Trustee Report Impact & Financial Report Jan - Dec 2023 _Inspiring hope and unlocking potential in young people through nature_ Charity No. 1177035 ## Contents Chair of Trustees comments MD comments Tom’s story Programme updates Walk & Talk Grow Programme Grow Gardeners Catch Up Co Production Potting Shed Funding & Finance People & Culture Operations Communications The future Grow UK accounts - independent examiner report ## Chair of ## Trustees comments Well, what a year of celebration - a move to new premises with its increased space and capacity, new partnerships with the Green Estate and other local businesses, and Grow’s 5th birthday. But most of all, an increased number of young people have participated in and completed one or more of Grow’s expanding programmes during the year. It’s what we are here for, but it’s still so exciting as trustees to be able to cheer on the amazing Grow staff team and volunteers. They work tirelessly to see these young people grow in confidence, acquire new skills, improve their mental health and, for many, make the move into fulfilling jobs. Hearing the individual stories and knowing the journey and courage each one represents is awe-inspiring. Thank you to all our funders and supporters for making this possible. The year, with its record referral levels, and number of trainees, has emphasised yet again that we are only scratching the surface of the needs of young people in Sheffield and the surrounding region. Thank you to my fellow trustees for your expertise, skill, and commitment as we continue to encourage and support the work of Grow and consider ‘what next’ for 2024. It’s great to be on the journey with you. Lucy Oct 21 - current Carol Feb 18 - current Shari Nov 23 - current Tommy Feb 18 - current Sam Nov 22 - current John Lovell, Chair of Trustees ## MD ## comments Steven Cotton, Managing Director 2023 has been a year of growth both in terms of the quality of our work, but also the number of young people we work with. As always, our trainees continue to inspire me. Personal growth can be painful and it involves making difficult decisions. Taking control of your life and making positive steps forward requires determination and bravery. As you’ll see in this report, many of our trainees have made humongous leaps in their personal and work lives. The year has been filled with highlights, but three stand out in particular: **Moving office -** We were very excited to move to Green Estates. This new site enabled us to connect our office, training room and green space to create more fluency between all elements of our work. We also get to partner with Green Estates who do incredibly inspiring and important work! **Celebrating our fifth birthday -** We were thrilled to hit this milestone! The whole team enjoyed celebrating and reflecting on the achievements of our trainees over the past five years. **Working with even more trainees -** As this report shows, 2023 has been our biggest year in terms of trainee numbers. We were inundated with referrals and so continue to work on building our capacity. I think I say it every year, but Grow really is a huge team effort. This year I want to give a particular shout out to Grow’s staff team. We’re incredibly lucky to have attracted a wonderful mix of highly dedicated, passionate and skilled team members. Their hard work, partnered with the trainees’ bravery, is enabling amazing things to happen. We’re also incredibly grateful for the support of our volunteers who dedicate their precious time to Grow’s trainees in a whole range of roles. And of course none of this work would be possible without the generosity of our funders and donors. I hope you are inspired by the stories of our trainees in the coming pages. We’ve had a fantastic year and cannot wait to continue working with more young people in 2024!! ## Tom's story Do you feel that the job has benefited you? 100%! I was so isolated when I moved to Sheffield from Essex - it felt so draining. Being outside and trying new things has been so beneficial. I never thought I’d be in the gardening world but after my work coach recommended the Grow Programme I thought ‘why not’?! ## What aspects of the job did you enjoy? The opportunity to work in a team, talking to people e.g. clients and being around people. ## Do you think your confidence has improved? Definitely - talking to new people and getting to know people - hearing about their day has helped me. Seeing people every day has helped me to build confidence. Grow Gardeners has pushed me outside my comfort zone. Since coming to Grow I’ve had more of a routine and rather than feeling secluded at home I’ve had a reason to get out of the house. Since covid, my confidence dipped drastically due to being so isolated. I couldn’t see my wider family and friends and missed being social. Then I moved to Sheffield from Essex which increased my feeling of being isolated. Until I came along to Grow, I just hung out with my sister’s friends and didn’t have any friends of my own. We’re incredibly proud of Tom, who secured a Green Space Apprenticeship with Sheffield City Council even before his time had completed with Grow Gardeners! Wendy Flemming, Programme Coordinator Walk & Talk is a walking coaching programme for young people aged 16 - 24. Most of the young people who participate experience mental ill-health and often have additional disabilities or challenges. Young people are matched with a trained mentor, who takes a coaching approach when they meet for up to 8 sessions for a regular walk. They chat about their current situation, hopes, and challenges to work out steps they can take to feel they are moving forward in life. This may include getting into or staying successfully in education, increased confidence to apply for training or a job. They may also experience increased feelings of wellbeing and reduced feelings of isolation. In 2023, **34 young people** engaged with the programme and we recorded an average increase of: 50% in wellbeing 31.3% in social connection ## What our Walk & Talk trainees said: _“It’s helped me get into a slightly better routine as in winter especially I’d always struggle with my sleep patterns, but waking up early and actually having something to do is great! Talking with my mentor also helped me build up a bit of confidence regarding my self worth and dealing with social situations (which I often struggle greatly with)”._ - _“I've become more confident with speaking to new people”._ - _“100% it’s given me confidence to do stuff in my life whereas before I wouldn’t have dreamed it.”_ ## Volunteers The Walk & Talk programme is volunteer led. In 2023, **27 volunteers** attended our 6 hour training programme. They show such passion and patience for the young people they support and are all truly amazing. During the year, **123 hours of Walk & Talk sessions** took place providing coaching and mentoring sessions for young people. Dave Cooke, Programme & Impact Manager Taking place over five weeks, the Grow Programme aims to promote wellbeing, increase social connection and develop employability skills. It includes a mix of group sessions, practical nature-based sessions and 1:1s. Following completion of the Grow Programme, all trainees have the opportunity to interview for our paid work placement programme, Grow Gardeners. In 2023, we closely reviewed the Grow Programme curriculum to ensure all elements aligned with Grow’s supportive triangle; a framework designed to cultivate holistic change. The programme's delivery at Green Estates has allowed more space for teambased activities and created fresh avenues for collaboration with Manor and Castle Development Trust on CV workshops, Roots and Bloom on volunteering opportunities, and hands-on experience at the Grow Farm. In 2023, we are delighted to have achieved the following: 43 Trainees completed the Grow Programme 17% Increase in wellbeing 20% Increase in social connection 22 Trainees progressed to Grow Gardeners - - Successful EET (employment, education or training) outcome 67% * Based on trainees reaching 12 months post programme. This figure will change as more trainees reach this milestone. In 2024, we will run four Grow Programmes; the highest number we have delivered so far. We are continuing to refine and consolidate the curriculum, enabling us to replicate across future sites. By introducing work readiness measures into the Grow programme we aim to give young people the best chance of employment. Whether that's securing employment opportunities with Grow Gardeners, or guiding them towards clear next steps in their journey, our focus considers the entire journey of young individuals through the programme, from referrals to completion and next steps. ## What our Grow Programme trainees said: _"My time with Grow has been incredible. It's allowed me to connect with new people and learn different work skills. It's been an amazing experience."_ _"I have enjoyed all the sessions being indoors doing teamwork activities the outdoor sessions have been fun too, it has helped me with teamwork the most I struggled before working in groups incase people didn't like me and found it awkward but I found things better working with new people and it was nice."_ Dave Cooke, Programme & Impact Manager Grow Gardeners is our paid work placement programme. We employ our trainees on a part-time basis and work in more than 60 client gardens across Sheffield. This programme gives our trainees real life work experience and aims to promote their wellbeing, increase social connection and develop employability skills. In 2023, we achieved the following: 20 trainees completed the programme across three cohorts More than 2,000 hours of gardening completed 60 Regularly maintained more than gardens across Sheffield During this time, we recorded an average of: * 80% successful EET (employment, education or training) outcome 15% increase in wellbeing 14% increase in social connection * Based on trainees reaching 12 months post programme. This figure will change as more trainees reach this milestone. ## What our Grow Gardeners trainees said: _"I'm more comfortable being myself around people and more confident when talking to people."_ _"It has taught me to be more responsible and mature."_ When asked if they'd recommend the programme to a friend, one trainee said: _"I have and will continue to recommend the programme to friends. I have told them the programme is helpful with getting you used to a work environment and employability skills such as interview practice. It also gets you used to working as part of a team and individually."_ ## When asked how they had changed, another trainee said: _“Know more about gardening now. Been getting up earlier. I try more now. I feel more open to trying new experiences - less worried about them now.”_ Impact for trainees after programme completion: 100% felt they had benefited from Grow Gardeners 100% reported confidence increase 100% would recommend Grow Gardeners 65% increase in gardening skills increase in gardening skills Sarah Walker, Alumni Coordinator As part of our alumni community work we run monthly Catch Up events. They give past and present Grow trainees the opportunity to connect socially with each other in a safe environment. In 2023, we held **12 Catch Up events** and welcomed **26 young people** . During this time, we engaged in various activities, including animation, creative art, toasting marshmallows on the firepit, a quiz, and outings to the cinema and a board game café. It’s great to bring our alumni community together and see them connect, try new things, and have fun in a safe and welcoming environment. We continue to consult our alumni to gather feedback on future activities they would like to explore and areas for improvement. ## Co Production 2023 saw the launch of Grow’s Co Production group, named 'Sprouts' by the participating young people. The intention of the group is to provide a space for our past and present trainees to make their voices heard regarding the development of Grow. We want young people and their opinions to be at the heart of everything we do, from being part of our interview panels and training, planning and attending events, to shaping the content of our social media communication, and more! This project is very much in its early stages but we are excited to see it develop over the next year. Sarah Walker, Alumni Coordinator Rebecca Koch, Potting Shed Coordinator The Potting Shed is our micro plant nursery based in Sheffield, aiming to sell nature friendly plants while creating paid work experience opportunities for our trainees.. We remain the only supplier of totally peat-free plants in Sheffield! Plant orders are predominately taken through our website but also run regular pop-up shops and attend local markets. A big highlight of 2023 has been seeing more trainees than ever gain work experience at our pop-ups across the city. The Potting Shed offers very different work experience for our trainees enabling them to develop customer service skills as well as learning how to nurture plants in more detail. In 2023: Over 3,500 plants were sold £ 9,000 income generated In 2024, we are moving The Potting Shed to Green Estates. We will be growing more plants ourselves and creating the opportunity for our trainees to learn skills such as seed sowing, taking cuttings and dividing plants. This move will enable us to expand the Potting Shed and create more work experience opportunities for our trainees. Funding mix 2023 ## Funding & Finance 2023 saw a significant increase in our turnover. This was mainly due to partnering with significant trusts and foundations enabling us to strategically develop and expand our work. As our finance report below details, our turnover in 2023 was **£379,628** which is a **£135,404 (55%)** increase from 2022. The chart to the right shows a brief breakdown of our funding mix in 2023. We want to extend a huge thanks to the following funders who supported us in 2023: KFC The Well Church Westfield Tesco Community Giving Tesco Bags of Help ESF Positive Change Programme Easy Fundraising Violence Reduction Unit Amazon NHS waiting list Royal Society of St George Sheffield City Council Blakemore Foundation South Yorkshire Community Foundation The Rotary Club Co-op Community Fund Continued... Royal Society of St George Blakemore Foundation The Rotary Club Co-op Community Fund Police crime commissioner ## Chimo Trust Imagine Foundation Brelms Trust Tweed Family Foundation The Peter Sowerby Foundation CBTU Holbeck Charitable Trust Seven Friends Foundation The Sheldon Trust Sheffield Church Burgesses Trust Swire Trust 29th May 1961 Souter Charitable Trust Albert Gubay Foundation Brown Sauce Trust Thornbridge for Everyone Sheffield Bluecoat and Mount Pleasant Educational Foundation Zachary Merton and George Woofindin Convalescent Trust ## Finis Scott Localgiving - Magic Little Grants SYCF - Green Prescribing Groundworks Zest Garfield Weston CLA Charitable Trust ## The future In 2024 we are focussing on our both our sustainability and generating funds to enable us to expand our work into surrounding areas. ## RHS Igen Trust James Neil Trust Fund Tramlines Field Fenn Trust SYCF Cost of Living 2 Kaye Charitable Trust Hedley Foundation Northwick Trust J G Graves Let's Build Health Grant Innox foundation ## People & Culture Jon Davies, Operations and Communications Manager 2023 was a year of growth for our staff team. We recruited a number of new positions including Programmes and Impact Manager, Grow Programme Coordinator, Potting Shed Coordinator, and Fundraising and Marketing Manager. Through the Groundwork UK New to Nature scheme we also recruited a Fundraising Assistant and Grow Gardeners Assistants. These organisational structure changes bring ownership, increased capacity to each area, and a strengthened approach to our work. During the year we reviewed and evolved our values and appraisal process. Our new values feed into our Personal Growth Review appraisal process which has been integrated into line management meetings throughout the year. We also built on the monthly training schedule from 2022, introducing short monthly wellbeing sessions for staff every month. During these sessions, we took time to engage in activities such as meditation, seated yoga and sound bathing! The impact of our move to Green Estates has been felt in the culture of our work. More office based staff are now able to join sessions on the Grow Farm, trainees are more visible to the wider staff team and the green environment is having a benefit on everyone’s health and wellbeing. ## Operations Jon Davies, Operations and Communications Manager 2023 was a big year for Grow operationally, with the biggest change being our move to the Green Estate in The Manor (south east Sheffield). The Green Estate is a like minded Community Interest Company that runs various enterprises and have turned 42 hectares of derelict land and heritage buildings in The Manor into a beautiful, sustainable landscape. We’re now part of that landscape with our office, Grow Farm, coaching space and Grow Gardeners all situated on site. It’s been amazing to be based so close to nature and have everything within close proximity. There are various projects to make the space more suited to our programme needs. We have submitted a planning application to construct a large polytunnel and wooden outdoor teaching space. We’ve also applied for funding to transform an onsite shipping container into a functional trainee space with indoor seating, a covered outdoor area, picnic benches and tool storage. We were also busy improving our systems, moving to app based communication for Walk & Talk mentors and mentees, rather than having phones specifically for volunteers. We’ve developed and improved our impact data dashboards for our programmes. We also took on another van for Grow Gardeners, making us a two van charity! ## Communications Jon Davies, Operations and Communications Manager In 2023 we celebrated our 5th birthday! At our party we shared a video showcasing the work we’ve done and lives changed since the beginning, as well as sharing our hopes and dreams for the next five years. We created an interactive display for people to listen to and read stories from our trainees over the years. You can explore this for yourself here (password Grow2023). We also released a video about a particularly positive Walk & Talk mentoring relationship. Charlotte and Jayne shared their experiences from the perspective of a young person and mentor. In September we benefited from the pro bono support of Fourth Day PR company. Our senior team were invited to a private workshop to develop our key messaging as a charity and work out ways tot communicate with the different audiences we interact with. This helped to inform our strategy for 2024. In July we were featured in a national article in the RHS The Garden magazine. The article not only helped us broaden our reach, but secured various trust funds totalling £185k. Through increased presence and engagement, our Grow Instagram account also passed 1000 followers towards the end of the year. This was a ‘nice marker in the sand’, as we continue to broaden our reach and build awareness. ## The future In 2024 we are particularly excited about the following things: ## **Increasing our impact** We will be having a real push on quality. We not only want to work with more young people but we also want to make sure the programmes we run are as good as they possibly can be. We will focus on improving our programme curriculum, developing the support systems that underpin our programmes (IT systems, resources, etc) and also fine tune the way we collect and use data. ## **Expansion** In 2024 we are excited to be moving towards piloting our work in a new geographic area. This will enable us to expand our reach and work with more young people. We’re working alongside some of our funding partners to explore this next step and can’t wait to share our progress! ## **Sustainability** As we seek to expand, we want to make sure that we are on a secure financial footing. Our fundraising team is working hard to develop long-term funding partnerships that will invest in Grow’s work and our expansion journey. We are incredibly grateful to all of our key partners who have enabled 2023 to be a huge success. We look forward to continuing to share the adventure with you in the year ahead! ## Get involved Whether you’re an individual, a funder, or a business there are many ways to get involved with Grow, such as... Supporting our programmes and projects with financial contributions Volunteering your time to support our work Giving a one-off gift or regular donation of any size really adds up and makes a big difference Getting involved in our events that take place throughout the year Building a meaningful corporate partnership with us Fundraising for us with by taking on sporting challenges, pledging your birthday or hosting a Bake Off... the ideas are endless! Learn more about our work and how to get involved **growuk.org** ## Independent examiner's report of Grow UK accounts Accounts for the year ended 31st December 2023 Charity no 1177035 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for Grow UK As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011. I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under s145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable directions given by the Charity Commission under s145(5)(b) of the Act. the accounting records were not kept in accordance with s130 of the Charities Act or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records or the accounts did 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 in 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. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material effect: Philip N Burley FCA 13th May 2024 Flatt Lodge Roadhead Carlisle CA6 6PH Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31st December 2023 Notes are provided further on in this document **----- Start of picture text -----**
Income Note Total Unrest'd Restricted 2022
Donations 15015 15015 9585
Grants 273870 132911 140959 160758
Events 9066 9066 6363
Grow Gardeners 40158 40158 43952
Potting Shed 9669 9669 14758
Training 5096
Gift Aid 722 722 1236
2476
Room hire 1905 1905
Training support 29223 29223
379628 238669 140959 244244
Expenditure
Alumni monitoring expenses 1942 1942
Salaries and pensions 6 276935 139381 137554 196818
Grow Gardeners direct expenses 7 27028 23623 3405 16648
Potting Shed direct expenses 8 15464 15464 12936
Walk and Talk expenses 3134 3134 2786
Cost of events 755 755 1552
Rent 8304 8304 8977
Telephone 965 965 1449
Website and marketing 25225 2525 2045
Office expenses 3523 3523 1955
Travel 1209 1209 386
Training 3223 3223 1497
Staff health scheme 507 507
Repairs and Renewals 1285
Sundry expenses 2450 2450 797
Bank and finance charges 748 748 722
Depreciation of fixed assets 1573 1573 1552
350285 209326 140959 251405
Net (deficit)/surplus for the year 29343 29343 0 -9711
**----- End of picture text -----**
Balance Sheet as at 31st December 2023 ||Note||**2023**||**2022**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||| |**Fixed assets**|2||2033||3595| ||||||| |**Current assets**|||||| |**Stock**|3|300||2350|| |**Debtors**||19675||8869|| |**Cash at bank**||79659||12170|| |**Cash in hand**||126|||| |||**99760**||**23389**|| ||||||| |**Current liabilities**|||||| |**Deferred income**||50028||8769|| |**Creditors and accruals**||4453||246|| |||**54481**||**9015**|| ||||||| |**Net current assets**|||**45279**||**14374**| ||||||| |**Total assets**|||**47312**||**17969**| ||||||| |**Financed by:**|||||| |**Unrestricted reserves**|||27216||-2127| |**Restricted reserves**|||20096||20096| ||||**47312**||**17969**| Notes are provided on the next page ## 1. Accounting policies ## **a. Basis of preparation** Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland FRS 102. Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2023 ## **b. Tangible fixed assets** Depreciation is provided at rates estimated to write the assets off over their useful lives: 25% Office fixtures and fittings 33% Grow Gardeners tools 20% Potting Shed equipment 50% Website 50% Laptops ## **c. Direct and overhead expenditure** Expenditure is summarised under functional headings. Motor and leasing expenses are included as direct expenses against the income they refer to. The charity uses two vans under operating leases. ## **d. Pension costs** The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. ## **e Stock is valued at the lower cost and net realisable value.** ## 2 Fixed assets Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2023 |2 Fixed assets|||| |---|---|---|---| ||**Office fixtures**|**Grow Gardeners tools**|**Potting Shed**| |Cost 1 Jan 23|1739|1642|3280| ||||| |Depreciation|||| |1 Jan 23|658|1096|1312| |Charge for year|370|547|656| ||**1028**|**1643**|**1968**| ||||| |Net book value|||| |!st January 2023|1081|546|1968| |31st December 2023|721|0|1312| The website and laptops were fully depreciated at the start of the year under review. ## 3 |3||||| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**1st January 2022**|**Incoming resources**|**Outgoing resources**|**31st December 2023**| |Unrestricted reserves|-2177|238669|209326|27166| |Restricted reserves|20096|140959|140959|20096| ## 4 Going concern The trustees are pleased to report that at the balance sheet date unrestricted reserves were again positive. Their policy remains to carry the equivalent of three months costs in unrestricted reserves and hope to make progress to achieve this in 2024. Accordingly the accounts have been prepared under a going concern basis. ## 5 Continuing operations All income and expenditure derive from continuing operations. Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31st December 2023 ## 6 Salaries and pensions 7 Grow Gardeners expenses ## 8 Potting Shed |**Plants**|2454||**Plants**|10938| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Tools**|3406|||| ||||**Equipment**|537| |**Vehicle running exs**|4079|||| ||||**Other**|1156| |**Vehicle lease costs**|8410|||| ||||**Rent**|2833| |**Travel**|1373|||| ||||**Salaries**|11554| |**Training**|1977|||| |**Protective clothing**|2123|||**27018**| |**Other expenses**|3206|||| |||||| |**Salaries**|120253|||| ||**147281**||||