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← Little Edi Foundation

2024-04-05-accounts

Little Edi Foundation

Charity No. 1169242

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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A MESSAGE FROM OUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE – TESS GRIGGS

Welcome to our 6/4/23 – 5/4/24 annual report.

We have had another very busy year. An increase in referrals, particularly from Social Services and Social Prescribers (via GP surgeries), resulted in a rise in numbers in our project. We have responded to the individual needs of our families and extended our project work.

We continued to operate from Parkside Community Hub in Melbourne, as this enabled us to be closer to the community we were working in.

In would be impossible to make a note of all of the activities we have carried out this year as there have been so many, but we hope this report gives you an insight into our work in the community.

Thanks must be given to our manager, project leaders, Youth Forum, volunteers, and trustees who enabled us to grow and support the Essex community.

T. Griggs

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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About the Little Edi Foundation

Founded in 2016, the Little Edi Foundation is an Essex based non-profit where children and young people are at the heart of our organisation. Our objective is to help children and young people have equal access to education and learning development, enabling them to reach their full potential.

The Little Edi Foundation responds to community needs across Essex, prioritising supporting families who are most vulnerable. Referred families receive a home visit from one of our team who assess their financial and emotional support needs. As can be seen from this report, support is delivered via a number of ways, including food boxes, support groups, courses, and trips. In addition, we have a Youth Forum, which provides volunteering opportunities for young people, including those who are disengaged, which enables them to learn key skills and build their confidence.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Fundraising
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This year we secured grants and/or donations to fund our work, including from the following organisations:

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In addition, we received the most generous donations from individuals, schools, churches, and businesses.

We continued to benefit from the winning streak of Rebel Racing’s racehorse called “Little Edi”, as we received the owners’ winnings.

Boreham Boot sale

Project leaders and their children were up at 5am to get ready to sell donated items at the Boreham boot fair in the summer. They worked really hard and managed to raise £148 for our food bank and community projects.

Charity Race Night

We hosted a charity race night at a local pub to raise money for our projects. We invited our supporters, friends, family – and those already in the pub – to join us in making bets on the horse racing and buying raffle tickets. The night was enjoyed by all and successfully raised funds for our project.

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a. ¥- SS ee _—( Community Projects

Poverty continues to have a profound impact on the children and young people in our communities across Essex and as they are at the heart of the organisation, our Community Projects aim to improve their health, social, and mental well-being. We recognise we need to support them as a group of families rather than just individuals, to give them a sense of community.

To respond to community members urgently in need of our support we have been:

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Community projects Continued

Coffee Mornings

We have continued to hold our coffee mornings once a month in a local church hall. This event remains an important part of our projects, as it gives us a chance to engage with our families and children. We are able to listen to them and give support, advice, and guidance.

Before the event, we order fresh fruit and vegetables so every family in the project can take some home with them. Families also have the opportunity to browse the donated clothes, books, food, and toiletries, and children are occupied by the art and craft activities set up around tables. And of course it wouldn’t be a coffee morning without some refreshments!

After School club

We have continued to host an after school club every Wednesday during term time from 4:30pm-6pm in a local church hall. The most vulnerable children in our project are invited to attend, and the invite list is rotated to give as many children as possible the chance to come. The children enjoy a wide range of activities, such as crafts, petting animals, playing games, and a picnic in the garden. This year the after school club has also treated the children to trips, including to paint ceramics, the cinema, Chelmsford Museum and Marsh Farm.

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Community projects Continued

Baby and Toddler Group

This year we launched our baby and toddler group, which we hold every Wednesday in a church hall and invite children in our project aged 0-4 years old to attend. This is not only to allow the children to come to play and socialise, but it gives their carers the chance to meet up with other people with children of a similar age and, hopefully, have a moment to take a breath!

Courses

Our families were offered the opportunity via Multiply to attend courses including budgeting and cooking on a budget.

The budgeting course covered:

The cooking course covered:

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Community projects Continued

Easter

This year our Youth Team help set up and run our monthly coffee morning, which nicely coincided with Easter. The children had great fun finding all the eggs hidden in the garden, enjoyed activities set up on tables, were able to each pick a book that had been donated by a local school, and took home a goodie bag. We also run a successful raffle, with the proceeds going towards our projects.

Summer Scheme

This year we had three fantastic days out with the children in our project.

Those children aged between 4 and 8 years old were taken, together with members of our Youth Forum, volunteers, and our Project Leaders, by coach to Marsh Farm. Here the children enjoyed a fun day looking at the animals and enjoying the activities at the Farm. Every child enjoyed a picnic and a drink, as their family had been given a supermarket voucher to buy the items. Those children aged between 8 and 12 years old were taken, together with a “buddy” from the Youth Forum, volunteers, and our Project Leaders, by coach to Frinton-onSea to enjoy a memorable day out at the beach. The children found great amusement playing with beach toys, cricket, kites, footballs, shell collecting, and of course having a paddle. The children also enjoyed a sandcastle competition and created some amazing designs. Again, we gave every family of a child going on the trip a supermarket voucher so they could buy lunch and a drink.

Our last day out was to a local park where families could enjoy a picnic whilst members of the Youth Forum and volunteers kept the children entertained with games.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Community projects Continued

October half term

For those children who needed a little extra support, we had two wonderful days at a local school where they enjoyed lots of activities, sports, and play. Members of the Youth Forum buddied up with the young children and helped run the activities with much enthusiasm and energy.

Harvest Festival

With help from many local schools and organisations, together with many individual donations, we were able to stock our food cupboards for Harvest Festival.

Gaming bus

We hired a gaming bus so twelve of our older children could enjoy two hours of uninterrupted gaming. The children chose from a vast range of games on Xbox, PS5, Switch, a racing simulator and gaming PC.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Community projects Continued

As a charity we understand that winter - and especially Christmas time - can be a challenging time of year for our families, both financially and emotionally. We try to take away as much of this burden as we can.

Below are several initiatives we ran over the winter period:

Reverse advent calendar

Due to the success of the reverse advent calendars last year, we decided to ask our supporters for these again and we were not disappointed. This meant that every family received a box full of useful items for the Christmas period.

Pyjamas and coats

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Families at a local school were invited to take a label from one of the gift trees and buy pyjamas for a child in our project. Families also donated coats, which were laid out at one of the coffee mornings, so that each child within the project had a coat to see them through the cold months.

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Community projects Continued

Christmas Lunch

With the help of many supporters and the Youth Forum, we delivered to all our families a fresh turkey, all the trimmings, and a dessert, for Christmas dinner.

Presents

The young children in our project were given a present and a box containing toys, art and crafts, and toiletries. The older children received a voucher and a bag of goodies.

Christmas party

The children had a wonderful Christmas party organised by the Youth Forum. They enjoyed games and food and had a visit from Father Christmas who gave them a present. The children also received an advent calendar, sweets, and balloons.

Winter Essentials

Due to the success of last year’s winter essentials initiative, we repeated it this year. Families were given a bag containing winter essentials including lightbulbs, socks, thermals, flasks, doorstops, thermometers, and hygrometers. New families to our project received a bumper bag to help them through the colder months.

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Community projects Continued

Help with utility bills

When we asked the parents in our project if they needed help with their gas and/or electricity bills, 98% had £5 or less on their meters, or had gone onto an emergency supply. We therefore gave each family £50 to put on their meters in December, January, and February, to help them to keep the heating on during the coldest time of year.

Pantomime

We took thirty-two very excited children to see Jack and the beanstalk at the local theatre. For many this was the first time in a theatre and the first time they had seen a pantomime. They all enjoyed dancing and singing along and shouting and booing in all the right places!

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Education
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Uniform and school supplies continue to be very expensive and many of our families cannot afford such items. We have therefore maintained our school uniform project, with each child receiving a new pair of school shoes and items of branded school uniform. In addition, we have provided school equipment where needed. With the kind donation from a local organisation, children at secondary school received a laptop and we purchased a printer for each of them.

These items are really important to the children, as it makes them feel the same as their peers and helps them to reach their full potential.

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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=" | = ~ wa yp ’ I. Sa “« ) A, ; 3% = “j . % Youth Development

Our organisational objective is to help children and young people, enabling them to reach their full potential. One of the ways we achieve this is to provide volunteering opportunities for local young people, including those who have become disengaged, aged 13 – 18, which enables them to learn key skills and builds their confidence to take on new challenges.

Some of the Youth Forum activities:

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Meet The Trustees

Tess Griggs

Sarah Bonamy

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Sheryl Perry
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The Trustees

The Little Edi Foundation are a team of unpaid volunteers - their time and knowledge come at no expense to the charity - all the donations and funds raised go straight to the charity.

They take responsibility for using the resources efficiently, achieving measurable results and being accountable to the supporters, partners, people, and most of all, the children, with whom the charity work with.

(Joe Land was a trustee during the period covered by this report and resigned in October 2023.)

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Principal address: 585 Galleywood Road
Chelmsford
CM2 8BS
Type of governing document: Constitution adopted 19thSeptember
2016 and amended on 27thJune 2022.
How the charity is constituted: CIO - Foundation
How trustees are appointed: Trustees are appointed in trustee
meetings.
Brief statement of the charity’s policy
on reserves:		 The charity has a reserve of £10,000 for
reasons such as to fund any unforeseen
expenditure, unforeseen day-to-day
operational costs, and short-term
deficits.
Details of any funds materially in deficit: None.

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature:

Full name: Tess Griggs Position: Chair Date: 3[rd] February 2025

ANNUAL REVIEW 2023/2024

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Profit and Loss Little Edi Foundation Forthe year ended 31 March 2024 Cash Basis 2024 2023 Gross Profit Administrative Costs Amazon purchases Charity subscriptions Clothing 2,627.29 446.00 5,910,00 25,272.26 33,111.00 896.00 Donations Entertalnment 100gb buslne55 284.30 Food Purchased 11.309.33 3,186.00 456.00 Insurance 460.S8 IT Software and Consumable5 482,00 Li8ht, Power, Heating Molorvehlcle Expenses Prlntlng & Statlonery Project Help Projectlactlvlty taxls Rent 409.44 335.00 3,869.71 82,78 4,550.00 95.00 I,S41,37 1,426,87 7,231.71 8,495.00 RDundSn8 Sundry Telephone & Internet Travel- National 9.52 944.00 100.66 1,090.00 5.392.48 Wages Totjl Admln15tritive Cost$ 23,770.66 84,234,96 59,550.00 Operating Proflt 184,234.961 159,550,001 Other Income Charitable and Political Donatlons 47,376,84 96.554.00 Totil Oth•r In<om• 47,376.84 96.554.00 Profit on Ordinary Activities Before Taxatlon 136,858,121 37,004.00 Profit after Taxation 136,8$8.l21 37,004.00 PrDlitand Los Little Edi Foundation 29 Jan 2025 Pagelofl

Balance Sheet Little Edi Foundation As at 31 March 2024 Cash Basis 31 MAR 2024 31 MAR 2023 Current Assets Cash at bank and In hand 200 CLUB 7,866,28 8,976.48 Little Edi Account i Total Cash at bank and In hand 28,464,63 36,332.91 64,241.55 73.218.03 Total Current Assots 36.332.91 73,218.03 Net Current Assets (Llabllitiesl 36.332,91 73,218.03 Total Assets less Current Liabilities 36,332.91 73,216.03 Net A55et$ 36,332.91 73,218.03 Capital and Reserves Current Year Earning5 Retained Earnlngs Totil Ciplt•l ind R•s•rv•s 136,858.121 37,004.00 36,214.03 73,191,03 36,332.91 73,218,03 G(]W7 Balance Sheet Little Edi Foundation 29 Jan2025 Pa8elofl

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl mambars of The Little Edi Foundation On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 (5 April 2024) Charity no (if any) 1169242 Set out on pages 1&2 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"the Trust") for the year ended 3110312024. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect ol my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 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. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with Ihe 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 Independent examiner's stat8ment 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. Signed: Date: 3121201 Name: Vicky Coffman Relevant professional qualification(s) or body {if any): ACCA Address: Viewpoint Accountants Ltd Saxon House, 27 Duke St Chelmsford, CM1 1 HT Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). IER October 2018

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018