2021-03-31-accounts - Jigsaw Thornbury

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Trustees Annual Report 1[st] April 2020 - 31[st] March 2021

Registered Charity number 1172953

www.jigsawthornbury.org.uk

`o`	REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS	Page 3
`o`	STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT	Page 4
`o`	OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES	Page 6
`o`	ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE	Page 7
`o`	SERVICE PERFORMANCE:	Page 8
`o`	WORKING WITH OTHERS	Page 13
`o`	FUNDRAISING AND DONATIONS	Page 14
`o`	CHAIR’S SUMMARY	Page 15
`o`	CEO SUMMARY	Page 16

The trustees present their report and the independently reviewed financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021.

Registered charity name JIGSAW Thornbury Charity Registration Number 1172953 Principal Office JIGSAW Thornbury St Mary Street Thornbury Bristol BS35 2AB

Trustees Helen Harrison May 2017 - September 2021 Chair, February 2019 – March 2021 Cheryl Jenkinson May 2017Vice Chair, February 2019 - Tabi Marsh Sept 2018-Oct 2020 Vice Chair, appointed 2018 Robert Cadman July 2019 - Danna Barochovsky Sept 2019 - May 2021 Joe Hughes Dec 2019 - May 2021 Hattie Clayton Sept 2020 – Chair, appointed March 2021 Emma Colwill Sept 2020 - Safeguarding Lead Annie Holland Sept 2021 - Helen Milne Sept 2021 - Steve Hyndman Sept 2021 -

Management Team Tor Goodman CEO Rachel Peart Support and Activities Manager Catherine Miles Operations Manager Lisa Straccia Volunteer and HR Manager, joined Sept 2021

Independent Examiner Arthur Croker FCPA Certified Professional Accountant 4 Tor View Cheddar Somerset BS27 3NQ

JIGSAW Thornbury is a registered charity, number 1172953, governed by the Charities Act 2006. The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and the constitutional document used throughout this report period was adopted in July 2018.

The Board of Trustees meet quarterly at a minimum with additional meetings for specific purposes as required. A Trustee term is 3 years, at which point Trustees must be reappointed. Chair and Vice Chair roles are appointed or reappointed annually at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). The Board proactively recruits trustees who have skills and experience that are likely to be of value to the charity.

Throughout the year this report covers, there were two managers responsible for running the organisation on a day-to-day basis and they report directly to the CEO. The management team have an excellent relationship with the board of trustees and the CEO meets regularly with the Chair of Trustees to update on the charity’s activities.

The Board of Trustees led a governance review using the Charity Governance code in March – June 2021. Actions were set from this initial review and this will be repeated annually.

The charity works closely with similar charities, schools, local authorities, community health services and local government. We also access support from other charities for training, advice and pro-bono input including NVCO, Small Charities Coalition, Foundation for Social Improvement, CVS, VOSCAR, CITA and ACAS.

The Trustees confirm that they referred to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity's aims and objectives for the year. This review was done as part of a wider strategic review process that started in February 2020 and involved gaining

feedback and input from staff, volunteers, and beneficiaries. We have since written a 5 year strategy and business plan starting in April 2022, based on the outcomes of this review.

The activities outlined in the Achievements and Performance section of this report outline how our public benefit was achieved between April 2020 and March 2021.

JIGSAW Thornbury holds a reserve fund to ensure the continuation of the services it provides if the income from grants and support in kind were to fail. The policy is to maintain a financial reserve of at least 3 months’ average outgoings, including wages and running costs. This reserve is reviewed regularly by the management team and trustees and any actions resulting from the review will be minuted and followed up at successive meetings.

JIGSAW Thornbury is an organisation that is run for and by its users, and so it is important that we understand what families with children and young people (CYP) with additional needs and disability (AND) require from our services. We therefore carry out an annual survey to assess how we are doing in this regard. Understanding the needs of the families we support enables us to respond appropriately and to make sure that resources are directed where they are most needed. We also gather feedback from our activities and training to ensure that we are getting it right at the time of delivery. For some activities we may use wellbeing measures or anxiety scale in order to monitor the effectiveness of our services.

We regularly collect data, such as the number of new members joining and attending our services and ask for feedback from members following events that we have carried out.

For the public benefit, the relief and education, of all local children with disabilities, aged 0-18 years, and their families by the provision of therapeutic, educational and stimulating services and activities. Taken from JIGSAW Thornbury’s Constitution adopted May 2017

Our aim is to support, inform and empower families who have CYP with any AND, with or without a diagnosis, enabling them to grow in strength and knowledge so they are better equipped to deal with the challenges they may face.

We do this in a number of ways:

Support & Parent/Carer Groups
SEN-sory Lending Library
Young Volunteers scheme
One to one therapeutic music sessions

“There is such a wealth of knowledge amongst the team that isn’t easy to access elsewhere. This knowledge has supported me to find positive ways forward for our family.”

Holiday activities
Training and awareness sessions for parents and in local schools, groups and clubs
Project 5 mental health and wellbeing programme
Sensory play sessions

We had a staff team of 11 part time staff at the start of this financial year, but sadly 2 staff resigned and we delayed re-recruiting new staff until we had a new venue. We have staff who coordinate our various activities and we also some administrative roles who support the running of the organisation.

We have a wide range of volunteers within the organisation aged from 5 to 75 and numbering approximately 20. During the pandemic we have struggled to provide the opportunities for volunteers to be engaged as we had to run our services virtually. In previous years volunteers have contributed over 700 hours of volunteering time per year, during the 2020-2021 period, this fell to under 100 hours. Due to the age of a number of the volunteers we have found a number are no longer able to volunteer or were unable to come back during the ongoing pandemic. This has impacted us significantly since coming back delivering face to face services.

Without the time and support of volunteers, we would be unable to function as successfully as we do. Things that they do for JIGSAW range from admin tasks to supporting parents at the drop-in sessions, helping at holiday activities, group sessions, lending library, and making cakes for our various activities. We really couldn’t do what we do without them. In recognition of our

volunteers, in 2018 we were awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. This is the highest award any voluntary organisation can receive and is equivalent to an MBE.

During 2020-2021 our achievements were less about awards and more about development of the organisation and improving the impact for our families…. and about the organisation and team staying together through the pandemic!

We continue to see our membership grow at a rapid rate, with over 110 new families joining and over 200 children accessing our services during 2020-2021 period. Most of these families have a BS or GL postcode.

A strong digital strategy is a key factor in the success of a charity, and we have spent time looking at our relevant strategies in order to strengthen our resilience. By automating processes, we have reduced workload and increased efficiency, as well as improving our marketing, communications and social media presence. This was particularly important when we had to rapidly convert to remote working in March 2019 when the Covid-19 pandemic first caused us to lockdown. Fortunately, we had already prioritised staff training on Office365, and had instituted the use of Workplace and Workchat, so were able to continue good communication between the team. Like most organisations, video conferencing has become vital to keep the team together and also to provide our services.

Throughout lockdowns, we provided daily content with Virtual JIGSAW. Initially the staff produced resources, such as mindfulness activities, sensory activities to do with the children and some cooking activities, but as time has gone on the young volunteers joined in producing some fabulous content themselves!

We have benefitted from the large increase in online training and webinars available during the pandemic from organisations such as the Small Charities Coalition, NCVO, CAF online, Institute of Fundraising and Foundation for Social Improvement. This has led to a period of staff upskilling in new areas of work. This has been particularly beneficial for the management team who are benefitting from training that previously would have taken place in locations far enough aware that that preclude attendance due to family commitments relating to having children with additional needs and disabilities.

A major challenge we overcame during the 2020/21 period was the building we were using as our family base being condemned. This rapidly accelerated our plans to identify a larger and more accessible venue to deliver services from once restrictions allowed. We were very pleased to identify a venue in the heart of Thornbury in early 2021 and have since moved in and begun delivering face-to-face services again, which we plan to expand on in future years.

Before the Covid-19 lockdown, we were holding term-time weekly drop-in sessions for parents/carers, who were welcome to bring pre-school children or those being home-educated. These sessions always have staff and volunteers present for support and advice; they became a regular time in the week for parents to get together, relax and support each other. Also, once a week we were holding craft sessions (mainly for mums) which was a time for mindfulness and wellbeing. Our sell-out mum’s vintage breakfast and weekly wellbeing craft session provided great opportunities to provide support in a less obvious and more relaxed way.

‘The group also made me realise that it is so important to carve out time for myself doing something that I enjoy.’ Wellbeing craft session

Our inclusion support programme involves a member of the team meeting up with those parents who find it difficult to come ‘through the door’ at JIGSAW. The team member meets the parent on a one-to-one basis in a café or park and then attends a JIGSAW event if they feel that would help.

All of these activities had to stop when coronavirus hit.
We quickly converted to virtual sessions which helped a number of families and for those that attended they proved really beneficial.
We did not attract nearly so many parents as we normally would and they reported that they just didn’t have capacity with juggling childcare, home learning, and work responsibilities.
This programme was turned upside down during the pandemic, but following the first lockdown one-to-one support has become the more common way of working. However,

although this seems to be the members preferred way of receiving support, we just don’t have capacity for this to be ongoing at a high level.

We have also run virtual support groups, but these are not as popular. An additional challenge has been that one of our support coordinators has been shielding, so we have had to adapt her role so she can stay safe.

One mum who lived alone with her daughter in a flat with no local support really benefitted from our weekly sessions. She not only accessed the support group, but also our wellbeing sessions and sensory and behavior training. We were able to ensure she had clothes for her daughter as charity shops weren’t open and black out blinds to help her daughter sleep. We felt we needed to use our resources to help those really in need.

This popular session is normally held monthly on a Saturday morning and allows families to borrow toys and equipment from our extensive catalogue to ‘try before they buy’. Our young volunteer’s café and craft areas for children to play are usually very popular and a real family social event.

“Our first experience of Jigsaw Thornbury was attending the Lending Library. My children love it there and, even if there is nothing that we currently want to borrow, they enjoy the crafts and social side of things.”

The Lending Library was one of the services that initially had to stop due to the lockdown restrictions. Once they were eased, we were able to start the sessions outside with a popup gazebo and new procedures to make sure everything was Covid-safe.
Without the social element of this session we have had a significant drop in attenders. This has subsequently had an impact on the income generated. Previously we would take an average of £150 per session. The income at our Covid-safe sessions is averaging at £27.00
We are exploring alternative ways to run this service. These include bringing all of our services together at one venue, setting up outreach sessions at other support groups and improving our database/ booking systems.

Just before Christmas we lost our lending library coordinator. As we had found engaging families difficult and didn’t have a venue to run from, we decided to delay recruiting until we had a new venue set up.

Twins Jonathon and James have been coming with their family to the lending library for a number of years. Being born prematurely had left them with complex needs that required them both to have support in school.

Staying still and being able to concentrate was one of their challenges. Their TA suggested some items from our lending library that may help the boys concentrate more in school. They borrowed a ‘busy legs’, a wobble and a wedge cushion, and a special slope to change the angle of writing.

School were able to trial these items until they got the right combination for each child. They are both now able to stay in class for longer periods and their concentration is improved. This improved their inclusion within lessons and gave them more opportunities to learn and keep up with their peers.

This scheme continues to be one of our most popular services and usually supports around 30 children from 5-15yrs. We now have a waiting list as we are at capacity.

When it is up and running in its normal format, the young people take part in a wide variety of activities, including sports taster sessions, litter picking, fundraising, and visits from other organisations such as the RNLI and The Guide Dogs. The young people have also learnt new skills such as Makaton and first aid.

Covid-19 has again got in the way of this service. We kept in touch with the young people, delivering craft packs for them

and sending out motivational messages, but sadly we found it hard to engage with them. Many of our young people find the virtual format challenging and we found families were overwhelmed with the challenges of homeschooling and keeping on top of their paid work.

Our amazing young people did rise to the challenge when it came to the national ‘2.6 Fundraising Challenge’.

Between them they achieved the following:

26km cycled every day for 7 days
2.6 miles walked three legged by two sisters Over 26 miles cycled in under 2.6 hours
26 laps run in the garden each day for 7 days
26 continuous hours in a campervan
26 cartwheels round the garden
26 logs loaded and unloaded
26 canvases painted in 2.6 days
26 frogs handmade
26 friendship bracelets made

They raised an epic £2,500 and 2 of them spoke on BBC Radio !

We were very proud that some of our young volunteers were recognised in the Thornbury Mayor’s Youth Awards for their contribution to JIGSAW.

We are hoping to extend this Young Volunteers scheme in 2021 so it can include 15-20 year olds with more of a focus on life skills.

We recognise how challenging the holidays can be for some of our families, many of whom get no respite or additional support during this time. For some families, this may be the only group activities they can attend because it provides nonjudgmental & supported opportunities to have fun. We allow the whole family to attend because we feel that the siblings are just as important as the child with the additional needs and it also enables families to spend quality time together.

‘Having a sibling with additional needs can be very challenging and knowing that both my children are welcome as equal and individual members in their own right is really important to us. 💗’

We worked hard to put on virtual sessions over the summer to meet our Covid-safe plan.
• We ran Ukulele, yoga, martial arts and science bugs session, but by far the most popular activity was baking with Rosie.
The sunny weather as well as a strong degree of digital overload meant uptake was relatively low.
However, those that did attend had a great time, as the photos and comments show!

“My children absolutely loved this including my teenagers!!! My eldest has agreed to look at joining a martial arts club following this which is wonderful as she struggles with anxiety and this really lifted her mood today.”

“..he really enjoyed the session! The small group size works well and when Rosie gives praise to Ernie directly it makes his day! The session is just the right length too as he stays attentive throughout. Thank you!”

“A professional and friendly session and lots of fun! So lovely to be able to take part in these interactive sessions from home”

Our training and awareness events continue to prove very popular, even when we have delivered them virtually. In the last year we have delivered 35 training sessions with 134 members booked on. We also delivered a sell-out conference to parents and professionals.

Behaviour
Sensory Awareness
EHCP (School) Support
Considering wills and trusts for carers
Pathological Demand Avoidance awareness
Wellbeing toolkit (6 sessions)
Online safety for parent/carers of vulnerable children
Managing ARFID (food avoidance) for parents/carers
Executive Functioning Awareness

“I thought the information was comprehensive, delivered at a really good pace, there were good mechanisms to check and reinforce what we’d learnt and the info was illustrated very well with case studies. The trainers were great and made it easy and comfortable to ask questions’

Project 5 was produced with the support of various professionals and is based on positive psychology and Minds ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’. It is delivered over a number of sessions, with a resource journal for reference once the course is over.

We have delivered it to school years 5-6 at primary level and run an adapted version called Exam Busters for those apporaching their GCSE’s & A-levels.

In addition to the conference we have also started delivering ‘Train the Trainer’ sessions so that schools are able to deliver the programme themselves with our support.

We are currently developing a programme for school years 2-4 with the aim of developing emotional intelligence at a younger age to try and prevent further issues in the future.

Due to lockdown we quickly transferred to using the virtual format. Initially we saw a drop in numbers, but as time has gone on we have seen these increase again.
We also adapted the Project 5 programme delivering a 2-session course for parents on ‘Building Resilience in Anxious Minds’.
Having set up the virtual format, opportunities are arising to provide training to people who are located beyond our normal boundaries. We are aiming to develop a programme of webinars for non-members which will generate income to help fund our other services to members.

We have continued to work hard networking with other statutory organisations, charities and after school groups looking at potential opportunities to work collaboratively and improve our impact. Many of these projects stopped due to the pandemic, but we have continued working with BALPA, FACE and Krunch SW.

Below are the key organisations we have been working closely with:

BALPA
Cadman Wealth Planning
Castle School
Collecteco
Coop Thornbury
FACE
Foundation Lodge no.5394
Krunch SW
Papilio @ Heritage
South Gloucestershire Council
Tesco’s
Thornbury Lions
Thornbury Rotary Club
Thornbury Round Table
Thornbury Town Council
Thornbury Town Trust
Twiglet Publishing

o Phase

We continue to be supported by a number of corporates including local solicitors, financial advisors, hotels and supermarket chains.

We have also delivered a number of talks to local groups within the local town, however these have enevitably stopped during 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown. We hope to resume this partnership when we are through this unsettling period.

We have been corporate partners with Aztec Hotel and Spa for 5 years now and they have provided parties, swimming sessions and thank you sessions on several occasions, as well as hosting our annual ball and inaugural conference. We really appreciate the amazing support they give us.

‘We've had the pleasure of hosting the brilliant Young Volunteers group in the past. It's always been inspiring to see such enthusiasm to get stuck in and learn! We can't wait to work with you again soon’

This is one area where we have really been hit hard by the pandemic as many community fundraising events were subsequently cancelled. It also halted plans for our annual ball and conference, which are usually income generating events. We have been very fortunate that the majority of our wages are covered by grants and funders have been very understanding and flexible when it comes to delivery of our projects. We only needed to furlough 2 members of the team, but the rest of the staff were able to continue working despite the obvious challenges presented by the pandemic and subsequent lockdown.

We have seen a significant drop in our income from donations and our own generated income. However, we have been lucky to able to fill that gap with grant funding and have recently been able to secure funding to help with our recovery from this crisis.

	Last year (Covid-19
Source		Covid-19 Period	Difference
	equivalent period)

Activities	£2,843	£1,463	-£1380
Internal	£300	£3,700	+£3400
Fundraising
Donations	£7,321	£600	-£6721
Grants	£12,000	£23,996	+£17,759
Total	£22,464	£29,759	+£7295

We are very grateful to the young volunteers who really were the champions when it came to fundraising for us! We are also grateful to the staff whose roles were diversified and fundraising and developing income generating streams has become their Covid role.

Two new sessions included a teddy bear hunt and walking safari which not only generated income, but also provided light relief for families when alternative activities were in short supply.

Our online shop is developing with items that follow our normal activities and promote wellbeing, including forest school kits and craft packs.

We are very grateful to all the funders who have supported us during this period. We have been lucky enough to secure enough grants for us to be able to continue providing all our normal services.

The period of April 2020 – March 2021 saw rapid change which presented many challenges and uncertainties across the sector. For JIGSAW, finding new and different ways to support families with children and young people with additional needs and disabilities continued to be a priority. The extraordinary resilience of our team meant that the vital support we provide to families continued throughout the pandemic. The response to Covid and surrounding challenges by our team has been truly impressive, and whilst the uncertainty continues, it is important take a moment to pause and recognise just how brilliant each individual team member is and the important impact we have been able to achieve by coming together. This includes the fantastic effort from our young volunteers who raised £2,500 during lockdown. They are a true inspiration to all of us.

A large focus for the trustees towards the end of the 20/21 year was governance, something that has continued to be a priority throughout 2021. This began with a review of our governance using the Charity Governance Code and making plans for a board skills audit later in 2021 to further identify areas of development. Since then, we have been very pleased to welcome 3 new trustees

recruited in the summer of 2021, who have all been contributing to our governance improvements with their unique skills and experiences.

Alongside the governance review, we also began a strategic review process in early 2021. This involved a series of focus groups with trustees, staff, volunteers, and families we support using all the popular virtual platforms of the time, such as Miro, Padlet, Mentimeter, and a spin the wheel generator. This listening exercise set us up for the focus of 2021/22 being to formalise our vision, values, and strategy, and begin a business planning process. Our aim is to be delivering against our new business plan from April 2022.

To set us up for success, the 2021/22 period will be a time for the trustees and staff team to begin working more closely together, sharing skills and knowledge and building infrastructure such as a new Project Management Framework. We know that the 2021/22 period will be yet another time of change for JIGSAW. These plans will be successful in the longer-term by our whole team coming together to harness our skills and passion and support each other compassionately. I am personally looking forward to spending time developing relationships with team members and investing in a strong Chair-CEO relationship which will be a foundation for a successful year. A huge thank you to everyone in the team for the immense effort that has gone into achieving our impact throughout the 2020/21 period, and for the support we have received from funders and partners. I am looking forward to tackling challenges and celebrating successes together throughout the 2021/22 period and beyond.

Hattie Clayton Chair of Trustees

The period of April 2020 to March 2021 will certainly stand out in the organisation’s memory as a period of great uncertainty and change. Not only dealing with the challenges Covid presented but finding out our venue was condemned, dealing with the subsequent search for a new home for JIGSAW, and starting a strategic review certainly kept us busy! We were very fortunate to identify a venue early in 2021 and relocated there July 2021.

The new venue is in a central location in Thornbury and will allow all our services to come together in a much more accessible place. We hope that being in such a central location will allow us to raise awareness of our cause, provide more fundraising opportunities, and provide an attractive and welcoming venue for our families to come to for support and activities.

The JIGSAW team have shown huge ability to adapt to change and uncertainty over the last few years, and have become a strong and resilient team, which will stand us in good stead as we move into a new home and increase the size of the team and develop new services.

Complete our strategic review and continue developing our business plan for launch in April 2022
We will be focusing on developing our fundraising and marketing strategies, stakeholder engagement plan, and introduce a project management framework as part of this development work
We would like to continue to extend our services to young people aged between 18-25
Explore more partnership working with other organisations to maximise our impact
Explore ways that we can become more sustainable and less reliant on grant funding in the future

The work that JIGSAW Thornbury does would not be possible without the commitment, enthusiasm and dedication of all the staff, volunteers and trustees. It is a privilege and a pleasure to be part of such a dynamic, forward thinking and supportive organisation.

My sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who makes JIGSAW Thornbury a very special place to be.

To know more visit our website www.jigsawthornbury.org.uk

Tor Goodman Founder and CEO

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Jbg8aw ThOrnIry 1172953 Recei tsand ents accounts CC16a from To Oih)4r2020 31KIW021 Section A Receipts and payments Unrèstricted lunds Restricted ds Endowment Tot•1 fufKI• L••t ymr A1 R1 Fundraisin Grants Donation5 Activit in¢omo incrm 6M91 17,121 4.ml Ir.121 AR) 14D. 170.201 17S,202 Diiecl act costs es and volunie¢t c¢xli PremLqes cosls Tlainin Fundraisin Office&lTE Oiher 730 510 1J8 $10 510 3.639 1897 Sub total 10.174 A4 A¥¥gt and Investrnont Sub total 10.174 87MSS 9B,029 Net of rnceIptlpaVMents) A5 Tran$f•rn b•tw••n funds A6 C¥Bh fvnd¥ la¥t year ond Cash lunds this year end 24.67 77.173 S3.164 151,411 CCXX Rl a¢c4unts ISSI 0811212021

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrg$trict8d Restricted lunds ID n•ir•Jt E Endowment nds nearoJt e B1 Cash funds 47.311 247 P8yP &7M Tolal cash ldS 53.164 98.247 Unrestrkl•d Rtrted funds Endowmetht fvnd8 Dpt.qil8 to near••te Fund towhh Curr•nt v•lu• Dotails 83 Inv•8tment a•8•t• Co Cuty•ntv•l n•1 B4 A88ets retalned for th• charfty's own use to whkh Details B6 Llabllltle8 Syrd by one or Iru8ta88 on behaff of all the Ite83 s?1Te Pmt Name Datè ol Owd HAT TIE LLAYfoTrJ 2111}2oLI CCXX R2 accounts ISSI 0811212021

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent oxamin8fs .%Jr.rioi'. T) L.5 -rAc)Q¢KJ(kknQ 31 J cj {relember tts th* of a¢fyth)Ml sheelal 2011 fth• Ae). Ml•r 145 of th• 2011 Ad and li ¢>Jt rrty ¥Aany1m, I Jbr 145(5)Ib) olthè A IOK fjETI4 VKC C_QO HE FCPA i UR Vi£ cilkn ()k?