## **TouchPoint** **Annual Report and Accounts for the period to 31 March 2024** Crafton Green House 72 Chapel Hill Stansted CM24 8AQ Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registration No: 1194098 1 **TouchPoint Annual Report of the Chair of Trustees For the period to 31 March 2024** ## **“What you have done has transformed our community”** ## **Who we are** ## **TouchPoint is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered in April 2021** We are a grassroots community wellbeing initiative based at Crafton Green in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex. We serve communities in West Essex and East Herts. Our purpose is to have positive social impact. TouchPoint facilitates an array of connected community services which address issues around social isolation, mental and physical health and wellbeing, food waste and food education, digital exclusion, employability and economic recovery, as well as financial stress and debt management. Our model is collaborative and is driven by a recognition of the value and efficiency in working with specialist partners while also actively listening to our community. We believe in harnessing the skills and experience that already exist to build a selfsustaining, innovative and forward-looking entity. Among the specialist organisations and agencies who form part of our network we are particularly grateful to Integration Support, MAG Stansted Airport, Mind in West Essex, Peabody Trust, St Clare Hospice, Uttlesford Foodbank, and our local NHS Social Prescribers for their continued support and partnership. TouchPoint is a volunteer led organisation and we have been delighted by the outstanding contribution of our highly committed team. We now have 170 active volunteers who, in the past calendar year, have given us 19,600 hours of their time. If we had paid our volunteers the national minimum wage in return for their time, the cost to TouchPoint would have been £260,000. This is an extraordinarily valuable donation of time and skills. It enables TouchPoint to deliver great value and return on investment. The trustees offer our sincere thanks for their commitment and the enthusiasm they bring in delivering our projects and services, with our shared core values of inclusiveness, tolerance, dignity and respect. 2 ## **TouchPoint in 2024** This year has seen continued growth for the charity. We have expanded existing services and we continue to launch new initiatives. We are proud of our local reputation for collaboration, innovation, and delivery. In January we received the “Community Champion” Award at the annual Bishop’s Stortford Independent Newspaper awards gala. This is a prestigious local award and we were thrilled to receive it at such an early stage in our charity’s journey. In the same month we were announced as the beneficiary of the MAG Stansted Airport Flagship Award. This highly sought after annual award of £50,000 towards capital projects is designed to facilitate “game changing” impact for local community organisations. This enabled the major refurbishment of our Hub building which was critical for the effective running and evolution of so many of our projects this year. We are very grateful to MAG for this award and the ongoing support and encouragement that has been offered both by their senior leadership and Communities team. Our new Community Radio project has generated great momentum, and we see endless possibilities for its future development. TouchPoint Food Share has become a lifeline for many, whilst also serving a very important environmental purpose. TouchPoint Active now delivers free physical activity sessions throughout the district and is reaching many people who might not otherwise participate. Our work with schools continues to develop. We actively support four primary schools with Food Share, and we also provide supermarket vouchers for parents who are in financial crisis. This year pupils and families from 10 primary schools benefited from our Kids Christmas Appeal. The TouchPoint Community Hub in Stansted has become a busy, vibrant, active building used by people of all ages. Almost everything we offer at the hub is offered free of charge, or for a small voluntary donation. During the year TouchPoint enjoyed significant growth in income. Much of this was restricted, capital funding towards our building refurbishment. The works commenced toward the end of our financial year in March and some of the associated payments will not appear in our accounts until we report on 2024/2025. As a team-oriented community project we are proud to be volunteer led, but our rapid growth has presented a number of challenges. Managing and coordinating 170 active volunteers, in an environment where so many people have come to depend on us, has led us to recognise the need for part time, paid staff in key roles. The trustees have approved the recruitment of a Director of Operations, commencing October 2024. We are confident that in making this appointment we are laying the foundations for greater long-term sustainability and future growth. 3 TouchPoint in 2024 "TouchPoint is bigger than the services they provide. It's a network, a lifeline and a lifesaver. "Without TouchPoint Food Share I don't know how I would survive each week." >9 Coming here has changed my life" Impact Quotes 16 Whatyou have done has transformed our community 'TouchPoint really lifts my spirits- it can be the only time I speak to other people 'My physical and mental health have improved, and I have met so many new friends" **Our key projects** ## **TouchPoint Community Hub** At the heart of our Hub is our Community Café. Staffed mainly by volunteers this is a safe, welcoming space, where hot meals, snacks, tea and coffee are offered free of charge or at very low cost. The weekly Free Kids Teatime & Activities, and Free Friday Breakfast Social have become very popular. The Thursday lunchtime café has become a fixture for some of the older members of our community. “Sunday Afternoon at the Movies” - a cheese toastie, pastry, and a hot drink followed by a classic film - is all delivered free of charge and is very popular with those who find Sunday to be a difficult or quiet day. Throughout the year at the hub we have delivered educational community cooking classes, cooking groups for migrants and asylum seekers, our regular Bereavement Café, and hosted a Night Owls Sanctuary delivered by Mind in West Essex. We provide a free room to Uttlesford Foodbank, allowing them to store supplies for local distribution. Voluntary sector organisations such as Hearing Help and Homestart have been offered free use of our rooms, and the local Primary Care Network have run wellbeing sessions for patients with diagnosed conditions. 5 ## **TouchPoint Community Hub cont.** The hub benefitted from long overdue, major refurbishment in the early part of the year. This was made possible by significant capital funding grants from Stansted Airport/MAG, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Essex Community Foundation, Active Essex, Places & Spaces, and Uttlesford District Council. We are very grateful for their support. The TouchPoint team have so far raised £120,000 towards the refurbishment of this community building. Our landlord Stansted Parish Council has contributed a further £26,477, via a combination of funding from an Uttlesford District Council "Day Centre" grant of £20,000 and from their own reserves. Stansted Parish Council has granted TouchPoint a long term, rent free licence to occupy the hub building, and we fully intend to continue to enhance the fabric and value of the building during our tenancy. We would like to put on record our thanks to the Parish Clerk and her team for their ongoing assistance, support and encouragement. The refurbishment has transformed the building and greatly increased its capacity. More than 400 people a week now regularly walk through the doors at our Stansted hub. With the support and active involvement of our community a previously underused local asset is now a hive of activity. 6 ## **TouchPoint Community Food Share** The TouchPoint Community Food Share was created as a food waste reduction initiative in early 2022. We offer this free to all in our community in order to remove any potential barriers to engagement. We now re-distribute more than eight tonnes of fresh produce a month, directly impacting more than 1,500 people a week. Regular TouchPoint Food Shares are held in Stansted, Elsenham, Takeley, Thaxted and Saffron Walden. We also directly support four primary schools, Stansted Youth Club and Bishop’s Stortford YMCA. This project has grown to become one of our most visible and successful initiatives and is a powerful engagement and signposting tool. By creating a warm, welcoming environment and building trust, we see many of our Food Share customers becoming beneficiaries of multiple TouchPoint services and activities. Many have gone on to become TouchPoint volunteers. The Food Share has become a huge logistical challenge. In a typical week at least 60 volunteers each give three hours (on average) of their time in order to deliver this service. They make more than 50 weekly collections from food retailers throughout our area. The nature of the project means that much of their work is unseen and is done during anti-social hours, either in the early morning or late at night. We are truly grateful to our volunteers for their contribution and commitment. 7 ## **TouchPoint Active** Our physical health and wellbeing sessions are now all delivered under new branding, “TouchPoint Active”. Our aim is to deliver activities free of charge and to make them available to all in our community. We pay particular attention to reaching those who might not otherwise participate. We have continued to build on the work started by Lucy Robinson. Lucy played a key leadership role both in designing and delivering the first stages of our physical wellbeing project, and also in providing invaluable input which helped us secure funding from Essex County Council’s Public Health Accelerator Board (PHAB). During the year Lucy relocated to another part of the UK. We would like to thank Lucy for her tireless work and passionate commitment, our wellbeing services would not be where they are today without her contribution. Mo Park has taken on the mantle of Head of Wellbeing. Mo brings an impressive record of award-winning leadership and achievement in sport and exercise, both at elite and grassroots community levels. The new “PHAB” funding has enabled significant expansion of TouchPoint Active. At the time of writing Mo has built a team of 10 highly skilled, fully qualified instructors who deliver 14 free physical wellbeing sessions a week in villages throughout the district. Activities include: Yoga, Chair Yoga, Pilates, Chair Pilates, Bootcamp, Strength and Conditioning, Chair Exercise, Running and Therapeutic Walking. We have been delighted with the growth and success of TouchPoint Active, levels of engagement are very high, with consistent, regular attendance. At the time of writing TouchPoint Active has 200 weekly participants. 8 ## **Migrant and Asylum Seeker Support** TouchPoint continues to provide health and wellbeing support, and signposting services to asylum seekers and refugees who are resident in a local hotel. Our Project leader brings invaluable knowledge and experience from her previous work with UNICEF and Save The Children. Her passionate commitment to the welfare of this community has led to the creation of a project which all at TouchPoint are very proud of. Our team delivers activities such as weekly community cooking, TouchPoint Active wellbeing sessions, English language lessons, singing groups, and activities for pre-school age children. We continue to work closely with partner organisations such as Integration Support (Harlow) and Citizens Advice, who provide specialist information, advice and guidance. During the year we have also supported a number of the hotel residents in securing volunteer opportunities in the local town. ## **TouchPoint Radio** TouchPoint’s new community radio station is a very exciting addition to our portfolio. Our aim is to address issues around rural and social isolation, to help promote and build a sense of belonging and connectedness, and to invite creative participation in North West Essex and East Herts. The 2021 Census revealed that 25% of households in our area are single occupancy. By broadcasting hyper-local content, we plan to reach people in their homes and share information and stories about things that are happening in our communities on a daily basis. During the year 2023/24 we secured seed funding and built the studio. We now broadcast both live and recorded, curated content, and are working with schools, youth clubs, interest groups, and voluntary sector organisations to create unique content that reflects and represents our community. We invite local agencies and service providers to use TouchPoint Radio as an opportunity to raise awareness of their activities and events in our area. ## **Kids Christmas Gifts Appeal 2023** Following the success of our first Christmas Appeal in 2022 we launched a much more ambitious appeal in 2023. Our aim was to raise money to provide £25 gift vouchers to children and families in our area where need had been identified. To identify beneficiaries we worked with Uttlesford Foodbank, Homestart, Action for Family Carers, eight local primary schools, and Mind in West Essex. Our dedicated volunteer team were able to raise an incredible £17,000 enabling us to support 680 children and families. A herculean effort! 9 ## **Our funding** TouchPoint receives funds from a number of Local Authorities, national charitable organisations, and local businesses, as well as funding from numerous individuals. The trustees would like to offer our sincere thanks to all our funders for the very generous donations that enable us to continue to grow our essential activities. ## **Reserves Policy** TouchPoint has a policy of retaining at least three months overheads and nondiscretionary costs based on the previous year’s expenditure. ## **Trustees & Trustee Recruitment** The Trustees are Paul Chambers (Chair), Shirley Johnson (Secretary), Elissa Burgoine, Fiona Venus, and Richard Jones. Keith Brown stepped down on 15th April 2024, his term of office having ended. Trustees are appointed by the existing Trustee Board. The annual report was approved by the Trustees of the Charity on 27th January 2025 and signed on its behalf by: ............................................... **Paul Chambers Chair** 10 **The annual accounts were approved by the Trustees of the Charity on 27th January 2025 and signed on its behalf by:** **............................................... Paul Chambers Chair** 11 TouchPolnt TouchPoint Notes to the Rocoipts and Payments Account for tho poriod endod 31 March 2024 2021 Unrestrl¢ted Charities Aid Foundation Ulllesford District Council Other Grants Fundraising activities 700 1,531 1,637 549 164 2,350 2.231 Restricted Active Essex Allen Lane Foundation Birchanger PC TNL- The Community Organisations Costof Living Grant Education Services 2010 Elsenham PC Essex Assoc of Local Councils Essex Community Foundation HUBBUB John LewSs Parth8rshlp Manche51erAirport Group CVSU - Lefs Cook Grant Neighbourly Foundatlon Postcode Places Trust Saffron Walden Baplistchurch stansled Parish Council Takeley Parish Councll Uttiesford District Council EALC Winter Warmlh Grant UDC Yoga Classes RCCE Covid Safe Buildings Grant Community Foodshare She's Ready Initiative TouchPoint Kids, Christmas GiftAppeal The Stansted Trust ECC Locality Fund 19,599 3,500 250 33,363 4,587 690 5,000 4,650 22.000 2,000 500 1.950 1.000 15,000 341 2,500 1.250 71,126 2,000 6,800 1,150 24,500 1,000 1,370 5,075 100 4,150 6,296 1,000 3,773 189.306 57,214 TOTAL 191,537 59,564 12 TouchPolnt TouchPolnt Notes lo the Recelpts and Payments Account for the perlod ended 31 March 2024 2024 2023 Restricted Funds CGH Chiller Room RCCE Crafton Green House Grant TouchPoint Hub UDC Grant Community Foodshare TNL- The Community Organisations CostofLiving Grant HUBBUB Food Fund Raising Development Fund The TouchPoint Hardship Fund Asylum Seeker Support AS Coordinator Asylum Seeker Support Community Cooking Asylum Seeker Support English Language Ed Servlces Asylum Seeker Support Female Exercise Sessions Asylum Seeker Support Male Exercise Sessions Asylum Seeker Support Music Project Asylum Seeker Support Recreats'on Equipment Asylum Seeker Support Transportfor Community Cooking Ready Steady Cook Active Essex Ready St&ady Cook HUBBUB fvndSng UKSPFIUDC Grant- TouchPoinl Live Set Up Fundlng TouchPointActive- Waitrose General Fund TouchPointActive- Ch81r Yoga TouchPointAcbve- Shes Ready Takeley EALC Winterwarmth & Food Support Grant TouchPoint Kids, Christmas Gift Appeal Poslcode Places Trust Nab'onal Lottery UDC B&r8av8mentCafé UDC Singing for AIIIDemenla Support UDC Yoga Classes Community Covid Safe Buildings The Stansled Trust Grant UKSPFIUDC Refrigerated Van Grant 7,000 781 2,150 4,857 1322 8,000 383 1,500 5,613 1,329 665 665 246 531 270 1,708 5,000 1,910 24 1,105 615 733 4822 7,327 1.318 2,636 637 1,296 2.745 736 62 690 782 900 24,500 58,057 36,302 The above balance of £1,222 held in respect of the TNL The Community Organisats'ons Cost of Livlng Granl had the equivalent costs incurred to 31 March 2024. The payment of these costs cleared the bank in the first weeks of April 2024. Durlng the perlod, some restrlcted funds had Sncurred costs In advance of recelvlng the appropriate fijnding. Where this is the case a temporary amount has been allocated from unrestricted fijnds to cover. This will be transferred back when the restricted fvnding arrives. 13 **TouchPoint Independent Examiner’s Report For the period to 31 March 2024** **Respective** The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the **responsibilities** accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required **of trustees and** for this year under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the 1993 **examiner** Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to: examine the accounts under section 43 of the 1993 Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 43(7)(b) of the 1993 Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. **Basis of** My examination was carried out in accordance with general **independent** directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes **examiner’s** a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a **statement** comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. - **Independent** In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my **examiner's** attention **statement** 1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements: - to keep accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the 1993 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 1993 Acthave not been met ; or 2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Stephen Pounder 29 January 2025 14