Annual Report 2022 - 2023
“Helping you feed our hungry neighbours”
OUR OBJECTIVES VALUES AND AIMS OF THE CHARITY.
Our Objectives are:
To relieve persons in central Bedfordshire and the surrounding area that are in poverty or financial hardship in such ways as the Trustees from time to time think fit, in particular, but not exclusively by:
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Providing food packages to support individuals and families who are experiencing food deprivation.
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Providing other items to meet immediate and essential needs, as resources allow.
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Developing other forms of support to meet immediate need and alleviate financial hardship.
To achieve these objects The Need Project has the following:
Our Values are:
We are a Christian organisation motivated by Jesus’ teaching on poverty and injustice. We operate according to Christian principles of compassion, honesty, integrity, openness, kindness and care of all people, regardless of backgrounds or beliefs (or none). We are passionate about inclusion and being non-judgemental is central to what we do. We believe that everyone has the right to have food on their plate, dignity, skills, a chance to work and hope for the future.
Our Aims are:
The Trustees employ a number of strategies to assist The Need Project to alleviate poverty or financial hardship and meet its Objectives by:
- Providing free food parcels.
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By providing food and other essentials to families and individuals referred to the charity by recognised social work agencies, local authorities, community bodies, churches, charities or other organisations whose purpose includes the prevention or relief of poverty (‘referral agencies’).
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Developing effective relationships with local councils (County, unitary, parish and town), referral agencies, faith groups and community groups.
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Ensuring wide community participation in the charity’s projects through giving and raising awareness.
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Developing a culture of lifelong learning throughout the organisation to allow the trustees, core staff and volunteers to do their allotted jobs effectively.
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Building strong links with the local media, and regularly updating the charity’s website to stimulate public awareness of the charity’s work and the issues facing people in poverty and distress.
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Setting up social enterprises which add value to the charity’s existing projects by generating surpluses.
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Identifying, evaluating and incorporating best practice in project templates to ensure that projects become self-sustaining and are easy to replicate.
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Working closely with churches to help the Christian faith community to take a more active, practical and effective role in social action.
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Providing educational support to enable those referred to become more self-sufficient where it is appropriate, and resources allow
“OUR” KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
We have summarised below the outputs, outcomes, impacts and benefits of the work of the Need Project, but as Christian Charity it is our conviction that the Lord has done His work of meeting peoples’ needs through our labours.
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WHAT WE HAVE DONE
We have established partnerships with the following organisations:
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These are the stats for the year:
April 2022 – March 2023
End of Financial Year
Served by Each Distribution Hub
Analysis of the reasons for referrals
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WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED
Record number of food parcels delivered – an increase of 60% on the previous year.
Our updated website, which now includes an online referral system which reduces the hands-on administration of this key process and has significantly improved our operating efficiency.
WHAT DIFFERENCE WE HAVE MADE
A sample from those we are called to serve
THE PROJECT LEADER’S REPORT
Months seem to come round very quickly. At the moment, we are busier than ever.
Nearly 20 years ago, I never imagined we would have gone from maybe 4 parcels a month, to over 550 parcels a month. That statistic is staggering and so sad for those caught up in food poverty and it’s going up every month. We can’t solve the issues in the country, but we can continue to do all we can to help.
Our main headquarters is in Stotfold on the High Street. But we have hubs throughout Central Bedfordshire. Out of this shop front, we help Central Bedfordshire to the value of over £700,000 a year. This includes our volunteer labour of 57 people and 291 hours a week and our running costs!
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We also have two vans on the road continuously and use over £750 of fuel per month.
We give away on average food to the value of £45,000 to £50,000 per month. A lot of this is donated food, which had a rough value of over £300,000 this year. We work totally via referrals for our food parcels from recognised agencies, which we deliver once our Centre closes.
We give away best before food, averaging over £3,300 per month in various locations.
Our main headquarters is in Stotfold on the High Street.
And we have hubs throughout Central Bedfordshire serving our hungry neigbours
I am so grateful to all our volunteers throughout our Project and to the paid staff, who always go the extra mile. Without all of them the Project could not operate. But more importantly, without the community’s support with prayer, food, finance, and a kind word, we could not be doing what we do and for that I am so thankful.
We are very fortunate as a project because we get to meet some lovely people and listen to their stories, which are very sad, so to help someone out when they’re financially struggling with food is a real blessing for us. We are doing more parcels now than we did last Christmas week, which is quite scary as I’ve said, but also it gives us an opportunity to help more people this Christmas.
Due to how busy we are and ongoing works, we are considering a permanent home. We would like to stay local to Stotfold. We have found a place that we could run our project from, which could also be a great space for the local community.
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Our main ministry is and always will be our food parcels, but our future depends on us having a building to work from. We are still in the throes of trying to get the money together, to help secure a future because it doesn’t look as though the need for our food is going away very soon.
If you would like to find out more about us, please go to our website.
https://theneedproject.org
Thank you
Praise God Always
Gordon
TREASURER'S REPORT
THE NEED PROJECT ANNUAL ACCOUNTS UP TO 31/03/2023
| INCOME £ | |
|---|---|
| Awards – Government/Local Authorities | 94,274.00 |
| Awards – Charities/Trusts | 27,740.14 |
| Awards – Businesses | 17,638.05 |
| Awards – Churches/Schools | 15,594.82 |
| Personal Donations | 34,797.00 |
| Other Donations/Income | 3,569.50 |
| Web donations | 17,997.94 |
| Interest Income | 501.64 |
| TOTAL INCOME | 212,113.09 |
| EXPENDITURE | |
| £ | |
| Payroll and related costs | 70,636.37 |
| Van | 6,399.09 |
| Fuel | 8,311.90 |
| Food | 66,401.75 |
| Insurance | 3,077.00 |
| Rent and Utilities | 16,157.67 |
| Technology and IT related | 8,886.63 |
| Volunteer and Trustees costs/expenses | 2,530.19 |
| Other overhead expenditure | 15,557.05 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | 197,957.65 |
| AVAILABLE FUNDS AT END OF YEAR | 183,899.97 |
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Results of the Independent Examiner
In accordance with the provisions of Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011, I have examined the receipts and payments accounts of The Need Project Central Bedfordshire set out relating to the year ending 31st March 2022.
This examination did not extend to a comprehensive audit of such accounts.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my
attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached
Mr David P Rolfe
December 2023
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Our main goals for the project are to ensure our long-term sustainability, and increase our operational efficiency, which includes:
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Recruiting and training a new project leader
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Appointing at least one new trustee
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Recruiting and training a new hub leader and team for the Flitwick Hub
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Recruiting more volunteers to serve the increasing demand for our services
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Securing the funding for the purchase and redevelopment of a new operational centre
On behalf of the Trustees of The Need Project Central Bedfordshire.
Bob Cain, Chair of Trustees
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