## **Mila's Foundation 2023-24 Trustee Report**
## **Achievements and Performance**
For this period, Mila's Foundation focussed on sustainability after a period of rapid growth, ensuring maintenance of service levels, project completions and nurturing stakeholder relationships. During the period we evidenced improved visibility of Mila's Foundation and welcomed new beneficiaries, increasing the number of conditions represented, and delivered support activities to beneficiaries. Connecting beneficiaries with each other for mutual support is one of our key objectives.
Our direct communication with the community has seen consistent improvement. Communications and engagement staff developed their social media skills utilising training and consultancy opportunities, growing engagement across all social media channels over the year. Donation and fundraising income continued to grow to £37,909. Although the organisation saw a reduction in unrestricted reserves, this was expected due to our consolidation strategy for the year.
## **Charitable Objectives**
Across the year Mila's Foundation staff:
- Welcomed new beneficiaries
- Supported beneficiaries across support activities including one to one conversations, home visits and advocacy, digital wellbeing sessions and face to face get togethers
- Delivered professional counselling sessions and wellbeing calls to beneficiaries
- Connected beneficiaries to build supportive, long-lasting relationships
- Were invited to present at events
- Attended stakeholder conferences and events
- Been involved in stakeholder meetings
- Encouraged engagements on our social media channels
- Attracted website visitors
- Were mentioned in the press
## **Challenges**
We did not have capacity to progress our plans to cement our position as the umbrella organisation for Alexander's disease in the UK and experienced some challenges in attempts to collaborate with a minority of like-minded groups. Our communications strategy for 2024/25 has been adapted accordingly and we will seek to develop a collaborative relationship with one patient group and use learning from this experience to develop future plans.
It has been challenging to secure the honorary contracts required to allow support staff to attend clinics, largely due to slow moving bureaucratic obstacles within the host NHS Trusts. This has been partially resolved late in the period.
## **Future Impact**
It was gratifying to see the organisation exceeding budget expectations during the period, we have set a break-even budget for the following year to further consolidate our position with a view to future growth.
We have recently recruited a Grants and Trusts Fundraiser and look forward to the results of increased capacity in this area for the next period.
Our contract to provide the distribution service for the Addison’s Disease Self Help Group ceased in August 2024, however this will give us additional capacity for small grant fundraising which should
mitigate against this income loss.
We will continue to work towards our mission of support and access to treatment for everyone with Alexander's disease.
## **Financial Review**
At the balance sheet date, the charity had unrestricted funds and restricted funds.
It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level the trustees feel are sufficient to cover the running costs of the charity for a period of approximately 3 months.
We expected a drop in unrestricted reserves for this period whilst we continued to invest in our charitable activities. We are looking towards a break-even budget for 2024/25, consolidating our position whilst continuing to increase our level of charitable activities.
## **Plans for Future Periods**
Work areas for 2024/25 include:
- Confirmation of a data sharing agreement with NHS England in order to analyse Registry data and identify priorities for future projects.
- Regular attendance schedule for clinics.
- Commitment to annual Community Weekends.
- Translation of our children’s support book to German, French and Spanish.
- Confirm the topic for an additional children’s support book, for publication in 2025/26.
- Completion of succession planning and sustainability measures.
- Strategy to review operations and providers across the organisation.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
## Governing document
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006. Recruitment and appointment of new trustees
The Charity seeks to appoint trustees who have relevant and often specialist knowledge. This has always included ensuring that those directly affected by the condition are among the trustees. This is accompanied by appointing trustees with complementary skills, e.g. legal, finance, administration or relevant professional experience and knowledge.
None of the trustees have any beneficial interest in the company. All trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up. Key management remuneration
Key personnel remuneration is reviewed annually alongside performance appraisals within an agreed pay structure and applied using the same approach to pay and reward as for all employees. Any significant increases are approved by the Board of Trustees and reviewed within the constraints of the budget.
Risk
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed. Overall, the trustees are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
The charity maintains a Risk Register. This is managed by the Trustee Risk Sub-Committee who present priority risks and proposed mitigations at quarterly Board meetings for approval. Day to day operations
The trustees have delegated control of day to day operations to the Chief Executive Officer who provides a quarterly report and key performance indicators at Board Meetings.
||**Charity Name**
**Mila's Foundation**
**1**|**Charity Name**
**Mila's Foundation**
**1**|**Charity Name**
**Mila's Foundation**
**1**|**No (if any)**
**206079**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|Period start date
8/1/2023|**To**
|Period end date
7/31/2024||
|||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||
|**A1 Receipts**
Donations - Gift Aid
**30,332**
Donations - Non-Gift Aid
**7,577**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**37,909**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 37,909**
**A3 Payments**
Bank Charges
**30**
PayPal Fees
**424**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ 454**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total payments_ 454**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ 37,454**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**-**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 37,454**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**30,332**
**7,577**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**37,909**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**37,909**
**30**
**424**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**454**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**454**
**37,454**
**-**
**-**
**37,454**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
||||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**30,332**|**-**|
|||||**7,577**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**37,909**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**37,909**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**30**|**-**|
|||||**424**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||**454**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
|||||**-**||
|||||**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||||**-**|**454**|**-**|
|||||||
|||**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**37,454**|**-**|
|||**-**||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**||**-**|**-**|
|||**-**||**37,454**|**-**|
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**|**Details**
HSBC Bank Account
Paypal Bank Account
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**36,410**
**1,044**
**-**
**37,454**
OK
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
OK
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||OK|
|||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**||
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
|Signature|Print Name
Nahed Sarig
Nicholas Grant|Date of
approval|
|---|---|---|
||Nahed Sarig|5/28/2025|
||Nicholas Grant|**5/28/2025**|
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examinerfs Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
Mila's Foundation
On accounts for the year
ended
31* July 2024
Charity no
(If any}
1206079
Set out on pages
14
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 31107 12024.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust. you are PonSible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordance With the requirements of the Charities Act
2011 ("the Acr).
I reF)Ort in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I
have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5){b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have
come to my attention (
in connection ¥:'tth
the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect:
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
Independent
examiner's ststement
I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to vthich attention should te drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Please delete the words in the brackets rfthey do not apply.
Slgned:
Date:
2810512025
Name:
Iraj Idafar FCCA
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
{rf any):
ACCA
Addrnss:
Blue Accountancy & Business Services
34 South Molton Street
London W1 K 5RG
IER
October 2018
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of conrn (see CC32,
Independent examination of chartty accounts". directions and guidance for
examiners).
Glve here brief detsils of
any items that the
examinerwishes to
disclose.
IER
October 2018