2020-10-31-accounts - Mindfood CIO

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TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD 4th OCTOBER 2019 to 31st OCTOBER 2020

Charity Name : MindFood CIO, 14 Cumberland Park, London W3 6SX Charity Registration No . 1185639

The Trustees present their report for the 13 month period ended 31[st ] October 2020.

BACKGROUND AND INCEPTION

MindFood Community Interest Company (CIC) was founded in October 2012 to support better mental wellbeing through running free food growing courses and in early 2019 the decision was taken by the directors to change its structure to become a CIO. This was because MindFood CIC was effectively delivering charitable services but without any of the advantages of being a charity. As a CIC we were restricted in terms of eligibility to secure funding from a range of different Trusts, Foundations and Corporate support. We also had feedback that individual donors felt more comfortable and inclined to donate to a registered charity rather than a CIC and we would also be able to claim gift aid on all donations.

We engaged with Devonshire’s solicitors https://www.devonshires.com/about/ who are a highly respected and trusted law firm to process and support the conversion from a CIC to a CIO.

MindFood CIO was registered with the Charity Commission on 4th October 2019 with all assets transferred from the CIC to the CIO on that date.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Charitable Objective

MindFood’s objective is the preservation and protection of good health among persons who are suffering from mental ill health, disability or emotional disorder or any description or who are in need of rehabilitation as a result of such an illness, or who want to prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of the same – in each case, by the provision of therapeutic gardening and horticulture and related nature based activities.

Activity Overview

MindFood is an Ealing based charity that supports people with depression, anxiety and stress to improve their wellbeing through gardening, mindfulness and horticulture. All courses are offered free of charge, so we can help those most in need.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees understand and have complied with their duty to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s Public Benefit guidance and are confident that the aims and objectives

of MindFood CIO satisfy the public benefit requirement. Further details of how this is achieved are set out in this report.

Management, Staff and Volunteers

All staff from MindFood CIC were transferred across to MindFood CIO with no change to their contracts or pay. They have all been DBS checked.

Staff:

Lucy Clark joined MindFood in 2016 as a participant, then volunteer. She retrained in Social & Therapeutic Horticulture with Thrive and has been employed as a Food & Wellbeing Grower since September 2017, taking on the role of Project Manager in Oct 2018, and then Programme Director in May 2019.
Jane Newman was employed as interim Fundr aising Manager on 1st November 2019
● Ciaran Biggins is a Co-founder of MindFood and has been responsible for fundraising and financial management since inception in 2012. He was employed as Development Director (went on a year sabbatical from December 19 until December 20)
Pauline Shakespeare was employed as a Wellbeing and Food Grower on September 2017
Camila Phelps was employed as a Wellbeing and Food Grower in November 2019
Sarah Edwards was employed as programme support on September 2019

The Trustees acknowledge and are very grateful for the enormous contribution and professionalism of the staff, past and present, to the work of the Charity, not least adapting to a change of service delivery and working practices as a result of Covid-19. They also wish to record their appreciation to Jane Newman who was interim Fundraising Manager whilst Ciaran was on sabbatical and secured some vital funds for our response to the covid pandemic.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Activity Overview

Between October 2019 & Oct 2020 MindFood’s activities took place at two growing sites: Cleveley Crescent Allotments near Hanger Lane, and Horsenden Farm in Perivale. Both sites were secured for use with the support of Ealing Council. We have been at Cleveley Crescent since early 2016, and were invited to grow at Horsenden Farm in Winter 2018. In periods of lockdown we transferred our programme online.

Below is a summary of the courses delivered in ‘19/’20 - we offered options at least 5 days a week, every week, except for 1 week in August and for 2 weeks over xmas, when we offered a reduced service. MindFood activities continued throughout lockdown.

Growing Wellbeing

Free 6-session courses, 2.5 hours per week to help people tackle stress, depression and anxiety: teaching food-growing to reconnect people with nature, and sharing evidence-based techniques like mindfulness to improve wellbeing. Outside of lockdown, we ran these sessions 3 times a week.

Sustainable Wellbeing

A 6-16 week course to Growing Wellbeing, designed to develop a sense of purpose & motivation, and offer practical ways to realise hopes, dreams and aspirations, with gentle wellbeing goal-setting which uses the GAS (Goal Attainment Scale) to help participants measure their own progress. Participants work as a team to develop the site, with activities like painting, carpentry and landscaping to try.

Plot to Plate

These are general gardening sessions, with other people who’ve already done the Growing Wellbeing course. The Plot to Plate programme is a very flexible one, allowing participants to dip into sessions for a wellbeing top-up, or join us regularly to recover at their own pace. The extra time allows participants to forge new social connections and support networks over time.

Mindfulness in Nature

This programme ran up to March ‘20: we explored different ways to be mindful in nature, centred around nature-based creativity. Sessions also include walks and guided meditation. The creative element was very popular and when the programme finished we explored other ways to be ‘Naturally Creative’ online and on site.

MindFood at Home

In April ‘20 we took our entire programme online, converting all of our Growing Wellbeing content into twice weekly videos, email updates, social media posts and the MindFood Growing Wellbeing youtube channel.

Summary of achievements during the year:

We have supported 250 people directly and are now averaging 60-70 new contacts per quarter.
This is a significant increase for us: we now help more people per quarter than we had previously helped in a year - with a team of just 1.5 FTE per week.
Our work has helped people to adapt to change, focus on the present, use evidence-based decision-making, and develop their own support networks.
Many former MindFood participants have returned to us for support and to offer help, while others have begun volunteering, fundraising and supporting other local initiatives. We’re proud that the entire MindFood team started out as participants.

We know that since completing a MindFood course participants agreed or strongly agreed that:

86% feel a stronger sense of purpose
100% feel a closer connection to their local community
41% more likely to try volunteering
100% are more active
88% are feeling less isolated
90% are feeling calmer
84% are feeling happier
85% are eating more healthily
63% are sleeping better

“It helped to provide a way of structuring my recovery from a very stressful period of my life. The relationships helped cement a feeling of acceptance and calm. I loved learning about how to grow food and felt more committed than ever to pursuing a healthy diet and physical activity outdoors”. Health worker, female 56, dealing with burnout & bereavement:

Impact of Covid-19 on the Charity’s Governance and day to day working

MindFood’s trustees and directors have continued to work throughout the pandemic by use of video conferencing. Trustees meetings were more frequent than usual during the lockdowns in order to ensure good governance, safe working practices and a positive response to the new challenges posed by Covid-19.

We adapted our delivery methods to comply with Government restrictions, to maintain staff and volunteer safety and to meet the new needs arising because of the pandemic:

When we first went into Lockdown in March last year, we could no longer meet on site, so we set about translating the MindFood experience into a programme we now call ‘MindFood at Home’. We wanted our participants to feel part of the MindFood community, even if we couldn’t get together in person.
We reached out to a wider audience with sessions on Zoom, email courses and phone chats, and by posting our Growing Wellbeing videos on social media and youtube. One video had over 17,000 views demonstrating how much people were looking for wellbeing support.
We delivered free growing kits to isolated participants with seeds, compost and facilitated live sessions on Zoom with seed-sowing and windowsill growing to promote a sense of purpose.
‘Grow Some Share Some’ plant giveaways with 14 local schools, including 3 SEN schools, and Ealing Additional Provision, which we have combined with leaflet deliveries for parents who have faced significant mental health challenges throughout the pandemic.
Our online and on-the-plot sessions have helped people adapt to Covid times in a constructive way, encouraging them to focus on elements they are able to influence, rather than being consumed by things they could not. Practising mindfulness techniques, eating more healthily, getting exercise in nature, supporting each other, and living more resourcefully, helped us all to develop a positive mindset. When we feel better, we make better decisions for ourselves, our families and our planet.
We also started befriending calls for people unable to access us on the plot and these are growing, and wellbeing themed too, and we also offer practical help and signposting for specialist support.
During the Autumn we were fortunate to be able to bring people back to our growing sites in a Covid safe way for a few weeks and then returned again in March once restrictions allowed.
We were the only organisation in Ealing able to offer face-to-face support for mental health difficulties through the Winter months.

“Keeping in touch with my MindFood family and sharing growing and nature news has helped me focus on the positives and stay hopeful” Recent MindFood participant.

Our opt-in 'MindFood Massive' whatsapp group for around 30 regulars was a good place to start - we centred the chat around positive practical advice, and asked people to show us what they were growing. The photo (right) shows Bob getting to work straight away with his sowings for Summer, despite shielding with COPD.

This photo shows stroke survivor John, who lives alone, has limited mobility and finds himself prone to isolation. Through lockdown and beyond, we have been ringing him a couple of times a week to chat, and to help connect him with other support groups.

He wanted us to send this picture to the MindFood family to let them know he was thinking of them.

We have also helped older members of our group with Zoom, by writing a step-by-step guide to video calls so that they could join us for our weekly virtual plot visits. This guide was adopted by a number of mental health support organisations who we connect with regularly through our local Mental Health Forum.

Virtual plot visits helped people follow the progress of plantings they made as far back as November ‘19, and kept them connected to the plots and each other.

Between Lockdowns

When the first lockdown period finished in the Summer of 2020, we planned a phased return to the plot, managing covid risk by implementing simple procedures to keep us all safe. We offered sanitiser on tap, freshly laundered gloves, and social distancing measures.

Spacehive Fundraiser - Cleveley Makeover

We also restarted the Cleveley Makeover project which was put on hold in March.

We crowdfunded nearly £4k as part of Ealing Council’s Transform Your Space initiative, and built ourselves our own mini Eden project geodesic dome. This was intended to be an inspirational space to grow seedlings, practise mindfulness, and shelter from the elements. It has been a much-loved and admired addition to our site.

Supporting Local & National Campaigns and Causes

To keep people connected with a broader community we’ve stepped up our support for national campaigns and causes, both locally and on social media.

During Mental Health Awareness Week (mid May’20) we posted daily videos on how anyone can incorporate the 5 Ways to Wellbeing into their day. They reached over 10,000 people! All our videos are available to view on our facebook page ( - this is the route most people accessed them at the time), and our MindFood Growing Wellbeing youtube channel.

Early in June we worked with the Carers Trust team at Sycamore Lodge in Acton to support Carers Week.

To support the Black Lives Matter campaign, we used our monthly newsletter to urge everyone to read up on and promote anti-racism. As anti-racism is a proactive and enduring commitment to tackle racism in ourselves and in others - we want to lead by example.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The assets of MindFood CIC totalling £8,628 were transferred to MindFood CIO at 4th October 2019. Assets included income for ongoing projects and cash held in the bank current account. Projects continued throughout 2019/2020 and the result at the year end on 31st October 2020 was an additional surplus of £3,729.

Reserves policy

The term ‘reserves’ is used to describe that part of MindFood’s funds that is freely available for its operating purposes and not subject to commitments or planned expenditure. Reserves do not include restricted funds. The reserves that MindFood will set aside will be to provide financial continuity in the event that an anticipated source of income is lost or delayed and our initial policy will be to keep reserves sufficient to meet three months’ operating costs, including staff salaries (approximately £13,000). As we are a new organisation the trustees will review this policy quarterly to ensure that it remains both adequate and achievable.

Funding: main source of funds and how these are spent

During the year MindFood depended on grants and donations from a number of partners including statutory, trusts and foundations, corporates and individual giving. The majority of our funding (45%) came from Ealing Council’s Community Connections grant through our consortium partnership with Neighbourly Care. This funds 3 Growing Wellbeing sessions per week and 1 Sustainable Wellbeing session across Cleveley Crescent and Horsenden Hill.

We secured further support from Pathways Housing for a grant of £8306 to deliver Plot to Plate sessions. Pathways have been a funder of MindFood programmes over the year and we thank them for their continued support

Our grant from City Bridge Trust to run Plot to Plate sessions came to an end during the year and we thank them for their support enabling us to run two Plot to Plate sessions a week for a year.

At the end of the year we secured vital funding from the National Lottery Covid response fund which enabled us to deliver a MindFood @ Home digital offer as well as restoring our Saturday Plot to Plate sessions.

We launched our first ever crowdfunding campaign on Spacehive to fund a makeover of our Cleveley Crescent site including building a new geodesic dome to weatherproof our sessions. We are so grateful to everyone who donated and to Ealing Council for their matched donation bringing the total raised to £3880

We were delighted to secure corporate support from the Co-operative, Glaxo Smith Kline and Tesco bags for life towards our programmes.

We are very grateful for the long term annual donation from the Sir Jeremiah Colman Trust and St Paul's Church in Northfields.

Plans for 2020/2021

Over the coming year Mindfood plan to grow our impact:

To develop and expand our ‘MindFood at Home’ digital offer to ensure we can support wellbeing through nature inspired activities whatever the barriers to attending our on-site sessions.
To continue to deliver our range of evidence-based nature and wellbeing courses from our sites at Cleveley Crescent and Horsenden Hill Farm.
To pilot our mobile MindFood offer at other greenspaces in West London. We are currently in discussions with Gunnersbury Park, Chiswick House and Gardens and North Acton park about delivering courses from their sites.
To invest in improving both of our growing sites with more accessible raised beds and paths so that more people with disabilities can access our facilities.
To co-design and offer more nature-based courses that support mental health recovery. For example, we plan to run more art and creative courses in nature to support self-expression.
Develop our ‘Grow Some Share Some’ initiative as a means to build a more outward-looking approach to what we do, and to help us reach more isolated communities.
Celebrate diversity through a shared love of food, and an appreciation of different growing methods from around the world.
Co-develop our new 3 year strategy with participants, staff and Trustees.

GOVERNANCE

MindFood has a 16 page Constitution of MindFood Charitable Incorporated Organisation, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its charity trustees.

The Directors of MindFood CIC became the trustees of MindFood CIO and the following Trustees served during the year are:

James Abery appointed 4[th ] October 2019
Dr Shabnam Berry-Khan appointed 4[th ] October 2019
Yvonne Biggins appointed 4[th ] October 2019
Paul Carter appointed 4[th ] October 2019
Rev Nicholas Jones (Chair) appointed 4[th ] October 2019

In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. Trustees were recruited based on the need to have a diverse range of skills on the board covering finance, clinical governance, marketing, community development and business management.

Under the Articles of Association, the Board of Trustees consists of at least three and not more than fifteen individuals. Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of up to three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

Short biographies of all the Trustees are on our website https://www.mindfood.org.uk/our-team

Trustee Benefit : Trustees of the Charity do not receive any benefits from their position. Trustees are entitled to reclaim travel and other reasonable expenses incurred in their duties. No Trustees made a claim in the 2019/20 period. The charity pays for trustee indemnity insurance.

Trustee Induction and on-going training : Recruitment and induction procedures for new Trustees are the responsibility of the Chair of Trustees. All Trustees are provided with a detailed role description and given informal guidance and support regarding their role from the Chair. All new Trustees receive a copy of the NCVO Good Trustee Guide. Trustees are encouraged to attend training to help them in their roles.

Trustees’ Responsibilities : The Trustees are responsible for the strategic direction of the Charity, setting its aims and monitoring progress towards these. Day to day management is delegated to the Programme Director and the Development Director.

Trustees take on specific responsibilities related to their skills and experience e.g. Shabnam Berry-Khan is our Clinical lead and James Abery is our Finance lead.

Trustees’ Meetings : The Board of Trustees meet approximately once every three months throughout the year but since the start of Covid-19 it has met more regularly.

Policies adopted by the CIO, reviewed annually:

Health & Safety Policy - inc Site Risk Assessments, Covid Safety, Staff Policy
Safeguarding
Suicide Prevention
Equality & Diversity (with an additional focus on Anti Racism)
Boundaries
Complaints
Lone Working
Pay
Food Hygiene
GDPR

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