Cornwall Food Action
Annual Report to The Charities Commission
Charity Number : 1179476
Address : The Lost House, Trethowel Woods, St Austell Cornwall. PL25 5RT.
Reporting Period: 25[th] February 2020 to 4[th] March 2021
Cornwall Food Action’s (CFA) focus is local food waste reduction. This is achieved through contact with food producers and processors in Cornwall’s supply chain, CFA identify, secure, collect/broker surplus material in the system and redistribute it to areas of need. CFA records data relating to the supplier, the food type, its volume and cost as well as documenting the recipient organisation as part of the audit trail.
CFA does not supply individuals but brokers to over sixty recipient organisations in Cornwall, it does not make a charge for food but may ask for mileage expenses depending upon prevailing financial balance.
Until October 2020 CFA was entirely volunteer run and led, in the latter part of 2020 the organisation has commissioned some paid support capacity, which it continues to support going forward.
Until the Covid emergency CFA maintained a small room accommodating a freezer bank in the centre of Cornwall, paying quarterly rent to a landlord Cornwall Hospice.
When Covid hit the food support landscape in Cornwall changed considerably, many of CFA’s recipient organisations closed their doors due to the fact they were servicing a more covid vulnerable cohort. In addition with emergency funds available the number of organisations moving food in Cornwall rose from just over 60 to 180 plus. Many made local surplus supply arrangements with local processors, essentially the CFA operating arena changed overnight. During this period CFA have been supporting a range of organisation but moving food already in the system, reacting to the prevailing need.
One observation relates to the data quantifying local surplus in the system. The “pop ups” and new incumbents servicing Covid emergency food need have been moving significant volumes of food some locally sourced some imported across the land border but not robustly collecting the data.
Recognising this shortfall, Cornwall Food Action has identified the potential system risk and has obtained a mandate from Cornwall Food Access Alliance and Cornwall’s Public Health Team and has designed a project to address this challenge. Our next phase will also help redefine the (surplus) supply chain in Cornwall position CFA as a sustainable broker and help establish capacity to service more rural areas whilst also underwriting the ability of others in Cornwall’s food support network to maintain service levels going forward.
Finance
Cornwall Food Action remains considerably under the £25K annual income threshold. The last 12 months account summary below) have been accepted as a true
record by the organisations Trustees in a formal meeting held on the 20[th] January 2022.
Cornwall Food Action Last 12 months accounting summary
Starting Balance (25[th] Feb 2020) £5,035.02
Money In £15,186.00
Money Out (rent / mileage / insurance/ Admin ) £8,086.43
Bank balance at (4[th] March 2021) £12,234.59
All paid up and no outstanding creditors as at 4[th] March 2021
Declaration: Cornwall Food Action declare that the contents of this report represent a true and accurate report of activity and financial position for the period between the 25[th] February 2020 and 4[th] March 2021.
The trustees of Cornwall Food Action jointly declare there are no serious matters or incidents that require reporting or should have been reported to the charities commission.
This record is a true and accurate account of CFA activity during the 2020/2021 period.
Mark Summers
Chair Cornwall Food Action