## The Treatment Bag CIO 

## **Trustees Annual Report** 

22.5.25 

## **For the period 01 April 2024 – 31 March 2025** 

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 




## The Treatment Bag 

The year in numbers: 

12 wrap days 35 volunteers 

3 trustees 9 ambassadors 7 hospitals 2 grants 1,028 bags 




## **Purpose and Aims** 

As we celebrate the 8[th] anniversary of our inception, our charity’s purpose seems, if anything, even more relevant to those who have received a cancer diagnosis. In these uncertain times, small acts of kindness seem to have a greater impact. Our goal is to offer support to those who are living with cancer and are having or have had treatment by providing them with a bag of luxury treats, chosen especially to act as antidotes to the side effects of cancer treatments. 

As one recipient wrote: 

_“…I was lurching from hospital appointments to tests to results to decisions. The care and support of my family and friends, plus all my insta community, got me through so much, and I felt loved. I also received a Treatment Bag which gave a different type of support to me, one of “you are not alone in this” and I realised so much in that moment and how important these acts of kindness are to so many and what a difference they can make when you feel so vulnerable and scared.”_ 

We aim to reach as many cancer patients as possible in the UK. 

In addition, we 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 by three trustees and one part-time, self-employed paid member of staff from offices in Somerset and Dorset, UK. 

Each month a different group of volunteers meet in Somerset to wrap and pack the following month’s bags. These are then distributed via Royal Mail to individual recipients and also to the x7 NHS hospitals that we regularly supply. 

The trustees’ activities include: 

- Procuring all the products which go into the bags 

Arranging the wrapping sessions Maintaining relationships with the NHS hospitals we supply Monitoring the financial health of the charity Marketing the charity 

The trustees have regular meetings to monitor 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 




## **Marketing** 

The trustees spend much time marketing the charity to reach as many patients as possible. New routes to a wider audience include: 

- Formulating marketing strategies to increase reach 

- Approaching companies to see if they would like to donate relevant products for the bags – either for free or at ‘trade’ price 

- Increasing brand awareness through social media and other channels 

- Managing marketing communications such as the website and emailers 

- - 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 

## **Treatment Bags** 

Bags can be ordered for an individual patient 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 **12** wrap days, where, overall, **35** 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 **1,028 bags** (last year the total was 480; the 2023 total was 274): 

- 56 Original Bags _(last year - 116)_ 

- 16 Man Bags _(last year - 50)_ 

- 24 Mini Bags _(last year - 94)_ 

- 880 Handbags _(last year - 220)_ 




## **Hospitals and Oncology Centres** 

The greatest area of growth is the number of arrangements we have with NHS hospitals and oncology centres to whom we make free, monthly donations of smaller bags (Handbags). In 2023/4 we had an arrangement with Yeovil Hospital and Hampshire (Basingstoke) hospital, with the beginning of a trial run at Southampton Hospital. We now have fixed arrangements with the following seven hospitals: 

1. Hampshire (Basingstoke) 

2. Salisbury 

3. Southampton 

4. Taunton 

5. The Royal Marsden, London 

6. The Royal Marsden, Sutton 

7. Yeovil 

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 x18 bags to _Something To Look Forward To_ in a collaborative free draw each month, held via Social Media. 

## _The Cancer Club_ 

We have sent x26 bags to _The Cancer Club_ members, a charity set up specifically for men. _The Cancer Club_ have made generous donations to Treatment Bag. 




## _**Giveaways and Collaborations cont’d**_ 

## _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 promote the wonderful book ‘Stories of Cancer and Hope’ in each of our emailers, the proceeds of which go to Maggie’s Centres. 

## **Ambassadors** 

During the year, we introduced our first group of ambassadors. The role of an ambassador is varied, from raising awareness, to help with fundraising events and more. With their broad range of skills and experience, we’re incredibly proud and grateful to call this group ours: 

Benji Lewis Emma Howarth Georgina Jarratt Hatty Lane Fox Jenny Kimber Lucinda Storm Mandy Dicksee Mark ougatch Nicola Fewings 

A brief cv on each can be seen on our website: www.treatmentbag.co.uk/about-us 




## **Income and Fundraising** 

The cost of bags requested by friends, family and colleagues via the website is covered by the suggested donation. The cost of bags we donate to hospitals and oncology centres, and other cancer charities needs to be met via fundraising. Our principal fundraising events in 2024-25 were a tea morning, _Tea for Ten_ and an online art auction, _Perfectly Formed_ . 

## _**Tea for Ten**_ 

A  tea morning where individuals were encouraged to invite 10 friends for a cup of tea at 10am on 10[th] October and donate £10 each. Total raised £9,133. 

## _**Perfectly Formed**_ 

Our inaugural online art auction for which x88 artists – mostly professional and some internationally acclaimed - created x100 A5 works of art especially for Treatment Bag. The auction ran online 7[th] -14[th] May and raised £10,162. 

## **Supporters** 

During the year we were extremely grateful to the following supporters: 

_**1. Gavin and Jack White**_ who ran the world’s steepest marathon on the Great Wall of China and raised an incredible £10,017 

_**2. Gail’s Bakery**_ for providing vouchers for hot drinks to coincide with our _Tea for Ten_ campaign and the lauch of our new arrangement with The Royal Marsden 

_**3. Flora Soames,**_ internationally acclaimed interior designer, who invited us to be present at her ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ sale, where we collected £1,600 

_**4. Lucinda Storm,**_ an award-winning artist, who donated an extremely generous percentage of her art sale 

_**5. A Somerset artist**_ who sold their beautiful art and donated £500 

_**6. The Charlton Musgrove Plant Sale**_ who adopted us as their charity and donated £600 of the day’s revenue 

_**7. Gillian at Caboodle**_ who took part in the ‘Buy Women Built’ cancer campaign and in the process, raised funds for Treatment Bag 




## **Grants** 

We were extremely grateful to be the recipients of the following grants: 

- _The Grocer’s Society - £2,500_ 

- 

- _The Semma Fund - £2,000_ 

## **Expenditure** 

Expenses include the products within the bags, packaging and postage, as well as printed materials, the cost of running 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. 

Including high quality gifts is central to our bags but given the inflation of costs across the board, finances need to be monitored more closely than ever. 

## **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 increase income to give away more bags for free 

www.treatmentbag.co.uk Treatment Bag CIO Registered Number 1177345 Charlton Musgrove House, BA9 8ES 



Section A Receipts and payments 

A1 Receipts Donations Grants Gift Aid Interest 

Sub total(Gross income for AR) 

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). 

Sub total 

Total receipts 

A3 Payments Registration Administration Web & Advertising Printing & Packaging Fundraising Costs Postage Products 

Sub total 

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 

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period 

Page 1 



Categories 

B1 Cash funds 

B2 Other monetary assets 

B3 Investment assets 

B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use 

B5 Liabilities 

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees 

Page 2 



The Treatment Bag 

|Receipts and payments accounts|||
|---|---|---|
|For the period from||Period start date|
|||01/04/24|
|Unrestricted funds||Restricted funds|
|to the nearest      £||to the nearest £|
||38582|-|
||5000|-|
||2164|-|
||153|-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
||45899|-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
||45899|-|
||50|-|
||1835|-|
||572|-|
||4597|-|
||1247|-|
||1629|-|
||17878|-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
||27808|-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
|-||-|
||27808|-|
||18091|-|
|-||-|
||27861|-|
||45952|-|



Page 3 



## Details 

Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) 

Details Details Details Details Signature 

Page 4 



1177345 

To Period end date 31/03/2025 

|Endowment funds|Total funds||
|---|---|---|
|to the nearest £|to the nearest £||
|-||38582|
|-||5000|
|-||2164|
|-||153|
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-||45899|
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-||45899|
|-||50|
|-||1835|
|-||572|
|-||4597|
|-||1247|
|-||1629|
|-||17878|
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-||27808|
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-|-||
|-||27808|
|-||18091|
|-|-||
|-||27861|
|-||45952|



Page 5 



|Unrestricted funds|Restricted funds|
|---|---|
|to nearest £|to nearest £|
|-|-|
|-|-|
|-|-|
|45952|-|
|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||



Page 6 



CC16a 

Last year to the nearest £ 26119 - - - - - - - 26119 - - 26119 

50 1647 1898 1163 695 941 9742 - - 16136 - 16136 9983 - - 9983 

Page 7 



Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - 

Current value (optional) 

- - - - - 

Current value (optional) 

- - - - - - - - - 

When due (optional) 

Date of approval 

Page 8 




## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts** 

## **Section A                        Independent Examiner’s Report** 

**Report to the trustees** 

Charity Name The Treatment Bag CIO 

**On accounts for the year** 31/03/2025 **Charity no** 1177345 **ended (if any) Set out on pages** pp.3 (remember  to include the page numbers of additional sheets) 

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended **31/032025** . 

**Responsibilities and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). 

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. 

**Independent** I have completed my examination.  I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: 

- the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 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 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. 

* _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._ 

**Date:** 22.10.2025 

**Signed: Name:** Ivo Hobson **Relevant professional** ACA (ICAEW) **qualification(s) or body (if any):** 

1 

**Oct 2018** 

**IER** 



**Address:** 

67 Florence Road London N4 4DJ 

## **Section B                           Disclosure** 

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). 

**Give here brief details of** _n.a._ **any items that the examiner wishes to disclose** . 

2 

**Oct 2018** 

**IER** 



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