AIM25 Annual Report and Accounts For the period ended 31 March 2025 A charity registered in England and Wales (No. 1168908). Registered Office.. 42 Thorncliffe Road, Southall UB2 5RQ
Contents Reference and Administrative Details Trust¢es' Report Independent Examiner's Report Receipts and payments Statement of assets and liabilities
AIM25 Reference and Administrative Details Registei'ed nuiiibep.. A charity registered in England and Wales (No. 1168908). Registered Office.. 42 Thorncliffe Road Southall UB2 5RQ Trustees.. Sarah Aitchison Lonia Bannister Robert Baxter Geoff Browell Victoria Cranna Patricia Methven Anne Rainford (Secretary) {Chainnan) (Treasurer) Bankers.. National Westminster Bank Fleet Street Branch PO Box 281 156 Fleet Street London EC4A 2DX Legal Advisers.. Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP Second Floor 3 Brindleyplace Binningham BI 2JB
Trustees, Report The trustees present their report for the period ended 31 March 2025. Structure, Governance and Management AIM25 was established as a Charitable Incorporated Oi'ganisation and registered as a charity in England and Wales with number l 168908 on 24 August 2016. The charity is governed by its constitution which follows the Charity Coinmission's foundation model. The trustees of the charity are detailed on page l . The trustees are the only voting members of the charity. The charity may have between five and ten trustees, who must be appointed by the members by ordinary resolution. New truste¢s receive an induction from the Chairn]an of Trustees. Trustees are chosen for their relevant expertise, but any trainiiig needs are addressed as required. The charity has no staff. The trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and have put in place systems or procedures to manage those risks. They identified the principal risk as being a shortagc of funds. Having spent many years trying and failing to secure ncw sources of funding, the trustees have now addressed this risk by identifying a corporate partner able and willing to provide archive digitisation and website hosting services on a pro bono basis. Fuiiding should now only be required for special projects. Loss of the corporate partner would pose an existential risk. The trustees will continue to pursue altemative sources of funding to mitigate this but recognise that this may not be possible. Objectives and Activities The charity's objects are: To advaiiee the ediication of tlte public and tofiirther such piirposes whiclt are charitable in accordaiice with the law ofEngland and Wales wliich relates to tlte establishment, maintenance, operation and development ofarchives which are either public orfrom which the piiblic may benefit and to pi"omote efficient i'ecords management and the preservation ofhistorical, edtication, ciiltural, scientific (inclLiding technology and medicine) or other archives aiidfLirthering their accessibility to ilte genei'al piiblic in ol.der lo encoiirage the use of arcliiiies in the Ui?ited Kingdom. The charity, s main activity is to support the development of and public access to historical archives held in the London area. It primarily does this by providing online access via its website (iii¥'L¥'.aiin25.cc)In to collection levcl descriptions from the archives of over one hundi'ed and fifty highei. education institutions, learned societies, local authoiiti¢s, cultui'al organisations and livery companies within the region, for th¢ purposes of research, teaching and public eiijoyinent.
Public Benefit The trustees are committed to ensuring that the work of the charity is for the public benefit, taking full account of the published Charity Commission guidance. The charity's principal activtty of providing online access to archives held within the London area satisfies the primary charitable pUoSe of the advancement of education. Achievements and Performance The main activity during the period under review was completing, with the help of Max Communications, the digÉtisation of partner archives and the redevelopment of the charity's website to make those archives available to the public. The website with the digitised archives was launched to members in late 2024. In 2020 the charity received a grant from the Networks for Change fund of The National Archives. Tlie fund provides grants to encourage the development of collaborative networks of archive services as part of a strategic approach to support the ongoing delivery of SeICes, resilience and management of collections. In 2021, having sought appropriate legal advice, the trust¢es established a digital preservation consortium with Preservica as the operations partner. The consortium provided archive institutions in London and the Home Counties discounted access to Preservica's digital preservation software, Its wider puryose was to support the collection, access, and reuse of digitised and born digital archives by public archives in the region, with AIM25 acting as the point of contact for members with the Presei'vica company concerning service, features, and development updates. The grant period has now expired, and The National Archives has kindly agreed that the remaining funds can be unrestricted to support the general work of the charity in supporting a network of archives in the London area. Financial Review In the past, the charity has relied on affiliation fees from partner archives to fund its activities. However, following the pandemic it became clear that this was not a sustainable model going forward. As described above, the trustees were fortunate to secure agreement from Max Communications to digitise partner archives and redevelop the charity's website to make those archives accessible to the public. Max Cominunications undertook this work on a pro bono basis. The trustees estimate that this pro bono support was worth in the region of £20,000. Max Communications have kindly agreed to host the website on an ongoing basis. The trustees are extremely grateful to Max Communications for all their support. Reserves Policy In view of the support of Max Cominunications outlined above, which should mean that the charity does not need any regular income, only one-off graiits for special projects, the trustees have reduced the reserves target to £ 1,000, which should be sufficient to pay a commercial supplier to host and maintain the charity's website for a year should Max Coinmunications withdraw their support. This would hopefully give time to establish whether alteii]ative sustainable sources of funding could be found,
Actual reserves at year-eiid (following the unrestricting of the reinaining restricted funds described above) w¢re £1,235. It is anticipated that residual expenditure on transfcrring some website services to Max Communications will be required in 2025, so that the remaining funds will be in line with the reserves target. Plans for Future Periods The trustees are always on the lookout for other eligible archives which they would encoui'age to become affiliated to the charity to raise awareness of thcir collections. The trustces are also exploring the feasibility of securing funding for further activitics which would benefit partner archives, including educational and networkiiig meetings. Related party transactions During the period, a debt of £1,260 to the Treasurer in respect of l¢gal fees she paid on behalf of the charity relating to its initial incorporation and registration was repaid. Financial Statements The charity has chosen to prepar¢ receipts and payments accounts. As the gross income is below the audit threshold the trustees have opted to have thes¢ independently examined. Anne Rainford Treasurer l May 2025
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of AIM25 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of th¢ above charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the trustces of the charity, 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 th¢ 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed 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 confirn] that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that, in any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act. or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signature: Name: Address: Date:
AIM25 STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS AND PAYMII NTS FOR THE PERIOD FROM I APRIL 2024 TO 31 MARCH 2025 Unrestricted Restricted Funds Funds 2025 2025 Total Funds 2025 Total Funds 2024 Receipt$ Affiliation fees 50 Total receipts 50 Payments Website hosting Website development Archive liaison Legal fees Insurance 685 685 576 1,260 1,260 90 90 90 Total payments 1,260 775 2,035 666 Net recelpts l {payments) for period (1,260) (775) (2,035) (616) Reconciliation Cash brought fonvard Nec receipts / (payments) for period Transfers between funds 265 (1,260} 2,230 3,005 (775) (2,230) 3,270 (2,035) 3,886 (616) Cash carried forivard 1.235 1,235 3,270
AIM25 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AS AT 31 MARCH 2025 Unrestricted Resti'leted Fund5 Funds 2025 2025 Total Funds 2025 Assets Cash at bank and in hand 1,235 1,235 Total assets 1,235 ,235 Liabilities Amounts owed to suppliers Amounts owed lo trustees Total liabilitie5 Approved by the Trustees on l May 2025 and signed on their behalf by.. Anne Rainford Treasurer Notes l. There were no guarantees outstanding as at 31 March 2025. 2. There were no debts outstanding as at 31 March 2025 secured by a charge over the charity's assets.