## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** ## **From Period start date 06/04/2023To Period end date 05/04/2024** ## **Charity name: Gorton Imagination Library aka Manchester Imagination Library** ## **Charity registration number: 1177483** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To promote early education for the public benefit in
particular, but not exclusively, by the provision of free,
high-quality books for children aged under 5 living in
Manchester.| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|-
Providing free, high-quality books to all registered
children under 5 years living in identified Super
Output areas in Manchester
-
Providing financial support to local schools to enable
them to register their Nursery children to receive free
books until they are 5 years.
-
Support local families to access activities regarding
early literacy, adult literacy and back to work
guidance.| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|All trustees have read and understood Charity
Commission guidance regarding Public Benefit.| ## **Additional information (optional)** ## You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: ||
SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|NA| |Policy on social investment
including program related
investment|Para 1.38|NA| |Contribution made by
volunteers|Para 1.38|Volunteers offer their time free of charge and without
claiming any expenses, to attend meetings, support the
charity’s activities and access funding opportunities.
Imagination Library UK, to which we are affiliated, offers
support and information.| |||| Other ## **Achievements and Performance** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of
the main
achievements
of the charity,
identifying the
difference the
charity’s work
has made to
the
circumstances
of its
beneficiaries
and any wider
benefits to
society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|Since the charity was established in June 2015 the number of children
registered for the book-gifting programme has increased from 27 to
around 600 currently. Overall**1,729**children and their families have
benefitted over the 7 years we have been running and almost**30,000**
books have been gifted up to September 2024.
Within this financial year we registered**233**new children,**150**graduated
at age 5 and**6,261**books were gifted.
**Family Hubs**
Working with our partners SureStart, we have been identified as a value
for money intervention by Manchester City Council and are working to
register 2-year-olds not attending nursery provision from families across
the Woodville, Cheetham Hill and Gorton, Sacred Heart new Family
Hubs. We are using the funds to register families who SureStart have
previously struggled to engage so that they can receive the monthly
books and be invited to attend sessions at their local centre. This has
been very successful at Woodville with 180 children registered and we
are using this learning to ensure that the Gorton Hub is as effective when
it launches. The funding only covers the costs for 2 years when children
will either transfer to a school programme or we will seek additional
funding to ensure that they continue to receive the books until graduation
at age 5.
This is our first commissioned project so we will be using the evidence ot
impact to support applications for further opportunities.
**Babies Need Books Project**
Fundraising to extend the reach and time scales focusing on newborns is
going well and so far, we have registered approximately 100 children
following projects delivered by our local partners e.g. reform Radio, MCC
Baby Bag projects, SureStart sessions and Manchester Baby Week. Our
next step is to offer registration to families when they come to register the
birth of their newborn at local SureStart centres.
**Schools**
Lack of capacity has limited the number of new schools we have been
able to include but 4 long-standing schools continue to make donations to
support the registration of their Nursery children. We will continue to
approach schools, particularly those that are part of the DfE Kickstarter
programme aimed at improved standards at the end of Early Years as we
know the staff find it very helpful for all their Nursery and Reception
children to receive the same book at home.
_‘As you can see (from the EYFS data) having the Imagination Library_
_has helped enormously with our scores. The data shows that the_
_children have progressed in all three areas (Listening, Attention and_
_Understanding, Speaking and Word Reading. This is refected through_
_parents’ comments…because it is addressed to them. We as_
_practitioners can see frst-hand the impact having books at home has_
_when the child handles the book …and during guided reading_
_sessions.’ Gorton teacher._| We know from feedback from families, data from schools and personal contacts that Imagination Library is a very effect support to families and, because of the Dollywood infrastructure, a very cost-effective programme; for £26 per year children receive a high-quality, ageappropriate book through the post every month. Our running costs are less than 5% meaning that 95% of funds raised goes towards providing the books. Recent research from Swansea University backs this up www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2022/09/childrengiven-books-from-dolly-partons-imagination-library-read-more-often-andperform-better-in-school---new-research-.php  Parents receiving IL books were 30% more likely to read daily with their child than parents outside the programme  Children in the IL for more than a year had a 40% increased chance of achieving the “Good Level of Development” standard, and a 54% increased chance of achieving the Early Learning Goal for reading, compared to children with similar characteristics who were not in the IL programme Receiving the Queens Award for Voluntary Services in Summer 2021 has really raised our profile and reputation as a sustainable charity. We are now recognised by Manchester City Council as a key partner in delivering their Startwell Strategy. To access an increasing number of funding streams meaning from January 2024, we will change our working name to **Manchester Imagination Library** to reflect our growing reach. ## **Additional information (optional)** ## You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |Achievements
against
objectives set|Para 1.41|_Our ongoing objectives:_
_1.Develop a targeted place-based approach focusing on new births and_
_areas with high IDACI data_
_2. Develop a sustainable funding regime._
_3. Strengthen the Board and further develop local partnerships_
_particularly with commissioned groups across the city._
Our long-term aim is to register as many children as possible across
priority Manchester Wards ie. those with IDACI scores. Gorton
Imagination Library now extends into Clayton and Openshaw
(57.1),
Gorton and Abbey Hey
(51.2), Cheetham
(42.3) and Crumpsall
(41.9)
Recent fundraising has enabled us to increase the number of
registrations to current numbers of over 600 children. We are reaching
many more families in North Manchester through the Woodville Family
Hub project.| |---|---|---| |Performance
of fundraising
activities
against
objectives set|Para 1.41|Our Fundraising Strategy and Business Plan is currently in development
with support from Manchester Community Centralwww.macc.org.uk
.
This will enable us to set year on year targets for fundraising.
Fundraising has been much more successful this year with several
significant local grants to support our New Birth Pilot development.
Successful partnership applications for government Family Hub funding
has contributed approximately £16,000 targeted at families not previously
engaged with SureStart and other local early years activities in areas with
high levels of deprivation.
We continue to be supported by donations from local schools and| |||Manchester City Council.
We are recognised as providing an essential, value-for-money
intervention by Manchester City Council and are known to have a
sustainable model of delivery and funding due to our wider networks and
track record of success.| |---|---|---| |Investment
performance
against
objectives|Para 1.41|| |Other||| ## **Financial Review** |Review of the
charity’s
financial
position at the
end of the
period|Para 1.21|Funding applications are currently on hold as had a very successful year
22/23 and have ring-fenced these funds held to ensure that most new
registrations can be continued until these children reach 5 years. In order
to grow further, having been volunteer-run so far, we need to commission
some paid admin support to increase our capacity.| |---|---|---| |Statement
explaining the
policy for
holding
reserves
stating why
they are held|Para 1.22|As Dolly Parton and the Dollywood Foundation recommend that
Imagination Libraries are a universal offer with children receiving the
books until they are 5 years of age, we aim to build up reserves of at
least £10K in order to provide a universal offer more widely. Current
funds show we have sufficient funding to maintain all currently registered
children until they are 5 years of age. This is likely to be an overestimate
of funds needed as some children will progress onto schools’ supported
programmes when they start Nursery.| |Amount of
reserves held|Para 1.22|£3,000| |Reasons for
holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|The majority of our funds are allocated to future costs to enable us to
continue registration for as many children as possible until they reach five
years of age. Future call-outs for new registrations will only be issued
once sufficient grants/reserves are held.| |Details of fund
materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|| |Explanation of
any
uncertainties
about the
charity
continuing as a
going concern|Para 1.23|| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |
The charity’s
principal
sources of|
Para 1.47|
Our original funder continues to support MIL and has provided over £22K
since we began in 2015.
Government Family Hub funding for Woodville and Gorton Centres
provides around £16K. We are often included in funding applications by
local partners and have twice received We Love MCR grants.| |---|---|---| |funds
(including any
fundraising)||Other recent grants include Cardinal Maritime, BUPA, Skipton Building
Society and the Duchy of Lancashire.
Successful previous funding bids from Vinci Foundation, We Love MCR,
The Charity Service and others enabled us to deliver our Books for Covid
Babies project and we will approach them in future to extend the reach of
our new Babies Need Books programme.
Our main challenge now is to build relationships with local businesses
and sponsors so that we can expand further.| |---|---|---| |Investment
policy and
objectives
including any
social
investment
policy adopted|Para 1.46|NA| |A description
of the principal
risks facing the
charity|Para 1.46|Our current financial forecast shows that we have sufficient funds to
support all current registered groups but does not provide for wider
reach. We need to access additional funds to provide casual admin
support as our volunteers are reaching capacity. An ongoing risk is lack
of diversity of funding but we are actively pursuing digital giving and
business sponsorship to secure continuing income. We manage
applications by families for their children to be registered so that we know
we have sufficient reserves to ensure they continue receiving the books
until they reach 5 years of age.| |Other||| ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Trust deed| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|CIO whose only voting members are trustees.| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|We select trustees from volunteers with an interest and
areas of expertise related to early literacy and supporting
families in deprived communities through our expanding
local contacts and are in the process of setting up a
parents’ group to feed into trustee meetings. Where we
find gaps in knowledge/experience we seek out additional
trustees through Manchester Community Central
www.macc.org.uk
**.**| ## **Additional information (optional)** ## You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction and
training of trustees|Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction and
training of trustees|Para 1.51|All new trustees are directed to the Charity Commission
website to understand the expectations of the role. All are
DBS checked and we have regular updates at trustees’
meeting.| |---|---|---|---| ||||| |The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works|Para 1.51|We are affiliated to the Dollywood Foundation and
supported by Imagination Library UK but are a
standalone charity.| |---|---|---| |Relationship with any related
parties|Para 1.51|We have mutually supportive partnerships with:
Reform Radio
Manchester City Council
SureStart
Read MCR and MCR Libraries
Local Primary schools
Manchester Community Central (MACC)| |Other||| ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Gorton Imagination Library| |---|---| |Other name the charity uses|Manchester Imagination Library (working name)| |Registered charity number|1177843| |Charity’s principal address|Gorton Sure Start Centre
Stelling Street
Gorton
Manchester
M18 8LW| ||| ## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||Janet FitzGerald|Chair||| ||Janet Dexter|Trustee||| ||Joanne Farrell|Trustee||| ||Cheryl Pridgeon|Trustees Secretary||| ||Hannah Mahapatra|Trustees Vice Chair||| ||Cllr Julie Reid|Trustee||| ||JennySimpson|Trustee||| ||Joanne Harvey|Treasurer||| ## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved ## **Director name** Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity **Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year** ## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others** |Description of the assets
held in this capacity|None| |---|---| |Name and objects of the
charity on whose behalf the
assets are held and how this
falls within the custodian
charity’s objects|NA| |Details of arrangements for
safe custody and
segregation of such assets
from the charity’s own assets|NA| ## **Additional information (optional)** ## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)** |**Names and**|**addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**addresses of advisers (Optional information)**| |---|---|---| |**Type of**
**adviser**|**Name**
**Address**|| |||| |||| |||| |||| |**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**||| ## **Exemptions from disclosure** Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details ## **Other optional information** ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** **Signature(s)** Janet FitzGerald **Full name(s)** Janet FitzGerald **Position (eg Secretary,** Chair **Chair, etc)** **----- Start of picture text -----**
Date
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **BANK Donations** |**ANK**
||||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**onatons**|||**Books**|| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|6-Apr||1,051.89| |### Amazon
|5.00|9-May||1,095.80| |### Cheryl
|10.00|8-Jun||1,128.34| |### Insightul
|42.00|26-Jul||1,062.68| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|8-Aug||1,248.37| |Friday, May 19, 2023 Amazon
|14.08|8-Sep||962.94| |### Cheryl
|10.00|6-Oct||1,256.85| |### Insightul
|42.00|9-Nov||1,144.04| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|6-Dec||1,131.48| |### Cheryl
|10.00|8-Jan||1,189.57| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||**11,271.96**| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Cardinal Maritme|2,000.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Retailer
|1,000.00|||| |### Easy Fundraising
|20.85|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Healthy Me
|1,000.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Bupa
|2,950.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Varna
|676.00|||| |### MCC
|8,150.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### We LovE mcr
|4,000.00|||| |### Cheryl
|10.00|||| |### Insightul
|42.00|||| |### Skipton
|1,300.00|||| |### Janet ftzgerald
|10.00|||| |### Duchy Lcster
|1,560.00|||| |### Cheryl
### Insightul
### Janet ftzgerald
### Cheryl
### Insightul
**NON CASH ITEMS**
Dullator
Joanne
Jan
Jan
Feb
March
Laptop
Restricted
Cardinal Maritme
Retailer
Healthy Me
BUPA
MCC
We love MCR
Skipton
Duchy Of Lancaster|10.00
42.00
10.00
10.00
42.00
**23,419.93**
4,000.00
500.00
192.40
1,194.57
1,042.05
1,279.76
**27,919.93**
**14,980.74**
2,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
2,950.00
8,150.00
4,000.00
1,300.00
1,560.00
**21,960.00**| |---|---| 5,959.93 ||**Service chge**||Other payments||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |30-Jun||18.00|5-Dec Website|185|| |30-Sep||18.00|14-Dec Insurance|392|| |31-Dec||18.00|||| |31-Mar||18.00|||| ||||||0| |||**72.00**||**577**|| 1,077.00 ||**Gorton Imagination Library**|**Gorton Imagination Library**|**Gorton Imagination Library**|**No (if any)**|**No (if any)**|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||| ||**For the period from**|Period start date
4/6/2023|**To**
|Per
|iod end date
4/5/2024|| |||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**5,960**
**-**
**5,960**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,960**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,960**
**-**
**5,960**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
|**to the nearest £**
**21,960**
**-**
**21,960**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**21,960**
**14,981**
**1,077**
**72**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,130**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,130**
**5,830**
**-**
**24,142**
**29,972**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**27,920**
**-**
**-**
**27,920**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**27,920**
**14,981**
**1,077**
**72**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,130**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,130**
**11,790**
**-**
**24,142**
**35,932**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Donations|**5,960**|||||**6,730**| |Schools Funding||||||| ||**-**|||||**-**| |||||||| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**5,960**
|||||**6,730**| |||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||| ||**-**|||||| ||**-**|||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||| |||||||**6,730**| |||||||| |Books||||||**11,745**| |Other payments||||||**300**| |Bank service charge||||||**72**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**12,117**| |||||||| |**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_**||||||| |||||||**12,117**| |||||||| ||**5,960**|**5,830**|**-**||**11,790**|**- 5,387**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|**-**| |||**24,142**|**-**||**24,142**|**29,529**| ||**5,960**|**29,972**|**-**||**35,932**|**24,142**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** **Categories Details B1 Cash funds** Cash in bank at year end _**Total cash funds**_ (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) **Details B2 Other monetary assets** |**to nearest £**
**35,932**
**-**
**-**
**35,932**
Agreement Error
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Agreement Error
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| |---|---|---| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||**-**| |||OK| |||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**-**|**-**|**-**| |**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on behal
of all the trustees|**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
f|Print Nam
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
e
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**Current value**
**(optional)**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**When due**
**(optional)**| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||Date of
approval| |||||| ||||||