## Connect Exminster CIO 

(registered charity number 1199203) 

Financial Statements and Chairs Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2023 

|Page|Contents|
|---|---|
|2-3|Trustees’ annual report|
|4|Independent examiner’s report|
|5|Financial report showing receipts and payments,|
||assets and liabilities with notes to the account.|






## Chair’s Re ort 2023 – Connect Exminster CIO p 

## **Background** 

Connect Exminster was set up at the beginning of 2022, previously running as a Christian community group since 2018, carrying out its activities with the oversight of Exminster Parish Church. 

## **Vision** 

As per our constitution our objects are: 

- To advance the Christian faith for the public benefit, in accordance with the values and tenets of the Anglican Communion, in Exminster and the surrounding area, in particular but not exclusively by raising awareness of Christian beliefs, values and practices, through holding meetings, outreach and pastoral care in the community. 

- To relieve poverty by the making of grants and the provision of items within the community of Exminster. 

- To advance education, through the provision of workshops and courses in the community to help people enhance their life skills including within family related areas led by local professionals. 

## **Chairperson’s report** 

I am delighted to be able to present my second Chair’s report, detailing the highlights that Connect Exminster has been able to accomplish in 2023. Completing our year, we are now much more established as a CIO, registered with HMRC for gift aid and through Exeter Diocese for all our safeguarding training and support. 

Alongside these important aspects of governance we have continued to serve the community and in this report I would like to highlight three main areas that we have been able to use our resources to make a difference. We have also been able to share our space with other community groups including the village Pantomime company, Exact, a music group and the Exminster Preschool. 

## **Faith Based & Community Events/Workshops** 

Throughout the year we have run a range of community activities open to anyone from Exminster to join. Fortnightly on Sundays we continue to host an informal discussion-based space to explore themes of faith and spirituality. These events often involved a shared meal. A highlight was our home grown harvest dinner, open to all, with people from around the 


village donating what they have been able to grow for us to share. We had an incredible spread! We also hosted two much larger community events, Love Easter, held in the local community centre and Love 



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Christmas, held in our local pub, the Royal Oak. . These were very well attended by the wider community and a chance to gather for fun (live sheep and donkey included) and learn a little bit about these Christian festivals in an inclusive informal way. We also held a stall offering free children’s activities and cake decorating at our local football club’s summer fete, to provide something for those especially for whom times are difficult financially. We have established a small pastoral support fund, to be able to help those in Exminster who find themselves in financial difficulties. This has already been accessed and we hope to be able to offer more grants as there is need in 2024. 


Both our Device Doctors workshop, giving free tech support, and Craft & Chat, providing space to connect and craft, were well received by the community. We were delighted that several of our Ukrainian residents also led our craft & chat workshops, sharing their embroidery skills with us too. We run these events to help people learn new skills while connecting with new people to alleviate loneliness. 


## **Ukrainian Support** 


We have continued to be able to be the lead organisation coordinating support for the 30 Ukrainians in families within the village. We have received £5500 in grants to deliver this support which has partly funded a co-ordinator to help with 

communication and translation. IN addition to this we have run a weekly drop in Hub on Friday evenings, with refreshments. This has been a safe place to ask questions and find support. Many of our families are now in their own accommodation in 

Exminster and the surrounding area. As there needs have changed we have targeted more funds towards their English Language learning, through a professional full time EAL expert. To mark the start of the summer holidays, we were also able to coordinate a trip to Paignton Zoo, somewhere many had longed to visit but the travel and tickets made it too expensive. Linking with Ukrainian groups in Dawlish and Teignmouth we could take a large coach for a wonderful day out.  We have also given out £495 in small grants to relieve financial hardship within this community, helping with sudden unforeseen expenses as well as helping their children attend school trips that would otherwise be inaccessible. 

## **Eco Refill** 

We have continued to be able to open our Exminster’s Eco Refill every Saturday morning. Our vision for this was to be another place of community connection, run by volunteers, that also would help the community make environmentally friendly choices. We highlighted that for many in our community, eco products were unaffordable so buying these products in bulk for wholesale prices and selling them on at costs (no profit) we hoped to encourage more people to make these choices. We now have a wonderful community of volunteers where friendships have also grown and often regulars come in and enjoy a cuppa and a chat as well as getting their products. 

With approximately £12000 in outgoings and income, we have been able to maintain our financial position, with emergency reserves to cover our expenses in to 2024 if needed. With this financial security’s we hope to expand our activities for 2024. 

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## **Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Connect Exminster CIO for the year ended 31 December 2023** 

I report on the accounts of the charity, which are set out on page 7. 

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner : 

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed. 

It is my responsibility to: 

- examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act; 

- follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commissioners 

- under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and 

- state whether particular matters have come to my attention. 

Basis of independent examiner’s report 

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a 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 you as 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 examiner’s statement 

In connection with my examination, improvements in practice and recording have continued to be maintained. I do not foresee further issues arising in the future which therefore gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: 

- •  to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and 

- •  to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act have been met. 

Signed __ ___________ Date ___21st July 2024____ 

Jo Wilkey, Operations Officer; Data Protection Officer Employee of St Christopher's CofE (Primary) Multi Academy Trust 

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## **Connect Exminster End of year accounts December 2023** 

## **Notes:** 

|**Receipts/Income**|Note|||**Payments/Expenditure**|Note||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Connect main fund**||1||**Connect main fund**|||
|CIO Transfer from St. Martins||2|1000|Kids & Youth activities - CIO||464.86|
|CIO One off donations|- Connect main||162.82|Connect activities - CIO||81.01|
|CIO Gift Aid Donations/Gift Aid||3|698.62|Maintenance - CIO||12|
|CIO Grants|||0|Utilities inc Wifi - CIO||828.51|
|CIO Chapel Usage Donations|||945|Funds donated to other charities|6|133.82|
|||||Hardship fund CIO|7|25|
||**Total**||**2806.44**||**Total**|**1545.2**|
||**Starting balance Jan**|**23**|2459.25|**Closing balance**|**Dec 23**|3720.49|
|**Eco refill**||||**Eco refill**|||
|Sales from Eco Refill||4|2612.63|Bulk buying for Ecorefill||2502.62|
||**Total**||**2612.63**||**Total**|**2502.62**|
||**Starting balance Jan**|**23**|315.14|**Closing balance**|**Dec 23**|425.15|
|**Refugees**||||**Refugees**|||
|One off donations - Refugee|||170.5|Staffing expenses for refugee support||945|
|Grants - Refugee||5|5511.5|Facilities reimbursement - Refugees||495|
|Outing Donations - Refugee|||667.15|Individual harship grants refugees||124.97|
|||||Refugee Support Group costs||1309.18|
|||||EAL classes refugees|8|3834|
|||||Outings expenses refugees||1012|
||**Total**||**6349.15**||**Total**|**7720.15**|
||**Starting balance Jan**|**23**|2564.26|**Closing balance**|**Dec 23**|1193.26|
||**Starting b**||5338.65||||
||**Total Receipts**||**11768.22**||||
||**Total Payments**||**11767.97**||||
||Balance||5338.9||||



1.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. All transactions are through two bank accounts, one which was open at the start of the year and one  opened in Feb 2023. 

2.£1000 was donated from St. Martin's church from the designated fund that had been used by Connect when it operated within the PCC of St. Martins, prior to registering as a CIO. 3.Connect is now registered for Gift Aid. £2818.21 from GoFundMe transfers, £326.40 from a local school sports fundraiser, £145 from a local community fundraiser and the remaining £500 from a private donor. 4.£900 from Christadelphian fund, £2872.50 from Teignbridge Community Voluntary Services and £4440 from Church Urban Fund 5.This includes specialist English Language tuition, summer camp coordinator and overall project coordinator costs 6.This includes food, crafts, teaching resources 

**Statement of Assets and Liabilities:** Cash assets - Bank Account = £5338.65