## **Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club** ## **Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1181586** ## **Trustee Report and Financial Statements For the twelve-month period to 30 June 2025.** Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club Charitable Incorporated Organisation ## 1. **Administrative details of the charity and Trustees** . During the period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, the following were appointed by members to be trustees of the Club. ## **President** D Homewood ## **Secretary** J Fellows ## **Treasurer** R J Carter ## **Trustee Member** J H Butterfield ## Charity Registered Number **1181586** ## **Bank** National Westminster Bank PLC **Web Site** : https://leedsandskyrack.lionsclub.co/ ## **President’s Correspondence and e-mail address** **Address:** 6 Stanley Drive Leeds LS8 2EZ **Email:** david.homewood7@gmail.com ## **Phone: 0775 2503390** ## **2. Trustees’ Report** The Trustees present their Trustee Report together with the financial statements of the Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club Charitable Incorporated Organisation (the Charity) for the period 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. The trustees confirm that this Trustee Report and supporting financial statements of the Charity comply with the current statutory requirements of the Charity’s governing document and recommended best practice. ## **3. Structure, Governance and Management** The Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 16 January 2019. The Leeds Lions Club was originally Chartered on 4 December 1953. The Leeds Skyrack Lions Club was originally Chartered on 5 May 1959. The Leeds and Leeds Skyrack Lions Clubs formally combined on 1 July 2020 and we operate as the Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club CIO. New Trustees and Club Officers were appointed from that date and appropriate facilitating CIO changes were actioned. The Constitution sets out that a minimum number of Trustees should be three. Members agree the appointment process in accordance with the Constitution. The Trustees ensure that the Club is managed in accordance with the members agreed Constitution and Legislation. The Charity has appropriate insurance cover for its activities and Lions Clubs International MD 105 provides this. ## **4. Grants and Charitable Objectives** The club operates across the core area of the City of Leeds. The club supports worthy local causes and charities and Lion’s charities nationally and internationally. All club members are volunteers and they work without any financial reward and are independent of all politics or religion. The charitable objectives of the Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club are the relief of poverty and the support of those in need and by providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief, including in particular: - the advancement of citizenship by: promoting the principles of good citizenship - encouraging members to take an active interest in the civic, cultural, social and moral welfare of the community; - providing a forum for the open discussion of all matters of public interest; provided that partisan politics and sectarian religion shall not be debated by members; - encouraging service-minded people to serve their community without personal reward and encouraging the promotion of high ethical standards in commerce, industry, professions, public works and private endeavours; - supporting youth to develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals; - promoting the Voluntary Sector for the public benefit by associating with local authorities in a common effort to advance education and provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation to improve the conditions of life of people in local, national and international communities; - promoting volunteering; - the relief of poverty and the relief of those in need in particular by providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief; - the advancement of health or the saving of lives by preventing avoidable blindness, assisting disabled people to lead independent lives or helping to prevent or manage health issues; - promoting for the benefit of the public the conservation protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment; and/or ##  promoting community participation in healthy recreation. The Trustees consider all applications for support received by the CIO in accordance with our grant making policy. Recommendations are made to all members who together make the final decisions regarding supporting or not supporting requests for a grant. Under the terms of the Clubs’ Constitution, Trustees and members can apply funds at their discretion, making grants where they believe that their contribution will make a real difference. We only make grants in furtherance of our priorities for the support of our charitable objectives. The number of applications that can be supported is, of necessity, limited to the amount members secure by fundraising. The grants we are able to distribute in any one year varies As there are Lions Clubs throughout the UK, applications from the local Leeds area are generally given priority. Trustees also consider international funding requests referred to them by the Lions International organisation; applications for support and/or grants are all considered on their own merits, following investigation by the Trustees and club members. However, given that most of the available funds are raised within the local community, those applications that are local are given special consideration. The following are examples of areas adopted for support: - Local charities - youth groups, groups working with the elderly, residential and nursing homes, disabled and individual appeals; - Youth and children’s organisations - sport related groups or individuals, scouting and guiding, youth club activities; young people undertaking overseas assignments; - Community facilities – provision and maintenance of Defibrilllator Equipment, aid for disadvantaged, elderly, homeless individuals and families, village hall projects. The above priorities in this policy are reviewed every year (or more often if deemed appropriate by the Trustees), and they may be changed in accordance with the Trustees’ view of the most effective application of available funds at any point in time. The trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, and we explain how this is achieved in this report. All the administration expenses of the CIO are funded 100% by the members’ own direct donations to the Club. These funds are held in separate Business Administration and Reserve Bank Accounts. All money raised by the Club from members of the public is used exclusively for charitable purposes and is held in a separate Charity Bank Account. The Club maintains a strict separation between funds raised from the public (Charity Account) and funds donated by members for administration (Business Account) The trustees confirm that the CIO does not have any outstanding liabilities or debts. ## **5. Charitable Funds raised** The Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO No. 1181586), has successfully navigated a challenging economic environment characterized by inflation and increased demand for aid. Despite these pressures, the club maintained its core mission of providing humanitarian relief and community service. The Covid 19 health emergency during 2020/2022 resulted in reduced fundraising from the local community. This has continued to have a lasting impact on our ability to raise and distribute funds during 2024/2025, along with the impact of cost of energy and living pressures on personal budgets. Inflation, economic and geopolitical uncertainties have also provided challenges as have the cost of running the Charity and demand has increased. At the same time individual’s personal budgets available to support all types of charitable donations have generally reduced. During 2024/2025 the Club met regularly and has continued essential fundraising. In addition to raising charitable funds, we continue to deliver a wide range of volunteer service activities and provided community support, help with travel for the blind, including on-going defibrillator maintenance and work with Sightsavers. 1 July 2024 – 30 June 2025. **£2,665.58** - 1 July 2023 – 30 June 2024. £1444.18 1 July 2022 – 30 June 2023 £5620.11 1 July 2021 – 30 June 2022 £1683.70 1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021 £1555.42 1 July 2019 – 30 June 2020 £3468.71 1 April 2018 – 30 June 2019. £4536.55 ## **6. Charitable Service Activities and Donations** The club’s impact extends beyond financial grants to significant volunteer service hours. Members have provided over 1500 hours of Volunteer Service to the local community in addition to the following financial and in-kind donations in the period. Brief details of the key recipients or organisation are detailed below to indicate the range of activities supported. Donations made in the period totalled £1986.47. Otley Road Headingley Defibrillator enhancement and maintenance Donated Carpets for a vulnerable Individual in Leeds Lions supported a young person to attend a work programme in Kenya LCIF Donation for International Disaster Relief Donation to NE Guide Association Martin House Children’s Hospice Lions MD Youth Charity GFL School Uganda St Georges Crypt Leeds Carousel Parma Lions Charity Donation Italy We are also grateful for the help provided by local businesses including specsavers in Headingley for hosting a Defibrillator and helping improve its service life. JJHE Electrical solutions also provided electrical installation services free of charge for the benefit the community. ## **7. Recycling Used Spectacles for Third World Countries** Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club collects annually over Fifty thousand pairs of used spectacles, which we help to process for reuse each year. A team of Lions and other volunteers in recycling workshops sort and examine all the spectacles donated. Sorted pairs of glasses are then graded prior to distribution for reuse worldwide. Up-to-date information about this and all the Clubs wide-ranging activities are available at https://leedsandskyrack.lionsclub.co/ ## **8. Membership** Membership of the Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club Charitable Incorporated Organisation at the end of June 2025 was 11. All members are volunteers and we aim to meet once per month to take part in fundraising and social activities. New members are always most welcome. We are also fortunate that we have a number of non-member valued friends who volunteer and assist us greatly. ## **9. Strategic Outlook** The club acknowledges that the "cost of living" crisis and geopolitical uncertainties have reduced the general public's capacity for charitable giving. To counter this, the club remains focused on: 1. Prioritising local Leeds based applications for grants. 2. Maintaining volunteer-led recycling programs (spectacles) - which provide high impact at low cost. 3. Seeking new members and "friends" of the club to sustain service hours. We also thank everyone who has provided donations and support as without this input the Club would simply not be able to meet its community focussed objectives. Signed Treasurer and Trustee Date: 7 April 2026 ## **Leeds & Skyrack Lions Club** **Registered Charity Number 1181586** ## **CHARITY ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD T0 30 JUNE 2024** |**INCOME**|**TOTALS**| |---|---| |Fund Raising & Donations Received|£2,504.33| |(Christmas Appeal, Car Boot Sale, Collections plus Other Donations)|| |HMRC Gift Aid Charity Reclaims|£161.25| |**TOTAL CHARITABLE INCOME FOR THE PERIOD**|**£2,665.58**| |**EXPENDITURE**|| |**TOTAL CHARITABLE DONATIONS FOR THE PERIOD**|**£1986.47**| |Costs of charitable activities, Storage, Equipment, Defibrillator Services,|| |Materials, ICO registration fees etc|£699.00| |Brought Forward Charity Bank Balance 01.07.2024|**£1,689.14**| |Change over year|**-£19.89**| |Carry Forward Charity Bank Balance 1.07.2025|**£1669.25**| ## **MEMBERS BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD TO 30 JUNE 2025** |**INCOME**|**TOTALS**| |---|---| |Total Members Personal Donations|
**£1058.57**| |HMRC Gift Aid Charity Reclaims / Other Income|£450.36| |**TOTAL MEMBERS INCOME**|**£1508.93**| |**EXPENDITURE**|| |Members Donations to Lions International / UK|
£1207.05| |Web Site Fees|
£99.00| |Meeting Room Costs|
£102.50| |HMRC Gift Aid Charity Reclaims|£161.25| |Other Payments e.g. Card Reader etc.|£124.78| |**TOTAL MEMBERS EXPENDITURE**|**£1694.58**| |**Brought Forward Members Business Administration Bank Balance 01.07.2024**|**£2900.22**| |**Change over year**|**- £185.65**| |**Carry Forward Business Members 01.07.2024**|**£2714.57**| **Additional Carry Forward Business Members Reserve Non-Charity Bank Account (£11.93** ) not included above. These accounts have been prepared from the books, papers and confirmation of expenditure supplied by our members on a receipts and payments basis. The balance of the funds is cash at our bank are shown. They show a true and fair view for the period ending 30 June 2025 Members of the club have agreed these accounts and statements.