Summary Annual Report
2022
Suffolk West Federation of Women’s Institutes (CIO) Federation Offices: Unit 11, Park Farm Business Centre, Fornham St Genevieve, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6TS Tel: 01284 336645 email: office.swfwi@gmail.com Registered Charity Number 1179294
Annual Report
Trustees during 2021 -2022
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11 12 13 13 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julie Higgins | Chairman | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Jill Gooch | Vice Chairman | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Brenda Last | Treasurer | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Margaret Brackenbury |
Vice Chairman | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Maggie Glavin | Vice Chairman | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Janet Brown | Until July2022 | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Linda Gridley | SWFWI WIs | |||
| June Bryant | SWFWI WIs | |||
| Yvonne King | SWFWI WIs | |||
| Rae Stapleton | Until April 2022 | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Tina Walker | From April 2022 | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Helen Lindfield | SWFWI WIs | |||
| Anne Ling | From April 2022 | SWFWI WIs | ||
| Glenn Abbassi | to April 2022 | SWFWI WIs | ||
| SallyWaterson | From April 2022 | SWFWI WIs |
Governance
The Federation has a constitution approved by the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and by the Charity Commission. The managing trustees are voted for every two (2) years by the WIs of the Federation. They take office after the end of that year’s annual meeting.
Additional governance issues
Federation Officers attend formal training provided by NFWI. All trustees are obliged to undertake online training delivered as part of NFWI’s commitment to working in partnership with federations to provide additional support and guidance throughout the national federation.
Staff
The Federation employs two part time members of staff: Federation Secretary Rachel Hows and Finance Assistant Rachel Sparks.
Objects of the WI
The objects of the Federation are to further the purposes of the Women’s Institute movement in West Suffolk.
The main purposes of the Women’s Institute organisation are:
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(a) to advance the education of women and girls for the public benefit in all areas including (without limitation):
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i. local, national and international issues of political and social importance
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ii. music, drama and other cultural subjects; and
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iii. all branches of agriculture, crafts, home economics, science, health and social welfare
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(b) to promote sustainable development for the public benefit by:
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i. educating people in the preservation, conservation and protection of the environment and the prudent use of natural resources; and
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ii. promoting sustainable means of achieving economic growth and regeneration
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(c) to advance health for the public benefit
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(d) to advance citizenship for the public benefit by the promotion of civic responsibility and volunteering.
Achievements
We still consider our greatest achievements are keeping up the interest of our members in our work and events at Federation and encouraging them to keep their own WIs going, having fun and enjoying the friendship that the WI is famous for.
Summary of the main activities of the organisation
Finally we celebrated our belated centenary this year only two years late. We held our very successful Annual Meeting at Culford with all the usual reports and two excellent speakers, Sandy Ruddock from Scarlett and Mustard and Paul Martin, the well known antiques expert. The Hive continued but has changed now to a single publication each month going out by email and with printed copies for those who request them. We have a committee working on a new style website and collaborating on this with students from the University of Suffolk. The PR team has been working hard to recruit new members and will be running a stall at the Bury St Edmunds Christmas lights switch on evening again.
A coach load of members also went to the National annual meeting in Liverpool in June.
We have held a number of interesting events including Shakespeare in the Park again, and another visit to the Guildhall. Also a visit to the National Arboretum and to Sandringham craft fair. A number of workshops were also run including needle felting, Christmas wall hanging, wreath making and flower arranging. Several sports activities were organised including paddleboarding, Nordic walking and various walks.
Unfortunately several events had to be cancelled as we did not get sufficient interest. It has been a slow process getting members back out and joining in events after the lockdown. Hopefully next year will see further improvements.
We look forward to 2023 when we will hold our annual meeting at Culford School, another outdoor event at Park Farm, coach trips and a visit to Cardiff for the National Annual Meeting
Financial Review
Reserves Policy
The Federation holds reserves for several reasons.
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To cover cash flow situations where for instance the subscriptions which
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provide a substantial part of the income are only received in March/ April to
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cover the whole year.
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To cover for unforeseen emergency or unexpected needs.
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Cover for unforeseen day to day operational costs such as employing
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temporary staff to cover long term sick absence.
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To meet planned commitments that cannot be met from future income alone.
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To support the office costs following the sale of owned premises and the rental of current premises, with a view that new premises may be purchased in future.
The proceeds from the sale of the Federation’s own property are held as reserves but split to give both access and income. The larger part has been invested through a stockbroker which offers inflation proofing income and increase in values combined with a low to medium risk, the remainder split between instant access accounts and short notice accounts which pay more interest. The Reserves policy was reviewed this year and the board decided not to continue to reinvest our dividends but to pay them into our bank account until our financial position improves.
This has been another challenging year financially with some fund raising events having to be cancelled with lack of support. Our lunch with speaker which was on track to make a profit also had to be postponed following the death of Queen Elizabeth II and will now take place in November 2022. The profit and loss account unsurprisingly shows a deficit of £26585, which is an increase on the previous year’s deficit, partially due to less government grants and to increased salaries and premises costs. The federation annual meeting was more expensive than normal as we had more expensive speakers held over from our cancelled centenary meeting in 2020. The decision was also made to write off the cost of the unsold centenary merchandise which increased the deficit by over £2000. The deficit can be met from our Virgin savings account, but this is probably the last year this will be possible. Any future losses will have to come from our investments. Our investments continued to perform fairly well but were impacted by the market turmoil in September following the mini budget and immediately before our end of year valuations. Our membership numbers and hence subscriptions have remained steady, but we are working to get back to our pre pandemic numbers. As ever the board of trustees continue their efforts to reduce costs wherever possible and increase income.
Suffolk West Federation of Women's Institutes (CIO) Income and Expenditure for the year ended 30th September 2022
| Income 2022 Members subscriptions 13343.64 Dividends and Interest 13538.78 Grants 0.00 Recharges for photocopying, insurance, etc 1844.65 Park Farm Fundraising events 0.00 Federation & National meeting 9192.84 Sales of WI News, bulbs, pens, diaries etc 1318.81 Training, Donations, NFWI & Golden ticket draws 902.60 Centenary events 0.00 Federation Board of Trustees Creative Leisure Members Advisory Committee Events Public Affairs PR & Media Sports Catering Choir Total Income Expenditure Staffing including cleaners 26589.34 Office rent , Council tax, electricity & repairs 21276.14 Supplies, photocopier, postage, etc 4158.34 Bookkeeping & Audit, Depreciation 1067.33 Park Farm Fundraising events Federation & National meetings 13114.76 Cost of Sales, Golden ticket prizes, other minor costs 3914.18 Public relations 53.18 Travel expenses, zoom, picture licences, gifts 809.33 Federation Board of Trustees Creative Leisure Members Advisory Committee Events Public Affairs PR & Media Sports Catering Choir Total Expenditure Profit/ (Loss) |
2022 28727.07 11414.25 1385.00 430.00 9265.12 0.00 0.00 1746.00 839.00 102.00 |
|---|---|
| 53908.44 | |
| 80493.99 | |
| -26585.55 |
Suffolk West Federation of Women's Institutes (CIO) Balance Sheet for the year ended 30th September 2022
| Fixed Assets Kitchen equipment Office Equipment Chairman's Brooch Current Assets Trade Debtors Prepayment of expenditure Accrual of Income Bank Current account Barratt & Cooke Investment Virgin Money Account Stocks Floats Liabilities Trade Creditors Suspended Institutes fund NFWI affiliation fees Pooling of fares Accrual of expenditure Prepayment of Income Suspense a/c Capital & Reserves Accumulated Fund Surplus/deficit of funds Denman College Room fund Investment revaluation Profit & Loss account Previous year's adjustment |
2022 502.98 2003.51 240.00 64.00 3434.95 4046.46 10533.62 419498.00 11292.52 0.00 80.00 451696.04 212.81 7931.48 54.44 0.00 842.71 6392.30 15433.74 436262.30 414841.38 89199.81 396.66 -41590.00 -26585.55 436262.30 |
2021 406.74 2357.08 240.00 5767.20 4664.57 15270.75 461088.00 21271.31 3056.29 80.00 |
|---|---|---|
| 514201.94 | ||
| 497.00 4725.09 0.00 700.00 3842.00 |
||
| 9764.09 | ||
| 504437.85 | ||
| 414841.38 75476.55 396.66 34154.55 -20431.29 |
||
| 504437.85 |