## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period** ||Period start date|Period start date|||Period end date|Period end date|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||01|January|2024||31|December|2024| |**From**||||**To**|||| ## Section A Reference and administration details **Charity name** The Reading List Foundation **Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any)** 1164690 **Charity's principal address** 11 Earl Richards Road North EXETER **Postcode EX2 6AQ** **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Alan Terry|Chair & Treasurer||| ||Chris Thain||Till 24 June 2024|| ||Carmel Lawless|||| ||Julie Sadler-Smith|||| ||TracyBechem|||| ||EmilyMacaulay|||| ||Francesca Catling||From 25 June 2024|| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| **Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)** **Name Dates acted if not for whole year** March **2012** **TAR** 1 ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** **Type of adviser Name Address** ## **Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)** ## **Section B Structure, governance and management** ## **Description of the charity’s trusts** Constitution Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed by Resolution passed at meeting of Charity Trustees. Trustee selection methods - (eg. trust, association, company) - (eg. appointed by, elected by) ## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about: - policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees; - the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; - relationship with any related parties; - trustees’ consideration 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** For the public benefit, to advance the education of undergraduate students from lower income households, particularly but not exclusively, in England, by providing them with financial scholarships. March **2012** **TAR** 2 The main – and currently sole – aim of the charity is the provision of Scholarships to undergraduate students in England from lower-income households. To this end we issued 336 Scholarships to deserving students in 2024. Students were selected independently in Year 13 by their Head of Year, Deputy Head Teacher or similar (with the awards actually sent out once the student starts at university). **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)** The Scholarships are in the form of a £275 book token (in effect an e- voucher code), which funds the student’s textbooks for the first year (and following years if unspent in the first year). This enhances their academic study, as well as providing both financial and emotional breathing space in the face of the financial pressures such students face. The Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit (achievement at A levels, BTEC or IB) and so can also provide a boost to the student’s CV in future years. We should note that the value of the Scholarship was increased in the Spring of 2024 to £275 (from £250) to compensate for recent high levels of inflation. Throughout the year the Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. We reviewed the guidance when the Charity was established and have ensured that our underlying model and ongoing activity of providing Scholarships to students from lower-income households meet this guidance. ## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)** You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about: - policy on grantmaking; - policy programme related investment; - contribution made by volunteers. March **2012** **TAR** 3 Section D Achievements and performance - § Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year - § 2024 was our ninth full year in existence, and we believe we have again made considerable progress as a charity. - § We increased the number of awards we were able to make - and therefore students we were able to support – to 336, up 23%. - § The value of our Scholarships continued to be demonstrated, with 79% of recipients saying the award made ‘a big difference’ to their first year of study (2024 Scholarship Winners Survey). - § Furthermore, our biennial survey of Heads of Sixth Form and similar involved in the Scholarship programme showed an overwhelming 83% thinking the programme is ‘extremely valuable’ from their perspective as a School or College leader, 93% saying they would recommend the programme to a colleague, and 97% considering it ‘easy to manage’. - § Although our total income across the 12 months fell considerably (from £77,847 to £39,816), this was in large part due to a sizeable grant that has previously been paid in the last two weeks of Dec but which this time was received on 23 January 2025. - § Similarly, the excess of expenditure over income reflected a desire to bring our reserves down in line with our stated policy. - § As provided and funded by a specific grant, the Charity was able to commission administration support to the value of £5,500. This support is provided by Alan Terry, a Trustee. This arrangement adheres to all guidance laid out by the Charity Commission. The provision of administration support is governed by a Service Level Agreement which will be reviewed in January 2025. - § We again benefitted from generous grants from a significant number of Charitable Trusts across the country, the majority of which supported clusters of Scholarships in a particular geographical area of England. We are grateful for support from the Jessie Spencer Trust (Mansfield), the Shanly Foundation (Berkshire), the Eveson Trust (Herefordshire and Worcestershire), the Zochonis Trust (Manchester), the Hobson Charity (Enfield area), the Maud Elkington Charitable Trust (Leicester), and the Tolkien Trust (nationally). In addition, we received another valuable grant from Wessex Water to support Scholarships in their region. - § None of this would have been possible without the immensely valuable support of the trustees. Chris Thain (who stepped down as a Trustee in early 2024), Carmel Lawless, Emily Macaulay, Julie Sadler-Smith, Tracy Bechem and Alan Terry continued to challenge, strengthen, advise and enthuse our operations, and were joined in June by our new Trustee, Francesca Catling. - § To all our donors and supporters, we offer you this note from one of the Head Teachers involved in the programme. - _“I wanted to write to thank you and the Trustees and donors for your generous support for Bella, the Year 13 student who we awarded your scholarship to. She is an exceptional student:_ - _quietly determined and ambitious, independent and organised, receptive to teacher support and willing to just have a go. This scholarship will make such a difference to her transition from school to her next steps. Just as importantly, receiving the_ - _Scholarship has allowed us to celebrate her achievements with_ - _her and her family and we know that this recognition will give her_ - _so much assurance and belief that she is worth investing in.” Head of Sixth Form_ March **2012** **TAR** 4 Section E Financial review As a charity that has minimal running costs. no property or rent commitments, and only awards Scholarships on the basis of donations already r￿￿ed. we would have minimal ￿1ndIng up. costs in the ev8nt of having to close Ihe Charity. However, we do have a policy of keeping a level of reserrfes in hand to help smooth out the number of Scholarships we are able to award year-on-year, in the event of a marked decrease in in(y)me one year. The Trustees have determined that in this context we will keep a minimum of £20,000 in reserve. At year end we held total reseryes of £26.778. in part due to grants received towards the end of the year but intended to fund Scholarships in 2025. Brief statement of the charity's policy on reserves Detsils of any funds matsrially in deficit Further financial review details (Optional inforniation) We have always been keen to closety manage and contain the running costs of the charity, and free up the vast majority of our income to directly fund Scholarships. In 2024. 880A of our total exkH)diture went directly on nding Scholarships for s￿dents. You may choose to include addib'onal information, where relevant aboul: the charity's principal sources of fijnds (including any fundraising)- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity: inveslment policy and objectives including any ethical investm8nt policy adopted. Section F Other optional Information Section G Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the ustees, report above. Signed on behalf of the charitys trustees Signature(s) Full name(s> Position (eg Secretary* Chair. Alan Tery Emily Macaulay Chair Trustee Date l6 F.brvcLV ioL5 TAR Marth 2012 |**The Reading List Foundation**|**The Reading List Foundation**|**The Reading List Foundation**|**1164690**| |---|---|---|---| |**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||| |**For the period**
**from**|Jan 1 2024|**To**|Dec 31 2024| **CC16a** |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |
Charitable Trust donations(note 1)|**-**||**12,800**||**-**||**12,800**||**61,000**| |Other donations(from organisations)|**-**||**1,500**||**-**||**1,500**||**1,500**| |Individual donations(inc Gift Aid)|**7,549**||||**-**||**7,549**||**7,472**| |Interest|**726**||||**-**||**726**||**476**| |Refund on unused credit(Blackwell's)|**17,241**||||**-**||**17,241**||**7,400**| ||||||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**25,516**||**14,300**||**-**||**39,816**||**77,848**| ||||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||||| ||**-**||||||||**-**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||||| ||||||||||**77,848**| ||||||||||| |
Blackwell's book e-vouchers|**7,309**||**63,941**||**-**||**71,250**||**69,375**| |Marketingexpenses|**1,668**||**-**||**-**||**1,668**||**1,814**| |Administrative expenses|**7,410**||**-**||**-**||**7,410**||**8,673**| |Governance Costs|**300**||**-**||**-**||**300**||**300**| |Credit refunds to students|**381**||**-**||**-**||**381**||**779**| |Repayment of unusedpart of 2023grant|**-**||**1,000**||**-**||**1,000**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**17,068**||**64,941**||**-**||**82,009**||**80,941**| ||||||||||| |**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||||| ||||||||||**-**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||||| |**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||||| ||||||||||**80,941**| ||||||||||| ||**8,448**||||||||**- 3,093**| ||**-**||||||||**-**| ||**16,208**||||||||**72,064**| ||**24,656**||||||||**68,971**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 27/02/2025 1 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period un￿StriCte