Zephyr’s (Registered charity, number 1199772) Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| 2 - 7 | Trustees’ annual report |
| 8 | Independent examiner’sreport |
| 9 | Receipts & payments account |
| 10 | Statement of assets & liabilities |
| 11 - 12 | Notes to the accounts |
Zephyr’s Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 March 2024
The trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act, submit their annual report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
Full name Zephyr’s
Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation
Registered charity number
1199772
Principal address
Unit 42 Sneinton Market, Freckingham Street, Nottingham, NG1 1DQ
Trustees
Beverley J Brooks MBE, Chair, from 27/09/23 Nicholas Lawford, Treasurer Shamara Sadler Raymond Patrick Fisher, from 12/03/24 Gemma Lewis, from 22/05/24 Vanessa Beers, until 12/03/24 Baishali Clayton, until 12/03/24 Hannah Yates, until 11/01/24 Victoria Jones, until 27/09/23 Kimberley Errington, until 31/08/23 Mohinder Sahota, until 14/07/23
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 25/07/22.
Trustees are appointed through an open and inclusive recruitment process, led by our Chair. We advertise via social media, our website and existing networks, presenting a detailed role description (making it clear the responsibilities and the commitments required, as well as particular skills, experience and knowledge that we are looking for). We are particularly looking for enthusiastic, innovative and reliable people, who can multitask and make a strong contribution to the Board through sharing and implementing their energy, knowledge, expertise and life experiences. Applicants are asked to apply in writing and are given the opportunity to meet with the Chair to discuss the role in more detail and, where appropriate, to attend a Board Meeting as an observer. Preferred candidates are identified and invited to join the Board, subject to references, formal vetting and approval by all Trustees. Unsuccessful candidates are notified and thanked for their interest.
2
Zephyr’s
In selecting individuals for appointment as Trustees of Zephyr's, the Trustees always have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO.
The Trustees will make available to each new Trustee, on or before their first appointment:
-
a) a copy of the current version of Zephyr's CIO constitution; and
-
b) a copy of the latest Zephyr's Annual Report and statement of accounts.
Objectives and activities
The Objects of Zephyr’s are:
-
For public benefit and to promote the emotional health and wellbeing of all those affected by, or suffering loss through pregnancy or the death of a baby or child, or those who are pregnant or parenting after loss.
-
- To provide specialist support services for those living, working, or cared for –
-
within, Nottinghamshire and surrounding areas for baby and child loss; including by not exclusive to, peer support, face to face and online sessions, bereavement counselling, creative and holistic therapies and resources.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
Zephyr's provides bereaved individuals and families in Nottinghamshire (and surrounding areas) with specialist support, as well as opportunities to find connection in each other, and a network of others who understand. Our bereavement counselling service (which launched in early 2023) offers 1-2-1 sessions or therapy for couples, while our creative and holistic activities, and peer groups allow for a supportive and nurturing sense of coming together through creative and holistic approaches. Those who find Zephyr's are not alone in their loss. Sessions and workshops include yoga for bereaved mums, forest school activities for families (Into The Woods), woodworking for bereaved dads, group wellbeing walks, regular peerled support drop-ins (both in-person and online, via Zoom), and seasonal celebrations. We provide spaces to meet across the city of Nottingham - currently in Sneinton, Sherwood, Tollerton and Colwick.
Zephyr’s is radica lly increasing the support available for bereaved parents in Nottinghamshire. Our experience (and research) shows that people who have experienced child loss can suffer depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, suicidal tendencies and panic. Specialist support, provided at the earliest opportunity, helps bereaved parents to improve wellbeing and reduce the long-term psychological impact. It supports them to face the world and continue living, when that might be the last thing they want to do. All of our activities - counselling, peer support, creative and holistic therapies - are provided for free.
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'.
3
Zephyr’s
Summary of the main achievements during the period
Following our registration in July 2022, 2023/24 was our first full year as an independent Charitable Incorporat ed Organisation. Our key aims for Zephyr’s during this period continued to be to establish (and develop) support services for bereaved families in Nottinghamshire and to build a solid, stable base for our charity moving forward. We are ambitious for the fu ture of Zephyr’s, but we are also cautious and fully understand the challenges faced by small charities in the UK currently. Therefore our strategy has been to build up our services gradually, ensuring that we have sufficient funding and support to commit to (and sustain) our important projects and programmes.
While Zephyr’s relies on the passion, creativity and commitment of our growing community of volunteers, we recognise the importance of having a central, paid member of staff to: co-ordinate programmes, projects and activities; develop partnerships; support fundraising; manage volunteers; and lead on the support and signposting of newly bereaved parents who contact Zephyr’s. In early 2023 we were able to gradually grow our staff team, employing a freelance Project Co-ordinator. Having two part-time staff - supported by passionate and hard-working volunteers - - has been transformational for our small charity, enabling Zephyr’s to provide a wide ranging programme of support for bereaved parents, including:
COUNSELLING: In March 2023 we launched a professional bereavement counselling service, working with two experienced (and BACP accredited) bereavement counsellors, and supporting the training of one volunteer counsellor, to provide counselling for bereaved parents. In our first year, we completed referrals for 30 clients (individuals and couples). This free, specialist counselling is a crucial, much-needed service in Nottingham - our growing waiting list demonstrates the urgent need for it. Following an initial grant from the National Lottery Community Fund, we have continued to fund the Zephyr's counselling service through community fundraising, individual giving and grants. One recent counselling service user expressed the difference the service had made : “Counselling has helped me come to terms with my loss and my grief, engage in active recovery and to help me move forward. It has helped me realise that I cannot neatly tie up my grief like I would attempt to with any other part of my life and accept that I will always feel sad...The support of my counsellor has been significant in helping me manage, and to be perfectly honest ‘survive’, my third pregnancy in just over a year whilst muddying through my grief.”
– WELLBEING WALKS: We continue to run monthly Wellbeing Walks a healthy, group counselling session (facilitated by Green Space Therapy & Counselling), providing support for an average of 5-10 bereaved parents each month.
MONTHLY MEET-UPS: On the first Thursday of the month, from our Nottingham city centre venue, we run a face-to-face get together for bereaved parents and families. Led by experienced volunteers, these warm and friendly evenings are a gentle chance to chat and be heard (with peers who truly understand), to listen and feel supported. Sessions provide time to be together, to borrow from our library, or simply just to be. Most importantly, as previous visitor said, Monthly Meet Ups help people to understand that they are not alone and to “feel like facing the world again”.
4
Zephyr’s
MAKING SPACE FOR DADS: Monthly woodwork/making sessions for bereaved Dads, led by Zephyr’s Dad, Martin (himself an experienced workshop leader and artist). Participants may be supported to craft something in honour of their little one, or simply just to share a cup of tea with peers, or to take away a new skill working with a hammer, axe, knife or plane. After the success of a 2022/23 project pilot, this project continued in 2023/24, initially supported by Small Steps Big Changes and then by fundraising.
HOPE – PREGNANCY AFTER LOSS: A volunteer-led support group, under the banner of Zephyr’s, HOPE is a group for anyone who is trying to conceive or pregnant after loss. HOPE run monthly group sessions (alternating online and in person), featuring professional practitioners and speakers, with sessions including: relaxation techniques, mindfulness, yoga, managing anxiety, birth planning, creative activities and professional support from midwives and other healthcare professionals.
YOGA: Working with The Yoga Village (Nottingham-based practitioners specialising in therapeutic and meditative yoga) we continue to provide quarterly restorative yoga sessions for bereaved women. These sessions give participants a calming, meditative and relaxing opportunity to connect with themselves and with peers.
INTO THE WOODS: In January 2023, initially with the support of the Severn Trent Community Fund (and now funded independently), we launched Into The Woods, a monthly nature-focused play session for children who have experienced the death of a sibling, and their families. We want to support the wellbeing and mental health of children in Nottinghamshire; helping them understand, experience and express emotion and grief. Partnering with Boots & Brambles Forest School, we co-deliver monthly environmental sessions for children and families to gather in the woods, explore and feel supported by nature.
Through all of these activities and services, Zephyr’s provides support for an average of 75 bereaved parents and families every month (approximately 900 per year).
Financial review
The Trustees are satisfied with the financial position of the charity at the end of its first full financial year as an independent CIO, whilst acknowledging the small deficit at year end and the need to turn this into a surplus moving forward.
We have benefited from some successful community fundraising initiatives this year - 18 fundraisers took part in the Robin Hood Half and Mini Marathons in September 2023, raising nearly £4,000. In February, we organised a Fire Walk fundraiser, with 27 brave fundraisers facing boiling hot coals and raising over £8,000. In September 2023, after 8 members (across 3 generations) of one family had attended our Into The Woods forest schools sessions, they raised nearly £9,000 through a Golf Day event they organised for Zephyr’s.
5
Zephyr’s
We have had less success this year with grants from trusts/foundations, however. We recognise that to ensure the sustainability and development of the charity, we need to build up our reserves and attract more funding for core services - including essential staffing costs - and continue to maintain a stream of targeted applications to appropriate funders to achieve this.
Before becoming an independent registered charity in July 2022, Zephyr’s was formerly a project, managed by Nottingham Hospitals Charity (registered charity number 1165397). Nottingham Hospitals Charity still holds some funds which are ring-fenced for use by Zephyr’s. Rather than being paid to Zephyr’s, however, these funds are paid directly to practitioners working on behalf of Zephyr’s to deliver projects. During 2022/23, these payments were as follows:
| Month | Practitioner | Project | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 2023 | The Yoga Village | Yoga for Bereaved Mums | £250 |
| January 2024 | The Yoga Village | Yoga for Bereaved Mums | £250 |
| January 2024 | Boots & Brambles Forest School |
Into The Woods | £260 |
| February 2024 | Boots & Brambles Forest School |
Into The Woods | £260 |
| February 2024 | Martin Sommerville | Woodworking for Bereaved Dads |
£260 |
| February 2024 | Green Space Therapy & Counselling |
Wellbeing Walks | £200 |
| March 2024 | The Yoga Village | Yoga for Bereaved Mums | £250 |
| March 2024 | Boots & Brambles Forest School |
Into The Woods | £260 |
| March 2024 | Martin Sommerville | Woodworking for Bereaved Dads |
£260 |
| March 2024 | Green Space Therapy & Counselling |
Wellbeing Walks | £200 |
| TOTAL | £2450 |
The charity’s policy on reserves Zephyr’s was registered as a CIO in July 2022. Our key aims during our first two years are to build a solid, stable base for our charity. We will develop gradually, ensuring that we have sufficient funding and support to commit to (and sustain) our projects/programmes. Trustees have set a target of generating unrestricted reserves equal to at least four months’ operating costs (£17,000) by the end of the 2023/24 financial year, which we were pleased to exceed.
6
Zephyr’s
Financial risks
Like all small charities we face financial risks caused by the cost of living crisis. We rely on the generosity of donors and fundraisers (as well as grants and donations from trusts, foundations and corporate partners) to be able to deliver our programmes and services. If people stop being able to give to charity - because their spending ability is reduced due to increasing living costs - then charities like Zephyr's will struggle. Likewise, we have recognised, this year, the increased competition for funding from trusts and foundations - especially following local authority cuts for charities/community groups in Nottingham in 2023. Our strategy is to face this by establishing and developing a broad base of support - including grant funding, community fundraising, in memory donations, individual giving, events, corporate partnerships and earned income (including our annual Zephyr's Christmas cards).
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
30 July 2024
Signed ______ Date _ Beverley J Brooks MBE, Chair
7
Independent e xaminer’s report to the trustees of Zephyr’s for the year ended 31 March 2024
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Zephyr’s (the charity) for the period ended 31 March 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:
-
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
-
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 _______ 05/08/2024 Jo hn O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus
8
Zephyr’s Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 March 2024
| 2023 (8 months) Total Unrestricted Funds Funds £ Note £ Receipts 15182 Opening transfer - 23901 Grants & donations 2 9774 10046 Fundraising 17367 1220 Sales & fees 1471 604 Activities & events 10588 50953 Total receipts 39200 Payments 15400 Staffing costs 24095 3269 Activities & events 3348 11 Bank charges 62 329 Equipment, repairs & renewals 51 930 Fundraising & publicity 2913 320 Insurance 320 60 Legal & professional 675 1247 Premises maintenance - - Printing & stationery 53 1909 Rent & room hire 4513 54 Sundry payments - 57 Telephone, internet & postage 154 950 Training & supervision - 27 Volunteer expenses - 24563 Total payments 36184 26390 Net receipts/(payments) 3016 - Cash funds at start of this period 17570 26390 Cash funds at end of this period 20586 |
2024 Restricted Total Funds Funds £ £ - - 2615 12389 4682 22049 - 1471 - 10588 7297 46497 3645 27740 8873 12221 - 62 - 51 - 2913 - 320 - 675 - - - 53 - 4513 - - - 154 684 684 - - 13202 49386 (5905) (2889) 8820 26390 2915 23501 |
|---|---|
9
Zephyr's Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2024 2023 Cash assets Bank accounts Cash in haTrJ 26373 17 26390 23468 33 23501 Other monetsry assets Prepayments 268 268 269 269 Assets retained for the charity's own use General equipment. Liabilities CredFtors - IrK1epeleTht eXamItion fee 570 {570) 630 630 These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by: Signed Nicholas Lawford, Dated I IOLF stee 10
Zephyr’s Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 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
| Trent Psychological Therapy Service Nottingham CityCare - Small Steps Big Changes The Thomas Farr Charity Sundry grants & donations |
Unrestricted £ 1350 - 3000 5424 9774 |
Restricted Total £ £ - 1350 2615 2615 - 3000 - 5424 2615 12389 |
|---|---|---|
3. Funds analysis
| Restricted funds Crowdfunder Into the Woods Sibling Therapy Woodworking Unrestricted funds General |
Opening balance £ - 7320 1500 - 8820 17570 17570 |
Receipts (Payments) £ £ 4682 (4682) - (5905) - - 2615 (2615) 7297 (13202) 39200 (36184) 39200 (36184) |
Closing balance £ - 1415 1500 - |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2915 | |||
| 20586 | |||
| 20586 |
CROWDFUNDER
Purpose: Fundraising income raised specifically to support the Zephyr’s core counselling service (including freelance counsellor fees, room hire and administration).
INTO THE WOODS
Purpose: To deliver a programme (January 2023 to April 2024) of nature-focused forest school play sessions for children who have experienced the death of a sibling, and their families. Funded by Severn Trent Community Fund.
SIBLING THERAPY
Purpose: We are currently fundraising to deliver a pilot programme of play therapy sessions for children who have experienced the death of a sibling. We plan to launch this pilot in 2024.
11
Zephyr’s
WOODWORKING
Purpose: To deliver a programme (May to November 2023) of monthly woodworking sessions for bereaved Dads, funded by Small Steps Big Changes.
4. Prepayments
| Insurance Legal & professional |
£ 225 44 |
|---|---|
| 269 |
5. Glossary of terms
Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during 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.
12