the gunnerco foundatio Trustees, Report January - December 2023 ## Contents > 4 Meet the team - 6 Introduction - 8 Chairman’s Message - 16 Report of the Board of Trustees - 18 Objectives, Policies and Organisation 22 Review of Developments, Activities, and Achievements - 28 Case Studies - 36 Future Plans - 38 Financial and Risk Management - 42 Report of the Independent Examiner 44 Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and Notes to Accounts 2 3 ## Meet The Team Darryl Cooke Sarah Goulbourne Laura Fisher **Chair Trustee Trustee** Laura Jones Sarah Lynch Naseer Patel **Foundation Director Project Director Finance Trustee** 4 5 ## Introducing the gunnercooke foundation the gunnercooke foundation (“foundation”) is a charity established to facilitate the charitable ambitions of gunnercooke LLP, a challenger law firm and one of the UK’s fastest growing law firms, which was founded in 2010. The firm challenges both the way that legal services are delivered to its clients and the way that lawyers balance their work and life. Central to this ethos is the commitment to giving back to society and supporting its lawyers in engaging with charities and not for profits as volunteers and mentors. From the outset, gunnercooke LLP, have been clear that the foundation should operate in a way that encourages the involvement of all gunnercooke LLP professionals and employees, with the aim of helping small but ambitious charities become the larger charities of tomorrow or to “do good, faster,” and “to create a better world than we found.” The firm, gunnercooke LLP, provides financial and administrative support for the running costs of the foundation, and this allows for the many different projects to be funded in a secure and resilient way. do good, faster, and create a better world than we found. In addition, gunnercooke LLP staff and employees give freely of their time and talents to the foundation’s initiatives, enabling the projects to thrive. 7 ## Chairman’s Message Gunnercooke LLP is a company that proactively wants to create the change we want to see in the world, to “BetheChange”, and to lead the change. As a starting point for our action, we believe that there is too much injustice in the World, too much inequality, a rich – poor divide and too much damage being done to our environment. We want to use our business as a solution and not as a part of the problem. That is the reason for our Foundation. We also want, where we can, to actively help others to become “BetheChange” companies, and to make a difference through our networks, our collaborations, and our supply chains. We are a long way off perfect but that is our aim, and we will try our very best. gunnercooke will work on what John Elkington referred to as a triple bottom line and not just profit as a traditional firm does – but people planet and profit and they are all equally important. There is a new desire in the World for business to be done better, better for its people, better for its communities, better for the World. We are on the edge of a movement that will redefine business and its people and create a strong forward momentum and real and lasting change. There is a new desire in the World for business to be done better, better for its people, better for its communities, better for the World. 8 9 ## Chairman’s Message continued... Our Foundation is central to our bottom line. Through our foundation and by working closely with our people and our clients and our suppliers we believe that we are in a unique position to create change and make a difference. Great organisations like the CO-OP make their profit and then distribute it wisely through another arm. Our model is to fully integrate our Foundation into our business and to proactively engage our people in the work that we do. As a result, they will become more loving, more fulfilled, and joyful in their lives. It is a totally holistic model. This year has seen us continue the great work with our inspire* charities and enhancing the effectiveness of their leaders. Much of that work can be seen in this report and I don’t wish to repeat it, but I do want to highlight some of the more innovative things that we have done this year and will be doing over the coming year and years. • ‘The Loneliness Project’, launched at the end of 2022, really made its mark in 2023. Offering opportunities from our bookshop called ‘The House of Books and Friends’ (13909633), which we set up as a separate community interest company; we use the bookshop as the vehicle to bring a community solution to the growing challenge of loneliness and social isolation. Through this we were able to connect and support a number of our inspire* charities also tackling loneliness and social isolation. Some of this support came in the form of volunteering time and event space for charities working in this area; other support came through featuring these charities across social media and signposting customers to their work and services. We also worked to raise awareness of loneliness related campaigns, including Loneliness Awareness Week, Grief Awareness Week, Mental Health Awareness Week and launching our own, ‘Connection Counts’ campaign which we will continue to build year on year. 10 11 ## Chairman’s Message continued... The ‘Business For Good’ project launched into its second year in June of this year and helped a further four of our beneficiary organisations to set up a “For Profit” business to fund their amazing not-for-profit work. The “For Profit” businesses were again all synergistic to the core Not-For-Profit work of our inspire* members and are providing a steady stream of sustainable income for them. These businesses have helped our beneficiaries to keep their organisations stable and consistent in spite of any external challenges. We are reliably told by charity leaders taking part in our “Business For Good” Programme that it has helped them to develop personally as leaders and that their organisations have likewise also benefited from this new leadership approach. The Programme will run again in June of 2024 and help even more of our beneficiary organisations to set up “For Profit” businesses, to strengthen their leadership capability, and, most importantly of all, to become self-sustaining. I am excited about the journey ahead. I am thrilled with the work and leadership of our foundation, and I look forward to engaging as many of our great people as possible in our projects and in the support of our foundation members and their beneficiaries. Finally, the work that inspire* and the Foundation does is growing fast and with some 118 charities now involved, it is important that we work together to become a voice and a force for good, to “be the change” we want to see in the world. We will be working on ways that we can seek to influence others, both business and our politicians, and to become thought and change leaders as we seek to further support our charities and thereby improve our communities and our planet. I am excited about the journey ahead. I am thrilled with the work and leadership of our Foundation. 12 13 . -fr Aburdenwaslifted from myshoulders and I leftwith all the tool$ I nteded h•ndle of interdew8i¢uation 14 15 ## Report of the Board of Trustees The Board presents its report for the gunnercooke foundation for the year from the 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023. ## Governance and Management the gunnercooke foundation CIO (“The Charity”) was registered as a charity with the Charity Commission on 14 August 2015 and operates throughout England and Wales under registered charity number 1163140. The charity was originally registered with the name, The Inspire Accelerator Foundation, until 15 April 2021. The foundation is governed by a Board of four Trustees who are committed to the objects of the charity. Board member expertise includes law, business, finance, investment, risk management, marketing, and fundraising. The Board meets twice per year. Mr Naseer Patel was added as a Finance Trustee to the Board at a Board Meeting held on the 13th of June 2023. The Trustees have complied with the duty in section 17(5) of the 2011 Charities Act to have due regard to guidance published by the Charity Commission with regard to public benefit. The members of the Board during the year were: Darryl Cooke, Trustee (02/06/2015),Sarah Goulbourne, Trustee (02/06/2015), Laura Fisher, Trustee (01/08/2016), and Naseer Patel (13/06/2023) The charitable activities of the foundation were delivered by a parttime paid Foundation Director, Laura Jones, and a part-time paid Project Director, assisted by a number of volunteers from within gunnercooke LLP. Financial advice is provided by Naseer Patel, Accountant and Finance Director of gunnercooke LLP and also now Finance trustee. Marketing, HR, IT, and back-office support is also provided by gunnercooke LLP. Facilities and resources within gunnercooke LLP such as meeting rooms and refreshments are made available on a pro bono basis. Where third parties make a charge for the use of their facilities, such as conference spaces, the costs are met by gunnercooke LLP, and are therefore provided to the foundation on a cost neutral basis. The foundation is governed by a Board of four Trustees who are committed to the objects of the charity. 16 17 ## Objectives, Policies and Organisation The governing document of the foundation is a CIO constitution, (foundation model) dated 14 August 2015 as amended on 15 April 2021. The objects of the foundation are: - 1. To promote the effectiveness and efficiency of charities by providing advice, mentoring, and other support services, particularly in relation to fundraising and growing the charities. 2. Such other charitable purposes for the public benefit as are exclusively charitable according to the laws of England and Wales as the trustees may from time to time determine. - In line with the objects, the vision is to help and support small and medium-sized charities and community organisations to grow, achieve their ambitions, do more good faster, and to reach more people in need in the process. ## The Need When setting up the foundation, it was clear that it was small to medium sized charities who need help and support to achieve their ambitions, to grow and to reach more people in need. Out of approximately 165,000 UK registered charities, just 1% account for 71% of the total income and these are predominantly larger charities (Source: Charity Commission). The work and progress of the foundation confirms that it is making a difference in these target areas. The foundation aims to accelerate the growth of lesser known, but effective charities, by providing them with the support and networks they require to do more good, faster. This is confirmed by feedback in surveys where members of the inspire* initiative talk of the foundation allowing them “to tap into the expertise and guidance of fellow charity leaders whilst drawing on the enormous experience of the gunnercooke LLP network.” ## The Criteria The foundation aims to keep the qualifying criteria simple and accessible. The CEO of any small to medium charity or not-for-profit organisation can apply to become a member of inspire* and be allocated to a hub and a hub leader. Following a request for support, the Foundation or Project Director carry out an interview process and complete due diligence to establish that the beneficiary is suitable for membership and is willing to make the necessary commitment to the project. Once accepted as a beneficial member, the CEO has full access to everything that the foundation has to offer, free of charge. Their engagement, commitment and take up is monitored throughout their membership and regular feedback is sought to ensure that the foundation is delivering public benefit in line with its objects, so that the organisation is growing, becoming more efficient and doing good faster. Similarly, criteria for other foundation projects focus on a streamlined process and the ability to react with innovation and agility to the challenges that beneficiary charities face. 19 18 ## How the objectives are achieved Throughout the reporting period, the foundation delivered five key projects: - inspire* ~~BFG (Business For Good) Programme~~ Smart Works C ~~hallenge~~ Wrap Up 2023 Loneliness Project ## inspire* The foundation promotes the effectiveness and efficiency of 118 beneficiary charities in the inspire* initiative by providing the following support: Regular hub meetings led by a hub leader with strong business expertise. The hubs consist of 8-10 charities, and this allows a “safe space” for members to come along, share their issues and receive either peer support or support from their hub leader. Regular 1-2-1 meetings and coaching sessions with a hub leader to work on the charity’s business plan and key 3 year and 1-year goals. Tailor-made training and workshops. Bi-Monthly ‘Big Meet Ups’ online and regionally with expert speakers which allow for nationwide sharing and networking around key topics of interest such as Fundraising, Leadership & Strategy, and Digital Marketing and Social Media Strategy Support and assistance by the Foundation and Project Director with any other operational and strategic requirements for help and support. Support of our beneficiaries’ key marketing and fundraising campaigns via the foundation and gunnercooke LLP’s communication and social media channels. Specific governance advice from gunnercooke Charity Partner, Michele Price, including a presentation on trustees and the offer of a free, all-day seminar to inspire* members during Small Charity Week. Exposure to the wider gunnercooke LLP network for assistance with other key issues such as HR policies, GDPR, and IP challenges. Opportunity to engage with the wider gunnercooke LLP network of 430+ Partners and staff via events or fundraising activities involving gunnercooke LLP teams. The foundation promotes the effectiveness and efficiency of 118 beneficiary charities in the inspire* initiative. 20 21 ## Review of Developments, Activities, and Achievements ## During the Financial Year from the 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023, the foundation achieved the following: 01 Developed the inspire* initiative launching the new hub in Reading and building a new hub in London for launch in 2024 and adding 38 new charities. The initiative now supports ten hubs charities in nationwide. Manchester 4 hubs Birmingham 1 hub London 4 hubs Reading 1 hub 02 Continued to strengthen the professionalism and consistency of the inspire* programme by conducting quarterly Hub Leader Learning Forums for all our Hub Leaders. 03 Led four “Big Meet Ups,” our online workshops, three with guest speakers covering the topics of fundraising, leadership, and digital marketing and social media, and one “Speed Networking” event at the start of the year enabling charities to meet and get to know other inspire* members nationwide. Christmas social events were also held in Manchester and London. 22 23 ## Review of Developments, Activities, and Achievements (continued...) 04 100 gunnercooke Partners and staff gave 596 hours to the foundation totalling 596 £277,186 of charitable benefit. For every hours £1 invested in the foundation, £2.38 of charitable benefit was delivered. For every £1 invested in the foundation... 05 Supported 12 beneficiary members in Manchester with children’s books from our “Pay It Forward” scheme on books in our bookshop community interest company, the House of Books & Friends. 06 Supported Hands On London (RCN 1140291) with their Wrap Up 2023 Christmas Initiative of collecting coats for those in need by again leading the Moorgate tube station collection in London. £2.38 of charitable benefit was delivered. (vs. £1.95 in 2022). 24 25 ## Facts and figures: Number of charities 118 supported Total charitable 596 hours delivered Number of gunnercooke volunteers leading 10 charity groups regularly Total number of gunnercooke volunteers ## 100 Number of foundation staff 2 £277,186 Total Value of Charitable Benefit delivered 26 27 ## Case Studies **BFG (Business For Good) Programme** At the end of June 2023, we took the learnings from our 2022 BFG (Business For Good) Pilot programme and launched our second BFG Programme where we helped a further four of our inspire* beneficiary organisations to set up “For Profit” businesses to fund their amazing charitable work with the idea of them being able to broaden their reach and the number of people that they are able to help and support– to “do more good faster”. The core aim of the programme is that the “For Profit” businesses created are synergistic to the charity’s core Not-For-Profit work and provide a steady and sustainable stream of income to each charity. Our aim was that this income stream would also help to keep the organisations stable and consistent in the support they can offer their beneficiaries regardless of any economic headwinds and external challenges. Our final aim was that of facilitating the growth of the BFG delegate and their organisation via course and peer learning. New for the 2023 programme was adding a Business Buddy or volunteer mentor from our Operating Partner base alongside the Course Days and our gunnercooke business coaches to support the charity leaders on their journey. Two of the four members involved on the course were Helen Stuart of TLC (RCN: 512710) and Sandi Marshall of Beacon Counselling (RCN: 1109545). 28 29 ## Case Studies ## **BFG (Business For Good) Programme continued...** TLC (Talk Listen Change) set up a subsidiary branch focused on delivering domestic abuse and well-being training to educational institutions, businesses, local authorities, and housing associations. The training programmes and workshops were all developed by TLC Practitioners and Counsellors and drew from the expertise of TLC staff. The first 2 contracts secured were a training contract with a Greater Manchester local authority to deliver Domestic Abuse and Awareness Training and a contract with a local housing association to deliver perpetrator awareness training. All the proceeds generated were directed towards supporting the TLC charity, ensuring a reliable income source. This “Business for Good” has now developed into a full, commercial counselling subsidiary within TLC called “Now You’re Talking” and Helen has been appointed MD of this subsidiary. Beacon Counselling, a leading mental health charity based in Stockport, Greater Manchester wanted to develop its services as an EAP (Employee Assistance Programme). It reviewed its counselling service and pricing and identified key contacts for this new paid for service such as local business leaders and EAP Providers. In December of 2023, we had a “Passing Out Ceremony” in gunnercooke’s London office for our BFG delegates where all 4 members presented the businesses that they had created. The new BFG 2024 Programme incorporating all the suggestions and feedback from our 2023 Programme will be launched at the end of June 2024. We also asked for feedback from our delegates and here are some of their comments: The Business For Good (BFG) Programme has been a complete eye-opener for us at The Bipolar Lift. The help and guidance received from the gunnercooke team, and their experts was invaluable in supporting our growth and product creation all the way through to market. I can’t thank them enough! - _Imran Akram_ Being part of the BFG (Business For Good) 2023 Programme was invaluable to Beacon, offering some great support and connections that have helped us take our employee wellbeing offer forwards. This is a key part of our strategy towards financial sustainability. For me, new to the charity, being part of BFG gave me a space away from the day-to-day to plan. I have been able to apply the business tools to develop Beacon’s overall strategy and we continue to use them to take stock and enable new thinking. _- Sandi Marshall_ 30 31 Case Studies continued... ## **The Loneliness Project** The beginning of 2023 saw us start work on delivering ‘The Loneliness Project’, in conjunction with the launch of partner Community Interest Company, House of Books & Friends, also funded by gunnercooke. Our mission, to tackle loneliness and social isolation by bringing people together and supporting other charities with the same mission. The Loneliness Project has enabled us to create various communities with the bookshop as the heart and with the gunnercooke foundation being the catalyst and link to the charities working in the loneliness sector. Throughout 2023 we helped to raise awareness around loneliness and social isolation through supporting Loneliness Awareness Week with the Marmalade Trust (RCN: 1174217), Mental Health Awareness Week and Grief Awareness Week in conjunction with Greater Manchester Bereavement Service. We also launched our “Connection Counts” campaign which ran throughout November, asking people to submit their own moments of connection throughout the month and encouraging people to make connections of their own, however small. We received over 30 submissions from people sharing their own experiences. We have worked to provide as many options as possible for people to meet and form bonds and relationships; this has included monthly book clubs, due to demand we have three in person sessions during the week, each hosting up to 40 people and an online option for those who can’t attend in person but still want that connection. We remove as many barriers as possible, making the majority of our clubs either free to attend or holding back a number of free tickets for those who may need them. In addition to all the activities above aimed at driving and building communities and bringing people together the foundation has worked with the bookshop to deliver socials for students new to the area, children’s activities during the holidays and a range of other activities including board games evenings and writing workshops. The Loneliness Project will continue to grow for 2024 as will our relationships with charity partners and the bookshop’s customer base. We’ve received so much positive feedback and really feel we’re just getting started. We have also worked through House of Books & Friends to highlight inspire* charities working in the loneliness space in a monthly feature across social media platforms – reaching an audience across House of Books & Friends and the gunnercooke foundation of over 25,000. This monthly highlight drove traffic to their websites, raised their profile and charity name as well as signposted the audience to the charity’s services should they be needed. We have also been able to offer inspire* members and non-inspire* members, but those with the mission of tackling loneliness, free use of the bookshop’s event space. This has enabled them to have a prestigious location on King Street for their meetings and workshops with over 40 hours being booked formally (at a total value of £2000) but regular informal meetings being held over coffee in the café. 32 33 ## **The Loneliness Project continued...** What people said about how we have helped them personally to tackle their isolation and loneliness or how we have helped the people that they serve as a charity: My connection story started at your bookshop. I had been living in England for 8 years and I never had the luck to make good/real friends no matter how much I tried. Obviously it had a big impact on my mental health and I became depressed. I recently became single and even more lonely so I decided to come to the book event, “How to be a French girl”. It was a very big and important step for me to realise I am so lonely and want to do something about it. For the first time in months, I was happy to be there and see strangers smiling to each other. It made me feel good and made me keep some hope.” House of Books and Friends hosted a party for HostNation recently. We are a refugee befriending charity based in Manchester. We were looking for a venue which was characterful and fitted the values of the charity. They hosted 40 guests, including refugees and asylum seekers, charity partners and HostNation colleagues. Naomi and Dimitri and the whole team were so helpful and they could not do enough to help us on the night of the party. The service was excellent and relaxed; it was a wonderful historic venue perfect for our party, very good value too. Highly recommended.” *HostNation RCN: 1180004. “My son enjoyed attending your Dungeons and Flagons gaming event - he was there from the beginning right ‘til the end, talking and playing with a group of 4 other gamers he’d never met before. This was a big step for him! I, meanwhile, spent the evening reading, enjoying a lovely cake from your cafe, and chatting to another visitor in the bookshop area, discussing work and family and lots of other things. She said what a super place it was to have a coffee and do some work. We both had a very pleasant few hours, as we always do when we attend events or just visit your lovely bookshop.” “I’m a university student. Last December, I was feeling lonely and isolated in a way I’d never felt before. I felt like I hadn’t really connected with anyone. I decided in the new semester I would make myself do something I’d always wanted to do - join a book club. And turns out I saw one was starting in the new year in a recently opened bookshop! I remember the anxiety I felt before I went, and then the happiness and pride I felt after. That felt like my first step, now my go to plans when I make a new friend are to take them to this amazing bookshop I know - thanks for everything Hobaf :)” 34 35 ## Case Studies ## **Smart Works Challenge & Collection** Smart Works (RCN: 1163594) supports unemployed women across Greater Manchester, through job coaching and interview styling to feel more confident and start believing in their own ability to succeed or, as they say, “to get the clothes, get the confidence, get the job.” Unemployed women who have secured an interview can access a personalised pre-interview styling and coaching session providing clothing, shoes, and accessories to wear for their job interview and to keep afterwards. Additionally, once successful at interview, every “client” is invited back to receive additional items of clothing to help her to build a work capsule wardrobe. In 2023, Smart Works Greater Manchester launched a second North West centre in Manchester City centre, a bold new development, which had the aim of being able to help even more unemployed women. As Jan Iceton, Chair of the board of trustees at Smart Works Greater Manchester, said: “Our new home will provide easier and faster access for so many more unemployed women living across the North West. Our referral partners, who are key to our success, tell us that accessibility is the key barrier to many more women being able to experience our service and to then go on to succeed at interview, transforming their lives. And we listened!” In order to help to raise funds for the new centre in Manchester, a small team of Manchester based gunnercooke legal Partners and staff took part in the Cycle For Smart Works Challenge in the week leading up to International Women’s Day. Between them they ran, cycled, and swam over 175 miles and raised over £1000. In July 2023, the gunnercooke foundation then held a clothing collection in the House of Books & Friends for the newly opened central Manchester Smart Works Centre. There was a great response from gunnercooke Partners, staff, and visitors to the bookshop with donations of 71 clothing items in total! 35 36 Case Studies continued... ## **Wrap Up London 2023 Initiative with Hands On London** The gunnercooke team returned to Moorgate tube station to support inspire* member, Hands On London (RCN: 1140291), to deliver their 2023 “Wrap Up London” Campaign and also assisted Hands On London, via links with our German gunnercooke colleagues, to partner with German based charities based in Berlin who then delivered the first Wrap Up campaign in mainland Europe. Over the 3 days of collections at Moorgate station and in Berlin, there were 35 gunnercooke volunteers including gunnercooke colleagues from London and Germany and gunnercooke clients and suppliers. Our 35 volunteers delivered 96 volunteer hours, and some 450 warm coats in total! As per last year, with the early shift starting at 7am in Moorgate, many of our volunteers and their clients took part ahead of their first meeting of the day! Also, and as last year, gunnercooke’s Marketing and Events team along with the gunnercooke foundation also supported the initiative with artwork for promotional material and with social media posts and tags. Hands On London have Wrap Up Campaigns in 24 other cities and towns too and the gunnercooke teams elsewhere in the UK donated warm coats to these collections in the knowledge that their donation would keep a person in need warm during the winter months. In total in 2023, Hands On London collected some 2,900 coats across all tube stations in London. In the period from 2011-2023, Hands On London have now collected almost 250,000 coats which are donated through to a number of Partner charities working with the homeless and those at risk of being homeless! 37 38 ## Future Plans To further grow the inspire* initiative and number of members in Manchester and the Midlands, to develop and grow the hub in Reading, to open a second hub in Yorkshire, and to continue to bring on board and train new hub leaders and welcome new inspire* members to support. This will allow for an even richer, nationwide peer-to-peer support system. -To trial a new, inspire*hub in London in 2024 led by co-founder of gunnercooke, Sarah Goulbourne, bringing together and supporting the leaders of slightly larger charities (with an income of £1-5m) vs. the standard small to medium sized inspire* charity with an income of under £1m. If this new Peer group works well, we will roll it out to other regions. To continue to use future gunnercooke LLP Partner “Welcome Days” and gc Trust inductions to introduce the Foundation to more of our new Partners and staff and to also do this at our annual gunnercooke Symposium event to thereby open up a wider network of internal support for our beneficiaries. To continue to offer online and nationwide Big Meet up events covering key topics of interest to our beneficiaries such as fundraising, leadership, succession planning, and marketing and social media. Optimise our Big Meet Ups also to extend a member’s network beyond their hub and to all our inspire* members nationwide via at least one, annual, online “Speed Networking” event. To evaluate and develop other key ways of supporting our inspire* members to become more effective and efficient and to better achieve their goals. To continue to develop the Loneliness Project to support beneficiary inspire* charity members and other charities working in this field to reduce loneliness and social isolation in our local communities. We will also continue to highlight the issue via both our own Connection Counts Campaign and by supporting general, national awareness raising campaigns such as Loneliness Awareness Week and Grief Awareness Week. To build on the BFG (Business For Good) Project and help a further number of our inspire* members to successfully set up a “For Profit” business which will enable them to have a steady income stream to fund their Not-For-Profit work and help them to “do more good, faster.” Continue to also work with and support the BFG Alumni group. The foundation will also be doing a further feedback survey of its inspire* members in 2024, following on from the survey undertaken three years ago in 2021, and will be using this and other analysis to look at ways to enable it to better and more fully respond to the challenges that its beneficiary charities face and are likely to face in the future. To consider new and innovative ways of working with inspire* members going forwards for maximum involvement and engagement in meetings held online as well as face to face meetings via the adaptation of key meeting tools for online use. To update the foundation website and in a way which offers even more support and useful tools , connections, and guidance for our beneficiary members. To increase the marketing and communications support to our beneficiaries to e.g., give greater profile to their key events and fundraisers via sharing and posting these on both our foundation and gunnercooke llp communication channels. 36 37 ## Financial and Risk Management The foundation relies on funding from gunnercooke LLP together with pro bono assistance from its staff and partners in order to deliver its charitable benefit. Given the growth and success of gunnercooke LLP, the Trustees do not perceive a risk to the funding arrangements in the foreseeable future. For that reason, the foundation does not have an investment or reserves policy because gunnercooke LLP has agreed to underwrite all costs associated with the running of the charity and the distribution of charitable benefit. The charitable benefit delivered is therefore equivalent to the cost of the foundation staff providing the activities and services, together with the significant pro bono input from gunnercooke LLP partners and staff. At the time of signing the accounts the Trustees are aware of the ongoing economic and social effects of inflationary pressures on the everyday cost of living. The Foundation will continue to seek to mitigate these risks by adapting and developing its own internal strategy in order to best support its beneficiaries to navigate these economic challenges. ## Risk management The Trustees review risk management annually. This involves identifying the types of risk the charity faces, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence and identifying means of mitigating the risks. As part of this process the Trustees keep the adequacy of the charity’s internal controls under review. 38 39 ## Financial and Risk Management continued... Disclosure of information to Examiner Each of the persons who is a Trustee as at the date of approval of this report confirms that: So far as the trustees are aware, there is no relevant information of which the charitable company’s examiner is unaware; and The Trustees have taken all the steps that he/she ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant information and to establish that the Foundation’s charitable Independent Examiner is aware of that information. The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required to: - select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently. - make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent. - state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and - prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation. The Trustees are responsible for maintaining adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. Signed on behalf of the board by Darryl Cooke, Chair Dated: 17th September 2024 40 41 ## Independent Examiner’s report to the Trustees of the gunnercooke foundation CIO I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the receipts and payments account, statement of assets and liabilities and related notes. ## Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity’s trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## Independent examiner’s statement 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: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or 3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. 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. ## Signed by the Independent Examiner ## Laura Goodwin FCA Of Address: 77, Woodville Drive, Marple, Stockport, SK6 7QX Dated: 17th September 2024 42 43 **the gunnercooke foundation Charity No: 1163140** **SOFA** ## **B Sheet** 17th September 2024 Sectlon C Notes to the￿CoUnts for the perlod 0110112023 - 3111212023 Note l Bask of Prepzratlon 1.1 Bas15 of accountlnB tion C Note5to theaccounts Icontl These ￿Ounts hzrfe been pEpaEd underthe hi51Dri￿ cost convention itEm5 E(Dgni5ed &(D5tor￿s￿tion vaue unless Othe￿iSe 5*d in the telev3ntnolEI51 ID these ￿CoUnts. Note3 An3￿50f income The ￿{oUnts h3rfe been PTepJed in wth.. the S12tsmeniof Recommended p￿tiCe.. Accounting Reporting by ch￿tieS ple￿n8 theirzcounts in ￿CorrI￿7ce %%ith the Finrria Rerrt)rtine Stsndz￿ applioblE In the UK Republic of I￿l￿d IFFS 1021 issued 16 July 2014 the FIn￿Cl￿ Reporbw Stsndad 4)pli(3ble in Ihe United ￿￿dorn PEpublic of I￿13nd IFf6 1021 *d the Chanties Att 2011. Donations￿￿ £ifts 111.9 111.906 108.512 GiftAid 1,066 Note 2 Accountlng pollcSes Leg￿leS 2.1 Income Genefa era)ts provided by govemThrnVothef(h￿tie5 ReLo8nlti•fi of lthtfjme These induded in the Sl*mentof Activitie5 ISOFAI then.. Membetshipsubscriptiong& 5pon5or5h1￿ whthJe in subs1￿ donations the th￿ty become5 entiled ID the ￿SoU￿e5.' it is mofE likEly th3n nOtth3tthe Irutse5 ￿711 ￿[eiVe the ￿SoU￿eS.. Oonaled (￿S.￿lities￿￿ 5ervice5 Other the monetsy vaue be measufEd ￿1th 5uffiaent telia)ility. Offsettln The￿ been no off5etbng ofassets liabilibES orincThne ewEnse& unless required or k*mitted by the 102 SORP or 102. tharMaE4e Bu51nessforGwd UkBne convo¥ 1.7C 5.455 Gr•nt$ and donallons G￿nts and donabon5 only included in Ihe SOFA the Bened inujme teED8nition (ritEDaae met15.10 tD 5.12 F￿102 SORP). Other Tolal Tax redalmson donatIr￿￿ and glfts GiftAid ￿CeiV8b1e 15 included in income *then theE 15 av4id dedrknDn frun the donor. Arty r￿ftAi￿ ￿oUTht cOVe￿d on a donabon is coD5ideted tD be pat of that81ft￿d 15 tteaed a5 ￿ ￿dIti￿ tD Ihe futvj a5 Ihe Inita donabon unle55 the donororthe tsTm5 of the 4>pe￿ hale speafied othetwse. c¥hÈrtrath¥ Other Tolal Support tNt$ The th3rity ha5 inturred ewenditurE on 5UPPOrtC05ts. The v31ue of volunW help ￿[eiVed is notinduded in the ￿[1)Unts but 15 dE5tribed in the ttustEes' Teport Interest Iniome 1.067 I.￿7 346 Volunteer h•lp Rontsi and le251 Other Tolal Incrffle fram Interest, r￿altIeS and vld*nds This 15 induded in the ￿Counts ￿ceipt 15 p￿ba)le the anoUtTrtrE￿1Ythle I￿ bE tnea5uEd EliaAy. 1.067 2.2 EXPENDITURE AND LL4BILITIES Li3bilitie5 ￿l08￿15ed Whe￿ it15 rn0￿ likely tha not tha therE IS 3 lega orcon5tnJ(tive 0￿1￿*0￿ comfflitbng the dwty to P3Y Out ￿50￿rEe5 the Jnountof the obligaon ￿ be me35ufEd %%ith rE￿nthIe certanty LlalAllty retognltlo Tolal Gov¢rnan(¢ and syppwt (os¢s SupportC05ts have been alotaed beiwEen sove￿￿￿￿ costs JHJ other 5UPPDrL (05t5 Comprise ai Costs involving publIc￿{ou￿1a11llty of the th￿ty ￿d its ClHnpIi￿Ce %Mth tEgulaon ad good p￿￿￿. TOTAL INCOME 116.373 116.375 119.134 SupportC05ts indude cent￿1 fiJncbon5 h￿e been alocaEd ID ￿tiVIty c05t (aEgorie5 On 3 ba515 COnSi5trnt %Mth the use of ￿50￿￿e5. eg aiocknng propetty Costs by flwraE35. or per t4)it4 statC05ts by the time Spent *d other Costs by their us*e. Whore the tharity give5 3 gMtVilh condition5 for its wment bein8 a specific level of se￿1￿ oroutput to be Grants wlth performamt £thwJltlonwrDvided. 5uth g￿ts only tEcosnised in the SUFA once the rEopientofthe ¥￿tha5 pfDvided the 5PL¥ified Servi￿ or output N3 CrethtOlS The (harity has {￿dI￿)[S thith at mE*U￿d a5etUementanouDts less ty ITaJE disojunts Prov151rth5 for Ilabllltles A li*ility is me*ured un tECQ8nibon & it5 h15b)￿￿￿ cD5t and then subseouenijy Me&U￿ *the kstesbmae of the amount ￿Qui￿￿ kn 5etUe the obliE*on *the FepoFbp£ d*E N2.2 46 47 Section C Notes to the accourbts (cont) Nots5 Detsils of certain items of expendiknre l Fees for examination of the accounts Heose&YoNldedetollsof theart￿￿tPoléfvranYst¢ltutOry Thls year Prfty perfcrtl Indeper¥lent examirerfs fees AssurarKe servi￿$ other than a￿lt w iThlependent Tax advis(ry fees Note4 Anatysis of expenditure funds fu￿￿$ Other fee5 eXan￿e. finarKial advi￿. crffl5dtary. strvitesl paid to the iThltpttthnt exanlrter T¢)tsl eytbjlture on ralslry 39£KX) .492 Rent EXp￿￿￿e tharttsFAe Note 6 Paid employe DDn3tion to Red Cra5 &185 6.185 Wa Note 6 76.1S4 76.184 49.7£ &1 Stsff Casts Total eX￿lturE on tharitat4e activitie5 123.216 &185 Thls year Prft¥ perfcrtl Separate Stsm c4 Salaries aThl wages SLxlal secwlty costs pensi￿ costs (defined ctyrtriikrti(m sd*mel Other erI￿o¥ee benefits Totsl stsff tosts 65,907 43,027 4.591 2,162 3,676 T¢)tsl IT Costs 2.954 1.742 Rcnt & mcclin 1.191 216 Tr&iel expenses Report general￿￿ fees 5tatMine and Dosta General ex Totsl other expenthtwe 2.143 2.143 &2 Avewage c(xmt in thè This year Number Prior period Number 2212 2112 113 392 Fundraising Charitable AttIvi￿t$ Govemante Other Total The parts of the tharfty In wNth the 7.369 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 1305B5 6,185 IW7 85.787 N6 NIO 48 49 Section C Notes to the accounts Icont) 5ecOon Ntste$ 10 theo¢¢ounts Icontl eio Chaktrfunds Note 7 Debtors and prepayThents 7.1 Analysls of debtors Tlls year Last year TTrpPE EE lax Trade debtors Prepayments and a(cn￿d ir Other debtors 425 Gakn&ar 418 418 7.785 &210 I Lkn*)I'. _19. Totsl All debtors are reCoveral￿e within year N19 $￿tIOn C NO￿ w tr*èa(£ovnts Tthal F 3rcDJi15 N27 IAW51sQtryqItt•5 f•ll Tk Y￿r Tt*x ytar S&bon C Note4to the Xcounts Icon¥ Nils kywints paY•L4¢ Ittta P4DIE 9 P•y￿e￿9 recthedMK(v￿1I Eraiits At4Ull¥ ¥441krr•d TwAAkn Tukl at pr￿￿kn1￿rb)ddet1J•t sh at bank￿d in hand INS vt•t ShthMrTh C*Ah f•*h •ttsr* hw Trtbl N20 N28 50 51 Connect with us: @gc_foundation_ thegunnercookefoundation the gunnercooke foundation w: www.thegunnercookefoundation.com e: info@thegunnercookefoundation.com t: 07949 455544 / 07768 992955 Registered Office: The Gunnercooke Foundation, 53, King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ CIO Registered Charity No. 1163140