Little Acorns Baby Charity (registration no. 1194199)
## Trustees’ Report
6[th] April 2023 to 5[th] April 2024
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
Little Acorns Baby Bank was set up on 7[th] December 2020 and was registered with The Charities Commission for England and Wales as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 22[nd] April 2021 and became Little Acorns Baby Charity (registration no. 1194199).
Trustees:
Rebecca Anderson
Neil Garlick
Sally Garlick
The charity is managed and run by the trustees.
As detailed in the charity’s constitution, there must be at least three trustees, new trustees will be appointed by a meeting of the existing trustees, and appointed for a minimum term of 2 years.
Principal Address: 1 Carr Row, Leamside, DH4 6QH
## **Objectives and Activities**
The purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document:
1. The prevention and relief of poverty among socially and/or economically disadvantaged individuals and families in Durham/Chester le Street and the surrounding areas who are pregnant or have children aged, in particular but not exclusively under 2 years and are unable to provide basic equipment, consumables, food, clothing and toys for babies and children by supplying them with new and recycled items free of charge.
2. To preserve and protect good health of babies and children under 2 years in Durham/Chester le Street and the surrounding area by facilitating projects relating to parenting and the health and wellbeing of babies and children.
The original aim was to set up a baby bank service to help those struggling during the pandemic by collecting good quality used and new baby items from the public and re-distributing them to families
in need free of charge. We initially explored projects and partnership working in order to reach more people quickly. We have for the last 2 years established donation points, collected and stored enough items to enable us to meet requests without partnership grants to fund buying in items.
## **Where we are based/area covered**
We continue (since June 2021) to rent the upper hall at Bethel United Reform Church in Chester le Street. Rent remains at £25 a month (since September 2022). We delivered referrals to postcodes DH1,2,3 and 4 but accepted referrals from across County Durham providing collection could be made and there wasn’t a closer baby bank service to the family.
## **What we collect and supply**
We accept items such as baby clothing, toiletries, nappies, sterilisers and maternity items. We had three donation points this year: Chester le Street Methodist Church, Clart About Sensory Café in Consett and The Little Wardrobe NE shop based in Newton Hall Durham. We used a wishlist of items to match high need/low stock. This was advertised on our Facebook page and donations were dropped off or purchased through our Amazon wishlist.
We continued a relationship with the Community Champion at Morrisons Chester-le Street who supported us through their ‘Pick Up Packs’ when we were in need of support.
The only large equipment item we supplied were safety gates purchased new through a wholesaler that sold to charities.
## **Referral process**
We continued to use our Google form for professionals to refer individuals for support. Referrals are then packed and then either collected by the professional or are delivered directly to the family by a member of the Little Acorns team.
## **Donations/Fundraising**
The charity Just Giving page is set up for donations from the public.
The Little Wardrobe NE held a second hand uniform sale and raised £55 for us in year.
## **Public benefit statement**
The Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit as published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. In setting our objectives and planning activities our Trustees have given consideration to the public benefit and in particular to the prevention or relief of poverty.
## **Achievements and Performance**
Little Acorns Baby Charity received and fulfilled 40 referrals this year. We were able to give generously with clothing bundles due to the established stock built up through public donations and able to offer other items requested from our stock. We had very little buying in of items apart from safety gates, which we buy new, and formula when we did not have the right brand in stock.
We built a relationship with Grace Stewart at The Little Wardrobe NE who offered to become a donation point for us and also fundraised in year for us.
## **Financial Review**
Little Acorns Baby Charity accounts for the period 6th April 2023 to 5[th] April 2024 shows a deficit of £582 in year and cash at bank at year end of £480.
The £374 of donations shown in the accounts is made up of £55 raised by The Little Wardrobe NE and £319 from the public. We are very grateful for the support of both.
The £75 gift card received from Morrisons shown in the 22/23 accounts was not fully spent in that year. £27.19 was in the cash in hand figure at 22/23 year end and spent early this financial year on baby items.
We have no reserves policy set. Our current costs are £25 a month rent and annual insurance cost £99. We undertake a monthly bank reconciliation and spending is very much dependent on income. We have established a good level of public donations and community support through Morrisons Chester le Street and find we need to buy in very little to fulfil our referral requests. The main items we buy in are baby gates and formula when not in stock. If public donations do not cover buying in these items going forward, we would apply for further grants or fundraise before making purchases.
We remain in a good position moving forward and there are no uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern.
## **Declaration**
The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustee’s report above.
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees
Sally Garlick (Chair)
Date: 14.01.25
||**Little Acorns Baby Charity**
**Charity Name**|**Little Acorns Baby Charity**
**Charity Name**|**Little Acorns Baby Charity**
**Charity Name**|**1194199**
**No (if any)**|**1194199**
**No (if any)**|**1194199**
**No (if any)**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|6th April 2023
Period start date|**To**||5th April 2024
Period end date|||
|||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**374**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**374**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**374**
**300**
**99**
**14**
**543**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**956**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**956**
**- 582**
**-**
**1,062**
**480**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**374**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**374**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Donations|**374**||||||**701**|
|Gift card|**-**||||||**75**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**374**||||||**776**|
|||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||
||**-**|||||||
||**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||
||||||**374**||**776**|
||||||**300**
**99**
**14**
**543**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**956**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**956**
**- 582**|||
|Rent|**300**||||||**340**|
|Insurance|**99**||||||**99**|
|Expenses|**14**||||||**21**|
|Baby/Maternityitems for referrals|**543**||||||**488**|
|Storage|**-**||||||**894**|
|Other costs|**-**||||||**4**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
||**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**956**||||||**1,846**|
|||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||
||**-**|||||||
||**-**|||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||
||||||||**1,846**|
|||||||||
||**- 582**|**-**|**-**||**- 582**||**- 1,070**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**1,062**|**-**|**-**||**1,062**||**-**|
||**480**|**-**|**-**||**480**||**- 1,070**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
14/01/2025
1
|**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**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|Signature
**Details**
Cash at bank
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Shelving/storage|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**480**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**480**
**-**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
unrestricted
**1,004**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Sally Garlick
Print Name|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||Sally Garlick|14.01.25|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
14/01/2025
2