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2023-08-31-annual-report

Cavaliers In Need

Trustee Report for the financial year ended 31 August 2023

The Trustees submit their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2023 and would like to thanks Minshull and Co for their support in preparing our final accounts and our book-keeper Jaki Lowis for her work all year in supporting this.

Review of Activity

This report contains details of the activities of the charity during an exceptionally busy year, as we continued to provide a safe haven, and find suitable homes, for dogs rescued from breeding establishments or lost and unclaimed/surrendered to dog pounds, and assisted with rehoming of family pets which could no longer be cared for by their owners.

Cavaliers In Need has rescued over 3000 dogs since its foundation in June 2013. This year we celebrated our tenth birthday with a picnic and gathering to thank our supporters and volunteers, which was well received. Unfortunately three years on the outworkings of COVID and the cost of living crisis continue to impact us as breeding establishments contract and dogs purchased during lockdowns are surrendered. As a consequence of this demand for our support remined very high and we have had to stretch to meet this demand. We expect this to continue in the year ahead as the cost of living crisis continues.

Whilst our outreach activity remained high the returns from our activities was lower and so our income from rehoming and the generosity of our supporters with their time and financial support enables us to continue to fulfil our purpose.

During COVID we helped a few dogs from China and Turkey as conditions there were appalling and these dogs had been in shelters for years. When resources allowed we continued to support a small number of foreign dogs e.g. in Turkey where they were impacted by the earthquake. We raise the money for these dogs separately so as to ensure that our supporters have confidence in how their donations are spent and that this does not impact our ability to support dogs in the UK and Ireland.

During the year we have typically had on average 100 dogs in foster at any time although at times this has risen to over 120 we rescued 321 dogs and rehomed 299 during the year. Whilst our focus is on getting those we can a home our number of sick long-term foster was 17. Sadly, nine dogs were extremely ill and, despite receiving all possible veterinary care, they did not survive.

Registered Charity NIC 102896

The operational committee of volunteers to assist with the day- to-day operations of the charity is now well established and this committee has helped enormously in dealing with the increased workload within the Charity. The Trustees are all members of the operational committee and have final approval on all recommendations emanating from the operational committee. The operational committee is not a subcommittee of the Board of Trustees, however, the members of the committee are covered by all relevant insurance policies and are the members of Cavaliers in Need.

The focus of the operational committee is in relation to matters such as fostering, home-checking, transportation and fundraising for the charity. This is a core function of the operational committee, which has generated a number of innovative fundraising ideas for the charity. The increase in the number of dogs being surrendered to the charity’s care, and the extremely poor health of a number of these dogs, has resulted in significantly increased operating costs in terms of veterinary care, surgeries and investigative procedures and ongoing expenses. We continue to place a strong focus on cost management with our vets and were also successful in receiving a number of grants to support our activity.

The Trustees would like to thank the members of the committee and the volunteer foster families and fundraisers who support CIN as without all their efforts the charity would be unable to operate.

Organisational Structure

Cavaliers In Need is registered with the Charity Commission of Northern Ireland, registered on 14 August 2015. It is governed by a Constitution which was amended in November 2018 to reflect the members of CIN being the members of the operational committee.

Principal Activity

The principal activity of the charity is to rescue, rehabilitate and re-home Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and to advance education on the breed, including its health issues, and to work towards highlighting the issues of animal welfare and the lack of regulation in the breeding industry.

The charity continues to work towards its stated purposes of:

  1. To educate the public about purchasing pups from responsible and ethical health testing breeders;

  2. To educate the public about the many health issues affecting the breed and to provide information, guidance and advice; and

  3. To research Cavalier health so as to remain up to date and impart further knowledge which meet the public benefit requirement of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008, specifically Section 2.2(f).

Risk Policy

The Trustees who served during the year have undertaken an analysis of the work of the charity; identified the major risks to which the charity is exposed and are satisfied that all appropriate policies, practices and procedures are in place to mitigate those risks. The Trustees have produced a register of major risks and mitigating actions which is reviewed regularly at meetings of the Trustees.

Financial Review

During this reporting period, the charity has maintained a good financial position, with an increase in annual turnover and despite caring for more dogs our veterinary costs reduced thus enabling our reserves to grow which is encouraging for our long-term sustainability. The Trustees have reviewed the reserves of the charity and, with due consideration to the variable nature of income and expenses, the review concluded that to allow the charity to provide a buffer for uninterrupted continuance of its rescue and rehabilitation activities, a general reserve equating to approximately 13 weeks of total expenditure should be maintained.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that 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 Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. 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.

Statement of Disclosure of Information to Auditors

We, the Trustees of the charity who held office at the date of approval of these financial statements, as set out above, each confirm that so far as we are aware, that:

Independent Review

A resolution that Donald Minshull of Minshull & Co be re-appointed as independent reviewers of the charity will be put to the Annual General Meeting.