Annual Report 2020-21
This report covers the seventh year of our operation, from April 2021 to the end of March 2022.
Soul Food Spaces Projects
Coming out of the Covid epidemic, the only commitment this year was been the continued funding and direct involvement in the Bensham Community Food Co-op which we helped to set up . We continued to support it directly paying for membership of FareShare and other direct purchases of food and goods. The Co-op started to open its doors to members alongside the system of deliveries which was put in place over lockdown, though the number of deliveries declined steadily over the course of the year as members began to get out more and felt confident enough to collect their food themselves. Collections of surplus food from local shops had stopped during covid and we did not re-start this because of the pressure on volunteers collecting late in the evening or early morning. It seemed too that shops were discounting items approaching their sell by date so there was less surplus stock available through this route. Local churches, charities, schools and individuals continued to donate food and the project was able to continue to provide excellent quality and range of produce. This continued throughout the year and one of the most pleasing developments has been the fact that donors now know to provide us with fresh produce, rather than just dried and tinned goods which many have been conditioned to do by food banks. Fareshare also changed their delivery time which meant we received items just before we opened on Tuesdays thus meaning the amount of waste was reduced to almost zero. Numbers were still down on the four years pre-covid but rose over the year.
Finance
The Financial Accounts for 2021-22 show the incomings and outgoings of the charity. Spending on the Food Co-op in the year 2021-22 increased by £972 to £1500 as things started to open up, at the same time income increased to £2317, most of this planned giving with £308 received as gift aid for the previous year’s donations. We spent £146.50 on website, IT and audit.
The Future
As a Charity we are continuing to support a really worthwhile project in the Food Coop but still finding it difficult to develop further projects because it has been so difficult to get out and about to identify need and opportunities. New trustees are likely to join in the next year to help give us fresh impetus to continue to make a difference to people’s lives in the post-covid world.
Soul Food Spaces Trustees; April 2022
SOUL FOOD SPACES
Income and Expenditure summary From 01.04.2021 To 31.03.2022
Opening Balance
2,220.76
| Income | Expenditure Donations 2,000.00 Grants - Fundraising - Programmes 1,500.00 Grants - Marketing and Publicity 146.50 Interest - Finance & Audit - Gift Aid - Expenses - Other 342.62 Other - Total 2,317.62 Total 1,646.50 4,538.38 Closing Balance 2,891.88 |
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