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2025-03-31-accounts

Manchester Sikh Foundation

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Charity Number 1191992

Working Name: Feed My City

Annual Report and Accounts

For the period 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025

MANCHESTER SIKH FOUNDATION

Report of the trustees for the year ended 31st March 2025

Trustees : Mr Sukhbir Singh (Chair)

Mr Resham Gulab Singh

Mr Sukhsimran Singh Mrs Jasvant Bhadare Mrs Ramandeep Kaur Ms Frederica Rose Flintoff - Appointed 26 March 2025

Charity Office: Unit 2

63-65 Beswick Street Manchester M4 7HR

Independent Examiner:

HHK Accountancy Services Limited Suite 212, Oakland House 21 Hope Carr Road Leigh WN7 3ET

Charity Objectives: The key activities of Manchester Sikh Foundation are:

The prevention or relief of food poverty in North West England through:

The advancement of employment, education & health for the Sikh Community by:

The promotion of religious harmony for the public benefit through:

Structure, Governance and Management

The charity was formed as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 26 October 2020. The charity is governed by its constitution which is a CIO Foundation. It is governed by its trustees who meet regularly. It is managed by a Board of Trustees, a management team, and volunteers.

During this financial year we recruited an additional trustee, Frederica Flintoff, a former volunteer who was formerly employed as our Community Development Worker until March 2024.

We have a 20 strong, wider management team supported by a working group structure with over 30 additional volunteers. This enables volunteers to take ownership and develop their skills within a workstream; make greater contributions to the charity; supports their career development; and will be a pathway for some to future trusteeship.

Progress and Achievements

We continue to make strong progress in line with the objectives of the charity, with yearon-year growth both in terms of people supported and incoming financial resources. The demand for all our services has continued to increase as we operate in the most deprived areas of Greater Manchester, serving people from increasingly diverse communities who are most affected by the cost-of-living crisis.

Our core project, Feed My City, continues to meet the needs of large numbers of service users around food poverty. Since our inception in late 2018, we have provided over

400,000 hot meals and over 17,000 emergency food parcels. The number of people who have accessed our service in the last 12 months again increased from the previous year by over 10% and we continue to operate between 09:00 to 21:00, 365 days of the year.

The 365 days a year emergency food provision is extensively used by many partners for referrals, especially late into the evenings and weekends, providing a crucial service to our partner agencies and those they support.

We developed an Organisation Business Plan that outlines our development, governance, mission, vision, values, structure, successes, skills, operations, projects, management, opportunities, risks, beneficiaries, needs assessment, partners, volunteering, and financial plans. Alongside this, we created a proposal for a new building in line with our vision for development over the next 5 years.

Our increased number of volunteers, now numbering some 150, along with two full-time and one part-time staff member, enables us to deliver the increased workload. This is all possible due to continued support through grant funding from the National Lottery Community Fund’s Reaching Communities programme, other significant funders, and tremendous partnership working.

Our partnerships with organisations include: Local Authorities, Hospitals, GPs, NHS Care Navigators, mental health agencies, homelessness charities, Asylum Seekers, Housing Associations, those supporting offenders, Citizens’ Advice Bureaux, Mustard Tree, Churches, Community Centres, Food Banks and many, many more. We deliver several dry food bags on a weekly basis for onward delivery to those in emergency need. The agencies also refer people in emergency need of food, especially late afternoon and at weekends, as we can provide emergency food very quickly.

We continue our hugely supportive partnership with Stuarts, a logistics company, for delivering hot meals and dry food parcels. They deliver, still with no cost, two days each week and this makes our service delivery work much more effectively.

The project under the MSF umbrella, ‘Sikh Studies’, runs every Tuesday at Stretford Grammar School, teaching Oral & Written Punjabi for 5 to 70 year olds and is continuing to go from strength to strength. Over 100 people attended the 4 classes over the year. The majority of the students are of Sikh faith but we welcome people from all faiths and none.

‘Sikh United Mothers’, our older women’s group, continues to reduce loneliness and isolation. This group meets on a weekly basis at a local community centre with around 40 older women sharing food and going on outings, with Yoga and swimming lessons and many more activities taking place regularly. They also have significant support with the provision of health, financial and other advice, for which we partner with several organisations with specific expertise. One unexpected outcome from our link with the Ambulance Service was the installation of a defibrillator at Sri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara.

Thanks to a generous £25,000 donation, we were able to purchase a new van and relaunch our mobile food operation, which had been suspended. Since restarting, the impact has been extraordinary - the van now reaches 8 locations across 7 local authority areas in Greater Manchester: Manchester, Rochdale, Bolton, Bury, Trafford, Stockport, and Tameside.

The return of the mobile service has led to a dramatic increase in our hot meal provision, with over 40,000 additional meals served this year - a rise that brings our annual total to approximately 50,000 hot meals. The mobile food operation is a vital lifeline for those facing food insecurity, ensuring hot, nutritious meals reach those who need them most in the most deprived areas of Greater Manchester.

We ran a youth leadership programme for 12 young people during the year, which covered communication, teamwork, decision-making, activity planning, and presentation skills. This has led onto a new Manchester Sikh Youth Council, still in its nascent stage of development. They have already delivered a session at one of our community events, a quiz around environmental issues, which was very positively received by the 90 people in attendance. They have also met with the leader of Manchester City Council, with a commitment to further support as the group progresses.

In the final quarter, we started a Sikh Youth Sports and Self-defence programme, initially including football and martial arts, with future plans for badminton, basketball and other sports when they are identified by the group.

Our staff and large volunteer team listen to feedback we receive from partners and service users, as well as give their own feedback, to ensure that we look to develop and change the way we operate to be more effective.

Our volunteers, staff, core management team and trustees are from the community and are at the heart of everything we do. Many of the users of our service become volunteers as they feel that, after receiving support from us, they would like to contribute. This enables them to gain many skills from the Feed My City operations, strengthening their knowledge, resilience, and independence, ready for them to enter the world of work. Our volunteer base is diverse in terms of race, religion, gender and ethnicity, which brings with it many beneficial skills, knowledge and expertise. Several, as a result of their volunteer roles and associated training, have gone on to secure permanent employment.

The Trustees, staff and volunteers are proud that the charity does not accept cash donations or make any cash payments and all transactions are via bank payments. This allows for full transparency, and facilitates straightforward auditing and accounting processes.

We want to thank every volunteer for everything they do to help Feed My City carry out its essential work. Our service would not be possible without the volunteers’ kindness, generosity and time. So volunteers, thank you so much.

Delivery over the year includes:

Feed My City volunteer & cohesion event with 90 people in attendance. We were able to thank our amazing volunteers, ask them for their input, and promote community and interaction amongst our volunteer base. Our event took place at the prestigious Co-op Live arena and we are grateful for their support.

Our new Sikh Youth Council met with Bev Craig, Leader of Manchester City Council, along with Joanna Midgley, Deputy Leader, at Manchester Town Hall. The young people shared their plans and were able to ask several questions of the Councillors related to youth provision, health, education, and the environment. We presented the work of Manchester Sikh Foundation, with the Leader saying how impressed she was and that she wanted to support our future aspirations.

Over 5,000 Emergency dry food parcels delivered or collected, up significantly from previous years. We have expanded the number of volunteer drivers continuing to store dry food bags in the boots of their cars to enable them to quickly deliver to people in need in their local area. Our partnership working also enables us to quickly delivery emergency food parcels to those in most need.

Manchester Youth Sikh Council was developed following our youth leadership training course, held over 5 weeks in Summer 2024. The young people involved went on to plan and deliver an environmental activity during our event at Co-op Live Arena.

Our minibus helps many different communities across Greater Manchester with access to free transport. This has enabled hundreds of older, younger and diverse groups of people to better access many activities, reducing isolation, loneliness and improving community cohesion.

In partnership with Manchester Museum, we held our annual celebration of the Sikh religious festival of Vaisakhi on Saturday 6th April 2024. The event included a focus on community cohesion and attracted around 6,000 people from diverse backgrounds. They enjoyed visiting stalls educating about the Sikh religion and culture as well as demonstrations, meditation sessions and langer.

Feedback from our service users (480 survey respondents)

What support did you receive from Feed My City?

----- Start of picture text -----
100% 93.96%
80%
56.25%
60%
40%
20% 6.88% 5.21%
0%
----- End of picture text -----

Did the advice received help your situation?

Did the support received help you to maintain your health?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
49.32%
50%
40%
30%
20% 11.38% 8.94% 11.92% 13.28%
10% 5.15%
0%
Not at all 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hugely
----- End of picture text -----

Did the support decrease your anxiety regarding money?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
38.48%
40%
30%
20% 15.18% 13.55% 14.91% 13.82%
10% 4.07%
0%
Not at all 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hugely
----- End of picture text -----

Did the support help you feel cared for?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
80%
61.25%
60%
40%
20% 12.47%
8.13% 7.86% 7.32%
2.98%
0%
Not at all 0 2 4
6 8 10 Totally
----- End of picture text -----

Did the support prevent you facing hunger?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
80%
67.75%
60%
40%
20% 7.32% 3.25% 4.34% 7.05% 10.30%
0%
Not at all 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hugely
----- End of picture text -----

How would you rate your feelings about your situation before and after support from Feed My City?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
90% Before
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% 20.60%
26.02% 21.68% 16.80%
20%
9.21%
5.69%
10%
0%
Hopeless 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hopeful
100%
After
80%
60% 49.59%
40%
20%
5.42% 4.07% 6.50% [13.28% 21.14%]
0%
Hopeless 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hopeful
----- End of picture text -----

How would you describe your feelings towards Feed My City?

----- Start of picture text -----
100%
90%
80% 69.92%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20% 15.45%
10% 4.07% 3.52% 2.98% 4.07%
0%
Not impressed 0 2 4
6 8 10 Hugely impressed
----- End of picture text -----

The differences we are making, as stated by our service users in evaluations, evidence impact across many of our key indicators.

This evidences our continued impact in improving people’s lives.

We also elicited feedback from our Sikh United Mothers group, which showed:

As can be seen, the feedback is incredibly positive with all but one average rating over 8.1 and all activities having over 85% responding in the positive domain. This is backed up by several comments such as:

The feedback here shows significant impact on Loneliness (8.1 average) and Isolation (7.4 average). The lower impact on other concerns indicates the limited effect that such activities can have but also the potential to explore other areas with the group in the future. The positive comments on how any improvements came about, reinforces the effectiveness of how the group works:

The other question that evidenced the remarkable impact of the group was on mood before and after attending, which showed the average rating rising from 5.4 to 8.8, with positive mood rising from 50% to 95%.

These quantitative differences we have made for service users is further reflected in the qualitative feedback we have received via Survey Monkey:

Our plans for the future

We are looking to continue to focus on our current objectives whilst enabling the charity to grow and expand the services we deliver. Our growth has continued with increased funding, number of volunteers, services we provide, and area we cover.

Our priority continues to be our flagship project of Feed My City, ensuring that we meet the demands for emergency dry food parcels and hot meals. We aim to respond to all emergency requests on the same day and plan to take this service to more areas of Greater Manchester.

We aim to increase the focus on fundraising for the recruitment of full and part-time staff to manage the food van operations as well as food preparation, deliveries and other work in line with our charity objectives.

The charity will continue to support our volunteers through training and development, with a special focus on the needs of new volunteers.

We will continue to seek feedback from our service users via surveys, formal and informal consultations, and verbal feedback, and to assess ongoing needs of both the local Sikh community, wider service user base, and our volunteers.

We will also consult with our partners to further expand our network of partnerships, as well as exploring how we can extend and improve the service to both our service users and our partners.

The charity will also be commencing more activities around education, employment and religious harmony.

We will be progressing our plans for youth leadership training, enabling young people to become peer leaders who can, with support, deliver programmes themselves.

We plan to further develop our partnership with the United Sikh Mothers, by supporting, organising and funding their activities aiming to combat loneliness and enhance education.

Active engagement with the Sikh Community will be undertaken, especially focusing around gender, disability, young and older people’s needs, with the aim of addressing issues earlier and providing an outlet for people to get peer support, enjoy life more and, overall, have improved mood, confidence and self-esteem.

Whilst we have made many improvements to our website, more work is required to update our website and social media presence and this will be a priority to both improve our service delivery and outward communications.

Public Benefit

The trustees confirm that they have complied with the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, and the supplementary public benefit guidance for charities whose aims include food poverty, religious harmony and wellbeing of the Sikh Community, when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning future activities.

Risk assessment

The trustees regularly identify and review major risks facing the charity and have, where necessary, put measures in place to mitigate them.

Financial Review

The charity received £203,628 this year. (£132,701 in 2024)

Grants £136,381 (£103,860 in 2024) Donations £63,281 (£24,273 in 2024) Sikh Education £3,966 (£4,568 in 2024)

Our expenditure in the year was:

Unrestricted £43,560 (36,856 in 2024) Restricted £139,370 (£75,470 in 2024) Giving an annual expenditure of £182,930 (£112,326 in 2024).

Resulting in cash funds as of 31st March 2025:

Unrestricted £64,774 (£48,788 in 2024) Restricted £38,103 (£33,391 in 2024)

Grants

During the year, Manchester Sikh Foundation received grants from the following organisations:

The National Lottery Community Fund £74,096
Post Code Lottery £24,685
Sport England £14,600
Miri Roshini £10,000
Savills £5,000
University of Manchester £3,000
Manchester City Council £2,500
Manchester BME £2,000
We Stand Together Affiliate Award £500

To these organisations, we are truly grateful.

We would like to specifically thank the following partners and funders:

Willow Tree Trust, National Lottery Community Fund, AD Merchandise, People’s Postcode Lottery, Miri Roshi, Savills, Manchester Museum, Manchester City Council, Salford, Biffa, VSPG Housing, Bruntwood, Manchester BME Network, WeStandTogether and many other individuals and partner organisations.

We have received over £300,000 in donations in kind. The majority of this represents over 25,000 volunteer hours in the year, which, when costed at £10 an hour, works out as over £250,000. Many other donations of food or services were highly significant, including from well-wishers, local businesses, and volunteers. The Board of Trustees of the Manchester Sikh Foundation is very grateful for these valuable contributions, which have had an immense impact on our capacity and quality of our operations.

Sukhbir Singh On behalf of the Trustee Board 09.07.2025

Resham Singh On behalf of the Trustee Board 09.07.2025

Statement of Financial Activities

Manchester Sikh Foundation For the year ended 31 March 2025

Account Restricted
Funds
Unrestricted
Funds
Year Ended
31.03.2025
Year Ended
31.03.2024
Incoming Resources
Donations 51,420.00
£
11,861.49
£
63,281.49
£
24,273.00
£
Grants 88,696.00
£
47,685.00
£
136,381.00
£
103,860.00
£
Sikh Education 3,966.00
£
-
£
3,966.00
£
4,568.00
£
Total Incoming Resources 144,082.00
£
59,546.49
£
203,628.49
£
132,701.00
£
Charitable Activities
Food Purchase 26,178.36
£
33,235.33
£
59,413.69
£
41,380.00
£
Motor Vehicle Expenses 768.00
£
-
£
768.00
£
1,325.00
£
Staffing 76,426.20
£
6,298.00
£
82,724.20
£
50,632.00
£
Volunteer Expenses 1,450.00
£
-
£
1,450.00
£
470.00
£
Consultancy 2,650.00
£
-
£
2,650.00
£
Room Hire 4,886.04
£
-
£
4,886.04
£
3,090.00
£
Activity Expenses 3,108.00
£
-
£
3,108.00
£
2,250.00
£
Total Charitable Activities 115,466.60
£
39,533.33
£
154,999.93
£
99,147.00
£
Gross Resources 28,615.40
£
20,013.16
£
48,628.56
£
33,554.00
£
Support Costs
Advertising & Marketing 1,150.00
£
-
£
1,150.00
£
934.00
£
Audit & Accountancy fees -
£
300.00
£
300.00
£
300.00
£
Bank Fees 59.12
£
-
£
59.12
£
78.00
£
Donations Made -
£
1,000.00
£
1,000.00
£
-
£
Depreciation Expense 9,402.98
£
2,726.75
£
12,129.73
£
6,386.00
£
Insurance 3,451.85
£
-
£
3,451.85
£
2,294.00
£
Legal Expenses 84.00
£
-
£
84.00
£
-
£
Utilities 9,477.51
£
-
£
9,477.51
£
2,175.00
£
Rates 105.18
£
-
£
105.18
£
202.00
£
Repairs & Maintenance 172.96
£
-
£
172.96
£
810.00
£
Total Supportive Costs 23,903.60
£
4,026.75
£
27,930.35
£
13,179.00
£
Net Resources 4,711.80
£
15,986.41
£
20,698.21
£
20,375.00
£
Total Funds Bought Forward 33,391.00
£
48,788.00
£
81,859.00
£
£61,484.00
Total Funds Carried Forward 38,102.80
£
64,774.41
£
102,877.21
£
81,859.00
£

Each year with the assistance of the Trustees we have steamlined the charitable expenses into headings which represent the costs incurred. The Trustees continue to review costs for clarity and visibility.

Balance Sheet

Manchester Sikh Foundation

As at 31 March 2025

Account Restricte
d Funds
Unrestricted
Funds
31 March
2025
31 March
2024
Fixed Assets
Tangible Assets
Motor Vehicles £
28,208.96
£
28,208.96
£
8,716.00
Office Equipment £
9,209.52
£
9,209.52
£
3,490.00
Plant and Machinery £
11,586.92
£
11,586.92
£
9,270.00
Total Tangible Assets £
49,005.40
£
21,476.00
Total Fixed Assets £
28,208.96
£
20,796.44
£
49,005.40
£
21,476.00
Current Assets
Cash at bank and in hand
FMC main £
34,039.54
£
48,873.49
£
82,913.03
£
59,405.00
Sikh Studies £
40.18
£
40.18
£
1,309.00
Total Cash at bank and in hand £
34,079.72
£
48,873.49
£
82,953.21
£
60,714.00
Other Debtors £
500.00
£
500.00
£
500.00
Total Current Assets £
34,079.72
£
49,373.49
£
83,453.21
£
61,214.00
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year
Accruals £
300.00
£
300.00
£
300.00
Pensions - Payable £
531.00
Total Creditors: amounts falling due within
oneyear
£
300.00
£
300.00
£
831.00
Net Current Assets (Liabilities) £
34,079.72
£
49,073.49
£
83,153.21
£
60,383.00
Total Assets less Current Liabilities £
62,288.68
£
69,869.93
£
132,158.61
£
81,859.00
Net Assets £
62,288.68
£
69,869.93
£
132,158.61
£
81,859.00
Capital and Reserves
Current Year Earnings £
4,711.80
£
15,986.41
£
20,698.21
£
20,375.00
Retained Earnings £
33,391.00
£
48,788.00
£
81,859.00
£
61,484.00
Total Capital and Reserves £
38,102.80
£
64,774.41
£
102,557.21
£
81,859.00

Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities

The charity trustees, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales 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 incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

This report was approved by the Board on 6th July its behalf.

Sukhbir Singh On behalf of the Trustee Board 09.07.2025

2025 and signed on

Resham Singh On behalf of the Trustee Board 09.07.2025

MANCHESTER SIKH FOUNDATION

Independent Examiners

Report to the trustees of Manchester Sikh Foundation - Charity number: 1191992

We report to the trustees our examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31 March 2025.

Responsibilities and basis of the 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”).

We report in respect of our examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out our examination, we have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

We have completed our examination. We confirm that no material matters have come to our attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below *) which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

We 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.

Mrs Rupinder Howard

For and on behalf of HHK Accountancy Services Ltd Suite 212, Oakland House 21 Hope Carr Road Leigh WN7 3QW