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2024-12-31-accounts

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 FOR FROM ME TO YOU

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: CE017498 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1183413

FROM ME TO YOU

CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 8
Independent Examiners Report 9
Statement of Financial Activities 10
Balance Sheet 11
Notes to the Financial Statements 12 to 15

FROM ME TO YOU

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

The Trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2024. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

The Trustees have adopted the Receipts and Payments method of accounting as the charity's gross income was less than £250,000.

OUR MISSION

From Me to You focuses on alleviating cancer patient loneliness and isolation by empowering and educating people to connect via letters and cards

“Hello there

I have been receiving letters since last September when I was receiving treatment for womb cancer. I so appreciated these letters whilst I was disconnected from my usual routines and life. I have made a good recovery and would like to switch from being a recipient to a sender of these wonderful letters”

Claire – Letter Recipient

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

From Me to You tackles the social isolation often experienced by cancer patients. It encourages and educates people to stay connected with friends, relatives, and strangers by writing letters. The Donate A Letter campaign asks people to write anonymous letters to cancer patients receiving treatment. The charity receives over 10,000 letters each year, from all over the world which are distributed across the UK to hospitals, cancer centres and individuals' homes.

During 2024, From Me to You was able to extend its reach to isolated and lonely people living with cancer by working towards the following objectives:

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Significant activities and Impact

1 Donate a letter

Our Donate A Letter programme goes from strength to strength, in 2024 seeing the largest number of letters delivered to hospitals, cancer centres and individuals’ homes (13,500) – an increase of 35% on 2023. This meant that we were able to fulfil the increasing number of requests for letters, both from individuals and hospitals; a 30% increase in requests for letters to be delivered directly to homes, 20% increase in number of hospitals we service directly and a 43% increase in hospitals serviced via partner charities.

We have also continued to attract new writers to ensure our letter delivery ambitions can grow. This year we onboarded 1,648 new writers, a 73% increase year on year. Our volunteer Colleen, a Donate A Letter Programme letter recipient herself in 2017, is the first point of contact for new writers as she posts out letter writing packs, promotes our free online workshops and sends educational emails helping writers get started.

In March this year we collaborated with cancer social media influencer, Natalie Woodward, to create a spring letter writing competition to encourage our established writers to write more letters and to gain new writers. Over 2 months we saw our letter numbers increase by 19%.

In partnership with the Robert Horrell Cancer Centre and Hinchingbrooke Hospital, we have also been able to extend our service to facilitate letter deliveries to patients attending the post treatment ‘What Now?’ programme. This programme is designed to help patients navigate their recovery once they have finished treatment, a time which many find harder than their cancer treatment.

“I have now finished all my cancer treatment and have very much enjoyed receiving letters but now feel that I should come off the list and allow someone else to benefit. I have appreciated your service greatly. I would however be interested in writing letters to others now that I am feeling better.” (Alison C)

“Hello, my cancer well-being counsellor let me take a From Me to You letter home today and it was lovely reading it. Even in dark times it managed to make me smile so thank you. Since living with cancer, I’ve closed myself off from the world so this would be a refreshing change. I understand you send letters out to us at home. Can I please sign up?” (Lyndon)

2 Outlets

In 2024 we have been able to continue to grow the number of hospitals and cancer centres we supply.

We onboarded Cheltenham Breast Cancer Clinic, Sheffield’s Weston Park and Peterborough City Hospital with letters requests ranging from 10 a month to 160 a month. This brings us to a total of 18 hospitals we support directly, alongside another 23 via partner charities.

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Working alongside hospitals and cancer charities, we connect every 3 months to take feedback and tailor our service accordingly. It was through this partnership initiative that we were able to help with the Peterborough ‘What Now?’ programme.

We continue to work alongside and develop our relationship with Macmillan centres in NHS Trusts.

In order to connect communities with the work we do in their local areas, we have increased the number of corporate partnerships and held workshops to facilitate local people writing letters for local people. We have worked closely with the NHS Facilities Management teams and Royal Mail Property Facilities teams, all enabled by our Trustee Liz Kentish.

“It has been three years since my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The journey has been a lonely and anxious one for me. While at the hospital with Harry today, for his first radiotherapy session, I came across a handful of 'from me to you' letters and postcards. I couldn't resist, I felt quite emotional reading them, each one had a charm of its own. Thank you! A hug, be it from a stranger, was exactly what I needed. I felt compelled to write to tell you how much it was appreciated and to pass on my thanks to all those who compose just a few words but show they have a big heart.” (Maria)

“While at our local cancer wellbeing centre this week, awaiting a CT scan at the adjoining hospital, I was given one of your letters. I hadn't heard of the charity before but the letter seemed personally written for me as it was about the autumn weather and roses blooming. I would like to receive more letters if possible while I am undergoing treatment. I'm about to have 4 weeks off before starting radiotherapy. Hopefully next year, I will be able to recover and, in time, I would be interested in writing letters to other cancer sufferers. I think it's a wonderful idea.” (Karia)

3 Workshops & Community Engagement

With increased numbers of requests for letters and increased number of partner hospitals and cancer centres, we have also increased our workshop and community engagement programmes.

We have hosted 10 free, online Donate A Letter workshops through the year to educate new writers and to inspire established ones. We reached in excess of 700 people in these workshops, where attendees are able to hear from letter recipients and to better understand the impact that the letters have on them.

In one workshop, Jose told of his son who received letters: “Even though my son never met the people who wrote the letters, he would look forward to them arriving. Once he could no longer read, I read them to him.”

Creating connections within the communities we serve is important to us. We have held 5 community, in person workshops and 7 corporate workshops. Many of these have focussed on our East of England hub, where we service 3 local hospitals.

We have also been supported by 3 new Community Ambassadors, 2 who host FMTY stalls at local fetes, feature in local press and radio, join community groups to talk about our work and engage parish councils and one who keeps us with a constant supply of stationery for workshops.

This is alongside the partnering we continue to do with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme across the UK who feature us as a charity of choice for their Volunteer Module for all their awards.

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4 Trustees, staff and volunteers

We have again been supported through the year by a core of loyal volunteers. Our Donate A Letter process and safeguarding would not exist without them. And without the 1000’s of volunteer letter writers we would not exist.

In 2024 we recruited a new Trustee (Nathan Nicholas) to extend and support our work to engage corporate workplaces.

Our project to ask our supporters to share our bookmarks and flyers in their local communities, GP surgeries and hospitals continues to thrive, and we see the results of this as new writers and letter recipients cite these materials as the way they came to hear about us.

Our freelance part-time charity manager, Harriet, and social media manager, Anna, excel at marketing us and creating new, innovative ways to engage new followers. They are always on the lookout for new Community Ambassadors and these are as often found on social media platforms as they are in local communities. Working alongside pro bono PR support we can also maximise our stories of impact.

5 Fundraisers

At the beginning of 2024 we launched our Friends of From Me to You scheme to encourage regular giving. This has proved to be a very successful, sustainable source of income, especially providing those not wishing to write letters an active and regular way to support us.

This year also saw the introduction of our annual From Me to Brew event, encouraging our supporters to come together in their communities and at work to have a cup of tea and cake and raise money for us. We had close to 100 events happen through the summer of this year. From Me to Brew events will now happen every year and this will support our progress to sustainable fundraising initiatives. We were hugely supported to kick off the first of these events by Expedia, who also held workshops and a Christmas Market event to support us.

At the end of the year, we began to recruit corporate donors to sponsor our 24 hour Letter Writing Marathon (scheduled for World Cancer Day Feb 2025). Each corporate was asked to sponsor 1 hour of the Marathon, as well as hosting their own letter writing event for staff, to coincide with our Marathon. We intend for the Marathon to become an annual event and be our way to mark World Cancer Day each February.

We were delighted to be onboarded as one of Centrica’s official partner charities to enable their programme of volunteer hours for employees. Centrica cover the costs of us processing letters for every letter donated by their staff. We also extended our Friends of FMTY scheme to corporates and onboarded 2 new partners.

6 Publicity

2024 exceeded all our expectations for publicity. In September we were fortunate to have our founders featured on BBC4’s Café Hope, and subsequently experienced high volumes of traffic to our website. This was quickly followed up by an invite from the Royal Foundation Christmas Carol Concert to one of our Duke of Edinburgh students to recognise her volunteering for us. She was featured on the Prince & Princess of Wales Instagram account as well as BBC, ITV and Sky news

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channels. Not only did this hugely boost our engagement figures for new writers but also donations for our Christmas campaign.

We reviewed our social media offering in 2024 to reflect the changes in X (formerly Twitter) and the increasing rise of Instagram as a platform of influence, as well as reviewing the content we posted. We saw our followers grow on Instagram by 15% and an increasing number of people cite it as the way they’d heard about us.

We also reached 160 media outlets with a story about a family writing letters for us, inspired by their daughter who was completing her Duke of Edinburgh award with us. The story was picked up, written and shared by the Press Association.

“My daughter age 8 and I have lost our husband and father this year August 2024. He had bowel cancer and secondary lung cancer. It’s been a difficult year and the carol service what we saw, really resonated. We would like a letter for my little girl if possible as she misses her daddy and we feel alone. I do watercolours and art and would like to send cards with words and notes to anyone who like one.” (Amy)

Future Plans

We have successfully grown and nurtured a very loyal and engaged family of supporters and this is at the heart of our success to date. The authenticity of our founders’ story and their continued passion for our work is at the heart of our charity and the impact it has.

With such a strong foundation, and the ever-increasing number of cancer diagnoses and the need to support these people within their communities, means we are well placed to grow our reach and impact whilst recognising the need to do this in a sustainable way so that we continue to thrive in the very competitive not-for-profit sector.

We will engage professional expertise to advise our fundraising strategy and guide us to long-term operational growth.

We will engage Community Ambassadors who can represent our Donate A Letter programme to their local hospitals and cancer centres, as well as engaging in local community activities to increase awareness of our work.

This will complement our 24-hour Letter Writing Marathon which will allow us to continue to reach supporters across the globe and link them into our networks.

We will grow our online communities with letter writing workshops, so increasing the volume of letters we have available to deliver, and to provide education and inspiration to those wanting to support loved ones living with a cancer diagnosis.

Engaging further with corporate organisations, with our unique ability to provide team building and CSR-supporting letter writing workshops, allows us to provide solutions for connecting with work colleagues who are no longer able to be in the office or on-site due to their illness.

These initiatives will allow us to grow our Donate A Letter outlet numbers to 25 directly serviced hospitals, increasing our overall reach to 48 outlets, alongside the 1000’s of people connecting with family and friends and so reducing their cancer-imposed isolation and loneliness.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

Overview

Our income of £71,593 exceeded our expenditure of £50,419 by £21,174 this year, a margin of 30%. The main source of funding continues to be through public and corporate donations as the availability of grant funding remains challenging. Expenditure was lower than last year due to some significant CRM and PR costs in 2023. Most expense lines are consistent with last year and we continue to invest significantly in social media activities.

This year’s activity added to our reserves. Reserves are needed to continue to fund activities in future years, as there is an increased demand for our materials as the awareness of From Me to You grows and isolation is still evident. We have an investment plan for a proportion of our reserves level, which will enable us to extend our reach without compromising the quality and quantity of what is already provided to writers and recipients. We plan to grow our services by increasing our number of outlets and engaging our letter writers to increase the volume of letters, so enhancing the connectivity between community, writers, recipients and supporters.

Fundraising approach and achievements

Total incoming resources for the year amounted to £71,593 (consistent with 2023: £71,765).

We have implemented various initiatives this year, intended to secure sustainable, ongoing funds for the charity.

This year we raised £445 from the sales of the From Me, To You book (2023: £2,494), interest on investments amounted to £3,401 (2023: £1,179), £37,810 came from Corporate Organisations and grants (2023: £41,500) and £29,937 from individual donations (2023: £26,591). Our support from grant-making bodies was much more diverse this year compared to last year when £40,000 came from one organisation.

As always, Trustees and supporters raised funds through completion of various sponsored challenges. Our Trustee Lucy completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon this year, raising £2,914 and a regular supporter of FMTY completed a marathon to raise £1,183. Other funds were raised through walking challenges, charity auctions and donations at workshops.

During 2024 we saw donations from individuals in all forms (including gift aid) increase by 13% on 2023.

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Expenditure

Expenditure for the year was £50,419 (21% decrease on 2023, due to significant CRM costs last year and PR costs associated with the book). Our largest expense is the cost of freelance expertise, bringing a wealth of charity, social media and marketing experience, always looking for innovative ways to engage new followers. The charity very much relies on having an online presence and as a national charity, social media builds an online community, encouraging and promoting our aims and objectives as well as providing an avenue to obtaining financial support.

Reserves Policy

In order that From Me to You can continue to operate at the highest level and to continue to support the Donate A Letter Scheme, the Trustees have set a reserves policy which requires:

Changes in funding and the growing demand for the services of From Me to You require us to review our reserves policy on an annual basis to ensure that service levels and future growth can be adequately funded. We have a plan for investment of reserves over the coming years.

STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Whose Only Voting Members Are Its Charitable Trustees.

Adopted: 1[st] December 2018

Approval date: 14[th] May 2019

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

CE017498 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1183413

Registered Office

The Elms Braceborough Stamford PE9 4NT

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Trustees

Ms A Burgin Mrs L Hind (appointed 1 January 2024) Mrs A James Ms L A Jepson Ms E Kentish Mr N Lee Mr N S Nicholas (appointed 1 June 2024) Miss F Smith

Independent Examiner

Keith Bennett Darlington Business Centre 181 Coniscliffe Road Darlington DL3 8DE

Approved by order of the Board of Trustees on 24-SEP-2025 and signed on its behalf by:

L A Jepson Trustee

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTESS OF FROM ME TO YOU

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of From Me to You (‘The Company’)

I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company the year ended 31 December 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's Trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law), you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (“the Act”).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

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:

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.

Keith Bennett Darlington Business Centre 181 Coniscliffe Road Darlington DL3 8DE

Date: 24-SEP-2025

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FROM ME TO YOU

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
Other trading activities
Investments
Total Income
2
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
NET INCOME / (EXPENDITURE)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 2024
2023
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
funds
funds
£
£
67,747
68,092
445
2,494
3,401
1,179
71,593
71,765
50,419
63,623
21,174
8,142
72,441
64,299
93,615
72,441

The notes form part of these financial statements

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FROM ME TO YOU

BALANCE SHEET 31 DECEMBER 2024

Notes
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
4
Cash at bank
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES
NET ASSETS
FUNDS
Unrestricted funds
5
TOTAL FUNDS		 2024
2023
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
funds
funds
£
£
4,530
2,777
89,085
69,664
93,615
72,441
93,615
72,441
93,615
72,441
93,615
72,441
93,615
72,441
93,615
72,441

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records (Sections 386 and 387) and the preparation of financial statements (Sections 394 and 395)

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 24-SEP-2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

L A Jepson – Trustee

A Burgin – Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

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FROM ME TO YOU

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019)’, Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ and the Companies Act 2006.

The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

The purpose and use of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements if applicable

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2. INCOME

DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Donations
Grants
OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Sales of 'From Me to You' book
INVESTMENT INCOME
Interest
Total Income		 2024
2023
Unrestricted
Unrestricted
funds
funds
£
£
63,247
66,992
4,500
1,100
67,747
68,092
445
2,494
445
2,494
3,401
1,179
71,593
71,765

3. TRUSTEES

There were no trustees’ remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 December 2024 nor for the year ended 31 December 2023

Trustees’ expenses

Mileage
Other expenses
Total		 2024
2023
£
£
955
454
59
298
1,014
752

Expenses included meeting room hire and refreshments for Trustee meetings.

4. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2024 2023
£ £
Other debtors 4,530 2,777

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5. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net
movement
At 1/1/24 in funds At 31/12/24
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 72,441 21,174 93,615
TOTAL FUNDS 72,441 21,174 93,615
Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
Incoming Resources Movement
resources expended in funds
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 71,593 (50,419) 21,174
TOTAL FUNDS 71,593 (50,419) 21,174
Comparatives for movement in funds
Net
movement
At 1/1/23 in funds At 31/12/23
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 64,299 8,142 72,441
TOTAL FUNDS 64,299 8,142 72,441
Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
Incoming Resources Movement
resources expended in funds
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 71,765 (63,623) 8,142
TOTAL FUNDS 71,765 (63,623) 8,142

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A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1/1/23
£
64,299
64,299		 Net
movement
in funds
At 31/12/24
£
£
29,316
93,615
29,316
93,615

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
143,358
143,358		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(114,042)
29,316
(114,042)
29,316

6. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There we no related party transactions for the year ended 31 December 2024

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