## **Annual Report & Financial Statements** **For period: 15/11/2023 - 05/04/2025** **Charity No: 1205722** ## **Reference and administrative information** ## **Charity Name:** Magic Brix **Charity No:** 1205722 **Address:** 37 Pulborough Way, Bognor Regis, PO22 6QR **Trustees:** - Martyn John Sands, Chair of trustees (appointed 6[th] January 2022) - Gavin Thorpe, Trustee (appointed 7th January 2022) - Matthew Rutherford Bell, Trustee (appointed 6[th] January 2022) ## **Structure, Governance and Management** Magic Brix was officially registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 23[rd] November 2023 with the following objective: _For the public benefit, the relief of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage in the UK for the parents and guardians affected by financial hardship before Christmas, by providing free Christmas presents for their children._ Families in financial hardship can struggle to provide any gifts for their children during the Christmas season, yet there is a strong societal pressure to do so. Lego is a popular children's toy and has been for decades. By distributing Lego gift parcels to the children of families in financial hardship, Magic Brix aims to make the Christmas season happier for those affected persons by alleviating the financial pressure on the parents and providing gifts to children. Donations to the charity are in the form of used Lego bricks, unopened Lego sets, or money donated directly to the organisation's bank account. The first money donated was on 7[th] July 2023. None of our trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the charity. The trustees meet at regular intervals throughout the year to undertake the operations of the organisation. Fundraising and promotional options are discussed. Donations of used Lego which have been received since they last met are washed, dried and stored until October/November. At this point the prepared Lego is organised into type and a selection of each put into "Magic Brix gift parcels" which are regular sized resealable pouches. This ensures that every recipient gets a practical selection of Lego pieces and not just a random selection of parts. Children who are to receive a gift parcel must come from an underprivileged family or background or be living in difficult circumstances to the extent that they would not wake up to any gifts on Christmas morning. Applications on behalf of children must be made by a recognised referral source such as professionals within a governing body (e.g., social services, GP, teacher etc.) or from a registered charity or community organisation with a formal constitution / governance document and safeguarding policy. The professionals nominating children must be aware of the individual family financial circumstances and must sign a statement confirming that the children come from an underprivileged family or background or be living in difficult circumstances to the extent that they would not wake up to any gifts on Christmas morning without Magic Brix's involvement. The recipients of the gift parcels themselves remain anonymous - personal information is neither requested nor required. We only ask for the number of children, their age group and gender (optional) in order to best deliver the most appropriate gift parcels. Applicants are encouraged to provide additional information about the children they are applying for, in order for Magic Brix to prioritise which recipients are most in need. We also accept applications from organisations such as food banks or Wave Radio's "Mission Christmas" to distribute the gift parcels to children of families in financial hardship, provided that they meet the same eligibility criteria as other applicants. In the weeks leading up to Christmas the gift parcels are made available for collection by the applicants, who in turn deliver them to the children in need. ## **Achievements and performance** The organisation was officially registered as a charity on 15[th] November 2023 but preparations for the 2023 Christmas season were already well underway. We had received several donations throughout 2023 which allowed us to acquire equipment to better clean the used Lego donations. The largest donation was from Chichester Sporting Gun Club which had closed down, but as part of their dissolution were required to donate all cash assets to non-profit organisations. Magic Brix was fortunate to received 50% of those assets; the sum of £2,500 Custom branded gift parcels were designed and ordered in readiness for the sorting process. A promotional giveaway event (with an unused Lego boxset as the prize) was used to create better public awareness of the charity. Ultimately we were able to deliver 200 Lego gift parcels to disadvantaged children for the 2023 Christmas season. Throughout 2024 we continued to improve and streamline the Lego cleaning process. Donations of Lego were even larger than the previous year, requiring us to hire a local village hall for 2 days, simply to have enough space to properly sort all the cleaned Lego out into individual gift parcels. Fortunately a local person donated the cost of the hall hire for one of these days. Some donations of larger Lego items (such as base plates) were not suitable for the Christmas gift parcels but we were able to sell these onto external collectors, generating small but useful additional funds for the charity. Ultimately we were able to deliver 300 Lego gift parcels to disadvantaged children for the 2024 Christmas season, an increase of 50% on the previous year. Magic Brix ends this initial reporting period with £1,310.17 in the organisation’s bank account. The trustees all state that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the 2006 Act to have due regard to guidance on public benefit published by the Commission. ## **Financial Review** |Money received during reporting period:||| |---|---|---| |**Date**
**Description**|**Amount**|| |07/07/2023
Private donation(TimothyWise)|£100.00|| |12/07/2023
Donation(Historic Automobile Club)|£100.00|| |07/08/2023
Donation - Chichester SportingGun Club|£2,500.00|| |20/11/2024
Private donation(FYFE)|£118.82|| |25/11/2024
Sale of Lego boxes|£30.00|| |24/02/2025
Sale of Legoplates|£8.00|| |03/03/2025
Sale of Legoplates|£12.00|| |17/03/2025
Sale of Legoplates|£10.00|| |||| |**TOTAL RECEIVED DURING PERIOD:**|**£2,878.82**|| |||| ## Expenditure during reporting period: |**Date**
**Description**|**Amount**|| |---|---|---| |01/09/2023
Equipment – ultrasonic bath|£414.98|| |01/09/2023
Website domain registration|£284.39|| |22/09/2023
Webpage fees|£61.16|| |29/09/2023
Lego set forpromotional event|£35.00|| |06/10/2023
Storage boxes for Lego|£63.98|| |17/10/2023
Customisedgiftparcels|£102.74|| |28/11/2023
Train travel|£99.20|| |15/01/2024
Branded uniforms|£73.62|| |23/01/2024
Business cards|£39.77|| |23/01/2024
Promotional banner|£35.99|| |30/04/2024
Train travel|£89.00|| |20/11/2024
Hall hire forpacking|£268.82|| |||| |**TOTAL EXPENDITURE DURING PERIOD:**|**£1,568.65**|| |||| Magic Brix bank account balance at end of period: **£1,310.17** The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985, the Charities Act 1993, The Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. By order of the trustees Martyn John Sands (Chairman) 30/11/2025 Approved by the trustees 30/11/2025