Charity number: 1173120
PROJECT FOOD CIO
ANNUAL REPORT AND RECEIPT AND PAYMENT ACCOUNTS
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
PROJECT FOOD CIO
CONTENTS
| Page | ||
|---|---|---|
| Reference and administrative details | 1 | |
| Trustees' report | 2 | - 7 |
| Independent examiner's report | 8 | |
| Receipt and payments | 9 | |
| Statement of assets and liabilities | 10 |
PROJECT FOOD CIO
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Trustees
G Dodd (Chair of Trustees) S Birnie - Appointed 17 July 2023 S Cockayne - Appointed 3 July 2023 A de Ferranti - Appointed 30 June 2023 J Thompson - Appointed 7 December 2023 S Banks J Sage - Resigned 18 September 2023 H Creed - Resigned 13 March 2023 K Cockerell - Resigned 16 January 2023 C Jefferies - Resigned 16 January 2023
Charity registered number
1173120
Principal office
Axminster Hospital Chard Street Axminster Devon EX13 5DU
Accountants
Griffin Chartered Accountants Courtenay House Pynes Hill Exeter EX2 5AZ
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
TRUSTEES' REPORT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Constitution
Project Food is a charitable incorporated organisation governed by its constitution dated 3[rd] April 2017 and amended on 2[nd] June 2020.
Method of appointment or election of trustees
Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The objects of the CIO are to preserve and protect the health of the people and of the environment in South West England, in particular, but not exclusively - by the provision of appropriate education on healthy eating, cooking and other relevant skills, and,
- by promoting and improving the knowledge of sustainable development, in particular, but not exclusively, sustainable food production and distribution.
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
From our Chair of Trustees
For the last 17 years, Project Food has been privileged to support people living in food poverty in our local area, not just by providing them with healthy food but also by helping them to acquire the skills and confidence to provide healthy food for themselves. Sadly the wider economic climate has made life harder, rather than easier, than it was at our inception - not only for our beneficiaries but also for the charity itself. Despite that, our work with all age groups continues to make a real difference to the mental and physical health of those most in need in our community.
This year we waved a grateful farewell to three of our longstanding trustees, but also extended a warm and equally grateful welcome to three new ones. The board of trustees of Project Food remains steadfast in its resolve to help people improve their diet and enjoy better physical and mental health.
We are indebted to all of our staff, volunteers and funders for everything that they do to enable Project Food to achieve its aims.
Main activities for the public benefit
Our mission is to enable people in the South West to improve their diet so that they enjoy better physical and mental health. Based in Axminster Hospital, we support people in East Devon, West Dorset and South Somerset to identify their own personal difficulties and to find long-term solutions that will work for them. We help them to learn how to cook healthy meals for themselves and their families, and we provide access to nutritious food. We educate and inform; we deliver skills; we support. We work with all ages: from the very young, to very elderly people in the community, focussing particularly on people in isolated and otherwise disadvantaged groups.
80% of the adults who Project Food supports have long term mental and physical health conditions which prevent them from working. They live, therefore, on very low incomes and, being mostly rural, have to travel far for shops and healthcare.
80% of the children with whom Project Food works have special educational needs. Many are not in school: a parent often stays at home to look after them and so the family struggles financially.
Inflation profoundly increases household food insecurity. A YouGov survey by the Food Foundation found that, in June 2023, 17.0% of households in the UK were ‘food insecure’ (ate less or went a day without eating because they couldn’t access or afford food), up from 8.8% in January 2022 and 7.4% in January 2021.
| I am grateful beyond words….. I have cooked all my life and have been miserable only being able to eat convenience foods. I also think that it's been affecting my health. The fresh fruit and veg has made a huge difference to how I feel physically.' Kayleigh, recipient of weekly food box |
The impact of Project Food’s work |
|---|---|
| 75% of parents said that their child will try new foods since comingto Kids’ Kitchen. |
|
| 100% of people felt that receiving Project Food recipe boxes helped them to eat more healthily and said that theywould make the recipes again in the future. |
|
| 60% of adults who attended our ‘Cooking Made Easy’ sessions in Axminster reported that they now try to eat a balanced diet all the time. This is an increase from zero at the beginningof the course. |
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| 80% of the same group felt that their ability to cook a meal from scratch had improved and that they were more confident to make good food choices. |
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
An example of one of our projects:
Chard families enjoy some Good Grub
Over the last year Project Food has been running a new programme in Chard, called ‘Good Grub Club’. This is a series of cooking sessions held during the school holidays to support low-income families to cook and eat more healthily. Alongside Project Food staff and volunteers, families cook a delicious budgetfriendly meal at each session and sit down together to share it afterwards. Parents are also given a recipe box to take away and practise their new skills at home. And it wasn’t just the parents who benefitted – the children found the sessions equally valuable. As one mother told us:
‘When Alex woke up this morning, the first thing he said was “is it cooking club today?” It’s something he can be good at and it is making him more confident as well as teaching him new things. '
Highlights of the year:
We were delighted to be able to use our Axminster and Ottery St Mary Hospital kitchens extensively this year. We ran face to face sessions for people of all ages, both group and one to one, according to the needs of the individual. A summary of our activities in 2022-23 can be found below:
A year in numbers
4514 newsletters were sent to adults who were isolated and living alone, supporting them to stay physically and mentally healthy
2172 fruit and vegetable boxes and homemade meals were given away to people living in food poverty or people too unwell to cook
314 recipe boxes were given away to families in food poverty and people living with mental illness
255 adults attended cooking sessions across East Devon and South Somerset 182 children attended holiday, after-school or in-schooltime cooking sessions
44 parents and 71 children attended Good Grub Club courses in 3 schools in Chard
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Ruth’s story
Ruth’s journey with Project Food began when her children started Kid’s Kitchen, an after-school club for children with special educational needs. Ruth was keen for her children to learn to cook, but due to her own negative feelings about food and cooking, she felt that she was not the one to teach them.
When she was growing up, Ruth often heard her mum say that she couldn’t cook and was terrible at it. This meant that she never learned basic cooking skills:
“When it came to cooking, I would give up before I had even started. Food in the fridge would often rot and be thrown away because I just didn’t know what to do with it”.
Ruth and her family now receive a regular recipe box from Project Food to give her some guidance and help grow her confidence around food and cooking.
“The recipe boxes are absolutely fantastic. The range of recipes I can cook has gone from 3 to around 15 – and everyone enjoys the meals. I saved the recipes in a folder and cooked most of them again. I have also started to Google recipes to help me find recipes to make something of food I have in the fridge which has massively reduced the amount of food wasted.”
Ruth’s next step will be to start some one-to-one cooking classes with one of our volunteers.
“I feel a little nervous about the classes, but I know that they will ensure that I don’t pass my anxieties around food and cooking on to my children. I look forward to overcoming the mental barriers which stop me from cooking confidently. I see other people meal planning, cooking, and understanding food and have always wanted to do the same”.
“Learning to cook with Project Food is making me feel amazing and I feel like I am really achieving something”.
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
FINANCIAL REVIEW
During the year, the charity received total income of £97,520 and had total costs of £104,731 giving a deficit of £7,211. The charity had budgeted to have a deficit of £5,000 but has underperformed against the budget due to the closure and moving of their shop into the Hospital which has caused a decrease in income. The reserves they have are enough to cover this deficit easily.
Reserves policy
The trustees are satisfied that the level of cash funds as shown on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities are adequate to cover known and anticipated costs in the short term.
Trustees review the needs of the charity on a regular basis and aim to maintain at least six months of operating costs within the charity's reserves. However, this is not always possible as the charity is dependent upon donation and grant income. As a minimum, cash funds of £12,000 will be kept to cover mandatory redundancy payments for staff and funds required to cover long term agreements. On 31 March 2023, the Trust is holding £57,444 of unrestricted cash funds, which is adequate to meet this policy.
The report was approved by the trustees on 13/12/2023
and signed on its behalf by:
G Dodd
Chair of Trustees
Page 7
PROJECT FOOD CIO
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF PROJECT FOOD CIO.
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 March 2023 which are set out on pages 7 and 8.
RESPONSIBILITIES AND BASIS OF REPORT
As the charity's trustees, 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 the Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under scetion 145(5)(b) of the Act.
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S STATEMENT
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records ; or
-
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: Dated: 22/12/23
Laura Waycott FCA Griffin Chartered Accountants Courtenay House Pynes Hill Exeter EX2 5AZ
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
| Receipts Donations Grants The Food Hub Shop Sales Fundraising events Interest received TOTAL RECEIPTS Payments Purchases - shop stock Staff costs Establishment costs Project room hire Learning materials Food Office and cooking equipment costs Training, recruitment and travel Project publicity and fundraising Bank fees Postage Insurance Independent examination fees Activity Consultancy TOTAL PAYMENTS SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR |
Unrestricted funds 2023 £ 11,800 8,800 2,454 329 156 23,539 46 15,904 - - 484 1,238 - - 819 31 - - 1,134 - - 19,656 3,883 |
Restricted funds 2023 £ - 72,437 - - - 72,437 664 55,937 1,045 525 5,005 11,964 808 3,481 880 - 825 774 - 523 1,100 83,531 (11,094) |
Total funds 2023 £ 11,800 81,237 2,454 329 156 95,976 710 71,841 1,045 525 5,489 13,202 808 3,481 1,699 31 825 774 1,134 523 1,100 103,187 (7,211) |
Total funds 2022 £ 8,726 79,730 9,670 7,813 95 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 106,034 | ||||
| 7,613 69,579 1,293 411 4,182 11,120 3,118 4,188 9,016 1,509 760 1,080 1,028 |
||||
| 114,897 | ||||
| (8,863) |
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PROJECT FOOD CIO
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
| Cash funds Bank accounts Petty cash TOTAL ASSETS |
Unrestricted funds 2023 £ 57,352 92 57,444 |
Restricted funds 2023 £ 17,180 - 17,180 |
Total funds 2023 £ Total funds 2022 £ 74,532 81,821 92 14 74,624 81,835 |
|---|---|---|---|
The accounts were approved by the Trustees on and signed on their 13/12/2023 behalf by:
G Dodd Chair of Trustees
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