**ANNUAL REPORT | 2023 - 2024**
**The EPIC Charity – Bristol |** Registered Charity No. **2** 1193713 **Email:** info@epiccharitybristol.org.uk **| Address:** B Bond, Smeaton Rd BS1 6XN
## **CONTENTS**
1. OBJECTIVES **|** ACTIVITIES **|** VALUES 2. CARE EXPERIENCE **|** THE CONTEXT 3. IMPACT ASSESSMENT **|** MAKING A DIFFERENCE
4. FINANCIAL REVIEW **|** ACCOUNTS 5. STRUCTURE **|** GOVERNANCE **|** TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES 6. EPIC PRIORITIES **|** LOOKING AHEAD
**1. OBJECTIVES | ACTIVITIES | VALUES 2**
- The EPIC Charity– Bristol, was established in 5[th] March 2021, and is informally known as ‘EPIC’.
- EPIC is a small grant-giving charity supporting careexperienced children and young people.
- Our grant-making policy and funding criteria can be found on our website, in brief, the charity provides grants of up to £500 to children or young people who have grown up in the care of Bristol City Council Local Authority. On occasion EPIC may provide larger grants to organisations or groups working specifically with Bristol's care-experienced young people.
- EPIC’s values centre around promoting access to activities and opportunities, as well as inspiring memories.
## **2. CARE EXPERIENCE | THE CONTEXT**
- Internationally, nationally, and locally in Bristol, the number of children in care increases year-on-year.
- This also means young people aging out of the care system, around age 18 and known as care leavers, is a growing population.
- It is understood that that care-experienced young people experience disproportionately worse outcomes in adulthood than general populations, for example financially, risk of homelessness, risk of involvement in criminality, and poorer physical and mental health.
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3. IMPACT ASSESSMENT | 2
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
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In 2023-24 we approved and processed 20 grants including an educational trip, holidays, days out, bikes and sports equipment.
As the grants are experience-based rather than goal-based the success of the grant-making programme is determined largely on feedback received from beneficiaries.
Feedback from young people and their social workers:
_**“The kids had a really nice time. It was nice to get away”**_
_**“E absolutely loved her trip to Longleat!”**_
_**“C was desperate to learn piano – on my last visit to see her she played us a song – it was lovely!”**_
_**“J really enjoyed his young driver lessons. He wants to be in the police and thought learning to drive early would be great. He has a massive smile on his face when he told me about it. It was lovely to be able to fund something to enrich his life.”**_
_**“It was great for R to be able to get surfing lessons before she moved down to the coast. She’s had a tricky year at school so it was good to be able to provide something extra for her.”**_
**2**
## **4. FINANCIAL REVIEW | ACCOUNTS**
- During the previous financial year EPIC received a significant start-up grant which allowed us to begin issuing grants to care-experienced children and young people. We are now dependent mainly on ‘payroll giving’ and oneoff grants.
A challenge in the current financial year has been generating sustained funding which will allow us to continue to give grants once the start-up fund is used up.
_Cashfow summary table:_
|||
|**2023-24**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**Total I**|**ncome**||£1612|
|**Total e**|**xpenditure**||£9372|
|**Reserv**
**end**|**es at year**||£22,584|
|||||
|**Cash f**
**end**|**unds at year**||£14,825|
The board have agreed a Reserves Policy is not yet necessary but will require further consideration upon more consistent funding.
## **Grant making windows**
**2**
During 2023-24 EPIC ran two grant cycles giving out a total of 20 grants to 20 individual young people.
## **5. STRUCTURE | GOVERNANCE | TRUSTEES’ RESPONSABILITIES**
- Over 2023 – 2024, the EPIC board of Trustees was made up of seven Trustees. There were no starters or leavers during this period. The board meets six times per year.
- EPIC established a Finance Committee made up of four Trustees who meet after every application window to make decisions regarding funding applications based on the relevant criteria. The Funding Policy is on our website.
- Trustees are generally sought based on experience and by word of mouth, as well as advertising on volunteer forums. The Trustees regularly review the make-up of the board to ensure it is representative. New Trustees have an introductory discussion and are invited to observe a meeting. Formal training is planned for 23/24 financial year.
- The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with charity law and accounting standards. In preparing these reports the trustees are required to:
- Apply policies appropriately and consistently
- Comply with the Charity Commission requirements
- Confirm appropriate accounting standards have been followed
**2**
`o` Complete them on a going concern basis
The Trustees are responsible for keeping financial records that will accurately disclose the financial position of the charity, as well as safeguarding the assets of the charity – and detecting and preventing fraud.
## **6. EPIC PRIORITIES | LOOKING AHEAD**
- Raising EPIC’s profile via a new website Establish a greater social media presence Awareness-raising Recruit a Patron
Embed more dynamic fundraising efforts Further develop our Trustee board
**2**
||**Epic Charity Bristol**
**1**|**Epic Charity Bristol**
**1**|**Epic Charity Bristol**
**1**|**Epic Charity Bristol**
**1**|**Epic Charity Bristol**
**1**|**No (if any)**
**193713**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||Period start date
4/6/2023||**To**
|Period end date
4/5/2024||
|||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|||**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**||**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**1,612**
**-**
**1,612**
**-**
**-**
**1,612**
**30**
**69**
**9,273**
**-**
**9,372**
**-**
**-**
**9,372**
**- 7,759**
**-**
**22,584**
**14,825**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Donations,legacies andgrants|**1,612**||||**-**|**1,612**|**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**1,612**
||||**-**|**1,612**|**31,473**|
|||||||||
||||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||||
||||||**-**||**31,473**|
|||||||||
||||||**-**|**30**|**-**|
||||||**-**|**69**|**-**|
||||||**-**|**9,273**|**-**|
||||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||||**-**|**9,372**|**10,237**|
|||||||||
||||||**-**|**-**||
||||||**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||||
||||||**-**|**9,372**|**10,237**|
|||||||||
||**- 7,759**||**-**||**-**|**- 7,759**|**21,236**|
||**-**||**-**||**-**|**-**|**-**|
||**22,584**||**-**||**-**|**22,584**|**1,348**|
||**14,825**||**-**||**-**|**14,825**|**22,584**|
## **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**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
#VALUE!
#VALUE!
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**14,825**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**14,825**
**-**
OK
OK
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Liz Small
Mike Starr
**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|
||#VALUE!|Liz Small|17th Jan 2025|
||#VALUE!|Mike Starr|**20th Jan 2025**|