## ANNUAL REPORT 2023 - 2024 


**Charity Name:** The Richard Whitehead Foundation **Charity Registration Number:** 1194726 




## CONTENTS 

|CONTENTS||
|---|---|
|Administrative Information|**02**|
|Chair & CEO Report|**04**|
|The Trustees’ Annual Report & Accounts|**08**|
|What We Achieved In 2023-24|**10**|
|Plans, Priorities & Objectives For 2024-25|**18**|
|Structure, Governance & Management|**22**|
|Financial Review|**24**|
|Independent Examiner’s Report|**30**|





## ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION 

## **Chief Executive Officer** 


## **Penny Sturgess** 

Joined: January 2024 

## **Registered Address** 

## **Trustees** 








**Mark Fosbrook PLY Richard Whitehead MBE PLY** Chair President **Peter Stansbury Martin Austin MBE** Treasurer Vice Chair Resigned: April 2023 

**Laura Baxter MBE Rachael Ashton** Vice Chair Compliance Lead 

Resigned: April 2024 

**Hannah Webber Rebecca Gibson** Trustee Trustee Resigned: March 2024 Resigned: July 2024 

**David Howells Kate Naish** Trustee Trustee **Tracy Cox-Smyth OLY** Trustee Trustee 

**Claire Buckle** Trustee Joined: December 2023 

## **Andrew Whitaker** 

Trustee 

Joined: December 2023 

c/o 9ine Accounting 76 Bridgford Road West Bridgford Nottingham NG2 6AX info@whitehead.foundation www.whitehead.foundation 

## **Independent Examiner** 

c/o 9ine Accounting 76 Bridgford Road West Bridgford Nottingham NG2 6AX 

## **Charity Registration Number** 

1194726 

## **Bank** 

National Westminster Bank Plc Chatham Customer Service Centre Chatham 

Waterside Court Chatham Maritime Chatham ME4 4RT 

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## CHAIR & CEO REPORT 

**Welcome to the annual report and financial statements of the Richard Whitehead Foundation (RWF) for 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.** 

It has been a year of change and development for the Richard Whitehead Foundation. In January we were excited to welcome our first Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Penny Sturgess. This marks a major investment and strategic development for the organisation and will help us to build upon the foundations laid during our first two years. The CEO will lead RWF to the next stage – developing and growing our project delivery, expanding our reach, measuring our impact, diversifying our funding streams and building our brand. Our Project Officer, Paul Brackley resigned in October and we thank him for his contribution, particularly in setting up some of our pilot projects. 

getting running prosthetics and being supported to maximise their potential. We piloted a Supported Runner Programme at the Great South Run and the Great North Run, and have developed plans to roll it out at the TCS London Marathon and the AJ Bell Great Run Series. We delivered our second Run with Rich mass participation inclusive event, once again attracting a diverse audience of disabled people, their friends and families. We supported disabled people through our mentoring programme in Nottingham and engaged 1,600 children in schools across Teesside in our Week of Inspiration. 

This has been a year of development and trying new things in our project and service portfolio. We continued to support the beneficiaries of our Nissan Possibilities Project, and were excited to recruit our second cohort of four beneficiaries who began their journey towards 

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## **The charity worked in partnership with the following organisations, assisting us in the successful delivery of services to disabled people and families:** 

for the funding to set up a mentoring project in Nottingham. 

   - **BP,** who we thank for funding a week of inspiration in schools in Teesside. 

   - **Anglo American,** who we thank for providing capacity building and grant support funded by their Ambassadors for Good programme. 

- **Nissan,** who we thank for their continued funding and in-kind support for our Possibilities Project and our Supported Runner Pilot. 

- **Össur,** who we thank for 

   - **World Mobile,** who we thank for their ongoing donations. 

- providing running prosthetics such as blades and ongoing support with getting the most out of their blades to our four Nissan Beneficiaries. 

   - **Nike,** who we thank for their generous provision of sports equipment and apparel for our runners, volunteers and staff. 

   - **Holme Pierrepont in** 

- **Sport Structures,** who we thank for developing an online training course which will enable us to train and build our community of volunteer Support Runners. 

      - **Nottingham,** who we thank for hosting our annual Run with Rich event. 

   - **Better IT,** who we thank for providing our IT services. 

- **Active Notts,** who we thank 


## **The Richard Whitehead Foundation remains a volunteer and user led organisation.** 

We, along with the wider Board of Trustees, express our thanks to all the staff, freelancers and volunteers who have worked with us over the past 12 months. Their determination, enthusiasm and resilience are greatly appreciated, and we look forward together to the exciting prospects of the year ahead. 

We continue to be supported by our community of volunteers and the activities of RWF were supported by 60 volunteers over the course of the year. We would like to thank all our volunteers, who have provided an estimated total of 924 volunteering hours with a value in-kind contribution of over £24,024. We also thank our hundreds of individual fundraisers who have together raised a total of £45,981 for RWF, by taking part in charity events such as the London Marathon, participating in Run with Rich or raising funds in other ways. 


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## THE TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 

**The trustees of The Richard Whitehead Foundation present their annual report and accounts for the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and confirm they comply with the current requirements of UK Charity Law and the Charities Constitution.** 

## **Who we are** 

The Richard Whitehead 

Foundation, established in 2021 by Paralympic Gold Medalist Richard Whitehead MBE, is a national charity dedicated to supporting disabled people to achieve their ambitions through the lifechanging power of sport. 

## **Status** 

The Richard Whitehead Foundation is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered in England and Wales, registration number 1194726. It has a constitution as its governing document. 

## **Charitable object** 

This is: To promote for the benefit of people with physical or mental disabilities the provision of facilities (which includes projects, mentoring and equipment) to encourage participation in disability sports in general and track and field athletics in particular, in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving their conditions of life. 

## **Public benefit** 

The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing their aims and objectives and in planning future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives of the charity. 

## **What we do** 

The Richard Whitehead Foundation enables disabled people’s ambitions through the power of sport and physical activity. We believe all disabled people should have access to the life-changing power of sport. We place the individual at the centre of our work. We provide access to support, mentoring, information, advice, equipment and opportunities that will spark a sustained lifetime intervention. We work with disabled people who are facing physical and emotional challenges who without intervention would likely remain inactive. We help to identify and remove their barriers to engaging in sport and physical activity, supporting them to reach their full potential. 

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## WHAT WE ACHIEVED IN 2023-24 

**In our third full year of operations, the trustees have continued to develop the building blocks of the organisation through governance capacity building, fundraising and the appointment of the first permanent part-time Chief Executive Officer.** 

The following pages are a summary of what we achieved through our services and projects. 

## NISSAN POSSIBILITIES 

**In partnership with Nissan and Össur, we support young adults with leg limb loss, amputation or limb difference to participate in running and other sports.** 

Since completing the programme, one of our beneficiaries has gone on to become a football coach with the Wolves Disability FC. She has also been picked for the England women’s amputee football team and will be playing for them in the women’s amputee World Cup later in 2024. Another of our beneficiaries, who is working as a prosthetist has progressed his running career to national level. 

We source and fund the provision of running prosthetics, and provide ongoing support to get the most from the prosthetics. Össur provides prosthetics, tailormade for each beneficiary and a specialist physiotherapist who works closely with relevant limb centres, RWF and the beneficiaries through each stage of their journey, enabling them to get the most from their prosthetics. 

Following on from the success of the first year of the Nissan Possibilities programme, we recruited our second cohort of beneficiaries. We received 12 applications for the programme and invited six to attend an assessment day with our partner prosthetics provider, Össur.  Four beneficiaries were accepted onto the programme and have begun being assessed for their prosthetics according to their personal development needs. 

The first four beneficiaries chosen last year for Nissan Possibilities have now all completed the programme. They have been supported through mentoring, support, facilitated peer networking, guidance and the provision of running prosthetics. 


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## RUN WITH RICH 2023 

**Following on from the success of our inaugural event in 2022 we organised  the second year of Run with Rich, once again providing a platform to demonstrate diversity and inclusion in action.** 

Decathlon, Delichon and Footprints who provided information and advice. 

Once again, approximately 450 people took part their way, young and old, non-disabled and disabled people, as well as people from differing cultural backgrounds. Approximately two-thirds of attendees were new to the event. We used the event to fundraise for RWF and implemented the learning from last year, with a view to establishing it as our annual event. 

The unique event is open to all impairment types and enables people to ‘run’ the course their way, and the experience is their own challenge. Participants complete either a 5km or a 1mile sensory course, alongside Richard Whitehead MBE. 

We also established an events village showcasing entertainment from local drumming and gymnastics groups, and stalls from disability and sports organisations such as Paddle UK, 

This incredible event could not have happened without the support of Holme Pierrepont, our fabulous organising committee and our team of volunteers. 




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## SUPPORTED RUNNER PILOT 

**Traditionally running events have been open to everyone but not always accessible to everyone.** 

to complete the Great North 10k in July, two runners at The Great North Run (Half Marathon) in September and seven runners at the Great South Run (10 mile, 5km and Junior) in October. 

A One Poll survey found a third of disabled people felt that sporting events were not set up to cater for them. Four in ten did not feel confident enough to take part. Many people surveyed believed access to trained volunteers would give them the confidence to take part, which is why we developed our Supported Runner Programme in partnership with Nissan. 

Feedback from the pilot was overwhelmingly positive and we are now recruiting volunteers to train to be Support Runners at all seven AJ Bell Great Run events in 2024 as well as the TCS London Marathon. To facilitate this, in partnership with Sport Structures, we have developed an online training course which will enable us to train and build our community of volunteer Support Runners who will support disabled people to participate in these mass running events. We have also secured additional places in each event for people who want to fundraise for RWF. 

To begin with, we ran a pilot at three events in partnership with the AJ Bell Great Run Series. We trained 12 experienced runners to provide 11 disabled people with the support, access, encouragement, and motivation they need to take part in a running event. We supported two disabled runners 


## PROJECT ACTIVE NOTTS 

**We completed our pilot mentoring programme in Nottinghamshire.** 

to source solutions such as equipment and opportunities to be more active, engage in sport or movement-based activity and progress with their personal goals. 

This project provided a personcentred approach, supporting disabled people to access the lifechanging power of movement and sport. We trained eight mentors (who are disabled) and matched them with disabled people who faced multiple barriers and were likely to remain inactive without intervention. They worked together over six months to break down these barriers and connect with local sports clubs and initiatives. They met weekly (online or in person), discussing the mentee’s situation and working together 

This was our first mentoring programme and was funded by a Tackling Inequalities grant from the Active Partners Trust (Nottinghamshire). We provided mentoring for 12 disabled people who for various reasons, were having difficulties getting active and accessing sport. We will use the learning from this project to expand the programme across the East Midlands and into other areas. 


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## SUPPORTIVE FAMILIES 

We were underspent in Project Active Notts and, with the permission of the funder we worked with families in Nottingham to facilitate supportive family group activities. We have organised two outings, bowling and canoeing, which will take place at the beginning of the next year and will involve disabled children, non-disabled children and adults. 

## WEEK OF INSPIRATION IN SCHOOLS 

**In partnership with BP and schools across Teesside, we inspired and educated young disabled and non-disabled children about disability and inclusion in sport.** 

We delivered eight half-day school visits and one whole day visit to nine schools in four towns across Teesside: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton. We engaged over 1,600 children in assemblies, 400 of whom participated in inclusive PE lessons. Every school was provided with a flyer outlining 18 local inclusive sports providers. 

Our team of five disabled ambassadors delivered a mix of inspirational talks and inclusive PE sessions and all schools received a set of classroombased resources to continue the learning for pupils beyond our visit. Our ambassadors are able to talk passionately to different audiences about their experiences, the barriers they have faced and to actively promote inclusivity. 


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## PLANS, PRIORITIES & OBJECTIVES FOR 2024-25 

## **2023–2024 has seen some exciting changes at the Richard Whitehead Foundation and we are excited about the year ahead.** 

Under the leadership of our CEO, the coming year will be an opportunity to further build our foundations, develop our offer and grow, so that we reach and support many more disabled people to achieve their ambitions through sport. 

## DEVELOPING OUR PROGRAMMES & SERVICES 

## **Our objective to put the individual at the heart of what we do will remain unchanged.** 

struggling to get active, and we will seek grant funding to develop this area of our work. 

We will build upon our Nissan Possibilities Programme, supporting more amputees to get active. We will use the experience of the programme over the past two years to tighten our policies and procedures, improve the customer journey and build wider partnerships. We will use the findings from our pilot Supported Runner Project to develop a programme that provides running support to disabled people who want to participate in the London Marathon and any of the events in the AJ Bell Great Run Series. We will set up new mentoring services to support disabled people who are 

As well as supporting disabled people individually, we want to reach more people en masse. We will deliver Run with Rich for the third year and we will work with our corporate partner, Nissan to deliver another mass running event. We will also use our partnership with the TCS London Marathon and AJ Bell Great Run Series to influence the accessibility and inclusivity of mass running events to disabled people. 

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## BUILDING OUR BRAND & TELLING DISABLED PEOPLE’S STORIES 

and Marketing Officer. We will revamp our website, build our following on social media and create a regular newsletter. We will use these means to tell our story and more importantly, to tell the stories of disabled people. We will also set up a working group to look at how we can amplify disabled people’s voices through our work. 

**Over the coming year we want to build our brand, amplify our impact and reach more people.** 

We will develop a monitoring and evaluation framework for all our programmes and we will invest in our marketing and communications. We will recruit 

our first Digital Communications 

## GOVERNANCE 

**The Richard Whitehead Foundation remains committed to rigorous governance and continuous improvement.** 

current structure to ensure our ways of working are serving us as best they can. We will also conduct a skills audit and develop a trustee skills matrix, identifying the gaps we need to consider when recruiting new trustees to the Board in future. 

We will review all our policies and procedures and make amendments where required. The changes to the Board during 2023-2024 provide us with an opportunity to review our Board structure and make-up. We will do a piece of work to review the 

## ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE FINANCES 

**Our financial position remains stable and we are using our resources to invest in the development of the charity.** 

will use Run with Rich to raise vital funds and we will aim to hold at least one more fundraising event during the year. We will review and improve the customer journey of our individual givers and fundraisers, implementing processes and communications to improve the stewardship of all our donors. We will continue to seek corporate partnerships and funding and we will develop partnerships with organisations across the sector. 

Achieving sustainable, long-term income remains a key priority and in the coming year we will invest in fundraising and improve our stewardship of fundraisers. A priority fundraising area will be grant and trust funding and we will recruit an external bid writer to support with applications. We 


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## STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE & MANAGEMENT 

**The Richard Whitehead Foundation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, governed through a constitution last amended in October 2021.** 

The Richard Whitehead Foundation is a user led organisation, with the majority of the Board comprising of people with lived experience of disability. We are governed by a Board of a maximum of 12 trustees recruited through an open, inclusive and robust recruitment process. This includes open advertising of the Board of Trustee roles, an application and shortlisting process, informal information sessions to meet the existing trustees and interviews. 

Within the year we have seen some change in our Board. Founding trustee and Vice Chair Martin Austin stepped down at the end of his term in April 2023 and we thank him for his support in establishing the charity. Laura Baxter, Hannah Webber and more recently Rebecca Gibson have also resigned from the Board due to changes in their employed roles. We thank them all for the important contribution they have made. We welcomed new trustees, Claire Buckle and Andrew Whitaker in December 2023 and will be recruiting again to increase the skills in our Board later in 2024. The newly appointed CEO reports to the Board and is line managed by the Chair. 

The Board of Trustees has remained clear on governance priorities. To support the governance, financial stability and operations we have a supporting governance structure consisting of two sub-committees chaired and with representation from the Board. The Finance and Fundraising Sub Committee and the Operations and Projects Sub Committee continue to meet in between Board meetings, and follow their terms of reference and report to the Board at each Board meeting. 

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## FINANCIAL REVIEW 

## **The Charity made a gain of £75,505 from a turnover of £117,008 during the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024.** 

During the year a total of £108,008 was received from Nissan and BP in the form of restricted donations. In addition we received a donation of sports clothing and equipment from Nike UK valued at £8,948 (see note 1 in financial statement). 

The foundation had £139,659 cash reserves as at 31st March 2024. 

## **Reserves Policy** 

It is the policy of the Charity to maintain reserves at such a level to allow it to operate fully throughout the year without the need for an overdraft. 

In addition we ensure that we operate with unrestricted cash available greater than 3 months salary. 

Approved by the Trustees on 11th November 2024 and signed on their behalf by: 


## **Mark Fosbrook** 

Trustee and Chair 

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## INCOME & EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT 

**1st April 2023 – 31st March 2024** 

## **Note:** 

1 During the accounting period April 1st 2023 to March 31st 2024 the Foundation received a donation of sports clothing and equipment from Nike UK to the value of £8,948. 

||**Year Ending March 31st 2024**|**Year Ending March 31st 2024**|**Year Ending March 31st 2024**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Restricted**<br>**Inc/Exp**(£)|**Unrestricted**<br>**Inc/Exp**(£)|**Total**<br>**Inc/Exp**(£)|**Year ending March 31st**<br>**2023**(£)|
|**INCOME**<br>Restricted Income<br>Nissan Project<br>Notts Active<br>BP<br>Unrestricted Income<br>General Doantions<br>Nike Clothing1<br>Charitable Activities<br>Bank Interest|88,000<br>20,008<br>9,000|30,386<br>8,948<br>40,193<br>872|88,000<br>20,008<br>39,386<br>8,948<br>40,193<br>872|10,500<br>10,000<br>34,426<br>13,431<br>28,717|
|**Total Income**|**117,008**|**80,399**|**197,407**|**97,074**|
|**EXPENDITURE**<br>Charitable Activities<br>Limb Fitting<br>Physio<br>Donations<br>Mentoring & Support<br>Cost of raising funds<br>Advertising & Promotion<br>Event Costs<br>Project Manager/Consultancy<br>Staff Costs<br>Administrative expenses<br>Insurance<br>Training<br>Legal & Professional Fees<br>Travel & Accomodation<br>Bank Charges<br>Other costs<br>Donation Hosting<br>Software subscription<br>Other admin expenses<br>Charitable donation<br>Ossur Donation<br>Nike Clothing Donation|(12,494)<br>(1,867)<br>(10,619)<br>(2,010)<br>(5,513)<br>(9,000)|(5,493)<br>(2,862)<br>(6,701)<br>(25,386)<br>(1,277)<br>(600)<br>(6,926)<br>(252)<br>(644)<br>(1,915)<br>(1,819)<br>(8,948)|(5,493)<br>(12,494)<br>(2,862)<br>(8,568)<br>(10,619)<br>(27,396)<br>(1,277)<br>(600)<br>(12,439)<br>(252)<br>(644)<br>(1,915)<br>(1,819)<br>(9,000)<br>(8,948)|(13,077)<br>(2,100)<br>(678)<br>(2,123)<br>(3,775)<br>(11,340)<br>(16,243)<br>(1,178)<br>(799)<br>(1,125)<br>(3,669)<br>(90)<br>(234)<br>(132)<br>(37)<br>(72)<br>(13,431)|
|**Total Expenditure**|**(41,503)**|**(62,823)**|**(104,326)**|**(70,101)**|
||||||
|**Surplus**|**75,505**|**17,576**|**93,081**|**26,973**|
|**Surplus Brought Forward**|**15,944**|**34,224**|**50,168**|**23,195**|
|**Surplus Carried Forward**|**91,449**|**51,800**|**143,249**|**50,168**|



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## BALANCE SHEET 

## **As at 31st March 2024** 

||**31st March 2024**<br>(£)|**31st March 2024**<br>(£)|
|---|---|---|
|**Assets**<br>Bank & Cash<br>Trade Debtors<br>Other Debtors<br>**Liabilities**<br>Other Creditors||139,659<br>1,832<br>1,873<br>(115)|
|**Total Net Assets**||**143,249**|
|**Funds of the Charity**<br>Restricted Funds<br>Nissan Project<br>Notts Active<br>BP<br>Unrestricted Funds|73,666<br>7<br>17,776|91,449<br>51,800|
|**Total Funds**||**143,249**|



Approved by the Trustees on 11th November 2024 and signed on their behalf by: 


## **Mark Fosbrook** 

Trustee and Chair 



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## INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT ON THE ACCOUNTS 

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www.whitehead.foundation charity@whitehead.foundation