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2021-03-31-accounts

Birmingham Community Matters

Making the most of a difficult year: our pandemic story

Annual report and accounts 1 April 2020 — 31 March 2021

Birmingham Community Matters (BCM) is a charity registered in England and Wales: 1179442.

Contents

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Birmingham Community Matters

Our mission

Birmingham Community Matters (BCM) aims to boost the development and sustainability of small voluntary and community groups in and around Birmingham.

Our peer-to-peer learning network inspires people into action and gives them space to share their skills, knowledge and experience.

Our vision

Voluntary and community action is encouraged and celebrated in our city, with people empowered to make change happen – no matter how small. Ideas flourish and Birmingham communities grow stronger and more connected.

We call our approach peer-to-peer learning, as our Community Matters Helpers support people as equals, rather than as experts. They don’t give advice or answers and they nearly always end up discovering something too.

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Birmingham Community Matters

Our objects

BCM is established to promote the voluntary sector and promote the efficiency and effectiveness of other charitable organisations for the benefit of the public in the area of Birmingham and immediate surrounding areas by:

1. Helping to build the capacity of small voluntary and community organisations and provide them with the necessary support, information and services to enable them to pursue or contribute to any charitable purpose.

2. Promoting, organising and facilitating cooperation and partnership working between small voluntary and community organisations, statutory and other relevant bodies in the achievement of the above purpose within the area of benefit.

Supported by

Everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach

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Foreword

To tell Birmingham Community Matters’ story of change and growth during the Covid-19 pandemic needs a little context: a potted history of our relatively new organisation.

BCM began in 2016 as a group of community volunteers who saw there was a lack of free, local and ‘human’ support for people in Birmingham who wanted to start and run small community organisations. We held face-to-face drop-in sessions around the city, expanding our services when we became a charity in 2018. Thanks to a grant in 2019 from the National Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund, we took on staff to support the work of BCM’s volunteer founders.

We all found ourselves facing a global pandemic in 2020. The challenge for BCM was to keep providing human contact and support when everyone was stuck at home and/or continuing to work in even more demanding circumstances than usual.

As community organisations adapted to the crisis and found ways to help people through, we were more determined than ever to offer them real, human support - even though it had to be at a physical distance.

We found ways to go online that maintained social connections with groups across the city. We also developed new services to meet the needs of the people that the pandemic had turned into volunteers for the first time - including workshops held via Zoom.

Thanks to the adaptability of staff, trustees, associates, Community Matters Helpers and partners, BCM did not stand still in 2020. By going online, we made many more connections across the city. Now coronavirus restrictions have eased, we plan to keep some of our online support in place - recognising that it is more accessible for many people.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of BCM so far. Having survived and even thrived through a difficult time, we are excited for the next chapter in the story of our new and growing charity.”

Emma Woolf MBE, Chair of Trustees

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Our adaptation story

‘Making the most of a difficult year’

In March 2020, the Covid-19 outbreak forced us to cancel inperson events and find alternative ways to deliver our support.

Being a small organisation, with team members already used to flexible home working, attending online meetings and delivering webinars, we felt confident in our ability to adapt.

Listening, reflecting and sharing

It was quickly apparent that the voluntary sector was grappling with unprecedented challenges while assuming a critical role in people’s wellbeing. Rather than jump in with our own interpretation of solutions, we listened and reflected on what frontline community organisations needed to deal with the crisis.

We created and shared resources for community groups on:

“If we need to be physically distanced then we must be even more socially connected.”

Since the start of the pandemic we have preferred to use the term ‘physical distancing’ rather than ‘social distancing’, recognising that social interaction has never been more important.

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Delivering... differently

The pandemic galvanised our city’s many existing volunteers - and inspired people to get involved in their communities.

We began delivering one-to-one sessions online. We responded to people’s individual queries via telephone consultations and then matched them, via video call, with the Community Matters Helper best placed to help.

We received many enquiries from people setting up groups, as well as from people seeking to formalise their current groups. We helped people overcome challenges around managing money and establishing policies and procedures to meet the needs created by the crisis.

We hosted webinars and workshops on emergency funding and boosting funding success. We encouraged informal discussion during these sessions, and found they became important spaces for people to share ideas and worries at a stressful time.

“I feel a lot more confident about what I am doing and it now feels more achievable and I don’t feel I have to put off what is planned for the next steps”

— feedback from someone starting a voluntary organisation in response to Covid-19.

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Responding...

Rather than holding one to two events per week, as we had planned pre-lockdown, we were soon running a responsive 9-5 service.

To keep being efficient and reduce pressure on our Community Matters Helpers, we began hosting ‘bite size’ sessions for small groups of people, answering common questions.

“Do we need a structure for our voluntary group?”

“What is a management committee?”

“How do I open a community bank account?”

Our achievements

This year, we are proud to have sustained BCM’s social, supportive ethos by:

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Expanding our reach

Delivering our services digitally during the pandemic meant we expanded BCM’s reach across Birmingham – faster than we could have done by organising in-person events at venues around the city.

A learning opportunity

Before the coronavirus outbreak, the format of our drop-in sessions meant anyone could turn up with any question, and receive support from the Community Matters Helpers who happened to be volunteering on that day.

The changes enforced by the pandemic enabled us to fine-tune this approach, thanks to the initial contact required to schedule online sessions.

We now learn lots more about groups and their ideas or challenges prior to a video call, asking preparatory questions, matching them with a suitable Helper and providing resources if needed.

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Engagement and interaction

This year we have been working to raise BCM’s profile by:

Our new website was made possible by the National Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund. Its second phase (coming soon) will allow us to develop and share resources and opportunities for Birmingham’s community groups as well as adopting a new CRM system to manage and keep in touch with these contacts better.

“This is a wonderful little newsletter. It’s full of useful info with some lovely light bits too. Keeping it real for people and keeping it sane! That’s what people want.

I will share some of this more widely - thanks! Keep up the good work you wonderful people”

— a reply to our April 2020 newsletter.

@brummatters

/birminghamcommunitymatters

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THANK, so, ,MUCH,

Structure, Governance and Management

BCM is a small voluntary organisation, registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Associated CIO) with the Charity Commission. The board of trustees has responsibility for BCM’s policies, its strategic direction and priority. It also has full financial and legal responsibilities for BCM, its staff, activities, services, contracts and assets.

Thank you to our trustees who served BCM during the period covered by this report:

Emma Woolf MBE (Chair)

Chris Bonnard (Vice Chair) Dipali Chandra (Treasurer)

Sandra Cooper

Helga Edström OBE

Emma Macpherson (appointed in May 2020).

“From the outset of the pandemic when we had to pause face-to-face events, our trustees were amazingly supportive. They backed our ideas to adapt the way we deliver BCM’s services.

They were sensitive to our increased caring responsibilities outside of work. Their flexibility and compassion enabled us, in the long run, to achieve more than we thought possible at the beginning of the pandemic”

— Jo Burrill, Development Coordinator.

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Our people

Thank you also to our core team:

Jo, Development Coordinator Afsari, Development Assistant Claire, Selly Oak Neighbourhood Network Scheme Marie, marketing and communications Kerry, graphic design and administration

And associates:

John Ellery, Get Grants Rob Jones, Misfits Music Francesca McDowell, Elevate Manisha Patel

Community Matters Helpers

We are hugely grateful for the dedication and knowledge of our Community Matters Helpers – the people who work with us on a voluntary basis to give one-to-one peer support to small and emerging community groups across Birmingham. We truly appreciate their flexibility and enthusiasm for working so differently during the pandemic - moving from informal, face-to-face events to more indepth sessions online.

During the period covered by this report, Community Matters Helpers gave 322 hours of their time to our sessions, at an approximate economic value of £6,353.

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Our partners

We are thankful to senior officers from Birmingham City Council, especially Karen Cheney and colleagues from the Neighbourhood Development Support Unit, who have provided invaluable support to our trustees and staff. Their insight is giving a strategic context to the development of BCM across Birmingham.

We are grateful to our colleagues in other infrastructure support organisations for being crucial supporters of and collaborators with BCM. Thank you:

This year we have begun to align our offer with the grantmaking of funders in the region especially National Lottery funding officers and colleagues at Heart of England Community Foundation and Severn Trent Community Fund. We have benefited from their support and insight into the state of the sector and their trust in referring groups to us in need of support.

We have also been pleased to work with the following organisations to deliver activities to support voluntary and community groups in Birmingham:

Supported by

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Our values

One of our development tasks this year was to establish a set of values that underpins our day to day work. We worked with staff, volunteers and trustees to prepare these values. When we can resume our face-to-face events, we will be checking in with partners and supporters to make sure that they agree.

Thoughtful

People come first. We are compassionate towards one another and our supportive working culture encourages us to be compassionate to ourselves as individuals and to model that style of working to the groups we support. We embed inclusivity and accessibility into everything we do.

Empowering

We are generous with our knowledge, connections and experience. We work with people to explore what their next step should be, rather than telling them what to do. We are comfortable with not having the answer straight away, taking an iterative approach to solving problems.

Listening

Our motto (below) – and peer-to-peer learning model – reflect the value we place in each person’s knowledge and experience. We seek to nurture a diverse team of employees, associates, Community Matters Helpers and trustees, valuing the different worldview that every individual brings.

Authentic

We foster a culture of openness, sharing our failures as well as celebrating our achievements. We view mistakes as part of being human – and a vital way of learning. This frees us to try new things, ‘fail fast’ if needed, and find more effective ways forward.

Adaptable

We are open to new opportunities, thoughts, and ways of doing things. We respond to the needs of the people and groups we support, as well as the changing needs of communities. We are innovative in our approach to reaching people, and keep our working systems flexible so we can react quickly to new situations — and we never assume we’ve got everything right.

Everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach

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Our next steps

"I feel refreshed. I feel energised to look at this again with fresh eyes"

— feedback from our first online session from a committee member of a group which helps new migrants.

As Birmingham emerges from the pandemic, we look forward to supporting community and voluntary groups in person again and reaching people who may be digitally excluded – those who rely on community venues and face-to-face conversations to get most of their information.

We will continue building our diverse network of community venues across the city which can host these sessions – while nurturing strong ties with our existing partners.

Recognising the increased accessibility and efficiency afforded by video calls, we will continue delivering online sessions alongside our real-life events.

Some of our drop-in sessions may be a physical and virtual hybrid, with a digital screen for people who cannot, or would prefer not, to come in person to the venue on that day.

We will continue to hold small group sessions on important topics, their content informed by the community groups we support and the challenges they face or the questions they ask.

Priorities for the coming months

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Financial review

Our reserves policy

BCM has a reserves policy which is reviewed every 24 months. The latest policy was reviewed and approved on 24 June 2020. The current reserves policy is to hold as free reserves a level equivalent to four weeks outgoing resources for critical operations for the financial year 2020/2021 and as a target for 2021/2022 to hold as free reserves a level equivalent to eight weeks of outgoing resources for critical operations plus an estimate for redundancy for existing staff.

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Accounts

Receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021

Un-restricted Restricted Total 2021 Total 2020
funds funds
Receipts £ £ £ £
Grants - 81,874 81,874 46,649
Other income 1,650 - 1,650 -
Total receipts 1,650 81,874 83,524 46,649
Payments
Salaries and staff costs - 44,435 44,435 20,973
Administrator’s fees - 3,000 3,000 -
Staff recruitment - - - 49
Staff travel and - - - 347
subsistence
Staff training and - 262 262 140
development
Consultancy/partner - 5,236 5,236 3,870
costs
Professional fees/ - 600 600 1,175
evaluation
Venue hire - - - 150
Marketing - 11,087 11,087 200
Offce costs 36 2,118 2,154 172
Insurance - 464 464 312
Equipment - 302 302 1,403
Independent Examiner’s - 550 550 -
Fee
Bookkeeping/ 450 1,753 2,203 -
accountancy
Total payments 486 69,807 70,293 28,791
Net receipts over 1,164 12,067 13,231 17,858
payments
Cash funds last year end 5,355 21,445 26,800 8,942
Transfers - - - -
Cash funds this year end 6,519 33,512 40,031 26,800

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Accounts

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year

Un-restricted Restricted Total funds Total funds
funds funds 31/3/21 31/3/20
10.1 Cash Funds £ £ £ £
Bank Balances 6,519 33,512 40,031 26,800
10.2 Restricted fund Fund balance Receipts Payments Fund balance
balances at 1/4/2020 at 31/3/2021
£ £ £ £
National Lottery 11,838 71,874 (62,003) 21,709
Reaching
Communities
Selly Oak 9,607 10,000 (7,804) 11,803
Neighbourhood
Network Scheme
Total 21,445 81,874 (69,807) 33,512

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees

Signature

Print name Emma Woolf Chair, Birmingham Community Matters

Date 5 November 2021

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Report of the Independent Examiner

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Birmingham Community Matters on the receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021.

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Birmingham Community Matters (‘the Charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which are set out on pages 18 & 19

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’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 2011 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:

Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

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.

Karen Hanlan, ACA, ACIE Date: 5 November 2021

Karen Hanlan Independent Examiner Ltd, 12 Waterloo Close, Wellesbourne, CV35 9JG

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Birmingham Community Matters

Birmingham Community Matters (BCM) is a charity registered in England and Wales: 1179442.

Registered office: Stirchley Baths, 2-4 Bournville Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2JT.

info@birminghamcommunitymatters.org.uk www.birminghamcommunitymatters.org.uk @brummatters /birminghamcommunitymatters

Everyone has something to learn and everyone has something to teach

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