DECEMBER 2024
WILLOW’S RAINBOW BOX
CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION: (REGISTERED NUMBER 1186779)
ANNUAL REPORT
Including Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Period from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024.
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
2023/2024 has been an incredible year for Willow’s Rainbow Box! Following our expansion in 2023 to cover the whole of England with our box provision, we have gone from strength to strength. We released our very first impact report this year, detailing how our National Lottery funding was spent and illustrating the amazing impact of our work. We put stocks of boxes into some NHS hospitals this year thanks to National Lottery Funding. We now have a waiting list of NHS Trusts who would like stocks of boxes from us! It has been an exciting and productive year for us and we are thankful to all of our supporters.
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:
Last year, 132 boxes were shipped out throughout England to families pregnant after losing a baby. Since January 2024, the charity have shipped out 213 boxes to families throughout
England. These charts illustrate the geographical spread of box provision from 2023 (cream) and the geographical spread of box provision from 2024 (black). There is a great geographical spread and the majority of boxes this year were sent to the South East, followed by the West Midlands.
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In April 2024, charity also held an application process for NHS Maternity units, Perinatal Mental Health Teams and Rainbow Clinics - for two units to receive 50 boxes each. The charity were overwhelmed with applications of a very high standard and the board decided to allocate boxes to three units -
25 boxes to Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle
25 boxes to Croydon University Hospital, Croydon
50 boxes to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesborough
The remaining Trusts that applied (and those who had stock and have used it all) have been added to a waiting list of organisations who would like to be considered for stock when the charity is able to secure funding.
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Where do people hear about Willow’s Rainbow Box?
In 2023 (cream) most people heard about the charity from Instagram. This hasn’t changed in 2024 (white) and it continues to be the most popular way people hear about Willow’s Rainbow Box. People are now starting to hear about the charity via their hospital too, which could be down to the increased networking with NHS Trusts and the charity’s involvement in various research projects this year.
The provision of boxes for families, sample boxes and boxes into NHS Trusts has been made possible through achieving funding from The National Lottery Awards For All in 2023. This funding has now come to an end and the charity will be preparing more funding bids and fundraising plans for the coming 12 months.
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Research involvement, conferences and stakeholder groups.
Willow’s Rainbow Box has been involved in a few projects over the last year. In June 2024, the charity attended the inaugural South Asian Maternal Health conference. The charity was also involved in sharing and raising awareness of the MATREP study - understanding family experiences of review tools that have been used when a baby has died or been seriously injured at birth. This work was led by Professor Alexander Heazell and a team of researchers at University of Manchester and Oxford University.
Willow’s Rainbow Box has also been involved in the creation of an MBRRACE document ‘Comparing the care of Asian and White women whose babies died.’ The charity features on the document’s signposting page.
The charity has also been involved in the CONNECT stakeholder group. This project is looking at creating a community support pathway for families after a second trimester loss. The charity sit on the stakeholder group with a variety of other charities and professionals and the project is funded by the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research). This is a 5 year project which started mid-2024.
Willow’s Rainbow Box has also joined the Stillbirth Priority Setting Partnership Steering Group. The group will be approaching families to understand important unanswered questions in stillbirth prevention, management, bereavement and post-natal care and looking at which research questions are priorities to be studied in this area.
The charity’s increased presence in the world of research has enhanced its visibility and increased healthcare professional knowledge of the charity’s activities. This has been vital in the growth of the charity and shows the charity’s continued commitment to improving experiences and knowledge of baby loss and pregnancy after loss.
Baby Loss and different communities:
In May 2024, the charity launched the ‘Neurodiversity Baby Loss Mini Series.’ This series is part of the charity’s ongoing work on raising awareness of baby loss in different cultures and communities. The charity shared stories from neurodivergent people telling their experiences of baby loss and/or pregnancy after loss. This was a really key community that is underrepresented when it comes to baby loss and the charity were keen to give space to hear voices from this community. The series was shared via socials and made into a PDF format and shared directly with other charities and organisations who found it extremely useful.
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Social media, media and awareness raising:
The charity has grown on social media - in particular with Instagram. The following on X is 1228, which is not a huge increase on last year. The charity have reduced their presence on X due to connections deciding to use other platforms more.
The charity ended 2023 on around 1400 Instagram followers. The amount of followers is now nearly 1900 and has grown as a result of social media campaigns and ongoing projects. The charity also re-introduced ‘First Trimester’ peer support groups on Instagram in October 2024. The current group is very active and has been well received and as a result, the team have decided to run new quarterly groups and keep groups open and monitored until birth.
Facebook following remains fairly static in comparison to Instagram - growing from 720 to 778 over the last 12 months.
The charity also started using more of TikTok and some beneficiaries found out about the charity’s work through this platform.
The charity held its annual Rainbow Baby Week in August 2024. The week was heavily led by Social Media Admin, Gemma Morris. The campaign week this year followed a diary entry style - following the journey of pregnancy after loss through a series of fictional (based on true accounts) diary entries. The week was very well received by the community and engagement high.
During Baby Loss Awareness Week, the charity created a ‘White Pumpkin’ reel with baby names from the community, shared alongside the ‘White Pumpkin’ poem. This was a soft and gentle acknowledgment of baby loss awareness week - a week which can sometimes be difficult and triggering for those pregnant after loss.
The charity have been raising awareness of their work in different ways, including the Easter treat campaign and October Halloween crochet pumpkin campaign. Both campaigns involved hiding treats around local areas for people to find - with information about the charity.
In July 2024, the charity spoke at an Abigail’s Footsteps bereavement study day for professionals at Medway Hospital. This was another excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the support offered and around the topic of pregnancy after loss.
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The charity has also started holding a space at the wellbeing fairs at Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. The charity have posters and information on display and engage with families visiting the Gurdwara to raise awareness of the support on offer.
The charity is still growing their media presence. It recruited its first PR consultant this year who has been working with the charity to increase their exposure in wider media. The PR Consultant, Kiara Patrick, has been working on out reach to media outlets and also other organisations that could signpost to Willow’s Rainbow Box. An article was published in The Chronicle Newcastle at the time of the boxes going into James Cook, RVI and Croydon. The charity is now also signposted for families via the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists website.
The charity have recently revised the way they collect and use others’ images by implementing a consent form prior to any images being used/taken.
Baby Loss and Pregnancy After Loss Art Exhibition
In June 2024, Willow’s Rainbow Box entered an exciting collaboration with 2 charities - Abigail’s Footsteps and The Worst Girl Gang Ever Foundation. The project is an art exhibition called ‘We Remember’ - all about baby loss and pregnancy after loss. It is set to take place from 3rd-16th March 2025 at St George’s Art Gallery, Gravesend, Kent. The charities secured £1000 of funding from Kent Community Foundation to help with this exhibition. They are also running 2 in person creative workshops for bereaved parents (18+) to create works for the exhibition. The first of these sessions took place in November 2024 and it was a beautiful, poignant workshop filled with creativity, conversation and support for others. The sessions are being led by Kent artist Sonnia Montes.
The charities also plan to run an online poetry workshop and they have planned to create a baby loss art installation and a pregnancy after loss art installation. All works will be collated and displayed at the exhibition in 2025.
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Fundraising :
The charity was awarded National Lottery funding in May 2023 which was used to fund the provision of 300 boxes
throughout England. There was still some funding left to fund limited stocks to hospitals via an application process. The charity are in the process of applying for more grant funding to help secure provision of boxes both in the community and into hospitals in 2025 and the following years.
Individual giving and community fundraising are still very important and critical for unrestricted funds. In September 2024, the charity had 2 Great North Run runners who collectively raised £1000 for the charity.
The charity also received an order in 2024 from charity Abigail’s Footsteps - to fund the provision of 25 boxes into Medway Hospital, Kent.
December 2024 reveals new fundraising campaigns for the charity. In recognition of the charity’s 5th birthday and Christmas, there will be a campaign to encourage families to donate to the charity in place of purchasing regular Christmas cards.
To celebrate the charity’s 5th birthday, they will be launching their biggest fundraising campaign yet - ‘Raise for Rainbows.’ The campaign will encourage people in the community to raise enough funds for 25 boxes or 50 boxes to be provided for one of the units on their waiting list.
The charity also signed up to ‘Benevity’ which is a platform for employees to give donations to charity through their workplace.
There is a continued focus on community fundraising to support work around the grantfunded work.
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Trustees and volunteers:
The last 12 months have been steady for Trustees and there have been no new appointments or resignations. The charity recruited 2 new volunteers to the team -
Kiara Patrick - PR Consultant
Meghan Butler - Box Packing Operations
Section 4: Future plans for the next year
The last 12 months have been extremely busy for the charity - with one month alone yielding 46 box applications! The charity’s focus for the next year is securing more funding to make the charity’s current activities sustainable. The charity will be applying for new pots of funding for self referral boxes, but also now including some stock for NHS trusts on their waiting list in the funding bids. The charity has words of support by NHS Trusts interested in their work and those who have received boxes already. The 2024 impact report was a fantastic illustration of the amazing impact their work has had over the last year. The plan would be to fund at least 25 boxes for 10 NHS maternity units, rainbow clinics or perinatal mental health teams over the next 12 months. This would be additional to the boxes sent out to the community via self referral.
Funding and sustainability has to be a big priority in 2025. The charity will be putting out a tender late 2024 for a Fundraising Consultant to join the team and to help find opportunities
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to make the charity more sustainable. The appointment of the Fundraising Consultant will be dependent on achieving funding for the position.
The baby loss and pregnancy after loss exhibition in Spring 2025 will be a big activity for the charity next year. This will be the charity’s first project in collaboration with other charities and it’s also a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness and increase profile for the charity.
PR and media coverage will be another big focus for the charity in 2025. With the help of the PR consultant, the hope is to raise the charity’s profile nationally and to reach local and national media outlets. The charity recently approached BBC support helplines to discuss the possibility of being listed as a signposted charity. This is not something the charity can go ahead with in present capacity, but will be an aim for the future. The charity also aims to to be a verified account on Instagram within the next 12 months. The PR Consultant will also be working on a content calendar for the next 12 months to ensure the charity are accessing every opportunity to discuss pregnancy after loss and generate content.
In 2023, the charity was planning to seek a new Co-Chair to join the team. This is currently on hold as the charity explores its growth and plans for the future. 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 2025 and will engage with communities to decide on the main focus.
It has been a great year for engagement with research, conferences and raising awareness. Willow’s Rainbow Box plans to continue this into 2025 by attending at least one conference, continuing to engage with relevant research opportunities and continuing to hold information stands in the community and in particular with diverse communities.
There are plans to hold another Rainbow Baby Week in August 2025, following the success of the previous campaigns.
Community fundraising will continue to be a priority and the board and volunteers will continue 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 2023/4 |
Restricted funds 2023/4 |
Total funds 2023/4 |
Total funds 2022/3 |
|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Receipts | ||||
| Donations | 338 | 338 | 588 | |
| Fundraising receipts | 365 | 365 | 1044 | |
| Income from charitable activities | 44 | 44 | 432 | |
| Grant income | 270 | 270 | 4375 | |
| Total receipts | 747 | 270 | 1017 | 6439 |
| Payments | ||||
| Materials | 0 | 2465 | 2465 | 1286 |
| Shipping | 7 | 600 | 607 | 390 |
| Insurance | 0 | 224 | 224 | 223 |
| Marketing and promotion | 1 | 180 | 181 | 93 |
| Fundraising costs | 57 | 0 | 57 | 83 |
| Administrative costs | 123 | 0 | 123 | 23 |
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| DBS Checks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total payments | 188 | 3469 | 3657 | 2116 |
| Net receipts for the period | 559 | -3199 | -2640 | 4323 |
| Cash funds June 2023 | 1706 | 3709 | 5415 | |
| Cash funds June 2024 | 2267 | 510 | 2777 | 5415 |
| Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 30 June 2024 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted funds | Unrestricted funds |
Total funds | Total funds | |
| 2024 | 2024 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Cash funds | ||||
| Cash at bank | 510 | 2267 | 2777 | 5415 |
| Total cash funds | 510 | 2267 | 2777 | 5415 |
The accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 3rd December 2024.
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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
Katherine Hately - Trustee
Leeanne Wanless - Trustee
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
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Lisa Stephenson - Fundraising Manager
Kiara Patrick - PR Consultant
Meghan Butler - Box packing operations
Partners/corporate in 2023/2024
Box items partners:
Kicks Count
Action on Postpartum Psychosis
NDL Visual (printing)
Fundraising :
Tied The Knot Creations
Claire Stewart (GNR T shirts)
Kent Community Foundation (baby loss exhibition funding)
Baby Loss and Pregnancy After Loss Art Exhibition
Abigail’s Footsteps
The Worst Girl Gang Ever
Sonnia Montes (artist)
St George’s Art Centre
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Contact details:
Website: www.willowsrainbowbox.co.uk
Email: hello@willowsrainbowbox.co.uk
Facebook: @willowsrainbowboxproject
X: @Willowsrainbow
Instagram: @willowsrainbowbox
BlueSky: @willowsrainbowbox.bsky.social
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