Bags of Blessings (Registered charity, number 1182290) Financial ststements for the year ended 31 March 2025 Pago Cont•nts Trustees, annual report Independent examinerfs report Receipts & payments account Statement of assets & liabilities Notes to the accounts 9-10 capLUS LUMMUINI i Y ALLL)LiN I IN(i Bags of Blessings Trustees, annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025 Full name Bags of Blessings Organisation type CharitabEe incorporated organisation Registered ¢harity number 1182290 Principal address clo 137 Standhill Road. Carlton, Nottingham, NG4 1JT Trustees Christine Shuter, Chair Catherine Stones, Treasurer Michelle Heckford, Michael Shuter, from 24102125 Debbie Jackson, until 2614125 Independont examin•r John O'Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG15GL 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 tske a vote. Objectives and activities The prevention or relief of povety in Nottinghamshire by providing rtems 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 provide 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 publlc 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 reassuran￿ that the items donated through the kindness of strangers gives beneficiaries the knowledge that they are seen and cared about. Bags of Blessings Trustees, annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025 Public benefit statsment The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charty Commission's general guidan on public benefft, 'Charities and Public Benefrt,. Summary ofthe main achievements during the p•riod During the period we provided 860 Easter packs, 620 summer play packs and 316 back to school stationery packs to underprivileged children through our beneficiary agencies. We also gave Christmas gifts to 2,020 individuals with gift bags and family packs. Family packs are given to families referred by our partner agencies and each family member is provided with gifts. We have devised a system of taking regular hygiene deliveries to four food banks and helping other agencies as required. We were approached by Nova Education Trust and, together with their Youth Outreach Coordinator, have provided items which are used to reward good attendance in two schools wrth very poor attendance figures. We also helped them to develop a social space to encourage teenagers back into school through an infomial setting. We gave games, decorations and acts'vities for this Spa￿ and vRre thrilled to re￿1ve photographs of chiklren in the space who had not attended formal education for a considerable time. Being made aware of a school in a very deprived area, with an 80% pupil premium. we have developed a relationship wrth the Head Teacher and his staff and have supplied Christmas gifts, books for their library and also for the children to take home and various other items which benefrt their wellbeing and education. The charity's policy on reserves Restricted funds are those which have been donated for a specific projectlpurpose. All other funds are classed as unrestricted wrth the following serving as the charity's resep4es for core funding of the Charrtls activrties; Rent on the Charty's packing and distribution unit. Annual Insuran￿ costs. Annual inspectionltest costs for PAT and fire extinguishers. If the Chanty's reseprfe value drops below a minimum of six morrths, rent plus insurance and inspectionltesting costs, this will initiate a winding down of the charty, unless appropriate funding is received. At every meeting of the Trustees, the Treasurer will report on the bank balance at the date of the meeting and will also calculate the balan￿, minus the stat8d reserve amount, which will be available for the charity's ongoing projects. Bags of Blessings Trustees, annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025 Contingency reserves have not been assigned as there is seen to be a low risk of unexpected uninsured expenditure. Voluntary donations will be utilised where possible to support ongoing campaignslprojects, with the Charity providing funds to the campaignslprojects where possible. Finan¢ial reviow We started the year with a balance of £27,594, with a reduced income of £15,950 and expenditure of £19,380. leaving a balan￿ at the year*nd of £24,164. Our only substantial fixed overhead is rent at £10,000, plus insurance and equipment testing, so £24,164 is a healthy balance to start a new year. taking into account typical expenditure on our three main campaigns and our Hygiene Hub. We will, however, be applying for grants over the coming months so that we can continue our upward trajectory. We now have over 50 drop-off points for donations at Christmas, ranging from local businesses, churches and schools to Nottingham College {4 campuses), Rampton Hospital and Carlton Academy. The range of donations from all these points is vast, but everything given is good quality and will benefrt a child. We enjoy the patronage of some local businesses who give both time and cash donations, for which we are extremely grateful. A N Wallis and John Lewis Partnership have given us unsolicited grants and one local book shop, The Bookcase, has pledged a whole year of fundraising events for our benefit. We enjoy the patronage of Sherwood Sunrisers Rotary, with a cash and physical donations and the Cadburys trust surprised us with a grant of £3,000. We also receive one-off donations of cash from well-wishers in our communty. We have enjoyed lively packing and wrapping sessions at our unit with volunteers from Turner and Townsend, LSEG, BJSS, Hayes Travel, John Lewis Distribution Centre, NHS Supply Chain and Marriotts Estate Agents. Without this corporate support V￿ would not have been able to achieve such success. We continue to enjoy the involvement of 2 guide groups and 5 units of police cadets from Notts Constabulary. Contact with these 7 groups of young people, plus the 500 youths at the FSY Annual Youth Conferen￿, is especially welcome as the teenagers involved become aware of the challenges fa￿d by their peers in the community who are facing deprivation. As well as wrapping the gifts that go in the Christmas bags, they collect for us, sign the Christmas cards to go in the bags and make up stationery and hygiene packs for us. They also give us little notes of affirmation or friendship bracelets to put into the bags. Everything they do for us is done with care, humor and empathy for those less fortunate and it's always a pleasure to work with them. As always, we have to acknowledge the work of our volunteers, without whom we would not be able to continue. Some just come for one campaign and others ar8 Bags of Blessings Trustees, annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025 with us every week, but everyone has their pla￿ at the heart of the charty and their hard work and commitment cannot be underestimated. The Board cannot stress how grateful we are for their support encouragement and hard work for both the charity and our Servi￿ users. Signed on b8half of the charty's trustees.. Signed Christine Date huter, Trustee Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Bags of Blessings for the year ended 31 March 2025 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Bags of Blessings (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance wtth the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the charity'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. Inde￿ndant examiner's statsment 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 charty as required by section 130 of the Act., or 2. the accounts do not accord wrth those records. I have no COn￿rnS and have come across no other matters in connection with Ihe examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed John O'Brien MSC, FAIA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus Date 1410812025 Bags of Blessings Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 March 2025 Total Funds Unr•strict•d R•strlotsd Funds Funds T¢)tal Funds Reooipts FurKlraisirYJ Grants arKI dor￿￿'onS . Rent repayments SuThYry re￿ipts Total receipts 1426 29589 1915 32 32962 2353 13449 2353 13449 98 15900 98 16900 Payments Charitable acti¥ities Equipmert repairs & re￿waIS FurKJraisirrfJ costs Insurance Phone, postage aTrJ intemet Premises, repairs & maintenance Prinbr¥J. stationery & computer Rent & ser¥ices Legal & professional SuThJry payTnents Total payments 7657 452 218 368 241 12 111 10197 559 268 20083 5129 855 300 398 178 1030 6159 855 300 398 178 499 6973 480 156 14968 499 10306 480 156 19331 3333 4363 12879 14715 27594 N•t roceiptsl(payments> Cash fjjnds at start of this period Cash funds at end ofthis period 932 23232 24164 (4363) (3431) 4363 27595 24164 Bags of Blessings Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2025 2024 . 2025 Cash assets Ba￿ accourts Cash in ha￿1 27540 24113 51 24164 27594 Othar monotary assets prepa￿￿ents 371 371 377 377 Liabilities Creditors- Legal professional 480 (480) 498 498 These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by.. Signed Catherine St Date / 2f es, Trustee Bags of Blessings Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 1. RKeipts & payments accounts Re￿Ipts and payments accounts contain a summary of rnoney received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash re￿IVed and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand. 2. Grants & donations Unre*rfct•d R•*l¢t•d Total A N Wallis Ltd Cadbury Charitable Trust Joth Lewis PLC PCC St Martif NotbrKJham Gordon Memorial Trust SuThary grants & dor￿￿'0r 3100 3000 2000 1250 500 3599 13449 3100 3000 2000 1250 500 3599 13449 3. Funds analysis Op•niThg R•ceipts (Payments) balanc• Closlng balanc• Rostrictsd funds Hygiene H 1030 National Lotterycommunib 3333 4363 (1030) 3333 4363) Unrestricted funds Gen8ral 23232 23232 15900 15900 14968 14968 24164 24164 4. Prepayments Insuran Phone, Postage & intemet 298 79 377 S. Trustees. remuneration Trustees r8ceived no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period. 6. Relatsd party transactions There were no re￿ted party transactions during the period. Bags of Blessings 7. Glossary oftsrms Creditors.. These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting perithj. Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not r￿1Ved in the accounting period. Propaymènts: These are services that the charity has paKI for in advan￿, but not used during the accounting period. Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specrfic restrictions set by the donor, but sts'll within the general objects of the charity. 10