Charity No: 1190383
Extraordinary Links CIO Report and Accounts (February 2023)
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Extraordinary Links CIO
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Reference and Administration Details
For the year ending 24 Feb 2023
Charity Number 1190383
Registered Office 13 Fairford Road
Status Extraordinary Links CIO is known locally as Extraordinary Links
Trustees Trustees who served during this year and up to the date of the Report.
Gillian Crea Chair (appointed 13 July 2020) Sandra Thomas (appointed 13 July 2020) Emma Wallington (appointed 13 July 2020)
Chief Executive Officer The trustees delegate the day-to-day running of Extraordinary Links CIO to Gillian Crea (Chair of
Trustees)
Bankers Lloyds Bank plc 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN
Report of the Trustees
The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ending 24 February 2023. References and administrative statements are set out on page 1, form part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements.
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Documents
Extraordinary Links CIO is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and is governed by the Charity Act 2011. We are known locally as Extraordinary Links and have full autonomy over our policies, governances and procedures.
Risk Review
Our board of trustees meets regularly to discuss and evaluate the major risks to our organisation. As we are as a small charity we have implemented internal control procedures to ensure risks are minimised effectively.
Organisational Structure
The CEO is responsible for the day to day management of Extraordinary Links CIO, and reports directly to the board of trustees to ensure there are no conflicts of interest present.
The board of trustees consists of four trustees who are legally responsible for the organisation and governance of Extraordinary Links CIO.
Appointments of Trustees
New trustees can be appointed by the current board of trustees at a properly convened meeting, ensuring the trustee has the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
No further trustees, other then the founding trustees, have been appointed in the last year. However Katies Hales had to step down from the Board, we are currently recruiting to replace her.
Trustees Report
2022/23 was a year of growth for our charity and working with other organisations, however the impact of the Covid pandemic was still being felt deeply across the charitable sector.
We successfully worked with Bristol City Council and the HAF fund to provide free activities for children in need, with the restricted grant
funding being used. This helped ease the burden faced by 55 families in the holidays by providing free trips to these families who may not have possessed the financial support otherwise, including Packed lunches provided by us, funded by the HAF programme. We also used other HAF providers to provide additional free trips to the SS Great Britain and Bristol Aerospace, all of which were well received by the families. However, we did have to return the winter funding as we did not have the staff to complete the winter programme. We hope to be able to do this again once we have more volunteers.
We all partnered with the Children in Need and Family Fund to help families experiencing hardship receive grant funding for much-needed supplies such as Washing Machines, School clothes, and other domestic appliances and furniture. This was a lifeline for many of the families we assisted in receiving these grants, and we hope to partner with them again.
Our activity group has been growing from strength to strength, with 15 children on average attending our sessions each week. This is an opportunity for these children to find friends and develop social skills, whilst allowing the parents, carers and siblings to relax in a safe environment whilst learning new skills and creative ventures.
Our carers group has also been helping families find the correct support for their children, in a safe non-judgemental environment. We have also offered advocacy to other families and assisted them in meetings with educational providers to secure the best outcomes for these children.
We also raised funding through a Prize Draw this year, with items donated by local businesses and other supporters in the area, who included -Bristol City Football Club
-Bristol Bears
-Build-a-Bear -Ruby Jeans -Lucy Aston
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Graft Graffiti Workshop and Murals
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Avon Valley Railway
-PJ’s Hairdressers -Morrisons
- Sport Go Karting
Our Christmas party was a huge success, partly funded through ticket sales to the party.
Pay and Renumeration
Extraordinary Links CIO is run completely by volunteers, receiving no pay or remuneration for any services.
Vision, Mission and Objectives
The long term aim of the organisation is to ensure that disabled children, and children with SEN and their families receive the support they need to thrive in society. We currently provide our services to 25 families in the Shirehampton area of Bristol. We want to reach out to more families who are not currently receiving our services, so ensuring our growth and sustainability as a CIO is of paramount importance to us, so we are constantly seeking funding opportunities and different avenues to advertise our free services.
Charitable Objectives
Extraordinary Links objects are set our in our constitution,
‘To relieve the needs of disabled children and children with special educational needs (SEN) and their parents, carers and siblings (the ‘beneficiaries’) in the Bristol area by the provision of, in particular, but not exclusively: (a) free activity sessions for the beneficiaries in the community. (b) signposting the parents, carers and siblings to organisations that can give support and information’
Principle Funding Sources
The funding of Extraordinary Links CIO during this year was met by reserves, a restricted grant from Bristol BC for HAF, and funding was also received from received from Arnold Clarke and the Quartet fund. We also fundraised with a Prize draw, and through tickets to our Christmas Party.
Restricted and unrestricted and designated funds
We are reporting a surplus of £4065.11 for the period ending 24[th] February 2023.
This surplus is due to the following factors
- Funding received in this financial year.
The grant received from Bristol City Council was restricted to the funding for the HAF programme. The breakdown of what this was spent on is below, but the amount is included in the full accounts; Total grant received? £ 960.00 Expenditure
Venue Costs £ 48.00 Activity costs £318.34 Food Costs £ 125.16 external activities £ 468.50
Future Financial Position
As many charities are currently finding, it is difficult to predict the financial position of Extraordinary Links CIO. However, the current forecast is good, with financial viability expected for the next 3 years.
Our trustees regularly review at the impact of our finances and how we can look towards the future, regularly looking for further funding opportunities to ensure we can still provide the services we offer to the community.
Statement of Responsibilities of the trustees
The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and the United Kingdom accounting Standards.
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements trustees are required to
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Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
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Observe the principles and methods in SORP
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Make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
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State whether applicable UK accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
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Prepare the financial statements on the on going concern basis unless it is inappropriate that a charity will continue in its operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the charity. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the provision of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity’s website.
Members of the charity guarantee to contribute and amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The
trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interests in the charity.
Statement of Financial Activities (Income and Expenditure)
| Opening Bank Balance 24/02/21 |
£6837.61 |
|---|---|
| Income | 2,743.89 |
| HAF Restricted Funding Arnold Clarke Amazon Smile Quartet Crowdfunder Eventbrite |
960 1000 5.93 400 327.56 50.40 |
| Total Income | 2,743.89 |
| Expenditure | 5,556.39 |
| Rent of Hall | 934.16 |
| Zoom Yearly Cost | 143.88 |
| Supplies for Activity Group | 2877.37 |
| Insurance | 172.65 |
| Printing Costs | 158.62 |
| Stationary Costs | 30.84 |
| Accounting Software Costs |
56.68 |
| Website upkeep and Domain | 118.79 |
| Staff Training Costs | 263.40 |
| Paid Activity Trips for families | 800 |
| Total Expenditure | 5,556.39 |
| Closing Bank Balance | 4025.11 |
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies and to the small companies regime.
Approved by the trustees on 10 February 2024 and sign on their behalf by
Gillian Crea (Chair)