Coaching. Connection. Contribution.
Report of the Trustees for the period ended 31 August 2025
The trustees of GivingTime present their annual report and accounts of the charity for the period from 1 Sep 2024 to 31 August 2025 and confirm they comply with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 and the charity’s constitution.
Our Purpose
GivingTime is a coaching and volunteering charity where time is our currency .
Our volunteer coaches give their time as thinking partners for young people, and in return, those young people give their time in their community to a cause that matters to them.
Through this simple exchange, we build confidence , uncover strengths , and foster human connection - equipping young people to navigate a dynamic world while strengthening the communities they serve.
Our coaches meet young people where they are - listening without judgment, asking questions that expand thinking, and encouraging self-care.
We don’t instruct; we partner.
How we work
GivingTime works in partnership with UK state secondary schools to provide adolescent students (aged 14-18 years old) with free one-to-one professional coaching sessions.
Students who apply to the GivingTime programme are paired with experienced professional coaches who volunteer their time to provide up to six coaching sessions online.
In return for the coaching, students commit to at least six volunteer hours to a cause that matters to them and their community.
The GivingTime programme operates entirely on a voluntary basis; schools, young people, coaches and organisations volunteer their time free of charge.
Why GivingTime?
Post pandemic and against a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape with economic uncertainty and rapid technological advancement, this is a challenging time to be an adolescent, trying to forge a path for themselves. There is so much information available and so many choices that it can be overwhelming.
The life-stage of adolescence brings a number of challenges; biological, cognitive, psychological, social. GivingTime uses coaching as a tool to positively impact the cognitive and psychological challenges of adolescence. Through coaching, young people learn about their strengths, the
www.givingtime.org.uk
Registered Charity Number 1176752
importance of their actions and start to discover their own values and beliefs which enables them to become more self-aware, confident and resourceful.
The GivingTime programme empowers young people to discover their own resourcefulness and priorities through coaching. They learn to connect to and relate to others and, through volunteering, they start to contribute to something that is bigger than themselves.
Review of Activities and Achievements
GivingTime programme - Coaching
In the period from September 2024 to August 2025 the GivingTime programme was operational in 10 schools (7 new schools) and involved 64 students and 18 coaches of whom 1 was new to GivingTime this year. Of the 64 students, 10 completed fewer than 2 coaching sessions and data relating to these students has been excluded from the analysis. 268 hours of coaching were delivered and the students logged 1040 hours of volunteering in return. 98% of the students would recommend GivingTime to a peer. 100% of young people said their coach helped them to feel safe to talk about the things that truly matter to them.
We trialled some new qualitative measures this year and the results were encouraging. The average scores are based on a 1-4 scale for responses.
The cumulative impact of GivingTime since the pilot in 2015 is:
196 young people have experienced coaching for the first time 19 schools 3 universities 59 coaches 920 hours of coaching delivered 2,261 volunteering hours logged 3,181 total volunteering hours (young people + coaches) 99%* of young people would recommend GivingTime
- % of young people who completed post coaching questionnaires
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Registered Charity Number 1176752
GivingTime programme - Volunteering
The volunteering element of GivingTime presents an opportunity for young people to learn something about themselves and also to get a sense of self worth by giving their time for the benefit of others. The results from the volunteering were:
1040 hours of volunteering (144 last year) 83% of young people completed volunteering hours (70% last year)
The student volunteering took place across primary schools, secondary schools, reading programmes, charity shops, churches, mosques and coaching in sports, arts or music.
Testimonials
Young People
“Through the GivingTime programme, I have gained a deeper understanding of myself, including my strengths and areas for growth. It has helped me improve my organization skills, allowing me to manage my time more effectively and stay on top of my responsibilities. The coaching sessions provided valuable insights that I can apply to both my academic and personal life.”
“I have achieved a better sense of self-awareness, I have learnt more about myself as an individual, and I have gained clarity not only about my decisions as but also came to understand what was hindering myself from being the best of my ability. I learnt about my skill sets, and gained confidence in them as well.”
“I have achieved being able to not let my anxiety affect me as much as it used to. I have also achieved being able to procrastinate less than I used to.”
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Registered Charity Number 1176752
“I have achieved a lot of conflict management techniques as well as being able to analyse a situation and see the best outcome. Furthermore, I know more about myself and my strengths and weaknesses and the steps I need to take to reach my goals.”
“It has helped me to find different techniques to use to stay calm in stressful situations. Helping me to be able to focus on my goal instead of being too worried or concerned about the outcome.”
“I was able to plan and navigate my time a lot better. It helped me a lot with really thinking into the future and evaluating my choice of actions before taking them forward.”
“I have achieved a stronger-growth mindset from before, and I am able to confidently strive towards my goals”
“I have a newfound sense of purpose after talking through my future and where I want to see myself. My coach guided me well and now I know how I will achieve these goals and, my coach indirectly improved my communication skills since I didn’t find opening up to be that easy, however I’m glad that I did and that I signed up for this.”
Future Plans
The trustees have a dual focus:
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To maintain and improve the operational running of the GivingTime programme
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To develop the organisation to be able to offer the GivingTime programme to more students at zero cost.
Operational running of the GivingTime programme
Focus on operational effectiveness
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Registered Charity Number 1176752
GivingTime is run by 5 volunteers who form a Core Team which oversees the day to day running of the programme. This team has been able to call on the support of other volunteers to further improve the efficiency of the programme, including a team of students from the Edinburgh branch of 180 Degrees consulting. They delivered recommendations on our marketing strategy, communications and impact measurement which are being implemented in the year 2025-6. The Core team are also looking at ways to improve the user friendliness of our website and reduce the reliance on paid services with external providers.
Developing the GivingTime organisation
Piloting coaching university students
GivingTime continues to introduce the programme into new schools over a wider geographic spread thanks to the efforts of volunteers who have been approaching new schools to expand the programme. It is also noticeable that there can be a lot of variability in the uptake of the programme within any school across different years which can be challenging for knowing how many coaches are needed to deliver the programme. The industrial placement students who experienced coaching through the GivingTime programme strongly advocated for making the programme available to university students and this approach is being piloted in 2025-26.
Financial Review
GivingTime has been established as a charity with the aim of being able to operate without significant fundraising or income generating activities. The accounts for GivingTime have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
The receipts for the period consisted of bank interest received. The principal payments for the period related to the subscription for the IT database system, insurance for GivingTime coaching activities, domain name renewals and enhanced DBS checks for coaches. GivingTime as a charity is exempt from mandatory registration with the ICO and this has offered a saving in the year. The IT database system is renewed very close to the end of the GivingTime year and as an anomaly, this year contains two charges. As at 31 August 2025, GivingTime had cash funds of £1,921. More details can be found in the Annual Accounts.
As there are no employees of GivingTime and the running costs are approximately £700 per annum, the trustees do not believe that a reserves policy is necessary. The finances of GivingTime are reviewed at each trustee meeting including expenditure and income and potential future investment required. Since the year end, web hosting has been switched to Microsoft Azure, using charity credits which gives an annual saving of nearly £200.
Structure, Governance and Management
Objects
GivingTime was incorporated on 19 January 2018 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and is governed by a constitution which defines the charity’s objects are being:
“to advance in life and help young people by developing their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature and responsible individuals. “
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www.givingtime.org.uk
Registered Charity Number 1176752
Trustees and organisational structure
The constitution allows for up to 7 trustees to be appointed, each trustee serving for up to 3 renewable terms of 3 years. Trustees can serve until they either resign or their term ends without renewal. All trustees give their time freely and no renumeration or expenses were paid.
The trustees are responsible for setting the strategy and are responsible in law for the running GivingTime.
All the trustees, except where otherwise stated, served for the whole period:
JMR Foster (Chair) JG Sheppard CDM Paterson (resigned 12 Dec 25) AC Alexander SA Isaacson (appointed 22 Apr 25) LC Mukherjee (appointed 7 Aug 25) AR Seth (appointed 7 Aug 25)
Where new trustees are appointed, they are given a formal induction to the work of the charity and provided with the information they need to fulfil their roles, which includes information about the role of trustees and charity law. New trustees are interviewed by a panel of trustees and appointed where they have the necessary skills to contribute to the charity’s management and development.
The trustee board meets at least 4 times per year.
Risk Management
The trustees are responsible for overseeing the risks faced by the charity. Risks are identified, assessed and appropriate responses are determined throughout the year. The most significant risks are recorded in a risk register which is reviewed at every trustee meeting. The management of the risks is carried out by the administrative volunteers.
Through the risk management processes established by the charity, the trustees have given consideration to the major risks to which the charity is exposed and satisfied themselves that systems or procedures are established in order to manage those risks. It is recognised that systems can only provide reasonable but not absolute assurance that major risks have been adequately managed.
Professional Advisors
To help us in our work, we retain a number of professional advisors:
Solicitor Travers Smith LLP, 10 Snow Hill, London, EC1A 2AL Banker Metrobank, 137-141 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 2ED Insurance Broker Oxygen, 12 Trevor Foster Way, Bradford, DB5 8HB
We are particularly grateful to Travers Smith who provide their services to GivingTime on a pro-bono basis.
Contact details
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www.givingtime.org.uk
Registered Charity Number 1176752
Address 2 Abinger Road, London, W4 1EL Website www.givingtime.org.uk Registered Charity no. 1176752
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature Full Names Jeremy Mark Russell Foster Position Chair of Trustees Date 16[th] March 2026
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www.givingtime.org.uk Registered Charity Number 1176752
Charity Name GivingTime
No (if any) 1176752 CC16a
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01-Sep-24 31-Aug-25
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Interest received |
20 | - | - | 20 | 40 | ||||
| Smile. Amazon credit | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 20 | - | - | 20 | 40 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 40 | |||||||||
IT database system subscription |
734 | - | - | 734 | 319 | ||||
| Domain names, web hosting & SSL certificate |
203 | - | - | 203 | 201 | ||||
| Insurance for coachingactivities | 165 | - | - | 165 | 137 | ||||
| ICO registration | - | - | - | 35 | |||||
| DBS checks | 18 | - | - | 18 | 144 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 1,120 | - | - | 1,120 | 837 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
|||||||||
| 837 | |||||||||
| - 1,100 | - 797 | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| 3,021 | 3,817 | ||||||||
| 1,921 | 3,021 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) Categories B1 Cash funds |
1 Cash in bank Details Total cash funds |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 1,921 - - 1,921 |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,921 | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | ||
| 1,921 | - | 15/02/2026 - |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
Signature Details Details Details (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name |
OK |
|---|---|---|---|
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
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| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval | |||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
15/02/2026
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