## **Bags of Blessings** (Registered charity, number 1182290) **Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023** |**Page**|**Contents**|| |---|---|---| |2 - 4|nnual report|| |5|Independent e|report| |6|Receipts & payments account|| |7|Statement of assets & liabilities|| |8-9|Notes to the accounts|| ## **Bags of Blessings annual report for the year ended 31 March 2023** **Full name** Bags of Blessings **Organisation type** Charitable incorporated organisation ## **Registered charity number** 1182290 ## **Principal address** c/o 137 Standhill Road, Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 1JT **Trustees** Christine Shuter, Chair Catherine Stones, from 28.2.23 Debbie Jackson, Treasurer Lauren Gunn, from 4.7.23 Michelle Heckford, from 7.10.22 Lakmali Scott, until 9.3.23 ## **Independent examiner** , employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL ## **Governance and management** The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 4 March 2019. We advertise specific roles and volunteers who are interested and capable are invited to apply to become a trustee. At the first trustees meeting after an application we discuss the merits of the applicant and then take a vote. ## **Objectives and activities** The prevention or relief of poverty in Nottinghamshire by providing items to charities or other organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty. We provide bags of gifts to young people, from birth to 18 years of age, at Christmas, plus activity bags to children from 4 to 11 years at Easter and during school Summer holidays. We work with a homeless charity to provide clothing, equipment and toys for children from birth to 4 years and items of equipment not suitable for our bags are donated to the same homeless charity. We collect clothing for a clothing bank and have the means and contacts to equip families who are experiencing extreme difficulties. We also pass on hygiene items to food banks. All of this is done through public appeal, with collection boxes being placed in the community at Christmas and donors approaching us through our social media. ## **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit** By providing items for disadvantaged families we are able to relieve them of the stress of having to buy these items. Good mental health is always an issue and our activities, as well as helping with meagre budgets, bring reassurance that the items donated through the kindness of strangers gives beneficiaries the knowledge that they are seen and cared about. 2 ## **Bags of Blessings** ## **Public benefit statement** The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'. ## **Summary of the main achievements during the period** The start of the accounting period in April 2022 saw us pack and deliver 700 Easter Activity Packs. Each containing Easter themed toys or craft activities, stationery, a reading book and an Easter egg. They were aimed at children from 4 to 11 years and were delivered mostly to food banks, but also included a Malawian group of families. We repeated this exercise in July, when we packed 700 similar bags, with two outdoor toys instead of Easter items. As always, a reading book and stationery were included in the bag. L'Oreal have supported Bags of Blessings since our first campaign and we were approached in May by a third party on behalf of L'Oreal. They would build hygiene packs during their Citizen Day in July and deliver 2,000 to us to be distributed at our discretion. All of these packs were delivered to food banks and homeless charities within one week and enabled us to take on three more beneficiary agencies. The speed with which our offer was taken up and the very positive feedback we received made it clear to us that hygiene items were something that food banks and similar charities needed to receive regularly and, as a result, we planned to open a Hygiene Hub. We have been successful in our bid for funding and the Hygiene Hub was launched on 11 August this year. During the year we have been introduced to a charity, Around Again, which is managed under the umbrella of our biggest homeless charity, Framework. We have been pleased to pass on many items of clothing, apparatus and toys for children from birth up to 4 years and enjoy an ongoing relationship with them, learning more about their work with disadvantaged families and helping with donations whenever possible. During early summer of 2022 we had a referral of a family fleeing domestic violence and settling with a family in Nottingham. The family of mum and four children left their home with very few possessions and we were able to refer them to agencies who could clothe them, find uniforms when the children were allocated schools and one contact donated a laptop to the oldest boy, who was struggling to study for his GCSE exams remotely until a school place was found for him. When they were placed in emergency housing we were able to refer them to charities who equipped their home. As a result of getting to know this family, we became advocates for ACTS435, so that we can appeal for funds for specific items if we have similar referrals in the future. Our fundraising efforts with our annual Summer Fair and an Autumn Fashion Show raised £1,500 which went towards our Christmas Campaign. Just as important, however, our events gave us the opportunity to meet new people and raise awareness of our charity. 3 ## **Bags of Blessings** As always, we packed bags for disadvantaged children at Christmas and in 2022 we delivered 1,791 bags of gifts to local children through food banks, Framework, community and local authority initiatives and two charities supporting migrant families. We were delighted to be approached by a number of local businesses who collected items to go in our bags. Some sent employees to our base to wrap the gifts and all their efforts were warmly and gratefully received. Adding all these bags together, in the financial year 2022-23 we distributed 5,191 bags to families in the poorest areas of Nottingham and this would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of trustees and volunteers. Two new trustees, Michelle and Cathy, joined us during this financial year; both of whom are a welcome addition to the team. Plus, we have a dedicated band of volunteers who, as always, work hard to advance our work, especially at Christmas time. ## **Financial review** We started the year with an opening balance of £25,677 and fundraising events (Summer Fair and Fashion Show) and donations yielded another £5,195, which enabled us to fund Easter and Summer Activity bags, back to school stationery packs and to meet the shortfall in donations. We met our obligations with rent, insurances and general maintenance of our premises and ended the year with a balance of £14,715, which gave us a healthy start to the year 2023/24, when another funding campaign started. With a healthy financial position, we were able to meet all of our challenges this year. ## **Financial risk** No significant financial risk - our priority is to pay the rent and tailor activities to suit the funds we have at the time. Our policy is to hold six months rent for our premises and when those reserves are needed we will start to wind up the charity. As the majority of our work is the result of public donation, we work according to our financial position at the time, with our only ongoing obligation being rent and running costs. ## **Acknowledgments** We have appreciated the support that we have received from L'Oreal since our first campaign in 2018. In summer 2022 they donated 2,000 hygiene packs of exceptional quality which we were able to deliver to disadvantaged families throughout Nottingham via our network of food bank contacts. We received very positive feedback and, through this, have been inspired to open our Hygiene Hub this year. Every year our network of collecion points grows and we find that we are approached by businesses and individuals who see what we do and want to support our work. Without these contacts we would not be able to grow as we are doing, year on year. Signed _____________________________________________ Date __________ Christine Shuter, Trustee 07/09/2023 4 ## **Independent e report to the trustees of Bags of Blessings for the year ended 31 March 2023** I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Bags of Blessings (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2023. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts 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. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those 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. 14/09/2023 Signed _________________________ Date ______________________ Jo Employee of Community Accounting Plus 5 ## **Bags of Blessings Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 March 2023** 6 ## **Bags of Blessings Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2023** These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by: Signed ___________________________________ Dated ___________07/09/2023 Debbie Jackson, Trustee 7 ## **Bags of Blessings Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023** ## **1. Receipts & payments accounts** Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand. ## **2. Grants & donations** ## **3. Funds analysis** ## **4. Debtors** **5.** Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period. 8 ## **Bags of Blessings Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023** ## **6. Glossary of terms** **Creditors:** These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period. **Debtors:** These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received in the accounting period. **Prepayments:** These are services that the charity has paid for in advance, but not used during the accounting period. **Restricted funds:** These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor, but still within the general objects of the charity. 9