2024-03-31-accounts - Open Minds Nottingham

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Annual Report 2022-24

Reg Charity Number CIO 1200587

Report Contents

Photos of What we did Page 3

Chairman’s Report Page 4

Service & outcomes Page 5-7

Micro projects, mates & muchies & internet safety Page 8

Volunteers Page and what they do 9

Networks, Organisational Systems 10-11

CIO status & Future Work

Appendix Accounts 2021-22

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Activities 2022-24

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Mission Statement

We aim to remove the ‘dis’ from disability by providing participative and fun events for isolated and vulnerable disabled people. The participation in events provides an awareness of lifelong learning opportunities and social skills within an atmosphere of friendship.

Chairman’s Report

This report covers the period following the pandemic lockdowns. During these lockdowns we had major concerns for the wellbeing of our members. The use of “zoom” and the establishment of our own “WhatsApp” group enabled us to keep in touch and to provide some moral support. We soon realised that anxiety, isolation and other mental health issues had been exacerbated during this time and that we would have to provide our members with extra support to rebuild confidence and to re-engage with society. We have made good use of our funds and the skills of our development officers to tackle these issues. Understanding someone with complex needs is very challenging and we have provided a range of activities to meet the needs of our members. These activities include “out and about” sessions where we visit festivals, and public celebrations, and also our creative craft workshops.

Our aim is to reach out to those with learning disabilities to join us in fun and comradeship and so grow the membership of Open Minds. As membership increases it is essential we recruit, and retain, volunteers to assist our development officers during the sessions. Using and applying the extra government “lockdown” funds in benefiting and supporting our members after the pandemic our monetary reserves will be reduced.

However, by keeping a tight rein on our expenses through budgetary control we can continue with our current program of activities. We thank our funders for their ongoing generosity. This report shows just some of the stimulating activities their funds support and the benefits these bring to the lives of our members.

Thanks go to our co-ordinator and to our development officers for their dedication, patience, and hard work. Also to all our unpaid volunteers, who give up their time to help Open Minds.

David Austin

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Service delivery

Our work can be separated into 2 discrete areas: monthly meetings and small projects that can be integrated into our core delivery, for example, mates and munchies.

Why we do what we do?

Our membership consists of 98% of individuals diagnosed with a variety of autistic spectrum disorders and most of them are ineligible for statutory support, because their condition is considered mild. However, for most this means their attention span, verbal dexterity and communication skills restricts them from employment or voluntary work, which is tasked based.

Owing to their situation shelter and food needs are met by family and relatives, but other relationship needs, which many of us take for granted, are difficult for them to establish owing to their detachment disorders. This presents itself as heightened anxiety and fear of strangers. Strangely, we have had individuals, who seem to have nothing in common, but over time they build the bonds necessary to establish a friendship, to the workers and volunteers, who recognise this, it is reward.

Our lead facilitator holds a consultation day in January each year to establish the main events each month. During the year a constant monitoring of events takes place and so we can introduce new activities quickly. We are also aware that most of our activities are subsidised but do require members to pay for their own food and refreshment. Therefore, there will be a limit on the number of events that we can provide and expect individuals to attend. We feel that 1 every week is the most efficient use of funds. Our online forum provides a meeting place from which individuals can talk about venue-based services and look forward to meeting each other at future activities. Below is a list of monthly activities & outcomes.

Inviting members to attend an activity and produce an object is a tangible reminder for them of what they can do and what our service provides to members – a fun, warm atmosphere, which is in itself a soft outcome, but nonetheless an important part of relationship building. Below is a list of monthly activities and outcomes.

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Mid and End of Month Meetings & Outcome October 2022-March 2024

Throughout the year Kelly & Sue ran these meetings which proved very popular.

Month	Mid Month Activity	Outcomes	End of Month Activity	Outcomes
October	Derby Museum & Lunch. 15 people went	Opportunity to visit another City and see how it developed.	Halloween Placemats. 10-12 members supported by 4 volunteers.	A chance to chat about the last few weeks and take part in a collaborative exercise. All go away with a completed object reminding them of the experience.
Nov.	Theatre Royal Tour. 12 members went	Travel training, health exercise for health & wellbeing	Christmas Decorations	A time to relax and design crafts in warm environment
January 2023	Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery	Appreciate the Art cultural district in Nottingham	Chinese New Year	Learning about another culture and customs. We did some calligraphy.
Feb.	Lunch & The Arboretum Park	Sunday afternoon social meeting and a walk in park	Key chains	This was an opportunity to learn a new craft and co- ordinate fingers and thumbs.
March	Church walk & cafe	A walk around Nottingham’s Lace Market area and a social in St. Peter’s cafe	Easter crafts	A calm, relaxing workshop where individuals can think and talk about their week.
April	Ghost Hunt	Walk around spooky Narrow Marsh and Galleries of Justice. And work off some calories as well.	Nature Walk at our community gardens venue	Wildlife waking up from Winter and a chance to appreciate the environment
May	Highfields culture complex at university park	A walk around the lake at Highfields and visit to the art gallery.	Potting plants	Getting those green fingers moving. Investing time in positive activity and watching the results at home.

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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June	Wollaton Hall	Visit to the Hall and gate house cafe	Upcycling part 1	Learning the benefits of upcycling instead of disposing rubbish. Putting this to the test in crafts.
July	Nottingham Mechanics social	Chance to catch up on the week	Upcycling part 2	Making stress balls for use at home when anxiety hits.
Aug	Attenborough Nature Reserve	A day bird watching and quizzing about the wildlife.	A craft workshop of stencilling and foiling combined with our IT corner	A new activity that required patient attention to detail. In the IT corner members were learning tips for using their smartphone functions for WhatsApp.
Sep	Green’s windmill & science museum	Learning about how bread is formed. Using some of the museums electric exhibits.	Sewing	Continuing the theme of upcycling we used spent threads in sewing puppets
Oct	Highfields in the autumn	Stretching those legs and chatter walking around the lake and looking at the trees	Knitting	Learning the knack of using fingers and thumbs in dexterity
Nov.	Galleries of Justice	Learning about the history of Nottingham	Christmas Art	Decorating Bottles in paints
Dec.			Christmas Party
Jan 2024	Visit to new Nottingham Library and research dept.	Using the computer suite	Nature watch in tandem with spring watch	Counting the types of birds members see in their gardens
Feb.	Science & curiosity	Using the research section of the university	Notepad holders	Folding card and decorating it with patterns
March	Lunch and walking around the arboretum park	Noticing the daffodils and watching birds build nests	Easter Rabbits	Decorating origami shaped rabbits

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Our mid and end of month activities form part of our core service delivery. Mid-month activities will involve a health and wellbeing theme, for example, trips to local nature reserves, boating lakes, museums & art galleries. End of month workshops are based on a therapeutic theme and aimed to soften the atmosphere and create a relaxed, fun atmosphere. These activities will form part of our Facebook page where we aim to provide a feedback loop to visitors to our page.

Micro Projects Oct. 2022 – March 2024

Mainly these projects have been short term and in 2023-24 we have been working on members personal stories before they attended Open Minds. This will be both in a booklet and a presentation format. Long term we will attend the workplaces our volunteers are employed at to boost our profile. We also worked on feasibility study into a wildlife project.

Mates & Munchies

The project was focused on peer support, as a lot of our work covers this area. It began in May 2021 and still continues as we meet in a local bar/restaurant area for a late breakfast on a Tuesday. It provides members, who do not attend a day centre or incapable of voluntary work with a meeting of like minded people. We have an opportunity to look at future wants and needs, for example, local areas of interest we may want to visit.

Internet Safety

Our WhatsApp forum has continued since the outbreak of the pandemic and we have volunteer supported tips for members in IT use at our end of month workshop’s. We feel that our duty of care requires us to keep members as aware as possible of safe use of the internet and what not to do in a seemingly innocent identity request.

Volunteers checks through

We are lucky to have our 3 long-standing volunteer’s Pip, Andrew and Sian, but in 2022-24 have added 3 more. We are also recruiting for Trustees. We process DBS checks through Nottinghamshire County Council.

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Pip & Andrew at a workshop

Beth and Sian distributing crafts

Our Volunteers do not only assist, Sue or Kelly, our 2 facilitators they enable them to focus on those with greater impairments by supporting individuals at meetings, who do not require as much attention.

As we have a WhatsApp forum, we decided to provide IT tips at our end of month workshops to add variety to what we do and also enable Sue to spend more time with members requiring her attention.

Here Tony is supported by Beth in our IT corner.

If an individual is interested, then he or she comes as a guest to our group to decide if we are suited to them.

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Work with existing networks

We continue to work with other existing networks in the Nottingham city area, these include both referring agencies and infrastructure.

As regards referring agencies we work with care homes, social services and support workers. In 2023 we had 3 new members and 2 enquiries.

Our infrastructure support agencies include Nottingham CVS, Rushcliffe CVS and Broxtowe CVS. Nottingham CVS are the most important as they provide advice and guidance on volunteer recruitment and policy development.

Organisational Systems

So that our services support and assist our members a management committee and 2 subcommittees operate smoothly behind our frontline service. We have operated the PQASSO quality assurance system since 2007. This enables us to channel our policies and procedures in a manner that addresses members’ needs, for example, our volunteer policy identifies recruitment, training and staff support to meet members’ activities and meetings. We work alongside a network of organisations both serving disabled people and supporting this particular sector.

Management Committee

This body reviews our position and sets longer term direction, for example, reviewing budgets and planning developments. We meet 6 times a year, so every 2 months and have representation of professional, parental and member interests. There is a recruitment process, so that these individuals are more aware of what we do and what our long-term objectives are. There are currently 2 members of the group representing membership interests.

Finance & Fundraising sub-committee

This operates our financial instruments like projected budgets and cash-flow to monitor income streams and expenditure. This group consists of our Treasurer and Co-ordinator, who meet each month to monitor cash-flow. This activity identifies immediate and on-going expenditure plus areas of income development. Income development will become increasingly important to small charities.

For a small organisation like ours trust funding has enabled us to subsidise members’ services, but since 2008 this has slowly diminished. The financial gap that resulted has been partly filled by pockets of funding streams like sponsorship, members purchasing individual services, increased subscriptions and reducing expenditure. However as has been pointed out by infrastructure bodies like the local Community Voluntary Service financial reductions to frontline services reduce the effectiveness of those services to provide support to users.

Open Minds Annual Report 2022-2024

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Project steering group sub-committee

The purpose of our steering group is to support and guide the work of our Development Workers so as to meet the needs of our members. In this process, our steering group reviews reports on our workers progress and provides guidance on external constraints. The group meets 6 times per year and is led by our Chairman, who is supported by our Co-ordinator. We have purposefully kept this group small to focus discussions and avoid straying into unproductive areas.

Evaluating work completed enables this group to unpack details of services delivered and ensure value for money through evaluating member’s feedback. This means that quality of service and member’s views are always part of the discussion and so funders money is wisely spent.

Organisational Chart

----- Start of picture text -----
Structure & Systems
Management Committee
Sets Strategic Direction
Project Project
Steering Group Finance sub-committee
Meets every 2 months Meets every 2 months
Monitors & Evaluates Monitors & Evaluates
Reports to Management Reports to Management
Committttee Committttee
Sessional workers organise and Co-ordinator operates core service
delivers mid-month and end of month and fundraises for projects
meetings
Reports to steering group Reports to Management Committee
Open Minds Membership
Isolated disabled people
----- End of picture text -----

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CIO status

The reason that this report has been issued starting in October 2022 up until March 2024 is that we are a charitable incorporated organisation with a membership constitution. This was registered on 5[th] October 2022 and we were told by the charity commission to hold our first AGM in late 2024.

Future Developments

We would like to deliver members presentations of their book in a pc slide format at our volunteer’s places of work.

We intend to work closely with our venue partners Arkwright Meadows Gardens to supply upcycled items used in our wildlife project.

On an organisational basis we are developing the size of our trustee board.

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Open Minds Nottingham (Registered charity, number 1200587) Financial statements for the period 5 October 2022 to 31 March 2024 Page Contents Trustees, annual report Independent examiner's report Receipts & payments account Statement of assets & liabilities Notes to the accounts 8-10 capLUS COMMUNITY ACCOUNTING

Open Minds Nottingham Trustees, annual report for the period 5 October 2022 to 31 March 2024 Full name Open Minds Nottingham Other names by which the charity is known Open Minds Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation Registered charity number 1200587 Principal address Apartment 2, Hawihorn Lodge, Julian Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 5AJ Trustees John Mason, Treasurer Bobby Lee David Austin, Chairperson, from 7.12.23 Lee Fury, from 28.9.23 Pip Griesbach, from 5.10.22 Oriana Bevan, until 6.12.23 Matthew Potts, until 6.12.23 Independent examiner John O'Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG15GL Governance and management The charity is operated under the rules of its CIO Association constitution registered 5 October 2022. We advertise on Nottingham CVS digital volunteer bureau and if appropriate the Chairperson and Co-ordinator will inteNiew them. Objectives and activities The Objects of the CIO are., The relief of persons in the Est Midlands area who are in need by reason of disability, by., al Providing activities and opportunities to meet like-minded people in a comfortable environment and the opportunity to go on outings and events., b) Advancing education by providing workshops and other educational activities., c) Providing the opportunity to gain self-confidence, independence and social skills and make new friends., d) Providing access to subsidised health and wellbeing related workshops and activities.

Open Minds Nottingham We provide relief from isolation by providing well-being services to like-minded people, all activities are heavily subsidised by open minds, for example., monthly craft workshops., we provide educational and lifelong learning opportunities to gain new skills and confidence, for example, using our WhatsApp internet forum., Mid and end of month meetings which differ as one is about days out in Nottingham and the other workshops., Our members only WhatsApp forum which is used; daily 1=1 meeting's with our facilitator., A zoom meditation and relaxation group; Our Book club and arts group. Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit Our members have low level mental health conditions and some prone to panic attacks and high anxiety therefore our charity provides activities that reduce the likelihood of using medical or social services. Our activities are heavily subsidised meaning that our members, who are on benefits, do not need to rely on further support to meet like-minded people. 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,. Summary of the main achievements during the period This document covers 18 months from October 2022 until March 2024, so during that time we have run a similar core services and minor projects. A consultation was held in January 2023 in which members wanted a more meaningful mid-week activity, so a book club on their experiences. We developed our zoom workshops on meditation and relaxation. Our organisation is now a CIO and we set up a new website in June 2023. The charity's policy on reserves The charity reiVed funds of £57,027 from the previous charity upon it's closure, however the following two years has meant that our fundraising has not matched pre-pandemic levels. Since October 2022, we have subsidised our organisation by £1,000 per month. We believe that the cost of living crisis has meant that the focus of awarding funds has shifted away from us. Funding charities are over subscribed yet again and services like ours are being ignored. Our policy on reserves is three months winding up and redundancy costs. We estimate this as being £15,000. Our current situation is that we have about £41,000, so that free reserves are £27,000. We do not foresee an increase in reserves. We review our reserves situation at each management meeting where we look at cashflow projections.

Open Minds Nottingham Financial risks Becoming over extended In terms of offering too many services for a reduce¢J Income to pay for them. We would like to thank our donors for their genefOUS awards and our individual donations that came via our website at a secure donations portal. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees.. Signed David Austin, Trusle Date

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Open Minds Nottingham for the period 5 October 2022 to 31 March 2024 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Open Minds Nottingham (the charity) for the period 5 October 2022 to 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.. 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act., or 2. 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 understsnding of the accounts to be reached. Signed John O'Brien1rfSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus Date 2410612024

Open Minds Nottingham Receipts & payments account for the period 5 October 2022 to 31 March 2024 05. 10.22 31.3.24 Total Unrestrlcted Restrlcted Funds Funds Funds Note Receipts Opening transfer Grants and donations Membership Bank interest Sundry receipts Unidentified receipts Totsl receipts 55512 30407 3218 1316 1515 3500 57027 33907 3218 1316 90453 5015 95468 Payments Wages, Nl & pension Payroll senrice Rent & room hire Travel & transport Insurance Printing & statiorEry Equipment & maintenance Activities, trips & refreshments Meetings facilitator & expenses Independent examination fee Publications & subscriptions Telephone, intemet & postage Traini ng & consultancy Volunteer expenditure Website Totsl payments 29058 281 746 236 845 102 592 1893 10485 600 462 738 980 29058 281 746 236 845 102 592 3908 12015 600 462 738 980 2015 1530 3850 50881 3850 54426 3545 Net receiptsl(payments) Cash funds at start of this period Cash funds at end of this period 39572 1470 41042 39572 1470 41042

Open Minds Nottingham Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2024 2024 Cash assets Bank accounts Cash in harxl Nots 41042 41042 Other monetary assets Debtors- Wages. Nl and persion Prepayrnents- Insurance 1408 330 1738 Assets retained for the charty's own use General equipment. Liabiliti•s Creditors 744 (744) These finanGial statements are acpted on behalf of the Gharity by". Signed John Mason, Trustee qSPi Dated

Open Minds Nottingham Notes to the accounts for the period 5 October 2022 to 31 March 2024 1. Receipts & payments accounts Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money reiVed 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. Opening transfer The charity registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on the 5.10.22 and the balances of the funds and operations of the previous charity (number 1079009) were transferred into this charity upon its closure on 04.10.22. 3. Grants & donations Unre*rlctsd Restrlcted Totsl The Jones 1986 Charitable Trust Co-op Foundats'on The Lady Hi1 Trust JN Derbyshire Trust The Bailey Thomas Charitsble FurKI Sir John EaSoOd Foundation Barchester Healthcare Anon Thomas Farr Charity Matthew Potts The Freemasons Fund The Dairid Solomor6 Charitable Trust The Nottingham General Dispensary Fibro-active Sundry grants & donations 7500 4200 5000 3000 7500 4200 5000 3000 3000 1500 1500 1500 1250 1000 1000 500 500 1285 1172 33907 3000 1500 1500 1500 1250 1000 1000 500 500 1285 1172 30407 3500

Open Minds Nottingham 4. Funds analysis Opening Rocaipts (Paymontsl Transfars transfers Closing balance Restricted funds Members experiences E Book and stories The National Lottery Community Fund 3500 (2030) 1515 3545 1470 1515 1515 1470 Unrestricted funds Gereral Website Development CIO Conversion 47012 5500 3000 55512 34942 {46052) 3670 {3850) (1650) 980 2020 34942 (50882) 39572 39572 Restricted Funds: Members ex eriences E Book and stories This funding was used towards the cost of projects to support members to produce stories of learning disability, mental health problems and isolation. Part of the funding was specifically to enable the production of an E book. National Lotte Communit Fund & Small Charities Coalition funding helped with ongoing expenditure for our monthly meetings and workshops. Completed Designated Funds: Website Develo ment Fund.. The website was completed during the financial period. The transfer represents underspend being moved back to general funds. CIO Conversion.. The conversion to a CIO was completed during the financial period. The transfer represents underspend being moved back to general funds. 5. Creditors Independent examination fee Payroll service 696 48 744 6. Trustees, remuneration Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period. 7. Related party transactions There were no related party transactions in this period. 8. Previous period comparison The previous period's figures have not been included for comparison because this is the charity's first accounting period.

Open Minds Nottingham 9. 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. 10