2021-03-31-accounts - Archives West Midlands

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	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period	Trustees' Annual Report for the period
	From	Period start date					T o	Period end date
		1	April			2020		31	March		2021

Section A		Reference and administration details

	Charity name			Archives West Midlands

Other names charity is known by				AWM

Registered charity number (if any)				1168386

Charity's principal address					℅ James Ranahan Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
					Shakespeare Centre, Henley Street
					Stratford-upon-Avon
					Postcode					CV37 6QW

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office (if any)

1 Janene Cox Chair
2 Mary McKenzie Treasurer
3 James Ranahan Secretary
4[Alannah ] Tomkins

Dates acted if not for whole year

Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any) Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands

5 Joanna Terry
6 David Owen
7 Richard Lewis

Elizabeth

Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands Archives West Midlands

8 Oxborrow-Cowan

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Archives West Midlands

Clare Watson

Archives West Midlands

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

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

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Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

Elected by the Trustees

(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.

The charity is run by its trustees, who have expertise in the Education, charitable and heritage sectors. The chair is Janene Cox OBE, Assistant Director- Culture, Rural and Safer Communities, Staffordshire County Council. Four trustees are employed by Local Authorities within the region, two work for charities, and another is a consultant and all work within the cultural, archive and records sector. The National Archives have an observing brief at Archives West Midlands Trustee and Member meetings. The trustees, who are all volunteers, manage the organisation which has no employees.

Katherine Seddon provides administrative support to the charity on a self-employed basis which is limited to one or two days a month. Key risks to AWM were identified as: AWM is funded mostly by subscription, therefore in times of austerity members may have to leave and there would be fewer subscriptions and less money to fund or support projects. In mitigation of this risk, AWM needs to remain as relevant and important to its members on a day to day basis so they and their organisations see the value that the membership brings to their wider organisation. Activities would also be tailored to the actual budget and AWM already has proper safeguards in place to check expenditure. AWM’s operating costs are minimal: meeting costs and the annual review so there is no need for a contingency. The other major risk to AWM would be the loss of key individuals so AWM needs to insure succession planning for all of the Board members.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

The objects of ARCHIVES WEST MIDLANDS (AWM) are to advance education for the public benefit by supporting the collection, storage, preservation of and access to archival materials relating to the West Midlands region and to support work that increases the public understanding and appreciation of the people, places and events that have shaped the region.

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As an independent strategic partnership Archives West Midlands

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)

provides a coherent voice for the region!s archives. It seeks to maximise the benefits of working together in terms of shared projects and funding opportunities. It does this by promoting the importance of archives as vital regional assets; by encouraging the highest standards of archive work and supporting members to achieve accreditation and re-accreditation; by encouraging investment in and exploring a potential regional solution for digital preservation; by developing, supporting and raising funds for regional (or sub-regional) projects; and by developing a volunteer strategy, scheme and training approach to build skills and employability, community engagement, health and wellbeing, and tourism.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

All the Trustees are volunteers.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D	Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year	2020/21 is AWM’s fifth year as an independent organisation work- ing to advance learning and education for public benefit by supporting the collection, storage, preservation, promotion and access to archival materials relating to the West Midlands. The Trustees are ambitious for the Archive sector across the West Mid- lands. Society and communities are changing and there are very different expectations of how individuals wish to learn and use their leisure time. Engagement with our collections is also trans- forming and our approach to collecting, storing and promotion is also changing as a result. A key aim for AWM is to work out how we can best support our Members to work effectively within this challenging environment. As an organisation we are building a really effective network where our collective experience, skills, enthusiasm and commit- ment will enable our workforce, our volunteers and our collections to develop, prosper and make a real difference to the communit- ies and individuals who engage with them. During 2020/21 we have: Continued to promote the importance of archives as vital re- gional assets. Further developed our Digital Progress Programme which supports and builds the confidence of our members in digital preservation. Presented to other regional archive groups, and at a range of conferences including DCDC, to share our learning and support others to grow their network. Ensured that our events, including training and development, were informed by the voice of our members, and promoted good opportunities to network and collaborate virtually. Built our social media presence so that our website promoted the work of our members and, through Twitter, we engaged and drew more poeple to our site. Focused upon diversity through the delivery of our No Barriers pro- ject which is as a result of a successful bid to the National Archives Networks for Change fund, and the planning and deliv- ery of the Towards an Inclusive Archive member event.

Section D

Achievements and performance

Summary of the main
achievements of the charity
during the year

2020/21 is AWM’s fifth year as an independent organisation work-
ing to advance learning and education for public benefit by
supporting the collection, storage, preservation, promotion and
access to archival materials relating to the West Midlands. The
Trustees are ambitious for the Archive sector across the West Mid-
lands. Society and communities are changing and there are very
different expectations of how individuals wish to learn and use
their leisure time. Engagement with our collections is also trans-
forming and our approach to collecting, storing and promotion is
also changing as a result.
A key aim for AWM is to work out how we can best support our
Members to work effectively within this challenging environment.
As an organisation we are building a really effective network
where our collective experience, skills, enthusiasm and commit-
ment will enable our workforce, our volunteers and our collections
to develop, prosper and make a real difference to the communit-
ies and individuals who engage with them.
During 2020/21 we have:
Continued to promote the importance of archives as vital re-
gional assets.
Further developed our Digital Progress Programme which supports
and builds the confidence of our members in digital preservation.
Presented to other regional archive groups, and at a range of
conferences including DCDC, to share our learning and support
others to grow their network.
Ensured that our events, including training and development,
were informed by the voice of our members, and promoted
good opportunities to network and collaborate virtually.
Built our social media presence so that our website promoted the
work of our members and, through Twitter, we engaged and
drew more poeple to our site.
Focused upon diversity through the delivery of our No Barriers pro-
ject which is as a result of a successful bid to the National
Archives Networks for Change fund, and the planning and deliv-
ery of the Towards an Inclusive Archive member event.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the char- As the charity with no direct employees or building infrastructure, we ity’s policy on reserves aim to have in reserve a three-month buffer of £3500 which is sufficient to cover any normal expenditure. This will be revised in light of any major project being undertaken. At the end of the financial year 31/03/2021 the charity had funds in excess of £18,000.

Details of any funds materially in deficit Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include Archives West Midlands is a subscription-based organisation, so its additional information, where principal source of funds is subscriptions from its members. 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.

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

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Signature(s)

Full name(s) Janene Cox Position (eg Secretary, Chair Chair, etc) Date 18 January 2022

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