Get Up and Go Gloucester Annual Report 2022/2023
Chairman's Report to the Trustees
Welcome to our annual report for 2022/23. As Chairman and Trustee, I am responsible for the strategic management of the organisation, day to day tasks, finances and funding raising, governance arrangements and overall performance. I am adeptly supported by Neil Chatten and Andrew Burford in their respective roles as Secretary and Treasurer.
We proved our resilience in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic and have largely met our recovery objectives: Community re-engagement, Covid-19 safe events, new ways of delivering events e.g. online or virtual yoga/book clubs/home workouts etc, identify post Covid-19 “build back better” funding streams, improve community health after 18 months of restrictions/lockdown, help support people getting off lockdown induced alcohol and drug issues through sport and physical activity, focus on outdoor gyms as being Covid-19 safe in comparison with indoor gyms, promote the charity by trustees to do some publication relations and media work.
In terms of new projects, we planned a road safety project in the Barton and Tredworth ward of Gloucester i.e. distributing helmets, lights and locks to cyclists on a low income. We raised some of the funds needed to deliver this project, but unfortunately another funding application was unsuccessful, and we were not notified of this decision in a timely manner. This unfortunately led to a delay in the project, which will have to be put back to the next financial year. We will revisit this project and intend to complete it.
An alternative business model, which was under consideration anyway, but gained fresh impetus by this inability to secure external grant funding and also the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of a reliance on external grant funding, as we have historically done, we are considering working to commission. This will involve developing new and different relationships with commissioners, and so would be challenging in itself. Inevitably, this will result in somewhat of a loss of control and may give commissioners more sway over us as a provider. Equally, we, ourselves, could act as a commissioner and arrange for work to be undertaken on our behalf, both in terms of management and service delivery.
Our finances are stable, if somewhat low, at just under £1000; however, we have no overheads to meet. As discussed above, if we are able to secure commissions, then this would put us on a stronger financial footing. We are acutely aware of the need to increase our reserve funds, which would insulate us against any unforeseen financial ‘shocks’. Should we decide to go down the commissioning route, we would not fully abandon external grant funding and would continue to apply for such funding on a case by case basis.
The governance arrangements of the charity are robust with policies in place for harassment and bullying, complaints, confidentiality, equality and diversity, financial management and control, health and safety, lone working, safeguarding adults, social media, trustee conduct, volunteers and whistle blowing. However, these will all need to be reviewed and updated to reflect current national legislation. In terms of gap analysis for policies, it is needed to have a data protection policy, even if this is to say that that we do not ordinarily gather personal information regarding participants. We hold professional contact details etc.
The work and personal commitments of the trustees have increased considerably. Therefore, we have not been able to dedicate as much time to the charity as we might have otherwise. All the trustees have unique skills and qualities that they bring to the organisation i.e. community development, contract management, health and safety management etc. However, we will continue to give our best efforts and try to actively recruit the appropriate people, both as trustees and volunteers. Indeed, a change to the leadership or new appointments to the trustee board could give a fresh impetus to the charity going forward.
I would like to give personal assurance to our service users, partners, funders and the wider community that we are committed to promoting sport and physical activity to the people of Gloucester. We have not lost our get up and go, so we will get up and get!
Feroz Goga Chairman Get Up and Go Gloucester
– Get Up and Go Gloucester Accounts 2022/2023
| Balance – 1/4/2022 Accumulated fund at 1/4/2022 Excess of income over expenditure Accumulated Fund at 31/3/2022 Represented by: Current Assets Bank Current Account at 31/3/2023 Cash in hand |
385.36 385.36 500.00 |
|---|---|
| 885.36 | |
| 885.36 0.00 |
|
| 885.36 |
I agree these figures reflect correctly the bank statements.
F. Goga
25/03/24
| Opening Balance at 1/4/22 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash in bank | 385.36 |
| Total | 385.36 |
| Income | |
| Grants | 500.00 |
| Total Income | 500.00 |
| Expenditure | |
| Total Expenditure | 0.00 |
| Excess of Income Over Expenditure | 500.00 |
| Closing Balance at 31/3/23 | 885.36 |