2021-01-31-accounts - Tools 4 Teens

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Chair’s Statement

When I replay the scene in my mind…

It was two years ago, at our very first Tools 4 Teens Executive Meeting. We were animatedly discussing large group courses, outdoor recreational activities, and yes - real, live, workshops. We were certainly NOT talking about Zoom subscriptions or two-metre yardsticks.

All of us were so sure at that point, so planned-out, so top-of-the-game…

Well.

The events of this past year have taken us all by surprise. It’s been a harrowing journey watching our world tumble into crisis mode. We’ve watched close friends and family succumb to Covid, seen great businesses collapse, and heard of too many people suffering from mental illness.

Covid has been tough on all of us, but especially for young people. With endless lockdowns and fear of the unknown, every day was an uphill battle for these teens. Yet they plodded on. And although they would never admit it themselves, so many of them can be crowned HEROES.

I applaud the small yet brave steps these young fighters took in seeking the help they needed. I envy their selflessness as they put others’ needs before their own, donned those itchy face-masks when it was the last thing they wanted to do and yes, showed up to those zoom classes.

Small choices, big impact.

A special shout-out to the 65 teens who participated in our Covid Response Program. They made every effort to be at every Zoom session, all 65 of them; learning, growing and asking questions. Their persistence has warmed my heart.

No doubt the success of this program would not be whole without the superhuman efforts of our Managing Director. Mrs Spitzer has made it her mission to empower young people into building solid futures for themselves. It’s a vision she lives by and the events of this year have proven it well.

Our super-innovative team of staff members and volunteers have left me awed with their creative solutions to rapidly occurring problems. The delivery of our program during lockdown was drastically different to our original plan. Every step needed changing, adapting and reworking due to the ever-shifting Covid regulations. Despite that, our crew did not let us down. They worked as an unstoppable team, pulling through at rapid speed to begin creating our incredible online program in just three days.

I would also like to thank our invaluable supporters and donors. They didn’t ask questions. They gave from their hearts because they believed in our program and in the young participants we support. For that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. A special thank you to The National Lottery Coronavirus Community Support Fund as well as to the Comic Relief Covid-19 Community Fund for their generous support.

Dreams are great, solid plans are even better. But the greatest lesson I’ve learned this year, is that with flexibility, an open mind and an eye on the true goal, anything is possible. Despite it all, we’ve achieved success. And for that, we have every reason to celebrate!

This year, 63 courageous young people will be graduating from our program equipped with improved emotional resilience and enriched employment skills to embark on a new future. We are cheering them on and rooting for their accomplishments.

They are our heroes. Abraham Traube The Board Chair

STRUCTURE , GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing Document:

Mission: statement

Aims and objectives

 

 “

Reserves Policy and Risk Management:

The trustees are working towards building reserves of at least 3 months' operating costs to ensure that sufficient reserves are kept to cover foreseeable demands. The trustees have introduced systems to identify and manage risks effectively. These systems are reviewed regularly and the necessary amendments are made.

Commitment to quality and best practice

With our commitment to quality and best practice, we evaluate and monitor our annual programme to improve effectiveness. Since our charity works with vulnerable young people and families, safeguarding is considered the greatest inherent risk in its work. We have a framework of consents, controls, policies and reviews to mitigate the associated risks. All our volunteers are DBS checked and undergo appropriate child safeguarding training. As an established organisation, we have excellent policies and procedures that are reviewed on an annual basis. This leads to smoothly run, safe activities, and sound back up plans if necessary. In setting objectives and planning for activities, the trustees have given due consideration to general guidance published by the charity commission relating to public benefit.

Organisation:

The management of the charity is the responsibility of the Trustees who are elected and co-opted under the terms of the Trust deed. Trustees are appointed by the board based on competence, specialist skills and experience. No Trustees are paid or remunerated (in money or in-kind) and no funds are held as a ‘custodian trustee.’ The Charity has a Constitution and Codes of Conduct for Trustees and for Staff. The Charity also has a range of policies including Safeguarding & Child Protection, Equality & Diversity, Health & Safety and others. Latest accounts are presented to each meeting of the Board of Trustees and annual accounts are presented to the Board at the first meeting following our financial year end (31st January.)

Management Committee & Staffing

Our current Management Committee is comprised of five local BAME adults who in their professional capacities include a school principal, community leader, welfare adviser and educational psychologist. They meet on a quarterly basis, including the Annual General Meeting. Their lived experiences of many of the challenges our users face puts them in a unique position to make decisions and judgements based on their past experiences.

Day to day workshops, activities and courses are led by our incredible team of four professionals who work alongside 16 volunteers and part-time workers, enabling the program to run smoothly. Our professionals come with years of experience dealing with teenagers and their qualifications include social work, therapy, financial training and career coaching.

“When I signed up, I honestly didn’t think I would go more than once. Seriously, what could they tell me about life-skills that would be able to change anything around for me ?

Well, to say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement! That first session, they blew us all away with profound logic, incredible concepts and masterful creativity… it was amazing and so much fun! I found myself implementing the things I learned naturally, because they made so much sense. For example, in the workshop for food and nutrition,

they gave us great ideas for healthy and easy go-to snacks that are awesome for our body rather than the oily and sugary stuff we all eat. I feel so much lighter and in control now that I am eating healthier.”

–

Trustees Annual Report:

Tools 4 Teens was founded in 2018 by Mrs. Esther Spitzer, a headteacher in a local school. She was disturbed to notice that many graduating sixth formers, especially those from low-income or otherwise troubled family situations, were suffering from low self-esteem and poor emotional health. In addition, since many of young people did not have the resources to further their education in college or university, they were lacking the necessary skills for successfully entering the workforce.

Our current users include 65 young people from one of the most economically deprived areas in London; the borough of Hackney. All our participants are from families in difficult financial circumstances, mostly living in overcrowded housing conditions. In addition to their financial and social hardships, many of our beneficiaries come from families with difficult home situations – be it single-parent homes, an addictive, abusive or otherwise dysfunctional parent or a sibling with a mental/ physical disability. Mrs Spitzer established Tools 4 Teens with a mission to remedy the issues these young people face in a culturally appropriate manner.

This past year marked Tools 4 Teens third year of activities. Thankfully, despite lockdown restrictions, the charity has been able to mentor and train 65 young people over the course of the year and improve their prospects of employment for the future.

Covid 19 Response

This past year has been a challenge for everyone; especially for the teenagers our organisation supports. With lockdown causing people to “stay in place to keep safe,” these young people were stuck in difficult home situations without their usual coping mechanisms (clubs, travel, games etc.) With talk of the many community members succumbing to COVID-19, many of our young people were battling fear, stress and tension as they struggled to make sense of the rapidly changing world around them. Our past participants were also being affected as companies laid off workers due to the nationwide economic hardship, leaving many of them jobless, with no stream of income and nothing to wake up for.

In the beginning, our staff members made a point of calling the teens individually to hear how they were doing. Too many of them were really struggling. One teen recently told us about her difficult experiences during COVID-19.

“When my employment ended suddenly due to COVID-19, I was crushed. My job was the only thing keeping me sane… it was the end for me. For the next two months, I spent my time sleeping, eating junk or watching depressing movies because I literally had nothing else to do or anywhere to go during lockdown. The difficult relationship I had with my parents was just getting worse and I was at the point of just giving it all up, when a staff member from Tools 4 Teens called me. That phone call literally saved my life.”

Tools for Teens participant, age 17.

After hearing about the immense challenges our participants were facing during Covid, our team knew that something had to be done. Acting with quick-thinking and resourcefulness, they were able to adapt all of our course sessions to meet Covid measures by establishing an online programme. Soon after that, our team increased the program’s delivery to six days per week based on the requests we were getting from our participants.

In addition to the online courses, out team established a weekly support group via zoom where professionals addressed the struggles our teens were facing and provided vital validation and expert advice. When lockdown started to ease, we established cluster support groups for these meetings which were regularly attended by our past and present participants.

One of the highlights for our teens at this time was our Voluntary Community Program where our teens volunteered their services to distribute weekly care and entertainment packages to families experiencing hardship during lockdown. More than anything, this boosted their spirits and gave them a sense of purpose on endless lockdown days.

Looking back, despite much of the challenges and changes our organisation has experienced this past year, our participants have responded remarkably well to the skills taught and are leaving us this year again with an unshakable belief in their own abilities to succeed, despite the challenges they face.

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99%

Positive feedback

78 Participated in a live community performance

45 New mentoring arrangements

New volunteers recruited 110 Recreational activities provided

832

Educational learning sessions provided Progressed into gainful 480 employment/further education Individual care packages delivered

2760 Volunteering hours

Teenagers widened their social circles and community connection Young people obtained employment skills and work experience Young people acquired practical life[65]

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE:

Life skills workshop

ACHIEVEMENTS

AND PERFORMANCE:

Educational and vocational

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ACHIEVEMENTS

AND PERFORMANCE:

Recreational Activities

ACHIEVEMENTS

AND PERFORMANCE:

Career preparation

After one particularly eye-opening career talk, two of our teens wrote this in their feedback forms:

“ Fancy that! The guy was in his early 20’s when he landed the position as CEO of the

company. Sure gives me something to dream about!” –

“I loved what he said about setting work limits and not letting your working life overtake you at all hours of the day. I can see myself implementing that.”

–

WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP:

We work closely with local high schools and welfare agencies in order to find the young people that would benefit from our help the most. We often have headteachers reaching out to us with referrals for students that need the extra support and practical guidance for broadening their educational opportunities and strengthening their emotional world.

One of the partner agencies we work with regularly is Interlink. This is a non-profit, community-based organisation that provides establishments with guidance and know-how for setting up accredited education services and they also aid us in understanding and meeting government regulations and guidelines.

MARKETING/PUBLICITY

Since our founding in 2019, Tools 4 Teens has launched two local fundraisers, each of which have raised over £12,000 for our organisation. We continue to publicise our work in local circulars and newsletters. We also have plans to establish an online presence in the upcoming years.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

In the year 2021/22 our goals are to:

Broaden our user base. Covid-19 has taught us to intensify our strategic partnerships and local networking capabilities so as to identify those vulnerable young people who could most benefit and thereby widen the target group for our organisation.

Expand our programme to offer a wider range of educational course options and emotional wellbeing workshops for our participants.

Work on diversifying funding streams to safeguard the financial health of our organisation and continue meeting the needs of even more vulnerable young people.

Progress towards receiving a quality mark from London Youth which we hope to achieve in the upcoming year.

Continue to recruit and train local community volunteers which will enable our organisation to reduce our expenses and bolster our capacity providing significant long -term benefit.

SUMMARY

This past year (2020-2021,) Tools 4 Teens has significantly improved the live chances and future employment prospects for over 65 disadvantaged young people in the community. The organisation has earned the trust and respect of the community as a whole and we will continue to work in partnership with other local organisations in order to serve our users in the best way possible.

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S UNQUALIFIED REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF TOOLS 4 TEENS

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Tools 4 Teens

I report on the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 31 January 2021, which are set out on

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to

examine the accounts (under the 2011 Act);
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners (under the 2011 Act); and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
to keep accounting records in accordance with the 2011 Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding

De Claron Ltd. 3a The Vale LONDON NW11 8SB: 23 January 2021

2020

Statement of Financial Activities (First Year of Trading) For the year ended 31[st] January 2021

INCOMING RESOURCES

----- Start of picture text -----
13 months to 31.01.2021
£ £
Notes Restricted Unrestricted
Funds Funds
DONATIONS RECEIVED
GRANTS 3 27,480.00
OTHER INCOME
DONATIONS AND 15,251.00
LEGACIES
----- End of picture text -----

27,480.00 15,251.00

TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES

42,731.00

CHARITABLE OBJECTIVES

Purchases & Equipment 3,438.51 Educational Events and Trips 3,636.70 Refreshments & Catering Expenses 326.50 Staff and Training Costs 19,700.00 Office Running Costs 1,535.68

1,535.68 9,750.00 848.35 561.76 742.00 7,401.71 33,137.79 40,539.50 20,078.29 (17,886.79) 2,191.50 n/a 2,191.50

Premises Rent Volunteer Expenses Advertising GOVERANCE COSTS Legal and Professional Fees Total Resources Expended Total Expenditure

NET MOVEMENTS IN FUNDS FOR THE Yr FUNDS MOVEMENT for the YEAR FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD TOTAL FUNDS

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance Sheet as at 31 [st] January 2021
y/e 31.12.2021
£ £
FIXED ASSETS -
CURRENT ASSETS
Loan Debtors -
Cash in hand &
Bank 6,819.50
6,819.50
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Short term Credi-
tors 4,628.00
NET CURRENT ASSETS 2,191.50
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIA-
BILITIES 2,191.50
FUND ACCOUNT
2,191.50
----- End of picture text -----

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD SIGNED:

Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 January 2021

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention as modified to include the revaluation of land and building with the exception of investments which are included at market value. These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP),“Accounting and Reporting by Charities” published in Jan 2015.

The charity is an unincorporated association. The members of the charity are the trustees named on page 1.

General funds are unrestricted funds which 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 other purposes.

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.

Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deed of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

All expenditure is accounted for on a cash basis and has been included under expense categories that aggregate all costs for allocation to activities. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular activities they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of the resources.

Management and administration costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the charity and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees consider the charity will continue to operate for a period of at least twelve months from the date of the approval of these accounts.

During the year no trustees received any remuneration, benefits in kind or reimbursement of expenses.

The National Lottery Community Fund (Coronavirus Community Support)	£10,000
Comic Relief Covid-19 Community Funding(DCMS)	£4,000
UK Youth Fund - Covid Relief	£13,480

£27,480

TOTAL

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TOOLS4TEENS