2022-04-05-accounts

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

THE COMMUNITY CUPBOARD

CHARITY NUMBER: 1185331

ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 5th APRIL 2022

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2022

Contents 2 Reference and Administration 3 Objective & Purposes 4 Summary of activities 5 More challenges 13 Support 13 Achievements & performance 15 Achievement v’s objectives 18 Plans 20 Structure, Governance and Management 21 Financial statement 22 Financial review 23 Notes 26

This Annual Report presents a review of the period 6th April 2021 - 5th April 2022, 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 and staff of The Community Cupboard wish to once again express their deep appreciation of the contribution made by volunteers and donors during yet another trying year, without which none of our achievements would have been possible.

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 2022

Objective & Purpose

The Community Cupboards charitable objects are:

To relieve persons in North West Kent and surrounding areas, 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 Community Cupboard, Gamecock Meadow, London Road, West Kingsdown, TN15 6BZ.

The Community Cupboard operates with 2 part time staff and a team of approximately 20 regular volunteers.

Accepting 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.

Despite learning to live with Covid-19 alongside community living and lockdowns becoming memories, The Community Cupboard maintained its 5 day a week operational structure.

Summary of Activities April 6th 2021 to April 5th 2022

This report covers a full year living through the difficulties of managing Covid-19, the country emerging from lockdown and the fallout that the community is now living with.

We moved into the new financial year continuing to wear masks to help protect the volunteers, the users and those donating. It was essential that we continued to maintain safety measures. Regular Covid testing was undertaken by the volunteer team to ensure that we all remained well and that any infections could be addressed immediately.

Gradually, we were able to revert back to support parcels collections being outside of the hub and donations being brought to our doorway. We continued to prevent visitors coming into the hub to reduce the risks of infection.

The Community Cupboard continued to rely largely on the dedication of the local community and its volunteers to function.

The core of The Community Cupboards service is supported by our regular volunteers and we have limited additional recruitment. Volunteers have continued to collect the donations and support the charity at the hub by sorting and weighing those items outside and recording the data.

The holistic approach of our work has continued and we have worked hard to maintain and build on our external relationships with supporting agencies and groups.

This vast network of support ensures that we can continue to address the users issues by signposting them to the correct services and making the required changes.

We have continued to be supported by our local KCC community wardens and continue to have access to Sevenoaks District Council Ambassadors for support and deliveries whilst their contract is in place.

Summer Fayre Time

This year we have worked extremely hard on promotion and ensuring that the community members are aware that support from The Community Cupboard is available to anyone who needs it.

Our wonderful volunteer team attended many events throughout the year to raise our profile and additional funds for the charity.

With stalls held at the NAG Craft Fair markets, St Edmund King & Martyr Summer Fair (which was far from a sunny day), various table top sales, the Autumn Fayre at St Mary's Church, Fawkham, our team worked their socks off, spreading the word.

Charity Quiz night

In November 2021 we organised and held our very own charity Quiz night with Jackie West the community warden from KCC Protection being our host. With support from Millwall FC, Brandshatch, Charlie the flower man, Image hair, various vouchers and much more, we packed out New Ash Green village hall full of people and the quiz fun began. It was a wonderful event and raised a grand total of £1026.35.

Harvest - October 2021

Harvest time has already become a great time in our calendar as a period where donations increase and we can build stock levels for the months running up to Christmas.

With local schools and clubs collecting at their harvest festivals, we were yet again delighted to be greeted by boxes and boxes full of items which had been collected by the children and their parents. Local churches also nominated The Community Cupboard as the charity to receive their offerings, including some which had previously donated their items to other food banks.

Being able to talk to the children, showing them why and how the community cupboard operates has become extremely important in reminding and educating the next generation about the need to support each other and to help reduce the stigma associated with food bank usage.

Christmas 2021

December 2021 saw the return of our reverse advent calendar day.

With a traditional London bus taking the place of Santa's reindeer, The community Cupboard volunteers once again entertained the village and tens of local families and children.

With allocated drop off times, allowing us to manage the number of people wishing to donate, we were able to keep everyone safe. Despite the relaxation of Covid restrictions, we continued to implement our Covid safety measures at the event to ensure that residents and visitors remained healthy.

This yearly event continues to be a huge and very welcomed event by the community, allowing children to visit Santa free of cost and encouraging people to give during the festive season and with many passers by stopping to admire the much loved traditional bus.

This year the donations were weighed indoors by the volunteer team whilst the children enjoyed a visit with Santa, each receiving a little chocolate treat (donated by one of our supporters).

The families using our service were also invited along to take advantage of a free visit to see Santa before collecting their festive hamper.

Christmas hampers - Foresters Financial

This year we were very fortunate to be contacted by a local resident who was a Foresters account holder and who wished to nominate us for a community grant.

We are very grateful to Louise, (who was successful in her application) which then provided us with everything needed to create 200 hampers for those we were supporting.

With Louise ordering and storing the items ready, a day was set to organise and create the hampers. We were joined by other Foresters members and our volunteer team who all worked hard to produce a wide range of stunning festive hampers. These hampers, full of Christmas items and food, provided the families with extras to make their Christmas special.

These Christmas events were a fantastic opportunity to involve the community at each step and bring people together at the end of yet another trying year.

A Christmas Carol

Alongside Co-op, and as one of their local community causes, The Community Cupboard were invited to HRH Kate Middleton's carol concert at Westminster Abbey. What an honour!

A new year - 2022

At the start of the financial year (April 2021), we were astounded to report that our distribution had grown, over the past year, by 2243% and we had firmly demonstrated the need for our service in the community.

BNI Membership

In February 2022, we were delighted to be selected as the chosen charity for the local BNI group. Vee now attends weekly meetings at Redlibbets golf club and our relationship with those involved continues to flourish.

The support that each member has provided individually alongside the combined groups backing has been astounding and we are very grateful to everyone.

The High Sheriff of Kent

In February 2022 we were invited to Rochester to celebrate the ‘Causes that matter’ with Kent Community Foundation. This foundation have been extremely supportive of our charity and have sourced many of our grant funding opportunities through their panel.

Awards

In March 2022 we were delighted to be awarded ‘Volunteer group of the year’ after being nominated at the Sevenoaks District Council ‘Making it happen, community and voluntary awards’.

It has been an extremely tough year and on behalf of the trustees, staff and volunteers we would like to express our thanks to everyone for inviting us, voting for us and for continually supporting us.

Easter at the hub

For yet another year, we were supported by community groups, schools, businesses and individuals at easter. Hovis bakery baked Hot Cross buns, alongside their regular bread donations

With large amounts of eggs donated, we were able to ensure that all of our users received a little treat in their parcels during this period.

Thank you to everyone, these ‘non essential items’ make such a huge difference, particularly to families with younger children.

Publicity

The Community Cupboard maintains its high profile on social media, with public accounts on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and instagram. These are in addition to the charity website. These outlets are used to promote the charity and raise awareness of the work and support we achieve and the help that is required. These channels are very well received and are growing rapidly.

David has undertaken, on behalf of the team, multiple TV broadcasts on GB news about food bank usage in the UK and the current increase in demand.

In March 2022, Vee and Tracy took to the screens by attending KMTV for an interview about the rise in food bank usage and increases in energy pricing. Interviews were also held with Vee on Kent radio and Tracy for ITV.

Extension of the premises

Last year our demand grew so drastically that additional space became a necessity. After much fundraising through events, public and company donations and our crowdfunding platform Spacehive, we were able to begin the build.

In March 2022, the diggers arrived and the groundworks for the extension started.

The extension is expected to take 2-3 months to complete and will provide an additional 25 sq metres of storage space when built.

During the building works we relocated the hub to the parish office meeting room. With an abundance of volunteers, the entire contents of the premises were moved and reassembled so that the hub could continue to operate exactly the same.

Thank you to Lynda, the parish clerk for facilitating this and welcoming us as her neighbours and to Rev Sarah from St Edmund King and Martyr Church for giving up the space that they would usually run the cafe from during this period.

More challenges

The announcement of the energy crisis has yet again increased the demand on our service.

With referral continuing each day, numbers are increasing and the donations that are being delivered are reducing. Community members are struggling to meet their own cost of living and the number of people being able to add extra items into our donation points is noticeably less.

With the expected additional rise in the coming October, further talks and action is required to plan for the additional users that we anticipate will be registering with us.

The timing of the expected completion of the extension could never be more suitable as the additional space will help us cater for the increase.

With our shelves bare on many occasions, we have relied on the donations arriving each day to be able to make up the parcels that are required to be dispatched. Any surplus stock has now been depleted.

Until we can make use of the extended building, maintaining large amounts of backup stock is impossible due to space and difficult to achieve due to the drop in donations.

Support

During this financial year we have supported families in 43 different villages & towns and our multisupport approach continues as we further develop our relationships with other agencies and organisations.

We have engaged additional partnerships with many local BNI businesses, other food banks, Ash Green Scouts, Bermondsey Pie & Mash, Darent Valley Church, Dartford Sports Bar, Folds Farm, Harvel Farm shop, Hartley Primary School, Hazelwood Carehome, Horton Kirby Primary, Kent Demolition, Key Property Services, Longfield Church, Lullingstone Church, Meopham Medical, NAG Social, Our Lady of Hartley School, Portable Power, Prudence & Concorde Lodge (Freemasons), RCCG, Rochester Grammar School, Rowhill School, Sainsburys Borough Green, St Johns & Otford stores, St Andrews Church Sidcup, St Georges Preschool Wrotham, St Paul's School Swanley, St Vincent De Paul Catholic Charity, Sutton Valence Church, Thriftwood community and West kingsdown Primary School. In addition to all of our new donors, we continue to be supported by those continuing to provide support in previous years.

We continue to receive weekly, freshly baked bread and bakery items from Hovis Bakery Erith. This is all very kindly donated to help the families that we are supporting.

Again, we would like to express our gratitude to everyone who makes this community project possible through their donations and support.

The biggest and most worrying increase in donations is the amount of supplies that we are purchasing from funding. With an increase of 6033.30 kilos more purchased over this year when compared with the previous year, it demonstrates the reduction in donations in goods received. We have been extremely fortunate to have seen a rise in our general financial donations this year, which have increased to £28,393.06 and have supported the purchasing of these items.

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.

Achievement & Performance 6th April 2021 - 5th April 2022

During this 1 year period, 234 additional families registered with The Community Cupboard ,totalling 563 individuals (of which 407 were aged 12+ and 156 were children). Families and individuals were either directed to us via supporting agencies or by self referral.

We continue to support up to a radius of 15-20 miles in all directions from the hub with our core support area now reverted back to the region of 5 miles.

Chart 1 below shows the location of the NEW families registered during the period 6th April 2021 to 5th April 2022.

Chart 1

Local support for The Community Cupboard continued to thrive, with more donation points being added regularly.

With many businesses joining our army of donors as well as the consistent supply of generous public giving, we have been able to maintain sufficient supplies to meet the ever growing demand.

Chart 2 demonstrates the level of donations received (in Kilos) during the period 6th april 2021 to 5th April 2022.

The Community Cupboard supported 335 local families during this period, of which 234 were new family registrations.

Donations and distribution

The Community Cupboard received donated supplies from local community and business members during this period totalling 43,240.45 kilos.

During the same period, 43,165.20 kilos were distributed in support parcels to our families. Only 75.25 kilos of donations remained surplus. (See table below)

Table 4

Signposting services

We continue our partnerships with local and national support services where we continue to tackle:

Period poverty (The Hygiene Bank)

Housing, Benefits & Debt management advice (Citizens Advice Bureau & Sevenoaks District Council)

Senior residents advice (Age UK & Imago) Mental health & Counselling services (KCC Mental health support, SWK Mental health team & NHS Talking therapies) Utility support (SE Water) Local community warden support (KCC Public Protection) Dementia services (ADSS) Family intervention services (KCC Adolescent services & Safeguarding Midwife team) Palliative care and family support (Ellenor hospice) Family support & counselling services (Fegans & KCC Social Work Dept) Homeless relocations (Porchlight, We've Got Your Back and Kent Police) Re entry into society (Probation services) Wellbeing services (Involve KCC Social prescribers) Digital Inclusion (KCCdigital inclusion team) Refugees (Sevenoaks District Council Refugee team) Housing (West Kent Housing)

Achievements vs objectives

A big objective for this year was to grow awareness of The Community Cupboard. This has been successfully achieved through attending multiple events and an increased social media presence.

We now operate a website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a TikTok account, Where we continue to share our stories and regularly engage with the public.

We continued to limit the number of additional volunteers that we recruited over the year, continuing to work with a closer working hub team and a secondary team of volunteers who collected donations and assisted at events.

The introduction of additional training that we had hoped to offer to our volunteer team and users has had to be delayed, due to the growing demand on our services. This is expected to be addressed further once we have use of the larger premises.

We have been unable to build excess stock levels. This has again been due to the increase in demand and the limited storage (and operating space) during the extension of our premises.

We have successfully been able to evaluate our data and maintain stock levels to meet the demand, based on our predictions.

We had hoped to continue to build strong relationships within our community and with supporting agencies. We are delighted that we have been able to do so through means of zoom and team meetings when face to face has not been possible or suitable.

We are now working in collaboration with an increased number of agencies to ensure that root causes can be addressed for our users and that the best care and support can be given holistically. We now have regular meetings and forums held to discuss issues and available support that can be provided between agencies.

We have been working with multiple research teams to ascertain why people use food banks. The findings have now been published by the reporters.

We have progressed well with the planned extension and we are now operating from the room next to West kingsdown parish Office whilst the extension is in its building phase.

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 future, despite the ease of lockdowns.

We now face the energy crisis which is having as much of an impact as Coronovirus. Individuals and families continue to struggle with many still without sufficient work and levels of pay to maintain their everyday living expenses.

We have seen a huge increase in eviction processes and relocations as well as increase in family sizes with the additional births of children into our existing family units.

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

To continue to grow our awareness and reduce stigma surrounding asking for help or attending a foodbank.
To make use of our recruited team of volunteers.
To offer additional training and continue to support our staff and volunteers.
When the extension is built we aim to build sustainable food stock levels.
To continue to evaluate the data we receive to accurately plan for upcoming months.
Continue to build our relationships with referral agencies to ensure full ongoing signposting support and services.
To find out and address the growing need for services through collaboration with local agencies and support services.

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:

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)

Staff:

Tracy Wood - Manager David Carter

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: Helen Reeves - Trustee Signed: Veronica McGannon - Trustee

Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 6th April 2022 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

Financial Review

The financial position of The Community Cupboard on 5th April 2022 is very good. We continue to rely heavily on our ability to fundraise income that covers our running costs, top-up food purchases and the costs required to build the organisation to keep up with growing demands. We have been very well supported with offers of time as well as funding opportunities..

During the period 6th April 2021 to 5th April 2022,the total income received by the charity totalled £107,602.10, with expenditure of £67,262.62, of which £31,386.95 was salary expenditure.

Of the £107,602.10 of funds received, £78,080.78 was received from grant applications (See financial activity at the end of this report) and personal donations raised a further £29,521.32, giving a total income of £107,602.10 for this accounting period.

We are delighted to report the continuation of the public's generosity in donating.

Whilst all funds have been deposited into the only charity bank account held by The Community Cupboard, detailed spreadsheets show allocated funding is kept separate from other available non allocated funds that have been donated by the general public or for other purposes.

Grants were awarded for the following project expenditure:

Salary specific

£2,500 - Anton Jurgens £1,000 - KCF Howard Family £4,000 - Colyer Fergusson £1,000 - John Lewis (Do it Fareshare) £2,000 - KCC Covid grant round 4 (only £2000 tagged in here, rest in Extension) £5,000 - The National Lottery

Total - £15,500 (+ £3424 accounted for below in split payment giving total of £18,924)

In March 2022, we were awarded a 2 year salary specific grant by The National Lottery. This grant will fund the entire salary for 2 part time positions until April 2024 and ensure that the hub can be managed and remain operational for 5 sessions a week to meet demand.

Extension and refurb of premises

£150 Farningham PC

£14,000 Sevenoaks District Council £1,000 Arnold Clark £250 Eynsford PC £500 Ash & Ridley PC

£5000 Kent Community Foundation - Lawson Endowment

£15424 KCC Covid grant £10,000, member grant £2,000 (£3424 KCC salary funding) £14,108 Spacehive funding £4133.18 Go Cardless transactions

Total - £54,565.18

Supplies & operational expenditure

£7415.60 Co-op Local community fund £2,000 Neighbourly £100 - IFAN £2500 - Arnold Clark £1000 - Tesco Groundwork

Total £13,015.60

We continue to be a ‘Local Community Cause’, chosen by Co-op and are one of 3 locally selected charities who are sponsored for the year.

This year we have been awarded £7415.60 (listed above under supplies and operational expenditure) which is calculated based on how community members shop in our local stores and how many take up memberships.

Other Donations (unrestricted funding)

(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)

We have been very grateful for all of the general cash donations received. Many supporters now donate monthly to The Community Cupboard and these funds allow us to purchase additional supplies to keep the shelves stocked. This has enabled us to order directly from supermarkets and receive 2-3 hub deliveries a week from Tesco, Sainsburys & Asda alongside other individual donations. This financial year alone, £14,038.02 has been spent on these additional supplies to meet the demand.

Balance

The balance available as of 5th April 2022 was £85,852.83 and was allocated as follows:

£8,669.52 - Salary allocated funds £54,565.18 - Extension allocated funds

___ £63,234.70 - Allocated funds

£22,618.13 remains available and unallocated for running costs and other operational expenditures on 5th April 2022.

Upcoming expenditures:

Supplies

It has been essential that additional items are purchased to meet the growing demand, with 2-3 grocery deliveries a week being ordered. 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 as expected to cost £1500 - £2000 per month unless item donations increase.

Operational costs

The Community Cupboard continues to occupy the renovated garage, pay no rental fees and just cover the cost of electricity. An estimated cost of £1,200 per year is expected.

The other expenditures for operational costs are our public liability insurance, telephone and internet usage, website running costs, stationary, uniform and marketing products such as collection buckets and signage

These are all regular amounts and a budget of £1000 is allocated for these outlays.

Extension of premises

Funding continued this financial year, through various grant applications and crowdfunding projects. The required target was met in December 2021 and the build was scheduled to begin early 2022.

West kingsdown parish Council made the final decision on our building contractor and Clive Yarnold was selected to be awarded the contract. The extension is expected to be complete late July/ early August. Collectively, we raised £54565.18 to extend the premises and the associated costs.

Contingent funds

The trustees continue to agree that a minimum of £25,000 should be retained in the Metro bank account, allowing for contingency funding to meet running costs, spending and additional stock that may be required over the coming months.

The Community Cupboard is able to continue operating in its existing financial manner in 2022 and beyond, with no current concerns regarding financial viability.

Financial Notes year end 5th April 2022

a) Accounts - have been submitted as receipt and payment accounts and are now above the £25,000 threshold which requires the charity to undertake an independent examination.
b) Income - is recognised by the charity when it is received. Income from Grants is recognised when it is received.
c) Expenditure - is accounted for and has been classified under related headings.
d) Tax - The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the test set out in paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.
e) Going Concern - The financial statements have been produced on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for the 12 months from authorising these financial statements.
The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity to be able to continue as a going concern.
f) Fund restrictions :
1)Restricted funds - funds which have been designated for a specific purpose.
2) Unrestricted Funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for any other purpose.
g) Stock - Donated, distributed and current stock levels are detailed in the written report and not included in the financial reports.

The Community Cupboard

Financial Activities

6 April, 2021 - 5 April, 2022

	TOTAL
Income
Donations and legacies	34,504.50
GRANT FUNDING	73,097.60
Total Income	£107,602.10
TOTAL	£107,602.10
Expenditures
Insurances	346.40
Office/General Administrative Expenses	3,100.88
Other Professional Services	18,220.37
Phone Costs	120.00
Supplies	14,038.02
Uncategorised Expense	50.00
Total Expenditures	£35,875.67
NET OPERATING INCOME	£71,726.43
Other Expenditures
Salary	31,386.95
Total Other Expenditures	£31,386.95
NET OTHER INCOME	£ -31,386.95
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)	£40,339.48

Accrual Basis Wednesday, 24 August 2022 09:48 am GMT+01:00

1/1