2022-09-05-accounts - The Courtney Foundation

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Trustee’s Report and Accounts

For the period: 6th September 2021 to 5th September 2022

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 - 3rd Nov 2023 Husna Rasul 3rd Feb 2020 - 3rd Nov 2023 Melissa Llewellyn 3rd Feb 2020 - current Ahmed Adde 3rd Nov 2023 - current Ashley Parker 3rd Nov 2023 - current Sadiqul Choudhury 3rd Nov 2023 - 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 temporarily wound down our Luton Clothing Bank activities, due to funding challenges and circumstances affecting the trustees. We are still volunteer-led, and currently have no paid staff. We welcomed fundraising efforts from the community to support our work, building connections with key supporters. Our local profile and relationships with the local authority and other local charities and groups has strengthened. During this period we received confirmation of funding (to be paid after receipt of invoices after the project which will be described in next year’s report and accounts) which we used to host a social event for local people seeking asylum.

Projects

Luton Clothing Bank

Many people live in poverty and experience financial difficulty in Luton. We provide free clothes and shoes 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. During this period we distributed 1916 items to 141 individuals before pausing the project in February.

Here are some of the benefits of the project.

Essential Having appropriate clothes and shoes is a necessity and we

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

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.
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.

We have since restarted providing a level of clothing support, which we look forward to writing about in our next annual report.

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

Future plans

We’re excited for 2023 and have plans to:

continue to provide clothing support through Pop-Up clothing events alongside responding to urgent requests,
provide frequent social activities for people seeking asylum and those who have refugee status, including football sessions and film screenings,
host warm spaces across Luton with free winter clothes and accessories, and
strengthen our community fundraising capacity and increase local awareness of the support we offer.

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 £2227 for our work. We received grants from:

Arnold Clark for £1000 to support the work of Luton Clothing Bank
Ashworth Charitable Trust for £3000 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.

Signed on behalf of the trustees:

Full name Signature Date: Melissa Llewellyn 31.12.2022

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 2021 to 5th September 2022

Receipts and payments

Receipts
	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total funds (£)	Last year (£)
Donations and legacies	2101	257	0	2358	5659
Grants	0	4000	0	4000	7250
Fundraising events	0	0	0	0	0
Fees for services	0	0	0	0	0
Other	920	0	0	920	1215
Subtotal	3021	4257	0	7278	14124
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	3021	4257	0	7278	14124

Payments
	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total funds (£)	Last year (£)
Salaries and related costs	0	0	0	0	495
Rent/hire	2106	6876	0	8982	1522
Insurances	192	0	0	192	99
Telephone and internet	78	0	0	78	42
Stationary,
printing and	0	0	0	0	259
office supplies
Subscriptions,
including digital and online	144	0	0	144	205
packages
Bank charges	0	0	0	0	0
Website costs	0	0	0	0	31

Volunteer expenses and purchases	0	0	0	0	78
Trustee expenses and purchases	0	0	0	0	896
Advertising and promotion	0	0	0	0	0
Other project costs	0	428	0	428	4648
Sub total	2520	7304	0	9825	8276
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	2520	7304	0	9825	8276
Net of receipts/ (payments)	501	-3047	0	-2547	5849
Transfer between funds	0	0	0	0	0
Cash funds last year end	683	5166	0	5849
Cash funds this year end	1184	2119	0	3302

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
	Details		Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)
Bank account	-		1184	2119	0
Total cash funds	-		1184	2119	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	-	1184	2119	0
Total cash funds	-	1184	2119	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 31.12.2022