2023-12-31-accounts - Out Together

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date To[Period end date ] 1[st] January 2023 31[st] December 2023 From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Out Together Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1188461 Charity's principal address 19 Church Lane Bardsey Leeds Postcode LS17 9DH

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year
Tim Gittins	Chair ActingTreasurer	13/3/24 - 31/12/24
Katie Robinson	Vice Chair
Judith Firman	Treasurer	01/01/24 – 13/08/24
Hannah Bithell
AntonyBall	Secretary
Sophie Linley		Appointed 10/09/24
Sam Glenister-Batey		Appointed 10/09/24
PerryLaw		Appointed 10/09/24












Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
Name		Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document Constitution (eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted Charitable incorporated organisation (eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods Appointed by board of trustees (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by working with people who are socially excluded on the grounds of their age and sexual orientation (in particular, elderly people who identify as

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LGBT+) to relieve the needs of such people and assist them to integrate into society, in particular by:

(a) providing a local network group that encourages and enables members to interact more effectively with the wider community (including the young LGBT+ community); and
(b) raising public awareness of the issues affecting elderly people who identify as LGBT+ generally and in relation to their social exclusion.”
1. Improve the ability, opportunity for and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity
1. Develop a collaborative out-reach strategy, with other agencies where needed, that helps find and identify people who could otherwise be excluded
1. Build an organisation to offer them befriending, signposting to other relevant organisations, and an inclusive network group which welcomes, protects and safeguards them
1. Design and implement a social media and PR strategy to
Summary of the main communicate effectively with members and to promote
activities undertaken for the external awareness of Out Together, especially within the
public benefit in relation to LGBT community, that will foster mutual support
these objects (include within 5. Encourage members to mobilize their individual skills and
this section the statutory declaration that trustees have work together to realise and develop their strengths, with a had regard to the guidance range of regular activities and events that will encourage issued by the Charity members to keep well, have fun and stay connected Commission on public 6. Implement a fundraising programme that will minimise the benefit) dependency on, and uncertainty of, external grants needed to support continuing operations

During the period the trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and have taken this into account when making a decision to which the guidance is relevant.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

All our activities are volunteer led and we encourage and support out membership to be involved in the works of the charity.

Section D Achievements and performance

Our Strategic Planning

We based our Plan for 2023 on strategic objectives we adopted in November 2022.

Implement a fund-raising program that will minimise the dependency on, and uncertainty of, external grants needed to support continuing operations
Develop and expand outreach and tele-friending programmes
Establish inclusive social network groups and activities, both digitally and close to where people live
Develop inter-generational links to encourage individuals to share and learn from life experiences
Recruit corporate and individual partners and supporters to help promote and finance the charity
Promote greater public awareness of the specific impacts that affect LGBT+ seniors more than their straight peers.
Improve our marketing, PR and social media programmes to communicate separately and effectively with individual stakeholders and audiences

Key achievements were

Out Together rebranding

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Section D Achievements and performance

The great success of 2023 was the relaunch and renaming of the charity, resulting in a much higher profile based on greater inclusivity. At the relaunch we brought together representatives from diverse sectors of the community; it significantly boosted our profile and established new corporate and individual relationships, which strengthened over the year, from organisations wishing to work with us, and from individuals wanting to use their skills to help us achieve our goals.

Following the official charity name change to “OUT TOGETHER” in March, we began using our new logo, domain and email address across all our communications. This was a big step forward in breaking the links to the past.

The new branding gave us the confidence in April to bid for the ITV/Lottery People’s Project Award that could have given us up to £70K in funding. Although we didn’t win, as a runner up we were awarded £10k, and achieved significant visibility from a peak time TV appearance and increased social media support.

Our higher profile attracted LGBT+ groups from outside Leeds to contact us, which resulted in alliances with The Brunswick Centre in Huddersfield and with Out in the Valley, a social group in Calderdale. Several joint meetings of our members and these groups took place.

Relationship building

The success of the relaunch led to us founding

Partners in Pride, for organisations sharing our values, aims and objectives; we gave several presentations to firms and their employees explaining our work and worked with others to help mark Pride and LGBT History Month. These included Wellington Place, Evri, Walker Morris, Weightmans, Leeds Law Society, Manchester Law Society
Club Out Together, for younger LGBTQ+ professionals, to realise the potential for all generations of our community with skills, dedication and commitment to work together to create lasting change. Beginning in September 2023 we started a series of networking events (each hosted by different Partners in Pride) for individuals to discuss the challenges LGBTQ+ people face.

Income and fundraising

Total income was £67,800, (2022 £63,327) an increase of 7.0%

Our receipts from fundraising and donations increased by a remarkable 96.5% to £37,980 (2022 £19,327). Our income from grants declined to £29,700(2022 £44,000). We are satisfied that this reflected a move towards self-generated unrestricted funds away from project-specific grants which fund individual initiatives. Whilst the latter will continue to support much needed work, we recognised that our longer-term priority is to bid for core funding grants that will provide a sustainable foundation to grow our future capacity.

Grants received
Sir George Martin Trust	£3,000	Developing regional hubs
Leeds Community Fund	£4,000	Advocacy project
Private individual	£2,400	Developing networks
Peoples Project Lottery	£10,000	Telefriending
Cognizant	£9,300	Digital Inclusion

Key fundraising events

The 2[nd] All Out Together Ball - raised over £8k in profit and attracted 160 supporters and corporate partners.
Leeds Law Society 2022/23 President’s annual dinner - chosen charity. Our higher profile undoubtedly boosted the proceeds of the raffle which raised £4250.

Events and Activities

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Section D Achievements and performance

The programme of regular members events continued, with 72 coffee and cake meet-ups in Leeds and Huddersfield, and 24 twice monthly lunches in Leeds. Attendance continued to grow. We organised one-off activities, including theatre visits and a seaside excursion. The annual Christmas party attracted 58 members and allies.

Digital inclusion

Our membership base includes a high proportion of people aged over 60. Although many of them can access the internet through broadband or smart phones, others are excluded for a variety of reasons. We communicate with them by phone and post, which adds to our workload. We were awarded a grant of £9k for a 12 month project beginning in 2024 that would survey our members needs and enable us to plan and implement a programme of activities designed to encourage all members to improve their digital skills.

Challenges we faced

Communications

We were disappointed not to make sufficient progress improving our digital communications, and it was agreed that this would be a high priority for 2024.

Social media
Using external consultants we maintained a monthly programme of postings of our events and key activities that was successful in attracting new attendees, but we lacked internal expertise at management level to drive the system more effectively to reach targeted audiences.
Website Our website has been commended for its visual design but we made limited progress in maintaining the overall content.
Customer Relationship Management system (CRM)
The transitional planning we did in 2022 showed that our inherited system for emailing members and supporters was becoming unwieldy for a charity of our size. We were unable easily to segment our digital communications for the separate audiences amongst our stakeholders. Our regular newsletter readership increased to 170, but it was primarily an events-based update for members. Although we acknowledged that the longer-term solution was to replace the system, this would need careful planning, and was carried forward to 2024.

Telefriending

We extended the 12-month pilot with Opening Doors London (ODL) but renegotiated the fee to reflect the experience we had gained, and that changes affecting ODL had reduced their capacity. With an existing base of 12 telefriendees we were keen to continue the service, but by October 2023 it became clear that ODL was in financial difficulties and all new telefriending referrals were stopped. (In February 2024 ODL ceased operations altogether; we have been successful in finding an alternative provider).

Increasing Capacity and measuring impact

Many small charities are run by trustees who combine strategic and operational responsibilities. Our existing small management team of 3 (including1 part-time consultant) plus 3 volunteers succeeded in growing the charity’s operations, but not achieving the rate of expansion that would have been possible with more managers and volunteers. We did not want to curtail our ambitions but struggled to devote enough time to the strategic efforts needed to boost capacity.

During the year we engaged with experts at the National Lottery Community Fund and at the Cranfield Trust and learned how this restricting cycle can trap a charity in a constant state of being under capacity. We were considered very investable to funders, with the potential to deliver significant measurable and sustainable

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Section D Achievements and performance

outcomes. To achieve sustainable growth with a larger, more effective team would require longer-term core funding based on planning for at least a 3-4 year period.

We learned that many longer-term funding providers require evidence-based impact reports, which require baselines for tracking change or progress. We accepted that we had no realistic methodology for measuring our impact and the effectiveness of our collaboration with stakeholders. We concluded that as soon as it was feasible we would use a strategic planning tool known as Theory of Change.

Another limitation we have faced in addressing impact is that our community is primarily invisible, and therefore difficult to identify. In January 2023 West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) published a report from the Census 2021 about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity. This provided for the first-time accurate data on LGBTQ+ demographics across the five local authorities in our region, for example that there were 6385 people aged 55 and over who identified as LGB, or that 11383 people stated that they have a different gender identity than the sex they were registered with.

The information we can obtain from the Census results will strengthen our efforts to secure funding and partnerships by highlighting the scale and importance of our work. For the first time we can quantify and champion the interests of our community based on real numbers, and set realistic, data-driven goals.

Outlook for 2024

At the time of writing this report we can look back at a very successful year so far with progress being made on recruitment of new trustees aligned with the objectives and requirements of the charity and with a sound financial base to support the continuation of our strategic plan.

Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

The charity aims to ensure that there are sufficient funds to allow it to continue its operations for at least three months without income. As the operational costs of the charity have been very low, the policy will be reviewed to reflect the plans for future expansion.

Section F Other optional information

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Section G Declaration

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

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date		ABall
	Timothy Paul Gittins	Antony Ball
	Chair	Secretary
	30/10/24
	30/10/24

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OUT TOGETHER 1188461 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01/01/2023 31/12/2023

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 37,980 - - - - - - - 37,980 - - - 37,980 16,347 2,421 4,101 12,850 - - - - - 35,719 - - - 35,719 2,261 - 237 10,720 12,744	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - 29,700 - - - - - - 29,700 - - - 29,700 11,889 3,195 2,950 12,500 - - - - - 30,534 - - - 30,534 - 834 237 12,397 11,800	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Total funds to the nearest £ 37,980 29,700 - - - - - - 67,680 - - - 67,680 28,236 5,616 7,051 25,350 - - - - - 66,253 - - - 66,253 1,427	Last year to the nearest £
Fund raisingand donations	37,980				19,327
Grants	-				44,000
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*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	37,980				63,327

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
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*Sub total*	-				-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
					63,327

Direct cost of charitable activities	16,347				19,572
Administration	2,421				4,491
Communications and PR	4,101				5,810
Consultancy	12,850				23,400
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**Sub total **	35,719				53,273

A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-
	-
**Sub total **	-				-
*Total payments* *Net of receipts/(payments)* A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end *Cash funds this year end*
					53,273

	2,261	- 834	-	1,427	10,054
	- 237	237	-	-	-
	10,720	12,397	-	23,117	-
	12,744	11,800	-	24,544	10,054

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds CCXX R2 accounts (SS)	Details Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) CAF BANK Details Details Details Signature 2	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 12,744 11,800 - - - - 12,744 11,800 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Timothy Gittins	Endowment funds to nearest £
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			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
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			Current value (optional)
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			Current value (optional)
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			When due (optional)






			30/10/2024

	2

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Out Togelher (formerly Friends of Dorothy) On accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023 Charity no lif any) 1188461 Set out on pages CC16a I report lo the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity I'the Trust") for the year ended 31 1 1 1013 Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Acl and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ib) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have ome to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no Goncerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: 2511012024 Name: Mr Charfes Dunning ACA Relevant professional qualification(sl or body {frf any): Chartered Accountant {ICAEW) Address: 32 Coronation Avenue, Normanlon, WF6 2LW IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight mallers of concern (see CC32. Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. None. IER October 2018