## The Treatment Bag CIO
**Trustees Annual Report** 28.5.24
## **For the period 01 April 2023 – 31 March 2024**
Charity Name: The Treatment Bag CIO Charity Registration no: 1177345 Registered Office: Charlton Musgrove House Rectory Lane Wincanton BA9 8ES Trustees: Maymie White Lisa Dennis Jo Anson Bank: Barclays Bank plc Finance Manager: Emily Showering
## **Purposes and Aims**
Our charity’s purpose is to benefit members of the public living with cancer who are having or have had treatment for their disease by providing them with a bag of luxury treats, chosen to mitigate the side effects of cancer treatments
We aim to make cancer patients feel cared for and supported and to reach as many cancer patients as possible in the UK.
We also aim to benefit patients’ friends, family and colleagues by providing a way for them to show their support.
## **Day-to-day Activity**
We assemble and send out by post or hand over in person, beautiful linen gift bags filled with luxurious, relevant treats specifically chosen to help mitigate the side effects of treatment for cancer.
## **Structure**
The charity is managed day to day by three trustees and one part-time, selfemployed paid member of staff from offices in Somerset and Dorset, UK.
In January 2024 Gavin White, one of the three founder trustees, stood down as trustee to allow more time to pursue other charitable interests. The charity would have struggled to launch without him and his initial input was invaluable. He remains closely aligned to the charity. He is replaced by Jo Anson, whose core activity is to monitor and improve the bag contents. Jo’s wide-spread connections and powers of communication and persuasion have already been a huge success, with an audit and overhaul of the Man Bag contents already in place.
Increasingly, the balance of quality of bag contents and cost needs to be closely monitored.
## **Structure cont’d**
The trustees’ activities include:
- Approaching companies to see if they would like to donate relevant products for the bags – either for free or at ‘trade’ price
- Wrapping items and assembling bags
- Considering marketing strategies to increase reach
- Increasing brand awareness through social media and other channels
- Managing marketing communications such as the website and emailers
- - Identifying and approaching cancer treatment centres to distribute donated bags to their patients
- Raising funds to pay for the bags which are handed out for free
The trustees spend much time marketing the charity to reach as many patients as possible. New routes to a wider audience include:
- Identifying and approaching cancer influencers on social media
- Inviting other cancer charities to form collaborations
- Entering into partnerships with corporate entities where the Treatment Bag is featured as a company’s recommended choice
The trustees have regular meetings to discuss the management and progression of the charity.
## The member of staff’s responsibilities include:
- wrapping gifts
- answering email enquiries
- managing and fulfilling bag requests
- giving out and posting bags
- liaising with and delivering bags to local hospitals and oncology centres
## **Treatment Bags**
Bags can be ordered through the charity’s website, www.treatmentbag.co.uk where the requested donation covers the cost of the bag only. Running costs are met by other, additional donations.
During the year, there were seven wrap days, where overall eight unpaid volunteers met to wrap the contents of the bags.
During this year of trading the charity was able to send out and give away a total of **480 bags** (last year the total was 274):
- 116 Original Bags
- 50 Man Bags
- 94 Mini Bags
- 220 Handbags (bags handed out for free to hospitals/oncology centres)
-
## Hospitals and Oncology Centres
We have developed our strategy to give away smaller bags (Handbags) to NHS patients for free. In addition to the on-going arrangement with Yeovil Hospital, we have added Hampshire (Basingstoke) hospital as a regular receiver of Handbags, with a trial run at Southampton Hospital with arrangements in discussion with one other.
The totals of bags we have donated to hospitals and oncology centres this year are as follows:
x105 bags to Yeovil Hospital (on-going at x20 bags per month) x15 bags to Hampshire Hospital (on-going at x15 bags per month) x15 bags to Southampton Hospital (on-going numbers to be established)
We remain committed to creating high-quality bags, containing considered, premium gifts, individually wrapped in tissue paper with a hand-wriitten note from the donor where relevant.
## **Giveaways and Collaborations**
In the spirit of a common goal – to improve the lives of those who have received a cancer diagnosis – we collaborate with, and support other cancer charities:
## _Something to Look Forward To_
This year we have given for free x19 bags to _Something To Look Forward To_ in a collaborative free draw each month, held via Social Media.
## _The Cancer Club_
We have donated x19 bags to _The Cancer Club_ , a charity set up specifically for men. _The Cancer Club_ have subsequently donated £150 to Treatment Bag.
## _From Me To You_
We include a letter in each bag, donated to us from the charity _From Me To You_ and have featured them in our monthly emailers.
## _Stories of Cancer and Hope_
We have promoted the book ‘Stories of Cancer and Hope’ in each of our emailers, the proceeds of which go to Maggie’s Centres.
## _Wigs for Heroes_
A small and wonderful charity which we have featured in our monthly emailer and on our website.
## _**Nat Woodward**_
We were thrilled to welcome Nat Woodward as our ambassador. As a social media influencer within the cancer community, Nat has a strong and positive voice with almost 38,000 followers. She lives with and shares her physical, mental and emotional consequences of cancer and is a constant reminder of why cancer patients deserve as much support as we can give.
## **Income and Fundraising**
The cost of bags requested by friends, family and colleagues via the website is covered by the suggested donation. In January 2024 we added the postage cost to the suggested donation on the website.
The cost of bags we donate to hospitals and oncology centres needs to be met via fundraising. Our main fundraiser was The Blue Lace Challenge.
## _The Blue Lace Challenge_
A walk/run during the month of October 2023, where participants could register and request blue laces for their walking boots/trainers. Photographs were then shared on Social Media in an attempt to garner momentum and exposure to as broad an audience as possible. The campaign raised £10,105.
During the year we were extremely grateful to the following supporters:
- _Mark Pougatch for his appearance on Celebrity Mastermind, donating £3,000_
- - _Sponsored ride by Georgina J, raising £1,100_
- _Christmas tree sale by Diana J, raising £900_
- _The Manufacturer for inviting us to be their corporate charity for 2024_
- _Merlin Entertainments for featuring us on their Cancer Care Resource_
- _Nat Woodward for raising £2,000 towards the Blue Lace Challenge total_
## **Expenditure**
Expenses include the products within the bags, packaging, postage and distribution costs, as well as printed materials, cost of the running of the website and commission fees to Paypal, Stripe and the unavoidable percentage that JustGiving deduct from donations and Gift Aid. Costs are kept to a minimum and where possible, at least two quotes are considered before each purchase. Negotiations for the products within the bags are ongoing.
## **Objectives**
- to raise our profile so more people get to hear about Treatment Bag
- to reach more men, as donors as well as recipients of bags
- to send out more bags to cancer patients via the website
- to give away for free more bags to cancer patients via the NHS in hospitals in the South West of England
- to increase fundraising to give away more bags for free
- to successfully apply for grants to cover the cost of Handbags
- to increase income via donations over and above specific bag requests, to cover the cost of running the charity
www.treatmentbag.co.uk Treatment Bag CIO Registered Number 1177345 Charlton Musgrove House, BA9 8ES
**Charity Name No (if any) The Treatment Bag 1177345 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 01/04/2023 31/03/2024
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**50**
**1,647**
**1,898**
**1,163**
**695**
**941**
**9,742**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**9,983**
**-**
**17,878**
**27,861**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**50**
**1,647**
**1,898**
**1,163**
**695**
**941**
**9,742**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**9,983**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**26,119**
**50**
**1,647**
**1,898**
**1,163**
**695**
**941**
**9,742**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,136**
**9,983**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Donations|**26,119**|||||**7,267**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**26,119**|||||**7,267**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||
|||||||**7,267**|
||||||||
|Registration|**50**|||||**93**|
|Administration|**1,647**|||||**514**|
|Web & advertising|**1,898**|||||**-**|
|Printing&packaging|**1,163**|||||**295**|
|FundraisingCosts|**695**|||||**-**|
|Postage|**941**|||||**610**|
|Products|**9,742**|||||**22,363**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**16,136**|||||**23,875**|
||||||||
|**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_**|||||||
|||||||**23,875**|
||||||||
||**9,983**|**-**|**-**|
**9,983**||**- 16,608**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|||**-**|
||**17,878**|**-**|**-**|**17,878**||**34,486**|
||**27,861**|**-**|**-**|**27,861**||**17,878**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
1
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,861**
**-**
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|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||||
|||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2