2025-04-03-accounts

Charity Number: 1210210 Trustees' Annual Report For the Period: 25 September 2024 to 3 April 2025

1. Reference and Administrative Details

Charity Name

PANCHO STORIES

Charity Registration Number

1210210

Registered Address

48 Lavender Road London SE16 5DZ

Contact Information

Telephone: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Website: www.panchostories.com

Trustees (as at 3 April 2025)

• Mr Francisco Rodriguez-Weil

• Mr Ryan Smithson

• Ms Claire Upton

• Ms Eirini Oikonomou

• Mr Morne Quintin Lippiatt

Structure, Governance and Management

Pancho Stories is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a Foundation Constitution. The charity is governed by its trustees who meet regularly to oversee the charity's activities and ensure it fulfills its charitable purposes.

During this reporting period (25 September 2024 to 3 April 2025), the charity was in its establishment phase, having received formal registration. The trustees worked to establish robust governance structures, policies, and operational procedures to ensure effective management and delivery of charitable activities.

2. Purposes and Activities

Charitable Purposes

Pancho Stories is a UK-registered charity dedicated to empowering children in care and underrepresented communities through the transformative power of art and literature. We seek to promote awareness and healthy mental development of children and young people.

How We Achieve Our Purposes

We achieve our charitable purposes through the following activities:

• Creating and publishing high-quality children's books: Our books focus on themes relevant to children in care and underrepresented communities, fostering understanding, empathy, and positive self-identity. We prioritize diverse voices and experiences, ensuring authentic representation in our stories. We seek to donate them when possible, ensuring all children have free access to books that represent them.

• Supporting emerging artists: We work with artists, providing them with opportunities to illustrate and contribute to our books, showcasing their talent and perspectives.

• Delivering creative workshops and outreach programs: We engage children in care and from disadvantaged communities in interactive workshops, encouraging them to express themselves creatively and explore their own stories.

• Promoting education and awareness: We collaborate with schools, libraries, and care organizations to raise awareness about the experiences of children in care and underrepresented groups, using our books and workshops as tools for dialogue and understanding.

• Creating videos and materials: We produce content to support children, parents, carers and professionals made freely available through our YouTube channel.

3. Achievements and Performance

This reporting period represents the formative months of Pancho Stories as a registered charity. During this time, the trustees focused on establishing the operational infrastructure necessary to deliver our charitable purposes effectively while also delivering our first charitable activities.

Main Activities and Achievements

Video Content Production

The charity worked extensively on filming and editing videos about our books for our YouTube channel. This content:

• Provides free access to children, parents, carers, and professionals

• Makes our resources accessible to a wider audience beyond physical book distribution

• Supports adoption and foster care agencies with additional tools to help children

Organizational Development

Significant work was undertaken to establish the charity's operational foundation:

• Refined and formalized governance structures and trustee responsibilities

• Established financial management systems and procedures

• Developed operational policies and safeguarding procedures

• Set up banking facilities and accounting systems

• Established relationships with social work organizations, adoption agencies, and councils

Future Book Development Planning

The trustees began preliminary work on the charity's next book project, including:

• Identifying themes and topics needed by children in care, in consultation with social workers

• Developing concept outlines for new stories

• Planning fundraising strategies to support book development and publication in 2026

4. Public Benefit

The trustees have referred to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.

Who Benefits

Pancho Stories provides public benefit primarily to:

• Children in care: Children who are in the foster care system or undergoing adoption, who often lack resources and literature that reflects their experiences and helps them process their situations.

• Children from underrepresented communities: Including LGBT+ children, ethnic minorities, children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and adopted children who benefit from diverse representation in literature.

• Foster carers and adoptive parents: Who receive tools and resources to help support the children in their care.

• Social workers and care professionals: Who use our books and materials as tools to help children understand their circumstances.

• The wider community: Through our public exhibitions and educational content, raising awareness and understanding of the experiences of children in care.

How They Benefit

The benefits provided by Pancho Stories include:

• Educational benefit: Children gain understanding about their adoption journey and circumstances through age-appropriate literature.

• Emotional and psychological support: Books and resources aim to help children understand change, develop positive self-identity and potentially process trauma, through representation and relatable stories.

• Free access: We donate books and provide free online content, ensuring that financial barriers do not prevent children in care from accessing these resources.

• Creative development: Through workshops and interactive events, children develop creative skills, self-expression, and confidence.

• Support: Social workers, foster carers, and adoptive parents can use the books as tools to better support children.

5. Financial Review

This annual report covers the period from 25 September 2024 to 3 April 2025, which represents the charity's establishment phase. The charity's first financial year end will be 3 April 2026.

Income and Expenditure

During this reporting period, the charity operated with modest resources as it established its operational infrastructure. Any costs were covered from the personal budgets.

Reserves Policy

As a newly established charity, the trustees are developing a reserves policy that will ensure the charity can continue to operate and fulfill its charitable purposes. The trustees aim to build reserves sufficient to cover at least three months of operational costs while maintaining funds for ongoing charitable activities.

Future Funding

The trustees are actively pursuing diverse funding sources including:

• Individual donations from supporters

• Grant applications to charitable trusts and foundations

• Corporate partnerships and sponsorships

• Gift Aid on eligible donations

• Sales of books at cost (with all proceeds supporting charitable activities)

6. Plans for Future Periods

Looking ahead to the 2025-2026 financial year, the trustees have identified the following priorities:

New Book Development

The charity aims to raise funds during 2026 to commission and produce a new children's book. This project will:

• Address themes and topics identified as needed by children in care, based on consultation with social workers and care professionals

• Involve emerging artists in the illustration process

• Be made available for donation to children in care across the UK

• Further our mission of providing diverse, representative literature to underrepresented children

Expanded Book Distribution

Building on the successful donations to Wales, Manchester, and Birmingham, the charity plans to:

• Establish partnerships with additional councils and adoption agencies across England and Wales

• Increase the number of books donated to children in care

• Develop systematic distribution channels to reach more children effectively

Educational Content Expansion

The charity will continue to develop its YouTube channel and educational resources by:

• Producing additional videos about trauma, adoption, and foster care

• Creating supplementary materials for schools and care organizations

• Developing resources specifically for foster carers and adoptive parents

• Making all content freely accessible to maximize reach and impact

Community Engagement

Following the success of the London Open House event, the charity plans to:

• Organize additional creative workshops for children in local communities

• Participate in community events to raise awareness about children in care

• Expand the reach of our puppet theatre and storytelling activities

Organizational Development

The trustees will continue to strengthen the charity's operations by:

• Building financial reserves to ensure sustainability

• Developing strategic partnerships with other charities and organizations

• Implementing robust monitoring and evaluation systems to measure impact

• Ensuring all governance and safeguarding procedures meet best practice standards

These plans are realistic and achievable, building incrementally on the foundations established during this reporting period. The trustees remain committed to maintaining the charity's focus on its core mission while expanding its reach and impact for children in care and underrepresented communities.

7. Structure, Governance and Management

Organizational Structure

Pancho Stories is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a Foundation Constitution, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

Trustee Governance

The charity is governed by its Board of Trustees, who are responsible for the strategic direction and oversight of the organization. The trustees meet regularly to:

• Review the charity's activities and performance

• Make decisions on major expenditure and strategic initiatives

• Ensure compliance with charity law and regulatory requirements

• Monitor financial position and approve budgets

• Review and manage risk

The governing document requires a minimum of three trustees, and the quorum for trustee meetings has been set at three trustees. This ensures effective decision-making while maintaining appropriate oversight.

Trustee Recruitment and Appointment

Trustees are appointed in accordance with the charity's governing document. The board seeks to ensure it has an appropriate balance of skills, experience, and perspectives to govern the charity effectively. During this reporting period, the trustee board was reviewed and refined to ensure appropriate governance arrangements were in place.

Risk Management

The trustees have established systems to identify and manage risks to the charity. Key risks identified include:

• Financial sustainability: Mitigated through diversifying funding sources, careful budget management, and building reserves.

• Safeguarding: Given our work with vulnerable children, robust safeguarding procedures are being developed and implemented. Books are distributed through government-approved social workers and foster carers, providing an appropriate safeguarding framework.

• Quality and impact: All books and materials are reviewed by trustees, professionals in the field, social workers, and adoptive parents to ensure they are appropriate and beneficial.

• Reputation: The charity carefully vets all donors and funding sources, with procedures in place to return funds from non-reputable sources if necessary.

The trustees review risks regularly and update mitigation strategies as the charity develops.

Related Party Transactions

During this reporting period, the charity purchased a limited quantity of books at cost from The Party Set, a company connected to the founder. This arrangement was:

• Conducted at cost with no profit to the company

• A temporary measure to enable immediate charitable distribution while the charity was being established

• Subject to conflict of interest procedures and trustee oversight

• Limited to the existing small stock; all future print runs will be commissioned and paid for directly by the charity

The trustees have established conflict of interest policies and procedures to manage any potential conflicts appropriately.

Trustees' Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees' report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees:

Name: Eirini Oikonomou

Position: Chair of Trustees

Signature: EOikonomou

Date: 03-02-26

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GBP statement

25 September 2024 [GMT+01:00] - 23 April 2025 [GMT+01:00]

Generated on: 2 February 2026

Account Holder	Account number	UK sort code
Pancho Stories	19410477	23-08-01
48 Lavender rd	IBAN	Swift/BIC
London
SE16 5DZ	GB20 TRWI 2308 0119 4104 77	TRWIGB2LXXX
United Kingdom

GBP on 23 April 2025 [GMT+01:00]

GBP on 23 April 2025 [GMT+01:00]				0.00 GBP
Description		Incoming	Outgoing	Amount
Wise bank details acquisition			-45.00	0.00
5 April 2025	Transaction: BANK_DETAILS_ORDER_CHECKOUT-invoice-15333808
Topped up account		45.00		45.00
5 April 2025	Transaction: TRANSFER-1483055980

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