2022-12-31-accounts

To

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 1 January 2022 31 Dec. 2022

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name

AtaLoss.org

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1169269

AtaLoss

Charity's principal address PO Box 824

PO Box 824	PO Box 824
Chichester
Postcode	PO19 9WW

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1 2 3 4 5 6 7	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for **whole year **	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
	Yvonne Lorraine Tulloch	Founder & Executive Chair
	Luke William Richmond	Treasurer
	Carol Jane Oundjian
	Andrew Shaw
	James Normand		From December 2022

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)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)	Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address
Auditor	Gerald	Williams

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Jane Lloyd Woodward – Executive Director & Secretary to the Board

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Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution

• (eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

• (eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

• (eg. appointed by, elected by)

A charitable incorporated organisation whose only voting members are its charity trustees.

Trustees are appointed by the charity trustees for a period of one year by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. Selection is based on skills, knowledge and experience needed for effective governance & administration of the CIO.

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.

Trustees receive an induction pack based on Charity Commission guidelines and are offered opportunities to attend further training throughout the year.

The CIO has a board of reference consisting of a wide range of people with a variety of experience including marketing, finance, health and governance. Each trustee is required to register any interests annually. The ROI (Register of Interests) is held and updated by the Secretary.

All activities carried out by the CIO are risk assessed with particular focus on events where there may be vulnerable people i.e. those who have been bereaved.

Safeguarding policies are in place to cover any contact that trustees, contractors and volunteers may have with individuals who are bereaved as we consider them to be ‘vulnerable’ adults. DBS checks are carried out at enhanced level where appropriate.

The trustees consider the major risks to which the charity is exposed when updating its strategic plans. These include internal and external risks that, if occurring, would be likely to affect finance and resources, staffing, the security and use of our data, reputation, and other aspects of the work of the charity. The trustees are satisfied that procedures and systems are in place to monitor and control these risks, to mitigate any impact that they may have on the charity in its future operations.

Section C Objectives and activities

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

• The objects of AtaLoss are: • the relief of sickness and preservation of health by, but not limited to, relieving the mental, emotional and physical distress of persons suffering from bereavement, significant loss or family breakdown; and

• to educate and raise awareness on matters of bereavement, significant loss, and family breakdown.

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In its purposes and principles document, the CIO explains how it delivers it objects;

AtaLoss’ VISION is for nobody in the UK, suffering a bereavement, to be left floundering or alone. The charity’s focus is on bereavement by death (including pregnancy) but in the case of children and young people we extend our work to parental separation.

AtaLoss’ AIMS are:

• Signposting bereaved people in the UK to support services and information, for timely and effective support, to relieve the impact and knock-on effects of bereavement.

• Training and resourcing to support bereaved adults, children and young people for increased and improved community bereavement support, especially through churches and Christian organisations.

• Collaborating with others to improve accessibility to bereavement support across the UK and understanding of the impact of loss, especially its relationship to mental ill-health.

AtaLoss’ ACTIVITIES to achieve the charity’s aims are:

• 1) Signposting bereaved people across the UK to the range of support services and information, for easy access to relevant, available and up to date support and information, by means of our bespoke website www.AtaLoss.org

• 2) Training to increase understanding of how to support bereaved adults and to build capacity for supporting them in their local communities, in particular through our Loss and HOPE churches project – and in supporting children and young people through loss through our ListeningPeople project.

• 3) Educating , all sectors about the misunderstandings, misconceptions and wider impact of loss and raising awareness of the issues and costs of unsupported loss in and to society.

• 4) Resourcing bereavement support, in particular churches in support of bereaved people in their communities and youth leaders in supporting children and young people through loss.

• 5) Supporting bereaved people directly across the UK by running The Bereavement Journey® course online and enabling its provision in person or online by churches and Christian organisations in all communities across the UK.

• 6) Collaborating with other organisations where that will achieve benefits to bereaved people, the charity and the other organisation through joining forces, shared promotion and/or more efficient use of resources to achieve our aims.

• 7) Initiating projects that help us to achieve the charity’s objectives.

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AtaLoss was founded by Yvonne Richmond Tulloch in 2016. Having been suddenly widowed, she became acutely aware of the many problems that bereaved people face and of how the impact of bereavement can be worsened due to lack of understanding and difficulty in finding support.

Up to and including 2021, the charity was achieving its objectives by:

• 1) Providing a comprehensive information and signposting website hub, aiming to be reliable (up-to-date and accurate) and directing easily via filters to appropriate, local and national support.

• 2) Delivering bereavement support by way of a national, on-line 6- session support course called The Bereavement Journey .

• 3) Through the charity’s ListeningPeople project, training professionals who encounter children and young people to support them through loss.

• 4) Training and equipping churches in becoming ‘bereavement friendly’ through the charity’s Loss and HOPE project, in particular resourcing and supporting them to provide The Bereavement Journey support course for bereaved people in their communities to process loss.

• 5) Working to respond to the increased need for support and information as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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)

During 2022 we continued to run online courses of The Bereavement Journey . 3 were delivered with over 170 beneficiaries attending from across the UK, at the same time training potential leaders through practical experience to deliver the course in their own communities.

By the end of 2022, there were over 180 churches running The Bereavement Journey in their communities and church leaders were attending our awareness raising webinar on ‘Bereavement Friendly Church’ in increasing numbers.

The Bereavement Journey resources continued to sell well during 2022 and is the biggest revenue earner of all the products sold on AtaLoss websites. Resources earned from sales are used to fund the project costs on-going, although we have plans for funding applications to be made early in 2023 and to secure longer term funding. The latter quarter of 2022 saw the charity beginning a major refresh of The Bereavement Journey materials to add more material, bring it up to date, make it more inclusive and modernize its presentation style. It is anticipated this will be completed by Easter 2023.

Consolidation and development of the AtaLoss.org website continued during 2022. At the end of the year over 1500 support services had been listed both specialist and local, including peer group and befriending services, and with direct communication having been made with services to ascertain accuracy.

The death of HM Queen Elizabeth gave us an opportunity to offer our AtaLoss.org website as a resource to the nation, with many (including people bereaved during the pandemic) experiencing awakened grief in the period from her death to the funeral. In mid 2022 we engaged the assistance of a professional PR consultant who was able to secure a large number of media interviews during the period of national mourning, both on radio and TV. This period was a greater opportunity for AtaLoss than other national bereavement charities because it coincided with the planned reporting of the UK Commission on Bereavement, when those organisations involved in advising the Commission and helping to produce the report, were unable to comment publicly. AtaLoss was able

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to take full advantage of this and became the ‘go to’ organisation for the media.

During 2022 we continued to reach out to key stakeholders. We attended the 2022 Funerals Exhibition, re-established contact with a range of organisations, and joined SAIF and the NAFD to connect more widely with funeral directors. We also focused a lot of effort on collaboration with organisations who were targeting audiences we needed to reach. We were invited to attend several Bereavement Forums and conferences and took opportunities to present to their members about the services we offer. We also sent our submission of evidence to the UK Commission on Bereavement, with our proposal for a ‘Gold Standard’ in signposting and information. Whilst this was not taken on board specifically by the Commission, in its report published in October 2022, AtaLoss was the only charity mentioned apart from Cruse, and our work was commended as being essential if bereaved people are to receive the support they need.

2022 was a challenging year for major funding but we did receive a £45k grant from 54:2 Trust over 3 years for Loss and HOPE, £30k pledged for receipt in 2023 to renew The Bereavement Journey materials and some unexpected funds from Dignity of £10k following the Funerals Exhibition. However, we were approached by several corporates and discussions commenced regarding AtaLoss becoming a charity partner. These will continue into 2023 to establish a formula for corporate relationships that results in financial support for the charity. Internal discussions were also held to consider options for monetizing the website and we hope to arrive at a satisfactory solution in 2023.

The charity’s ListeningPeople project continued throughout 2022, with online training now well established. With its focus on children as well as young people, the project attracted a wide circle of professionals from across the country and with a few charities requesting annual in person or online training. Sales of our Tough Stuff Journal ‘Someone has Died’ for bereaved young people went well during 2022.

With the AtaLoss.org website evolving during 2022, our social media activity grew considerably. There was a significant increase in website traffic and referrals from mental health organisations, which meant our campaign to raise awareness that grief can be mistaken for mental illness and also become mental ill-health, gathered pace during 2022 and will continue into 2023.

2022 sadly saw the departure of two trustees due to work pressures elsewhere. We were fortunate to replace them with one trustee in December and also increase our board of reference.

Our progress has only been made possible by ensuring we have the right people with the right skills to help take the charity forward. During 2022 the number of employees of the charity remained the same (3) plus a number of part-time consultancy staff. The Loss and Hope Administrator left later in the year for a full-time job which increased the workload of the Loss and Hope Manager. A decision was taken for a Board discussion in early 2023 on monetising the AtaLoss.org website and for increased attention to raising funds to build capacity to meet increased demand.

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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.

2022 was a year of significance in terms of how the country related to bereavement as an issue. Our concern was that the pandemic impact would soon be forgotten, and, until September, this seemed to be the case in terms of media profile. Despite this, across the nation, bereavement support organisations – especially the larger ones - found themselves overwhelmed by grieving people and some were forced to close their waiting lists. The death of The Queen in September and the UK Bereavement Commission reporting in October served to keep the issue on the agenda, which helped AtaLoss in its campaigning messages. But whilst the need for signposting, supporting bereaved people in their communities, and the role of faith groups were highlighted by the Commission, the role that bereavement plays in many societal issues, not least mental ill-health, was largely overlooked.

Although website donations increased, larger scale funding was harder to come by and the unremunerated work of our Chair, the Finance Assistant, Trustees, and advisors continued to be key to many developments.

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Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

• The AtaLoss.org website continued to develop, especially targeting inclusivity, and its directory of support exceeded 1500 listings across the UK by the end of 2022 with most having been checked for their accuracy.

• More effective systems were adopted for social media to ensure the AtaLoss.org website was found more easily by bereaved people and professionals working with them across the UK.

• • AtaLoss joined the Association of Independent Funeral Directors (SAIF) and National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD).

• • Collaboration with other organisations continued and mental health organizations were targeted, in particular.

• • A PR professional was appointed to secure more media coverage and was successful in achieving many radio and TV interviews, particularly interviews on Christian radio and TV. By the end of 2022 these stations were considering AtaLoss the ‘go to place’ for commentary on any news story or awareness day related to bereavement.

• • 3 central, online The Bereavement Journey courses were delivered to over 170 beneficiaries, many in the most tragic of bereavement circumstances – also training 24 new leaders.

• • There was a significant step up in development of the Loss and HOPE project with, by the end of 2022, over 180 churches running The Bereavement Journey support courses online or in person to thousands of beneficiaries across the UK.

• • Content was developed for the Loss and HOPE website, including case studies of effective initiatives, to resource churches in supporting bereaved people.

• • 10 Bereavement Friendly Church webinars were delivered training over 140 church leaders.

• • The Loss and HOPE team taught at 16 Christian conferences and events.

• • 10 ListeningPeople webinars and several in person and online training events were delivered, training scores of teachers and youth leaders in supporting children and young people through loss.

• • The charity’s promotional materials were revised and re-printed to reflect the post-pandemic situation.

• • A major refresh of The Bereavement Journey programme began with the re-writing and re-filming of the course’s 14 films to bring them up to date, make them more inclusive, modernize their presentation and style, and add more material (including pandemic bereavement, unprocessed loss and mental ill-health)

• • AtaLoss.org provided the bereavement signposting for the National Grief Awareness Week in December 2022.

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• The initial formal structures and procedures for the organisation were reviewed and continued, to underpin and sustain the key activities.

• A comprehensive review was conducted of our policies, updating them where required and adding new policies where needed.

• A focus on collaboration resulted in several new Ambassadors, sector associations and presentations - plus articles written both by AtaLoss staff for others and for our signposting and information website.

• An excellent trustee with business, board and finance experience was appointed, and Advisors and Ambassadors from minority ethnic backgrounds.

• The charity failed to fully secure funds to cover all expenditure of 2022. This is partly because fewer funds were available, but also trust funds were changing their criteria to support issues that were emerging from the pandemic years without recognizing bereavement as a significant factor. Also, payments were made for The Bereavement Journey new films in advance of receipt of the £30k pledge.

Section E Financial review

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Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Staff were employed in 2021 with the reserves policy changing to a minimum of 3 months’ reserves. This policy remained in place in 2022.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

NONE

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where 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.

The charity has mostly relied on donations and fundraising bids to date and whilst successful in generating more smaller donations and resource sale and training fee income in 2022, it was less successful in securing major funding. We continue to rely on our own efforts to secure funding to keep staff engaged by the charity.

Staffing costs increased during the year with a salaries inflationary uplift and hours extended. Extending staff hours has enabled the charity to continue to develop the signposting website and promote it, take on major administrative tasks to ensure compliance and build capacity, and in particular, to develop the Loss and HOPE project.

Our plans for 2023 include building further on our work across the whole charity, continuing to collaborate with others and with the media to raise our profile, build our network and extend our presence as a key and essential player in the bereavement sector and mental health world. We aim to be more confident in what we offer so that we remain the ‘go to’ place to find bereavement support across the UK but also use this and our reputation for delivering a gold standard signposting service to attract funding.

Section F Other optional information

Activities planned for 2023 are:

1. Secure major funds for the charity to fund, in particular, staff costs.

2. Consider the structure of the AtaLoss team and resources needed to move forward to the next phase of development. This might include additional team resources and support in key areas such as appointing a professional to help deliver a strategy for communications and social media, and/or extending our use of technology to achieve this.

3. Review – subject to funding- our IT strategy to streamline systems, maximise data security and provide staff with charity hardware.

4. Revisit our messaging to increase effectiveness and reach.

5. Extend our engagement with the NHS to decision-makers and ensure our signposting website is central to the emerging ICBs.

6. Continue to develop the AtaLoss.org website to ensure more local services are sourced and listed from all four UK nations.

7. Continue to seek to include bereavement services and resources via our signposting website, that support gender, race, disability and age.

8. Continue to develop the AtaLoss.org website – consider the design, layout, and readability to increase use and improve user journeys.

9. Extend products sold in the on-line shops and methodology for sales.

10. Explore the potential of corporate partnerships.

11. Address the potential for monetising the website- a special Board meeting has been arranged in January 2023 for the trustees to consider this.

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1. Continue to raise our profile as a charity supporting the (well-funded) mental health agenda, including connecting with the emerging social prescriber/link worker network in the UK.

2. Continue to raise awareness of the need for quality bereavement signposting and information, not least in the prevention of mental ill-health, especially during Grief Awareness Week 2023 and other national opportunities.

3. Complete the radical refresh of The Bereavement Journey by re-writing, updating and rebranding all supporting materials to ensure they are widely inclusive, presented in a way that meets modern day expectations and standards and include pandemic bereavement, unprocessed loss and mental illhealth, and implement a registration process to ensure the course is consistently delivered across the UK.

4. Explore the extension of The Bereavement Journey programme to overseas churches.

5. Extend the Loss and HOPE reach to include a wider and more diverse range of churches and organisations and resources on the website.

6. Secure more training opportunities in ministerial training colleges and a range of church conferences.

7. Build AtaLoss Friends to provide some essential volunteer support and fundraising activity.

8. Begin a ‘Partners’ Major Donors scheme to secure longer term charity funding.

9. Review our policies during the autumn of 2023.

10. Further develop associate, ambassadors, and partnership opportunities with bereavement organisations, seeking out opportunities that will help the charity to deliver its objectives.

Section G Declaration

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

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)

Y.Tulloch

Full name(s) YVONNE RICHMOND TULLOCH Position (eg Secretary, Chair, CHAIR etc)

Date 20th July 2023

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