THE IAN WILLIAMS FOUNDATION
Trustee Report & Financial Review Year ended: 5[th] April 2024
Charity Number 1188414
St Lawrence House, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, SA70 8RA. communicate@theianwilliamsfoundation.org
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MISSION STATEMENT
Ian Michael Williams was a talented tight-head prop fulfilling his dream of being a professional rugby union player. But sadly in February 2018, aged just 27, he collapsed and died whilst training with Doncaster Knights.
Our vision for The Ian Williams Foundation is to move beyond this sadness and create an impactful vehicle for change. Like Ian, we want his Foundation to be big, sporty, strong, compassionate, dynamic, driven and caring.
Our plan is to Screen, Encourage and Enable in order to SEE out this vision and Safeguard the Heart of Sport.
STRUCTURE & GOVERNANCE
The Ian Williams Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), charity number 1188414, whose only voting members are its charity trustees and has its principal office located in Wales.
Where new trustees are appointed they are given a formal introduction to our work and provided with the information they need to fulfil their roles, which includes information about the role of trustees and charity law. New trustees are nominated by members of the board of trustees and appointed where they have the necessary skills to contribute to the charity’s management and development. There must be a minimum of 3 trustees and a maximum number of 13. We are not yet large enough to require sub-committees of the trustee board to act in specific operational areas, and all decisions are made by the current board of charity trustees:
Helen Williams (Chair) Philippa Williams Nicola Wager Christina Haddad James Hay
All trustees give of their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid during the year.
POLICIES
To date (and in part due to limited activity) the trustees have elected not to implement any particular policies. However, having highlighted the potential need for policies on grant making and volunteer management, there remains a need to review these as they become relevant to increasing activity.
www.theianwilliamsfoundation.org
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OBJECTIVES
The legal objects of The Ian Williams Foundation as set out in our governing document are:
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The advancement of health and the saving of lives by raising awareness of cardiovascular issues and cardiac health in athletes and people taking part in sport’ promoting the need for cardiac screening as a preventative measure; and, raising awareness of mental health issues which may affect those participating in sport and the options available for such people
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The promotion of community participation in healthy recreation, in particular by the making of grants to other charities and sports clubs for the playing of Rugby Union
ACTIVITIES
The trustees have taken the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance into account when making any decision where it is relevant to planning our activities for the year.
Concerns remain that recent demands on RFU and Championship resources may have impacted the implementation of consistent cardiac screening at Championship level. The trustees have continued to investigate this, lobby relevant professional bodies, and explore ways to ensure consistent governance in this area across England and Wales.
The trustees continue to assess the most sustainable and impactful route to achieving our charitable objectives and raising both funds and awareness around these objectives.
The trustees have continued to consider the requirement for grant making and volunteer management policies as they pertain to our activities. Whilst currently not required, this will continue to be assessed on a regular basis.
Work continues to reinstate the largest event that is organised and ‘hosted’ by The Foundation itself (the annual Ian Williams Memorial Match which sees peers from his two alma maters - Swansea University and Oxford University - compete in a rugby match in his memory). Both universities remain committed to finding a suitable date for the fixture to be held annually, but governance and timetabling differences between the two institutions continue to provide an obstacle to securing the fixture. Work continues to find the best solution for all, and we remain optimistic that we will be able to confirm changes to this fixture that will see this settle into the prescribed match schedule for both university teams on the desired annual basis.
We are, as always, grateful to all of our supporters, and Ian’s friends, for their continued contributions and fundraising efforts.
www.theianwilliamsfoundation.org
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FINANCIAL REVIEW
To date the trustees have not opened a bank account and therefore have no financial reports to submit. We have, however, had some income and thus include a financial review herewith our trustee report.
All funds raised and donated are currently held with our charity partner The Atlas Foundation (charity number 1161179) in the Ian Williams Foundation Fund, from whom we get a regular fund report.
The only costs incurred have been administrative (such as web domain and PR costs etc). The remaining majority of our income continues to be held, awaiting the decision of the trustees regarding its application.
The main financial risk to the charity is a reduction in donations and fundraising activities of our supporters and volunteers, however this is currently of no cause for concern as we do not have any regular financial commitments to meet at this stage.
The latest fund report read as follows:
www.theianwilliamsfoundation.org
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FUTURE PLANS
The trustees are hopeful that the year ending April 2025 will see a revival in activity following the extended pause experienced since April 2020.
The trustees intend to take a long view of the coming years and prepare plans to structure the implementation of activities and events strategically with the goal of particularly utilising the 10[th] anniversary of Ian’s death (in 2028).
The trustees hope to utilise the new appointment of Simon Halliday (2023) to address concerns regarding the Championship’s implementation of cardiac screening as part of their ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ and to ensure governance changes have been maintained. Mr Halliday is a patron of CRY - with whom the trustees have engaged previously – and has a particular passion for promoting cardiac screening, which the trustees hope will enable further progress to be made in securing consistent governance of this issue moving forward. The trustees further hope to engage Mr Halliday’s expertise to evaluate the best approach to securing commitment to the screening process in other divisions of both Men’s and Women’s rugby across England and Wales.
The trustees also hope to engage with the RFU regarding, in particular, the support structures and infrastructure in place for athletes participating within rugby at a University level. Our goal is to ascertain information around existing athlete welfare procedures with a view to understanding the space and developing a potential avenue to both screen and educate the University athlete population.
The trustees will continue to address the scheduling obstacles between Swansea University and the University of Oxford in order to secure a date for the 4[th] Ian Williams Memorial Match (the first fixture between current 1[st] XV teams as opposed to alumni); and, to further secure commitment from the institutions for the annual fixtures thereafter.
Discussions will be revisited regarding sponsorship of a screening opportunity for, and formal partnership with, The Varsity Matches – and the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge respectively. Likewise, other avenues to work with The Welsh Varsity will be explored.
The trustees plan to investigate the benefits of opening a bank account, with the intention of using these details to: facilitate opportunities for fundraising and donations on social media platforms and in other charitable spheres; and, enable decisions regarding financial contributions to screening options from our current funds.
The existing trustees will continue to consider the potential appointment of new trustees relating to the requirements and goals of TIWF in order to place experts within our governance who will ensure that we continue to move toward achieving our objects and vision.
www.theianwilliamsfoundation.org