BiG KIDS Annual Report (Year ending 31[st] March 2021)
BiG KIDS’ fourth year of operation was challenged by the global pandemic, with national lockdowns and restrictions in place. Work moved from mainly in person to mostly online, and the team shrank back to two, with overseas full time volunteers returning home to America.
So with the need to stay home, BiG KIDS moved online. Sam & Ste reworked the previous monthly roaming youth group (Friday Night Live), to become a half an hour weekly stream on Facebook that kids and families could tune in to at home.
Once the summer months came and restrictions changed, a ‘hybrid’ holiday club was created based loosely around the Wizard of Oz film. Kids received a box of crafts and activities, with videos to enjoy watching at home released each day.
September brought fresh optimism of what a ‘new normal’ may look like. Conversations with schools started back up, and churches were exploring what could be done that people would feel comfortable attending. BiG KIDS produced seasonal music videos for Harvest and Remembrance and tailored ‘virtual church tours’ for local primary schools. They also worked closely with The Genesis Project to create weekly videos and activity packs that were delivered to 30 children each week.
However, another lockdown came along. With the uncertainty again of what Christmas would look like, more videos were made for use in schools and churches. A Christingle song, short Christmas poem videos and a Christmas Eve puppet show were created and recorded.
Once January 2021 arrived, another lockdown was announced and more videos were created. More activity bags were sent weekly to families through The Genesis Project, plus a Lent music video was produced as well. Plans for spring and summer included videos for Easter plus meetings to explore what summer activities would look like, and when weekly School visits could restart, with the realistic expectation that this would be around September 2021 for the start of the new academic year.
Throughout the year, the videos were made available for free online via Facebook and YouTube. The videos went far and wide, across our local area, nationally and internationally as well. Thought was given to how this venture and the creative output of BiG KIDS could become a permanent feature of the charity’s resources.
Finances remained reasonably strong considering the face-to-face work had mostly stopped due to covid and national restrictions. Almost all regular givers continued to support the charity, though fundraiser events had to stop, one-off donations were less frequent and income from activities was obviously less than it would have been if people had been allowed to meet in person. We were extremely thankful for all those individuals and churches that continued to give money and support the work of BiG KIDS throughout this challenging year.
Trustees Meetings moved online via Zoom, where virtual reports were given. Support was offered to the team, and discussions included thoughts on how best to support churches and schools both through the pandemic and afterwards, as well as how the charity could increase income to further the reach and strengthen the output in new fields.
Big Kids Finance Statement @ 3tst March 2020 April 2019- April 2020- March 2020 March 2021 Income Grants 2,205 21,594 11,969 3,552 1,682 159 Donations Regular Giving Gift Aid Activity / Events Fund Raising Gap Year Fees Bank Interest Loans 12,083 12,722 3,033 156 56 15 TOTAL INCOME 41,216 30,018 Expenditure Payroll Staff Expenses Activity Cost Publicity Insurance 29,7 896 2,684 156 36,450 944 261 277 Admin incl P&S 24 120 TOTAL EXPENDITURE 33,721 37,791 NEtINCOME 7,496 17,7731 30,816 Closing Bank Balances Community Account Business Money Manager 2,162 36,427 862 29,954 TOTAL BANK BALANCES 38,589 30.816 Examlned and Verified by Gary Cox {Independent Examiner) GARY COX 22. Aprll 2021