## **Trustees Annual Report** 2022-2023
Charity Registration Number: 1189423
**1**
|**Contents**
**Who We Are**
**Our Mission**
**Our Values**
**Our Strategic Aims**
**Our Achievements and Performance**
**Looking Forward**
**Financial Review 2022-2023**
**Our Structure and Management**
**Declarations**
**Appendix A: Statement of Financial Activities**|**Contents**
**Who We Are**
**Our Mission**
**Our Values**
**Our Strategic Aims**
**Our Achievements and Performance**
**Looking Forward**
**Financial Review 2022-2023**
**Our Structure and Management**
**Declarations**
**Appendix A: Statement of Financial Activities**|**Contents**
**Who We Are**
**Our Mission**
**Our Values**
**Our Strategic Aims**
**Our Achievements and Performance**
**Looking Forward**
**Financial Review 2022-2023**
**Our Structure and Management**
**Declarations**
**Appendix A: Statement of Financial Activities**|||||**3**
**3**
**3**
**4**
**5**
**8**
**9**
**10**
**10**
**11**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
**2**
## **Who We Are**
Here at Creating Memories we are dedicated to fulfilling the unique wishes of children and families who are living with a life-limiting or terminal illness in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire. We have been delivering wishes since 2018 and became a registered charity in 2020.
## **Our Mission**
We are dedicated to creating moments to treasure for each child. Based in Bedfordshire, we are passionate about working alongside local businesses, communities, and individuals. ‘Making it Happen’, is our official mission statement, and this, alongside our values, drives our progress and growth.
## **Our Values**
The core values behind Creating Memories are vital to ensuring that everyone involved with the charity is working with integrity and purpose.
## **Action**
Working with passion and commitment to make wishes happen. Creating positive moments that have lasting impact.
## **Creativity**
Allow contributors to participate creatively in the coordination of each individual wish.
## **Listening**
Understanding the needs of every child. Taking the time and care to make a wish unique and specially tailored to each individual child.
## **Flexibility**
Creating a dynamic, adaptable environment that can respond to the needs of the child, family and/or carers involved.
## **Nurturing**
Keeping the focus on the concept of ‘giving,’ to bring joy to local children/ families/carers and build a caring local community
**3**
## **Our Strategic Aims**
1. Build a supportive local community that can help to make a positive
- difference to local lives.
2. Create moments for local children/families/carers to treasure forever.
3. Provide a sense that anything is possible and that wishes do come true.
4. Work in partnership to create opportunities where businesses can get involved and help as part of their corporate social responsibility.
5. Create opportunities for individuals to give back to the local community, whether that be time, services, products and/or through donations.
**4**
## **Our Achievements and Performance**
The period from April 2022 to March 2023 was one of significant growth and development for us. While a significant portion of the year saw us still unable to deliver wishes and instead focus on income generation and raising awareness of our charity work, by the autumn we were fortunate to be able to start delivering individual wishes once again. Between October 2022 and April 2023, Creating Memories received eight wish requests, six of which were delivered by April 2023.
Creating Memories has been able to sustain and grow during what has been a difficult year, and we can evidence a dedication towards/positive development under each of our strategic aims, outlined below.
## **Build a supportive local community that can help to make a positive difference to local lives.**
Creating Memories prides itself on the local network of support we have built up over the years with local businesses, communities, and individuals. We have formed excellent working relationships with several hospices across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire.
We have worked with key figures and businesses as part of our fundraising and awareness building efforts. This led to a generous donation from Fujifilm, following on from a previous collaboration and cementing our ongoing relationship with them.
**5**
In addition, local companies rallied to help provide gifts for our second Christmas Hamper appeal, held in conjunction with Keech Hospice.
This included 130 items donated by the employees of Fujifilm in Bedford, 160 free cinema tickets from Cineworld, toy donations from high street chain Card Factory (kindly delivered by PW Distribution), gift sets from Kiim & Miller, toys from local charity Kids Out and personalised mugs from Emotion UK.
In October 2022, Creating Memories was also selected as one of three nominated charities for a Tesco Grant, ultimately coming in second place and receiving £1000 in funding.
We were also selected as one of three national charities to be supported as part of the stationer Scribbler’s planned 2023 Christmas Card campaign.
## **Create moments for local children/families/carers to treasure forever.**
Six families were granted wishes this year. This included the delivery of a bespoke robot, personalised artwork, gifted trips to Mead Open Farm, Legoland, Peppa Pig World and London Zoo, a personalised birthday message from CBBC’s Mr Tumble, and a mini break with Holistic Thinking Holidays, paired with a wheely boat experience thanks to Action 4 Youth.
**6**
**Provide a sense that anything is possible and that wishes do come true.**
This year we were able to recruit our first part time employee, that of a Wish Co-ordinator. This has helped to formalise the work of the charity and establish us further within the local community.
Creating Memories saw significant press coverage twice throughout the course of this year, the first for our chocolate making day in collaboration with ‘The Chocolatier’, aka Aneesh Popat, which was part of our ‘Design Your Own Chocolate’ competition. The other was gifting a bespoke robot to our first ever wish recipient, which was built by Mark Haig of Gizmobots fame. A special moment for all, as this was the first individual wish, we were able to grant since becoming a registered charity.
Both key moments that perfectly highlight what Creating Memories does best, providing moments to treasure.
**Work in partnership to create opportunities where businesses can get involved and help as part of their corporate social responsibility.**
We continued to build on the local relationship established with Fujifilm, submitting a proposal with a view for them to become a corporate sponsor. While at the time of writing this has yet to be agreed, we have successfully established the following with Fujifilm.
We collaborated on a photography competition, which Fujifilm co-judged, and donated Instax cameras, digital cameras, and printing vouchers towards the project.
Fujifilm have also made a generous one-off donation to our charity, galvanised its employees to support the 2022 Christmas Hamper appeal and offered to create photobooks for wish recipients and their families for free. This is a relationship that we wish to nurture over the coming years.
**7**
**Create opportunities for individuals to give back to the local community, whether that be time, services, products and/or through monetary donations.** Creating Memories has successfully provided opportunities for the local community to give back. This has resulted in.
Gifted laptops for children at Keech Hospice courtesy of Pure Planet. Over £2,300 received from donations from local businesses.
Thanks to Stephanie Price Wealth Planning (£189.32), European Policies Industrial Limited (£350), Seko Omni Channel Logistics (£1000), Reno Bedford (£200) and Fujifilm (£650).
## **Looking Forward**
Looking forward to 2023-2024 the Charity will continue to deliver wishes, with a target of 10 wishes completed within a 12-month period. The Charity will also be placing a high priority on fundraising, with a view to growing and evolving the charity, its employees and outlook. This will mean delivering more wishes to children across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, and increase our resources in line with these plans.
**8**
## **Financial Review 2022-23**
During the financial year Creating Memories raised a total of £12,736 in donations and expended £116 on administrative expenses on the day-today management of the charity. On 31 March 2022 Creating Memories held £15,783 at the bank.
Creating Memories needs to hold funds in reserve to manage volatility in its cashflows and to ensure that it has sufficient funds to pay bills as they fall due. It is essential that Creating Memories is financially resilient and able to fulfil its contractual commitments.
On 31 March 2022 Creating Memories held £15,838 in reserves, of which £175 was restricted for funding wishes for children. At this time, the charity has limited running costs and as such the Trustees consider the charity to be in good financial health having increased fund raising activities.
**9**
## **Our Structure and Management**
Creating Memories is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). The only voting members are its charity trustees. The charity trustees are documented in the Charity’s Constitution.
New trustees must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees will have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
The Constitution requires a minimum of three Trustees and a maximum of twelve trustees. At this time there are three trustees (set out below), these are the first charity trustees. No new appointments have been made since inception.
Paula Priestley, for 4 years
Laura Etkind, for 4 years
Julie McCabe, for 4 years
## **Declarations**
The trustees declare that they have approved the annual report above.
Signature
Full Name **Paula Priestley**
Position **Chair of Trustees**
Date
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
**10**
## **Appendix A** Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) as at 31 March 2023
|**Income**
S01
Donations and legacies
S02
Charitable activities
Total Income
Expenditure
S09
Charitable activities
S11
Other expenditure
S13
Net income/(expenditure) before tax
S14
Tax payable
S15
Net income/(expenditure) after tax
S16
Net gains/(losses) on investment
S17
Net income/(expenditure)
S18
Extraordinary items
S19
Transfers between Funds
S20
Gains and losses on revaluation
S22
Net movement in funds
S23
Total Funds brought forward
S24
Total Funds carried forward|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
**F01**
**F02**
10,685
35
10,685
35
7,123
175
4,784
11,906
175
-1,221
-140
0
0
-1,221
-140
0
0
-1,221
-140
0
0
0
0
-1,221
-140
15,662
175
14,441
35
14,267|**Total**
**£**
**F04**
10,685
35|
|---|---|---|
|||10,720
7,298
4,784|
|||12,081|
|||-1,361|
|||0|
|||-1,361|
|||0|
|||-1,361|
|||0
0
0|
|||-1,361|
|||15,837|
|||14,476|
||||
**11**
## **Appendix A** Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2023
|B05
Fixed Assets
B06
Stocks
B07
Debtors
B08
Investments
B09
Cash at bank and in hand
B10
Total current assets
B11
Creditors: amounts falling due within 1 year
B12
Net current assets/(liabilities)
B13
Total assets less current liabilities
B14
Creditors: amounts falling due after 1 year
B15
Provisions for liabilities
B16
Total net assets/(liabilities)
B18
Restricted income funds
B19
Unrestricted income funds
B20
Revaluation reserve
B21
Fair value reserve
**B22**
**Total Funds**|**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**£**
**£**
0
0
0
0
185
0
0
0
15,321
0
15,506
0
0
1,030
15,506
-1,030
15,506
-1,030
0
0
0
0
15,506
-1,030
35
14,441
0
0
0
0
**14,441**
**35**|**Total**
**£**
0
0
185
0
15,321|
|---|---|---|
|||15,506|
|||1,030|
|||14,476|
||||
|||14,476|
|||0
0|
|||14,476|
|||35
14,441
0
0|
|||**14,476**|
**12**
creating
memories