2025-03-31-accounts - Charity Mentors Kent And Medway

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Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 1 April 2024 To 31 March 2025

Charity name: Charity Mentors Kent and Medway

Charity registration number: 1193618

Objectives and Activities

	SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document	Para 1.17	The promotion of the voluntary sector in the county of Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority for the public benefit by the provision of high-quality pro-bono mentoring in leadership, strategic thinking and planning.
Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.	Para 1.17 and 1.19	The main activity of the charity has been the provision of free one-to-one strategic mentoring to the leaders of charities and not for profit social enterprises in Kent and the Medway Unitary Authority. The charity aims to complete each mentoring project in, ideally, 6 months, the aim being to improve the performance of the mentored organisation so that its operations have more impact for the public it serves.
Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit	Para 1.18	The trustees confirm they have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit when reviewing the objectives and operation of the charity.

Achievements and Performance

	SORP reference
Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.	Para 1.20	The charity has continued to provide mentoring support for local voluntary sector organisations across Kent and Medway having completed 28 projects in this reporting period; an increase of 50% to the previous period. To meet this increase in demand we have expanded our capacity and now have 21 mentors volunteering with us who are all actively engaged with projects. Our mentees who are typically charity leaders needing support and direction with strategic issues often report they feel isolated in their roles. Our mentoring provides a constructive, challenging, listening ear that is reported as a great support for this isolation. Feedback from our mentees often reflects on how we have enabled the charity leaders to step back, understand the bigger picture, take strategic action, building process and resilience ultimately ensuring their organisations thrive and have a sustainable plan to take them forward for the benefit of their service users.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

The Board are working to a 3-year strategic plan which has been developed in this reporting period with a focus on increasing the number of clients we can support, Achievements against increasing our volunteer mentors,

objectives set	Para 1.41	enhancing our marketing and diversifying our income streams. The board regularly reviews the charity’s progress towards achieving the objectives set out in the three-year plan. We have achieved the first as previously reported by increasing our clients by 50% on the previous reporting period. Our plan is to increase the number of volunteer mentors we have supporting our charity to 30 by the end of 2027 so with an increase from 12 in the last reporting period to 21 we have seen a great achievement against this objective. In terms of clients helped and the number of new mentors recruited, we have exceeded the targets we set ourselves at the beginning of the reporting period. Much of this progress is thanks to the excellent work of our part-time Charity Manager who has completed his first year in post. He is now actively engaged with the local charity sector and regularly attends networking events promoting the work of our charity at every opportunity. Our social media presence is increasing and if we measure the number of new clients, it is evident our increased marketing is being successful. Part of our marketing plan is to host our own networking events inviting charity leaders to learn about our mentoring support available but also to hear from other infrastructure organisations who can offer them support. We have now planned and established our first of these events which will take place in June 2025. The last aspect of our 3-year plan is to

diversify our income streams and we are very pleased to report that we have secured funding from three new funders securing our operational costs for the next 2 years. Also, in this period we have conducted a full policy review with some new policies written and others updated with a review schedule set for ongoing maintenance and control. As well as reviewing our policies we have also reviewed our Board effectiveness identifying strengths and weaknesses which have been consolidated for discussion and action planning which will be taken forward into the next reporting period. We recruited a new Treasurer to replace our retiring Treasurer who has supported our charity from the outset. Our thanks go to her as we welcomed a very strong replacement however very sadly due to ill health our new Treasurer had to step down within a very short period. This position remains as a vacancy despite concentrated efforts to recruit a further replacement. In addition we have also recruited an additional 2 Trustees to help strengthen our Board. Four times a year we host a Mentor networking event, however with the increase in the number of our mentors we have updated the format of these meetings to help improve the community support they can offer to each other as well as engaging them in some of our strategic planning. This has generated really positive feedback with many mentors saying they now feel a greater connection to our charity and each other by working more closely

		together.
Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set	Para 1.41	Our fundraising plan as reported above has been very successful. We secured a mentor from Funding For All to help improve our knowledge and capability of fundraising. As a result we have secured funding from The Lawson Trust, Garfield Weston and Colyer Ferguson as well as securing a small extension to our Infrastructure Support Funding. We sincerely thank all our funders for investing in our operation to support the voluntary sector across Kent and Medway
Other		N/A

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period	Para 1.21	Owing to timing issues, a grant received in 2023/24 had not been included in Section A1 (Receipts) of that year’s Receipts and Payments (R&P) schedule. This led to the ‘cash funds to be carried forward’ figure being understated, though it was correctly included in the bank balance at the year- end (Section B1, Cash funds at the end of the period). In the ’last year’ column of the 2024/25 R&P schedule the Section A1 (Receipts) has been restated to include this grant, and revise accordingly the carried forward figure for cash funds at year end for 2023/24. Our closing balance on 31.03.2025 was £49,885.61 thanks to the success of our

		fund-raising plan where some monies have already been paid .
Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held	Para 1.22	The Trustees approved a change to our reserves policy of 6 months running costs of unrestricted reserves which will ensure any wind-up costs are available.
Amount of reserves held	Para 1.22	£12000
Reasons for holding zero reserves	Para 1.22	N/A
Details of fund materially in deficit	Para 1.24	N/A
Explanation of any uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern	Para 1.23

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s trusts:
Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter)	Para 1.25	Constitution.
How is the charity constituted? (e.g unincorporated association, CIO)	Para 1.25	Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees	Para 1.25	In selecting individuals for appointment as trustees, the charity trustees have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. Every appointed trustee must be appointed by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. Trustees at the formation of the CIO (February 2021) were appointed on staggered terms of 2, 3 and 4 years. All newly appointed trustees will serve for 3

		years.
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
Policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees	Para 1.51	On appointment all trustees receive a welcome pack including a copy of the rules and constitution and other documents covering the principal policies and procedures. All trustees give their time freely without remuneration, sign a declaration of eligibility, and are required to disclose any relevant conflict of interest at the beginning of each trustee meeting.
The charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works	Para 1.51	The charity maintains close contact with other organisations in Kent involved in the delivery of support to the charitable sector, including the Kent Community Foundation, Stronger Kent Communities, Funding for All, Social Enterprise Kent, IMAGO and Medway Voluntary Action.

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name	Charity Mentors Kent and Medway
Other name the charity uses	-
Registered charity number	1193618
Charity’s principal address	Mill House, Cage Lane, Smarden, Ashford TN27 8QE

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)

1	Nicholas Marden	Chair
2	Stephen Elsden	Vice Chair
3	Deborah Cartwright	Retiring Treasurer	Retired 31/10/24
4	Gordon Viggers	Treasurer	Start 25/03/25 End 25/05/25
5	Paul Barnard
6	Tim Bull
7	Sophie Clissold-Lesser		Start 10/04/24
8	Lorne Mitchell		Start 10/04/24

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s)	Nick Marden
Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc)	Chair
Date	22/09/2025

No (if any) 1193618

Charity Mentors Kent Receipts and payments accounts

01/04/24 Period end date To 01/04/24 31/03/25

For the period from

CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Grants 38,048 Donatiions 2,238 Gift Aid 500 - - - - 40,786 - - Sub total - Total receipts 40,786 A3 Payments Manager 15,612 Insurance 101 Website Venue Hire 73 Printing 736 Other 259 - - - Sub total 16,781 - - Sub total - Total payments 16,781 Net of receipts/(payments) 24,005 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 25,881 Cash funds this year end 49,886 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ *Sub total*(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds	to the nearest £ Endowment funds	Total funds to the nearest £ 38,048 2,238 500 - - - - - 40,786 - - - 40,786 15,612 101 - 73 736 259 - - - 16,781 - - - 16,781 24,005 - 25,881 49,886	Last year to the nearest £
		- - - - - - - - -	38,048	27,228
			2,238	3,500
			500
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			40,786	30,728

		- - -	-
			-	-
			-	-

		-	40,786	30,728

		- - - - - - - - - -	15,612	13,455
			101	101
			-	309
			73	20
			736	58
			259	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			16,781	13,943

		- - -	-
			-
			-	-

		-	16,781	13,943

	-	- - - -	24,005	16,785
	-		-	-
	-		25,881	9,096
	-		49,886	25,881

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Details Current account Details Details Details Details Signature *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	to nearest £ to nearest £ 49,886 - - - - - 49,886 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Nick Marden Chair Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional)	to nearest £ Endowment funds
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			to nearest £ Endowment funds
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			When due (optional)






			Date of approval
		Nick Marden	22/09/2025
		Chair

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of Charity Mentors Kent On accounts for the year 31/3/25 Charity no 1193618 ended (if any) Set out on pages Sections A & B below (

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/3/25.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the Trust, 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 accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed: Date: 22/9/25 Name: Andy Moore Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Blaenpentre, Swyddffynnon, Ystrad Meurig, SY25 6AW