Throw A Starfish
Annual Report and Financial Statements
1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025
Charity Registration number 1180888
Contents
Reference and Administrative information ................................................................................................. 3 Structure, Governance and Management ................................................................................................... 4 Objectives and activities ............................................................................................................................. 5 Achievements and performance ................................................................................................................. 5 Future Plans ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Financial review .......................................................................................................................................... 7 Independent Examiners report on the accounts ......................................................................................... 8 Accounts ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 Receipts and Payments Accounts ................................................................................................................ 9 Notes on accounts ......................................................................................................................................10
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Reference and Administrative information
| Patron | Rt Rev Peter Hill |
|---|---|
| Trustees | Mrs Alison Biggs – until 5/8/24 |
| Rev Laurence Biggs | |
| Mrs Catherine Mwangi | |
| Mrs Irma Mullins (Chair) | |
| Mr Donald Chepkutwo - from 2/12/24 | |
| Mission DirectorRev Laurence Biggs | |
| Registered | office24 Woodlands Road |
| Chapel-en-le-Frith | |
| High Peak | |
| Derbyshire | |
| SK23 0XR | |
| Website | www.ThrowAStarfish.org |
| info@ThrowAStarfish.org | |
| Telephone | 0330 229 0482 |
| Charity registration number 1180888 |
|
| Bankers | Lloyds Bank plc |
| 25 Gresham Street | |
| London | |
| EC2V 7HN |
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Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
Throw A Starfish is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only members are its Trustees. It was registered on 28 November 2018.
The governing document is a constitution dated 10[th] September 2018.
Trustee recruitment and appointment
Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee is appointed by the existing trustees for a term of three years, which can be subsequently renewed.
In selecting individuals for appointment as appointed charity trustees, the charity trustees have regard to interest in the charity and the areas where we work, as well as the skills, knowledge, and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
Mrs. Alison Biggs resigned as a trustee on 5[th] August 2024 and we were pleased to welcome Mr Donald Chepkutwo, who brings financial skills, as a trustee at our meeting on 2[nd] December 2024.
The Mission Director is ("ex-officio") a charity trustee, for as long as he or she holds that office.
No trustees receive remuneration for their time and work with the charity.
Trustee Meetings
The trustees met on three occasions during the year (83% attendance) to plan the charity's development and monitor and review its financial affairs. An operations team works to progress the work of the society between trustees meeting and reports to the trustees at their meetings.
Risk management
The trustees have examined the major strategic, business, and operational risks that the charity faces and confirm that systems have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that the necessary steps can be taken to mitigate these risks.
Overseas travel to developing countries on Throw A Starfish business, whether by trustees or others, will take cognisance of Foreign Office advice and will always have valid medical and travel insurance for the countries and regions concerned. Consideration will also be given to input from in-country partners. Service overseas risk assessments are reviewed annually.
This year 2 people have travelled overseas for the charity, our mission director and one Starfish Thrower who used her skills working with autistic children to provide training for medics, parents and community leaders. Over 30 children and their families were visited to assess whether the new autism centre might be able to support them beneficially.
The charity has a safeguarding policy, and DBS checks are taken for all volunteers serving with us.
Public Benefit
Throw A Starfish operates for the public benefit by providing charitable relief to the poor and needy, currently mainly in Africa. No charges are made for any charitable activities. Needs and
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priorities are assessed, and plans for the effective use of funds are made through visits to partners and further information gathered from telephone and email communication.
In Kenya, as part of our autism project, over 30 families were supported and 3 training sessions delivered.
Trustees Responsibilities
The Charities Act 2011 requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. The Trustees have taken advantage of the option available under that Act, to charities with a gross income of less than £250,000, to prepare a simple receipts and payments account rather than full accounts on an accruals basis.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose the trust's financial position with reasonable accuracy at all times. They are also responsible for safeguarding the trust's assets and, hence, for taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.
Objectives and activities
Vision
To inspire and enable volunteers to use their time, talents or finances to impact poverty one step at a time.
Charitable objects
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The relief of poverty, sickness and distress in all regions of the world
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The advancement of the Christian religion throughout the world
Activities
We aim to:
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Inspire individuals to recognise that although they may not be able to change the world as individuals, they can certainly change the world for one person or group of people.
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Enable individual volunteers to use their skills, to visit trusted partners and make a difference at a time convenient to the volunteer.
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See that some people have time, and others have other resources which they can use to make a difference.
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Identify and establish relationships with trusted partners and develop projects in situations of poverty around the world.
The trustees confirm that they have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in planning the charity’s activities.
Achievements and performance
Our main focus during the year has been to develop our autism project in Kenya and seek volunteers to travel to Kenya to help with this.
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Meetings took place with significant stakeholders in Kirinyaga County including the director of health, the head of the OT department and the regional secretary for the National Council for persons with Disabilities. All were very supportive of our work and indeed the latter requested we start “next week” which was clearly not possible at this stage.
We set out on the road to register an NGO in Kenya to run the project. Little progress was made due to new government announcements, which nobody seemed to know how to implement, and corruption in government institutions.
A visiting specialist from a UK support organisation, visited Kenya as a Starfish thrower to run seminars about autism for medics, community leaders and parents which were all very well received. She also visited 30+ families with autistic children to gain more information about the local situation in Kenya which was very useful to us in planning the project (one fact which was very clear was that many children are diagnosed with autism when they are not autistic).
We have engaged with and met a group of academics from Nairobi, Oxford UK, and South Africa who are working to develop an autism diagnostic tool suitable for use in African communities – the ones used in Europe and North America are not culturally relevant.
We also ran a social media campaign over Christmas assisted by an expert from a major charity which had disappointing results and confirmed the expert’s view that people these days are not really interested in helping support people in Africa.
We parted company with our original Kenyan partner in Kirinyaga due to lack of engagement and attempts to change agreements regarding who the trustees of the NGO would be behind our backs and without consultation. This has unfortunately meant we have lost land that their director had promised for the project but clears the way for a better way forwards.
We have recruited a new trustee with knowledge of Kenyan society, legal systems and finances.
Future Plans
Looking to the year ahead we are looking to continue to develop the autism project, initially through
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registering a society (experts suggested this was easier than an NGO and would meet all of our needs).
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Locating and purchasing land for the proposed centre in a location next to a main tarmac road with good connections to all the surrounding major areas of habitation
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Renting a small office to use until the centre is built.
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Develop procedures and support structures for all future operations.
How much we achieve in the year will depend on how long it takes for the registration to complete as we are not allowed to do anything with potential clients until that has taken place.
Future plans will depend on available funding and trustees’ review of risk management.
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Financial review
The Charity’s income comes from private donations and occasional grants. Gift Aid is claimed on most eligible private donations.
This year, our total income amounted to £10,942, of which £2,359 was restricted income which was received and fully spent during the year on the autism project, leaving no restricted funds at year end. This unrestricted income is more than sufficient to cover our operating costs, but significant fund raising will need to take place to fully fund the autism project.
The most significant items of expenditure this year were:
£6,165 to cover initial costs of setting up the autism project
£3,412 of unrestricted income for overseas travel by the Mission Director (3 visits to Kenya). This cost will likely increase in coming years as our projects grow.
The balance at the end of the year was £15,584 (£17,515 last year). This, together with support from donors who give by monthly standing order, will provide for ongoing charitable activities through the next financial year.
A bank account is held with Lloyds Bank, but Throw A Starfish has no investments or investment policy.
The Charity does not have a formal reserves policy, but we look to keep a bank balance to cover 6 months of core operations, and there are no plans to incur expenditure beyond the current level of bank balances.
Throw A Starfish will continue to raise funds from a mixture of personal applications and applications to grant-making bodies.
Any Volunteers to serve overseas with Throw A Starfish are expected to cover their own costs, although support is budgeted to help initial starfish throwers.
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Independent Examiners report on the accounts
Report to the Trustees of Throw A Starfish on the accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2025 set out on pages 9 to 10.
Responsibilities and basis of report
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I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31[st] March 2025.
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As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
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I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’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 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 which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting 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.
Signed:
Dated: 18[th] January 2026
Keith Parkhouse
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Accounts
Receipts and Payments Accounts
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Receipts and payments accounts for the period from 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025
----- Start of picture text -----
Notes Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
Receipts
Donations and legacies 2a £8,583 £2,359 £0 £10,942 £8,143
Total receipts £8,583 £2,359 £0 £10,942 £8,143
Payments
Expenditure on charitable 3a
activities £10,513 £2,359 £0 £12,872 £15,548
Governance costs 3b
£0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Finance costs 3c
£0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Sub total £10,513 £2,359 £0 £12,872 £15,548
Asset and investment
£0 £0
£0 £0
Sub total £0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Total payments £10,513 £2,359 £0 £12,872 £15,548
Net of receipts/(payments) -£1,930 £0 £0 -£1,930 -£7,405
Transfers between funds
£0 £0
Cash funds last year end £17,514 £17,514 £24,919
Cash funds this year end £15,584 £0 £0 £15,584 £17,514
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| Signature | Name Date Laurence Biggs 7/1/2026 Mission Director Donald Chepkutwo 7/1/2026 Chair of trustees |
|---|---|
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Notes on accounts
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The annual report has been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis as prescribed by the Charity Commissioners, and they meet the appropriate legal requirements.
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Receipts
Unrestricted Restricted Current year Previous year
- 2.a Donations and legacies
| Non Giftaid donations Gift aid donations Gift aid reclaimed Total |
£6,508 £2,152 £8,660 £7,018 £1,375 £207 £1,582 £1,125 £648 £52 £700 £0 |
£6,508 £2,152 £8,660 £7,018 £1,375 £207 £1,582 £1,125 £648 £52 £700 £0 |
£6,508 £2,152 £8,660 £7,018 £1,375 £207 £1,582 £1,125 £648 £52 £700 £0 |
£6,508 £2,152 £8,660 £7,018 £1,375 £207 £1,582 £1,125 £648 £52 £700 £0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £8,531 | £2,411 | £10,942 | £8,143 |
- 2.b Investment income
Bank interest
Total £0 £0 £0 £0
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| 3. Payments Unrestricted 3.a Expenditure on charitable activities Affiliations £150 Website hosting £355 Charity insurance £780 Office supplies £24 Telephone £48 Social media £936 Starfish thrower sponsorship £973 Charity equipment Website development Mount Kenya Autism Centre £3,806 Makatanu Plastic recycling centre Overseas travel £3,422 Miscellaneous £19 Total £10,513 3.b Governance costs Independent examination Total £0 3.c Finance costs Bank charges Total £0 |
3. Payments Unrestricted 3.a Expenditure on charitable activities Affiliations £150 Website hosting £355 Charity insurance £780 Office supplies £24 Telephone £48 Social media £936 Starfish thrower sponsorship £973 Charity equipment Website development Mount Kenya Autism Centre £3,806 Makatanu Plastic recycling centre Overseas travel £3,422 Miscellaneous £19 Total £10,513 3.b Governance costs Independent examination Total £0 3.c Finance costs Bank charges Total £0 |
Restricted £2,359 |
Current Year | Previous Year £145 £355 £769 £0 £72 £0 £0 £115 £361 £0 £11,235 £2,486 £9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £150 £355 £780 £24 £48 £936 £973 £0 £0 £6,165 £0 £3,422 £19 |
||||
| £10,513 | £2,359 | £12,872 | £15,547 | |
| £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
| £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
4. Restricted funds
There were no restricted funds at year end
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