Harrogate Fairtrade Shop
(A company limited by guarantee)
Report and Financial Statements
For the Year Ending 31 December 2020
Charity number 1164801 Company number: 07097275
Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 December 2020
The trustees present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year to 31 December 2020 which are also prepared to meet the requirements for a directors’ report and accounts for Companies Act purposes. The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102 (effective 1 January 2015).
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Structure, governance and management
The Charity is constituted as a company limited by guarantee and its governing document is its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The charity is managed by the trustees who are also its directors for the purposes of company law. Trustees are nominated by members and elected at the annual general meeting of the company.
Objectives and activities
The charity's objects are:
a) The prevention or relief of poverty and the relief of suffering and distress in any part of the world.
b) The furtherance of exclusively charitable purposes of such UK registered charities which work directly in relieving or preventing poverty, relieving financial need, hardship, suffering or distress in any part of the world as the trustees see fit.
The principal activity of the company is the sale of fair trade goods through its shop in a porch of St Peter’s Church in the centre of Harrogate. Fair trade goods are also sold by members of the Charity and others through stalls in local churches, schools etc.
The shop is staffed by volunteers, many of whom are members and some of whom are trustees. All volunteers are invited and encouraged to become voting members at no cost. The volunteers are organised by a part-time shop manager who is the only paid employee.
The principle of the fair trade movement is that producers and manufacturers in developing countries receive a fair price for their products and, by selling goods produced and sourced in accordance with the principles of the World Fair Trade Organisation, the Charity generates the public benefit of alleviating or preventing the poverty of the producers.
While making a profit is not the primary purpose of the Charity, it is necessary that its trading is profitable in order to ensure its long-term survival. Any excess profits which are not required for the maintenance of the Charity’s activities are donated to other charities working in the field of the relief of poverty, such donations being approved by the members at the annual general meeting.
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Financial Review
The only source of income of the Charity is the sale of fair trade goods. Donations are not sought and any donations made by customers in the small collecting box in the shop, and occasionally by other persons, are passed directly to Traidcraft Exchange, a charity registered in England and Wales.
Similarly, none of the goods sold are donated, as is the case with the majority of “charity shops” and the main expense of the trade is the purchase of goods for resale. It is actually the purchase of fair trade goods, rather than the sale, which generates the public benefit but of course the enterprise would not continue very long if the purchased goods were not sold to the public to provide fresh working capital to buy new stock.
This recycling of our working capital through the purchase and sale of goods generates a margin (gross profit) at a rate comparable to normal commercial enterprises and, as with commercial shops, we have overheads to meet, being principally the shop manager’s wages and accommodation costs comprising a monthly rent paid to St Peter’s Church, and a rent for our “warehouse”, a storeroom come office in Community House, where our registered office is also located.
The dominant feature of 2020 was of course the pandemic and the periods of closure which it imposed on our shop, extending to 18 weeks between 23 March and 25 July and a further 4 weeks in November. This last period was particularly damaging to the quantity of fair trade goods which we were able to sell as it represented a significant part of the period in which our Christmas shop would have been open, the busiest time of the year. Thus we were less successful this year in achieving our primary object of helping producers in developing countries by selling their fairly-traded goods. Purchases of goods for sale were down by 45% over the year.
Our own financial position has been preserved by the government support available to all retail traders and business rate payers during the Covid crisis. During the summer lockdown we reluctantly furloughed our shop manager, after allowing for a controlled close-down, and brought her back in time to prepare for re-opening in July by putting the necessary anti-virus precautions in place. She was again furloughed during the November lockdown. We continued to pay her full pay throughout the closures as well as continuing to pay the rent for both the warehouse and the shop and the financial damage was mitigated by the government’s Job Retention Scheme.
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In addition, as a payer of business rates, we found that we were eligible for substantial grants. The money received under this heading has not as yet been spent but has been set aside in a reserve to ensure the long-term survival of the Charity and to fund the development of our trading activities.
The adoption in 2019 of a facility to accept card payments paid dividends in the second half of that year and even more so in 2020 when there was a general move away from cash. The card payment provider also gave us the opportunity set up an online shop and to take the first steps towards online trading and we did this in partnership with Henshaws College. For several years students from Henshaws have gained work experience by volunteering in our shop. This was restricted by the virus but they were able to assist in the setting-up and operation of the online shop. This went live in time for the November closure and was well supported by some of our loyal customers locally. However we have recognised that there has been a shift away from the high street and that our future survival might depend on online sales and further work is underway, with professional assistance, to develop this aspect of our operations.
In addition to the contribution made by the online shop during the November closure, one trustee and our shop manager, when she was not furloughed, took orders by email and telephone during the closure periods and these were delivered locally by volunteers. While these efforts produced a worthwhile result and, no doubt, helped to keep our loyal customers engaged, they in no way replaced the shop sales which would otherwise have been made to summer visitors and to Christmas present hunters. Sales through external stalls were also affected of course.
An acknowledgement and sincere thanks are due to those of our volunteers who worked in the shop when it was permitted to be open. All recommended precautions were taken to reduce their risk of infection but nevertheless, simply by travelling to and working in the confined space of the shop, they undoubtedly increased their risk as compared to staying at home. By doing so they kept the operation alive and that could not have happened without them.
Having met our overheads and other operating expenses we achieved a break-even position with a net profit in the current year of just £655. In past years we have been able to make donations to other charities working to relieve poverty around the world out of our net profits, in accordance with the second of our charitable objects, but this year the trustees do not feel able to recommend such a donation. The present accounts show a donation of £6000 which was approved by the members at the 2020 AGM out of the 2019 profit and this was paid during 2020.
This donation was made to Traidcraft Exchange, registered charity No 1048752.
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. Reference and Administrative details
Charity name: Harrogate Fairtrade Shop Registered charity number: 1164801 Registered company number: 07097275 Registered office: Community House 46 – 50 East Parade Harrogate HG1 5RR
Directors and trustees
The directors of the charitable company (the charity) are its trustees for the purpose of charity law. The trustees and officers serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:
Patricia Jacqueline Sowa Chair
David Seaman Treasurer Erica Miller Roger Newby Resigned 24/03/2020 Dr Gillian Parkin Judith Simpson Dr Philip Thake Appointed 16/03/2020
None of the trustees receive remuneration or other benefits from their work with the charity.
This report has been approved by the trustees and is signed on their behalf
Patricia Sowa
Chair
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HARROGATE FAIRTRADE SHOP
Company limited by guarantee No 7097275
Charity No 1164801
BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2020
| Fixed Assets Computer and till equipment Fixtures & Fittings Current Assets Cash at Bank Co-operative Bank Current A/c Cash at Bank Shared Interest Society Ltd Cash in Hand Including floats Stock Debtors Current Liabilities Creditors and accruals Net assets Government Covid Grant Reserve Balance on P&L Account |
31 December 2020 600 450 1050 28158 5701 282 20500 510 55151 -1604 54597 11334 43263 54597 |
31 December 2019 800 600 1400 22410 5688 410 19700 1547 49755 -2561 48594 0 48594 48594 |
31 December 2019 800 600 1400 22410 5688 410 19700 1547 49755 -2561 48594 0 48594 48594 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 48594 |
|||
| 48594 |
Harrogate Fairtrade Shop Trustees Annual Report 2019
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HARROGATE FAIRTRADE SHOP
Company limited by guarantee No 7097275
Charity No 1164801
TRADING & PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st DECEMBER 2020
| Year to 31/12/2020 | Year to 31/12/2020 | Year to | 31/12/2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shop sales (card) | 31747 | 39400 | ||
| Shop sales (cash) | 7345 | 39092 | 38392 | 77792 |
| Online shop | 1060 | 0 | ||
| Offline sales | 1434 | 0 | ||
| Stalls etc | 3961 | 4254 | ||
| Total Sales Cost of Sales |
45547 26515 |
82046 46893 |
||
| Gross profit Payroll costs Job Retention Support received Rent & Rates Credit Card Fees Electricity Insurance Small equipment Music licences Postage, Phone & Stationery Subscriptions & fees Advertising and publicity Window cleaning WiFi charges Website Sundries BAFTS conference and travel Removal Online shop fees Recycling charges Covid measures Depreciation |
12333 -2449 5324 560 260 349 370 282 109 137 0 60 137 97 126 0 0 73 27 231 350 |
19032 18376 |
14876 0 5538 691 460 349 381 380 118 137 114 100 243 84 309 117 140 0 0 0 531 |
35153 24569 |
| Net Profit Balance b/f Profit for the year Interest Donations paid out: |
656 Profit and Loss 48594 656 13 -6000 |
10584 44010 10584 0 -6000 |
||
| Balance c/f | 43263 | 48594 |
Harrogate Fairtrade Shop Trustees Annual Report 2019
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