2021-09-05-accounts - The Courtney Foundation

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Trustee’s Report and Accounts

For the period: 6th September 2020 to 5th September 2021

Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales)

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Administrative details

Charity name: The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) Principal address: 126 Five Springs, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU3 3LJ

Structure and governance

Trustees: Courtney Cuffy 3rd Feb 2020 - current Husna Rasul 3rd Feb 2020 - current Melissa Llewellyn 3rd Feb 2020 - current Structure: Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Governing document: Constitution

New trustees are selected with consideration of their skills, knowledge and experience, and are appointed by resolution passed by the existing trustees. Trustees must read and understand all organisational policies, which reflect statutory and legal requirements and good practice procedures.

Adopted policies:

Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy
Code of Conduct and Ethics
Conflict of Interest Policy
Data Protection Policy
Privacy Policy
Whistleblowing Policy
Challenging Behaviour Policy
Equality, Diversity and Meaningful Inclusion Policy
Complaints Policy
10.Health and Safety Policy
11.Volunteer Policy
12.Volunteer Disciplinary Procedures
13.Financial Management Policy
14.Reimbursements of Expenses and Purchases Policy
15.Business Ethics and Anti-Bribery Policy
16.Environmental and Sustainability Policy
17.Hardship Projects Policy
18.Reserves Policy

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Objectives and activities

Charitable objects:

a) To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society

b) The prevention or relief of poverty in England by providing: items and services to individuals in need and/or charities, or other organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty

During this period we’ve established a flagship project and received our first funding grants and donations. We are still primarily volunteer-led, and currently have no paid staff. We have continued to build relationships with other local charities and organisations to reflect our principles of partnership working and inclusivity, and have developed ongoing relationships with beneficiaries across different projects, embedding participatory practices along the way.

Projects

Luton Clothing Bank

Many people live in poverty and experience financial difficulty in Luton. During 2020, the already existing inequities relating to poverty and financial difficulty were heightened, as was the enormous generosity of Luton’s communities. We launched Luton Clothing Bank in November 2020 with the support of The Raise Up Foundation, Discover Islam, Tokko and other groups and individuals as a way to utilise that generosity, support local people experiencing financial difficulty and encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour. We provide(d) free clothes and shoes (plus towels and bedding for a time) to people experiencing financial difficulty, including people who are experiencing homelessness, seeking asylum or have refugee status, unemployed or on a low income, leaving/recently left hospital or prison, new to the UK, or otherwise can't afford the items they need.

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

We’ve operated primarily on volunteer time and with the good will of local organisations who offered space for collecting, sorting and storing clothes and who provided a collection and access point for beneficiaries. We are now covering the costs of our own storage units thanks to our funders and hope to grow this project into its own space where beneficiaries can browse clothes and have more choice over the items they receive.

We’ve redistributed over 11,000 items during the first year. We supported over 500 people who have contacted us directly, and many more have received shoes, coats, baby, children’s and adult’s clothes and coats through other organisations that we pass items on to. Here’s a brief look at some of the benefits of the project during its first year.

Essential Having appropriate clothes and shoes is a necessity and we support anyone in financial difficulty. This includes people who have been displaced and have very little, families who need clothes for growing children and people who need appropriate clothes for work.
Welcoming We’ve connected with and welcomed people who are new to Luton and provided them with the items they need as well as given information about further support and activities.
Opportunities By offering suitable clothes and footwear we’ve helped support people to access interviews and the opportunity to start or return to work.
Support Engaging with people through Luton Clothing Bank creates opportunities for us to identify other areas of need and support and allows us to signpost and design new projects effectively.
Environment We only use recycled, recyclable or reusable packaging and work to reduce the amount of clothes that could end up in landfill. We reframe donating clothes as more than addressing poverty and highlight the environmentally conscious and sustainable approach of redistributing resources locally.
Stigma We aim to reduce the stigma around poverty and the reluctance to use preloved, ‘second-hand’ clothes by working to develop a universal service that normalises the sharing of essential resources.

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Generosity

Luton Clothing Bank facilitates a way for people to help other people locally and utilises the generosity and willingness to give of individuals, groups and organisations.

Compassion

We share stories about the circumstances people are facing locally and send the message that people are ‘not alone’, both in experiencing difficulty and because support is available; promoting compassion towards and understanding around people’s difficult circusmtances.

Baby and Children’s Boxes available at Discover Islam in Luton town centre

Baby and Children’s Boxes

We offer pre-packed baby and children’s boxes with around 15-25 items for people to access at drop-in locations around the town. Our main drop-in location, Discover Islam, also provides a place to collect requested clothing packs and browse a selection of coats, clothes and shoes. Tokko Youth Centre packed and redistributed Baby and Children’s Boxes to local schools and family support services, ensuring the support through Luton Clothing Bank is also accessible in community-based locations. Community Needs provided another drop-in location outside of the town centre for local families to access items.

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Wellies and Winter Items

Madinah Masjid, Luton; UK Islamic Mission and iCare; facilitated the donation of around 400 wellies and other footwear. We helped keep people warm in the winter and made these available in Luton town centre thanks to Discover Islam where people could drop-in and pick up footwear, along with winter coats, jumpers, hats, scarves and gloves for free.

Footwear in good condition is harder for us to source through regular donations, so being able to stock these wellies has been an extremely valuable part of what we can offer to local individuals and families.

Looking forward

We plan to build our capacity in order to support more people through Luton Clothing Bank and provide additional, holistic support including social activities and information and advice for our beneficiaries. We want to embed ways that recognise language and having people who are multilingual as part of our team as crucial for providing efficient and dignified services. We are mindful of the messages we use and the strength of working in collaboration and partnership, and the need to adapt or create systems to better suit changing circumstances.

Thank you to the local community, organisations and groups for the ongoing support towards Luton Clothing Bank

The Raise Up Foundation	St Albans High School for Girls
Discover Islam	Parents’ Association
Tokko Youth Centre	Bartham Group
Electrolux	Luton Sixth Form College
Madinah Masjid, Luton	Community Needs
UK Islamic Mission	Azalea
All Saints Church	Tesco
The Hygiene Bank Luton	Near Neighbours
iCare	Bedfordshire and Luton Community
The Olive Tree Church	Foundation
Luton Sixth Form College	The Wakeham Trust

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Trip for Refugee and Asylum Seeking Families and Individuals

Our work to address urgent needs through Luton Clothing Bank led to engagement with a beneficiary group uniquely at risk of exclusion and who would particularly benefit from a space to engage with others in the community; asylum seekers and refugees. Many of the people we spoke to highlighted the need for recreational and social activities, both for children and families and adult individuals.

The families and individuals were placed in hotels across Luton and had little access to community and outdoor activities for various reasons; finance, language, lack of availability of such activities during the pandemic, a range of personal circumstances relating to mental health and trauma, not being linked to services such as schools, and not knowing the area.

We held a day-trip to a local outdoor space, Dunstable Downs, and provided food and games as well as coats for children and adults who needed them. With Covid measures adding to their personal experiences of displacement, the project was received extremely positively and spaces filled up quickly. Although managing risk particularly in regards to travelling by coach was amplified by language barriers, this was overcome during the sign up process with the experience of our Project Lead and using translation methods to have conversations. Our caterer packed food in separate portions for each family depending on their size as an added Covid measure, which proved to be very helpful, and would be just as helpful in regular circumstances!

Looking forward

We would love to continue the project, either as-is or in an adapted form. Funding a day-trip with transport, food and activities for refugees/asylum seekers (and anyone experiencing financial difficulty) has proven to be highly valued and many of the beneficiaries asked when we would run another trip. We would like to accommodate more people and have considered how we would lower costs by seeking support in-kind and working in partnership with other organisations. We would work harder to ensure we have volunteers who can speak beneficiary languages to make conversations easier and ensure any issues or needs can be raised and responded to effectively. If the project were to run over the colder months we would think about how we can utilise indoor spaces to create the same community environment with a range of activities, in a safe way.

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Future plans

Our priority is to ensure the continuation of Luton Clothing Bank which involves ensuring we can secure the space, staff and volunteer capacity to run the project. We have taken careful consideration in regards to how we accept donations of clothes and other items to reduce the amount of sorting and recycling we do while making sure people receive suitable, good quality items. We are building relationships and partnerships with other local organisations to explore how we can better work together to develop capacity and make similar services more accessible to people who need them. Our aim is to build on the work and systems of Luton Clothing Bank to create additional projects for beneficiaries across our core areas of work to relieve hardship and provide social activities and training.

Financial review

Reserves

Our reserves limit is currently £5000. We aim to only have an amount of reserves that is proportionate to what is required to continue our existing operations for up to 12 months, and to respond to any urgent operational needs that may arise due to unexpected financial implications. Our reserves limit will be adjusted accordingly as our work progresses, and this will be reflected in our Reserves Policy. Income from any sources are principally used to further our charitable purposes and benefit those we work with.

Grants and donations

We’re extremely grateful to our funders over the period who are listed below, and to individuals and groups who have donated and fundraised an amazing £5659 for our work. We received grants from:

Near Neighbours for £1000 for social activities for people seeking asylum and those with refugee status
Near Neighbours for £1000 to support the work of Luton Clothing Bank
Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation for £5000 to support the work of Luton Clothing Bank
The Wakeham Trust for £250 to support the work of Luton Clothing Bank

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above.

Full name	Signature	Date:
Courtney Cuffy		03.02.2022
Husna Rasul		03.02.2022
Melissa Llewellyn		03.02.2022

The Courtney Foundation Registered charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) www.thecourtneyfoundation.org

Receipts and payments accounts

Charity name: The Courtney Foundation Charity number: 1187689 (England and Wales) For the period: 6th September 2020 to 5th September 2021

Receipts and payments

Receipts
	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total funds (£)	Last year (£)
Donations and legacies	2600	3059	0	5659	0
Grants	0	7250	0	7250	0
Fundraising events	0	0	0	0	0
Fees for services	0	0	0	0	0
Other	782	433	0	1215	0
Subtotal	3382	10742	0	14124	0
Sale of fixed assets	0	0	0	0	0
Sale of investments	0	0	0	0	0
Loans received	0	0	0	0	0
Sub total	0	0	0	0	0
Total receipts	3382	10742	0	14124	0

Payments
	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total funds (£)	Last year (£)
Salaries and related costs	0	495	0	495	0
Rent/hire	0	1522	0	1522	0
Insurances	99	0	0	99	0
Telephone and internet	42	0	0	42	0
Stationary,
printing and	0	259	0	259	0
office supplies
Subscriptions,
including digital and online	205	0	0	205	0
packages
Bank charges	0	0	0	0	0
Website costs	31	0	0	31	0

Volunteer expenses and purchases	9	69	0	78	0
Trustee expenses and purchases	225	671	0	896	0
Advertising and promotion	0	0	0	0	0
Other project costs	2087	2560	0	4648	0
Sub total	2699	5577	0	8276	0
Purchase of fixed assets	0	0	0	0	0
Purchase of investments	0	0	0	0	0
Loans repaid	0	0	0	0	0
Sub total	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2699	5577	0	8276	0
Net of receipts/ (payments)	683	5166	0	5849	0
Transfer between funds	0	0	0	0	0
Cash funds last year end	0	0	0	0
Cash funds this year end	683	5166	0	5849

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
	Details		Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)
Bank account	-		683	5166	0
Total cash funds	-		683	5166	0
Other monetary assets	-		0	0	0
Investment assets	-		0	0	0
Assets retained for the charity's own use	-		0	0	0
Liabilities	-		0	0	0

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
	Details	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)
Bank account	-	683	5166	0
Total cash funds	-	683	5166	0
Other monetary assets	-	0	0	0
Investment assets	-	0	0	0
Assets retained
for the charity's	-	0	0	0
own use
Liabilities	-	0	0	0

Print name MELISSA LLEWELLYN Signature Date 19.10.21

The trustees declare that they have approved the accounts above.

Full name	Signature	Date:
Courtney Cuffy		03.02.2022
Husna Rasul		03.02.2022
Melissa Llewellyn		03.02.2022