Trustees’ Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022
Trustees
Eleanore Hargreaves Diana Davies Pauline Saxby
April 2022
Mindful Surrey Charity No: 1187713
1. Introduction
1.1 Charitable Objects
The object of the CIO is:
To advance education for the public benefit in Surrey and Sussex through the provision of courses in the study and practice of mindfulness training, particularly but not exclusively in educational settings, which enable participants to develop their understanding and awareness of the practice of mindfulness and the beneficial impact it may have upon good mental health and wellbeing.
1.2 Overview
Over the year Mindful Surrey has continued to offer mindfulness training to help people with their mental health and wellbeing. Our sessions have been in for the form of 8-week courses, drop-in sessions, one-to-one coaching and also sessions in schools and businesses. Our sessions have been run online and also in-person in Dorking, Surrey. Zoom works very well for mindfulness training. This has meant people from further afield than Surrey have been able to access our classes, including someone who attends every week from Australia. It has also meant that local people who cannot travel, regardless of Covid restrictions, can also be offered support. More elderly people and also those with young children have been coming to online sessions compared to in-person.
2. Activities & Achievements
2.1 Outputs & Outcomes
MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) courses:
We ran 8-week courses throughout the year. Participation in the in-person courses was somewhat affected due to Covid at times when people were reluctant or not permitted to meet face-to-face. However once most people had had vaccinations and felt comfortable to attend live sessions again, many people were keen to attend. Our online courses were popular throughout the year, particularly in the autumn and spring. The MBSR course is the standard mindfulness course taught all over the world which helps people with a wide range of experiences and challenges.
Drop-in sessions:
We ran weekly, live online classes throughout the year and they were particularly appreciated during periods of lockdown or when people had to isolate at home. We ran two a week – Tuesday mornings for everyone and Thursday evenings for people who had taken the MBSR course, with us or elsewhere, or had a similar level of meditation experience.
One-to-one sessions:
These became increasingly popular throughout the year. Some people prefer these to being in a group, or sometimes want to have a few sessions on their own before joining a group.
Schools and businesses:
As our public profile and online presence increased, so too did enquiries from businesses, schools and colleges who wanted us to run one-off mindfulness sessions. We worked at Shottermill primary school, Guildford, running sessions for several hundred children in one day in June 2021. CN uses the Mindfulness in Schools Dotbreathe and Dotbe programmes as the basis for mindfulness with under 18s. We also gave an introductory session at Godalming Sixth Form College.
Nestle and IMCD employed us to run sessions for their staff.
The Joy Club, an organisation that offers online activities for people over the age of 65, engaged us to run monthly mindfulness sessions for their members and we are confident this relationship will develop in the future. We charge businesses a higher rate than state schools, and income from corporate work helps subsidise funded places which we offer to people on low incomes.
Testimonials and feedback:
We request feedback following every course or class, which is shared with trustees. We also publish testimonials on the website. Mindful Surrey is registered with Coursecheck, an organisation that publish online, unedited feedback and reviews of courses. There is a link to Coursecheck on the website so the public can discover what participants have gained from our MBSR course and other sessions.
Conclusion:
Mindful Surrey is fairly unique as an organisation offering mindfulness training to individuals, schools and organisations who cannot afford to pay for it – not many mindfulness classes are delivered by charities and offered for free. It is worth spending time fund-raising in order to fulfil our mission of making our classes accessible to all. There continues to be a great need to support people of all ages with their mental health, and there has been a marked rise in this need from younger people and children. The NHS waiting lists are long and many people are unable to pay for professional support.
Mindfulness training is very effective at helping people deal with stress, anxiety, depression, bereavement, sleep problems, as well as difficulties with relationships, and physical pain or illness. It is useful that it works so well delivered via live, online sessions.
It is rewarding to read people’s testimonials following our courses and to hear how beneficial people found them over the last year. Many people reported that coming to the sessions really helped them cope with lockdown and the challenges of the pandemic.
2.2 Policies on Grant-Making and/or Social Investments
The charity does not award any grants, or make social or programme-related investments.
2.3 The Roles & Contributions of Volunteers
Volunteers are used by Mindful Surrey to help with the website, marketing and Google Ads. We are in the Reach volunteering programme and this is the main way we find volunteers to help with aspects of running the charity that Catherine Nasskau does not have time or expertise to do. We worked with 3 people last year, most of whom volunteered for about a month.
2.4 How the Public Have Benefitted
Following the grant of £4,000 from the Community Foundation for Surrey (CFS), we were able to offer Surrey residents free or discounted places on our courses and classes if they were on a low income and unable to access our support otherwise. We invite anyone on a low income to attend the online drop-in sessions for free if they cannot afford to pay. It was decided not to make a significant lowering of the price for online courses so that income from people who could afford to pay the full amount could be used to support the participation of those who were less well-off.
Mindful Surrey ran an in-person workshop without any charge to ESRA, (Employment Support and Retraining Agency) as part of their wellbeing course to support local people find work or training. We also ran a free introduction event as part of the Dorking Mindfest Fair, which served to inform local people about the different organisations and support that was available to help with mental health.
2.5 Performance
We met our target for raising sufficient income to run effective courses and events for adults.
.
2.6 Looking Ahead
It was very gratifying to be able to help Surrey residents on low incomes who were in desperate need of help and who could not access any other professional support following the CFS grant. It was disappointing not to be successful with our 2[nd] grant application to them for funding to support local young people with their mental health during 2022. We had three schools and several parents who wanted us to help their children should we receive funding and be able to offer full-funded places. We will apply again this year so that we can widen our support of local disadvantaged people.
3. Financial Review
3.1 Financial Position
We started the year on 1.4.21 with cash funds of £80.
Income from online courses and classes: £15,591 (an increase from the previous year which year was £5,765).
End of year balance, 31.3.22: £787
Full details of receipts and payments can be found in the accounts for the year.
We kept the price for the course at £195 for online and £225 for in-person, as the previous year.
The weekly drop-ins cost £60 for two months.
Our charge to schools and businesses varied, according to their location and the length of sessions we provided.
3.2 Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit
The Charity has no funds which are materially in deficit.
3.3 Policy on Reserves
£200 is to be kept as reserves. Although our income forecast is uncertain, we are able to adapt our expenditure according to our income, and we rarely incur unexpected expenses. We have an arrangement with our usual venue in Dorking that if we are unable to run a course, we do not need to pay any charges as long as we give one month’s notice; the venue management are willing to make this a shorter period in exceptional situations, such as during the pandemic when our ability to run in-person sessions was not in our control.
In an emergency we can reduce all costs apart from annual expenses such as website, email, Zoom, insurance and perhaps venue hire. Our reserves would cover those costs for six months. We can always reduce service delivery on a temporary basis in an emergency too. There would be no costs incurred if we had to close down, such as redundancy and we have no outstanding debtors.
Catherine Nasskau is employed on a freelance basis and the agreement is that she would not be employed if there are insufficient funds to pay her quarterly salary. Most participants pay for sessions in advance, with people on low incomes sometimes paying in instalments; all final payments are made by the last session of a course. Therefore it is straightforward to budget and plan for emergencies.
3.4 Principal Sources of Funding
We received £11,138 from self-funding participants, businesses and schools. We received £4,453 in donations and grants.
3.5 Investments Policy & Objectives
The charity does not make investments.
3.6 Description of the Principal Risks Facing the Charity
The principal risk facing the charity would be if we were no longer able to participate in the Google Ads Non-profit programme, which gives us $10,000 worth of Ads a month. This allows us to promote our work online at no cost and results in around 150 website visits a day. There are certain things we need to do on a regular basis for
Google to allow us to stay in the programme. Catherine Nasskau spent a great deal of time over the last year setting this up and working on the ads. This is the most significant factor in maintaining and developing our online presence.
As our classes are delivered online as well as in-person, and what we offer can be adapted according to our income, the charity does not face any other major risks. Awareness of mindfulness as an effective intervention and tool to support good mental health and wellbeing continues to grow, as does our public profile, and we are steadily getting an increasing number of referrals, both from professional health practitioners as well as word of mouth. Therefore we have no concerns about Mindful Surrey as a going concern.
3.7 Remuneration of Trustees
All Trustees act in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration or other material benefits from their services to the Charity.
Out-of-pocket expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by Trustees in promoting the purposes of the Charity are reimbursed at cost.
3.8 Statutory Statements on Liabilities
The Trustees declare that:
The charity has given no guarantees where potential liability under the guarantee is outstanding at the date of this statement.
The charity has no debt outstanding at the date of this statement which is owed by the CIO and which is secured by an express charge on any assets of the CIO.
4. Reference and Administration Details
4.1 Charity Name & Registration
Name of the Charity: Mindful Surrey
Charity No: 1187713
Mindful Surrey is not registered with HM Revenue & Customs
4.2 Charity’s Principal Address
13 Warrenne Rd, Brockham, Surrey RH3 7JY
e-mail: info@mindfulsurrey.co.uk
website: www.mindfulsurrey.co.uk
4.3 Names of the Trustees Who Manage the Charity
Diana Davies, Eleanore Hargreaves, Pauline Saxby.
The role of Chair is rotated between the trustees.
4.4 Names of Advisors & Senior Members of Staf
Catherine Nasskau, Director of Mindful Surrey, Mindfulness teacher
4.5 Bank
NatWest Bank
12 Station Road East, Oxted, Surrey RH8 0PR Depot code 063
5. Structure, Governance & Management 5.1 Type of Governing Document
Constitution
5.2 Charitable Objects
The object of the CIO is:
To advance education for the public benefit in Surrey and Sussex through the provision of courses in the study and practice of mindfulness training, particularly but not exclusively in educational settings, which enable participants to develop their understanding and awareness of the practice of mindfulness and the beneficial impact it may have upon good mental health and wellbeing.
.
5.3 Statutory Declaration
The Trustees confirm that they have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
5.4 Trustee Selection Methods
There must be at least three charity trustees. The maximum number of trustees is 12.
In accordance with the Constitution, Trustees are appointed or re-appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.
In appointing Trustees due consideration is given to ensuring that the Trustees have, between them, the skills and experience necessary to manage the charity effectively and in accordance with charity law.
1 April 2022
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf.
Catherine Nasskau
N
Charity Name Mindful Surrey
Receipts and payments acco For the period Period start date To from 06.04.21
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Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds
to the nearest
to the nearest £ to the nearest £
£
A1 Receipts
Summer 21 MBSR 1,564
Autumn 21 MBSR 2,961 - -
Spring 22 MBSR 3,791
Drop-ins 1,527
1:1s 745 - -
Schools, businesses 550
Grants, donations 4,453
Sub total (Gross income for AR) 15,591 - -
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
- - -
- - -
Sub total - - -
Total receipts 15,591 - -
A3 Payments
April-June 21, CN salary 2,720 - -
July-Sept 21, CN salary 3,190
Oct-Dec 21, CN salary 3,270
Jan-March 22, CN salary 3,970
Posters, laminating pouches 41 - -
CPD Training (JB) 45 - -
Wix website, email 151
Zoom 144 - -
Venue hire 1,105
Insurance 58
Social media ads -
Leaflet printing 54 - -
Handbooks, flipchart pads 110 - -
Stripe banking fee 26
Sub total [ 14,884 ] - -
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see
table)
- - -
- - -
Sub total [ - ] - -
Total payments 14,884 -
Net of receipts/(payments) 707 - -
A5 Transfers between funds - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 80 - -
Cash funds this year end 787 -
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the perio
| Unrestricted | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | |
| B1 Cash funds | Total cash funds | to nearest £ - - - |
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| (agree | balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
Agreement Error | |
| Unrestricted | |||
| funds | |||
| B2 Other monetary assets | Details | to nearest £ - - - - - - |
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| Fund to which | |||
| B3 Investment assets | Details | asset belongs Fund to which |
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| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own | Details |
asset belongs | |
| B5 Liabilities use |
Details | Fund to which liability relates |
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| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print N |
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
No (if any)
ounts CC16a Period end date 31.03.22
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Total funds Last year
to the nearest £ to the nearest £
1,564 920
2,961 1,940
3,791 1,125
1,527 1,390
745 -
550 0
4,453 0
15,191 5,765
-
- -
- -
15,591 5,765
2,720 1,216
3,190 2,000
3,270 1,000
3,970 776
41 40
45 94
151 109
144 120
1,105 170
58 -
- 80
26 80
110 -
26 -
14,884 5,685
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14,884 5,685
707 80
- -
80 -
787 80
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