2020-12-31-accounts - Mars Trust

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MARS Trust

(Modelling Active Relationship Skills)

Annual Report and Financial Statement

For the year to 31st December 2020

Chairperson:

Dr Karen Mounce

Bank:

HSBC, 165-167 High St POOLE Dorset BH15 1AU

Independent Examiner

Sue Wintle, FMAAT

27 Bascott Road, Wallisdown, Bournemouth, Dorset BH11 8RJ

Charity Number 1141794

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Chairman’s Report

The trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2020.

Approved by the Trustees on 6[th] September 2021 and signed on their behalf by:

Dr Karen Mounce – Chair of Trustees

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity name: MARS Trust Charity Registration Number: 1141794 Registered Office: c/o 32 Springdale Road BROADSTONE Dorset BH18 9BU

Trustees

The Trustees who served the Charity were as follows: Dr Karen Mounce Chair Victoria (Vicki) Richmond * Secretary John Rolleston Treasurer Nigel Martin Barbara Fletcher

Appointed for 2 years to September 2022

** Appointed for two years to May 2021

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

MARS Trust is a charity incorporated by a Declaration of Trust on 30[th] May 2007. Due to its limited income, initially the Trust was not permitted to register with the Charity Commission.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

Trustees are appointed by the existing trustees as and when a need arises and are chosen due to their:

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Support of the aims and objectives of the charity
Management, personal or professional skills.

Trustees are appointed for periods of two years at a time.

Organisational Structure and Governance

MARS currently has 5 trustees who meet at least twice a year in addition to the Annual General meeting and who are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. The Trustees come from a variety of professional backgrounds with experience in management, business, teaching and other social service.

Mrs Vicki Richmond has been a Trustee since the start of The MARS Trust. The length of her service was reviewed. The other Trustees are confident in renewing Mrs Richmond’s Trusteeship as her skills as a 6[th] Form teacher in English and Media studies are vital to the Board.

The Board undertook a governance review in accordance with the Charity Commission’s seven principles of the Charity Governance Code in 2019. The Trust’s policies have been updated and risks are reviewed annually or more frequently in unusual circumstances. An action and risk register are updated and reviewed at each Trustee meeting and all fundamentals are in place.

DBS are in place for all MARS Trust staff and volunteers going forward.

MARS Trust has three part-time members of staff.

Objectives and Activities.

The ‘Objects’ of the charity are the advancement in the United Kingdom of public education in matters concerning interpersonal relationship skills and strengthening and enriching family life, marriage and relationships in accordance with Christian principles and the doing of such things being charitable in law as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of these Objects.

Risk Factors

- Covid 19 Pandemic

MARS Trust delivers workshops in secondary schools with trained local volunteers working as facilitators. The workshops stopped in mid-March as schools closed. Even after re-opening schools, the risks of infection were too great to return to normal workshop sessions.

A Crisis Team was formed to manage how the charity should manage its business. The Trustees met to consider the strategy required to meet the charity’s Objects.

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Schools were surveyed for views and 4 schools were positive about using Distance Learning workshops. MARS worked with our educationalist to transform the materials and with IT experts to manage the platform. For the new academic year, the materials were adapted again for school staff to deliver workshops. One school invited MARS staff in to deliver 2 workshops to each of two classes.

To improve engagement the Trust has started a project to use scenario based learning. The scenarios are to be devised and performed by young people under guidance from experienced actors.

Funding

Other main risks for the Trust remain that of achieving regular income from grants, donations from churches and local business, and individual donations. The accounts are reviewed by Trustees monthly, and the risk tolerance is set at a reserve fund to carry out the next three months activities and salaries. Fundraising is being caried out by Trustees and staff. Fund information services have been joined and accessed. Some regular funders have withdrawn support this year due to Covid-19 but we have been successful in other Covid-19 related funds. We have increased income and have made use of The Job Retention Scheme (Furlough) from HMRC. Other sources of raising funds have been halted by the pandemic, such as a London a Marathon runner and quiz evenings.

Recruitment

The third main risk is in normal times is recruitment of volunteers. The pandemic has meant we are unable to go into schools for workshops with our volunteer facilitators. Therefore, this has not been an issue. MARS Trust has developed the workshops and materials for distance learning and for trainer/teacher led workshops to school groups. We anticipate a much reduced requirement for volunteer facilitators in the future, although we will continue to train smaller numbers for small group workshops. We have adopted a transparent and ‘safer recruitment’ process.

Achievements

There were seven Trustee meetings and the AGM during the year, and six Crisis Team meetings. Vicki Richmond was appointed for a further two years until May 2022 and Nigel Martin and Barbara Fletcher were newly appointed for 2 years.

The activities throughout the year were:

Invitations from eight schools to deliver six workshops.
Before the pandemic 1,398 received one of two workshops, 2,081 student sessions in total.
Two workshops were ready for Distance Learning from a school platform by June 2020.

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Six workshops were ready for teacher led sessions by November 2020 with 3 schools wanting to take part.
Four workshops were delivered in the Autumn Term in Oak Academy using new materials. Students completed a “before and after” questionnaire and this showed a high level of change towards more understanding and confidence in using skills.
A Materials Expert Sub-Committee met in January and reviewed the first 2 workshops of a new 6[th] Form course ‘Connect2Thrive’.
The Expert Sub-Committee viewed the third and fourth workshops for Connect2Thrive’ online.
Two Analytic Volunteers engaged with MARS Trust to improve data collection and measuring impact. They remain interested to work with us after the pandemic.
MARS staff worked with A SEND expert to adapt all materials.
The 6[th] form course ‘Connect2Thrive’ is ready to be marketed and delivered.
Fifteen volunteers continue to meet via Zoom for updates and prayer.

We continue to be extremely grateful to so many volunteers fulfilling most roles in the Trust. Teaching, training and fundraising are the most visible areas, but without the background effort of many others, the work of the Trust would struggle to be effective.

Ian Shears, the Operations Director has now been in post for just over three years and will retire in 2021. The trustees have decided to replace him with a Chief Executive Officer role. This will lead to a further reduction in Trustee involvement in day to day decisions.

Financial Review

Income has increased in 2020 due to Increased fundraising activity during the year, partly due to COVID-19 related expenses. This increased activity will continue with the aim of growing the income to allow the Trust to increase the charitable activity as planned. This will be required to cover the budgeted costs for 2021.

The financial statement of the Trust has been prepared in accordance with appropriate Accounting Regulations using the Receipts and Payments basis.

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Presentation of accounts – 1[st] January to 31[st] December 2020

The accounts are prepared on the Receipts & Payments basis and consist of a Balance Sheet, a summary of the ledger for the general fund, a Statement of Assets & Liabilities, and these notes.

General Fund Ledger

Income

This years’ income from grants and smaller gifts totalled just over £39,000. The larger grants were £9,750 from the Covid Response Grant, £5,000 from the Valentine Trust, £5,000 from Alice Cooper Dean, £5,000 from St Marys Longfleet Poole, £2,300 from Talbot Village Trust, £2,200 from CAF, £1,000 from Rafiki Trust, £500 each from Canford Magna PCC, St Michaels & St Gabriel’s Churches and The Lantern Church, and £278 from Wimborne Minster. There were private donations of about £4,050, Crowdfunding of £3,050 and Gift Aid of £444. Grants of £9,800 were claimed from the Government Job Retention Scheme.
The balance of the income was generated by payment of fees (£723).

Expenditure

The major expenditure was £38,467 for general salaries and expenses. Additional costs included Office Rental (£1,560), IT related costs (£594), Insurance (£302), Telephone (£131) and Accounting (£100). From mid2020 the staff started working from home: the office space is no longer needed resulting in savings for the rent and the landline telephone costs.

Summary

Over this year the retained funds have decreased by £17,475 to £28,718, this largely due to the restricted Covid Response Grant (£9,750) which allocated to filming scenarios for Next Generation MARS. This has been completed in March 2021. It is the general intention of the trustees to maximise the work within the funds available. The significant surplus is due to this project spanning our Financial Year End.

Fundraising has again been given priority due to the reliance of the trust on income to cover its’ staffing expenses. Currently the fundraising work is jointly covered by the chairperson and the staff.

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Statement of Financial Activities for the calendar year of 2020 Including Income and Expenditure Account

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total 2020 Total 2019
Income and Expenditure 2020 Notes
Funds £ Funds £ £ £
Incoming Resources
From Grants & Donations 1 23,585.93 15,250.00 38,835.93 37,738.01
Fee Income 723.00 - 723.00 3,106.88
Fund Raising Events 518.69 2,537.79 3,056.48 313.51
Grants - Job Retention Scheme 9,783.21 - 9,783.21 0.00
Total Incoming Resources 34,610.83 17,787.79 52,398.62 41,158.40
Resources Expended
Salaries and Expenses 2 32,987.12 5,480.70 38,467.82 32,286.03
Fundraising Costs 0.00 - 0.00 1,096.00
Office Rent 1,560.15 - 1,560.15 2,080.20
Telephone 131.34 - 131.34 628.57
Insurance 302.08 - 302.08 302.08
Accounting 100.00 - 100.00 100.00
Office Equipment & IT 554.74 39.30 594.04 391.68
Printing & Stationary 0.00 - 0.00 2,584.57
Other 0.00 - 0.00 0.00
Total Resources Expended 35,635.43 5,520.00 41,155.43 39,469.13
Net Movement in Funds -1,024.60 12,267.79 11,243.19 1,689.27
Fund Balances at 1 January 2020 17,475.00 0.00 17,475.00 15,785.73
Fund Balances at 31 December 2020 3 16,450.40 12,267.79 28,718.19 17,475.00
Unrestricted Restricted Total 2020 Total 2019
Balance Sheet at 31 December 2020
Funds £ Funds £ £ £
Stock & Equipment 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Outstanding Fees 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Cash at Bank (per Bank Statement) 13,450.40 12,267.79 25,718.19 17,475.00
13,450.40 12,267.79 25,718.19 17,475.00
Plus Unpresented Receipts 3,000.00 3,000.00 0.00
Total Charity Funds 16,450.40 12,267.79 28,718.19 17,475.00
----- End of picture text -----

Notes

See above for major grant making bodies.
There are no payments to any related bodies within this total.
The Restricted Fund value is for revision of workshop session materials & scenario video production. This work is now completed and the Restricted Fund exhausted (Aug 2021).

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25[th] October 2021

The Trustees MARS Trust 32 Springdale Road BROADSTONE Dorset BH18 9BU

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS

Report to the trustees of MARS Trust

On accounts for the year ended 31[st] December 2020 Charity number: 1141794

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Examine the accounts (under section 145 of the Act);
To follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Act), and
To state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the trustees have not met the requirements to ensure that:
a. proper accounting records are kept (in accordance with section 41 of the Act); and
b. accounts are prepared which agree with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act; or
to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: …SueW….…….

Date: …25-10-2021….

Sue Wintle FMAAT

Accounting Technician

27 Bascott Road Wallisdown Bournemouth Dorset BH11 8RJ