DADDYS WITH ANGELS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 12021 bb8sWith4 Registered Charity Number:1173978
Daddy’s with Angels (DWA) A Brief History
In 2010 Paul Scully Sloan’s son TJ passed away suddenly despite his huge attempts to resuscitate him. Once the funeral and
subsequent normality of life set in Paul found himself struggling to access support, yet he was turned away from loss groups as ‘fathers aren’t welcome’, a shocking and shameful statement in a society that ‘expects’ dads to be the strength in loss.
On the 8th December 2010 the first DWA Group was formed for all family members. Paul was determined that DWA would be all-inclusive and our mantra of ‘any age or gestation and by any cause’ is the very cornerstone of what we do to this day. As the group grew it became apparent that there was a need for male family members to have an outlet for their grief. As stated above, society expects fathers to be strong, to hold things together yet with the loss of a child the grief is all consuming, debilitating and devastating. DWA were the first to open a dedicated support facility for male only members and from its inception it has grown at the same rate as the families group.
In 2017 Daddy’s With Angels became an official registered charity in England and Wales number,1173978, and with over 4,000 supported members globally and with a following footprint of over 10,000 on Facebook alone.
DWA is not a counselling service despite several admins having completed counselling courses at varying levels. We are a peer support service with members helping each other having ‘lived’ child loss. It is a unique service and currently the most active group in the world on a daily basis.
Awards
The loss community very quickly realised that DWA were making an impact and in 2014 and 2016 The Butterfly Awards recognised this presenting DWA with Best Support Organisation.
Paul was awarded Inspirational Father Of The Year in 2014 followed by Dan Hill being awarded the same huge honour in 2016.
Two lifetime achievement awards followed from Darcys Dream Charity and Northampton Chamber Of Commerce.
DWA are currently the Central England Community Interest Charity Of The Year 2020/21
In May 2021 DWA were made the Wigan MBC Mayoral Charity by Mayor Yvonne Klieve
becoming the first individual charity for child loss (non age specific) to have such an honour
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Covid 19 provision
As stated in last years report our Director, Dan has reached out to the NHS and local / regional bodies to offer Daddys With Angels as a resource for all U18 deaths due to the COVID-19 crisis.
All hospital chaplains in the North West continue to have access to signposting materials and link information. This is a support resource not just for this period but ongoing for as long as the bereaved feel they need us and is also free of charge to enable the NHS and regional bodies to use their finances elsewhere.
This will enable local bereavement planning teams a free to use, long term facility to signpost bereaved families towards as an alternative to the counselling resources currently limited to six sessions.
We are currently being used as a point of contact by six NHS trust regions.
The year in brief 2020 /21
Whilst the charity sector in general has struggled immensely during the pandemic due to revenue reductions and furlough payments DWA has grown significantly due to our policy of a zero wage structure and a careful management of expenditure.
With the launch of our new website in December 2020 we have seen an increase of over 115% in site visits compared to our previous site using SEO enhancements and keyword monitoring. And as a result we have seen an increase in membership in excess of 6% throughout the groups and increase in professional bodies using us as an outsourced information and support network up by approximately 15% to include NHS referrals. This is obviously something we are immensely proud of and is not only testament to the amazing team of volunteers that keep DWA working day in day out but also to the feedback from our members to these trusts.
May 2021 saw DWA announced as the Mayoral Charity for Wigan MBC which is an amazing honour and one which will raise the profile, not only of Daddys With Angels but also help to break the taboo of the topic of child loss. As part of this great honour DWA are an integral part of two memorial gardens within the Borough which will be accessible to all within the community. These will be idyllic areas where the bereaved can visit and sit quietly and remember their departed loved ones in a place full f wild flowers. They will also be able to write messages to their loved ones on seed impregnated paper which will then be shredded and scattered to encourage more wild plants to attract butterflies and other wildlife.
August 2021we were amazed when the relative of a member announced he wanted to do something extreme in tribute to their daughter Nova Lily. He travelled to Dubai and ran over 100 miles in one day across the desert raising £5000 which he donated to DWA to help us carry on our work. Although he wishes to stay anonymous it would be remiss of me not to include this amazing feat in the annual report. We are extremely grateful to him and will be inviting Nova Lily’s parents to attend the Mayors Ball as our guest as a thank you to him for his sacrifice in her name. This final amount will be received after accounts submittal and will appear in 2021/22 account summary
The Mayor’s Charity Committee have announced several dates for fundraising events before Christmas including a Classic Car rally, a Gin night and various quiz nights
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2020 / 21 Significant Expenditure
With the current financial climate and uncertainty surrounding lockdowns we have been rather ‘frugal’ this year understandably however we have had a few significant expenses. Our event inflatable suffered extensive damage due to not being used during the pandemic. Rather than spending a huge amount of money on repairs it was better financially to replace the item so £450 was spent on a speedcage and radar event inflatable. This will be used in conjunction with our information stands, banners and gazebo to not only raise money for the charity but also to encourage footfall to raise awareness and allow more families affected by child loss to discover DWA and access the support we provide.
The reason we decided on a speedcage rather than a slide or castle is that the speedcage doesn’t need to be PIPA Certificated and will therefore save us £100 each year in registration fees.
With our move into ‘Community Events’ we wanted to get people talking about child loss and due to my personal vehicle being used to deliver
items, attend meetings and carry cargo it was decided to purchase a PR type vehicle for events and public appearances so Q992REU was purchased at a cost of £2300. The vehicle required upgrading and repairs which I have undertaken myself also using my personal vehicle as a PX and as a result its insurable value is now in excess of £4000. The upkeep and maintenance, insurance and vehicle excise will be covered by The Director personally so as not to impact the charity finances. The vehicle has been named ‘Skully’ in honour of our founder and his family.
The Lockhart family once again carried out a fundraiser in tribute to their angels collectively known as GSTA. To help them DWA purchased and printed polo shirts for their event at a cost of £100. As always we are extremely grateful for their support and it was a pleasure to provide these for their immense efforts.
2020 / 21 Significant income
The Mayoral Charity Committee – Wigan MBC
Mayor Yvonne Klieve as Wigan MBC Mayor donated the sum of £10000 to DWA which will be matched again in January 2022 to enable us to help create and fund the Memorial Gardens in the Borough. The cost of each garden will amount to approximately £7000 which will mean
£3000 towards DWA running costs and special projects for 2022
Our anonymous donor who ran across the desert this year will deposit £5000 for DWA in honour of Nova Lily. £1000 of this money has been ringfenced and will be used to produce and print 10000 plastic ‘business cards’ which will replace the outdated leaflet packs for NHS trusts, funeral homes and hospices and will be rolled out in December 2021
2021 / 2022 Expected Income / Expenses
Already we are extremely optimistic that we can see the steady growth financially to continue as our media exposure and our events in the community expand.
The Mayoral Charity Committee have already stated that they will be donating a further £10000 in January (again £7000 to be ring fenced to fund a memorial garden) as well as various other fundraising events within the region. The final figure when our tenure as Mayoral Charity ends we are hoping to exceed £12500
We are hoping to attend four events in 2022 prior to annual accounts being submitted and it is hoped that we should raise in excess of £5000
We do not expect any significant expenditure during 2022 other than printing costs, equipment upkeep and projects
2021 / 2022 Projects
As well as the memorial gardens in Wigan we are looking to part fund a similar venture in Northampton to honour our founder Paul Scully Sloan in conjunction and partnership with his family. The cost will likely be in the region of £5000 and will be funded partly from our reserves and also via a fundraising drive specifically for this expense. No other charitable bodies / CIC’s will be approached nor invited to assist at the wishes of his family.
In Spring 2022 DWA will be presenting to the Masonic Charitable Foundation to expand the Sibling Bear program to the USA. All costs of this project will be offset so as not to impact on DWA financially along with a partnership with a global airline who are looking to sponsor any travel and accommodation needs between the UK and the USA we may have prior to launch.
After Paul’s death in 2019 DWA returned to its original cause of support only however after
almost 100 requests for burial gowns we will once again be providing these gowns as an adhoc provision for bereaved families and groups. We estimate that by launch in January 2022 we will have five professional seamstresses each donating one half day each fortnight to produce personalized and embroidered burial gowns. These will be provided completely free of charge. No external fundraising will be undertaken to fund these items. We currently hold in excess of fifty wedding dresses with an average of five more each month arriving.
With three of our staff currently ordained we are looking at providing a celebrant service for funerals and commemoration / commital events. With the exception of fuel expenses these again will be free of charge to the families. We are currently speaking to two funeral director groups to provide this service on their behalf.
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2020 / 2021 Financial Details
Opening Balance / Balance carried forward
The balance in the DWA CAF account stood at £5808.09 on 01.10.2020
Today that balance stands at £12832.14 which shows significant growth despite the pandemic and also the benefit of tighter financial controls during this period.
Of that balance £7000 has been ring fenced to fund the first memorial garden in Wigan MBC as agreed with The Mayoral Charity Committee. It is estimated that even after this £7K outlay and a similar outlay in January 2022 we shall still see a balance in excess of £12500 moving forward and with the events it is hoped that DWA will become completely self funded by the end of the next accounting period.
Bank Accounts transactions.
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Opening Oct 20 5808.09
out in
6.10.20 201.60 Wix upgrade -
DH
9.10.21 43.20 Website fee - LS
15.10.21 8.00 Bank Fee
Nov 20
16.11.21 8.00 Bank Fee
27.11.21 14.55 BACS P D
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Dec 20
3.12.20 100.00 Fuel - DH
15.12.20 8.00 Bank Fee
21.12.20 322.76 FB P D
Jan 21
14.01.21 418.80 Media
15.01.21 8.00 Bank Fee
20.01.21 181.76 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
Feb 21
15.02.21 8.00 Bank Fee
22.01.21 320.00 Third Sector
150.80 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
Mar 21
15.3.21 8.00 Bank Fee
24.3.21 320.00 Third Sector
19.40 BACS P D
26.3.21 50.90 Printer – DH
Apr 21
6.4.21 194.93 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
15.4.21 8.00 Bank Fee
30.4.21 320.00 Third Sector
May 21
7.5.21 1275.55 BACS P D
17.5.21 8.00 Bank fee
Jun 21
3.6.21 133.48 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
15.6.21 8.00 Bank Fee
17.6.21 640.00 Third Sector
30.6.21 450.00 Events replace
Jul 21
6.7.21 19.40 BACS P D
126.76 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
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Currency charge
9.7.21 10000.00 Wigan MBC
Mayor
14.7.21 110.00 W. Brown
Printers
15.7.21 8.00 Bank Fee
26.7.21 4.85 BACS P D
Aug 21
5.8.21 19.40 CAF P D
9.8.21 191.70 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
12.8.21 48.50 CAF P D
15.8.21 8.00 Bank Fee
18.8.21 320.00 Third Sector
19.40 CAF P D
2.42 P D
Sep 21
2.9.21 2300.00 Q922REU – DH
10.9.21 106.48 FB P D
6.00 Foreign
Currency charge
13.9.21 80.57 Lockharts Printing – DH
15.8.21 8.00 Bank Fee
Closing 12823.07
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Trustees
The restructuring of the trustees for DWA is now complete and the Charities Commission will receive notice of these alterations and additions prior to 01.11.2021
Summary
Despite the charity sector floundering for almost two years Daddys With Angels are showing that when an organisation sticks to its core values and its original purpose it is possible to not only survive the trials that the outside world brings but it
can actually thrive. Membership growing steadily as is the funding with strict spending controls in place. DWA continues to forge new partnerships and offers assistance to other loss specific organisations.
With a return to families assistance by way of burial assistance they look to strengthen their position within the sector even further not just in the UK but on a global scale. Their no wage structure ethic remains in force….. charity should be exactly that.