2021-04-05-accounts - Park Yoga

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Trustees’ Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity

For the Year Ended 5th April 2021

Trustees’ Annual Report 2020/21

Period Start Date: 6th April 2020 Period End Date: 5th April 2021

Reference & Administration Details

Charity Name:	Park Yoga
Registered charity number:	1183253
Charity’s principal address:	PO BOX 7755 DORCHESTER DT1 9GQ

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:

Trustee name	Role	Appointed
Sibyl Ann King	Chair	3rd May 2019
Cathrine Farrer		3rd May 2019
Caroline Amey		3rd May 2019
Alice Jessica King		3rd May 2019
Lisa Upchurch		2nd April 2020

Names of advisors:

Type of advisor	Name
Charity Adviser	Martin Cooke

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members:

Role	Name
Director	Katherine Burden

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of the charity’s trusts:

Type of governing document:	Constitution – based on the Charity Commission’s model governing document for Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisations, ie: where the Trustees are the only Members of the charity.
How the charity is constituted:	Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)
Trustee selection methods:	There must be at least three charity trustees. If the number falls below this minimum, the remaining trustee or trustees may act only to call a meeting of the charity trustees, or appoint a new charity trustee. The maximum number of charity trustees is 12. The charity trustees may not appoint any charity trustee if as a result the number of charity trustees would exceed the maximum. Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In appointing Trustees due consideration is given to ensuring that the Trustees have, between them, the skills and experience necessary to manage the charity effectively and in accordance with charity law. There are currently no formal induction and training policies for Trustees.
Risk management system:	A comprehensive Risk Register (Version 1 18.6.19).

Objectives and Activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document:

To improve the health and wellbeing of the public by providing free yoga session in an open space for the public benefit. The beneficiaries will extend to those living throughout the UK regardless of age, disability, gender or ethnicity.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects:

Park Yoga provides free park yoga outdoors in public parks in the UK. The sessions are open to all to attend, regardless of experience, age or gender.

Park Yoga runs for one hour on Sunday mornings, between May and September. The charity works with local organisations, Active Partnerships, parks and instructors to bring Park Yoga to local communities, particularly those with residents who are likely to benefit most from the inclusive and welcoming atmosphere of Park Yoga. This is achieved by the provision of the Park Yoga brand, promotional support, administrative assistance and giving or helping to find, grant funding to cover the costs of equipment and instructor time.

The selected organisations facilitating Park Yoga are not required to provide any form of licence or fee to be a Park Yoga site and in most cases a grant is provided from Park Yoga to cover all or part of the operating costs. The benefits of the Park Yoga support include; branding and standardisation of approach, support for sites and instructors and how to best run the classes, a promotional structure using social media and a centralised website, instructor support network and a central point of contact.

Policy on grant making:

The Trustees consider requests from organisations providing activities for the public benefit. Criteria for selection include; capability of the organisation, suitability of the site, location (what other Park Yoga provision is there in the area), the number of potential beneficiaries, the need within the catchment for the provision of free sessions and the level of support (including financial) that is available from the host organisation to support the service.

The Trustees consider requests from sites according to the Venue Selection criteria which is communicated to potential sites for them to consider and provide before a site visit from Park Yoga staff.

Prior to the start of each summer season the various requests for sites are considered in terms of area need, funding required/available, identified need of

potential participants, proximity to other venues, suitability of site, partnerships and readiness/commitment of venue/organisation.

Public Benefit Statement

Statutory declaration:

The Trustees of Park Yoga confirm that they have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.

Plans for Future Periods

As the success of Park Yoga develops and the positive effects of the first four years (two as a project, and two as a Charity) are evident, the next step is to expand the range Park Yoga’s work onto a national scale.

Park Yoga continues to regular receive expressions of interest from new venues through site owners, interested persons and instructors. Trustees and staff will work through the list and target new venues where there is community interest and a recognised need as identified through the Active Partnerships. In 2021 we are hoping to have a wider geographical spread and a growth from 10 venues in 2019 to approximately 25 venues in 2021.

In March 2020 Park Yoga was awarded a Sport England Small Grant of £9,420 towards delivery “Bringing yoga outdoors for all” at 8 new venues, between May and September 2020. The grant was received to part fund instructor, equipment and evaluation costs. Due to the pandemic the planned outdoor sessions were unable to be held in 2020 and with Sport England agreement the funding was carried forward to 2021. These eight venues will form part of the proposed expansion in sites in 2021.

Achievements and Performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year:

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 Park Yoga changed from delivery in parks, to

virtual delivery through YouTube or Facebook. Each week a different instructor would deliver a 1 hour online yoga class, which participants could take part in live, or catch up another time through Facebook videos or the YouTube channel.

Shephard & Moyes Ltd were employed to evaluate the success of virtual park yoga through a short e-survey which received 145 responses.

Over the 19 weeks of Virtual Park Yoga in 2020, there were 6,920 individual attendances at

the live sessions. This is a significant decrease from 2019, which saw over 16,000 individual

attendances, but is still an average of over 300 people taking part each week. The first 6 weeks were the most well attended, with between 400 and 800 people taking part each week. Numbers then gradually declined to the end of the programme in September, as lockdown ended and COVID-19 restrictions started to be lifted.

Over half (57%) of people have taken part in Park Yoga in previous years, however for 47% of people this was their first-time taking part. This demonstrates that although numbers were smaller, Virtual Park Yoga has been successful at reaching new participants, as well as encouraging repeat attendance by previous years’ participants.

In order to improve accessibility for people with hearing disabilities, Park Yoga partnered with Deaf Get Active to open up the Virtual Park Yoga sessions to the Deaf community. Park Yoga set up a dedicated Facebook group and every weekly video was translated into British Sign Language and broadcast simultaneously on Facebook and YouTube, open to access by all. These classes resulted in a total of 87 attendances over the season.

“I’ve been practicing yoga at home for almost 18 months and despite attending Park Yoga last year, I had never tried doing yoga outside at home! From the first virtual park yoga, I’ve been doing all of my yoga sessions outdoors and this has transformed my sense of well-being. I love it and look forward to getting up every morning and enjoying the fresh air!”

The responses from participants show that taking part in Virtual Park Yoga has been important for people’s mental and physical health during lockdown:

94% of participants agreed that taking part was important for their wellbeing during lockdown
95% agree that taking part has helped keep them active during lockdown

*73% agreed that being connected to nature/ outdoors through Virtual Park Yoga has been important to them during lockdown

“It’s helped me enormously. It’s given me something to look forward to! Something to focus on. Improve my strength and balance. Makes me sleep better, feel well, feel good. Its had a massive impact on managing my anxiety and panic disorder that I struggle with on a daily basis. I couldn’t live without Park Yoga now!”

Through the Park Yoga YouTube past yoga sessions will remain accessible and free of charge to view.

In 2021 the Charity hopes to be able to provide free yoga outdoors once again in public parks in the UK. Any sessions will need to work within the national laws and advice regarding COVID-19 and take into account specific venue operating procedures.

Financial Review

Details:

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves:	The Charity currently has no reserves policy in place.
Details of any funds materially in deficit:	The Charity has no funds which are materially in deficit.
Principle sources of funding:	Grant funding from the Fine Family Foundation and Sport England.
How expenditure has supported the key objectives:	The majority of expenditure has been grants to venues to deliver Park Yoga at 10 different sites. Grants to venues cover instructor costs and equipment for the sessions. Other significant expenditure in this period included consultancy costs for Business Planning.
Remuneration of Trustees:	All Trustees act in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration or other material benefits from their services to the Charity. Out-of-pocket expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by Trustees in promoting the purposes of the Charity are reimbursed at cost.
Funds Held as Custodian Trustee on Behalf of Others:	None.
Any significant events that have affected the financial performance:	None.
Financial position of the charity during the reporting period:	Park Yoga’s current resources from grant funding are more than sufficient to meets its outgoings for the next year. Additional grant funding is to be sought in 2021 in order to expand the provision of services offered by Park Yoga.

Statement of Financial Activity

Park Yoga Statement of Accounts From 06/04/2020 to 05/04/2021	Park Yoga Statement of Accounts From 06/04/2020 to 05/04/2021	Park Yoga Statement of Accounts From 06/04/2020 to 05/04/2021	Park Yoga Statement of Accounts From 06/04/2020 to 05/04/2021

	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total funds
	£	£	£
Income
Dona%ons,Grants & other ac%vi%es	21,048	-	21,048
	- 0	-	-
	- 0	-	-
**Total Income **	21,048	-	21,048

Expenditure
Grants	- 0	-	-
Marke%ng	2,128	-	2,128
Ofce Costs	2,866	-	2,866
Professional Fees	935	-	935
Bank fees & Charges	69	-	69
	- 0	-	-
	- 0	-	-
**Total Expenditure **	5,998	- 0	5,998

**Net of income/(expenditure) **	15,050	-	15,050


	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total funds
	£	£	£
Total Funds brought forward	694	9,420	10,114

Total Funds Carried Forward	15,744	9,420	25,164

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the above Annual Report and Statement of Financial Activity.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Signature(s):
Full names(s):	CATHRINE FARRER	CAROLINE AMEY
Position:	TRUSTEE	TRUSTEE
Date:	17/2/22	17/2/22

Park Yoga	Statement of Accounts	Statement of Accounts	Statement of Accounts	Statement of Accounts
	From	06/04/2020	to 05/04/2021
	Unrestricted	Restricted		Total
	funds	funds		funds
	£	£		£
Income
Donations, Grants & other activities	21,048		-	21,048
	-		-	-
	-		-	-
**Total Income **	21,048		-	21,048
Expenditure
Grants	-		-	-
Marketing	2,128		-	2,128
Ofce Costs	2,866		-	2,866
Professional Fees	935		-	935
Bank fees & Charges	69		-	69
	-		-	-
	-		-	-
**Total Expenditure **	5,998		-	5,998
**Net of income/(expenditure) **	15,050		-	15,050
	Unrestricted	Restricted		Total
	funds	funds		funds
	£	£		£
Total Funds brought forward	694		9,420	10,114
Total Funds Carried Forward	15,744		9,420	25,164