WORK COMPLETED IN 2022)||||||||17173.00|17173.00|
|||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED 1 JANUARY 2023 TO 31
DECEMBER 2023||||||||185887.00|185887.00|
|||||||||||
|CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||10000.00|
|TOTAL|||||||10000.00|203060.00|213060.00|
|||||||||||
|**BALANCE**|||||||22387.09|17920.16|40307.25|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
**The Trustees Fight Against Blindness (Charity No1124806)**
## **Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Fight Against Blindness (FAB) (Charity No 1124806)**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Fight Against Blindness (FAB) (Charity No 1124806) (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2022.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the charity trustees of the Trust 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 Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 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 Trust 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.
Signed:
Name: Chris Biggs (FCA) (Signed in a personal capacity only)
Address: 474 Upper Richmond Road, London, SW15 5JG Date: 11 September 2023
|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ACCOUNT 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||||||||||||
|**FIGHT AGAINST BLINDNESS(FAB) CHARITY NO 1124806**|||||||||||||||||
||||||||**£**||**£**||**£**||**£**||**£**||
|**1. INCOME**|||||||**UNRESTRICTED**
**FUND**||**RESTRICTED**
**FUND**||**TOTAL**
**FUND**||**2021**||**2020**||
||||||||||||||||||
|EVENTS, CRAFT GOODS SOLD AT FAIRS, COFFEE
MORNINGS ETC|||||||6198.30||||6198.30||3948.67||1870.18||
|STORE COLLECTIONS|||||||0.00||||0.00||0.00||773.00||
|PRIVATE DONATIONS|||||||1559.46||||1559.46||12338.21||2163.70||
|GIFT AID|||||||176.75||||176.75||2838.13||181.25||
|BANK INTEREST|||||||441.51||||441.51||222.68||802.30||
|TRUST GRANT UNRESTRICTED CONTRIBUTIONS|||||||420.00||||420.00||||||
|GRANT FROM GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION|||||||10000.00||||10000.00||||||
|GRANTS FROM TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS||||||||||72530.00|72530.00||96549.00||57610.00||
|RETURNS|||||||0.00|||0.00|0.00|||-100.00|0.00||
|TOTAL INCOME|||||||18796.02|||72530.00|91326.02||115796.69||63400.43||
||||||||||||||||||
|**2. COSTS**|||||||||||||||||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITIBLE ACTIVITIES||||||||||67316.05|67316.05||45611.87||46647.04||
|RUNNING COSTS|||||||||||||||||
|FUNDRAISING CONSULTANT FEES|||||||16450.00||||16450.00||16625.00|||8840.04|
|SUPPORT - STATIONARY, OFFICE SUPPLIES, TRAVEL,
INSURANCE ETC|||||||4197.67|||||4197.67||3098.22||1695.59|
|COMMUNICATIONS & NEW WEBSITE|||||||4350.75||||||||||
|RETURNS||||||||-50.00|||||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL|||24948.42||||24948.42||19723.22||10535.63||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES AND RUNNING COSTS|||||||24948.42|||67316.05|92264.47||65335.09||57182.67||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL INCOME LESS TOTAL CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES AND RUNNING COSTS|||||||-6152.40|||5213.95|-938.45||50461.60||6217.76||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES TO 31 DECEMBER 2022 AS YET UNPAID(WORK COMPLETED IN 2022)|||||||||||||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT SOUTHAMPTON||||||||||2250.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT OXFORD||||||||||2310.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT BRISTOL||||||||||3000.00|||||||
|FAB RESEARCH PROJECT OUH||||||||||9613.00|||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL||||||17173.00|17173.00||17207.56||16764.30||
||||||||||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED FROM 1 JANUARY 2023|||||||||||||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT CAMBRIDGE(EAST ANGLIA)||||||||||37000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT SOUTHAMPTON(SOUTHERN)||||||||||12000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT OXFORD(CENTRAL)||||||||||13000.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT BRISTOL(SOUTH WEST)||||||||||19500.00|||||||
|PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT GOSH(LONDON)||||||||||32000.00|||||||
|FAB RESEARCH PROJECT OUH||||||||||72387.00|||||||
|||||SUB TOTAL|||0.00||185887.00||185887.00||199250.00||148500.00||
||||||||||||||||||
|CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||0.00||10000.00||10000.00||10000.00||
||||||||||||||||||
|TOTAL CONTRACTED WORK AND CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||203060.00||213060.00||226457.56||175264.30||
||||||||||||||||||
|**3. BANK BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2021**|||||||38539.49||215766.21||254305.70||203844.10||197626.34||
||||||||||||||||||
|**4. BANK BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||32387.09||220980.16||253367.25||254305.70||203844.10||
||||||||||||||||||
|**5. BALANCE AT 31 DECEMBER 2022 INCLUDING CHARITABLE ACTIVIES**
**YET UNPAID, CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED AND**
**CONTINGENCY RESERVE**|||||||22387.09||17920.16||40307.25||27848.14||28579.80||
||||||||||||||||||
|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
||||||||**£**|**£**|**£**|
||||||||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|||||||||||
|**CASH AT 31 DECEMBER 2022**|||||||32387.09|220980.16|253367.25|
|||||||||||
|**LIABILITIES**||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES TO 31 DECEMBER 2022 AS YET UNPAID
(WORK COMPLETED IN 2022)||||||||17173.00|17173.00|
|||||||||||
|CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES CONTRACTED 1 JANUARY 2023 TO 31
DECEMBER 2023||||||||185887.00|185887.00|
|||||||||||
|CONTINGENCY RESERVE|||||||10000.00||10000.00|
|TOTAL|||||||10000.00|203060.00|213060.00|
|||||||||||
|**BALANCE**|||||||22387.09|17920.16|40307.25|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
**FIGHT AGAINST BLINDNESS (FAB) Charity No 1124806**
## **TRUSTEES REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 1 JANUARY 2022 TO 31 DECEMBER 2022**
## **Summary**
In 2022 FAB continued to deliver its Specialist Sight loss and Visual Impairment Clinical Psychology Service to Children and Young People (CYP) in the UK in accordance with its trust deed. FAB’s service is free, unconditional and confidential. It is not available or commissioned by the NHS. We work in partnership with NHS eye clinics to successfully deliver our service to the charity’s beneficiaries.
We continued to expand our service in East Anglia, and established a new partnership with GOSH London planned to start in 2023 subject to recruiting a clinical psychologist to the post.
FAB trustees’ unrestricted fundraising to pay the charity’s running costs and fundraising advice and bid-writing, by craft fairs, events and the sale of greeting cards increased by over 50% on the previous year.
In 2022, FAB’s service was available at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for East Anglia, the Oxford Eye Hospital (John Radcliffe) for Central England, Southampton General Hospital for the South, St James’s Leeds for the North and Royal Bristol Hospital for Children for the South West. We agreed to recruit an Assistant Psychologist to meet the need in Bristol to reduce wait-time. A staff vacancy occurred at St James’s Leeds. Staffing levels were challenging as part of the current lack of professionally qualified psychologists in the UK.
Our service is for children with any eye condition eg Retinitis Pigmentosa, Choroideremia, Stargardt Disease, Cone-Rod Dystrophy, Best Disease, Leber Amaurosis, Gyrate Atrophy, Bullseye Dystrophy, Alstrom Disease and Syndromes such as Usher and Stickler. FAB includes the CYP’s family, school and other support agencies in its work as they are all needed to help successful outcomes. In East Anglia we have found that 90% of children need our liaison with school.
The clinical psychologists liaised with schools, Sensory Support Services as required and provided training to consultants and doctors, orthoptists. Please see our website for our highly successful podcasts with the RNIB for CYP and parents. A further six were recorded in 2022.
FAB’s research project, “The Impact of Clinical Psychology on CYP with Sight Loss and VI” was delayed due to the pandemic but started in September 2022 for 2 years after recruiting and Assistant Psychologist working full time.
FAB continued its prudent financial policies to ensure continuity of service, so essential for our beneficiaries.
We gratefully acknowledge the most generous grant of £10,000 from the Garfield Weston Foundation towards our work.
1
## **Trustees’ Remuneration and Expenses**
All trustees are unpaid. Trustee’s expenses are paid in accordance with internal control, given below.
## **Review of Accounts**
Income for the accounting period was £91,326.02 from all sources including grants of £72,530 from Trusts and Foundations (79% of income), the principal funding source for the charity.
Expenditure on Charitable Activities in the period was £67,316.05, 74% of income; outstanding payments for work completed in 2022 was £17,173. Funding for charitable activities contracted for 2023 and later years was £185,887. FAB’s policy is to have sufficient funds to cover those contracted activities at the start of 2023 to ensure confidence in continuity of service so essential to our beneficiaries. The fund balance at the end of the period was £40,307.25.
The running cost of the charity was £4,197.67, 4.6% of income for all support activities including travel, charity insurance, website, office, fundraising goods for sale at fetes etc. We spent £4,350.75 on our new website and communications planning for our forthcoming anniversary year, both extraordinary items essential for proper communication to our beneficiaries, the general public, specialists, other charities and supporters. £16,450 was spent on fundraising consultant fees, which enabled FAB to meet its planned service expansion targets, partnerships particularly GOSH and to meet our future income targets.
## **Reserves Policy**
The trustees are satisfied that the balance of the unrestricted fund is sufficient to meet the day-to-day operating costs of the charity.
A contingency reserve of £10,000 is held to cover emergency funding requests.
FAB maintains restricted reserves amounting up to one year's psychology costs to ensure continuity of service essential to our beneficiaries, (see Grants). Restricted funds above these one year’s costs are invested into current or new projects, subject to staffing levels and/or recruitment.
## **Grants**
Grant income is recognised on a received basis and grants payable are accounted for on an accruals basis reflecting FAB’s contracted commitments to pay.
FAB’s policy is to hold one year forward grant funding to ensure confidence in continuity of service so essential to our beneficiaries. Grants are funded to completion on a year-to-year basis and are given permission to continue subject to a satisfactory year end project review.
## **Independent Accountant’s Report and External Control**
An Independent examiner has examined the accounts for the reporting period in accordance with all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. No concerns were found. This statement is supported in a formal letter to FAB.
2
## **Internal Control**
The trustees of the charity meet formally four times a year. Meeting minutes are agreed by the trustees and signed by FAB chair. The trustees prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with charity law to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statement the trustees have selected suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently, made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent, and kept proper accounting records.
Expenses are paid to cover reasonable costs by formal application of signed and authorised expense forms complete with receipts.
Payments for the charitable activities are made on receipt of invoices paid in arrears. Agreements are made by formal letter from FAB to an officer of the organisation concerned. Each project organisation is required to submit quarterly reports and have a quarterly progress review with the clinicians involved. FAB makes no payments to private individuals.
Funding requests to trusts and foundations are made by formal letter/email/application including information on the charity as required. Funds are used in accordance with the donor’s wishes.
## **Future Plans**
The charity’s plans for 2023 include,
- Establishing our service in GOSH for London
- Maintaining our higher level of service in Bristol
- Increase our income to meet future plans
## **Transactions with Connected Persons and Companies**
FAB used Craigmyle Fundraising Consultants for fundraising advice.
Clive Fisher Chairman FAB July 2023
3