Apart of Me (Registered charity, number 1194613) Financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2024
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| 2 - 5 | Trustees’ annual report |
| 6 | Independent examiner’s report |
| 7 | Receipts & payments account |
| 8 | Statement of assets & liabilities |
| 9 - 10 | Notes to the accounts |
Apart of Me Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 30 June 2024
Full name Apart of Me
Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation
Registered charity number 1194613
Principal address The Hermitage, Old Hackney Lane, Matlock, DE4 2QL
Trustees
Matt Williams, Chair of Trustees Elizabeth Cramp, Treasurer Jeremy Stone Jessica Coelho, from 29/08/2023 Amy McKeown, from 18/10/2023 Caroline Gerstein, from 15/02/2024
Independent examiner
John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL
Governance and management
The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 27 May 2021.
Within the terms of the constitution, there must be at least 3 charity trustees and a maximum of 12. Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of 3 years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
Any person retiring as a charity trustee is eligible for reappointment. A charity trustee who has served for 3 consecutive terms may not be reappointed for a fourth consecutive term but may be reappointed after an interval of at least one year.
Objectives and activities
The object of the CIO is to prevent and relieve mental and physical illness in children, adults and their families suffering from bereavement, loss or trauma by the provision of support and the promotion of the health and wellbeing of such persons.
Public benefit statement
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.
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Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
Year in Review
2023 marked the third year of Apart of Me as a registered charity. It was a year of change, not just for our organisation, but for the world at large. Many bereaved young people and families continued to grapple with the psychological aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, an increase in global conflicts left numerous young people struggling with grief.
In this context of a changing world, we took time to reflect on our achievements, strengths, and areas for improvement. We developed a strategy to respond compassionately and creatively to young people's needs in an increasingly volatile world.
Strategic Focus
Our strategy centred on developing our core intervention model: reaching hard-toreach bereaved young people by offering them opportunities to co-design our games, products, and services. This approach has been fundamental to Apart of Me since its inception, and the feedback we've received has been profound.
With our strategy in place, we focused on strengthening our organisational foundations to ensure sustainable growth. We expanded our core team, appointing four part-time paid employees in addition to our dedicated volunteers.
Key Areas of Work
- Grief Guides - Turning Grief into Compassion
We celebrated an extremely successful year for our Guides Programme, completing its third year as a Co-op Foundation funded initiative. During this time, we trained three cohorts of bereaved young people to become Guides, who then ran online grief circles to support their peers.
As the Co-op funding concluded, we secured a three-year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to continue this vital work. Planning for the revitalised Guides programme began in early 2024, with implementation in schools set to commence in September 2024.
Apart of Me App
We continued to provide our flagship product, the Apart of Me game - an online therapeutic tool that translates best practices for dealing with grief into a safe virtual space. By the end of the financial year, we achieved:
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Over 160,000 downloads
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Usage in more than 50 countries
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Numerous heart-warming reviews
Firefly Project
Our Lead Designer became a finalist in The Big Education Challenge with The Firefly Project, an initiative aimed at providing proactive grief awareness and education to children, young people, and those who care for them. Throughout the year, we received support from The Big Change and The Young Foundation to bring this idea to life, engaging with nearly 400 people through workshops and research across the UK.
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Looking Ahead
As we move forward, Apart of Me remains committed to supporting bereaved young people through innovative, compassionate approaches. We are grateful for the support of our funders, volunteers, and the young people who continue to shape our work.
Apart of Me provides highly accessible services for the benefit of children, young people and their families free of charge which is demonstrated by the downloads of our therapeutic game, Apart of Me reaching over 160,000. Due to the success of this game in English, it was subsequently translated into a further 3 languages for the benefit of users internationally.
The continuation of our Guides programme possible through Lottery funding will allow us to expand into schools and grow the service for the benefit of bereaved children.
Financial review
The financial accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
For the financial year ending 30th June 2024, total income was £162k of which £107k was restricted to deliver specific projects and £55k was unrestricted. Grants of note received during the year were £50k from The Big Change for our Firefly project, £30k from The National Lottery Community Fund (being the first payment of a 3 year £180k grant) in respect of our 'Guide Me' schools programme and £20k from The National Lottery Awards For All for the Co-design of our new website. Additionally, our 2 largest donors were £12k from a private individual and £10k from BTIG.
Expenditure was £126k for the year, the key items of spend being:
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£39k for costs on the Firefly project.
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£31k on Freelancers/Consultants for other projects
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£33k on employee costs
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£15k on Fundraising
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The remaining £8k was spent on fixed running costs such as insurance, IT costs and some minor travelling expenses.
The cash balance of £106k is healthy at the end of the financial year - of this, £51k is restricted funds relating to future expenditure, mainly on the two lottery-funded projects.
The charity’s policy on reserves
Apart of Me has a reserves policy agreed by the Trustees and reviewed on an annual basis or at any point where there is a significant change in expense commitments as judged by the Treasurer who will review and consider it on a monthly basis. The policy at the year-end was to maintain reserves at a level which equates to approximately 3 months running costs plus a contingency of £5,000. This is intended to cover any potential cash flow problems, growth opportunities and unforeseen setbacks.
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Financial risks
The Trustees are mindful of the challenges in the current environment, which is a tough one for the majority of charities, and as such remain focussed on a diverse fund-raising strategy to support our future work.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed ______ Date _ 21/11/2024 Matt Williams, Trustee
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Apart of Me for the year ended 30 June 2024
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Apart of Me (the charity) for the year ended 30 June 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity 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 charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed ____ Date _______ 21/11/2024
John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus
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Apart of Me Receipts & payments account for the year ended 30 June 2024
| 2023 Total Unrestricted Funds Funds £ Note £ Receipts 79490 Grants 2 - 22562 Donations 2 52365 19856 Fundraising - - Gift aid 1719 - Bank interest 1068 121908 Total receipts 55152 Payments 653 CEO expenses 146 23097 Consultants/Freelancers 8701 11692 Events - 10543 Fundraising costs 15118 1656 Insurance/Finance 2301 2240 IT costs 3009 - Printing, postage & stationery 60 - Professional fees 685 - Recruitment costs 89 511 Sundry expenses 171 760 Training 464 282 Travel 182 505 Trustee expenses 123 92852 Ukraine projects costs - - Wages, NI & pensions 25453 - Charity overheads (22458) 144791 Total payments 34044 (22883) Net receipts/(payments) 21108 93526 Cash funds at start of this period 33995 70643 Cash funds at end of this period 55103 |
Restricted Funds £ 105250 1759 - - - 107009 - 61466 - - - 531 - - - - - - - - 7769 22458 92224 14785 36648 51433 |
2024 Total Funds £ 105250 54124 - 1719 1068 |
|---|---|---|
| 162161 | ||
| 146 70167 - 15118 2301 3540 60 685 89 171 464 182 123 - 33222 - |
||
| 126268 | ||
| 35893 70643 |
||
| 106536 |
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Apart of Me Statement of assets and liabilities at 30 June 2024
| 2023 £ Cash assets Note 70643 Bank accounts 70643 Other monetary assets 1031 Debtors - gift aid receivable 1898 Prepayments - insurance 2929 Liabilities (1239) Sundry creditors 4 (588) Professional fees (1827) |
2024 £ 106536 |
|---|---|
| 106536 | |
| - 472 |
|
| 472 | |
| (1294) (840) |
|
| (2134) |
These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:
Signed _____ Dated _____ 21/11/2024 Elizabeth Cramp, Trustee
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Apart of Me Notes to the accounts for the year ended 30 June 2024
1. Receipts & payments accounts
Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.
2. Grants & donations
| Big Change Lottery Community Fund Awards for All Sir Halley Stewart The Big Give Sundry grants & donations |
Unrestricted £ - - - - - 52365 52365 |
Restricted Total £ £ 50000 50000 30000 30000 20000 20000 5000 5000 1759 1759 250 52615 107009 159374 |
|---|---|---|
3. Funds analysis
| Funds analysis | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted funds Coop fund 23 Ukraine/Nadiya Big Change/Firefly Guides Sir Halley Stewart Website Unrestricted funds General fund |
Opening balance £ 16801 21745 (1898) - - - 36648 33995 33995 |
Receipts £ 250 - 50000 31759 5000 20000 107009 55152 55152 |
(Payments) £ (17051) (13745) (48102) (10540) - (2786) (92224) (34044) (34044) |
Transfers £ - (8000) - - - 8000 - - - |
Closing balance £ - - - 21219 5000 25214 |
| 51433 | |||||
| 55103 | |||||
| 55103 |
The transfer of £8,000 from the Ukraine/Nadiya fund to the Website fund reflects the change of restriction on the fund.
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4. Creditors
| Professional fees Independent examination Freelance/consultants Tax & NI Pensions |
£ 192 648 540 329 425 |
|---|---|
| 2134 |
5. Trustees’ remuneration
- Trustees received no remuneration or benefits in this period.
6. Glossary of terms
Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.
Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received in the accounting period.
Prepayments: These are services that the charity has paid for in advance, but not used during the accounting period.
Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor, but still within the general objects of the charity.
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