RICNIC ACCOUNTS AND ANNUAL REPORT 2021 CHARITY NUMBER: 1158837 ## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period** ||Period start date|||Period end date|Period end date|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**From**|01
January|2021|**To**|31|December|2021| ## Section A Reference and administration details **Charity name** RicNic **Other names charity is known by** RicNic **Registered charity number (if any)** 1158837 **Charity's principal address** 72 Mill Road Pelsall Walsall **Postcode** WS4 1BU **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Ben Cahill- Nicholls|Chair|n/a|n/a| ||Nicholas Morris|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Edward Goble|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Sam Oladeinde|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Helen Dutta|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Eleanor Cahill
Nicholls|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Eleanor Joy
MacPherson|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Natalie Haslam|Trustee|28thSeptember-31st
December 2021|n/a| ||**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**|||| ||**Name**||**Dates acted if not for whole year**|| ||n/a||n/a|| ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**| |---|---|---| |**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**||| |n/a
|n/a|n/a| ## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** Jennifer Holyhead (Executive Director), Alex Finlay (Production and Development Manager) **TAR** 1 **Section B Structure, governance and management** ## **Description of the charity’s trusts** Type of governing document - (eg. trust deed, constitution) > [Constitution ] How the charity is constituted - (eg. trust, association, company) > [CIO ] Trustee selection methods - (eg. appointed by, elected by)[Appointed by resolution of the trustees ] ## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about: - You **may choose** to include additional RicNic is run under the Constitution signed in 2014 as part of the information, where relevant, about: • policies and procedures adopted for the incorporation of RicNic as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). induction and training of trustees; - the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; - relationship with any related parties; - t rustees’ consid eration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. ## **Section C Objectives and activities** **Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document** **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)** 1. To improve access to the creative arts for young people especially and for society more generally. 2. To help and educate young people in order that they develop their capabilities and skills, and grow to increased maturity. 3. Where appropriate, to work with and support the work of other organisations to further the charitable objects and mission central to RicNic. RicNic seeks to fulfil its objects for the public benefit by: (a) **Facilitating courses, projects and workshops** : this principally involves organising annual musical theatre productions in the summer holidays for young people to run as actors, musicians, producers, directors, technicians, set designers and other company members to work together as part of a team to produce high-quality performances open to the public. - (b) **Delivering outreach programmes** : working with schools, colleges and community groups throughout the year to deliver workshops and support sessions helping young people to develop their creative skills. In facilitating these programmes the Trustees have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. ## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)** n/a You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about: - policy on grantmaking; - policy programme related investment; - contribution made by volunteers. **TAR** 2 Section D Achievements and performance ## **Project Activity** This year began with the United Kingdom still under lockdown restrictions, particularly for arts venues and in schools. Our team began the year hopeful that we would be able to stage our summer productions in some capacity as we did prepandemic. We also aimed to restart our Engage schools projects as soon as we were able to access school settings and to launch two further programmes which would book-end our existing offer, taking our beneficiary age range from 14-21 to 7-25. By the end of 2021, RicNic had successfully launched its new 4-strand programme of activity with a vision to deliver the full programme in areas of low cultural opportunity going forwards. The staff and trustees had also worked with external consultants to rebrand the charity ’ s logo and website to reflect the new approach. This programme would bring together all of our projects under one vision ## **“ Empowering young people through the creative arts ”** RicNic ’ s programme now consists of - Own the Stage – a digital workshop resource encouraging 7-13 year olds to explore their creativity - Engage – workshops for 13-19 year olds using theatre techniques to build confidence and key skills - RicNic Productions – summer theatre productions produced, directed and performed entirely by 16-22 year olds - RicNic Commissions – a mentoring programme supporting young writers, composers and directors aged 16-25 to create new pieces of theatre. While the process of establishing this plan was not without complications owing to ongoing Covid-19 issues, there were notable achievements across all areas. – **Own The Stage** a complete set of digital workshop resources and accompanying classroom handbooks were created by the RicNic team and freelance facilitator Francesca Richards. The resources were linked to the Arts Award Discover framework, ensuring that we will be able to offer Arts Award as an embedded part of the project going forwards. The resources were initially piloted in July 2021 by 2 primary schools and a community group in the West Midlands, with 90 children participating and 30 gaining Arts Award certificates. In Autumn 2021, a further 120 children began the project in schools across Staffordshire and all are working towards their Arts Award certificates to be completed in early 2022. – **Engage** As schools began to reopen to visiting companies from September 2021, RicNic was pleased to renew our partnership with Paget High School in Burton on Trent, East Staffordshire, delivering a 2-day Engage programme supporting 6[th] Form students returning to in-classroom learning and a 12 week after school programme (funded by the Postcode Local Trust) with KS3 pupils, many of whom had joined the school during the lockdown and were only just attending in person. Further Engage workshops were delivered across Stoke on Trent and Cheshire East ahead of recruitment for a new production team to deliver a project in Cheshire in 2022. **RicNic Productions** – In January 2021, three production teams aged 16-22 were recruited with the aim of staging three musical productions in August. We were pleased to welcome back many team members who had been in the process of developing their productions when the first lockdown came into effect in 2020. The teams worked exceptionally hard to plan their productions in spite of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding theatre venues at the time. While our team in Burton on Trent managed to secure their venues, recruit a good sized cast and rehearse for two of their three week rehearsal period, unfortunately unforeseen roof repairs at their venue, combined with Covid isolations meant that the production had to be cancelled. The team were able to replace their public performances with a workshop day in which they filmed their work for archive purposes and received a Q&A discussion with RicNic trustee Sam Oladeinde on developing a career in the arts. The team in Hampshire struggled to recruit cast members to fill the roles required, despite an extensive recruitment campaign. The lack of take up for opportunities was something that many of our contacts and partners were also experiencing at the time, with many young people still wary of participating in group events while vaccine programmes for Covid-19 were not fully complete. Consequently, the Hampshire team did not complete the project. The Oxford team experienced similar recruitment concerns and also struggled to find a venue that could accommodate them, with many spaces in the area not yet reopen. **TAR** 3 Although they were unable to stage the full musical they originally planned, they held a successful sell-out run of two cabaret performances in a socially-distanced capacity at the Mad Hatter in Oxford. **RicNic Commissions** – This second new programme strand was launched in March 2021 with a pilot cohort of 8 participants aged 16-25 who were interested in developing new pieces of musical theatre. Initial workshops were held online with participants sharing ideas and collaborating on pieces of new writing and composition. The initial feedback was very positive, but it was clear that the collaborative approach would be better conducted in person. The project was reviewed for a few months as the last Covid restrictions ended. In December 2021, interested participants were invited to re-register for the project with a live workshop series planned for 2022. In total we worked with 568 young people between the ages of 7-25, with 85% of our work delivered in areas of high deprivation in the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Cheshire. ## **Organisational Development** In March 2021, RicNic was accepted on to the ‘ Conversations For Change ’ programme, run by Pilotlight. This programme brought together senior leaders from a large business with small charity leaders to advise and mentor on selected issues. The programme gave a huge boost of support to RicNic ’ s Executive Director, offering a candid external opinion on our projects and goals. The discussions helped us to shape our future vision and identify target audiences for our work, which subsequently aided wider discussions with all staff, trustees and participants on our brand identity. The connection with our Pilotlight business mentor also led to core funding through their corporate foundation, which enabled us to recruit two new members of staff. RicNic has always held young people at the core of our project work and we wanted to ensure we could continue to support young people throughout our organisation. With this funding, the trustees committed to providing employment opportunities to young people just beginning their creative industry careers, creating 3 Project Assistant roles to support the delivery of the new 4-strand programme. RicNic also received its first Arts Council grant this year, supporting projects running from March 2021 – October 2022. As a result of this award, which is supported by National Lottery Funding, we were invited to attend two conference events for the staff teams at National Lottery provider Camelot. The events in Burton on Trent and Luton gave our team the opportunity to present our work and deliver corporate workshops demonstrating the techniques we employ with young participants in our sessions. ## **Section E Financial review** The financial reserves of RicNic are currently held in a bank account with CAF **Brief statement of th e charity’s** Bank, designed for charities and run by the Charities Aid Foundation. **policy on reserves** RicNic aims to hold 12 months of salary and running costs (non-project) as unrestricted reserves each year, currently amounting to £50,000 per annum. This is to enable the charity to commit to staffing and project delivery for its beneficiaries in advance, as many of our projects run over a few months in duration. **Details of any funds materially in deficit** n/a **Further financial review details (Optional information)** **TAR** 4 You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about: - the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising); - how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity; - investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted. ## **Income** The principal sources of funds are (i) the ticket revenues from productions facilitated by RicNic (ii) donations from individuals and institutions interested in supporting RicNic (iii) Trusts and Foundations via grant applications. ## **Trusts and Foundations** Grants from trusts and foundations currently form the majority source of our income, particularly with the disruption of Covid-19 on live events having an impact on our annual ticket sales income. This year RicNic has continued to see an increase in turnover (£71,226.24 compared to £51,007.80 in 2020) due to the continued success of our fundraising campaign to trusts and foundations which was launched in the later part of 2019. Since developing this fundraising strategy in 2019 to match the expanded programme of activity we offer, RicNic ’ s grant income from trusts and foundations has seen a considerable increase: 2018: £0 2019: £7996 2020: £25,296 2021: £64,888 Of the £64,888 received this year, £23,318.90 was core funding with £10,418.90 for specific salary costs and £12,900 unrestricted. The remaining £41,569.10 income was restricted to specific project delivery (with some larger grants covering multiple delivery strands in our programme). Some of the income received for the project grants was for projects running into 2022. Own The Stage: £5,820 Mixed project funding (including Engage): £23,860 RicNic Productions: £7,389 RicNic Commissions: £4,500 This year saw RicNic ’ s first larger grants agreed from key funders including the Arts Council and the Postcode Lottery. **Earned Income** Ongoing Covid-19 restrictions meant that although some activity ran on our summer projects, we were unable to bring all productions to a public audience. This once again reduced our ticket income to £325.50 for the year. Ticket income prior to the pandemic had been much higher and had been our main source of income 2018: £25,329 2019: £22,260 2020: £0 2021: £325.50 As our projects develop and productions return in the future we expect to be reaching the same levels again. We are also exploring ways of generating more income and donations, to reduce dependence on grant fundraising. As part of this, we have explored the option of making our Engage workshops available outside of our funded locations. As schools began to welcome back visiting companies in autumn 2021 we developed a small new income strand for workshop delivery of £1480. This is something we aim to build on in 2022. ## **Donations** Our donations fell by 64% on the previous year, generating £2758.76 compared to £7717.33. This was mainly in part to the online events produced in 2020 which generated a wider donation campaign. These events had run their course by the summer of 2021. Our regular Friends donations remained approximately the same for the year. **TAR** 5 ## **Expenditure** RicNic ’ s principal expenditures are (i) costs relating to productions, such as show licencing, theatre hire, marketing materials and set / costume costs, (ii) staff salaries and office operation costs, and (iii) costs relating to outreach programmes. The cancellation for a second year of our summer productions resulted in an overall reduction in expenditure. Some projects did not run from the start and therefore incurred £0 costs, however some were started but had to be cancelled partway through due to Covid-19 implications. We therefore incurred some venue, marketing and production materials costs on these projects. The most notable increase in our expenditure compared to previous years was on facilitator fees and outreach project delivery. The expansion of our activity programme required additional support from freelance facilitators to develop materials and deliver projects in schools. These costs were matched by project funding from trusts and foundations. The additional expenditure has enabled RicNic to develop the programmes and by the end of 2021 to cement a vision and mission statement for our future delivery plans. ## **Section F Other optional information** ## **Covid-19 Statement** Following an extended period of furlough and reduced activity due to Covid-19 from March-September 2020, the staff and trustees developed a post-Covid renewal strategy; developing new projects that responded to needs post-Covid and sourcing additional funding grants to support them. The work completed on this strategy in the last quarter of 2020, ensured that RicNic entered 2021 with a clear recovery plan and with the financial backing to launch the new programme elements. We began 2021 with the ambition to restart all of our pre-pandemic work and to develop the new outreach activities, while remaining cautious that the situation could still change with regard to restrictions. While RicNic was ultimately unable to recover all the pre-pandemic activity, the new project delivery gave us the opportunity to raise our profile, build new partnerships and offer opportunities that were flexible to the remaining restrictions for our beneficiaries. ## **Section G Declaration** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trust ees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** ## **Signature(s)** **Full name(s)** Nick Morris Ben Cahill-Nicholls **Position** Trustee Trustee **Date** 20 October 2022 **TAR** 6 Balance Sheet RicNic As at 31 December 2021 JI DEC2021 Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand CAF- RicNic Hampshire Pleo account 75.47 657.91 RicNic Trust- CAF TotslCa$h atbankand in hand 108,042.10 108.77S.48 TotalCurrentAssets 108.77S.48 Creditors: amounts fallin NIC Payable PAYE Payable Student Loan tleductionsPayable Wages Payable- Payroll Total Creditor& amountsfalling duewithin oneyear due within one ear 395.25 658.62 222.09 10.oii 1.275.95 Net CurrentAssets ILiabilitiesl 107A99.53 Total Assets less Current Liabilitie5 107.499.53 Net Assets 107,499.53 Ca itsl and Reserves Curreni Year Earnings Retained Earnirbgs Total Capitsl ar￿ Re5er¥es 16263.08 91,236.45 107,499.53 TAR Profit and Loss RicNic For the year ended 31 December 2021 Turnover FrIe￿$&I￿ne Sub5cripuors Gifl*id Dc￿al￿)n5 L,275.n $43.07 Job Rewrticffj Scherr*PaymeNs L.774.08 Onllne DonatKYlS 939.97 Titket Sale5 325.50 TrymarKI Founthti¢>rs 64.887. Intomè L,480.L Tot4Tyrnry•r 7421624 Gross Profit 71.22624 ministrative Costs fvAIVerti￿n8￿ Mark￿1 dil&Acc￿nfa￿Y lees Bank Fees FxilitatorFee5 5762.45 FW&al￿g£xpeft5es IrsuraKe 144. 931.67 IT SDftwareaThlCIHNwnatAe5 Legal Expe￿￿e5 OfficeE¥ppnses Outr&ich Exp￿$t$ Pengry￿ Costs 2,143.33 3,lJ32.86 Prthluction D2li¥eryCosts RSghts Payffttrts Salaries 2,952.02 (975.L¥ll J7373.78 Staff /Tnt5tee Trn Staff TraininE Venue Cost5 477.51 TotaAdmiThstratkweCosts 54931.17 Operating Profit 14288.07 Profft on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation 16J88.07 Profft after Taxation 14281.07 TAR RICNIC ACCOUNTS AND ANNUAL REPORT 2021 CHARITY NUMBER: 1158837 ## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period** ||Period start date|||Period end date|Period end date|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**From**|01
January|2021|**To**|31|December|2021| ## Section A Reference and administration details **Charity name** RicNic **Other names charity is known by** RicNic **Registered charity number (if any)** 1158837 **Charity's principal address** 72 Mill Road Pelsall Walsall **Postcode** WS4 1BU **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Ben Cahill- Nicholls|Chair|n/a|n/a| ||Nicholas Morris|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Edward Goble|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Sam Oladeinde|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Helen Dutta|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Eleanor Cahill
Nicholls|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Eleanor Joy
MacPherson|Trustee|n/a|n/a| ||Natalie Haslam|Trustee|28thSeptember-31st
December 2021|n/a| ||**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**|||| ||**Name**||**Dates acted if not for whole year**|| ||n/a||n/a|| ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**| |---|---|---| |**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**||| |n/a
|n/a|n/a| ## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** Jennifer Holyhead (Executive Director), Alex Finlay (Production and Development Manager) **TAR** 1 **Section B Structure, governance and management** ## **Description of the charity’s trusts** Type of governing document - (eg. trust deed, constitution) > [Constitution ] How the charity is constituted - (eg. trust, association, company) > [CIO ] Trustee selection methods - (eg. appointed by, elected by)[Appointed by resolution of the trustees ] ## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about: - You **may choose** to include additional RicNic is run under the Constitution signed in 2014 as part of the information, where relevant, about: • policies and procedures adopted for the incorporation of RicNic as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). induction and training of trustees; - the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; - relationship with any related parties; - t rustees’ consid eration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. ## **Section C Objectives and activities** **Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document** **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)** 1. To improve access to the creative arts for young people especially and for society more generally. 2. To help and educate young people in order that they develop their capabilities and skills, and grow to increased maturity. 3. Where appropriate, to work with and support the work of other organisations to further the charitable objects and mission central to RicNic. RicNic seeks to fulfil its objects for the public benefit by: (a) **Facilitating courses, projects and workshops** : this principally involves organising annual musical theatre productions in the summer holidays for young people to run as actors, musicians, producers, directors, technicians, set designers and other company members to work together as part of a team to produce high-quality performances open to the public. - (b) **Delivering outreach programmes** : working with schools, colleges and community groups throughout the year to deliver workshops and support sessions helping young people to develop their creative skills. In facilitating these programmes the Trustees have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. ## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)** n/a You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about: - policy on grantmaking; - policy programme related investment; - contribution made by volunteers. **TAR** 2 Section D Achievements and performance ## **Project Activity** This year began with the United Kingdom still under lockdown restrictions, particularly for arts venues and in schools. Our team began the year hopeful that we would be able to stage our summer productions in some capacity as we did prepandemic. We also aimed to restart our Engage schools projects as soon as we were able to access school settings and to launch two further programmes which would book-end our existing offer, taking our beneficiary age range from 14-21 to 7-25. By the end of 2021, RicNic had successfully launched its new 4-strand programme of activity with a vision to deliver the full programme in areas of low cultural opportunity going forwards. The staff and trustees had also worked with external consultants to rebrand the charity ’ s logo and website to reflect the new approach. This programme would bring together all of our projects under one vision ## **“ Empowering young people through the creative arts ”** RicNic ’ s programme now consists of - Own the Stage – a digital workshop resource encouraging 7-13 year olds to explore their creativity - Engage – workshops for 13-19 year olds using theatre techniques to build confidence and key skills - RicNic Productions – summer theatre productions produced, directed and performed entirely by 16-22 year olds - RicNic Commissions – a mentoring programme supporting young writers, composers and directors aged 16-25 to create new pieces of theatre. While the process of establishing this plan was not without complications owing to ongoing Covid-19 issues, there were notable achievements across all areas. – **Own The Stage** a complete set of digital workshop resources and accompanying classroom handbooks were created by the RicNic team and freelance facilitator Francesca Richards. The resources were linked to the Arts Award Discover framework, ensuring that we will be able to offer Arts Award as an embedded part of the project going forwards. The resources were initially piloted in July 2021 by 2 primary schools and a community group in the West Midlands, with 90 children participating and 30 gaining Arts Award certificates. In Autumn 2021, a further 120 children began the project in schools across Staffordshire and all are working towards their Arts Award certificates to be completed in early 2022. – **Engage** As schools began to reopen to visiting companies from September 2021, RicNic was pleased to renew our partnership with Paget High School in Burton on Trent, East Staffordshire, delivering a 2-day Engage programme supporting 6[th] Form students returning to in-classroom learning and a 12 week after school programme (funded by the Postcode Local Trust) with KS3 pupils, many of whom had joined the school during the lockdown and were only just attending in person. Further Engage workshops were delivered across Stoke on Trent and Cheshire East ahead of recruitment for a new production team to deliver a project in Cheshire in 2022. **RicNic Productions** – In January 2021, three production teams aged 16-22 were recruited with the aim of staging three musical productions in August. We were pleased to welcome back many team members who had been in the process of developing their productions when the first lockdown came into effect in 2020. The teams worked exceptionally hard to plan their productions in spite of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding theatre venues at the time. While our team in Burton on Trent managed to secure their venues, recruit a good sized cast and rehearse for two of their three week rehearsal period, unfortunately unforeseen roof repairs at their venue, combined with Covid isolations meant that the production had to be cancelled. The team were able to replace their public performances with a workshop day in which they filmed their work for archive purposes and received a Q&A discussion with RicNic trustee Sam Oladeinde on developing a career in the arts. The team in Hampshire struggled to recruit cast members to fill the roles required, despite an extensive recruitment campaign. The lack of take up for opportunities was something that many of our contacts and partners were also experiencing at the time, with many young people still wary of participating in group events while vaccine programmes for Covid-19 were not fully complete. Consequently, the Hampshire team did not complete the project. The Oxford team experienced similar recruitment concerns and also struggled to find a venue that could accommodate them, with many spaces in the area not yet reopen. **TAR** 3 Although they were unable to stage the full musical they originally planned, they held a successful sell-out run of two cabaret performances in a socially-distanced capacity at the Mad Hatter in Oxford. **RicNic Commissions** – This second new programme strand was launched in March 2021 with a pilot cohort of 8 participants aged 16-25 who were interested in developing new pieces of musical theatre. Initial workshops were held online with participants sharing ideas and collaborating on pieces of new writing and composition. The initial feedback was very positive, but it was clear that the collaborative approach would be better conducted in person. The project was reviewed for a few months as the last Covid restrictions ended. In December 2021, interested participants were invited to re-register for the project with a live workshop series planned for 2022. In total we worked with 568 young people between the ages of 7-25, with 85% of our work delivered in areas of high deprivation in the West Midlands, Staffordshire and Cheshire. ## **Organisational Development** In March 2021, RicNic was accepted on to the ‘ Conversations For Change ’ programme, run by Pilotlight. This programme brought together senior leaders from a large business with small charity leaders to advise and mentor on selected issues. The programme gave a huge boost of support to RicNic ’ s Executive Director, offering a candid external opinion on our projects and goals. The discussions helped us to shape our future vision and identify target audiences for our work, which subsequently aided wider discussions with all staff, trustees and participants on our brand identity. The connection with our Pilotlight business mentor also led to core funding through their corporate foundation, which enabled us to recruit two new members of staff. RicNic has always held young people at the core of our project work and we wanted to ensure we could continue to support young people throughout our organisation. With this funding, the trustees committed to providing employment opportunities to young people just beginning their creative industry careers, creating 3 Project Assistant roles to support the delivery of the new 4-strand programme. RicNic also received its first Arts Council grant this year, supporting projects running from March 2021 – October 2022. As a result of this award, which is supported by National Lottery Funding, we were invited to attend two conference events for the staff teams at National Lottery provider Camelot. The events in Burton on Trent and Luton gave our team the opportunity to present our work and deliver corporate workshops demonstrating the techniques we employ with young participants in our sessions. ## **Section E Financial review** The financial reserves of RicNic are currently held in a bank account with CAF **Brief statement of th e charity’s** Bank, designed for charities and run by the Charities Aid Foundation. **policy on reserves** RicNic aims to hold 12 months of salary and running costs (non-project) as unrestricted reserves each year, currently amounting to £50,000 per annum. This is to enable the charity to commit to staffing and project delivery for its beneficiaries in advance, as many of our projects run over a few months in duration. **Details of any funds materially in deficit** n/a **Further financial review details (Optional information)** **TAR** 4 You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about: - the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising); - how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity; - investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted. ## **Income** The principal sources of funds are (i) the ticket revenues from productions facilitated by RicNic (ii) donations from individuals and institutions interested in supporting RicNic (iii) Trusts and Foundations via grant applications. ## **Trusts and Foundations** Grants from trusts and foundations currently form the majority source of our income, particularly with the disruption of Covid-19 on live events having an impact on our annual ticket sales income. This year RicNic has continued to see an increase in turnover (£71,226.24 compared to £51,007.80 in 2020) due to the continued success of our fundraising campaign to trusts and foundations which was launched in the later part of 2019. Since developing this fundraising strategy in 2019 to match the expanded programme of activity we offer, RicNic ’ s grant income from trusts and foundations has seen a considerable increase: 2018: £0 2019: £7996 2020: £25,296 2021: £64,888 Of the £64,888 received this year, £23,318.90 was core funding with £10,418.90 for specific salary costs and £12,900 unrestricted. The remaining £41,569.10 income was restricted to specific project delivery (with some larger grants covering multiple delivery strands in our programme). Some of the income received for the project grants was for projects running into 2022. Own The Stage: £5,820 Mixed project funding (including Engage): £23,860 RicNic Productions: £7,389 RicNic Commissions: £4,500 This year saw RicNic ’ s first larger grants agreed from key funders including the Arts Council and the Postcode Lottery. **Earned Income** Ongoing Covid-19 restrictions meant that although some activity ran on our summer projects, we were unable to bring all productions to a public audience. This once again reduced our ticket income to £325.50 for the year. Ticket income prior to the pandemic had been much higher and had been our main source of income 2018: £25,329 2019: £22,260 2020: £0 2021: £325.50 As our projects develop and productions return in the future we expect to be reaching the same levels again. We are also exploring ways of generating more income and donations, to reduce dependence on grant fundraising. As part of this, we have explored the option of making our Engage workshops available outside of our funded locations. As schools began to welcome back visiting companies in autumn 2021 we developed a small new income strand for workshop delivery of £1480. This is something we aim to build on in 2022. ## **Donations** Our donations fell by 64% on the previous year, generating £2758.76 compared to £7717.33. This was mainly in part to the online events produced in 2020 which generated a wider donation campaign. These events had run their course by the summer of 2021. Our regular Friends donations remained approximately the same for the year. **TAR** 5 ## **Expenditure** RicNic ’ s principal expenditures are (i) costs relating to productions, such as show licencing, theatre hire, marketing materials and set / costume costs, (ii) staff salaries and office operation costs, and (iii) costs relating to outreach programmes. The cancellation for a second year of our summer productions resulted in an overall reduction in expenditure. Some projects did not run from the start and therefore incurred £0 costs, however some were started but had to be cancelled partway through due to Covid-19 implications. We therefore incurred some venue, marketing and production materials costs on these projects. The most notable increase in our expenditure compared to previous years was on facilitator fees and outreach project delivery. The expansion of our activity programme required additional support from freelance facilitators to develop materials and deliver projects in schools. These costs were matched by project funding from trusts and foundations. The additional expenditure has enabled RicNic to develop the programmes and by the end of 2021 to cement a vision and mission statement for our future delivery plans. ## **Section F Other optional information** ## **Covid-19 Statement** Following an extended period of furlough and reduced activity due to Covid-19 from March-September 2020, the staff and trustees developed a post-Covid renewal strategy; developing new projects that responded to needs post-Covid and sourcing additional funding grants to support them. The work completed on this strategy in the last quarter of 2020, ensured that RicNic entered 2021 with a clear recovery plan and with the financial backing to launch the new programme elements. We began 2021 with the ambition to restart all of our pre-pandemic work and to develop the new outreach activities, while remaining cautious that the situation could still change with regard to restrictions. While RicNic was ultimately unable to recover all the pre-pandemic activity, the new project delivery gave us the opportunity to raise our profile, build new partnerships and offer opportunities that were flexible to the remaining restrictions for our beneficiaries. ## **Section G Declaration** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trust ees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** ## **Signature(s)** **Full name(s)** Nick Morris Ben Cahill-Nicholls **Position** Trustee Trustee **Date** 20 October 2022 **TAR** 6 Balance Sheet RicNic As at 31 December 2021 JI DEC2021 Current Assets Cash at bank and in hand CAF- RicNic Hampshire Pleo account 75.47 657.91 RicNic Trust- CAF TotslCa$h atbankand in hand 108,042.10 108.77S.48 TotalCurrentAssets 108.77S.48 Creditors: amounts fallin NIC Payable PAYE Payable Student Loan tleductionsPayable Wages Payable- Payroll Total Creditor& amountsfalling duewithin oneyear due within one ear 395.25 658.62 222.09 10.oii 1.275.95 Net CurrentAssets ILiabilitiesl 107A99.53 Total Assets less Current Liabilitie5 107.499.53 Net Assets 107,499.53 Ca itsl and Reserves Curreni Year Earnings Retained Earnirbgs Total Capitsl ar￿ Re5er¥es 16263.08 91,236.45 107,499.53 TAR Profit and Loss RicNic For the year ended 31 December 2021 Turnover FrIe￿$&I￿ne Sub5cripuors Gifl*id Dc￿al￿)n5 L,275.n $43.07 Job Rewrticffj Scherr*PaymeNs L.774.08 Onllne DonatKYlS 939.97 Titket Sale5 325.50 TrymarKI Founthti¢>rs 64.887. Intomè L,480.L Tot4Tyrnry•r 7421624 Gross Profit 71.22624 ministrative Costs fvAIVerti￿n8￿ Mark￿1 dil&Acc￿nfa￿Y lees Bank Fees FxilitatorFee5 5762.45 FW&al￿g£xpeft5es IrsuraKe 144. 931.67 IT SDftwareaThlCIHNwnatAe5 Legal Expe￿￿e5 OfficeE¥ppnses Outr&ich Exp￿$t$ Pengry￿ Costs 2,143.33 3,lJ32.86 Prthluction D2li¥eryCosts RSghts Payffttrts Salaries 2,952.02 (975.L¥ll J7373.78 Staff /Tnt5tee Trn Staff TraininE Venue Cost5 477.51 TotaAdmiThstratkweCosts 54931.17 Operating Profit 14288.07 Profft on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation 16J88.07 Profft after Taxation 14281.07 TAR CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGIAND AND WALES Independent examlner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner s Report Report to Ihe trustee81 mornbers of On 8¢¢ounts for the year ended Charlty no (11 any) 1159937 Set out on ￿ge• *n I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (Ihe T￿￿￿) for year ended Responsibllllles and basls ol report As the charitvs trustees. you are responsible for the preparation ol the accounts in accordanc8 wilh the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusfs accounts carrled out under sectK)n 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. I have followed all the applicable DIrectior￿ given by th8 Charity Commission under seC￿n 145(5){b) ol the Act. Independenl examlner's ststement I have completed my examinalion. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination {other than Ihat disclosed bek)w ') which gives me cause to believe that in. any mat8rial respert the accounting records were not kept in accordanc8 with section 130 of the Charities Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records: or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements ¢¢)n￿MIng the fomi and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement thal the accounts gni8 a Irue and fairf view Ithich is not a matter consKlered as part of an irKlependent examination. I have rK) ¢0￿mS and have come across Th) olher 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. ' Please delele the words in the brackets rfttw do not8p￿. Slgnod: Ig io zz Namo: Rel•vant pTofe8slonal quallllcatlon($) or body hc4 IER Oct 2018 (If any): Address: 4rfFb&-n/ //viZ gr Section B Disclosure Only complele rf the examiner needs to highlight material mattets of concern (See CC32. Independent examination of charity accounts: (krections and guidance for exarniners). Glve here brlef detslls of any Items that the examlner wishes to dlsclose. IER Oct 2018