# **Annual report and financial statements**
for the year ended **31 March 2023**
Company number 06652046 Charity number 1129006
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## **Annual report and financial statements**
|**FOR THE YEAR ENDED31 MARCH2023**||
|---|---|
||**Pages**|
|Directors and advisers|3|
|Forward from our Chair of Trustees|4 - 5|
|Operational review|6 - 17|
|Directors’ report|18 - 23|
|Independent Auditors’ report|24 - 28|
|Statement of financial activities|29|
|Balance sheet|30|
|Statement of cashflows|31|
|Notes to the financial statements|32 - 39|
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## **CONSTITUTION**
The Mighty Creatives (“TMC”) is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity governed by its memorandum and articles of association dated 27 October 2021. In the event of the organisation being wound up each trustee agrees to contribute £1 towards the costs of dissolution. The company is also registered with the Charity Commission for England & Wales. Charity number 1129006. Company number 06652046.
## **DIRECTORS**
The directors of the charitable company are its trustees for the purposes of charity law. The directors serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:
Ms F A Woolf (Chair) resigned 31[st] March 2023 Prof C White (Chair) appointed 1[st] June 2023 Mr V Malhotra (Vice-Chair) Mr E P Boott resigned 27[th] October 2022 Mr A J Butler resigned 27[th] October 2022 Mr J White resigned 4[th] October 2023 Ms V Kelly Ms M Maripise Mr E Robinson-Green Mr L Wolmarans resigned 8[th] February 2023 Ms R Thomas-Smith resigned 21[st] September 2023 Ms J Hallas Ms N Charlesworth Mr P Fielding resigned 2[nd] October 2023 Mr J Simmonds resigned 27[th] October 2022 Ms J Dennis appointed 14[th] May 2023
## **PATRONS**
MR M BATT MR M BAZ
## **SECRETARY**
Dr R N Owen MBE
**SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM** (Management positions rather than Directors in company law) Chief Executive Officer - Dr R N Owen MBE Deputy Chief Executive Officer - Ms E Bowman resigned 31[st] March 2023
## **REGISTERED OFFICE AND OPERATIONAL ADDRESS**
LCB Depot 31 Rutland Street Leicester, LE1 1RE
## **AUDITORS**
RWB Chartered Accountants Northgate House, Northgate, New Basford, Nottingham, NG7 7BQ
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## **Forward from our outgoing Chair of Trustees**
As I come to the end of my six-year tenure as Chair of The Mighty Creatives, this is an opportune moment to celebrate what the charity has achieved over the last 13 years.
In my time, we have pushed forward with a universal offer for children and young people in the East Midlands and delivered many specific programmes and projects focused on more specific needs – especially for the most disadvantaged.
The end of our role as a Bridge Organisation for Arts Council England and their subsequent disinvestment in the charity in November 2022 has brought us many challenges: we have had to make many roles redundant, refocus our business model and ask searching questions about what our purpose is and what our new destiny is. We have had to see many staff move onto new roles, although it is of credit to the charity that everyone who has moved on, has moved on to excellent opportunities in their own right. I thank you all for your passion, commitment and enthusiasm and wish you every success in your new roles and trust that you will take a little bit of The Mighty Creatives with you wherever you go.
However, as with much of life, the threat of Arts Council disinvestment has generated a range of new opportunities for the charity which will be explored and developed in the future. We remain committed to basing our operations in Leicester but repositioning the charity as a national organisation due in no small part to the interest being shown in our innovative Creative Mentoring programme, which pairs young people in need with a creative practitioner as part of a structured and supported approach to improving those young peoples’ lives. This programme continues to go from strength to strength and our plans to become a national centre for creative mentoring are continuing apace.
I would like to especially thank our CEO, Nick Owen and his senior team. Nick has been unfailingly positive throughout the time I’ve known him, sometimes in the most difficult circumstances. He has often seen and acted upon opportunities that have proved very successful and it’s been so special to have worked together.
As is evidenced by this report, I can confirm that the charity continues to remain in a strong financial position, and we can be confident that a bright new future lies ahead.
I’m proud to have been able to lead the Board for 6 years, but now it’s time to handover: and I’m delighted that Professor Christine White has agreed to take up the challenge to help shape a brand-new era for the charity.
**Felicity Woolf** Chair of Trustees, 2017 – 2023
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## **Forward from our incoming Chair of Trustees**
I am delighted to be taking over as Chair and wanted to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Chair and the other Trustees who have more recently stepped down.
I have been welcomed by the team and the Trustees who I have met remotely before my first Board meeting 31[st] July 2023.
Each Trustee has provided me with an understanding of their work, their commitment to the vision for TMC and to an emboldened future, working as a national and potentially international charity.
The work of TMC is of ever greater importance and the activities will need to be forward thinking, working in partnership, considering what works and has the greatest impact for the benefit of young people.
I am confident that we can grow the reach of activity and demonstrate the value of the work of the organisation.
**Prof Christine White** Chair of Trustees
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## **OPERATIONAL REVIEW**
## **1. Introduction: a substantial and significant track record**
The Mighty Creatives was funded by Arts Council England (ACE) as one of national network of ten Bridge Organisations since 2012. This status has been conferred every three years in a contract with ACE which charged us with delivering a range of ACE products including Artsmark, Arts Award, Local Education Partnerships and Partnership Investment Programmes.
This contract has meant that since 2018, we delivered an ambitious and stretching set of nineteen key performance indicators (KPIs). The table below outlines the indicators, targets and total activity delivered. 16 of the 19 targets were achieved and 14 were exceeded.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
No Strategic Outcomes Target Total to date % Delivered
1 Engage 50% of the region’s schools 1,110 1,193 107%
(2220 in total).
2 Meaningful engagement with 30% of 735 1,143 156%
cultural organisations in the region -
including Freelancers.
3 Support 10 partnership that support 10 9 90%
Cultural Education.
4 Oversee 20,000 creative qualifications 20,000 23,192 116%
awarded through the Arts Award
programme.
5 Support the development and delivery 200 208 104%
of 200 creative projects (the projects
that can be counted must have
produced a creative output).
6 Support 50 emerging artists. 50 164 328%
7 Develop 50 creative enterprises. 50 87 174%
8 Create 100 new jobs. 100 545 545%
With 50% of participants moving from 50 530 1060%
NEET to EET.
9 Deliver 26,000 hours of mentoring and 26,000 5,485 21%
coaching for children and young people.
10 Support 2 creative apprenticeships. 2 2 100%
11 Develop and deliver 300 training, 300 850 283%
events, workshops and networking
opportunities.
12 Provide support for 20 networks, 20 20 100%
focusing on early years, SEND, creative
schools and children looked after.
13 Deliver 6 conferences. 6 6 100%
14 Invest £1.2m from the Cultural Life £1,200,000 £1,081,477 90%
Fund.
**----- End of picture text -----**
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**----- Start of picture text -----**
15 Issue 200 bursaries and 150 project 350 517 148%
grants.
16 Achieve 80% match for Cultural Life £865,182 £1,418,918 164%
Fund investments.
17 Develop 10 resources which offer 10 11 110%
access to a directory of assets, advice
and support.
18 Engage 2000 CYP through direct 2,000 2,402 120%
delivery.
19 Reach 10,000 attendees through our 10,000 10,342 103%
largescale events and conferences.
**----- End of picture text -----**
Our success stems from our unique expertise in championing, developing, delivering and growing:
- Co-created services with children and young people and other stakeholders that can be scaled up, demonstrate reach and result in significant and measurable impact
- Investment in children and young people’s creative skills, knowledge and practice
- Capacity in the cultural and education sectors to support the infrastructure of the region.
We have become renowned for leading strategic partnerships, engaging stakeholders, designing and managing programmes of work, undertaking research and evaluation directly and as a commissioner.
We developed a skilled and knowledgeable board and staff team who have considerable expertise and experience in the fields of education, culture, youth engagement and co-production.
We now hold strong partnerships across the region and beyond and are able to deliver tried and tested, scalable programmes that contribute to positive and lasting transformation for children and young people.
## **2. How The Mighty Creatives provides support for Children and Young People in Need**
Our work with children and young people is supported by our Youth Voice Strategy, which sits at the heart of our organisational development. We aim to:
- Diversify, develop and support our young audiences, and be inclusive of a variety of ages, abilities, genders, sexualities, religions and backgrounds.
- Challenge discrimination against children and young people and champion their beliefs, opinions, thoughts, needs and abilities.
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- Provide the opportunities and training to nurture and empower children and young people to realise their potential, become their own leaders and influence real change within their lives, The Mighty Creatives and the wider world.
- Ensure all staff are committed and have the skills to respect, listen and act upon the views of children and young people, where appropriate.
- Support and advocate to other organisations and partners to improve and embed Youth Voice within their organisations and the work they do.
- The Mighty Creatives follow a person-centred practice based on social pedagogy and our delivery is influenced by the following three models:
- Lundy’s _Model of Child Participation_ to understand best practice when it comes to creating the space for Youth Voice initiatives.[1]
- Treseder’s _Model of Youth Participation_ to understand the importance of the non-hierarchical nature of varying levels of Youth Voice initiatives.[2]
- The Mighty Creatives _Creative Mentoring Model_ , specifically how working in the _Third Space_ helps a child or young person work towards self-actualisation.[3]
Working in _The Third Space_ means working flexibly and in a person-centred way as well as being adaptive, reflective, experimental and nurturing. This way of working enables the development of an authentic and meaningful relationship with children and young people, that facilitates them to develop the skills to exercise their own voice, make their own decisions and empower them towards realising their own potential.
The combination of the three models provides the basis for creating an open and inclusive environment for children and young people to be facilitated and empowered to share their voice, needs, opinions and thoughts to make change.
They also provide a foundation in understanding the complexities of the varying levels of Youth Voice initiatives and how these can be embedded.
These will be used by The Mighty Creatives’ team to help shape future Youth Voice initiatives and ensure that children and young people are provided with the adequate support, resources and environments to enable authentic engagement.
All our work is supported by a diverse and dedicated Youth Board (18–25) each with their lived experience aligned to our work. They are encouraged to reflect on our past, examine the present, and help shape our future and will be an important part of our development in the coming years.
> 1 Laura Lundy 2007, _The Lundy Model of Child Participation,_ British Education Research Journal, Volume 3, Issue 6 p.927-942 (https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/default/files/lundy_model_of_participation.pdf)
> 2 Phil Treseder 1997, _Degrees of Participation,_ Empowering Children and Young People: Promoting Involvement - in Decision Maker (https://www.nonformality.org/wp content/uploads/2012/11/Participation_Models_20121118.pdf)
> 3 Johnson and Ali, _The Third Space._
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## **3. 2022 / 2023 Challenges and Achievements**
The bulk of the year was taken up with preparing for the ACE announcement of our application to become an NPO in the 2023 / 26 funding round. This entailed bringing several of our programmes to a close: Artsmark, Arts Award, Partnership Investment, and support for Local Cultural Education Partnerships. However, this did not prevent us continuing to deliver on our Key Performance Indicators which are summarised for the year below:
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As the year progressed however, it became clear that our status as Bridge Organisation was under threat. This came to a head in November 2022 when we were informed that our application to ACE to become a National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) was unsuccessful. This indicated a projected loss of over £2.3m ACE investment over 3 years and meant that TMC faced one of its most difficult challenges in its 13-year history.
However, the loss of NPO status has brought not only many challenges but also many opportunities, albeit played out within a climate of hostile social and economic crises which are being felt not only across the region, but nationally and internationally.
## **Reimagining our Business Plan**
Whilst the reduction of ACE support was regrettable, it did not signal the end of the line for TMC. We had built up our own unrestricted resources to draw upon; Creative Mentoring emerged as a strong programme which generates income, has the potential for growth and is not offered by any other organisations thus giving us market advantage.
The task we faced at the end of the financial year was to identify a clear transition process between the ‘old’ TMC and its new reincarnation. This process was supported in part by a successful application to ACE for ‘Transition Funding’, intended to support NPOs who have been removed from the national portfolio with their transition process up to November 2023.
## **The TMC Transition Process**
The first step in the TMC transition process was to reimagine the 2023- 26 Business Plan.
This involved two processes: confirming our ongoing priorities and planning for fundamental changes.
Our ongoing priorities were agreed as:
- Maintaining our vision and mission
- Serving children and young people in need and those experiencing most disadvantage
- Using the arts, culture and creativity for positive change for those young people
- Providing a personalised, person centre pedagogy in which mentoring and coaching play a fundamental role in generating personal change
- Fighting for the creative voices of children and young people
- Maintaining our guiding principles, values and underpinning strategies
- Informing all partners and stakeholders of our new business plan
- Implementing a realistic financial strategy with manageable diverse income streams
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The changes we implemented were:
- Refocus our emphasis of delivering our work within the East Midlands. Whilst our base will still be in the region, the scope for our work can extend panregionally and eventually nationally
- Place children and young people first by meeting them where they are (e.g. schools, communities, institutions)
- Removal of Creative Education, Creative Communities and Creative Futures from the current programme structure
- Focus on the growth of the Creative Mentoring programme / service area
- De-prioritise the ambition to establish 5 Creative Youth Hubs in the East Midlands
- Recruit a new Chair of the Board and extend the skills base of the trustees which reflects this new era
- Implement a staffing restructure to ensure the new TMC is fit for purpose, agile and sustainable.
- Use our unrestricted reserves to underwrite any annual fundraising shortfall between November 2023 and March 2026.
As a result of this transition process, we have begun the 2023 / 24 financial year with a renewed sense of vigour, purpose and optimism. This has a generated a new 2023 – 2028 Business Plan, a summary of which is presented below.
## **5. PLANS FOR 2023 / 2024**
## **Our Vision, Mission and Theory of Change**
Our vision is to inspire children and young people to harness the power of arts, creativity and culture for positive change.
## _**Our Mission**_
To achieve this vision, our mission has five strategic objectives which all focus on improving the cultural lives of young people, especially those who are most disadvantaged:
SOC1. Children and young people living in need will have experienced a cultural intervention designed to improve their life chances.
SOC2. Children and young people are visible and audible in the leadership of services that impact them.
SOC3. Creative practitioners, educators and employers have a deeper understanding of the’ lived life of a child in need’ and have developed the skills to support their development needs.
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SOC4. Investment in our work has increased to support the sustainability and growth of the charity.
SOC5. Adoption and delivery of Creative Mentoring practice has been embraced nationally and internationally through the leadership of the National Centre for Creative Mentoring.
## _**Our guiding principles**_
1. **We will listen and act:** embedding children and young people’s voices throughout our work from conception of programme to delivery and governance and we will encourage others to do the same.
2. **We will work collaboratively:** partnership working is central to the work we develop to improve creative outcomes and cultural opportunities for our region’s children and young people.
3. **We will respond to need:** we focus on nurturing and supporting the creativity of children in need and those working for them to promote high quality cultural practice.
4. **We will champion Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:** we stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Campaign and all marginalised communities across the world and will use our voice to speak out against injustice. We commit to listening, learning and taking action to improve access to creative opportunities for our region’s children and young people.
5. **Engagement with artists and educators** is driven by a personalised, person centre pedagogy in which mentoring, and coaching play a fundamental role in generating personal change.
6. The **creative voices of young people** will be at the heart of the creative or cultural experience.
## _**Delivering Our Mission: our Theory of Change**_
Our Theory of Change explains how we will work strategically and collaboratively to achieve and demonstrate our strategic outcomes for children and young people in need. It provides a summary of the changes that will occur and provides the context for our programme development and delivery plans and is available in Appendix 1.
Starting with the problem statement, _“Children and young people living in challenging circumstances experience significant disproportionate disadvantage, including heightened isolation, lack of stability, compromised mental health, lower attainment and lack of opportunities and do not have equitable access to experience the social, educational and economic benefits of the arts, culture and creativity”._
Our desired long-term goal is to inspire children and young people to harness the power of arts, creativity and culture for positive change, transforming their lives using creativity and culture as the tool for change.
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This will result in children and young people feeling more confident and resilient; empowering them to influence decision making that effects their lives, speak out against injustice, and build aspirations that will shape successful futures.
## _**Our definition of need**_
As highlighted in section 2, there are 28,820 children and young people registered in need in the East Midlands[4] .
There are also additional children and young people living below the poverty line, in areas of deprivation and with high support needs who are not registered with the Local Authority and are therefore not included in the above figures but would still be eligible for our services.
When we identify children and young people ‘in need’ we mean children and young people who are:
- Are care experienced (this includes Looked After Children, Care Leavers or Previously Looked After Children)
- Are experiencing abuse or neglect (including those under a Child Protection Plan)
- Are a registered Child in Need
- Have Special Educational Needs (SEN)
- Have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
- Have a disability or life restricting illness
- Are experiencing poverty/low income
- Are living as a young carer
- Are seeking asylum
- Are in refuge
- Are in an Alternative Education Provision
- Are on Free School Meals
- Are receiving Pupil Premium
- Have been excluded or at risk of exclusion
In addition to the needs identified above, we will also target our work in areas of high deprivation and need due to lack of infrastructure, support and opportunity.
## **Programme Development Plans**
The following section seeks to present an overview of the direction for programme development in the next five years to support the re-growth of The Mighty Creatives and development of the Creative Mentoring Programme.
> 4 This figure is taken from 2021-22 Characteristics of children in need and refers to Children in need at 31 March by primary need and local authority' in East Midlands between 2021 and 2022
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Our programme development plans will build on the success of our last 13-years and the strength of our Creative Mentoring programme to support children and young people where they are. All programme development will focus on the needs and priorities of the children and young people we serve and build services and support where they need them most. Our future work will be designed to be flexible to ensure our services remains relevant and responsive. We will hold regular development conversations with children and young people and those working with them to feed our direction of travel.
Our model of Creative Mentoring and youth voice and leadership will sit at the centre of our development, and we will work with schools, social services, community partners and creatives to enhance our collective offer for children and young people.
**Our Vision To inspire children and young people to harness the power of the arts for positive change.**
## **Our Strategic Objectives**
SOC1. Children SOC3. Creative SOC4. SOC5. Adoption and and young people SOC2. Children practitioners, educator Investment in delivery of Creative living in need will have experienced a and young people are visible and audible in the and employers have a deeper understanding of the’ lived life of a child in our work has increased to Mentoring practice has been embraced nationally and cultural intervention support the leadership of need’ and have developed internationally through designed to services that the skills to support their sustainability the leadership of the improve their life chances. impact them. development needs. and growth of the charity. National Centre for Creative Mentoring.
## **Our Programme Development Areas**
**Youth Voice and leadership** TMC Youth Board Youth Voice Consultation / Tenders Youth Voice regional Network in partnership with Youth Music Virtual Schools Network – My Creative Track
**----- Start of picture text -----**
National Centre for Creative
Mentoring
Training and support for
Creative Practitioners and Creative Mentoring group
Creative Mentoring 1:1 service
artists, educators and work in Schools – Creativity
Person-centred practice
employers and wellbeing
Research
Advocacy
Employ Me Creative Mentoring
Supporting care group work in
experienced CYP into community spaces –
work creativity and wellbeing
**----- End of picture text -----**
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## _**Tracking and Measuring Impact**_
We will follow an impact measurement framework that builds on our theory of change by first identifying the data we will collect. This will help us understand, evaluate and demonstrate our impact. Through our Impact and Data strategy and action plan we will have the tools needed to help us understand whether we are driving positive change and working towards our intended outcomes and organisational vision.
By better understanding our impact, we will be able to make decisions about the work we deliver now and into the future, guiding our decision-making around which activities to start, enhance, stop or change.
Through the delivery of our strategy, we will be able to:
- Demonstrate our commitment to change to our service users and
- stakeholders.
- Better engage with our funders and stakeholders by clearly showing
- how their investment in our activities and services is driving positive outcomes. Attract new sources of funding by demonstrating and evidencing our effectiveness and impact.
- Engage new and existing partners whose vision of impact align with our
- own.
Strengthen our reputation as impactful, honest and effective through taking an evidence-based, transparent approach.
## **Financial Strategy**
Our financial ambition is built upon achieving the following goals:
1. Regrow the charity within a financially sound and sustainable framework.
2. Achievable, realistic diversification of investment base.
3. Maintain our reserves policy at three months running costs.
We will be focusing on four strands of income generation:
1. Institutional, Trust and Foundation Grant Funding
2. Individual Giving (Campaign and Major Donations)
3. Corporate Partnerships
4. Traded Services (Sales)
After an intensive period of organisational development over the past five years, we are now in a strong position to develop our income generation activities to support our future growth and sustainability.
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Our Income Generation Strategy is a fundamental component of our development. The principle aims of the strategy are to diversify the charity’s income in order to improve its financial sustainability; and put procedures in place for effective long-term fundraising management.
Growth of the charity is not a matter of increasing turnover and profitability although these ‘bottom lines’ are important factors to consider when planning for growth.
A five-year forecast has been prepared to align with the delivery of this Business Plan as well as an action plan aligned to our Income Generation Strategy.
## **What’s the team?**
We are governed by a Board of Trustees, who are also the directors of the limited company. Trustees can serve from the age of sixteen. The Board is responsible for the scrutiny and examination of organisational performance. Trustees meet quarterly to monitor risk, agree strategic direction, approve budgets and finance reports and endorse new and review existing policies. The Board ensures The Mighty Creatives reporting obligations to the Charity Commission and Companies House are met.
## **Sub-Committees, Policies and Processes**
Our policies and processes are reviewed in line with our policy matrix and signed off by the Board. We have a measured and thorough approach to safeguarding, ensuring all staff and Board receive training from NSPCC and regular briefings.
Safeguarding and EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) are standing items on our agenda and are overseen by a designated member of the Board, as is our assessment of risks.
The Mighty Creatives Operations and Finance sub-committee scrutinises the charity’s approach to finance, staffing and operations. The committee meets separately, feeding into the main Board for sign off on a quarterly basis.
A Programme sub-committee was launched in 2022 and follows the same approach. It will be expanded in 2023 to include expertise from the Health and Social services sectors to reflect the vision and mission of the organisation.
Led by Professor Christine White, Chair of Trustees and Vivek Malhotra, Deputy Chair and Chair of Finance, our trustees have extensive experience and expertise in the arts and cultural sector, education, local authorities and private sector and bring a wide range of governance skills to bear: leadership, fundraising and financial control, marketing, pedagogy, innovation, cultural educational practice, artist development, collective impact modelling, heritage, theatre and product development. They also reflect the geographical diversity of the region which the company serves.
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The Trustees delegate the authority of running the company to the senior leadership team of Chief Executive, Dr. Nick Owen MBE. He leads the Business Development Team of Business Manager, Communications/Marketing Manager and Youth Programme Manager.
## **Conclusion**
It has been vital we remember that we exist not for our own sake but to serve the needs of our beneficiaries; those children and young people who are most disadvantaged and most in need and who are all too frequently on the receiving end of the crises generated by the adults around them. The Covid-19 pandemic; the effects of the war in Ukraine; the state of funding for schools and the downgrading of arts education in schools; a weakened youth sector and the chronic economic state of the UK will all continue to wreak havoc with young people’s lives for some considerable time.
If there ever was a time for The Mighty Creatives to step up and support young people using the power of arts, culture and creativity then that time is now.
**Prof Christine White** Chair of the Board of Trustees
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## **DIRECTORS’ REPORT**
The directors, who are also the trustees, present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023.
## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
TMC is a company limited by guarantee, without share capital and incorporated on 1st July 2008. We were also granted charitable status on 3rd April 2009 as an educational charity registered in England and Wales. Our governing documents are included within our Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The company is led by a strong group of Trustees who have extensive experience and expertise in the cultural, education and commercial sectors and together bring a wide range of governance skills to bear: leadership, fundraising and financial control, marketing, pedagogy and innovation. They also reflect the geographical diversity of the region which the company aims to serve. The Trustees are led by the Chair, Christine White and Vice Chair and Chair of Operations & Finance, Vivek Malhotra.
We are grateful to all the Trustees, listed on page 3, who held office during the year.
Our Trustees meet quarterly to agree strategic direction, receive reports from staff, approve budgets and finance reports and endorse and review policies.
The Operations and Finance Committee, a sub-committee of the Board, meets at least four times a year. Its function is to scrutinise budgets and finance reports in detail to safeguard the finances of the organisation, manage and review risks. The Committee also deals with issues such as pay levels and child protection. The Committee reports to, and makes recommendations to, the Board of Trustees.
The Programme Committee, a sub-committee of the Board, meets at least four times a year. Its function is to scrutinise our performance against our Business plan activities. The committee reports to, and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees
At the end of March 2023, there were 11 serving Trustees on the Board.
Under the terms of the articles of association, Trustees may serve for two terms of three years, with the Board having discretion to agree to a further three year term, bringing the maximum term to three terms of three years duration.
Trustees regularly address skills and knowledge gaps with appointments open to any suitably qualified member of the public. Trustees are appointed through Board recommendation or a formal recruitment process comprising advertising and awareness through social media, similar to that used for the recruitment of staff. All newly appointed Trustees receive instruction on the activities of the charity and their responsibilities as a Trustee. They also have opportunities to see work in the field and we have proactively built this into the meetings structure.
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All Trustees give of their time freely and no Trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Details of Trustee expenses are disclosed in note 8 of the annual accounts. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them with the Company Secretary and, in accordance with our policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.
## **STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT**
Our Trustees and senior staff are responsible for making sure everything we do is focused on achieving lasting public benefit, as defined by the Charity Commission. Our governing documents define our core objectives as
_To promote such charitable objects and purposes for the public benefit as the Trustees think fit, in particular and without limitation, to the generality of the forgoing words to advance the education of children and young people and those who work with them through creative and cultural activities._
We review our public benefit and charitable purpose on an annual basis.
## **RESERVES POLICY**
Our Trustees review our reserves policy and levels on an annual basis, in the context of an ever-changing organisation and its working capital requirements. The policy states that a minimum of three month’s staffing and infrastructure costs should be held in reserve.
We have limited scope to put money to reserves, with most of our income coming from restricted funding. This year TMC surpassed its minimum reserves target and at 31 March 2023 holds £778,817 of unrestricted funds (2022 - £552,033).
The Board of Trustees have allocated £571,357 as designated funds to support the organisation until 31[st] March 2026 as part of it’s transition plan following the unsuccessful NPO Arts Council England bid.
## **GRANT MAKING POLICY**
TMC makes grants to schools and other organisations working in the field of culture, creativity and enterprise. The nature and size of the grant is solely dependent on the size and nature of the funding that TMC received from funding bodies to distribute.
## **MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION**
The daily responsibility for leadership of The Mighty Creatives rests with our Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive.
During 2022/23 the following senior leadership team was in place:
- Chief Executive: Dr R N Owen MBE
- Deputy Chief Executive: Emily Bowman resigned 31[st] March 2023
With effect from 1[st] April 2023 the Chief Executive is supported by the Business Development Team, which is made up to Business Manager: Caroline Frankland, Marketing
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& Communications Manager: Bethany Patience and Youth Programme Manager: Emily York.
Key management personnel remuneration is determined with reference to the market place and what is recognised as acceptable practice by our core funder, Arts Council England. It is also determined by assessing the overall salary costs of the company and ensuring that salaries reflect the nature of the work, the company structure, and sectoral expectations. Remuneration is agreed at Board level.
## **RISK MANAGEMENT**
The Trustees have a risk register in place which addresses the major governance, operational, financial, reputational, legal and regulatory risks that might impact up the core purposes and key objectives. These risks are managed by a comprehensive set of policies (subject to review) and long standing practices, set out in our Employee Handbook.
The most significant risks we faced in 2022/2023 were of a financial or operational nature. They are summarised, along with the relevant mitigation measures, below:
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|**OF RISK**
~~[Ef~~|**NUMBER**
~~[Ef~~|**POTENTIAL RISK**
~~[Ef~~|**Consequence of risk**
~~[Ef~~|**INHERENT ASSESSMENT**
~~[Ef~~|**INHERENT ASSESSMENT**
~~[Ef~~|**OVERALL**
**LEVEL OF RISK **
~~[Ef~~|**How to mitigate the Risk**
~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|Pre-
Mitigation
impact
~~[Ef~~|Pre-
Mitigation
Probability
~~[Ef~~|Pre-mitigation
~~[Ef~~|~~[Ef~~|Post-
Mitigation
Impact
~~[Ef~~|Post-
Mitigation
Likelihood
~~[Ef~~|Post-
Mitigation
~~[Ef~~|
|rational
~~a—~~|1.1.
~~a—~~|Lack of consideration
for staff health and
well being
~~a—~~|Poor staff retention rates
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**4**
~~a—~~|Performance management systems in
place which are reviewed annually.
Training and Development plan reviewed
annually along with regular 1:1s
~~a—~~|**1**
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**3**
~~a—~~|
|rational
~~a—~~|1.2.
~~a—~~|Lack of capacity
~~a—~~|Lack of inappropriate resources to deliver activities as
required. Inappropriate recruitment to roles
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**3**
~~a—~~|**5**
~~a—~~|Ensure projects are fully costed and
funded adequately and appropriate staff
are consulted. New jobs adhere to
recruitment and selection procedures and
Equality Policy
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**4**
~~a—~~|
|rational
~~a—~~|1.3.
~~a—~~|Poor working
environment
~~a—~~|Inappropriate office space; ICT equipment.
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**4**
~~a—~~|Replacement policy of ICT equipment is in
place; regular review of usage of office
space
Introduction of a Hybrid working model
Move of office.
~~a—~~|**2**
~~a—~~|**1**
~~a—~~|**3**
~~a—~~|
|rational|1.4.|Not delivering
contracts|Loss of funding; reputational damage; long term sustainability
of the charity|Loss of funding; reputational damage; long term sustainability
**3**|**3**|**6**|Regular monitoring of project performance
against contract KPIs and outputs; regular
reporting to funders on project
performance|**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|1.5.|Lack of diversity in the
workforce|Lack of diversity in the
Unable to engage beneficiaries; unable to deliver charity's
mission|**3**|**2**|**5**|Regular review of Equality Policy and
Action Plan. Diversity Working group in
place
Training programme has been introduced
for all staff and the 6C's framework
embedded into new Business Plan.|**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|1.6.|Lack of Safeguarding
policy|Unable to deliver charity's vision or meet legislation
Children and young people in danger of harm|**3**|**3**|**6**|Regular review of Safeguarding Policy and
Action Plan; regular staff training in
safeguarding provided; named
safeguarding officers on staff team and on
Board of Trustees
All Trustees and staff receive basic
training at induction.
New log created to monitor safeguarding
disclosures by DSLs|Regular review of Safeguarding Policy and
safeguarding officers on staff team and on
**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|1.7|Return to office
working increases risk
of staff contracting
COVID.|working increases risk
Staff are off for prolonged periods of time.|**2**|**3**|**5**|Keep WFH option and develop flexible
working policy in consultation with staff.
Close office if there is a COVID outbreak
and revert to virtual meetings.|**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|1.8|Exposure from others
due to:
1) Living with
someone with a
confirmed case of
COVID-19.
2) Have come into
close contact with a
confirmed case of
COVID-19.|Staff contract virus and as a result are off for a prolonged
period of time. Programmes not delivered to time.|**2**|**3**|**5**|●Update Human Resources with absence
identifying Covid-19 and manage absence
in line with company HR policies /
procedures
ADVISE STAFF OF THE FOLLOWING:
●Do not come into the office where
someone you live with has been
diagnosed
●Follow NHS / 111 advice as required. Do
not attend GP surgery or public places if
confirmed to help reduce spread of the
disease
●Company to ensure vulnerable persons
(elderly, pre-existing health condition,
lower immunity) employed are individually
assessed
●Follow good hygiene measures at all
times
●Ask friends, family members or delivery
services to do errands for you
●Do not take any antibiotics as they do
not work against viruses.|**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|1.9|Lack of stability
through transition to
new business model
impacting programme
development and
delivery||**2**|**3**|**5**|Successfully secured ACE Transition
Funding
Clear transition plans in place to support
delivery and strategic development. To
include:
- Revised Business Plan
- Revised Income Generation Strategy
and activity plan for the next 12-18 months
- Revised Programme Development Plan
- Revised Comms plan|**2**|**1**|**3**|
|rational|2|Reputational damage
from unclear
messaging/understan
ding of Creative
Mentoring|Partners, benficiaries and other stakeholders not clear
regarding difference between creative mentoring and other
support that CYP may receive such as counselling, art
therapy etc.|**2**|**3**|**5**|Clear messaging in all publications,
websites, agreements and documentation
about the role of Creative Mentoring.
Ongoing training and support for creative
mentors and staff to be able to identify the
differences and deal with
disclosures/incidences as appropriate|mentors and staff to be able to identify the
**3**|**1**|**4**|
|ncial
~~a~~
~~||~~|2.1.
~~a~~
~~||~~|Lack of income
available to deliver
programmes
~~a~~|Sustained lack of income from a range of sources
~~a~~|**3**
~~a~~|**3**
~~a~~|**6**
~~a~~
~~|~~|Implementation and monitoring of income
generation strategy
Restructure of team to help manage
budgets
~~a~~
~~|~~
~~tL~~|**3**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**1**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**4**
~~a~~|
|ncial
~~a~~
~~||~~|2.2.
~~a~~
~~|||~~|Lack of Financial
controls and systems
~~a~~
~~|~~|Projects overspend; inappropriate reporting of expenditure by
budget holders; loss of contracts with funders; fraud leading
to legal investigations
~~a~~
~~|~~|Projects overspend; inappropriate reporting of expenditure by
**3**
~~a~~
~~|~~|**3**
~~a~~
~~im~~|**6**
~~a~~
~~|~~
~~im~~|Financial controls and procedures are
reviewed regularly with auditors; regular
project reports are produced for funders;
financial controls are a shared
responsibility for appropriate members of
staff
~~a~~
~~|~~
~~tL~~
~~im~~|**2**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**1**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**3**
~~a~~|
|ernance
~~a~~
~~||~~
~~||~~|3.1.
~~a~~
~~|||~~
~~||~~|Insufficient skill base
of trustees
~~a~~
~~|~~|Trustees unable to support vision; trustees become
unrepresentative of the sectors we work with; lack of income
generation and financial control capabilities; lack of cultural
diversity
~~a~~
~~|~~|**2**
~~a~~
~~|~~|**3**
~~a~~
~~im~~|**5**
~~a~~
~~|~~
~~im~~|Regular audit of skills base against the
charity's needs; relevant recruitment
procedures as required
~~a~~
~~|~~
~~tL~~
~~im|~~|**2**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**2**
~~a~~
~~tL~~|**4**
~~a~~|
|ernance
~~||~~
~~||~~
~~ss~~|3.2.
~~|| |~~
~~||~~
~~|~~
~~ss~~|Poor or irregular
attendance at
Trustees meetings
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~es~~|Poor decision making; low 'buy-in' to the charity's vision and
business plan
~~|~~
~~||~~
~~en~~|**2**
~~|~~
~~||~~|**2**
~~im~~
~~||~~|**4**
~~|~~
~~im~~|Adhere to Memorandum and Articles of
Association; trustee induction process
established and reviewed; monitoring
attendance at meetings
~~|~~
~~tL~~
~~im|~~
~~-y~~
~~fs~~|**2**
~~tL~~
~~-y~~|**1**
~~tL~~
~~-y~~|**3**
~~-y~~|
|ernance
~~||~~
~~ss~~
~~|~~|3.3.
~~||~~
~~|~~
~~ss~~
~~**[**~~|Inappropriate
governance structure
~~|~~
~~es~~
~~**[**|~~|Inability to generate income from a wider range of sources
~~||~~
~~en~~|**3**
~~||~~
~~|~~|**3**
~~||~~
~~|~~|**6**
~~ze~~|Regular review of fitness for purpose of
the charity's legal structure
~~|~~
~~-y~~
~~fs~~
~~ze~~|**2**
~~-y~~
|**2**
~~-y~~
|**4**
~~-y~~
|
|ernance
~~ss~~
~~|~~
~~||~~|3.4.
~~ss~~
~~**[**~~
~~|||~~|Lack of knowledge by
trustees of the
charitable sector
~~es ~~
~~**[**|~~
~~**|**~~|Trustees make inappropriate decisions; are unable to inform
charity's vision or contribute to advocating for it
~~en~~
~~|~~
~~|~~|**2**
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~|~~|**3**
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~|~~|**5**
~~ze~~
~~gg~~|Induction procedures for new trustees;
regular training and development plan for
all trustees
~~fs~~
~~ze@©=©=~6hy~~
~~gg~~|**2**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
|**1**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
|**3**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
|
|Business
Continuity
~~|~~
~~||~~|4.1.
~~**[**~~
~~|||~~|Major office disruption
~~**[**|~~
~~**|**~~|Lack of access to offices or equipment
~~|~~
~~|~~|**2**
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~|~~|**2**
~~|~~
~~| ~~
~~|~~|**4**
~~ze~~
~~gg~~|All staff provided with laptops; emergency
comms strategy is in place; use of Cloud
based computing technologies
~~ze@©=©=~6hy~~
~~gg —y~~|**2**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|**1**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|**3**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|
|Business
Continuity
~~||~~
~~TD~~|4.2.
~~|| |~~
~~TD~~|Cyberattack
~~**|**~~
~~TD~~|IT systems are hacked into and fail
~~|~~
~~TD~~|**3**
~~|~~
~~TD~~|**2**
~~|~~
~~TD~~|**5**
~~gg~~
|All systems are regularly back up by
external provider
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~gg —y~~
~~iA~~|**3**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|**1**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|**4**
~~@©=©=~6hy~~
~~—y~~|
|Business
Continuity
~~TD~~
~~—~~
~~|~~|4.3.
~~TD~~
~~|~~|Unplanned key staff
absences
~~TD~~
~~[|~~|Lack of knowledge and skills for projects; funding bids not
being submitted on time
~~TD~~
~~[|~~
~~=~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~|**3**
~~TD~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~|**3**
~~TD~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~|**6**
|Major project strategies are shared
amongst key staff; processes for
recruitment for new staff are in place
A business continuity plan is in place to
cover these eventualities
~~iA~~
~~OFT~~|**2**|**2**|**4**|
|Business
Continuity
~~TD~~
~~—~~
~~|~~
~~—|~~|4.4
~~TD~~
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~[|~~|Reputational damage
~~TD~~
~~[|~~
~~[|~~
~~[|~~|Adverse PR; loss of contracts and income; damaged
operations due to stakeholder withdrawal
~~TD~~
~~[|~~
~~=~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~
~~[|~~
~~§~~~|**3**
~~TD~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~
~~§~|~~|**3**
~~TD ~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~|**6**
~~Ei~~|Implementation of crisis management
policy including comms strategies for both
staff, trustees and external partners
~~iA~~
~~OFT~~
~~Ei~~|**2**|**2**|**4**|
|tegic
~~—~~
~~|~~
~~—|~~|5.1.
~~|~~
~~|~~
~~[|~~|Adverse political
climate for arts and
education
~~[|~~
~~[|~~
~~[|~~|Withdrawal of funding for the sector
~~[|~~
~~=~~
~~erhhrhlhl~~
~~[|~~
~~§~~~|**3**
~~erhhrhlhl~~
~~§~|~~|**3**
~~erhhrhlhl~~|**6**
~~Ei~~|Regular, targeted and strategic advocacy
and lobbying by key personnel and
trustees
~~OFT~~
~~Ei|~~|**2**|**2**|**4**|
Page 21
## **STRATEGIC REPORT**
TMC receives income through grants and contracts for services which are based on funding agreements for variable lengths of time. Activities are planned over the life of the individual project which ensure that all anticipated income is spent, except for retaining a prudent amount in reserves if the grant permits this.
In order to preserve the liquidity of the organisation we do not currently invest income for more than one year. The strategy therefore is to retain funds as cash and place them in bonds or other bank deposits at the best rate obtainable.
Having been through an intensive period of organisational development over the last 12 months, the charity has determined that it is currently in a strong position to develop its income generation activities to direct the future growth and sustainability of work in the region.
The charities Income Generation Strategy is a fundamental component of The Mighty Creative’s ongoing strategic development. The key aims of the Income Generation Strategy are to diversify the charity’s income, in order to improve its financial sustainability; and to put procedures in place for effective long-term fundraising management.
4 core strands of income generation activity have been identified as the key areas to focus the Charity’s income generation efforts:
1. Institutional, Trust and Foundation Grant Funding
2. Individual Giving (Campaign and Major Donations)
3. Corporate Partnerships
4. Traded Services (Sales)
## **DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE ACCOUNTS**
The Directors are required to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit for that period. In preparing those accounts the Directors are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and other applicable law and regulations. They are also responsible for safeguarding the
Page 22
assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **GOING CONCERN**
After making enquiries, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in note 1 of the financial statements.
## **STATEMENT AS TO DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO AUDITORS**
So far as the directors are aware, there is no relevant audit information (as defined by Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006) of which the company's auditors are unaware, and each director has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a director in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company's auditors are aware of that information.
Signed on behalf of the Directors on 25[th] October 2023.
Prof. Christine White Director
Page 23
**INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT to the members of The Mighty Creatives**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of The Mighty Creatives (the ‘company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, and Statement of Cashflows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice)._
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the company’s affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of its surplus for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:
- the directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is not appropriate; or
- the directors have not disclosed in the financial statements any identified material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt about the company’s ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting for a period of at least twelve months from the date when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
## **Other information**
The directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Page 24
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the strategic report and the directors’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the strategic report and the directors’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of directors**
As explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities statement set out on page 25, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Page 25
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor ’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
## **Extent to which the audit was capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud**
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below:
- We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our experience through discussion with the Officers and other management (as required by auditing standards)
- We had regard to laws and regulations in areas that directly affect the financial statements including financial reporting (including related trade union legislation) and taxation legislation. We considered that extent of compliance with those laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.
- Except for any known or possible non-compliance, and as required by auditing standards, our work in respect of these was limited to enquiry of the Officers.
- We communicated identified relevant laws and regulations to the business throughout our audit team and remained vigilant to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
- We addressed the risk of fraud through management override of controls, by testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and evaluating the business rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.
Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.
Page 26
- Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
- Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the company's internal control.
- Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the directors.
- Conclude on the appropriateness of the directors' use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor's report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor's report. However, future events or conditions may cause the company to cease to continue as a going concern.
- Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
- Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the entities or business activities within the company to express an opinion on the financial statements. We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the company audit. We remain solely responsible for our audit opinion.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditor's report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Page 27
Neil Coupland FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of RWB CA Limited, Statutory Auditor Northgate House North Gate New Basford Nottingham NG7 7BQ
Date:
Page 28
## _Statement of financial activities_
_Including Income and Expenditure Account_ **for the year ended 31 March 2023**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Notes funds £ funds £ 2023 £ 2022 £
INCOME
Income from charitable activities 3 204,408 2,019,149 2,223,556 4,038,429
Income from other trading activities
Consultancy & Fundraising 24,750 - 24,750 58,182
Investment income 5,121 - 5,121 195
Total income 234,279 2,019,149 2,253,428 4,096,806
EXPENDITURE 5
Charitable activities
Grants made & activities undertaken directly 71,382 2,224,421 2,295,803 3,816,721
Support costs - 71,126 71,126 94,207
Governance 1,439 - 1,439 2,661
Total expenditure 72,821 2,295,547 2,368,367 3,913,589
Net income 161,458 (276.398) (114,940) 183,217
Net transfers between funds 65,326 (65,326) - -
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 226,784 (341,724) (114,940) 183,217
Fund balances brought forward (restated) 14 552,033 414,915 966,948 783,731
FUND BALANCES CARRIED FORWARD 14 778,817 73,191 852,008 966,948
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 29
|**BALANCE SHEET**||||
|---|---|---|---|
|**as at 31 March 2023**||||
||Notes|**2023**|2022|
|||**£**|Restated|
||||£|
|Fixed assets||||
|Tangible assets|9|**220**|5,025|
|**CURRENT ASSETS**||||
|Debtors|10|**150,624**|34,141|
|Bank and cash balances||**873,837**|1,144,600|
|||**1,024,461**|1,178,741|
|**CREDITORS**: amounts falling due within one year|11|**(172,673)**|(216,818)|
|**NET CURRENT ASSETS**||**851,788**|961,923|
|Total assets less current liabilities||**852,008**|966,948|
|**CREDITORS**: amounts falling due after more than one year|12|**-**|-|
|||**£852,008**|966,948|
|**INCOME FUNDS**||||
|Unrestricted general funds|14|**207,460**|552,033|
|Designated funds|14|**571,357**|-|
|Restricted funds|14|**73,191**|414,915|
|||**£852,008**|£966,948|
The Directors have acknowledged their responsibilities for: selecting suitable accounting policies and then applying them consistently; observing the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; making judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; stating whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and preparing the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention, in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2015)” applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2015 and the Companies Act 2006.
The financial statements were approved by the Directors on 25[th] October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
Prof. Christine White Director 25[th] October 2023
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## _Statement of cashflows_
**for the year ended 31 March 2023**
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2023 2022
£
Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cashflow from operating activities
Net movement in funds (114,940) 183,275
Depreciation 4,805 10,037
Profit on disposal of fixed assets - -
Interest received (5,121) (194)
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (116,483) (18,080)
Increase/(decrease) in creditors (44,145) 33,775
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities (275,884) 208,814
Cashflows from investing activities
-
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (2,888)
Interest received 5,121 194
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from investing activities 5,121 (2,694)
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the year (270,763) 206,120
Cash at the beginning of the year 1,144,600 938,480
Cash at the end of the year 873,837 1,144,600
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## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS at 31 March 2023**
## **1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## _**Company and charitable status**_
The Mighty Creatives, a public benefit entity, is incorporated in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital. Each member has undertaken to contribute to the assets in the event of winding up a sum not exceeding £1. The company is a registered charity. The registered office is given on page 2.
## _**Basis of preparation and assessment of going concern**_
The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention, in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP 2015)” applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), effective 1 January 2015 and the Companies Act 2006.
The Directors consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. Free unrestricted reserves of TMC at the year-end amount to £523,894. After consideration of the current business plan and with a balanced budget planned for the next two financial years, the Trustees consider there is a reasonable expectation that TMC has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Trustees are also satisfied with the controls in place for monitoring and flexing the budget throughout the year. There are no material uncertainties that would impact on the charity’s ability to continue. Accordingly, we continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing this annual report and financial statements.
## _**Funds**_
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Directors in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds are unrestricted funds set aside by the Directors out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects. Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund.
## _**Incoming resources**_
Incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable and when the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. Grants received for specific purposes are accounted for as restricted funds.
## _**Resources expended**_
Resources expended are recognised in the period in which they are incurred under headings that aggregate all costs related to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they are allocated to activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources. Resources expended include attributable VAT which cannot be recovered.
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## _**Taxation**_
TMC is a registered charity and is not subject to taxation on its income so long as this is used for its charitable activities.
## _**Fixed assets and depreciation**_
All fixed assets are initially recorded at cost. Depreciation is provided on all fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value based on prices prevailing at the date of acquisition, of each asset evenly over its expected useful life as follows:
Office equipment - 3 years straight line
**2 CRITICAL ACCOUNTING JUDGEMENTS AND KEY SOURCES OF ESTIMATION UNCERTAINTY** In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described in note 1, the Directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods.
The Directors do not consider there are any critical judgements or sources of estimation uncertainty requiring disclosure beyond the accounting policies listed above.
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3 INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES General
Unrestricted Restricted 2023 2022
£ £ £ £
Grants received (see note 4) 204,408 2,019,149 2,223,557 4,029,621
Donations - - - 1,262
Fundraising - - - 4,889
Other - - - 60,839
204,408 2,019,149 2,223,557 4.096,611
4 GRANTS RECEIVED General 2023 2022
Unrestricted Restricted £ £
£ £
ACE Bridge Extension - 53,359 53,359 53,359
ACE National Portfolio Funding - 878,347 878,347 878,347
Children in Need – main grant - 39,243 39,243 9,045
Let’s Create Packs - - - 11,810
Children in Need – Next Steps Covid-19 Grant - - - 50,085
WWCSC - - - (26,631)
Erasmus Well-Be - 22,158 22,158 -
Erasmus DiARC - 42,728 42,728 92,956
All Ways Making - - - 170
D Stewart – SEND 50 [th] Anniversary Donation - - - 5,000
DWP – Kickstart - 937,818 937,818 2,757,569
Foyle Foundation - - - 25,000
Charities Aid Foundation 35,555 27,270 62,825 168,474
Rutland Council – Virtual School - 8,437 8,437 4,437
The World Reimagined - 2,500 2,500 -
ACE Virtual Schools Project - 7,290 7,290 -
Leicester Heritage Action Zone 5,122 - 5,122 -
Creative Mentoring 163,731 - 163,731 -
204,408 2,019,149 2,223,557 4,029,621
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5 EXPENDITURE
Charitable activities Unrestricted Restricted
Funds Funds 2023 2022
£ £
£ £
Grants made & activities undertaken directly
(note relates expenditure to source of funds as shown below)
ACE National Portfolio funding - 543,349 543,349 467,146
Bridge Extension - 28,893 28,893 29,030
Children in Need – main grant - 6,476 6,476 15,415
Children in Need – Next Steps Covid-19 Grant - - - 17,352
WWCSC - - - 96,735
Erasmus Well-Be - 39,482 39,482 1,158
All Ways Making - - - 240
D Stewart – SEND 50 [th] Anniversary - 882 882 3,750
Erasmus DiARC - 33,795 33,795 64,862
Foyle Foundation - - - 14,344
DWP – Kickstart - 937,866 937,866 2,564,106
Charities Aid Foundation - 123,483 123,483 19
Rutland Council – Virtual School - 3,662 3,662 149
Creative Mentoring 63,557 - 63,557 -
The World Reimagined - 2,500 2,500 9,157
63,557 1,720,389 1,783,946 3,283,464
Staff costs associated with above expenditure 7,825 504,032 511,857 533,257
71,382 2,224,421 2,295,803 3,816,721
Support costs
Contributions to Support Costs (71,126) 71,126 - -
Training 3,795 - 3,795 6,326
Staff welfare 785 - 785 1,104
Recruitment 325 - 325 2,392
Travel - - - (150)
Telephones & IT 23,646 - 23,646 25,513
Legal & professional 48 - 48 48
Bank charges 1,201 - 1,201 1,353
Depreciation 4,805 - 4,805 10,037
Income generation 376 - 376 57
Business Development - - - 166
Rent 28,992 - 28,992 28,191
PR and communications 91 - 91 11,413
Local office administration 2,399 - 2,399 2,428
Insurance 789 - 789 1,279
Audit and Accountancy Fees 3,873 - 3,873 3,900
- 71,126 71,126 94,207
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||Unrestricted|Restricted||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||Funds
£|Funds
£|**2023**
**£**|2022
£||
|**Governance**||||||
|Trustee travel costs|-|-|**-**|-||
|Trustee meeting costs|807|-|**807**|1,317||
|Trustee hospitality|-|-|**-**|-||
|Trustee Training|-|-|**-**|475||
|Trustee Insurance|632|-|**632**|869||
||1,439|-|**1,439**|2,661||
|**Total expenditure**|**72,821**|**2,295,547**|**2,368,367**|3,913,589||
|**6**
**STAFF COSTS**|||**2023**|2022||
||||**£**|£||
|Wages and salaries|||**448,164**|473,533||
|Social security costs|||**45,444**|41,773||
|Other pension costs|||**18,249**|17.951||
||||**511,857**|533,257||
The average number of employees, including part-time, during the year was 16.5 (2022: 17.8).
No employee earned in excess of £60,000 (2020 - Nil).
The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The charge for the period was £18,249 (2022 – £17.951). There were outstanding contributions of £Nil at the year end (2022 - £Nil).
|**7**
**NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR**|||
|---|---|---|
||**2023**|2022|
|This is stated after charging:|**£**|£|
|Operating lease costs - property|**28,992**|26,854|
|Auditors’ remuneration|||
|As auditors|**3,873**|3,900|
|Other services|**-**|-|
|Depreciation|**4,805**|10,037|
**8 DIRECTORS’ REMUNERATION**
No remuneration was paid to Directors for their services.
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9 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Office
equipment
£
Cost or valuation:
At 1 April 2022 69,629
Additions -
Disposals -
At 31 March 2023 69,629
Depreciation:
At 1 April 2022 64.604
Charge for the year 4,805
-
Eliminated on disposals
At 31 March 2023 69,409
Net book value
At 31 March 2023 220
At 1 April 2022 5,025
10 Debtors 2023 2022
£ £
Amounts falling due within one year
Trade debtors 149,160 32,656
Prepayments and accrued income - -
Other debtors 1,464 1,485
150,624 34,141
11 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR 2023 2022
£ £
Trade creditors 40,497 50,111
Other taxes and social security 9,183 10,519
Other creditors - -
Deferred income (see also Note 12) - -
Accrued expenses 122,994 156,188
172,673 216,818
12 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR 2023 2022
£ £
Deferred income - -
DEFERRED INCOME £
At 1 April 2021 -
-
Income deferred in year – for release within one year
-
Income deferred in year – for release after more than one year
Amount released in year -
At 31 March 2022 -
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13 FUNDS ANALYSIS General
Unrestricted
fund Restricted fund 2023 2022
£ £ £ £
Tangible fixed assets 220 - 220 5,025
Current assets 951,270 73,191 1,024,461 1,178,741
Liabilities (172,673) - (172,673) (216,818)
Net assets 778,817 73,191 852,008 966,948
14 MOVEMENT IN FUNDS At 1 April Incoming Outgoing At 31
2022 resources resources Transfers March 2023
(restated) £ £ £ £
£
Restricted funds
ACE National Portfolio Funding 187,795 878,347 (1,001,451) (64,691) -
ACE Bridge Extension - 53,359 (53,359) - -
Children in Need – main grant 3,362 39,243 (21,620) - 20,985
WWCSC 1 - - (1) -
Erasmus Well-Be 28,350 22,158 (43,982) - 6,526
CAF Resilience Fund 335 - - - 335
D Stewart – SEND 50 [th] Anniversary 1,250 - (882) - 368
Erasmus DiARC 23,994 42,728 (38,095) - 28,626
DWP – Kickstart 48 937,818 (937,866) - -
Foyle Foundation 634 - - (634) -
Charities Aid Foundation 164,858 27,270 (192,128) - -
Rutland Council Virtual School 4,288 8,437 (3,662) - 9,063
The World Re Imagined - 2,500 (2,500) - -
ACE Virtual Schools Project - 7,290 - - 7,290
414,915 2,019,149 (2,295,547) (65,326) 73,191
Unrestricted funds
General 552,033 234,279 (72,821) (506,031) 207,460
Designated Funds – Transition 571,357 571,357
966,948 2,253,428 (2,368,366) - 852,008
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The income previously reported as a restricted fund under the heading Creative Mentoring Traded has, upon review, been recategorized as unrestricted income arising from a contract for services. The services delivered fall under the charity’s overall charitable objectives and thus remain within the delivery of charitable activities. The comparative values within these accounts have been restated to reflect the reanalysis from restricted to unrestricted from 1 April 2021 onwards.
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## **15 DESCRIPTION OF FUNDS**
**ACE National Portfolio Funding** : investment to promote and deliver a demand-led cultural offer for schools, children, and young people across the East Midlands. Focussed on the Cultural Education Challenge, strategic partnerships, new investment, and quality provision to engage every child and young person in arts and culture.
**ACE Bridge Extension (DfE):** investment to improve and increase cultural education through networked schools and a diverse cultural offer.
**Erasmus Well-Be** – funding to work with international partners to support students emotional health, well-being and resilience in times of global crisis.
**D Stewart - SEND 50th Anniversary** - a donation to support SEND schools across the East Midlands and to mark the 50[th] anniversary of SEND provision within schools.
**Erasmus DiARC** – funding to work with international partners to build the resilience of young people and art communities to the negative financial consequences of the covid-19 pandemic.
**DWP Kickstart** - grant funding to support the delivery of the Kickstart programme, with The Mighty Creatives as a Gateway.
**Charities Aid Foundation** - to support the sustainability and development of our Creative Mentoring programme which supports YP in Need who are transitioning into employment.
**Rutland Virtual School –** To support a 6-week project exploring young people’s stories of coming into care, to influence and advocate for more support for Children in Need.
**Creative Mentoring Traded –** funding to deliver our Creative Mentoring programme.
**Children in Need Main Grant –** To deliver 1:1 Creative Mentoring for Looked After Children in the East Midlands. The aim is to increase emotional resilience and the confidence to make positive decisions, and to improve relationships with friends and others.
**The World Reimagined –** To support the artistic creation of one of ten globe sculptures for The World Reimagined art trail across Leicester.
**ACE Virtual Schools Project -** To support 3 Virtual Schools with piloting the delivery of Artsmark in a virtual schools context.
**Designated Funds -** To support the organisation until 31[st] March 2026 as part of it’s transition plan following the unsuccessful NPO Arts Council England bid.
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