DECEMBER 2023
WILLOW’S RAINBOW BOX
CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION: (REGISTERED NUMBER 1186779)
ANNUAL REPORT
Including Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
Section 1: The Charity
Willow’s Rainbow Box is a registered CIO that aims to support women, birthing people and families going through a new pregnancy following a pregnancy loss or neonatal loss. The charity’s focus is to help reduce anxiety and promote positive mental health and wellbeing for families going through this journey, through the provision of online support throughout the UK and physical goods/services throughout England. The charity has seven dedicated Trustees - all of whom bring different angles and experience to the work of the charity. The Trustees work to the highest standards and represent the three Charity values: empathetic, approachable, supportive.
Section 2: Message from Chairperson and Founder - Amneet Graham
The last 12 months have been very exciting and eventful for the charity. We expanded our box service to cover the whole of England and we were successful in our application for funding from The National Lottery Awards For All to support our growing work.
This report will cover the activities of the charity from the last 12+ months, as well as planned activities for the future and accounts for the year.
Section 3: Activities from the past year
Boxes:
In February 2023, the charity expanded the provision of comfort boxes to cover the whole of England. This has been a successful and key move for the charity.
The charity shipped 132 boxes since January 2023. This chart illustrates the geographical spread of box provision. Since May 2023, they have also shipped 17 sample boxes and signposting posters to NHS Bereavement Midwife clinics, Early Pregnancy Units, Perinatal Mental Health Units and charities/ organisations throughout England.
In October 2023, two new additions
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were made to the boxes. The first was a crochet kit which provides a useful and mindful activity for families to try. The second addition was an information leaflet from the charity ‘Action on Postpartum Psychosis.’ The purpose of this leaflet is to normalise conversation, inform and educate families on the signs to look out for with postpartum psychosis. Many families that benefit from Willow’s Rainbow Box services are also experiencing anxiety in their pregnancy. The team felt it was important to the well-being of families to keep them informed regarding difficulties that may arise during pregnancy and following birth and are pleased to share this life saving information with families.
There is a growth in the amount of beneficiaries hearing about the charity and being signposted via hospitals and midwives, but the majority of beneficiaries still continue to hear about services through social media channels.
The provision of boxes for families, sample boxes and additional items in 2023 has been made possible through achieving funding from The National Lottery Awards For All.
10 week pilot mindfulness programme with Mindful Therapies CIC:
In January 2023, the charity launched a 10 part mindfulness programme in conjunction with Mindful Therapies CIC in Newcastle upon Tyne. This was a pilot programme which has not been continued due to capacity and resource. The programme took beneficiaries through weeks of mindfulness focussed sessions to help promote positive mental health and wellbeing for them during their pregnancy after loss. The programme attracted few attendees, but could be launched again in future (most likely online) if resource becomes available.
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Baby Loss and different communities:
The charity did not launch a new mini series for different communities in 2023, but did highlight previous series and the board’s continued commitment to providing platforms for communities to tell their stories during Rainbow Baby Week in August 2023. The team have also engaged with other organisations and campaigns such as Black Baby Loss Awareness Week. With resource and capacity, they plan to expand the mini series and focus on different communities in 2024. The chair has also been involved with the MBRRACE Stakeholder group looking at ethnicity and baby loss reports.
Social Media and Media:
The charity has grown on social media, with over 1200 Twitter followers, over 1400 Instagram followers and over 720 followers on Facebook. In August 2023, the charity ran their biggest social media event so far - Rainbow Baby Week. This year was different as the charity collaborated with other organisations in the bereavement and baby loss community. This was a week full of content. There were pre recorded sessions with Dr Petra about research in pregnancy after loss and Dr Pavan about trying after loss from an Obstetrician perspective. They held Instagram Live sessions with Sarina from Himmat Collective about trying after loss and coping using faith and we also spoke with Pregnancy After Loss Support in the US about their support and mental health in pregnancy after loss. The campaign shared pregnancy after loss stories and content from people in the community. The team also launched a new resource to support conversations with employees in the workplace around pregnancy after loss. They also launched a Google Drive for people to drop links to support in their area and links to research for families going through pregnancy after loss. The campaign week was a big success that increased engagement and reach.
The Instagram peer support groups are still running, with introduction to a first trimester support group too.
In May 2023, the chair was awarded with a ‘Coronation Champion’ award from HRH King Charles and HRH Queen Camilla - in recognition of work for Willow’s Rainbow Box. This boosted awareness of the charity’s work. In October 2023, the chair took part in an episode podcast series with charity ‘Abigail’s Footsteps’ for Baby Loss Awareness Week.
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Fundraising:
In May 2023, the charity secured its first funding grant from The National Lottery Awards For All. They were awarded £4375 to fund provision of comfort boxes throughout England and to fund marketing (including sample boxes for units throughout England). Individual giving and community fundraising are still very important and critical for unrestricted funds. In June 2023, trustee and treasurer Bridget Langford completed a fundraising challenge that raised £1020. In September 2023, trustee and secretary Jennifer Dowson ran the Great North Run and raised £295. The charity also added more items to the web shop and collaborated with a card creator to create a ‘rainbow baby’ greetings card. They ran a rainbow hearts campaign during Rainbow Baby Week, where people could buy knitted and crochet hearts from the web store to help raise money. There is a continued focus on community fundraising to support work around the grant-funded work.
Zoom support groups:
The charity re-launched the Zoom support sessions, but these are currently on pause due to volunteer capacity. They hope to see these return in 2024.
Trustees:
In the last 12 months, the charity recruited 2 new Trustees to the Willow’s Rainbow Box team. Bridget Langford joined as treasurer and trustee and Lucy Willis joined as a trustee. The charity sadly said goodbye to former Treasurer Tony Wardle and in October 2023 cochair Stephanie Phillips stepped down from her position.
Section 4: Future plans for the next year
The charity’s focus for next year continues to be on the provision of boxes throughout England and on collecting feedback from families about the service. The team want to continue to increase awareness of the charity and will be looking at increasing media engagement and improving PR.
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The charity will be seeking a new co-chair and trustee to join the team and take the charity forward further. They plan to explore next steps for growing the charity - including the possibilities of paid workers in the future.
The charity will be looking at introducing another baby loss mini series in 2024 and will engage with communities to decide on the main focus.
There are plans to hold another Rainbow Baby Week in August 2024, following the success of the 2022 and 2023 awareness campaigns.
The chair has been invited to take part in a research stakeholder group for a PHD project looking at how the NHS care’s for women and partners who have experienced a stillbirth or second trimester miscarriage after they had been discharged from hospital. This is a 5 year funded project which the charity will be involved in from the middle of 2024.
In terms of fundraising, the charity will be looking at applying for further funding grants following the success of National Lottery funding. Community fundraising will continue to be a priority and the board and volunteers will discuss new ideas to raise funds.
The charity will continue to build its website with more digital forms of support and resources for beneficiaries.
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Section 5: Accounts
| Unrestrict ed funds 2023 |
Restricted funds 2023 |
Total funds 2023 |
Total funds 2022 |
|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Receipts | ||||
| Donations | 588 | 588 | 520 | |
| Fundraising receipts | 1044 | 1044 | 251 | |
| Income from charitable activities | 432 | 432 | ||
| Grant income | 4375 | 4375 | ||
| Total receipts | 2064 | 4375 | 6439 | 771 |
| Payments | ||||
| Materials | 666 | 620 | 1286 | 191 |
| Shipping | 373 | 17 | 390 | 44 |
| Insurance | 223 | 223 | 183 | |
| Marketing and promotion | 64 | 29 | 93 | 10 |
| Fundraising costs | 83 | 83 | ||
| Administrative costs | 23 | 23 | ||
| DBS Checks | 18 | 18 | ||
| Total payments | 1450 | 666 | 2116 | 428 |
| Net receipts for the period | 614 | 3709 | 4323 | 343 |
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| Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 30 June 2022 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted funds | Unrestricted funds |
Total funds | Total funds | |
| 2023 | 2023 | 2023 | 2022 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Cash funds | ||||
| Cash at bank | 1706 | 3709 | 5415 | 1092 |
| Total cash funds | 1706 | 3709 | 5415 | 1092 |
The accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 4th December 2023.
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Section 6: Trustees, volunteers and acknowledgements.
The charity would like to thank the Trustee Board for 2023/2024:
Amneet Graham - Trustee and Chair
Jennifer Dowson - Trustee and Secretary
Anthony Wardle - Trustee and Treasurer (Resigned)
Katherine Hately - Trustee
Leeanne Wanless - Trustee
Ruth Kelly - Trustee (creative and design) (Resigned)
Steph Phillips - Trustee and Co-Chair (Resigned)
Lucy Willis - Trustee
Bridget Langford - Trustee and Treasurer
Nicola Richards - Trustee and Communications and PR Manager
Charity Volunteers:
Elly Roper - Website Co-ordinator
Gemma Morris - Social Media Admin
Chris Weaver - Website donation
Lisa Stephenson - Fundraising Manager
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Partners/corporate in 2023
Mindful Therapies CIC
Rainbow Baby Week partners:
Pregnancy After Loss Support
Dad Matters
Leo’s Neonatal
Zephyrs Nottingham
Let’s Talk About Loss
Hannah’s House
Box items partners:
Kicks Count
Action on Postpartum Psychosis
Fundraising:
Tied The Knot Creations
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Contact details:
Website: www.willowsrainbowbox.co.uk
Email: hello@willowsrainbowbox.co.uk
Facebook: @willowsrainbowboxproject
Twitter: @Willowsrainbow
Instagram: @willowsrainbowbox
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