## **St Francis' Community Church**
**(a Charitable Incorporated Organisation)**
## **Financial Statements**
**Year ended 31 December 2024**
1 | P a g e
**St Francis' Community Church CIO Year ended 31 December 2024**
## **Contents**
Report of the Trustees
3-6
**St Francis' Community Church CIO Year ended 31 December 2024 Report of the Trustees**
**The Trustees present their Trustee Annual Report and financial statements for the charity's year ended 31 December 2024.**
This Trustee Annual Report and financial statements comply with the current statutory requirements under the Charities Act 2011 for a smaller CIO (i.e. with gross income less than £250,000) and The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 as specified under Charity Commission Guidance on charity accounting and reporting (CC15d) and the charity's constitution.
## **Reference and administrative details**
Charity Name: St Francis’ Community Church Charity Registration number: 1181105 Operational address: 2, Fairway Drive, Chelmsford, Essex, CM3 4FH Trustees: Trustees who served during the period of this report were as follows: Revd Daniel Pierce (Chair from 31 October 2022) Mr Andrew Drake (appointed 9 February 2023) Ms Katie Gauden (appointed 9 February 2023)
Bankers:
CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ
2 | P a g e
## **Exemptions from disclosure**
There are no exemptions from disclosure.
## **Objectives and Activities**
## **a) Purposes**
The objects of the charity as outlined in our Constitution are:
Within the four ecclesiastical parishes of Boreham, Broomfield, North Springfield, and Great and Little Leighs and Little Waltham, in Chelmsford Essex:
(1) to advance the Christian faith for the benefit of the public in accordance with the beliefs, doctrines and practices of the Church of England,
(a) by means of broadcasting messages of an evangelistic and teaching nature, and
(b) through the holding of public worship, prayer meetings, lectures, producing and/or distributing literature, holding and facilitating church and community events and activities to enlighten others about the Christian faith;
(2) to develop the capacity and skills of the community in such a way that they are better able to identify, and help meet, their needs and to participate more fully in society.
## **b) Main activities undertaken to further the charities purposes to the public benefit:**
- i) advancing the Christian Faith:
- growing a new worshipping Christian community within the new housing areas of Beaulieu and The Channels supported by a Lead Minister
- creating a daily opportunity to gather, for either prayer together, learning
- together, friendship or community action
- collaborating with the churches of the North Chelmsford Mission and Ministry Partnership (NCMMP) in relation to mission, ministry and pastoral care ii) developing the capacity and skills of the community
- providing activities, advocacy and support to benefit social cohesion and community capacity
- providing opportunities for individual members of the community to engage in activities with other community members and work together as a community
- helping to open and run the new Beaulieu community centre
- looking out for ways to grow neighbourliness, empower those in the community to effect positive change, engage those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, and create a culture of kindness on our estates
- developing a prominent and active social media presence to support our community capacity building activities.
- engaging with the whole of the community we serve and in meeting their needs as we find them, helping and enabling people to help themselves with a particular focus on those who are suffering injustice, or who are economically or socially disadvantaged.
## **c) Charity Commissions guidance on public benefit**
The Trustees confirm that they have had due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit (specifically the public benefit guides PB1, PB2 and PB3) when making decisions they are relevant to.
3 | P a g e
## **Achievements and performance**
## **i) Advancing the Christian faith**
St Francis is now purely the work of our growing Popup Food Store. We are Chelmsford areas first and only mobile social supermarket. That this is the case is a powerful witness. We believe that according to Christian teaching we are compelled to undertake this work.
Isaiah 58:10 “If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.”
Matthew 25:40, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
Nevertheless we feel we could do so much more by way of proclaiming the good news of Jesus and making clear that the love of God and neighbour fuels our work.
## **ii) Developing the capacity and skills of the community:**
With continual rising fuel and food costs prolonging the cost-of-living crisis we still look to meet the growing needs. We continue to enjoy a very productive partnership with Chelmsford City Council, Essex County Council and feeding Britain to help sustain our work as well as drawing volunteers and trustees from across churches in the area.
Our two staff are maxed out simply delivering the bare bones of the project which makes it very hard to grow and to expand into some of the areas we would like to expand.
During 2024 we had changes of venue for our Popup. This is the advantage of being mobile in that we can go where we are most needed. The project continues to offer food at cost or greatly reduced prices. This is aimed to be a helping hand with people’s weekly shop giving them the dignity of choosing and buying their own food. We now have a dedicated storage, a permanent base for our van, goods and office space.
This project specifically meets our charitable objectives in the following ways. As a support to benefit social cohesion and community capacity through a social space run alongside the Popup inviting customers to stay and chat with each other and volunteers. We meet food needs as we find them, helping and enabling people to help themselves with a particular focus on those who are suffering injustice, or who are economically or socially disadvantaged.
By the end of 2024 we are helping almost 320 households (Almost 800 people) who struggle with food poverty.
## **Financial review**
As Popup grows it continues to be well supported by local government and other funders. The primary sources of income for the CIO during the period were grant funding towards staffing and stock and running costs. Essex county council supported us with approx £10k. Essex Community Foundation £5k. Feeding Britain £7k. Chelmsford City Council £6k. Planned Giving (through the Parish Giving Scheme) of unrestricted donations approx £4k
The Church Commissioners’ funding from its Strategic Development Fund carried us through to complete 2024 before it ceased. This enabled us to employ our two members of staff. The funding of these roles continued to be implemented through Essex ymca payroll and amounted to approx £30k
The Trustees aim to retain sufficient free reserves to satisfy the modest levels of assets and liabilities of the charity. The outlook for the CIO is positive in the short term and in the opinion of the Trustees it remains a going concern. Options and plans to ensure the longer-term sustainability of St Francis’ continue to be actively considered.
4 | P a g e
St Francis, Community Church CIO
## **January to 31st December 2024 Receipts and Payments**
|Notes
Receipts
Funding from Chelmsford
Diocese
PGS giving (incl GA)
Donatons
Grants Social Supermarket
Sum up and cash payments for
Social S'mkt
Funeral fees
Bank interest
Refund re admin fee
Payments
YMCA for salaries
re Sunday Kitchen
Insurance
Halloween Hidden Saints Trail
Administraton
Domain renewal
Printer
Social Supermarket
Winter Warmer
Bank Charges
Surplus (Defcit)
Opening balance
Closing balance
**Statement of Assets and Liabilites**
Represented by
Bank balance
**_Restricted (balances)_**
Website
Social Supermarket
Winter Warmer
Sunday Kitchen|2024
_2023 (full_
_year)_
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
_Total_
£
£
_£_
-
28,724
28,724
19,012
4,496
- 4,496
4,969
-
-
-
7,418
-
43,927
43,927
50,100
-
16,658
16,658
3,658
-
-
-
-
110
-
110
77
-
-
-
-|
|---|---|
||4,606
89,309
93,915
85,234
-
30,726
30,726
19,012
-
55
55
445
2,800
2,800
399
-
-
-
98
150
150
-
-
-
-
17
-
55
55
-
-
29,927
29,927
27,207
-
-
-
956
86
-
86
60|
||2,886
60,913
63,799
_48,194_|
||1,720
28,396
30,116
_37,040_
17,557
33,078
50,635
_12,595_|
||19,277
61,474
80,751
_49,635_|
||19,277
61,474
80,751
_50,635_|
||2,000
2,000
58,569
30,019
-
44
905
1,015|
6 | P a g e
61,474
33,078
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiiier s Report
m¢mb¢Ys of
Sf
On accounts fortho y••r
•ndad
31 DeM 2024
Charlty no
Ill any)
1181105
$¢1 out pag88
5*
I report tothetruslee5 on My examinatKn of the accounts of the atrme
ch8rty Ilhe Trusfi forthe year ended
Rapt¥n¥lblIlt and AS the charty twstees of Ihe Trust, YOU are responsibk lorlhe weparHtion
ba•iB of report ofthe accounts in 8ccordance with the requirernent5 of the Charit$ Art
2011 ftha Acfl.
I report Tn resp¥t of my examinatth of the Trusf8 accounts cwried out
under sectth 145 of Ihe 2011 Act and In carrying out my 8xarninatw. I
Iwe f(Al(hved the appl16 Dirth)ns gn by tha Charty Ccfflmissb)n
uThJer 8ectb)n 1451Sllbl of the Act.
I have completed my examnation. I confirm that material matter8 have
come lo my attentK)n lother Ihan that disc105ed i*kM"I In wnnectKJn with
th8 examination whK* 9Nes me cau88 to idiv4e that in, any mateiiol
Independent
•xamlnaes ststom•nt
the Aca or
the account5 do wt ¥d with Ihe otxountsng records
I have no ¢x)n¢ems and have t6 ayoss no other rnatters in connti*on
Tlh the examinatth to whth attentK)n shoukl b& dra*n in crfdarto enab
proper understanding ofthe account5 to be he.
' Please delete the words in tho bNHokgts rfth8ydo not8ppIy.
sIgn..
2711012025
Namo:
Neil Spooner
Relevant profe¥sional
quallhcationls) or body
Ilf any)..
FGGA
Addr68S:
Wethorth House
Wesl Square
ma). Essex. CM9 SHD
IER
October 2018
71Page
## **Key Risks section**
The key risks identified are:
- Withdrawal of church commissioners funding in early 2025.
- Securing longterm funding for staff is a huge pressure.
## **Funds held as custodian Trustee on behalf of others**
The charity and its Trustees are not acting as custodian Trustees on behalf of others.
## **Structure, governance and management**
St Francis' Community Church is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), and was entered onto the Register of Charities on 11 December 2018. Its governing document is its CIO Constitution (foundation model).
Regarding recruitment and appointment of new charity trustees, the Constitution provides that there shall be not less than four and no more than eleven appointed trustees and one ex officio trustee, being the Lead Minister of St Francis' Community Church. New trustees shall be appointed by resolution at a properly convened meeting of trustees for a term of three years. Retiring trustees are eligible for reappointment unless they have already served for three consecutive terms. They may then be reappointed after an interval of at least one year.
8 | P a g e
## **Statement of Trustees' responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
st
Trustee
**----- End of picture text -----**
**Approved on 28th October 2025, and signed on behalf of the Trustees by:**
Name: Andy Drake Date: 28th October, 2025
9 | P a g e