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2020-12-31-accounts

Registered Charity Number: 1179362 CIO Company Number: CE014750

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS For the period ended 31 December 2020

CONTENTS

Page 1 Charity Information Pages 2 - 11 Trustees’ Annual Report Page 12 Independent Examiner’s Report Page 13 Receipts and Payments Account Page 14 Statement of Assets and Liabilities Page 15 Notes to the financial statements

www.getoutuk.org

GET OUT

Reference and Administrative details

Charity registration number

CIO Company number

Charity’s principal address

Charity trustees

Key Personnel

Bankers

Independent Examiner

1179362

CE014750

54 Salop Road London E177HT

Trustees who served during the period and up to the date of this report were as follows:

S. Jennings (Chair) Appointed 28 July 2018 Appointed Chair 4th March 2020 J. Calverly Appointed 28 July 2018 Resigned 4th March 2020 K. Mc Cafferty Appointed 28 July 2018 D. Bolton Appointed 28 July 2018 Z. Fiddes Appointed 28 July 2018 Resigned 7 November 2020 A. Rahman Appointed 27 March 2020 K. Harkin Founder and Director Appointed 28 July 2018

The Co-operative Bank - Business PO Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT

Dr Peter Ellington FAIA Triple Bottom Line Accounting The Enterprise Centre University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park Norwich NR4 7TJ

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GET OUT Registered Charity Number: 1179362

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period ended 31 December 2020

The trustees present their report together with the independently examined accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 December 2020.

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which was constituted on 27 July 2018 under company number CE014750 and is registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales under charity number 1179362.

The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015).

Objectives and Activities

The purpose of the charity as detailed in its constitution is: (1) To advance the education of children and young people and particularly those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the conservation, preservation and improvement of the physical and natural environment. (2) To advance in life and help young people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets through (a) The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interest of social welfare designed to improve their conditions of life; (b) Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.

The principal activity of the charity in the period under review was that of managing an inner-city half-acre community garden for the benefit of local schools, inhabitants of Tower Hamlets and the surrounding neighbourhoods, by utilising the facilities to provide education and volunteering activities.

Structure, Governance and Management

The charity is governed by the provisions set out in its constitution which were adopted by the trustees on 27[th] July 2018.

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The trustees have met together 4 times during the period.

The trustees who have served during the period and up to the date of this report are set out on page 1.

Public benefits

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission of England and Wales when determining the activities to be undertaken by the Charity.

Achievements and Performance

Thanks to the hard work of the charity’s passionate and dedicated personnel, Trustees and our amazing volunteers, the charity was able to continue into its second year since registering as a charity. Although activities were limited, we are proud to have reached many people from diverse groups in the local community.

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Our second year …

The four Trustees of GET OUT and the founder Kieran Harkin come from a range of different countries and backgrounds and bring a wide range of experience and skills to the charity. It was this group that provided the leadership for the charity to take steps to fulfil the charitable objectives set out in the charity’s constitution.

Our second year, like many charities, businesses, and people, was extremely difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns. We were not able to run our surf program and had limited openings and reach with our permaculture courses, workshops, and education program at our Food Forest community garden.

In the period from 1st January 2020 until 31 December 2020, there weren’t any full-time employees at the charity.

Education

Children and young people play a huge role in giving GET OUT a sense of identity. In the period from January 2020 until December 2020, we managed to further develop our flagship project, Food Forest community garden, and when possible, welcomed the local community in to learn about food growing, sustainability, biodiversity, soils, and permaculture. The space also provided a natural place for visitors to enjoy improving wellbeing.

Unfortunately, our education work was limited due to COVID-19 government restrictions and lockdowns, but we did publish a series of ideas, infographics on social media to inspire people to stay connected with nature and to educate on the subject. We also managed to set up a mailing list and send a newsletter with 50 ideas of how to connect with nature during a lockdown.

At the beginning of 2020, we continued to run our Eco Club at our Food Forest project. This was limited in attendance because of the time of year with interest in joining outdoor clubs and seasonal conditions for growing food being at their lowest from January through to spring. Later in the year when restrictions were eased, we welcomed visitors into the garden, and we focused our education work on ensuring there were signs in the garden enabling visitors to walk around the half-acre site and read about the design and intention for each area without having anyone from GET OUT being

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present. This enabled GET OUT staff and volunteers and members of the public to stay as safe as possible in line with government advice on dealing with COVID-19.

Throughout each lockdown, the adjacent primary school to the Food Forest project continued to welcome children of key workers to attend school. We then subsequently ensured that the project was safe and ready for these pupils to use during school hours. We were happy to see that the teachers and pupils during these times used the garden every day.

Surf Program

The GET OUT surf program is a three-part program consisting of two face to face workshops focusing on everyday environmental issues and preparing adventures and time spent outdoors. These two workshops are essential, and we do not take anyone surfing unless these two workshops and have been attended. Therefore, we had to cancel the surf program in 2020 due to safety concerns with COVID-19 and government restrictions and lockdowns.

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Food Forest

We were delighted to revisit our existing Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreement to manage the Food Forest half-acre site and agree on an extension meaning we would-be stewards of the site until at least 2025.

In 2020 we continued to develop the site and added new walkways ensuring that visitors could enter and stick to a one-way system and walk around the entire area and see the pond, wildlife zone, raised beds, wormeries, polytunnel, rainwater harvesting, hothouse and composters. We also added new signage to educate on each of the areas within the site but also to comply with COVID-19 protocols when we could open to the public.

Key Workers

The site was used throughout 2020 by pupils of Malmesbury Primary that still attended school as their parent(s) and/or guardians were key workers. This meant that approximately 60 children continued to use the garden as a place for education and for wellbeing daily from Monday to Friday.

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Volunteering programme

We continued to offer a volunteering programme to both the local community and anyone who saw our posts about volunteering on social media when COVID related government restrictions were allowed during 2020. We grew our number of regular volunteers to 56 and had an approximate further 50 visit the garden in 2020 and volunteer. This is estimated to equate to 300 hours of volunteering during 2020. This contribution was essential to the charity delivering the community garden and its features, maintaining the site and ensuring it is an urban oasis in the inner city.

In addition to the 56 regular volunteers and drop-in volunteering, we mobilised additional volunteers that donated their skills and time in a wide range of areas from graphic design to marketing. This tireless work behind the scenes enabled us to communicate with our beneficiaries through a professional website and social media channels, using videos and images edited by our volunteers.

All our regular volunteers live in London and the majority are from the local community. The group consists of many different ages and people from diverse backgrounds.

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Patrons

GET OUT thanks its patrons and ambassadors for their continued public support of the charity. Sophie Hellyer, who is a former British surfing champion, environmentalist and influencer that greatly helped in mobilising a supporter base for the charity and getting coverage in the media. Nabhaan Rizwan is an actor and musician from East London who has helped in fundraising efforts and promotional work.

Public Relations and social media

In the period between, we continued to use social media to educate and promote the charity. We were able to grow our following on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to 1,365 followers.

During this period, we also featured on the English adventurer, Alastair Humphreys podcast, Living Adventurously. We do not have analytics from the podcast, but we noticed an increase in income and interest for the charity following the podcast.

Corporate Partnerships

In 2020 we had two partnerships to report on. One was with The Mace Group which was a partnership based on corporate volunteering where the company sent groups of employees for two days to volunteer at our Food Forest project. The agreement also involved The Mace Group paying for materials and contributing to staff costs for small building projects that their employees could complete during the two days.

In 2020 we also partnered with Rise Fierce which is a community of cold-water swimmers that encourage women to enjoy the benefits of cold-water swimming. They also run wild swimming and yoga retreats where they advertised a retreat in 2020 with donations going to GET OUT.

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Financial Review

In the period ended 31 December 2020, the charity received income totalling £20,168 and spent £8,204.6. We entered the year with £24,601.17 cash in the bank and finished this period with £36,580.16. This is the second accounting period for the charity since its registration with the Charity Commission. The income for this period includes a grant received from a People’s Postcode Lottery of £18,350 which is categorized as restricted income. The further £1,818 we received is unrestricted income and was donated to the charity by individuals.

The trustees are currently working on a three-year strategic plan to increase unrestricted funding and grant funding.

Appointments of the Trustees

In 2020 the Trustees tried several times to appoint a new Trustee from the Borough of Tower Hamlets or the City of London. It was also agreed that diversity needs to be increased in the representation of Board members and this was also sought in advertising for new Trustees. Unfortunately, after social media campaigns, local WhatsApp groups and an advert on charityjob.co.uk the recruitment of new Trustees were unsuccessful during this period. Nevertheless, the Trustees are committed to recruiting in these areas in the future and welcome applications.

Trustees are expected to take a particular interest in a specific area of the charity’s activities and/or to have relevant professional expertise. Governance is undertaken by means of quarterly Trustee Board Meetings at which reports are presented for discussion and decisions taken on the various aspects of the charities work together with the latest financial information, health and safety matters and other governance issues.

Internal Controls

A system of internal controls is in operation with regard to all financial operations. A series of written policies have been adopted and is in operation to govern operational matters. Organisation and reporting of the charities operations and strategy are overseen by the Trustees, who meet quarterly and on a one-on-one basis more regularly as and when needed. Trustees reserve the final decision on major capital expenditure and strategic decisions.

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Risks and risk mitigation

The Board has examined the principal areas of the charities operations and considered the major risks which may arise in each of these areas. In the opinion of the Trustees, the charity has established resources and review systems which, under normal conditions, should allow the risks identified by them to be mitigated to an acceptable level in its day-to-day operations.

The major risks are:

The charity has systems to give early warning of financial shortfalls, and regularly reviews its operating policies. There are systems in place that mean that extra programme work is only agreed when the necessary funding is in place. There are also plans in place to seek funding to increase the number of paid employees at the charity and lessen the dependence on one key staff member.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees.

……………………………………… Saige L Jennings (Chair)

Date: …29/10/21………………….

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GET OUT Registered Charity Number: 1179362

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of GET OUT

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts for the period ended 31 December 2020, which are set out on pages 13 to 15.

As trustees of the charity, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

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

I have completed my examination of the books and records that have been presented to me by the Trustees and officers of the charity. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material aspect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached

……………………………………………..

Dr Peter Ellington FAIA Triple Bottom Line Accounting Limited The Enterprise Centre University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park Norwich NR4 7TJ

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GET OUT Registered Charity Number: 1179362

Receipts and Payments Accounts For the period ended 31 December 2020
Unrestricted
£		 Restricted
£		 Total
£
Receipts
Donations 1,818 - 1,818
Grants - 18,350 18,350
Total 1,818 18,350 20,168
Payments
Charitable activities 2,756 - 2,756
Salaries/Wages 5,448 - 5,448
Total 8,204 - 8,204
Net of Receipts -6,386 18,350 11,964
Cash funds at
start of period		 - - 24,616
Cash funds at
end of period		 - - 36,580

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GET OUT Registered Charity Number: 1179362

Statement of Assets and Liabilities As at 31 December 2020
Unrestricted
£		 Restricted
£		 Total
£
Cash Funds
Cash at Bank 18,230 18,350 36,580
Total Cash
Funds		 18,230 18,350 36,580

The trustees confirm, in accordance with the Charitable Incorporated Organisations (General) Regulations 2012, that at the period end the charity did not have any outstanding guarantees to third parties nor any debts secured on the assets of the charity.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 18 December 2020 and were signed on its behalf by:

……………………………………

Saige L Jennings Chair of the Board of Trustees

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GET OUT Registered Charity Number: 1179362

Notes to the financial statements For the period ended 31 December 2020

ACCOUNTING POLICIES

[1] Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared on a cash basis under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard (FRS 102) applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (effective 1 January 2015), and the Charities Act 2011.

[2] Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

[3] Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity, at the discretion of the trustees. Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions imposed by the donors or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

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