Stannington foodbank trustees Annual report
Objectives and activities
The trustees and committee members have considered the commission’s guidance on the public benefit and have also considered the guidance on the advancement of religion. They have used this guidance as a framework for planning and delivering the activities below, which seek to fulfil the main objectives of the charity and to be of benefit to the public.
The main objective of the charity is to relieve hardship and in particular food poverty in the Stannington area of She�ield, by providing emergency food parcels and other essential toiletries and household items. To this end we have operated a foodbank each week, excluding Bank Holidays, giving out food parcels to those in need. This has benefited those members of the public who are struggling financially by providing some relief to their hardship.
The secondary objective is to signpost those who use the foodbank to other outside agencies who can o�er them help and support with issues a�ecting their lives. In addition to signposting people some of our volunteers have undertaken some training run by CAB to enable us to o�er some basic advice and to give us a better idea of who could give more specialist help in various situations. We have also engaged the services of a trained CAB advisor who visits us every other week. This has been of real public benefit as people have had debts written o�, their income maximized and housing and other issues solved. Occasional visitors have been an employment advisor from Reed in partnership, which resulted in one of our clients, who had never worked, finding -and keeping a job. We have also had an advisor from the local Zest charity, which supports people with their mental and physical health, and with nutrition. They also help people write/revise their CV and this service has benefited our clients in a number of ways and again has resulted in a client who has never worked getting a job.
The third objective is to do both of the above within a Christian setting and this has continued, three local churches operate the foodbank in partnership together and many of the volunteers come from these and other churches. We have also begun to o�er prayer to our clients, with a specially trained team of prayer volunteers, who mingle with the clients in the community hub and listen to them, o�ering prayer if they think it is appropriate. This is of course optional and the prayer volunteers are clearly labelled so clients are not misled. We are not o�ering this to advance religion, but rather to show care and support for those of our clients who are having a particularly tough time.
Achievement and performance
The Stannington foodbank has fed an average of 35 households (60 individuals) each week, thus helping to relieve poverty in the area. To provide food parcels we rely heavily
on donations of food from individuals, and through the pick-up pack system which operates at Morrison’s supermarket. We also regularly hold food collections outside the Hillsborough store, where we hand out leaflets asking people to donate the items that we need. Harvest festivals at local churches and schools are a real boost to our stocks and many people and organisations give generously at Christmas, We also receive monetary donations from individuals and organisations which help us to buy food for the parcels. Currently our main expenditure is on food. Our food bill for April 2024 to March 2025 is £ 5,897 .
We have also helped our clients by providing vouchers which can be used to top up their gas and electricity at the local newsagents. In 2024/2025 the cost of this has been £ 290 .
We are currently in the fortunate position of not having to pay rent for our premises, though this is going to change in the very near future as the building is expected to have a change of managing trustees. In 2024/2025 we gave a donation of £1,500 for the use of the premises.
A further achievement this year has been the addition of a CAB worker to provide advice on a fortnightly basis. We received a grant of £7,000 towards the cost of this but the remaining £1,194 will come from foodbank funds. We have found that the service has been well used and has definitely been of benefit to our clients, helping them in particular to maximise their income. We hope to secure further funding to continue this service when the current contract runs out.
Volunteers
Hearty thanks are due to our dedicated team of volunteers, who turn up on a rota basis to sort the donations and serve the clients week by week. Our team is completed by a regular turnover of sixth form students from Forge Valley school who do lots of background work, as well as serving, as part of their health and social care course. The foodbank couldn’t operate without them.
Financial review
Our balance at the start of the year was £ 1,5075 .
Our income from gifts, grants and donations has been £ 13,946.20
Our expenditure a total of £ 7,262
made until the next financial year .
We seem to have a large reserve, but this is held in anticipation of the fact that we will soon have to start paying a more realistic rent, we will need the reserves to secure the premises and to give us some time to secure funding to cover the rent in the future. Once we know what the rent will be then we will make a reserve policy where we will endeavour to keep 3 months expenditure in reserve.
Structure, governance and management
The Stannington foodbank is a CIO, we currently have 3 trustees and these are the main representatives of the three churches who are responsible for the operation of the foodbank. However many trustees we have in the future we will always keep a representative from each church on the board. Alongside the trustees we have a committee which, at present, consists of the three trustees, the treasurer and 3 other Foodbank volunteers. The committee are elected at the AGM each year, candidates are nominated by another volunteer and then elected by a show of hands from those present. The committee meets between 6 and 8 times a year and the average attendance is 90% The committee is the main decision making body of the foodbank, responsible for ensuring that the charity operates for the public benefit and spends its money wisely.
made any e�ort yet to recruit any more trustees. In the near future it would be good to find someone who had skills in fundraising and applying for grants to help us provide
Reference and administration details
The trustees of the Stannington foodbank are: Mrs. Jane Wall, Mr. Andrew Sturdy and Mrs. Vivien Willox. The treasurer is Mrs. Maggie Martin.
The address of the Stannington foodbank is Stanwood Methodist Church, Stanwood Drive, She�ield S6 5HZ
Stannington Foodbank Accounts
| Income | 2024/25 | 2024/25 | 2023/24 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | |||||
| Cash & Cheque Donations | £ | 886.38 |
|||
| Bank Donations | £ | 5,959.82 |
|||
| £ | 6,846.20 |
0 | |||
| Grants | £ | 7,000.00 |
|||
| Miscellaneous Income | £ | 100.00 |
|||
| Total Income | £ | 13,946.20 |
0 | ||
| Expenditure | |||||
| Food purchases | |||||
| Cash | £ | 852.07 |
|||
| Cheque or BACS | £ | 5,044.98 |
|||
| £ | 5,897.05 |
0 | 0 | ||
| Room Donations | £ | - |
0 | ||
| Miscellaneous Expenditure | £ | 1,365.53 |
|||
| Total Expenditure | £ | 7,262.58 |
0 | ||
| Net Receipts/(Payments) for the Year | £ | 6,683.62 |
0 | ||
| Balances at 1 September | |||||
| Cash | £ | 7.06 |
0 | ||
| Bank | £ | 15,075.44 |
0 | ||
| Total Balances brought forward 1 September | £ | 15,082.50 |
0 | ||
| Balance carried forward 1 August | £ | 21,766.12 |
0 |