## **TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT – YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024**
## **Our activities**
Charity Buddy’s core operational activities are directed towards improving the lives of animals and their habitats, whilst offering rewarding opportunities for the public to volunteer and engage with our work.
## **Our current activities include:**
- Providing a **sanctuary** for geriatric animals
- Provision of **pro bono business and creative support** to animal charities and voluntary sector organisations, through our network of professional volunteers
- Operation of **PetRehomer** , a national pet rehoming and adoption service to help people _responsibly rehome_ pets that they can no longer care for (launched in Q4 2022)
- **Rewilding** a 30-acre site at our HQ in Surrey. Aside from the benefits of nature recovery, this encourages study, research and engagement with people interested in ecology
## **Our impact**
## **Sanctuary for geriatric animals**
Whilst we continue to care for the remaining animals (13) geriatric horses, ponies, sheep and hens at the Charity Buddy sanctuary, we have decided not to take in any more large grazing animals, reducing the amount of land needed for sanctuary purposes.
We believe that longer term, we can improve the lives of many more animals by focusing on rehoming pets through PetRehomer, our new scalable rehoming service, and by dedicating the majority of the land used for grazing horses and sheep to further rewilding. By doing this we can have a greater positive impact on improving habitats for wildlife and supporting nature recovery.
## **Pro bono business and creative support**
Until September 2023 we continued to support a wide range of voluntary sector animal welfare organisations through the deployment of our network of Charity Buddy professional volunteers which supported our diverse client base of animal welfare organisations from the smallest hedgehog rescue centre to large, well-established animal charities. These included campaigning groups, animal law charities, pet rehoming charities and rescue centres, pet community support groups, wildlife conservation, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation, animal sanctuaries, and educational centres.
This aspect of our work continued to grow organically, year on year, however our Trustee Board made the difficult decision to suspend this aspect of our work, to enable our team to focus on the two main workstreams (Rewilding and nature recovery & PetRehomer, supporting the direct ‘home to home’ adoption of pets throughout the UK)
During FY 2023/4 we have provided volunteers for a wide range of projects including:
- Social media campaign support
- Advice relating to land rights
- Executive coaching
- Support to become a registered CIO (numerous applications)
- • Fundraising consulting • Website design and development
- Google Ads Grant deployment
- HR software advice and employee handbook updates
- Media support
- SEO support
- Marketing collateral development
- Logo designs
- Content writing
- • Filming/video production
- Recruitment support ( ongoing volunteer roles, Trustees etc.)
- Campaign support
-
- Facilitation
- Surveyors and planning advice
- Legal advice
Our volunteers operated remotely and used their skills to help our clients with tasks, projects or ongoing roles that they did not have the skills, experience or expertise to undertake themselves. This gave animal welfare organisations and alike, access to valuable resources which would otherwise have been costly, time-consuming to identify, or out-of-reach, whilst offering flexible and rewarding volunteering opportunities within the animal welfare sector.
## **Rewilding**
We started on our rewilding journey in 2022, having expanded our charitable objects to include this essential element. We believe that nature recovery plays a crucial role in offering suitable habitats for wild animals, birds and insects, whilst providing a setting for study, research and engagement with people interested in ecology.
We have a 30-acre ‘small-scale’ wilding site at Maple Farm in Alfold, Surrey which was previously used as grazing land. This site is being managed in conjunction with our partners, Youngwilders, a volunteer-led group of ecology, conservation and environmental enthusiasts. Youngwilders is a non-profit CIC organisation focused on accelerating the wilding of the UK, involving young people in the process.
## **Activities and Achievements during 2023/24**
**April-May 2023** - Youngwilders lead a large volunteer effort dismantling two disused horse shelters on the site, and using these and other waste materials to construct a large outdoor classroom on the site. This activity engaged with 40 young people over two weekends and is now used as a covered outdoor classroom for our visiting early years forest school, and for numerous other volunteer activities, workshops and nature-based study.
**June 2023** - Giant Hogweed management – Working alonfgside the banks of the River Lox in an effort to contain the presence and spread of this harmful invasive species.
**July 2023** - Working with the Youngwilders – A new Summer Intern and a team of 5 young volunteers, undertook soil soakage testing, which was carried out across the site to assess the suitability of floodplain wetland scrapes.
**October 2023** - Fence removal volunteer day, engaging 15 young volunteers. Waste material used to build a wild animal shelter on the site.
**November 2023** - Camera trapping exercise, fixed point photography of the site to assess wildlife.
**December 2023** - Relationship established with Jack and Gill forest school, for shared use of the outdoor classroom on the site. First collaboration scheduled for early 2024. This collaboration provides pre-school children with the opportunity to spend time every week in nature.
**January 2024** - First artist in residence began. Sound artist Dee Sharma producied a series of bio-acoustic recordings from the site for public exhibition.
**February 2024** - Lead ecologist Meg Cookson designed our new "Wayfinders" programme, a series of youthlead fields skills lessons and citizen science efforts based at the Maple Farm Classroom to both educate young people and formally survey the site to measure our ecological progress. Wayfinders conveniently coincidied with the new beehive building education era!
**March 2024** - Project Officer Conor McNeil conducted a series of minor interventions, removing excess fencing, etc. kick starting our national Wild Stewards Programme in earnest.
**April 2024** - 2 x Eco Bee Hives were installed to provide essential habitat to wild honeybees (Phase 1 of project to help wild honeybees)
Following receipt of a grant from The Community Foundation for Surrey, we have plans to add more wild bee hives to various locations of the rewilding site, and a bee-centric Layens hive close to our newly created allotment where children visit and learn how to grow organic vegetables. 1 of project to help wild honeybees)
## **PetRehomer**
PetRehomer is the brand name of Charity Buddy’s pet rehoming and adoption service.
We're a safer, more professional and ethical alternative to commercial pet trading sites such as Gumtree, Pets4Homes, Preloved and Facebook. Through our unique model of direct rehoming, we support and empower people to rehome their pets responsibly.
## How we’re making a difference to people and pets
By connecting people who need to give up their pets with potential adopters, PetRehomer…
- helps keep animals out of rescue centres, saving that valuable resource for pets who’ve been abandoned, need emergency or specialist care.
- lets rehomers choose who adopts their pet, helping to make a tough decision a little less daunting
- maximises the chance of pets finding their forever home by helping to match them with suitable adopters.
- gives adopters the chance to meet and observe pets in their current home before they agree to the adoption
- offers a non-judgemental service to rehomers
- • makes pet adoption more accessible and encourages people to adopt rather than ‘shop’.
As well as offering a platform for listing and searching for pets, we also screen adopters to make the process as safe as possible, have a secure payment service for adoption fees, give animal welfare advice, and offer vital post-adoption support.
At the moment, we only accommodate cats, dogs and rabbits but we intend to expand to other species soon.
## How we operate
PetRehomer was created with no budget, entirely by volunteers. We have been using our pet adoption platform which was softly launched in late Autumn 2022 from a standing start, using a technical MVP (minimum viable product). The demand for our service has grown beyond our expectations and we have successfully rehomed hundreds of dogs, cats and rabbits through this supported new service.
We have no operational or marketing budget, and all our growth is organic, proving the genuine need for our service. However, to help more people and pets in need, we would very much welcome financial support from philanthropists, ethical organisations and/or trusts.
## **– PetRehomer plans for 2024/5 a new and different approach**
## **Continue beyond the pilot, MVP**
We’re delighted with the impact that PetRehomer is making, and the positive feedback we’re receiving from people who’ve used our service. As such, we will continue to operate beyond the pilot and help support dogs, cats and rabbits find their forever home.
## **Continue our neuter fund**
We know that in an ideal world pets should be neutered prior to rehoming. But people regularly ask to list unneutered pets on our platform. We do not want to turn these pets away as we know that we can find responsible adopters who’ll agree to have them neutered as a condition of the adoption. If we turn them away, these pets are likely to end up on unregulated online marketplaces or may even be neglected or abandoned.
To address this challenge, we want to continue our neuter fund to encourage more people to adopt unneutered pets.
How it works – When an adopter adopts an unneutered pet through our service, we use the money from our fund to partially reimburse some of the costs associated with neutering (after seeing evidence of the neuter procedure, such as a receipt from the vet). This is offered on an “as funds allow” basis, so it is only available when we are in a position to financially help.
No other rehoming or rescue organisation in the UK today offers anything like this. But we believed it was time for a new approach to tackling the growing crisis of unplanned litters and, consequently, unwanted pets. We were fortunate to receive a small grant to support some dog neutering costs, however the demand is so high for neutering of all species, we are actively seeking further funding to support this essential procedure and help stem the problem.
## **Overview**
Charity Buddy registered as a Foundation CIO in April 2020 and does not have any permanent employees or workers, although we do use temporary staff from time to time.
We are grateful to Maple Farm Stables Limited for the kind donation of feed, hay and bedding for the animals within our sanctuary, and to our supporters who have made donations. We are delighted to have received a number of grants enabling us to deliver most of our plan for this year’s rewilding objectives.
Moving further into 2024/5, we will need to raise more funds to continue our work and deliver our objectives for PetRehomer, and for the operating costs of the Charity Buddy Sanctuary.
The Trustees confirm that they comply with their duty to have regard to the guidance on public benefit, published by the Charity Commission, when exercising their powers and duties.
## **CHARITY BUDDY - REGISTERED CHARITY 1189284**
## **ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2024**
## **Detailed Profit and Loss Account for the year ended 31 March 2024**
|**INCOME:**
Donations inc Gift Aid
Grants
Adoption Donations
Miscellaneous
**EXPENDITURE:**
Feed,Vet, Dental & Farrier Fees
Pet Neutering Costs
Consumable Equipment
Software Subscriptions
Freelance staff costs
Volunteers travel Costs
Insurance
Rewilding
Stationery & Postage
Rehoming Costs
Pet Rehomer Platform Costs
Telephone
Professional Memberships inc ADCH
Repairs & Maintenance
Depreciation (20% of Cost)
Sundry Costs
**NET INCOME FOR PERIOD**|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**Total**
**Funds**
**Funds**
**31-Mar-24**
**31-Mar-23**
**£**
**£**
12654
0
12654
15412
2000
11934
13934
17860
59569
0
59569
7119
683
0
683
359|
|---|---|
||**74906**
**11934**
**86840**
**40750**|
||2662
0
2662
3072
1083
0
1083
0
0
0
0
86
0
2233
2233
899
37123
0
37123
7484
202
0
202
435
806
0
806
751
0
3959
3959
4689
78
0
78
56
289
0
289
559
12100
0
12100
1070
291
0
291
0
97
0
97
0
0
0
0
425
94
0
94
94
2
0
2
164|
||**54827**
**6192**
**61019**
**19784**|
||**20079**
**5742**
**25821**
**20966**|
## **Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2023**
|**Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2023**||
|---|---|
|**FIXED ASSETS**
Furniture & Equipment - Cost
Furniture & Equipment - Depreciation
**CURRENT ASSETS:**
Bank Balance at 31.3.24
**CREDITORS DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR**
**NET ASSETS**
**CAPITAL & RESERVES**
As at 1.4.23
Net Income Year to 31.3.24
**As at 31.3.24**|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**Total**
**Total**
**Funds**
**Funds**
**31-Mar-24**
**31-Mar-23**
**£**
**£**
470
0
470
470
188
0
188
94|
||282
0
282
376
30405
19637
50042
24127|
||30687
19637
50324
24503
0
0
0
0|
||30687
19637
50324
24503|
||10608
13895
24503
3537
20079
5742
25821
20966|
||**30687**
**19637**
**50324**
**24503**|
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's report on the
accounts
Section A
Independent Examinerfs Report
Report to the trustees
CHARITY BUDDY
On accounts for the year
ended
3151 March 2024
Charity no
lif any)
1189284
Set out on pages
One
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
harity ("the Trust") for the year ended 31103 12024
Responsibilities and
basis of report
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation 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 acwunts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed all the apFAicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 14515llb} of the Act.
Independent I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have
examiner's statoment come to my attention in connection wrth the examination which gives me
cause to believe that in, any material respect..
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130
of the Chartties Act.. or
the accounts did not accord with the acwunting records., or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements
Conrning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charitie5
{Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement
that the accounts give a 'true and fair. view which is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in
order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed:
ate:
1710612024
Name:
Petrou & Co Limited
Relevant professional
qualification(sl or body
(if any}:
Chartered Accounlants
Address:
4 Heddon Court Cockfosters Road Herts EN4 ODE
IER
Oct 2018
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete If the exanTriner needs lo highlight material mallers ol GOnrn
{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.
IER
Oct 2018