## **Annual Report**
Sew Positive has had a brilliant first year as a registered charity. Moving from a community project making masks to raise £40k for the NHS, to a fully fledged charity delivering services with a turnover of over £22k from 7 December 2020 - 5 April 2022, tackling social isolation through sewing has transitioned well, and we are really grateful for the support of our trustees, volunteers, funders, supporters and local media who have helped us to achieve this. We have partnered with some great local charities including Cambridge Women’s Resources Centre and Cambridge Community Arts, both of whom have enabled us to learn about delivering services, best practice for governance and course design, and how both referrals and the funding process works. We have been welcomed into a really supportive community of organisations wanting Sew Positive to succeed, and being a member of a number of collaborations has really helped to ‘put us on the map’ so that participants can access our services. Having seen our first successful National Lottery bid with CWRC, we will be able to look forward to next year delivering this flagship project, and looking forward to identifying funding to develop new services alongside this, and to identify core funding for permanent roles for our CEO, admin and volunteer coordinator.
The success of our lottery bid (Together for Our Planet) and further to COP26, illustrates the growing opportunity for our services to develop within sustainability, climate change and tackling textile waste arenas. In addition, with the closure of the Community Scrapstore in Cambridge, we have been in discussion with the City Council on other opportunities for collaboration to tackle this. This fits well with our charitable objects, and may be an area that we add to in our constitution, as we are able to demonstrate impact in this area.
## Highlights include:
1. 28 events with 341 places available, supported by 20 volunteers. 183 different participants attended these events.
2. Policies and procedures have been produced to allow for smooth running governance of the charity.
3. Bid writing and applications and donations has led to funding income of over £22k in the first year. A particular highlight was £10,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund via CWRC, delivery of this project started in this financial year, but income will come in the following financial year of 2022/23.
## **Services and Participants**
Our services moved from making masks for the community to delivering targeted services to tackle social isolation through sewing. We ran a number of community events, which have supported our fundraising and volunteer activities.
Initially our participants have been signposted from other charities, such as Red Hen, Cambridge Women’s Resource Centre, The Phoenix Trust and Cambridge Community Arts. By the end of the first year, participants are coming to Sew Positive directly. We use a variety of tools to reach our audience, such as network groups, social media, press, other charities and housing associations. Nearly 183 participants have accessed our services and receive regular updates.
This year we held 28 events with 341 places filled by 183 individuals.
## **Impact**
We have collected data from participants on impact of our services, and Sew Positive is now registered to use the Self Assessment Wellbeing Scale from Warwick University (SWEMWBS), which is used to assess wellbeing differences as a result of services like ours from start to end of programmes, in addition to event feedback forms. We have received a lot of positive feedback, including testimonials such as:
_“I rarely sit still to undertake an activity in a calm, quiet space. I’m on the go all the time and it made me realise that I need to take time to do an activity like sewing that allows me to relax my mind and body. It was also great to know members of my community.”_
_“This has helped me believe in myself and try new things which gives me positive self-esteem. It has a good impact on my mental health and therefore the others around me.”_
_“Taking the time to focus on sewing during the workshop was incredibly rewarding. It was a delight to meet other like-minded people and learn new skills, which helps me feel like I have achieved something positive today.”_
Due to this being our first year and working with various partners, the outcomes are in different formats. We are working with an academic specialising in monitoring and evaluating best practice, gathering data and helping us demonstrate our impact. We are working together to produce and impact report for our first year and to streamline the process of collecting the information going forward.
## **Volunteers**
As our activities transition from a community project to Sew Positive, we saw a shift in volunteer activity from making masks to delivering wider services. Therefore, the profile of our volunteers has changed and widened and to date has been led by Melissa Santiago-Val. Melissa’s aim this year has been to identify more appropriate service delivery routes to meet Sew Positive’s objectives and how volunteers fit into that, developing a Volunteer Coordinator role if possible. One of our wider service aims is for participants to progress into volunteering with us or other routes into employment using the skills learned through Sew Positive. This has already happened with Stitching Our Planet Together. A participant has been recruited as a Creative Assistant. This year 20 people volunteered for us.
## **Overview of Finances**
**The financial statement for this year covers the period from our setup as a CIO (7th December 2020) to 5th April 2022**
Our income of £22,206 is broken down as follows:
Donations - £ 7,870 Fundraising £ 2,097
Grants - £ 9,700
Income from sales - £ 2,539
We have had a good mix of funding from individuals, statutory funding, grant giving trusts and local business in the community. Highlights include £7,700 from Cambridgeshire County Council through their Cambridge Skills fund and £10,000 with Cambridge Women’s Resource Centre from the National Lottery Community Fund (Together for our Planet Project). Delivery of this project started in this financial year and the income will come in the next financial year of 2022/23.
Our administrative and general costs were £11,110 giving us a net profit of £11,096.
Our strong financial position has allowed us to commission the setting up of a new website. This has been our biggest single expense of £6,956 and we have budgeted for a further expenditure of £2,500 in 2022/2023.
The website copy has been written and we anticipate delivery and go-live in Summer 2022. We are using industry standard Squarespace design, with hosting from Google, to enable us to manage and update the website ourselves as seamlessly as possible. This design will also allow us to use industry-standard plugins as we grow. Our website will be a key area for
referrals, sign up to our events, and information for potential funders and grant-making trusts, as well as a professional platform to launch fundraising campaigns in conjunction with our JustGiving pages.
Sew Positive received a large number of donations of materials, including as a sewing machine and overlocker from an individual donor, six sewing machines from Janome and two legacy donations of sewing boxes, notions and books. We received fabric donations from businesses including BeeBee wraps, Homerton College and individuals; John Lewis and The Cambridge Fabric Company donated fabric books. Books on sewing and resources to share were also received from participants.
Sew Positive also registered with JustGiving and is now able to receive GiftAid through JustGiving via HMRC.
We finished the year with an overall profit of £3,889 and we start 2022/2023 with a cash balance of £3,769.
## **Presentations and networking**
Melissa Santiago-Val represented Sew Positive in a variety of presentations:
1. Spotlight with Cambridge Mental Health Network
2. Spotlight with GET Group
3. Webinar with Geeta Nanda, OBE, CEO of Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing
4. Presentation with Cambridge Primary Care mental health service for Cambridgeshire South team
5. Melissa Santiago-Val completed the Allia Social Impact Accelerator programme worth £3,994 in de minimis aid (as part of the European regional development fund)
## **Media**
Sew Positive has a good media profile. We have a LinkTree site, signposting services, along with social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and LinkedIn. A website is in progress.
We have had consistently good coverage in the press, including the following articles:
1. Cambridge Independent newspaper – National Lottery Success (22/4/22)
1. Cambridge Independent newspaper – profle on the community returning to the workplace (22/9/21)
2. St Mary’s School – blog on their website regarding upcycled uniform and sustainable clothing (10/21)
3. Velvet magazine – article about textile waste (autumn 21). Creative magazine from the publishers of the Cambridge Independent magazine.
4. GET Group – feature regarding Sew Positive’s collaboration with the Phoenix Trust (11/21)
5. Cambridge Network – various articles throughout the year, including event promo here.
## **Trustees**
We currently have four trustees, with Jane Horwood standing down after supporting us with set up and governance for our first year. We would like to thank Jane for all her work on our CommunityMask4NHS project that led to the development of Sew Positive, and are delighted that Jane will continue to be involved with Sew Positive through volunteering to deliver occasional workshops, including a ‘Pillowcase to Tote bag: Upcycle transformation’ workshop on 24 September. We have been recruiting new trustees for the next year, and will welcome the skills and experience of Alison Heron and Judi Coe. More details about our new trustees will be available on the website.
## **Memberships**
We are members of a variety of organisations, including:
1. Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) (free membership until December 2022 though the Jane Slowey Memorial Fund)
2. National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) giving access to shared policies and procedures, legal advice.
3. Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS) (which gives access to a local funding portal)
4. Cambridge Mental Health Network (CMHN) (a collaboration of charities that provide mental health support)
5. Cambridge GET Group (GET is an acronym for Guidance, Education, Training)
6. HAY Cambridge.Bringing together everything in the local community that is good for wellbeing. A collaboration from Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridge NHS, CPSL Mind, The Sun Network, and Cambridge and Peterborough CCG.
7. Registered with the Fundraising Regulator, Code of Fundraising Practice. We will need support to ensure we embed this into policies and procedures.
8. Licenced to use WEMWBS, an academic self assessment wellbeing scale from by the University of Warwick.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Sew Positive CIO Charity No 1192682
Company CE022958
No
Annual accounts for the period
7th Dec Period end 31st Mar
Period start date To
2020 date 2022
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Section A Statement of financial activities (including summary income and expenditure account)**
|Guidance Note
S01
S02
S03
S04
S05
S06
S07
**Expenditure (Notes 6)**
**Expenditure on:**
S08
S09
S10
S11
S12
S13
Tax payable
S14
S15
Net gains/(losses) on investments
S16
S17
**Extraordinary items**
S18
S19
S20
Other gains/(losses)
S21
S22
**_Reconciliation of funds:_**
S23
S24
Charitable activities
Total funds brought forward
Gains and losses on revaluation of fixed assets for the charity’s own
use
Charitable activities
Separate material expense item
**_Total funds carried forward_**
**_Total_**
**Net income/(expenditure) after tax before**
**investment gains/(losses)**
**Net income/(expenditure)**
**Transfers between funds**
Donations and legacies
**_Total_**
**Recommended categories by activity**
**Income (Note 3)**
**Income and endowments from:**
Investments
Other trading activities
**_Net movement in funds_**
**Other recognised gains/(losses):**
**Net income/(expenditure) before tax for the**
**reporting period**
Raising funds
Separate material item of income
Other
Other|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**income**
**funds**
**Endowment**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
**£**
F01
F02
F03
9,305
-
-
10,917
-
-
1,965
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|
**Total funds**
**Prior year**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
F04
F05|
|---|---|---|
|||9,305
-
10,917
-
1,965
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|
||22,187
-
-|22,187
-|
||126
-
-
7,544
-
-
10,557
-
-||
|||126
-
7,544
-
10,557
-|
||18,227
-
-|18,227
-|
||||
||3,960
-
-|3,960
-|
||-
-
-|-
-|
||3,960
-
-|3,960
-|
||-
-
-|-
-|
||3,960
-
-|3,960
-|
||-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|-
-
-|
|||-
-
-
-|
||3,960
-
-|3,960
-|
||-
-
-|-
-|
||3,960
-
-|3,960
-|