Time to Talk Mental Health UK
Year in Review to 5[th] April 2025
We have now completed our sixth full year as a registered charity. Membership numbers have seen some strong growth over the last twelve months, now standing at 2,989, a 16.7% increase on twelve months ago. It remains very noticeable that we have a core membership that posts regularly and others that post only occasionally but read posts in the background. Regular posters seem to be on the decline although this could be seen as positive as we are there for people who need a chat rather than expect regular participation. We encourage those members who choose not to post often to retain their membership so that we can support them if a need arises in the future.
The past twelve months has seen us raise £719.91, to enable us to meet the running costs of the charity. a sharp drop from the £2,005.74 raised in the previous year. The biggest source of income was donations (£716.13). This is down on the total donations for last further year and will explain the overall drop in income. The total included £383 raised from a sweepstake arranged around the Eurovision in May. Poetry book sales still trickled in albeit very slowly.
The difficulty in raising funds has become ever more acute, not least because of the closure of several online shopping fundraising schemes. It’s still hoped that some new schemes will become available to replace them. It is perhaps unsurprising that we are struggling to raise funds as the current economic situation makes it difficult for those that have previously supported us to continue and for new supporters to be found. We have continued to struggle to find someone to take on the role of bid writer, this is a great shame.
We are also struggling to recruit new volunteers to cover all moderation shifts on a regular basis. All shifts are still being covered, although some of them on an emergency basis. We are aware, however that this could have an effect on our volunteers and further lowering of numbers will have an impact on the hours that the group will be moderated. We have now had to drop the morning shifts on Thursday to Sunday and we start moderating at noon on these days. The members have been very understanding of this but it’s still a major concern that we are no longer able to offer full coverage.
It’s hoped that we can slowly reintroduce some of the clubs that we had operating a while ago to boost interaction within the group but as the shortage of volunteers remain unresolved, this is something for the longer term.
Plans for 2025-26
It remains very difficult to make strong plans for the next twelve months. The lack of new volunteers has become a major problem. Unfortunately, the boom in volunteering during Covid has not been maintained. Plans are at an advanced stage to tie up with Edge Hill University in Lancashire to allow students to gain some exposure to the moderator role. If we can recruit some permanent moderators from this then things could improve significantly.
Looking at ways to increase revenue streams remains challenging but is something that we must make progress on. Our finances remain stable as expenditure is being tightly controlled but this is not something we can rely upon especially with prices continuing to rise. However opportunities are becoming more difficult to come by,
Iain Hay
Finance Manager
Tine to Talk Mental Health UK
22[nd] May 2024
Time to Talk Mental Health UK
Financial Summary for year ended 5[th] April 2023
Income:
Total income for the 2023-24 financial year was £2,005.74, a drop of 18.4%. In additional to the drop, it has become noticeable that the number of funding streams has reduced, the main source of donation income being PayPal Giving. This is a worry as we need to find new streams of income and be less reliant on a smaller number of donation sources as this has the potential to cause serious issues if we lose PayPal Giving.
Almost all of our income was through these donations, there were no grants during the year. The only other source of income was the small amount from ongoing royalties from the poetry book sales. Again, it will be worth looking at ways to increase sales.
Expenditure:
Total expenditure for 2023-24 was £1,394.46, 70.59% lower than the previous year (£4,741.79). This was largely due to the previous year's expenditure on Counselling sessions for moderators that had been funded by a National Lottery grant.
Postage costs have dropped by 81.24% from £100.44 to £18.84. Stationery costs have gone the other way, up to £109.65. The drop in postage is down to the reduced costs of sending Christmas gifts to moderators. The stationery increase is down to the purchase of TTT branded pens for use when promoting the charity and some of this could be recouped if we decide to try again with regards to fundraising through merchandising. The cost of the Christmas gifts was deemed to be prohibitive and therefore was not repeated for 23-24.
Training costs were considerably lower at £249.90, a third of the cost of the previous year. Sadly, this is due to us finding it considerably more difficult to find volunteers, and therefore not requiring the safeguarding training units. A further £118.80 was spent on attendance of a suicide prevention course. This may be repeated next year should a similar opportunity arise.
Website maintenance have increased by 22.17% from £192.46 to £235.13. This is necessary to ensure the integrity of our website and prevent any cyber-attack. It is difficult to know whether this increase is going to be a one-off or, whether further increases can be expected.
Data Protection, Insurance and Fundraising subs have all remained the same, year on year. The insurance premium has not increased for several years so we need to be mindful that an increase could happen for 2024.
The overall finances of the charity remain relatively comfortable, but any unexpected expenses may cause an issue without an increase in fundraising. New funding streams will need to be found for us to be more secure. The appointment of an experienced bid writer is of utmost importance.
Iain Hay
Finance Manager
Time to Talk Mental Health UK 22" May 2024
Balance Sheet for period 6th April 2024 to 5th April 2025
Notes
Assets
Cash In Hand and at Bank Debtors
Liabilties
Creditors-Amounts falling due within one year
Total Assets
Total Funds
balance as @ 6th April 2024
balance as @ 5th April 2025
£4,068.84 NIL £4,068.84 NIL £4,068.84 £4,068.84
£4,584.18 NIL £4,584.18 NIL £4,584.18 £4,584.18
| Income and Expenditure Statement | |
|---|---|
| 6th April 2024 to 5th April 2025 | |
| £ | |
| Opening Balance as @ 6th April 2024 | 4,584.18 |
| Income | |
| Donations - (Total from all sources £333.13) | |
| Personal | 50.00 |
| Online Shopping (Amazon Smile Easy Fundraising) | 39.18 |
| Give As You Live | 0.00 |
| The Giving Machine | 0.00 |
| Just Giving | 11.88 |
| PayPal Giving | 113.01 |
| Charities Aid Foundation | 0.00 |
| Grant | 0.00 |
| Sponsorship Money from Supporter | 0.00 |
| Bright Funds Donation | 19.06 |
| Charitable Giving | 100.00 |
| Other fundraising - Eurovision Competition | 383.00 |
| Poetry Book Royalties | 3.78 |
| Total Income | 719.91 |
| Expenditure | |
| Counselling/Self Care | 0.00 |
| DBS Checks | 291.90 |
| Postage | 32.40 |
| Stationery | 147.28 |
| Insurance Renewal | 212.80 |
| Fundraising Fees | 216.00 |
| Bank Fees for Overseas Transactions | 5.15 |
| Training - Safeguarding Units | 0.00 |
| Training - Suicide Prevention IGPP | 0.00 |
| Website Maintenance | 187.92 |
| Data Protection Renewal | 35.00 |
| Recruitment Advertisment | 106.80 |
| Total Expenditure | 1235.25 |
| Closing Balance as @ 5th April 2025 | 4068.84 |
Detailed Statement of Financial Activites for period 6th April 2024 to 5th April 2025
| Apr 24-Apr 25 | |
|---|---|
| Incoming Resources | |
| Capital Introduced (11th February 2019) | NIL |
| Fundraising - Donations | £716.13 |
| Fundraising - Poetry Book Royalties | £3.78 |
| Sponsorship Money from Supporter | NIL |
| Adjustment | NIL |
| Total Incoming Resources | £719.91 |
| Resources Expended | |
| Disclosure Service DBS checks | £291.90 |
| Mod Thank You Gifts | NIL |
| Website Maintenance | £187.92 |
| Safeguarding Training | NIL |
| Suicide Prevention Training Course | NIL |
| Bank fees for overseas transaction | £5.15 |
| Insurance Costs | £212.80 |
| Fundraising Fees | £216.00 |
| Counselling/Self Care - (Lottery funded) | NIL |
| Data Protection fee | £35.00 |
| Postage | £32.40 |
| Stationery | £147.28 |
| Recruitment Advertisment | £106.80 |
| Adjustment error when paying expenses | £0.00 |
| Total Resources Expended | £1,235.25 |
| Net Income(Expenditure) | -£515.34 |
Apr 23-Apr 24
NIL
£1,841.78 £3.96 £160.00
NIL
£2,005.74
£193.20 NIL £235.13 £249.90 £118.80 £5.14 £212.80 £216.00 NIL £35.00 £18.84 £109.65
£0.00 £1,394.46 £611.28
Unrestricted Funds
General Funds
Restricted Funds
General Funds
Total Funds
Net movement in funds included in the above are as follows
Unrestricted Funds
General Funds inc Debtors cleared
Restricted Funds
General Funds
Total Funds
| As @ 5th April 2025 £4,068.84 £0.00 £4,068.84 Incoming £719.91 £0.00 £719.91 |
Net Movement -£515.34 £0.00 -£515.34 |
|---|---|
| Outgoing £1,235.25 £0.00 |
|
| £1,235.25 |
As @ 6th April 2024
£4,584.18 £0.00 £4,584.18
Movement in Funds -£515.34 £0.00 -£515.34