## **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