**SOS Bus Norwich CIO Registered Charity No. 1208922**
## **Trustee’s Annual Report to the Charity Commission**
**From 1[st] July 2024 to 31[st] March 2025 (First Year of Charity Operation)**
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **Contents**
|1.0|What is the SOS Bus? ........................................................................................................... 3|
|---|---|
|2.0|Charity Information .............................................................................................................. 4|
|2.1|Charity’s People ............................................................................................................... 4|
|3.0|Charity’s Aims & Objectives ................................................................................................. 6|
|3.1|CIO Objective (According to Constitution Document) ........................................................ 6|
|3.2|Our Vision ........................................................................................................................ 6|
|3.3|Our Mission Statement ..................................................................................................... 6|
|3.4|Our Values ....................................................................................................................... 7|
|3.5|Our ‘Strapline’ .................................................................................................................. 7|
|3.6|Our Strategy ..................................................................................................................... 7|
|4.0|Charity’s Activity & Performance ........................................................................................... 8|
|4.1|Strategic Successes ......................................................................................................... 8|
|4.2|Operational Successes .................................................................................................. 10|
|4.3|Charitable Output .......................................................................................................... 11|
|4.4|Performance Against Plans & Objectives ......................................................................... 11|
|5.0|Charity’s Improvement & Development ............................................................................... 13|
|5.1|Strategic Areas for Improvement ..................................................................................... 13|
|5.2|Operational Areas for Improvement ................................................................................ 13|
|5.3|Improvement Planning ................................................................................................... 14|
|6.0|Finances ........................................................................................................................... 15|
|6.1|Summary Statement of Receipts & Payments from opening of account to 31.03.25 ........... 15|
|6.2|Statement of Assets & Liabilities as of 31stMarch 2025 .................................................... 16|
|6.3|Statement of Payments to Trustees ................................................................................. 16|
|6.4|Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities ........................................................................... 17|
|6.5|Independent Examination Report ................................................................................... 18|
|6.6|Charity’s Reserves ......................................................................................................... 19|
|6.7|Funding Sources ............................................................................................................ 19|
|7.0|Risk .................................................................................................................................. 20|
|7.1|Risks facing the Charity .................................................................................................. 20|
|8.0|Trustee’s Declaration ......................................................................................................... 20|
Page 2 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **1.0 What is the SOS Bus?**
The SOS Bus was set up after two teenagers were found dead in the river in late 2000, after a night out in the city clubland area. A short while later a third young person was found dead in the toilets of a city nightclub due to alcohol related problems.
Following these tragic events, it was decided that the city centre needed to be made safer for any person visiting the area, regardless of whether they’d consumed alcohol or not. Following on from these events the SOS Bus was established and was launched in April 2001.
The SOS Bus is a multi-agency initiative to meet the needs of any person in Norwich's clubland at night. It is a first point of contact for those whose well-being is threatened by the inability to get home, illness or injury, emotional distress or other vulnerability. The SOS Bus operates from 9:30 pm to 3:30 am on some Friday and Saturday nights. The team of volunteers alongside the medical and security personnel are all there to provide a safe space in the heart of Norwich for anyone who needs help. They’re dynamic, responsive to a diverse range of problems and hugely dedicated.
People can access the service by walking in oa the street or can be brought in by friends or members of the public. Pubs, clubs, members of the public and emergency services can call the SOS Bus for assistance and advice if they have a concern about someone’s wellbeing.
The service also has a mobile support vehicle to respond to calls for help and transfer clients to other support providers (e.g. A&E or transport hub).
There remains a tremendous amount of admiration, respect, investment in and loyalty to the SOS Bus from both the volunteers and the public of Norwich, which we’re immensely proud of and endeavour to maintain and grow as the charity develops.
Page 3 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **2.0 Charity Information**
**Charity Name:** SOS BUS NORWICH CIO **Registered Charity Number:** 1208922 **Charity Creation Date:** 1[st] July 2024 **Charity Address:** Rouen House, Rouen Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR1 1RB **Reporting Period:** 1[st] July 2024 to 31[st] March 2025 (first annual report) **Bankers:** Co-Operative Bank - Norwich **External Examiners of Accounts:** Mr Martin Fairchild ACMA CGMA **Governing Document:** Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation The only voting members are the charity’s trustees (foundation model constitution) **Trustee Selection:** By Appointment
**2.1 Charity’s People Board of Trustees**
**Current Trustees** Jamie Mather **Trustee** (from creation to present) **Chair of Trustees Named Trustee for Safeguarding** Steve Ginn **Trustee** (from creation to present) Beth Williams **Trustee** (from creation to present) **Past Trustees** Colin Lang **Trustee** from 15[th] November 2024 to 5[th] March 2025
**Trustee Administrator** VACANT
## **Trustee Meeting Attendance**
||3 July
2024|18 Sept
2024|28 Sept
2024|9 Oct
2024|15 Nov
2024|12 Dec
2024|17 Jan
2024|14 Feb
2024|21 Mar
2024|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Jamie Mather|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|
|Beth Williams|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|
|Steve Ginn|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|ü|
|Colin Lang|||||ü|û|ü|û||
Page 4 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **Operational Management Committee**
Belinda Buxton Operational Manager VACANT Deputy Operational Manager Tim Lukoševičius-Spooner Finance Co-Leads Abi Debnam Finance Co-Leads Sara Kelleher Rota Coordinator VACANT Deputy Rota Coordinator VACANT Social Media & Communication Lead VACANT Deputy Social Media & Communication Lead Paul Debnam GDPR Lead & IT Lead VACANT Deputy GDPR Lead VACANT Deputy IT Lead Tracy Slater (Designated) Safeguarding Lead VACANT Deputy (Designated) Safeguarding Lead VACANT Fundraising Lead – Bids, Sponsorship & Grants Sarah Abbott Event Fundraising Lead VACANT Deputy Fundraising Lead – Bids, Sponsorship & Grants VACANT Deputy Event Fundraising Lead VACANT Training & Development Lead VACANT Deputy Training & Development Lead Tim Lukoševičius-Spooner Vehicle Operations Lead VACANT Deputy Vehicle Operations Lead
## **Operational Volunteers**
Page 5 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **3.0 Charity’s Aims & Objectives**
## **3.1 CIO Objective (According to Constitution Document)**
_“To relieve the needs of people in Norwich and the surrounding areas by the provision of mobile public care services to help people on the streets and other public places, giving guidance, support and signposting which assist in preserving public order, avoid anti-social behaviour, relieve sickness and preserve health.”_
## **3.2 Our Vision**
## **3.3 Our Mission Statement**
Page 6 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **3.4 Our Values**
## **3.5 Our ‘Strapline’**
We inherited with the service from the previous management organisation the strapline for the
service:
## _**“A safe space in the heart of Norwich”**_
## **3.6 Our Strategy**
Page 7 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
As summarised above, our strategy is to:
**Continue the legacy** of the 24-year-old service, under an independent volunteer led charity, by building a well-structured, accountable, effective and sustainable organisation to deliver the service.
**Build financial sustainability** , to secure the future of the service, through working with sponsors, financial and material/resource donors and statutory agencies to raise funds and material donations necessary for the service to run. When able, increase the service provision (in terms of number of service delivery session – ‘shifts’) when the finances permit.
**Continue to work with partner organisations** to integrate our services alongside statutory agencies and nighttime venues and work with other charities and organisations; be able to signpost appropriate people to other organisation’s services, during our service delivery.
**Integrate the organisation into the wider community** it serves by providing outreach and health promotion at community events, spreading positive messages about having a healthy and carefully planned night out and raise support and funds for our cause.
Using our **experience and expertise, contribute to the education** of current and future nighttime economy users regarding safe consumption habits and evening planning to reduce the number of some types of presentations to our service.
## **4.0 Charity’s Activity & Performance**
## **4.1 Strategic Successes**
Following hard work from some loyal SOS Bus volunteers in April to July 2024, the SOS BUS NORWICH charity was formed and registered with the Charity Commission. Three former SOS Bus volunteers/medical team members, with governance, leadership and trustee experience were appointed as trustees of the new charity and begun planning the transfer of the service.
In September 2024 the trustees negotiated the transfer of the service from its previous management organisation to the SOS BUS NORWICH charity (CIO).
On 1[st] October 2024 the charity took over the assets and management of the service, which reflected an enormous amount of hard work from the trustees, the previous management organisation and their respective legal teams. The trustees are grateful for all parties’ commitment to the shared aim during the transfer.
The trustees’ main goals were creating sense of stability after the transfer while producing and embedding systems, processes and structures for the ongoing functioning and growth of the service and charity.
Trustees were tasked with developing a vision for what they wanted the charity to do. The primary objective is to run the SOS bus service. Trustees established values and a strategy, for what they wanted to achieve (Section 2).
Page 8 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
Trustees rapidly established the necessary structures within the charity including the creation of the Operational Management Committee (OMC) and respective terms of reference and a scheme of delegation for the OMC. All operational leads (OMC members) were approved in their posts and the plan to increase capacity by appointing deputies for each lead is ongoing.
Trustees established all key organisation documents including a Charity Improvement Plan (ChIP), Risk Register, approved volunteer role descriptions and code of conduct for all charity roles. They have additionally contributed to, reviewed/approved all the charity’s policies (below).
Page 9 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
The charity underwent a governance review in March & April 2025, the outcome of which will aid planning in the 2025-26 financial year.
Trustees and the Operational Manager also met with past major statutory funders who were impressed with what the charity had achieved in 6 months, and a dialogue is ongoing with them about future opportunities to work together.
## **4.2 Operational Successes**
reflected and recounted their successes and progress in a joint review meeting with trustees:
## **IT and Data Protection lead:**
- Transferred all website hosting and domain from previous management organisation
- Secured a free Microsoft Oaice 365 licence for charities which now forms the backbone of the organisation
- Digitalised client contact forms and shift coordinators log, using donated shift coordinators laptop
- Established all cyber security and backup processes
## **Finance Leads:**
- Current and saving account opened and being eaectively maintained
- `o` Registering the charity for Gift Aid
-
## **Fundraising Support Lead & Operational Manager:**
- amongst businesses and the public and multiple leaders of Norfolk organisations have visited the service
- Submitted multiple successful bids for funding/grants
- Increased SOS Bus’s presence at community events including Norwich Pride and fairs/fetes
- Arranged for organisation’s events (quizzes, open mic nights etc) to support the charity and organisations to nominate us as charity of the year
## **Safeguarding Lead:**
_An example of a local event supporting the charity_
- Safeguarding training completed by 100% of active volunteers
- Safeguarding updates and guidance sent round to all volunteers
- Monitoring for safeguarding reports and responses remain ongoing
- Volunteers feel safe and supported when contributing to charity services
- Clients regularly express feeling safe and well cared for when using our service
## **Rota Lead:**
- minute when needed
- Safe levels of volunteers for all past and immediately upcoming shifts
Page 10 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **Operational Manager & Other Operational Updates:**
- We’ve formalised the recruitment process for new volunteers and continue to have enquiries on a weekly basis and have prospective volunteers moving through all stages of the recruitment process.
- We’ve ensured all volunteers have agreed to their charity code of conduct, reviewed their role description and undertaken mandatory training
- We’re expanding the use of our volunteer management system to streamline as many compliance / data recording processes as we can
- Progressing our client interaction data capturing and analysis to help direct the future of the service
- We’re forward planning shifts for the next year
- We have good dialogues and leader-to-leader relationships with partner organisations and other nighttime welfare services
## **4.3 Charitable Output**
For our mission and we’ve developed performance indicators which indicate the success of our service. The indicators are aspects of the charity’s output which we believe are most important to stakeholders and the public.
Since taking over management of the SOS Bus on 1[st] October 2024, the service has…
## **4.4 Performance Against Plans & Objectives**
In the charity’s vision, value and strategy document the trustees set some key high-level targets on what they wanted to achieve at 6 months after running the service.
> [st ] of March 2025.
Page 11 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **By 6 Months after commencement of running the Service (1st May 2025) the charity MUST have:**
|
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25|
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25|
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25|
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25|
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**By 6 Months after commencement of running the Service (1st May 2025) the charity MUST have:**|||||
|||**Target**||**Update**|
||A board of trustees which has suaicient expertise and
capacity to function||**PARTIALLY COMPLETE -**Following a skills audit and strategic capacity assessment,
recruitment of 2-3 additional trustees with specifc skills (fnance, legal/compliance,
PR/marketing) is ongoing.||
||All organisational documents are in place and their
associated processes are in action (scheme of
delegation, ChIP, risk register, meeting agenda planning
cycle)||**COMPLETE -**Document review, amendment and approval is ongoing as the charity changes
/ matures.||
||The most essentialpolicies received from the service
transferors have been reviewed, revised and re-approved
to mirror the good governance values we’re striving for||**COMPLETE -**Policy review and new policy authorship is ongoing.||
||Suaicient funds to continue its work (at the current shifts
per month rate) and a sustainable fnancial model to do
maintain that||**PARTIALLY COMPLETE -**We have been fortunate to receive fnancial support since
commencement; this has allowed us to continue to cover a reduced number of shifts per
year. However, we are still working on securing longer term fnancial security.
Through our independence, we have an established running mode, with signifcantly
reduced overheads/fxed costs, without comprising on operational output or quality of
running the charity.||
||An operational management committee is established
and functioning with terms of reference and an
appropriate scheme of delegation from trustees; with the
operational manager and all section/portfolio leads have
received and agree to their role description & code of
conduct and are 100% trained and equipped for their role||**PARTIALLY COMPLETE -**The OMC is established with a scheme of delegation and terms of
reference (both of which are being refected upon and amended as the OMC matures).
All leaders have agreed to their role descriptions and codes of conduct.
Outstanding is role specifc training which is a key action for the next 6 months.||
||All volunteers have received and agree to their role
description & code of conduct and are 100% trained and
equipped for their role||**COMPLETE -**All codes of conduct signed and returned.
Additional mandatory training – mental health awareness is being added soon, but all active
volunteers have 100% compliance with all current training.||
Page 12 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **5.0 Charity’s Improvement & Development**
## **5.1 Strategic Areas for Improvement**
All charity leaders and volunteers have worked tremendously hard over the last 6 months; however, trustees recognise it’s been a significant undertaking and sacrifice for many, motivated by wanting to establish the charity and create stability, but the hours of commitment and investment of a small group of people need sharing to create a sustainable management model.
both a trustee board and OMC level. This will be achieved by:
1. Recruitment at strategic and operational leadership level.
2. taskings.
3. Prioritising & delegating appropriately, while maintaining high standards.
Additionally securing suaicient funds to be able to plan greater than one year in advance is crucial to allow the charity to grow. A multi-modal fundraising strategy is a crucial key to this succeeding. Trustees intend to continue to engage with government/statutory and private/business funders.
## **5.2 Operational Areas for Improvement**
the trustees outline key high level operational areas for action, summarised below:
-
- Increase OMC capacity through appointing deputies / co- role holders
- Policy authorship, development, review and implementation
- Increase recruitment of client and non-client facing roles to create sustainable running of the service
- Improve systems and processes to aid compliance maintaining (eg. digitalising incident safeguarding reporting process)
- Creation of key operational documents: SOS Bus standard operating procedure, assets register
- Continue to contribute to risk register and action operational level mitigation and monitoring of risk
- Increase use of volunteer management system (Better Impact) to reduce workload and aid compliance
-
- Improve SOS Bus presence at key events where there is fundraising, pitching or grant acquiring opportunities
- Develop and grow social media resources and template posts to provide a more bespoke/dynamic social media presence and engagement
- Improve leader IT / O365 functionality usage
Page 13 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
- underpinning background knowledge on key areas of our charitable output
- competitively comparing insurance/service quotes.
- Regular reporting of progress regarding the above to trustees
## **5.3 Improvement Planning**
The ChIP continues to guide the charity’s improvement at an operational and strategic level. The ChIP actions are derived from external reviews/advice, survey feedback, feedback, complaints and suggestions as well as internally identified areas for improvement from notable cases, incidents, self-evaluation or actions to aid progress of our strategy.
The OMC’s progress is monitored and driven by the Operational Manager, and additional monitoring and check and challenge is undertaken by trustees.
Progress updates are fed to the trustees via the operational managers monthly report.
Trustees evaluate their strategic progress periodically at board meetings.
Page 14 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **6.0 Finances**
## **6.1 Summary Statement of Receipts & Payments from opening of account to 31.03.25**
|**RECEIPTS**
Transfer from previous management organisation
Grants
Sponsorship
Donations
SumUp
Just Giving
Cash
Events
**PAYMENTS**
Vehicles
Insurance
RFL
Repairs/Checks
Fuel & Parts
Overheads
PL Insurance
VN DBS Checks
Storage Costs
Legal Fees
Miscellaneous
Communications & IT
Operational Costs
Medical Services
Security Services
Blankets
**SURPLUS**|£1,154.81
£540.93
£1,146.70
£2,602.83|£18,858.01
£47,865.00
£2,250.00
£5,445.27|
|---|---|---|
||**TOTAL INCOME**
-£5,594.37
-£304.56
-£848.64
-£433.63||
|||**£74,418.28**|
|||-£7,181.20
-£2,397.67
-£14,730.34|
||-£161.28
-£124.40
-£154.24
-£1,200.00
-£216.95
-£540.80||
||-£12,016.00
-£2,539.80
-£174.54||
||**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**
**as of 31st of March 2025**||
|||**-£24,309.21**|
||||
|||**£50,109.07**|
Page 15 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **6.2 Statement of Assets & Liabilities as of 31[st] March 2025**
|**Fixed Assets**
Tangible Assets - Laptop
_TOTAL Fixed Assets_
**Current Assets**
Debtors (Gift Aid)
Cash at Bank and in hand
_TOTAL Current Assets_
**Liabilities**
Creditors - due within one year
_Net Current Assets_
**TOTAL Assets or Liabilities**
**Funds of the charity**
Unrestricted funds|**Total funds**
**Prior Year**
**Funds**
**£**
**£**
300.00 -|
|---|---|
||300.00 -|
||2,609.31 -
50,109.07 -|
||52,718.38 -|
||820.00 -|
||51,898.38 -|
|||
||52,198.38 -|
|||
||52,198.38 -|
## **6.3 Statement of Payments to Trustees**
authorised by the remained of the board of trustees. This payment was made solely for the reimbursement of expenses, during the transfer of service period. No payments or remuneration was given to trustees, for the role of trustee.
- Payment 1: Beth Williams - £1,200.
Page 16 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **6.4 Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities**
accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). This requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial. The Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of aaairs of the charity and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
-
- Observe the methods and principles of the Charity’s SORP (FRS 102).
- Make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards (FRS 102) have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
- presume that the charity will continue.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are suaicient to show and explain the charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charity Commission. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **Disclosure of information to examiners**
- charity's examiners are unaware, and
- That Trustee has taken all the steps that ought to have been taken, as a Trustee, to be aware of any relevant examiners’ information and to establish that the charity's examiners are aware of that information.
## **Examiners**
The examiner, _Mr. Martin Fairchild ACMA CGMA_ , has indicated their willingness to carry out this oaice, by electronic means (email).
Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees and signed (digitally) on their behalf by _Jamie Elliot Scott Mather_ (Chair) on _Monday 4[th] August 2025_ .
Page 17 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **6.5 Independent Examination Report**
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/** SOS Bus Norwich CIO **members of On accounts for the year** 31[st] March 2025 **Charity no** 1208922 **ended Set out on pages** 15-16 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/03/25. **Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation **basis of report** of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. **Independent** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with 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
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. * _Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply._
**Signed: Date:** 09.10.2025 **Name:** Mr Martin Fairchild **Relevant professional qualification(s) or body** ACMA CGMA **Address:** 2 Morton Road Aylsham NR11 6BA
1
Page 18 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **6.6 Charity’s Reserves**
On the 15[th ] of November 2024, the board of trustees discussed the Charity Commission’s recommendations to hold reserves to allow core functioning of the charity in the event of unexpected cessation / slowing / change in funding. This acknowledges the historic funding challenges the service faced, through lack of diversity in funding streams.
Unanimous trustee agreement was reached that reserves equalling at least 3 months’ worth of operational costs [Circa £12,000] would be held and ringfenced - the funds have a safeguard in that they may not be accessed/utilised without full board of trustee agreement with the rationale and resultant plan to replenish them. These reserve funds are also equivalent to 12 months’ worth of ‘skeleton’ / core costs - to keep the charity running with no charitable output / service delivery (shifts).
In addition, trustees agreed an ‘emergency fund’ to cover insurance excesses, emergency vehicle or equipment repairs and any other unforeseen costs which is £3,000.
The value of these funds are a balance of a reasonable duration for operational and strategic reactions to funding changes without ringfencing an excessive proportion of organisational funds. Trustees review the charity’s reserves position every year.
## **6.7 Funding Sources**
The charity has managed to secure various amounts of funding from a variety of diaerent sources, making the charity no longer reliant on a large proportion of funding from a single donor – which was a crucial priority to strengthen the charity’s’ financial sustainability. A funding priority is to secure multi-year repeat funding pledges to allow us to strategically plan the charity’s direction.
The funding sources are outlined broadly in the statement above:
- Grants from private organisations (from bids or pitches)
- Sponsorship from companies / businesses
- specific events / charity of the year
- Grants from statutory bodies
- Donations from the public during operational shifts (cash or contactless payments)
- We have a street collection licence for the nighttime economy area of Norwich during the evenings we operate
- Donations from the public during fundraising events
- Our online donations page
We aim to expand this source list through utilising the Friends of the SOS Bus to support with running fundraising galas/meals, event sponsorship, exploring legacy donations and goal/resource specific funding pledges.
Page 19 of 20
SOS Bus Norwich CIO: Trustees Annual Report 2024-25
## **7.0 Risk**
The charity maintains a risk register based on the National Council for Voluntary Organisations recommended structure. Due to the charity’s infancy, the number of risks was originally sizeable, but as we embedded processes, policies and monitoring mechanisms, we were able to downgrade / eliminate some of these risks.
## **7.1 Risks facing the Charity**
- A) As with many charities, at a time where statutory funders budgets are being cut, lack of funding, donations and grants remains our biggest risk. We are mitigating this by diversifying our income streams, not being reliant on any single grant/donation and have also had to proportionate the scale of the service we oaer (in terms of number of nights we provide a service per year) to account for our funding state.
We’re also conscious other organisations providing similar services or providing a diaerent charitable output are likely to be competing for funding, so we need to ensure we remain competitive, stand out in applications / pitches and ensure we represent good value for money.
- B) Given the privileged position we hold and respect we have from the people of Norwich, our reputation and legacy are vitally important to us. Because of the nature of the problems our clients present with and the setting our service runs in, maintaining our reputation, and the public’s understanding of the service’s oaer and client group can be a challenge. This is sometimes cited as a barrier to donation, as anecdotally we’re seen, incorrectly, as only supporting excessively intoxicated individuals, whereas our actual client group is much more diverse than that.
- C) After our wonderful volunteer body, our two key assets, are the main SOS Bus and support vehicle (people carrier) these are both ageing and coming towards the end of their lives, where maintenance bills are increasing. We are therefore investigating the potential transition into a fixed (rented) premises with a support vehicle or invest in another main SOS Bus, either of which are significant capital investments.
## **8.0 Trustee’s Declaration**
## **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report, above and formally issue it to the charity commission as part of their annual returns.**
## Approved on:
1) Approved in principle pending examiners report: 6[th] May 2025 at AGM
2) Approved in full, digitally, by the below trustees, on: 12[th] & 20[th] October 2025
**Jamie Mather Chair of Trustees**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Beth Williams Steve Ginn
Trustee Trustee
**----- End of picture text -----**
Page 20 of 20