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2023-03-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT 2022 - 2023

The Trustees (who are also the members of the charity) present their Annual Report together with the financial statements of Share and Repair (a CIO, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation) for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The Trustees confirm that the Annual Report and Accounts comply with the current statutory requirements of the Charity Commission’s regulations for small organisations with an income less than £250,000.

PURPOSE:

Share and Repair is responding to the overconsumption of the planet's resources through the current linear economy, excessive consumerism and a throw-away society. Starting with the consumer we can make a difference to attitudes and behaviour to reduce carbon emissions and thus reduce the rise in the planet’s temperature.

Our mission is to change behaviour through practical action and create a community where people think, share and repair before buying or throwing away.

VISION:

Why We Exist

1 1 The Global E-waste Monitor 2020 found that a record 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019, up 21 per cent in just five years, the UK is the second highest producer of e-waste per person: https://ewastemonitor.info/gem-2020/

TO DELIVER OUR PURPOSE:

We use practical activities to change behaviour and through our contact with users we act as a catalyst for change. We also understand that the next generation, children and young people, are a key target audience, but not in isolation.

In delivering these activities we hope to make repair, reuse and repurpose normal. In this way we reduce carbon, waste landfill and improve the environment whilst building communities.

IN 2022-2023 all our activities have grown by between 33% - 78% as well as introducing new activities.

Although there are many organisations delivering Repair Cafes, Libraries of Things or Tool Libraries, Share and Repair is a unique organisation as it delivers a full wider range of all of these services and others as a local, independent Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

Share and Repair has an affiliation with the Repair Café Foundation and is an active partner in The Community Repair Network UK and in The UK Sharing Libraries Network. It also works with The Restart Community, a national umbrella organisation supporting the expansion of the re-use community in the UK. Through this, it has access to a network of support, information and grants.

In the year under review our activities were:

As described below, many of these activities take place in and from our shop in George Street, Bath. We are very fortunate that BathNES Council support us by providing this property rent free. It has good storage and space for the Library of Things and for some Repair Sessions. The first floor is also used for some of our HOW TO Workshops and for our HomeKIT coordination.

REPAIRS:

We offer repairs at George Street and at 8 regular Repair Cafes across Bath and NE Somerset and into Wiltshire, and at Pop up Repair Cafes at both of the Universities in Bath. We do not charge for repairs, instead we ask users of the service to make a voluntary donation to support our work. Even when an item cannot be repaired, we offer valuable advice including the availability of other local resources.

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REPAIR SESSIONS AT GEORGE STREET

Repair sessions based at the George Street Shop are bookable with appointments from Wednesday to Saturday. Each day has its own team of volunteers who take time and care to deliver an excellent service where a 72% success rate is achieved.

The number of items seen in the last year increased by 33% to 770 meaning that with a 72% success rate, 554 items did not go into landfill or have to be purchased again.

Category of items for repair

Electrical items for repair are the most common followed by sewing repairs and electronics:

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REPAIR CAFES

The 8 Repair Cafes operate on a regular Saturday of each month at one of the following locations: Southdown, High Littleton, Weston, Farmborough, Larkhall, Bradford on Avon, Peasedown and with the addition of Corsham on March 31st 2023. The number of items seen increased by 76% to 943. These events, based at a community venue, are run by teams of volunteers who do the repairs, organise the rota, input data, and much more.

We know the most important group of people to reach in behaviour change is the young, and in addition to expanding our ‘Pop Up’ Repair Cafes at both Universities in Bath, we work nationally with The National Repair Network and Restart, to encourage the young to keep their tech items for longer.

Since starting in 2017, we have seen over 5,000 items and our repair success rate remains at more than 70%.

The most frequent items brought for repair continue to be lamps, toasters, trousers and radios with unusual items such as hand warmer heater pads or Ali Baba Baskets.

All these events are overseen by our part-time Community Projects Lead (see Staff).

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The feedback by users at all our Repair venues is always incredibly positive and people continue to give what they can in return for their repair. More people are aware of the need to mend it, rather than throw it away thanks to the publicity of The Repair Shop on TV and of course the financial crisis. ‘Give what you can’ makes repair affordable and accessible to all.

Again, we recognise the need to reach a younger audience so that mindset does not need to be changed in later life and we have started going into schools and working with 11 year olds. See Schools section later in the report.

THE LIBRARY OF THINGS

A Library of Things is just like a book Library but for Things. We are making great headway and increasing activity in every way: the number and variety of items to borrow, the number of people as members, and the number of items borrowed as well as the frequency of borrowing. It’s a very busy and cheerful place. People love what we do and are frequently extolling the virtues of such a system and how it should be a normal part of every town.

There is a small fee for borrowing determined by the item’s value. We have increased the number of items on our inventory and continually try to find items to meet the needs of the community and encourage them to avoid buying items which they only need for a short time. 97% of items are donated and where we see a need and have the money, we buy preloved. We invested in a second carpet cleaner which retains the title of most borrowed item, a closely contested spot with pressure washers.

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We now have over 700 items, an increase of 46%, and the number of those items borrowed in a year increased by 78% from 1138 to 2031. The number of active members rose by 63% to over 1000 people. As well as increasing our activity we constantly review how we are operating and become more efficient in the way we store items to make it easier to find them.

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CARGO BIKE

To reduce travel by car, pollution and congestion and to increase accessibility, we can deliver our loan items to people within the city boundaries h using our electric cargo bike, the Flying Satsuma, kindly sponsored by HPH Ltd. Our amazing team of volunteer bike riders set forth in all (safe) weather conditions, The Flying Satsuma rode an impressive 397 journeys last year

LIBRARY OF THINGS IMPACT

Based on the assumption that if people had bought the items, not borrowed them and then at a later date had to dispose of them, the 3890 loans since 2019 would have saved:

Amounts saved based on item values using Fixometre values.

HOW TO WORKSHOPS

These workshops empower people to do more for themselves so they can maintain items to keep them longer and repair and make more to reduce the ongoing need to buy.

We deliver 3 regular workshops: HOW TO Use your Sewing Machine, HOW TO Maintain your Bike and HOW TO Use Power Tools. We delivered a well-received Workshop to young women being supported by Mentoring Plus on HOW TO Use Power Tools. We introduced HOW TO Make a Dressing Up Costume in Bath Library, reaching a younger audience.

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SCHOOLS PROJECT: HOW TO Reduce Waste

This project aimed at 10/11 year olds is critical to our aim of changing behaviour towards sharing and repairing instead of consuming. Thanks to a grant from BWCE we were able to deliver four Workshops to each of the year 6 classes in both St Stephen’s and Newbridge School followed by an assembly. The pupils take on the role of repairer of both a vacuum cleaner and a torch overseen and guided by our volunteers. They also had sessions on The Circular Economy and sharing and walked to the shop for these workshops. The children then deliver what they have learnt to the rest of the school and we show our latest media animation HOW TO Reduce Waste The response has been tremendous both from the pupils and the staff. This work continued in 2023 and has been hugely successful.

From Chris Treble, WASPS school deputy head:

“ Our Year 6 children have loved the opportunity to work with the

Share and Repair team. The practical tasks have been really engaging and have complemented the sustainability element of our curriculum wonderfully. The children were then supported to share their learning with the other children in the school, and their parents, and they did so with enormous pride and enthusiasm.”

From the children:

‘I am going to try to repair things more often and not try to put stuff in the bin’

‘I really enjoyed learning new skills and repairing. I enjoyed the discussions as well as the physical activities’

‘I’ve learnt all about being better for the environment, waste, repairing and I even got the chance to fix lots of really interesting things. I think the repair shop is amazing’.

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HOMEKIT

We collect from the public their excess small electrical items such as kettles, irons, toasters, lamps and heaters. Once they have been checked and PAT Tested they are given to low income households via homeless and social housing charities. In 2021/2 we delivered 132 items for people in need and in 2022/3 208 items, an increase of 58%.

All recipients are clients of our valued partner organisations, for example, Julian House, DHI, Genesis, and Southside Family Project, whose recipients experience at least one of the follow circumstances, Addiction, Low Income, Domestic Violence and Refugee.

THE ELVES’ SWAPSHOP (CHRISTMAS EVENT)

We once again supported Bath BID (Business Improvement District) in the delivery of this project to help children understand the value of pre-loved toys and books. Another very successful event.

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MARKETING, PR AND AWARENESS

We continue to grow our social media following but recognise that we need to do much more to build awareness across the city of what is available especially south of the city. We plan to highlight the accessibility of borrowing using the Cargo Bike within the city limits.

We were invited to present at the International Conference on Fixing in Belgium ‘FIXFEST ‘ in September as an example of good practice for a High Street model of ‘Sharing and Repairing’ and continue to be involved in the national Community Repair Network and The National Share Network to expand the delivery throughout the country.

We were a finalist in Bath Awards Sustainability Section last year and in the Education Section this year for our Schools’ work. During the year we were shortlisted for The King’s Award for Voluntary Service and we are delighted to say we received the award in 2024.

Our knowledge, energy and links to the community are recognised as important ingredients in our participation on the BathNES Council’s Climate and Nature Group.

VOLUNTEERS

We rely heavily on almost 200 volunteers who welcome, inform and repair at all our locations. We are grateful to and so proud of our team, without whom we simply could not do the huge number of activities that we do, who give their energy, time, enthusiasm, data crunching, bike riding, payroll, teaching, bookkeeping, item caring, tech input, window display, baking and so much more for all our projects and in our shop, in the Repair Cafes and in the community.

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We are always delighted when students want to do a placement with us in any way, and we had the benefit of a student nurse who chose to do her community engagement experience with us. We also took 3 Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme students and other young people interested in repair to help at Repair Cafes and sit alongside repairers learning.

STAFF

As a rapidly growing organisation we reviewed our management structure during the year and made some new appointments. A Director was appointed in April 2022 along with a full time General Manager of the shop and two further part-time roles of a Volunteer Coordinator and a Community Projects Lead. This equates to 3 full time members of staff.

The Volunteer Coordinator ensures we have sufficient volunteers in the shop for each session, organises training in First Aid and in our IT programmes. The Community Projects Lead oversees the Repair Cafes and participation in other external events.

Our staff team work very well to support and encourage all our volunteers and students. We hold at least two Social events each year to bring together people from different days and locations. These events are always popular and have a very positive atmosphere.

PARTNERSHIPS

We work with, for and alongside many organisations including the charity partners for HomeKIT, the Universities, the Third Sector and Corporates.

At the University of Bath, we closely align with the Student Union and other departments for research.

We greatly value our Corporate Partners including HPH ltd who sponsor our cargo bike and the Coop who selected us as a Community Group.

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We are truly grateful for the support of BathNES Council and want to make more of their foresight in supporting us to be the first high street shop in England to deliver both a Library of Things and on site Repairs.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

Share and Repair started the new year in a good financial position thanks to prudent budgeting. We continue to review our staff structure to manage the increasing workload on a small budget and ambitious goals. As a result we appointed 2 part-time Heads of ‘Operations’ and ‘Business Development’ later in 2023.

In the year ahead, we plan to continue to expand the scale and range of services we offer. We remain on target to reach 300% growth of our 2023-2026 strategy and recognise the importance of consolidation to create robust systems and procedures to be a resilient and agile organisation. In doing so we will nurture our volunteers; value the staff team and enable them to feel engaged and confident in their work. We will learn as much as we can from others and generally improve efficiency and effectiveness across the organisation and build a strong and even more successful organisation

Our three year strategy can be found on our website.

Financial Review

In financial terms this was a year of strong growth for the charity with income increasing by £23k to £73k an increase of 46%, while spend was up £37k to £81k an increase of 82%.

Income growth was spread across all main activity areas with donations received through the repair shop and repair cafes both more than doubling, while the income category with the largest growth by value was grants and general donations which increased by £14k in year. We are very grateful for the significant financial support received from The CoOp, The Prism Charitable Trust, Bath Building Society, BANES, The Quartet Community Foundation, The Enterprise Development Programme and The Medlock Charitable Trust.

The increased spend was entirely down to building our core staff team with staff costs up by £38k to £62k a 268% rise. This was made possible by the generosity of the funders mentioned above and represents the first stage of investment in an ambitious 3-year growth strategy.

The end result was a net cash outflow in the year of £8k leaving the charity with funds of £59k at year end of which £14k were restricted funds and £45k unrestricted.

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We anticipate that this deficit will increase in the year ahead as we invest further in our operating systems and marketing as part of our growth strategy before returning to net incoming funds thereafter.

Reserves and going concern

The trustees’ policy is that reserves should aim to equal between three and six months of the organisation’s running costs, which in monetary terms means £20k - £40k based on the figures in these accounts. The trustees believe this level of reserves will provide short term financial stability and allow time to secure alternative sources of funding, in the event of a significant income drop.

Reserves, which are shown as unrestricted cash funds at the year end, fell during the period from £52k to £45k and were equivalent to just under 7 months expenditure at the end of the period. Although this is above the charity’s target level, the trustees believe this is acceptable given the expansion of the charity’s core staff team in the year and the consequent increased spend for the financial year 2023-24 which we expect will bring reserves back into the target range.

The Trustees have identified no significant short or medium term financial risks to the charity’s continued operations, therefore the accounts have been prepared on the ‘going concern’ basis.

RISK MANAGEMENT

During the year, the Trustees introduced a new approach to risk management centred around a robust Risk Register that looks at the strategic, business and operational risks the charity faces, and identifies ways to monitor and mitigate them. The register is reviewed regularly at Board meetings.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty under Section 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit. Share and Repair carries out a wide range of activities in furtherance of its charitable objectives, as detailed above. Where possible we have attempted to quantify the number of direct beneficiaries, and we also believe the community-building aspects of these activities provide benefit to the wider public both in the areas where we work and beyond.

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STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

LEGAL STATUS

Share and Repair was established on 22nd of April 2017 as an unincorporated Community Group which was later registered as an independent charity by the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on April 14th 2020 registration number 1189015.

The charity is governed by its Constitution.

TRUSTEES

Trustees who served during the period during the period and up to the date of this report were as follows:

During the year, Owen Rogers resigned as Treasurer to allow a local Charity Accountant to step in as Treasurer in January 2023. We thank Owen for his continued commitment to Share and Repair as a repairer and voice of support.

The Board of Trustees administers the charity and meets more than four times a year. Where appropriate Trustees have a designated responsibility for areas e.g. health and safety, finance, PR & Marketing, we use third sector support organisations for small charities, for HR and legal issues. The current Chair of Trustees manages the operations of the organisation as a volunteer, overseeing the staff team who have delegated responsibility for specific areas of day to day activities as discussed above.

APPOINTMENT AND INDUCTION OF NEW TRUSTEES

New trustees are recruited by open advertisement in line with the charity’s policy on equal opportunities or co-opted to fill specialist roles e.g., people with environmental, business or marketing experience. They are formally voted in at the next Annual General Meeting.

New trustees are given an induction to the Charity and the role of Trustee and encouraged to undertake external training events where these will facilitate the

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undertaking of their role. All trustees are given opportunities for training on new regulations or changes within the voluntary sector.

This report was approved by the Trustees on January 17[th ] 2024 and signed on their behalf by: Lorna Montgomery, Chair of Trustees

Signed:

January 22[nd] 2024

Share and Repair Charity number: 1189015 For the year ended 31 March 2023.

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Trustees Lorna Montgomery (Chair)
Rebecca Donovan (Secretary)
Nick James
Sarah Kendall
Ian Souter
Steve Brown (Treasurer)
Charity number 1189015
Registered Office 22 Malvern Buildings
Bath
BA1 6JX
Principal place of business The Share & Repair Shop
3 York Buildings
George St
Bath
BA1 2EB
Independent Examiner Peter Barralet FCA
74 Bath Road
Longwell Green
Bristol
BS30 9DS
Bankers Metro Bank
18-19 Stall Street
Bath
BA1 1QB

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts R8port to the trustoesl member5 of Share & Repair On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 Charity no lif any) 1189015 Set out on pagos I report to the trustees on my examination Df the accounts of the above charity I'lhe Trust") for the year ended 31 / a3 / 2QZ3. Re5ponslbilities and As the ('.harity trustees of the Trusl, you tir > responsible for the pr8paralion basis of report ofthe 3,:counts in accordance ￿1th the requirements of the Charib'es Act 2011 1.the Act"}. I report In respect of my examinalion o¢1 •IL. Trust's accounts carried out under s.)ction 145 of tho 2011 Act an-l in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by th8 Charity Commission under section 14515}(bl of the Act. I have Lompleted my examination. I confirm that no malarial matters have come lo my attention (other than that disel !sed below "l in connection with the exaiiiination which gives me cause to )elieve that in. any material respect" accounting records were not kept in accordance wilh section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's ststement I have r.o concerns and have come ocross no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper ,Jnderstanding of the accounts tc) bp reached. Pl8asn delete the words in th8 bracket.£ IF thèy do not apply. Signed: Date: L. cl_.20'L Name: A ri 12 LI-I Rolpvant professional qualification(s) or body (If any): Address: 7+ nsA7 IER 17 October 2018

Only corniilele if the examiner needs Ii) highlight matters of concern Isoe CC32, Independent examination of charity accoLints'. directions and guidance for examiners>. Give here brief details of any Items that the examlner wlshes to disdose. HD ?cl 124 tWL.L (Lu rfl L- ¢tQ L i s Rknr7tt£"12 -t 6o&i Prf[" QAI ItrLLL4JtJlJ s'+1 L ",fDPI IL g414 Ll Irfo FL f" R £fofL7 .Yt Prswi5 ¢ / r J ILC. E-4L)J ky £, reg trJDJ 4rY¢¥ /1<tr4 <Ft£ CF-rz¥f frfy I IER October 2018

Share and Repair

Charity number: 1189015

Receipts and payments

For the year ended 31 March 2023 All figures to nearest pound sterling

2023
Unrestricted
funds
£
2023
Restricted
funds
£
2023
Total funds
£
2022
Total funds
£
RECEIPTS
Share and Repair Shop
Library of Things
14,490
-
14,490
Repairs - donations
7,315
-
7,315
Sales
1,530
-
1,530
Other income
651
-
651		 10,837
3,244
353
513
Community Projects & Education
Repair Cafes - donations
4,670
-
4,670
How-To workshops
245
-
245
Other events
-
-
-		 2,000
542
2,275
Grants & Fundraising
Grants and donations
11,239
32,725
43,964		 30,257
TOTAL RECEIPTS
40,140
32,725
72,865		 50,020
PAYMENTS
Salaries, NI, pension, training
36,251
25,582
61,833
Freelance staff
649
854
1,502
Repair shop - premises
1,717
530
2,247
Repair shop - parts and consumables
2,062
-
2,062
Library of Things
600
888
1,488
Repair café expenses
1,319
-
1,319
Homekit expenses
0
68
68
Insurance
887
-
887
Marketing
1,030
1,958
2,988
Volunteer events and expenses
483
530
1,013
Office running costs
1,111
918
2,029
Fundraising
-
-
-
Other
235
-
235		 23,061
3,557
1,086
3,541
441
345
345
1,157
1,730
1,276
1,057
495
124
SUB TOTAL PAYMENTS
46,343
31,328
77,671		 37,869
ASSET AND INVESTMENT PURCHASES
Repair shop & office equipment
1,379
485
1,864
Tools and machinery
26
1,581
1,607		 1,367
5,282
TOTAL PURCHASES
1,405
2,066
3,471		 6,649
TOTAL PAYMENTS
47,748
33,394
81,142		 44,518
NET RECEIPTS/PAYMENTS
(7,608)
(669)
(8,277)		 5,502
Cash funds lastyear end
52,278
14,601
66,879		 61,376
CASH FUNDS AT YEAR END
44,670
13,932
58,602		 66,879
Statement of assets
and liabilities
Of which
unrestricted
Of which
restricted
TOTAL
Cash Funds
Cash in bank, and in hand 44,670
13,932
58,602
Assets retained for use by the charity
Repair shop & office equipment
Tools and machinery		 2,810
1,175
3,985
-
7,408
7,408
Liabilities
Trade creditors
PAYE
Pension		 799
799
1,601
1,601
313
313

Signed on behalf of the trustees:

Lorna Montgomery Chair of Trustees 22 January 2024

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