The Swan Song Project
Charity number 1178096
Annual Report and Financial Statements
for the year ended 30 April 2022
The Swan Song Project
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 April 2022
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Trustees' report | 2 to 4 |
| Examiner's report | 5 |
| Receipts and payments account | 6 |
| Statement of assets and liabilities | 7 |
| Notes to the accounts | 8 to 9 |
Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
1
The Swan Song Project
Trustees' report for the year ended 30 April 2022
Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors
The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: Name Position Dates Adrian Sinclair Chair Anthony Waddington Jeannie Lumb Chris Martin Frances Rodgers Treasurer Appointed 9 November 2021 Stephanie Louise Taylor Appointed 9 November 2021 1178096
Charity number
Registered in England and Wales
Registered and principal address
c/o Chapel FM Old Seacroft Chapel York Road Leeds LS14 6JB
Bankers
The Cooperative Bank PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT
Independent examiner
Stephen Procter West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) formed on 25 April 2018 and is governed by a constitution.
Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees
The trustees of the charity are appointed by the members at the AGM.
2
The Swan Song Project
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 April 2022
Objectives and activities
The charity's objects
The relief of sickness and the preservation of mental and physical health among people facing end of life, bereavement by death of a person or the anticipation thereof and the protection and preservation of public health, particularly through the prevention of any sickness which may arise from bereavement by death of a person or the anticipation thereof through the use of arts, in particular, but not exclusively, the art of music.
The charity's main activities
The Charity’s uses music to support people through the challenges associated with end of life and bereavement. Our core work involves helping terminally ill and bereaved people to write and record an original song. This year we also started offering “Music and Memories Groups” where participants share their experiences of bereavement and how music helped them.
In addition to this we also run a virtual singing group as a way of supporting people struggling with isolation and produce a podcast discussing songwriting and bereavement.
Public benefit statement
In furtherance of the objects of the charity the charity works with people facing end of life, due to terminal illness or old age, their families, carers and loved ones. We help to address the mental and physical health issues associated with end of life. We do this through the following main activity:
The creation of original music and lyrics with beneficiaries to help them to address the emotional impact of death on the individual, their family, carers and loved ones. These original songs are recorded and shared by loved ones as a lasting record. Beneficiaries have the opportunity to share their work with the wider public if they choose to do so, both as a recording or as a live performance. We bring beneficiaries and their families, carers and loved ones together through regular Swan Song Project events, providing an opportunity for people to share their creative achievements and support one another through a challenging stage of life. We engage with musicians and song writers to promote the participants work and encourage people to get involved in supporting our beneficiaries.
Our song writing and bereavement podcast reaches large numbers of people promoting healthy conversations about bereavement. The podcast is educational and inspiring, both in relation to the practicalities of song writing and real stories of people dealing with bereavements.
Achievements and performance
This year we were excited to resume our in-person work following the Covid-19 pandemic. This hasn’t been easy as many of the partner organisations we work with have still had very strict procedures in place to ensure the safety of vulnerable beneficiaries. We have worked with them to do our best to support these people safely. We have been able to return to several of the hospices we were working with pre-pandemic and write songs with patients there. We have also delivered in-person work at a new hospice that we connected with during the pandemic. We continued to expand our network of partner organisations who can make referrals to us as well as raising public awareness of our self referral system.
We completed 11 songs during this year. 7 were completed virtually and 4 were done in-person. The impact of these songs is huge both for the individuals supported during the process of writing them but with their friends and family as well as the general public when songs are shared on our website. Many of the songs are played at funerals and on anniversaries and birthdays after someone has passed.
Listening to feedback from our beneficiaries, their families and our partner organisations we developed a new group activity that meets our charitable objects. Our Music and Memories Groups are a chance for people to share songs that hold special memories for them and have helped them deal with bereavements. We hosted 4 of them in this year engaging 48 people and receiving positive feedback.
3
The Swan Song Project
Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 30 April 2022
Achievements and performance (continued)
We intend to continue offering these sessions as an extra service but also as outreach to engage more people in our core work. Our online singing group which started in one of the lockdowns has continued to be very popular. We hosted 30 sessions of this group this year with attendances ranging from 12 to 25 people per session. Both of these activities allow beneficiaries, their families and our supporters to engage in the charities activities in an on-going way. The feedback for the singing group has been amazing with many people saying it is the highlight of their week and enjoying a real sense of community within it.
We produced and released a further 24 episodes of our podcast this year and attracted some big name guests such as Mike Scott of The Waterboys and Larry Love of The Alabama 3. The podcast shares stories of songwriting and bereavement with the aim of inspiring others to write their own songs as well as helping to normalise conversations around bereavement. The podcast attracts a good size audience and expands the reach of the charity and our services. The podcast also raises awareness of the charity amongst other songwriters. This has led to us welcoming our first celebrity ambassador in Jon Gomm who was a guest of episode 44 of the podcast. Jon is now supporting the charity in an ongoing way helping to raise awareness, share contacts and support our activities.
We evaluated our service and identified a weakness in engagement with our core service. Therefore we created a new position of Partnerships and Engagement Manager to manage all of our partnerships and work on maximising and evaluating engagement with our services. We received a lot of applications for the position and appointed someone in February 2022 who is making great progress in the role.
Alongside this we developed our songwriter training processes and brought on a a freelance songwriter to help support delivery. We then started a wider recruitment process to expand our team to include 5 fully trained songwriters. Our aim is for the Partnerships and Engagement manager to generate a significant increase in referrals for our songwriting service and we will then have a larger songwriting team to support this demand. This will also give us a model that we hope will be replicable in other regions.
We reviewed the skill set of our board and agreed that we could use some more members with particular skill sets. We advertised and were very happy to appoint 2 new trustees who bring a lot of skills and experience particularly in Governance, fundraising, charity growth and the voluntary sector.
We also received a lot of voluntary support from staff members at Sky Betting and Gaming, a large company based in Leeds. We have received support from 14 different members of staff there now with a range of skills, primarily helping us to further develop our marketing.
Financial review
The net receipts for the year were £13,095, including net payments of £1,265 on unrestricted funds and net receipts of £14,360 on restricted funds after transfers.
Reserves policy
The charity's free reserves at the year end were £29,716.
The Trustees will consider the level of reserves that it is prudent for the Organisation to have at its meeting every year. Consideration will be given to redundancy liabilities, lease agreements and any other significant factors that should be considered if the Organisation were to close.
In line with the finance policy commitment to review prudent levels of unrestricted reserves on an annual basis, the trustees have determined that; given the increased economic uncertainty created by the Covid pandemic, and taking into account the growth plans of the charity, an unrestricted reserve of between 6 and 12 months, after all liabilities are met, is prudent at this time.
Signed on behalf of the board of trustees on 01/11/2022
Adrian Sinclair (Trustee)
4
The Swan Song Project
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of The Swan Song Project
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 30 April 2022, which are set out on pages 6 to 9.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').
I report in respect of my examination of the CIO's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. 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 examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records.
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.
Stephen Procter
10/11/2022
West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO
Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW
5
The Swan Song Project
Receipts and payments account for the year ended 30 April 2022
| Notes 2022 Unrestricted funds £ Receipts Grants and donations (2) 30,584 Subscriptions 372 Refunds - Other income 113 Total receipts 31,069 Payments Salaries, NI, pension etc 28,804 Sessional staff 1,745 Recruitment 262 Insurance 396 Staff expenses 280 Facility hire - Memberships and subscriptions 216 Marketing - Accounting 480 HR support - PayPal fees 20 IT expenses - Other expense 131 Total payments 32,334 Net income / (expenditure) (1,265) Fund balances brought forward 30,981 Fund balances carried forward (3) 29,716 |
2022 Restricted funds £ 25,700 - - - 25,700 6,385 3,055 - - 8 145 - 559 - - - 1,188 - 11,340 14,360 5,640 20,000 |
2022 Total funds £ 56,284 372 - 113 56,769 35,189 4,800 262 396 288 145 216 559 480 - 20 1,188 131 43,674 13,095 36,621 49,716 |
2021 Total funds £ 39,481 149 200 63 39,893 29,003 3,100 - 354 - - - 2,183 480 500 22 1,437 79 37,158 2,735 33,886 36,621 |
|---|---|---|---|
6
The Swan Song Project
Statement of assets and liabilities
| as at 30 April 2022 2022 Unrestricted £ Cash funds Co-op Bank current account 26,431 PayPal 3,285 Total cash funds 29,716 |
2022 Restricted £ 20,000 - 20,000 |
2022 Total £ 46,431 3,285 49,716 |
2021 Total £ 33,651 2,970 36,621 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liabilities Independent examination |
£ 480 480 |
|---|---|
The financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 01/11/2022
Adrian Sinclair (Trustee)
7
The Swan Song Project
Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 30 April 2022
1 Accounting policies
Basis of accounting
The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis.
There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year.
No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.
Taxation
As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.
Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.
8
The Swan Song Project
Notes to the accounts continued
for the year ended 30 April 2022
| 2 Grants and donations Postcode Neighbourhood Trust Oaks Havant Crematorium Sovereign Health Care Leeds Building Society Groundwork UK The National Lottery Community Leeds Community Foundation Awards for All Red Bull Academy Donations 3 Restricted funds Lottery Community Fund Leeds Community Foundation Awards for All Leeds Building Society Postcode Neighbourhood Trust Sovereign Health Care |
Fund Balance b/f £ 734 521 4,385 - - - 5,640 |
2022 Unrestricted funds £ - 15,000 - - 250 - - - - 15,334 30,584 Receipts £ - - - 1,000 20,000 4,700 25,700 |
2022 Restricted funds £ 20,000 - 4,700 1,000 - - - - - - 25,700 Payments £ 734 521 4,385 1,000 - 4,700 11,340 |
2022 Total funds £ 20,000 15,000 4,700 1,000 250 - - - - 15,334 56,284 Transfers £ - - - - - - - |
2021 Total funds £ - - - - - 10,000 8,500 9,907 2,000 9,074 39,481 Balance c/f £ - - - - 20,000 - 20,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fund name Purpose of restriction
Lottery Community Fund Leeds Community Foundation Awards for All Leeds Building Society Postcode Neighbourhood Trust Sovereign Health Care
To support the organisation through the Covid-19 pandemic. To support the organisation through the Covid-19 pandemic. To expand the virtual service set up during earlier lockdowns. Towards the costs of IT equipment.
To recruit and train a new cohort of songwriters. To write and record new songs and deliver 10 sessions of our singing group.
4 Related party transactions
Trustee expenses
No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year.
Trustee remuneration and benefits
No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year.
9