2023-09-01-accounts - Madrina UK

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Annual reports September 2022-2023

APPROVED MARCH 2024

Contents Page

Page Number Trustees’ Annual Report 3 Statement of Financial Activities 6 Financial Statements 7 Projected Budget 8 Risk Management 10 Plans for the future 11 Statement of trustees 13

Trustee report

Mission:

To make prom events inclusive of all, that no matter what barrier a student faces in getting a prom outfit.

Charitable purpose:

To relieve the needs of young people who are in financial poverty, suffer with mental health, physically disabilities, are in care or those with refugee status by the provision of items of clothing to wear for a school prom who would otherwise be excluded from attending their prom or end of school celebration .

One of our beneficiaries

Achievements

Madrina UK has continued to work with schools, other non-profits and charities to identify young people who face barriers to attend their school prom. Using the following eligibility criteria;

This year there has been an increase of how many schools we have worked in. In Birmingham and the surrounding areas, last year we supported students from 9 schools (2022) where this year we have sup-

ported students from 27 schools. Similarly last year we provided pop up boutiques to 4 different schools,

This year we provided pops ups in Birmingham to; James Brindley School, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School, Dame Elizabeth Cadbury, Bishop Milner Catholic School, St Pauls Catholic Schools for Girls, John Henry Newman Catholic School, Reynald’s Cross Special Educational Needs School and Mayfield Specialist Unit.

We additionally supported students from the following schools: Archbishop Isley Catholic School

Arden Academy Alderbrook School Fairfax School King Edwards Girls School Hillcrest School Holy Trinity School Pegasus Academy

St Edmunds Catholic School

St Francis of Assisi

St Peter’s Catholic School

Leasowes School

Waseley Hills

And in Oxfordshire completed pop-ups and supported the following schools;

John Fitzharris,

Larkmead,

Cheney,

The Oxford Academy

Pop up at Dame Elizabeth School, Birmingham

Oxford Wallingford.

We have also been provided with a space at the Birmingham Irish Heritage Association where we can store our outfits, and invite individual referrals to come and try on and choose outfits.

In Oxfordshire we have storage space in Bury Street Shopping Centre,

Abington. This is to store for the stock only, beneficiaries can not go here to try on outfits.

We have also partnered with the National Prom Dress Show where we are able to spread awareness of our cause. We were invited to attend their exhibition in Birmingham at the start of the year.

Retail Donations and sustainability;

No only have we experience an increase in donations form members of the public but retailers have also, this year supported our cause and sent us their discontinued and sample stock. We have received donations from:

Moss Bros ltd

Mascara London

Romanic Dreams Bridal

Pia Michi

Full Length and Fabulous.

Love Frocks

This has massively helped beneficiaries have a huge range to select from in terms of colours, styles and sizes.

Owner of Romanic Dreams Bridal

It also contributes to stopping outfits going to landfill.

Madrina UK has been nominated for a local Community Inspiration Award in the Environmental Champion category.

Impact Highlights

Our impact this year has been even greater than last year. Madrina has seen and increase in geographical outreach with Madrina

Oxfordshire launching in September 2023.

Increase in volunteers for

Last year we supported 60 beneficiaries where this year we

Supported 197. This saw an increase of 228%

Whilst geographically expanding to support students not only from Birmingham but also within Oxfordshire.

We supported 27 schools in total this year which was a 200% increase from last year as we supported 9 over a wider geographical area.

From the data collected by the schools we supported through evaluation forms.

100% were financially vulnerable

50% of students had asperges/autism diagnosis

75% were young carers

75% suffered from Mental Health challenges

25% had physical disabilities

50% were in care

30% had refugee status

90% pupil premium

This is just a snap shot as not all schools completed the evaluation form. This is also data collected from the schools within Birmingham and does not account for Oxfordshire.

In addition to supporting schools, we have increased in the scope of young people we have supported this year as we also helped provided outfits for Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice in Wales.

Financial Summary

This financial year our income came from GoFundme, PayPal Giving and Easyfundraising along with a fitness class raising funds, and a school panto donating its entrance fee to the cause.

Madrina Oxfordshire also sold spare stock on vinted, and have been successful in achieving a grant of £1000 from Tesco as they were voted second in the Tesco blue token incentive.

This year our operational costs were low the main spending was on objects like clothes rails and pop up changing tents, however as the charity now has a physical base, and the demand of our service is growing we will need more funds to fulfil the needs of the young people, and so we will be applying for grants to help with the operational costs and project grants to be able to go further. Ideally a van would be needed to not only transport our equipment to the schools for pop ups, but also to collect big donations.

On the next page is the balance sheet, although it is important to note that the £1000 Tesco grant has not yet been received and is restrictive funding that will be use ONLY IN OXFORDSHIRE for their pop-ups next year.

We actually had £601 at the end of this year, mainly because our focus was predominately on meeting the increase in demand and helping more young people that we did not have the capacity to consistently fundraise, moving forward next year a clearer fundraising strategy will need to be in place.

With the Tesco grant our end of year balance was £605

Madrina UK startlng balanc•'. £0 In¢re8se in lotsl $8Virtg$ £605 START BALANCE END BALANCE Saved this month £0 £605 Expenses Income Plannèd £0 Plann•d £0 Actual £27,935 Atbjal £28,540 Expenses Income Planned Actual Diff. Planned Actual Diff. Tot81s £0 £27.935 -£27.935 Totals £0 £28.540 +£28.540 Pop up boullque equlF Clothlng Donatlon Governancoladmln £647 -£647 Fundral$lThg platform Donatlons GOODS £0 £1.009 +£1.tM)9 £0 £27,000 -£27,000 £0 £27,2LKJ +£27,200 £0 £148 148 Dresi iale• £0 £18 +£18 Clganlng Travgl cooll £0 £0 £0 Gronl$ £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 Fundraising OonalM$ SERVICES £0 £313 +£313 Po$tsgo Marketing £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £0 £73 -£73 Mi$collaneous £0 422 Equlpment Storage £0 £46 -£46 £0 £0 i( Ii'yi,

Projected budget

Our projected budget is considerably higher this year to take into account the increase in demand. We need more equipment to pay for our pop ups so that we can visit more schools and reach more vulnerable young people who need our support.

Risk Management

Madrina UK recognises that in relation to ‘Risk Assessment’, risk is defined as ‘the threat of any action or event which will adversely affect an organiztion’s ability to achieve its objectives and execute its strategies’. It also accepts that the term ‘risk’ can include any circumstances that may, or do, have an adverse effect, and is wider than financial matters. ‘Risks’ relate not only to the negative consequences of a threat, but also to the impact of not taking advantage of opportunities.

There is a Safeguarding Policy in place in respect of children. Checks have been and are made with the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly the CRB) in respect of persons dealing regularly with young people. Madrina has membership with Thirtyone:eight and all volunteers who have direct contact with children have received safeguarding training. However due to the safeguarding policies within schools, volunteers are not left unsupervised with children. The Chair of Trustees Stefanie Lakin is the appointed safeguarding officer and has completed Safer recruitment training in addition to Safe Guarding training. We also have volunteer packs which have expectations and codes of conduct within them, application forms and the request of two referees. Whilst it is impossible to eliminate all risks and their consequences, efforts are constantly made to minimize such occurrences. The safeguarding policy is reviewed and revised annually and was approved in April 2023 by the Trustees.

Trustees have also received training and read the publications from Charity Commission on the ‘Essential Trustee’.

Plans for the future

This year has shown such a growth in the need for our services, this is either down to greater awareness of our cause, the need has grown, or a combination of both.

To expand our capacity to support more young people we need more funding.

We would struggle to meet the needs of all students if our growth continued at the some rate this year.

Our aim this year is to help 500 students.

Shop front location

Whilst the Irish Centre is a great temporary solution to our storage and ability to make appointments with beneficiaries it is not perfect. The space does provide free parking, however it is the top of a set of stairs with no lift, it is in the Birmingham Clean Air Zone which can be an added expense for some families. It also has shared facilities with other members of the centre so it is not exclusively ours. It also doesn’t provide the ‘boutique’ experience which we want our beneficiaries to experience.

Our plan would be to move into a retail shop.

Funding

From our outlined projected budget for next year we have a considerable shortfall. We will need to find extra finances to support our core running costs in addition for projects. We have planned in January to run an auction and Catwalk event with the help of students from Birmingham College University to provide hair and make up. With the aim of raising £1,000 to

support the charity for next prom season.

Volunteers

We would like to expand the amount of volunteers to run Pop-up Events at different schools. The vision is that multiple pop-ups could happen rather than currently being restricted to one a week. Again that would require further funding so that we have more equipment such as more portable changing tents and clothing rails and van hire.

We would also continue to offer volunteer opportunities for young people, to help with all aspects of the charity.

Digital Presence

We would like this year to have a website so that there is a more professional shop front, at the moment we are solely dependent on out Facebook Page.

We are looking for volunteers who can regularly create content for our social media platforms.

Expansion to another area

This year Madrina operated in Birmingham and Oxfordshire, it is clear that there is a national problem that some students are facing barriers in getting an outfit for their prom/end of year celebration. We would like to extend Madrina to another region in the UK next year.

Statement of responsibilities of the Trustees

Madrina UK Board of Trustees is responsible for preparing the Annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom generally accepted accounting practice. Charity law requires the trustees to prepare a statement of financial activities and statement of assets and liabilities for each financial year, which gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of its financial activities for that year and adequately distinguishes any material special trust.

In preparing those financial statements the Madrina UK Board of Trustees is required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether the policies adopted are in accordance with the appropriate SORP on Accounting by Charities and the Accounting Regulations and with applicable accounting standards, subject to the material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue to operate.
We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to detect fraud or other irregularities and to provide reasonable assurances that:
the charity is operating efficiently and effectively;
its assets are safeguarded against unauthorized use or disposition;
proper records are kept and financial information used within the charity or for publication is reliable;
the charity complies with relevant laws and regulations.

Trustees

Stefanie Lakin Chair of Trustees, Head of operations, Safeguarding Lead

Donna Hopley, Treasurer

Phillipa John, Volunteer and Marketing