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2021-04-05-accounts

THE COMMUNITY CUPBOARD

CHARITY NUMBER: 1185331

ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5th APRIL 2021

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Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2021

Table of Contents

Contents 2 Reference and Administration 3 Objective & Purposes 4 Summary of activities 7 Achievements and Performance 14 Achievements v’s objectives 17 Plans for Future 18 Structure, Governance and Management 19 Financial report 20 Financial review 21 Notes 24

This Annual Report presents a review of the period 6th April 2020 - 5th April 2021, reporting on achievements, performance and impact, including financial performance and financial position to demonstrate the Trustees’ stewardship and management of charitable funds.

As a preliminary matter, the Trustees of The Community Cupboard wish to once again express their deep appreciation of the contribution made by volunteers and donors, without which no achievements would have been possible during such a trying year.

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Reference and administrative details

Charity Name: The Community Cupboard
Registered address: 11 Lambardes, New Ash Green, Longfield, DA3 8HX
Operating address: The Garage, Gamecock Meadow, London Rd, West Kingsdown,
TN15 6BZ
Charity Number: 1185331
Principal office: England.
Constitution: Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only
voting members are its charity trustees. Date of constitution (last
amended): 15th August 2019
Liability: If the CIO is wound up, the members of the CIO have no liability
to contribute to its assets and no personal responsibility for settling
its debts and liabilities.
Trustees: David John Carter
Helen Reeves
Vee McGannon
Amy Eley
Bankers: Metro Bank,
Unit 4, Nugent Retail Park,
Orpington, Bromley,
BR5 3RP
The trustees submit their annual report and financial statements for the
year ended 5th April 2021

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Objective & Purpose

The Community Cupboards charitable objects are:

To relieve persons, particularly but not exclusively in New Ash Green and the surrounding area, that are in financial hardship in such ways as the trustees shall from time to time think fit. In particular but not exclusively by:

a) providing emergency food supplies, essential toiletries and other household items both to individuals and families in need and also to other charities or organisations working to prevent poverty.

b) Such other means, including (but not limited to) the provision of support or signposting to relevant advisory services or information.

The Community Cupboard is an independent charity and a member of IFAN (Independent Food Aid Network). As an independent registered charity & CIO, all operations are in accordance with the governing document known as The Constitution of The Community Cupboard. Working in partnership with local and regional agencies , The Community Cupboard operates from The Garage, Gamecock Meadow, London Road, West Kingsdown, TN15 6BZ.

The Community Cupboard accepts referrals from supporting agencies and self referrals. Users do not require a food voucher to request support and are supplied with 5 days emergency provisions. There is no limit to the number of times they can access the support but users are signposted to external agencies for remedial support.

With the Covid 19 Pandemic established by April 2020, The Community Cupboard worked at full capacity to ensure that all new families and existing families could be supported.

Continuing to operate 5 days a week and adhering to a strict and revised health and safety policy, the need of the service became heightened.

Working in conjunction with Kent County Council Community Wardens, we were able to ensure safe and quick delivery of parcels to those in isolation and to those shielding.

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With 195 additional families either requesting support themselves or being referred to us during this period and many other support establishments continuing to remain closed, the area which we were supporting increased to a radius of 15-20 miles in all directions from the hub.

Chart 1 below shows the location of the NEW families registered during the period 6th April 2020 to 5th April 2021.

Chart 1

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The Community Cupboard continues to be well supported by the local community and surrounding villages and towns with further donation points now located in Sevenoaks, Otford, Borough Green, Ryarsh and Vigo. These additional donations received allowed us to cater for the increased level of demand.

Chart 2 below shows the donations received in Kilos during the period 6th april 2020 to 5th April 2021. The Community Cupboard is supported additionally by many other community organisations, businesses and agencies through food donations and other means of ongoing support.

Chart 2

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Summary of Activities

This report covers a full year living through a pandemic.

The way in which The Community Cupboard operated, evolved day by day. As new restrictions were added, our working environment changed and more safety assessments took place. An additional Covid risk assessment was created and regularly reviewed by the trustees, taking into account the current government status.

To protect the trustees, volunteers, donors and users of The Community Cupboard, the premises became accessible to limited individuals only. This was to help prevent unnecessary spread if one individual became infected. Volunteers were split into 2 teams to ensure that if one group became ill, the other could step in to continue the work.

Ensuring that sufficient PPE was available and rules adhered to was paramount in remaining open and keeping everyone safe.

With the introduction of lateral flow tests, we were able to guide our volunteers and users to local test sites to partake in bi weekly testing. This not only gave comfort to those offering their time to help others but also to us as a charity.

With the introduction of parental kits and workplace kits becoming available, home testing became part of our twice weekly schedule and continues to help ensure the safety of all those we come into contact with at the premises, on donation collections or on deliveries.

Support parcels and donations were regularly collected from the base of the stairs after we had put them there ready for collection. Once we had stepped into a safe area, families were then permitted to leave their cars to receive the items.

As a registered Charity, The Community Cupboard continues to rely largely on the dedication of the local community to function. Volunteers continue to come from a wide section of the community including members of churches, corporate teams and individual members of the public.

The core of The Community Cupboards service is supported by our regular volunteers and during Covid we have limited additional recruitment Volunteers were relied on for collections of the donations and during the better weather months, for sorting and weighing those items outside and recording the data. With additional donation points in surrounding villages and towns, this support continued to be essential to our continuation.

The previously loved method of being able to welcome our users inside to talk through their concerns and worries had to cease however, every effort was made to maintain the rapport by

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having socially distanced conversations with them when parcels were collected or by telephone calls and online messages. Every effort was made to reduce the social isolation for these individuals and families where possible.

Parcels that were provided to our users continued to be bespoke to the families where possible. Families were asked of any allergies and pets within the home in addition to the number of adults and children. Many Autistic children and their parents found lockdown challenging and with the limitations on availability in general we attempted to cater for those who required bespoke items as much as possible. Those individuals under the dementia diagnosis umbrella also found things particularly hard when faced with changes and restrictions.

Having utilised fully the support offered, deliveries to those in isolation and shielding became difficult once Kent County Council community wardens returned to their ‘normal’ roles. We looked at purchasing or hiring a vehicle to ensure that all safety and insurance aspects were adhered to however Sevenoaks District Council then provided us with unlimited access to their ambassadors. The SDC Ambassadors, put into the role during covid, have been paramount to being able to continue our deliveries. We have built a fantastic relationship with this new team and regularly ask them to deliver to those of our users who cannot collect.

Their employment contract was extended due to the ongoing lockdown and we continue to use their service each week.

As workload increased and lockdown temporarily eased, the volunteer hours available became difficult to manage. It was agreed that The Community Cupboard needed a manager to oversee the daily operation of the premises and smooth running of the system in place.

Funding was applied for from the numerous UK Covid relief funds available to specifically cover this role and we were successful in our awards from John Lewis in August 2020, The National Lottery in September 2020, Kent Community Foundation in October 2020 and The Brook Trust Fund & Loveday Family Grassroots in November 2020.

Once funding was secured, Tracy Wood stepped down from her trustee role to fill a 1 year part time salaried position of Manager.

As the year came to an end and demand continued to increase, a second part time salaried staff member was recruited to fill a 6 month contract, covering this difficult period and to ensure that the 2 person safeguarding rules were implemented at all times.

Funding for this role was again specifically applied for and awarded by Kent Community Foundation, The Howard family and The Colyer Fergusson trust. This funding allowed for the security of consistent operation of the hub and its services.

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Whilst funds have been deposited into the only charity bank account held by The Community Cupboard, it is kept separate from other available non allocated funds that have been donated by the general public or for other purposes. These roles will continue to be funded by grants received specifically for the roles.

Christmas 2020

In December 2020, as many local residents resigned to the fact it would be a Christmas without loved ones, we arranged a socially distanced reverse advent calendar donations drop off event outside the hub.

Providing families with allocated drop off times and putting volunteers in place to ensure safety, we were delighted to receive hundreds of kilos of much needed items to help replenish our shelves. With donors weighing in their own items outside and ‘Santa’ ready to receive the items and thank them, it was a delightful day that was relished by all.

This again provided a platform for local families to be involved safely and for young children to be educated over how not only the pandemic has had an impact on their friends and families, but how pre pandemic things were difficult for many too.

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The festivities continued to our families in December as we were regularly asked by donors what they could supply us with as treats for our users.

To reduce risks of Covid we launched a text campaign to deter people from leaving home to drop off donations during lockdown. The funds received from this and other monetary donations were then used to purchase items for a special Christmas hamper treat which was presented to our users the week of Christmas.

Filled with mince pies, treats for the children and Christmas puddings, there were many tears when they were distributed. Many families had simply given up on any form of Christmas being available to them.

Our volunteer team again rose to the challenge, giving up many hours of time whilst they prepared the mass of hampers to surprise each of the families with.

In addition to the hampers, we were contacted by a local resident who had set up a giving tree in New Ash Green. Sarah Breslin and her team of willing volunteers had collected hundreds of gifts and wrapped them according to age. These were then donated to us and distributed to local families who needed them most.

Christmas was a special event for our team at the hub. The community really came together and made December a special month. With Children receiving advent calendars which had been donated and Kent Community wardens arranging a collection for family puzzles and games, we are delighted to have really made a difference.

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Many children (and parents) opened one of these gifts on Christmas morning 2020 and for many, they were the only gifts they received. We thank all of the local residents and establishments who donated these gifts and their support wholeheartedly.

As the 3rd wave of Coronavirus took its toll and the local community saw a marked increase of both Covid cases and deaths, we entered our 3rd national lockdown in December 2020 just days before Christmas.

A new year - 2021

With 2020 now firmly behind us and unprecedented figures reported for the past year, we yearned to see a reduction in our statistics.

A decreased level of our numbers would have demonstrated an improvement on the current local economic situation and the reduced requirement of our foodbank. This was sadly not the situation.

As of 5th April 2021, 82 additional families had registered in 2021 alone and we are preparing for the continuation of required support levels. As a team we are working tirelessly to meet demands.

In February 2021, despite being the shortest month of the year, we marked the highest distribution levels since The Community Cupboard founded in 2019.

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More challenges

The weather brought additional challenges when for the first time since our launch we were forced to close our doors.

Snow and icy conditions made access to our premises not only unsafe but near impossible. As 1 day quickly turned into 3, the number of families waiting for support grew larger. When we finally reopened on day 4, operating a makeshift collection point nearer the main road, we had a backlog of 21 families before we could start the day’s work.

Assisted by SDC ambassadors, makeshift sledges and a lot of manpower, we were able to transport the support parcels across the field to our delighted waiting families.

It’s safe to say that whilst it was a novel way to operate, we were glad when the better weather arrived!

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Limited space

With the additional demand and the huge increase of users on our books, the hub became difficult to work in. To ensure adequate supplies are kept available we had to make extra space and we were given the additional storage space to the rear of the garage by West Kingsdown Parish Council.

With the help of a local tradesman we have now shelved the area and this now holds excess items which we are unable to fit inside the main building.

In January, we applied for and were in March granted planning permission to extend the premises. This extension will provide an additional 25 sq meters of storage space when built.

As a local charity we have been fortunate to have been selected as a local Coop community cause and throughout this year until October 2021, will receive a proportion of funding towards this extension.

Further fundraising, specifically for this project is currently being applied for with the hope that works can take place this summer.

Support

Having encompassed a larger distribution area over the year we are delighted that we have gained many additional donation points, received further community support and raised our profile to allow more people requiring support to contact us.

We have partnered with additional national companies such as Sainsburys, David Lloyd, Morrisons, HSBC bank and Natwest Bank in addition to being supported by many more local establishments.

The Trustees are confident that, by their leadership and management of charitable funds, The Community Cupboard continues to meet the requirements around public benefit as defined by the Charity Commission. Interested parties are invited to contact us for a detailed account of the way in which the charity meets these objectives by requesting our policy document.

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Achievements and Performance - 6th April 2020 to 5th April 2021

The Community Cupboard registered 520 new local families during this period consisting of 2690 individuals. (Table 3 shows the local area spread)

Table 3

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The Community Cupboard received local community and business donations during this period totalling 36,495 from a multitude of donors. (See Table 4 below for breakdown).

Table 4

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Over the same period, 34.209 kilos were distributed in support parcels to our families. Leaving a total of remaining supplies of 2286 kilos. (See table 5 below)

Table 5

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- Signposting services 6th April 2020 5th April 2021

Continuing our partnerships with support services is key to assisting our users Our partnerships continue to tackle:

Period poverty (The Hygiene Bank) Debt advice (Citizens Advice Bureau) Senior residents advice (Age UK) Housing, benefit & debt management advice (Hero - Sevenoaks District Council) Utility support (SE Water) Local community warden support (KCC Public Protection) Dementia services (ADSS) Family support & counselling services (Fegans) Homeless relocations (Porchlight and Kent Police) Re entry into society (Probation services)

Achievements vs objectives since 6th April 2020

Whilst we had hoped to grow our volunteer team during 2020, we halted the introduction of further team members due to the pandemic.

Having stood down many of our older volunteers during the first wave, we worked with a smaller and consistent team to minimise risk to health. With our additional risk assessments in place and a reduction in the team size, things became more time consuming and took longer to complete. Once a new routine was established, things became easier.

Referrals increased to our partner agencies and daily interaction with them became ‘the norm’. Turning around the initial referral and supplying support parcels within a few hours was key to efficient running of our charity and we have quickly become the ‘go to’ for other national charities and government bodies.

One of our biggest goals was to reduce the stigma around Food bank usage and asking for help. We were very proud to see that many of our users were speaking openly on public social media about the support they had received from us. We still have some way to go, however we are delighted to announce that this year, huge progress has been achieved.

Financially, though grants, we raised £38,970.02 (the breakdown can be found in the upcoming statement of financial activity at the end of this report) and personal donations raised a further £25,719.13, giving a total income of £64,689.15 for this accounting period. Raising the profile of

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The Community Cupboard via local networking and social media presence was vital to remaining a prominent community project and to ensure the continuation of these generous personal and business donations

Plans for Future

High levels of demand continue at The Community Cupboard and the Trustees expect that reliance on our service will continue for the foreseeable .

Despite the easing of lockdown, many individuals and families continue to struggle. Self employed families still do not have enough work to maintain their living expenses and many others are currently unemployed or employed with minimal contracts.

Our aims and objectives for the short and medium term include:

To help us to achieve these objectives and growth we propose to conduct a regular organisational review of our structure and resources throughout the following year, taking into account any reports for comparisons.

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Structure, Governance and Management

The Community Cupboard is a registered charity and a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its charity Trustees. The Charity is governed by its constitution dated 15 August 2019.

The following persons served as Trustees during the year:

Tracy Wood (Stepped down September 2020) Veronica McGannon (Elected 16th September 2019) John David Carter (Elected 16th September 2020) Helen Reeves (Elected 16th August 2019) Amy Eley (Elected 16th August 2019)

The election of additional Trustees can be made at a properly convened meeting of the charity Trustees. There must be a minimum of 3 trustees and a maximum of 12 at any one time. Decisions within the charity are made by the Trustees at a meeting or in writing and agreed once a majority has been reached.

Parties interested in becoming a trustee when applications are open are invited to contact us at thecommunitycupboard.co.uk.

Signed: Veronica McGannon - Trustee Signed: Helen Reeves - Trustee

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Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 6th April 2021 Statement of Financial Activities

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements with respect to accounting records and the preparation of the accounts and these accounts have been prepared accordingly.

Signed:

Veronica McGannon - Trustee Helen Reeves - Trustee

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Financial Review

The financial position of The Community Cupboard on 5th April 2021 is good. As with most small charities, day to day operation continuity relies heavily on our ability to fundraise enough income to cover our running costs, top-up food purchases and the costs required to build the organisation to keep up with growing demands.

During the period 6th April 2020 to 5th April 2021,the total income received by the charity totalled £64,689, with expenditure of £23,135.

Of the £64,689.15 of funds received, £39,070.02 was received from grant applications and awarded for the following project expenditure: (also see enclosed table)

Salary

£12500 - National Lottery £5,000 - Kent Community Foundation Covid Relief Fund £3,000 - John Lewis £2,000 - Kent Community Foundation - Loveday Family Grassroots Fund £6,000 - Kent Community Foundation - The Green Family Fund Total - £28,500

Renovation of premises and charity vehicle

£4,170.02 - Coop community fund £5,000 - Sevenoaks district Council Total - £9170.02

Supplies

£900 (9 x £100) - Independent Food Aid Network £500 - Tesco Total £1400

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Unrestricted funding

Funding received from members of the public and unrestricted, amounted to £25,719.13.

(Restricted funds are those which were provided for a specific cause or project. Unrestricted funds are those which can be used for the benefit of the charity and have no restrictions)

Balance

The balance available as of 5th April 2021 is £41,554.38 and is allocated as follows:

__ 22,414.46 - Allocated funds

£19139.92 remains available and unallocated for running costs and other operational expenditures.

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Upcoming expenditures:

Supplies

To meet demand throughout the pandemic, it has been essential that additional items are purchased. These are purchased from the unrestricted funds or from grants provided to purchase such items. This will continue whilst the donations are insufficient to meet the growing demand.

Operational costs

The Community Cupboard are currently not liable for any rental fees, however now cover the electricity costs of the premises. An estimated cost of £1,200 per year is expected.

Extension of premises

Due to the increase in demand for The Community Cupboards service, the premises are now becoming too small. Planning permission has now been granted for an extension to the side of the building which will incorporate additional storage areas and an office area.

Funding applications are ongoing for this project and a total of £9170.02 was raised during this financial year, however this has now risen to £28,840 as of 1st December 2021 due to receiving further donations and grants..

The extension is expected to cost around £50,000.

Contingent funds

The trustees agree that a minimum of £20,000 should be retained for running costs, spending and additional stock that may be required over the coming months.

Covid-19 - We note that the pandemic has seen a sharp increase in public financial support over the past year. This has assisted in building a healthy reserve to be used as this funding stream reduces. Grant funding is now becoming less available than early in the pandemic.

The Community Cupboard is able to continue operating in 2021 and further, with no current concerns regarding financial viability.

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Financial Notes year end 5th April 2021

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The Community Cupboard

Financial Activities

6 April, 2020 - 5 April, 2021

TOTAL
Income
Donations and legacies 25,619.13
GRANT FUNDING 39,070.02
Total Income £64,689.15
TOTAL £64,689.15
Expenditures
Advertising/Promotional 34.00
Insurances 330.94
Office/General Administrative Expenses 2,432.60
Other Professional Services 2,318.40
Phone Costs 344.96
Printing, Postage and Stationery 75.00
Supplies 1,375.30
Total Expenditures £6,911.20
NET OPERATING INCOME £57,777.95
Other Expenditures
Salary 16,223.57
Total Other Expenditures £16,223.57
NET OTHER INCOME £ -16,223.57
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) £41,554.38

Cash Basis Tuesday, 30 November 2021 06:37 pm GMT+00:00

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