the welcome centre annual...

2017

Prepared by the Board of Trustees

The Welcome Centre

October 2017

The Welcome Centre Annual Report For the period 1st April 2016 to 31st August 2017

October 2017

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name The Welcome Centre (Huddersfield)

Other names charity is known by N/A

Registered charity number 1151282

Registered company number 8428517

Charity's principal address 15 Lord Street

Huddersfield

Postcode HD1 1QB

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole year

Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any)

1. 1 John Steven Ainley Secretary From 18.7.16 Welcome Centre Board

2. Catherine Mary Bottomley

3. 2 Marion Donaldson

4. 3 Yvonne Harding

5. 4 Barry Stephen Lee Chair Huddersfield Mission Board

6. 5 Joy Nixon

7. 6 Melinda Sharpe

8. 7 Andrew Mark Tomlinson Treasurer

9. 8 Jeanne Watson Vice-Chair

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

N/A

Names and addresses of advisers

Type of adviser Name Address

Independent Examiner

Kevin Winterburn

Sheards, Chartered Accountants, Vernon House, 40 New North Road, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire HD1 5LS

Name of Bankers

Unity Trust Bank, 9 Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2HV

Name of chief executive and other staff members

Ellie Pearson, Centre Manager

Emma Greenough (Marketing, Publicity and Fundraising Worker), Tina Skeldon (Centre Co-ordinator), Lada Rotshtein (Volunteer Co-ordinator), Dave Woodward (Driver/Warehouse) and Cath Williams (Development Worker)

A photograph of the staff is on the next page.

October 2017

Section B Structure, governance and management

Type of governing document Articles of Association

How the charity is constituted Company limited by guarantee

Trustee selection methods Elected by members at AGM or appointed by Board between AGMs

Additional governance issues

Trustees are appointed from among full members, who are formally confirmed by the Board following an appointment process which includes induction. Members sign a Code of Conduct and join one of the three sub-groups of the Board, which are:

1. Finance and Operations, which covers financial planning and control, budgeting, operational logistics and developments, accommodation, health and safety and IT and communications.

2. Marketing, which looks after income generation for the Welcome Centre through publicity and public relations, fund-raising, supporter development and donations of all kinds.

3. Human Resources and Volunteering, which deals with all aspects of HR (policies, procedures, recruitment, training, appraisal etc.) and volunteering (ensuring that we have sufficient suitable volunteers and that they gain from working with us).

On appointment to the Board Trustees sign a Trustee Code of Conduct.

The Board takes into consideration major risks at each meeting and each sub-group has risk as a standing item on its agenda via a risk matrix. Fund-raising guidance has also been considered in some detail.

During 2016-17 the Board has spent time in reviewing its responsibilities, analysing accommodation needs, investigating client dependency, identifying stronger roles for volunteers, acquiring feedback from staff/volunteers and clients/referring agencies, reviewing fundraising, researching developments in food poverty, and upgrading software and IT. The charity works closely with many agencies in the voluntary and public sector in identification of needs, and this has been greatly enhanced by the advocacy and guidance activities of the Development Worker.

The Welcome Centre staff team, left to right: Ellie Pearson, Emma Greenough, Lada Rotshtein, Tina Skeldon, Dave Woodward.

October 2017

Section C Objectives and activities

Object of the Charity The relief of persons suffering from poverty, sickness, disadvantage and distress arising therefrom.

Charitable activities The Charity provides practical support to people experiencing extreme disadvantage in the Huddersfield area by:

supplying a range of emergency packs to individuals and families in crisis

receiving and storing donations of food, bedding, basic household items and other goods which are made up into packs

providing advice and guidance to assist individuals with more deep-seated problems to make progress

offering information and signposting to services and agencies that can help with specific needs

delivering a fair, non-judgmental and inclusive service in a way that respects people's dignity

working in partnership with local agencies and services, churches, schools, businesses and the media

adapting our provision to meet needs through monitoring, feedback and consultation

operating a year-round service

offering volunteering opportunities to help individuals to gain skills, confidence and self-respect as a stepping stone into employment.

The Welcome Centre (Huddersfield) has been operating since 1997 and has served the needs of a growing number of people in crisis. The number of packs handed out per annum has increased from about 500 in the beginning to 9,031 in 2016-17; in 1997/98 just under 20 agencies referred people to the Welcome Centre, and the total number of referring agencies in 2016-17 was 112.

It is clear that the Welcome Centre is meeting a real need in supplementing statutory and voluntary provision for those in crisis need in our community.

The Board has the objects of the charity at the front of its mind when making decisions and has regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

Additional details The Board has a set of primary objectives which it is setting out to achieve each year and these are underpinned by secondary objectives which provide clarity to the sub-groups and the staff on their tasks. In 2016-17 the primary objectives were:

1. To meet demand for crisis packs in a timely, efficient and cost-effective way. 2. To deal with people in crisis in a friendly, respectful and supportive manner. 3. To provide advice, information and sign-posting to agencies and services that can help with specific needs. 4. To work in partnership with agencies, services, churches, schools, businesses, and the media in order to

meet the needs of the people we support. 5. To make people generally more aware of the circumstances that lead to crisis and the consequent needs. 6. To secure donations of food and money and to raise funds (from events, corporate support, grants and

gift-aid) to enable the objectives to be achieved. 7. To develop links with food producers/suppliers/complementary providers to acquire bulk supplies and more

diversity in food donations. 8. To develop links with emergency food providers across Kirklees to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. 9. To ensure that human resources (particularly volunteers) are recruited, trained, developed and monitored

to ensure excellent customer service. 10. To have in place appropriate governance and management arrangements to ensure the achievement of

these objectives.

In addition, the Board had five strategic objectives for 2016-17: 1. To continue to achieve greater use of IT in operational and marketing activities.

2. To continue to broaden the funding base.

3. To encourage more supporters to donate money (ideally via monthly standing orders and with gift-aid).

4. To build relationships with other providers in Kirklees.

5. To increase the number of food and non-food suppliers who pass goods to us.

All of these objectives have been achieved. Our overall strategy is shown in Appendix D.

October 2017

Volunteers

Volunteers are at the very heart of our organisation; they are essential to all our areas of our work. We value our volunteer team greatly, and strive to make volunteers feel proud of their contribution to our team. Our volunteers come from all walks of life, and carry out a wide variety of roles at the Centre, including:

Delivery drivers: collecting donations from corporate and community supporters, and transporting stock between The Welcome Centre’s two sites

Warehouse: checking, sorting, and recording all incoming donations of goods

Administration support: book-keeping, data entry, and fundraising administration tasks

Event support: helping at fundraising events and collections, and giving talks on behalf of The Welcome Centre

Specialist support: providing specialist advice on areas including legal matters, health and safety, policy and procedures, and logistics and IT, and serving on sub-groups

Phone referrals: taking incoming client referral phone calls from frontline agencies

Store: making up client parcels of food, bedding, toiletries, etc

Fresh and donations: handling incoming donations to our Lord Street site, and making up the fresh food part of client food parcels

Reception: welcoming clients on arrival, and handing over client parcels

We currently have more than 90 volunteers at the Welcome Centre, some of whom volunteer with us regularly, and some of whom volunteer seasonally or on a more casual basis. Our volunteers are recruited, trained, inducted, and supported by our dedicated Volunteer Coordinator Lada Rotshtein.

Volunteer coordinator Lada Rotshtein and Centre Coordinator Tina Skeldon with some of our volunteer team.

October 2017

Section D Achievements and performance

Our achievements in 2016-17

Note: as the accounts are presented for the period 1 April 2016 to 31 August 2017 (for reasons explained later), this summary of achievements covers the same period. However, the statistics included in the infographic below are for the 12 month period 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017, for the purposes of statistical comparison and continuity. The main thrust of our activities has been to consolidate our two-site operation (at Lord Street and our warehouse at Queens Mill Lane) which had commenced in Spring 2016. This has involved work on improving our logistics, increasing the range of volunteer opportunities and seeking more donations of both food/other essential items and finance. We have been successful in continuing to meet growing demand as can be seen in these key statistics. We have continued to keep our unit costs low by receiving donations from the public and local food suppliers, involving volunteers in delivering our service, extensive links with local supermarkets, and innovative arrangements for receiving potential waste from a wide range of sources. We are an excellent recycling facility, redistributing unwanted food, clothes, and household items which otherwise might go to landfill and affect the environment.

We are actively involved in the West Yorkshire Food Poverty Network and are familiar with what is going on in West

Yorkshire to tackle food poverty. A recent Board Meeting considered future developments around Universal Credit, Holiday Hunger and enhancing support to those in most need. Our Centre Manager, Ellie Pearson, addressed a conference on ‘The Right to Food’ and we are exploring our role in a possible EndHungerUK campaign in Kirklees.

Partnership working The well-established approach to partnership working has gathered pace during 2016-17. More organisations (especially schools and faith groups) are partnering with us over harvest and Christmas collections. More businesses are supporting us as part of their CSR commitment, providing staff as volunteers as well as organising fundraising events. Some of them are entering into corporate support agreements which commit them to helping us throughout the year with resources of various kinds as well as financial help.

October 2017

Photos clockwise from top left: Food collection by a local Beavers troop, guests enjoying ‘Marshfest’ fundraising event, Centre Manager Ellie Pearson and Treasurer Andrew Tomlinson

accepting a cheque from the Freemasons of West Yorkshire, West Riding, Centre Manager Ellie Pearson with staff from corporate partner Stafflex, food donated by Holmfirth High School,

food donated by Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, curry night fundraiser, Treasurer Andrew Tomlinson, accepting a donation from Oddfellows.

October 2017

Advocacy, Guidance and Support

The grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation funded the appointment of a Development Worker. Her focus has been on repeat users, identified via our database, and c.100 have been offered “one to one” appointments to help address the issues they were facing. Some clients have required multiple appointments depending on their needs.

Over the last 17 months we have given c.160 hours of advice and guidance. These interventions have resulted in c.55 clients not being re-referred for a food parcel for 3 months or more. The main areas of support and advocacy for these clients have been in budgeting, debt management and benefit appeals.

In addition we are offering training courses to all our clients covering budgeting. They are supported by Huddersfield Citizens Advice, who attend and offer private budgeting appointments to clients after the course.

Debt Advice in Kirklees

A range of supportive leaflets has been developed, covering the following topics:

Migrant, asylum and refugee support services in Kirklees

Health and wellbeing services in Kirklees

Housing and homelessness services in Kirklees

Money saving ideas, including eating healthily on a budget

Help with fuel bills

Universal Credit

Better budgeting

How to find a job

Services of the Welcome Centre.

These leaflets are available in our new reception room along with other service providers’ literature and leaflets. Detailed discussions have been held with referring agencies to develop closer working relationships. We have devised a scale to characterise the outcomes of these meetings, ranging from partnerships, where we have engaged in joint working, to co-existing, where we have yet to meet. At present we have the following outcomes: partnership - 12, collaboration - 6, co-operation - 14, Networking - 22. As a consequence of the work with DataKind UK and M&S, mentioned last year, we have received an additional grant from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to develop a model of referral behaviour so that we can categorise our clients into groups based around need and offer them tailored support.

Above: Development Worker Cath Williams, and client resource display. Below: selection of client leaflets, and client reception area.

October 2017

Understanding our clients, referring agencies, staff and volunteers In addition to the work with the referral agencies mentioned above, we have conducted surveys this year of the expectations of our clients, referring agencies, staff and volunteers and have adjusted our offering (or are in the process of doing so) to meet their requirements more closely. We are pleased that in all four cases the majority of replies were very supportive of what we already do. In particular, clients confirmed that we provide an inclusive, non-stigmatised service, and ensure confidentially and dignity. We know that the impact of our service is life-changing for many of our users. Explanatory note on the infographics below. Larger font size and multiple inclusion of words both indicate higher frequency of referral.

Staff

During 2016-17 there were considerable changes to our staffing and volunteering arrangements. Three staff left in the Autumn (Karen Selley, the Centre Manager, Natasha Smith, Volunteer Co-ordinator, and Ben Armitage, Driver/Warehouse Operative – we are grateful for their contribution) and for a three month period, the remaining staff, volunteers and trustees worked very hard to keep the charity operational in our busiest period of the year. A big thank-you goes to those who kept us afloat in that period. Lada Rotshtein took over the volunteer coordinator role and successfully managed to fill the rotas; Dave Woodward came in as Driver/Warehouse Operative and handled large volumes of incoming goods very well; and at the end of January we were pleased to welcome Ellie Pearson as our new Centre Manager. She has quickly settled into the job and is leading on new developments.

Left: The top ten referral agencies in 2016-17, by order of frequency. See Appendix B for further details.

Right: The top ten referral issues in 2016-17, by order of frequency. See Appendix B for further details.

October 2017

Operations and logistics Our operational activities are now based at two locations. A small store of goods with up to one month’s stock is kept at Lord Street and is used to make up the packs on a day to day basis. Most fresh goods are also held here. Clients come to the new reception to wait for their packs and whilst they are waiting they can access information or ask for a meeting for advice from our Development Worker. Donations of food and other goods are still received here but are sent to the warehouse each day. The second location is our warehouse in Lockwood, where most donated food and goods are received. They are then checked, sorted into food categories and date sequenced before being put into trays on the racks. 80-90% of stock is kept here and used on a daily basis to replenish the Lord Street store. Volunteer collectors bring stock from collection points in supermarkets and elsewhere. A van provided by Kirklees Council under the aegis of Comoodle has been invaluable in supporting the logistical framework.

Infrastructure As a result of the changes in storage and logistics and a recognition that our software and IT provision needed to be updated, the Trustees decided to commit expenditure and seek grants to enable us to upgrade our telephone and IT infrastructure. As a result a new server with more secure back-up has been installed, all workstations have been upgraded, and software has been acquired to support marketing and fund-raising (e-Tapestry), accounting (QuickBooks), and HR management (BreatheHR); also work is being undertaken currently to upgrade our website. We have been supported to make available on-line training courses in health and safety, safeguarding and equality and diversity for staff and volunteers.

Future Plans and Priorities 2017/ 2018 promises to be a busy and exciting year. Our new centre manager Ellie Pearson is now established in post and a priority for the coming year is to support her in driving forward our work. We have secured a prestigious training award through a scheme called ‘Pilot Light’ which will support Ellie in her new leadership and management role. The Pilot Light programme provides training for new CEOs in the charity sector. Ellie now has a team of experienced senior managers from industry and business who will be working alongside her in the coming year to develop both her skills and the effectiveness of the Welcome Centre. At our ‘Trustee Planning Day’ in March we discussed issues around managing

dependency amongst a number of our clients and how to ensure that volunteers are at the heart of our delivery and take an increasingly significant role. We established that addressing these two areas is a priority for us over the coming year. We already have highly successful links with fresh food suppliers and we are looking to expand this in order to increase our supply of non-food items in particular. Our links with corporate partners are also set to expand which will bring in not only financial resources but also additional volunteer support and business expertise. We are also looking to work more closely with other organisations involved in tackling food poverty both within Kirklees and across the West Yorkshire region.

Of course, meeting the needs of our clients remains our core purpose and improving the quality of our service is our key priority. The work undertaken by Cath Williams, our development worker, is set to grow. As well as offering one-to- one guidance and advocacy we plan to expand our range of programmes to support clients in areas such as budgeting and menu planning. Training volunteers to support this work is also planned. Crucially, as the development worker project enters its final year, it will be important for us to ensure that this aspect of our work can continue.

Photos from top: Volunteers at a Tesco collection, Sainsbury’s donation point, fresh food at Lord Street, the Welcome Centre Van, and volunteers at the warehouse.

October 2017

Section E Financial review

Financial Position

The Welcome Centre’s financial position at the end of the 2016-17 period is reasonably healthy, after a year in which we achieved our highest turnover yet, largely because of the steadily increasing level of client demand for our services.

Fortunately, income, especially that generated through donations and fund raising has continued to grow as demand has increased. However, there has also been a one-off rise in our costs as we have expanded onto a second site (warehouse) to provide the storage capacity required to meet the levels of both donor food giving and client food demand that we are now seeing. We had planned for this expansion in the previous financial year and the deficit shown in this year’s statement of financial activities reflects additional spending that we had allocated funds for in the 2015-16 financial year.

These accounts differ from those prepared in recent years in two key ways. Firstly, the value of goods donated to us for use in the packs we distribute have been included in the accounts for the first time. By including an ‘in specie’ cash value for these non-cash donations of food and other items our accounts now reflect our true turnover and the value of the goods that we are distributing into the community. Secondly, we have chosen to realign the financial year to match our natural giving cycle which begins with the harvest festival season in September/October and ends with a downturn in donations and demand over the summer months. This realignment will mean that our end of year balance sheet now more accurately reflects our true financial position and will no longer be artificially inflated through donations we have received but have yet to spend (which is what happened previously).

These changes both increase the turnover reported in these accounts, with the inclusion of donated items pushing our total income and expenditure figures up by approximately £140K per year, whilst the change to our financial year end means that we are reporting on a 17-month period, inflating all figures in this set of accounts by a factor of just over 1.4.

Taken together these two changes have increased the turnover for the period reported in these accounts towards half a million pounds (£467K). This makes comparisons with the previous (and next) financial year more difficult.

The carried forward cash balance presented in these accounts appears healthy although most of this sum is allocated to projects funded through either restricted or designated funds or to our strategic long-term reserve (which continues to be fully funded), leaving just £3,500 in unallocated general funds.

Principal Funding Sources

The Welcome Centre receives its income from six main sources, as outlined below:

Financial and non-financial (goods) donations from members of the public, faith organisations, schools, businesses and other charities (57%), comprising:

o Goods for inclusion in the packs we distribute. This is our most significant and important funding stream (44%)

o Financial donations to support our operational costs. Many donors make regular payments (e.g. via standing orders) and these are often gift-aided; this source of funding is of crucial importance to us. (13%)

Restricted Grants to fund projects to support roles or activities within The Welcome Centre (17%).

Capacity building support from Kirklees Council Local Welfare Team. (15%)

Fundraising events organised by staff and volunteers or supporters. (7%)

Corporate sponsorship via local, regional or national organisations (2%)

Other general grants to support the operational costs associated with running The Welcome Centre (2%)

Overall 64% of our income is currently generated directly through either donations or fund raising. To be truly sustainable in the long term we feel that this level needs to rise still further and in the next 3-5 years we wish to grow this figure to 75% of total income.

October 2017

Principal Costs and Expenses

The Welcome Centre’s costs and expenses fall into four major categories, as described below:

The goods we distribute to our clients represent our most significant cost at 50% of our total turnover (when depreciation is excluded). In the 2016-17 financial period, we distributed almost £225,000 worth of goods in support packs given to our clients. 90% of this cost was met directly through the non-financial donations received from our supporters and this was supplemented with £23,000 worth of additional items purchased by ourselves.

Salaries represent our second most significant expense with £165,800 (36%) spent on wages and associated payments during the period for our 6 staff, with two of the roles (advice support worker and volunteer coordinator) being funded through restricted grants for specific purposes. Accommodation costs represent our third most significant expense with £40,300 (9%) being spent on the rent and other costs for our two operational sites. After goods, salaries and accommodation costs are accounted for, our remaining costs (telephone, office suppliers, publicity, insurance, volunteer development, professional fees and sundries) represent the final 5% of our expenditure.

Overall, The Welcome Centre spends £1.74 for every £1 of goods distributed to our clients (after excluding costs associated with specific projects and depreciation expenses).

Restricted Funding

During the 16/17 financial period The Welcome Centre was very fortunate to receive a significant number of grants totalling £77,633 to support specific projects or activities (restricted funding). Both the amount and the diversity of the projects supported through this funding stream represents a major increase over previous years:

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (£25,992): This funding is part of a 3-year grant to provide a client support worker role within The Welcome Centre

Kirklees Community Partnerships (£15,000): This funding supported a part-time volunteer coordinator role within The Welcome Centre.

West Riding Masonic Charities (£11,000): This targeted grant was provided to allow The Welcome Centre to refresh their IT and telephone systems and to fund the purchase of a commercial dish-washer

Kirklees Local Welfare Team: Capacity Building (£10,000): This grant was provided as a contribution to the centre’s expenditure on premises expansion costs.

Garfield Weston Foundation (£6,500): Support for our Centre Manager to attend a year-long management development training course.

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation (£3,000): A second grant was received from Esmee Fairbairn to support a project to examine client referral patterns to better identify clients who would benefit from additional support and advice.

Scurrah Wainwright Trust (£2.765): A capital grant to support the purchase of industrial food storage freezers for use in our warehouse.

Santander Foundation (£2,072): This money was provided to support the development and delivery of a series of courses on budgeting advice for our client group

Dugdale Trust (£804): Targeted support for specific purchases made on behalf of clients of the centre.

Marks and Spencer (£500): A capital grant to supply the materials and labour required to convert the centre’s former server and store room into a pleasant volunteer rest area.

Capital Expenditure

The planned budget for the 2016-17 financial period included provision for the expenditure of £30,000 to fund the expansion of The Welcome Centre into a second site (the warehouse on Queens Mill Lane) and the refurbishment of the existing site (Lord Street). Over the financial period £36,775 was spent on capital items, the additional spending being justified due to successes in applying for restricted funding to cover the cost. Computer and telecommunications equipment represented the most significant expenditure category (£19,663) and included the purchase of a new telephone exchange, a new server, and a CRM system. £13,553 was spent on fixtures and fittings, including new shelving for the warehouse, whilst £3,559 was spent

October 2017

on making changes to the fabric of the Lord Street site to divide one office into two, and to create a new reception area.

Reserves Policy

In accordance with guidance from the Charity Commission, the Welcome Centre has a policy around the retention and management of a financial reserve. We aim to retain a reserve, held in cash, to provide for six months full operating costs for our core activities (excluding the value of donated items and elements funded through restricted funds), together with a provision for the liabilities associated with the two leases on the properties we occupy, redundancy payments and winding up expenses. Furthermore, it is our aim to maintain a balance within our current account roughly equivalent to one month’s operating costs. We reassess these core operating costs at the end of each financial period, and these were running at £10,992/month during 2016-17, requiring a total reserve of £76,458. This reserve is currently fully funded.

Section F Declaration The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)

Full name(s)

Position

Date

October 2017

Appendix A CASH FLOW SUMMARY 2016-17

THE WELCOME CENTRE - 31st August 2017

CASH FLOW SUMMARY

2016/17 2015/16

(17 Months)

Income

1. Grants 74,633

67,975

2. Corporate Sponsorship 9,271

3,857

3. Gifts and Donations Income 54,939

35,495

3a. Donated Items (Food & Goods) 201,357 141,056

4. Funding Raising Activities 33,871

18,261

5. Other Income 4,600

1,502

6. Kirklees Capacity Building 78,266

50,000

Total Income

456,937

318,146

Expense

1. Employee Costs 165,806

97,964

2. Goods for Distribution (Purchased) 23,313

10,213

2a. Goods for Distribution (Donated) 204,724 126,612

3. Rent And Room Hire 40,278

16,897

4. Office Supplies 2,708

2,171

5. Telephone 4,251

1,401

6. Volunteer Expenses 1,962

593

7. Publicity Materials 911

1,545

8. Insurance 808

413

9. Sundries 4,883

368

10. Professional Fees 2,308

1,161

11. Volunteer Development 2,290

131

12. Capital Expenditure 36,775

2,051

Total Expense

491,0181

261,520

Net (outgoing)/incoming cash (34,081) 56,626

Distribution of Available Funds

Donated Stock in Warehouse 11,081 14,444

Current a/c at 31st August 2017 27,057

36,422

Reserve a/c at 31st August 2017 99,726

120,367

Prepayment FairFx Cards at 31st August 2017 1,219

2,278

Cash in hand at 31st August 2017 141

159

Plus Prepayments Made 1,042

92

Less Accounts Payable 2,774

2,633

137,4912

171,129

Value of Fixed Assets 35,615

11,523

Overall Net Assets 173,106 182,652

1 The deficit between income and expenditure is -£34,081. This differs from the reported deficit of -£9,546 due to the treatment of capital expenditure, accounting fees and prepayments in the full accounts. If capital expenditure is excluded from our expenses (+£36,775) but depreciation is included (-£12,683) and an adjustment is made for accounting fees (-£600) and a rental prepayment (£1,042) then the two figures balance. 2 This figure includes the value of stock in the warehouse: £11,081, restricted funds: £28,037, our long-term reserve: £65,536, one month’s working cash: £10,992, and designated funds for specific projects: £18,416. This leaves an unallocated cash balance of £3,502.

October 2017

Appendix B STATISTICAL OVERVIEW FOR 2016-17

Although the Welcome Centre’s 2016-17 financial year was 17 months in duration, the statistics in this section are for the 12 month period September 2016 – August 2017. This is for consistency and ease of comparison.

Figure

September 2016 – August 2017

September 2015-August 2016

Percentage change

Total Referrals

5,830 5,296 10%

Total Number of referring agencies

112 100 12%

Total Unique People Helped

3,200 3,078 3%

Total Unique Children Helped

907 865 4.85%

% clients with just one referral

48.21% 50.29% n/a

% clients with <=3 referrals

77.31% 79.27% n/a

Total Pack Count

9,031 7,968 13.34%

Food Pack Count

5,510 4,891 12.65%

Person Food Days

53,711 47,369 13.38%

Meals Provided

150,389 132,633 13.38%

Client issues The top ten referral reasons in 2016-17, in order of frequency, were: benefits issues, budgeting issues, housing issues, debts, domestic issues, bills, no income entitlement, money lost/stolen, fleeing domestic violence, substance misuse. Referrals In 2016-17, we received 5,830 referrals from 112 referral agencies; this is a 10% increase on the number of referrals received in 2015-16. The top ten referral agencies in 2016-17, in order of frequency, were: Mission Café, LWP (Kirklees), CHART – Lifeline, Citizens Advice, Fusion Housing, Folly Hall Community Mental Health Trust, Housing Solutions, Clare House Homeless Hostel, and Foundation Housing.

October 2017

Appendix C THE WELCOME CENTRE STRATEGY 2016-17 TO 2018-19

Our Vision: To be a caring, progressive food bank and more with local and regional perspectives

Our Mission: To improve the quality of life of individuals experiencing extreme disadvantage in our local community by providing practical support

Our Values: Collaborative, Accessible, Resourceful, Independent, Non-judgmental, Genuine (CARING)

Our service users can expect

Our partners can expect: Our supporters can expect:

A warm welcome A confidential and positive response

Careful stewardship of their financial gifts

A nutritious food pack/other items

Suitable provision of goods to service users

Wise use of their donations of food/other items

Advice, guidance and signposting

Feedback on outcomes Regular information on what we are doing

AIMS KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

1. To make our service users feel at home and valued

1. Positive feedback in annual reviews of service user experience

2. To interact with all people in a responsive manner

2. No evidence of frustration or dissatisfaction from those we interact with

3. To treat all donations responsibly 3. Minimal waste

1. To challenge the forces that lead to food poverty

1. Occasional articles and presentations; a clear message on our website

2. To look for ways to improve the situation of service users

2. Acquisition of resources to appoint a Development Worker

3. To seek constantly to improve our offer

3. Evidence of being responsive to service user feedback

1. To remain aware of national and regional developments

1. Information and contacts available to all staff, volunteers and trustees

2. To contribute to regional planning and co-operation

2. Membership of relevant bodies locally and regionally

3. To ensure that our local service reflects best practice

3. Regular reviews of our practice in the light of feedback

1. To create a culture in which staff and volunteers feel valued

1. Good outcomes in annual surveys of satisfaction

2. To identify and develop talent 2. Training plan in existence and implemented

3. To keep staff and volunteers well informed

3. Regular staff and volunteer meetings

1. To seek to broaden our funding base

1. Regular brainstorming of ideas by the Marketing subgroup

2. To seek more donations from food businesses

2. Activity by Marketing Worker leading to increased donations

3. To run a tight ship through resourceful decision-making

3. Evidence of scrutiny of expenditure by Finance and Operations subgroup

1. To seek continually to improve our processes

1. Regular review of all processes (annually) by relevant subgroups

2. To measure performance against targets via the database

2. Improvement year-on-year in 75% of our measured activities

3. To encourage staff and volunteers to innovate

3. Evidence of staff and volunteer suggestions/proposals

October 2017

Appendix D THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SUPPORTERS

A huge thank you to all of the local businesses, churches, schools, community groups, and individuals who

have supported us throughout the past year. Without your financial support, donations of food and other items, and fundraising efforts, we wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we’ve achieved.

In particular we’d like to thank the following:

Grant funders

Community Cards

Community Partnerships Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation

G.A. Howitt Ethnic and Homeless Trust Henderson First Fruit

Kirklees Local Welfare Provision One Community

Santander Scurrah Wainwright

The Freemasons of Yorkshire - West Riding

Corporate partners

Farm Foods

One 17 Design

Stafflex

TK Maxx

Corporate supporters

Cummins Turbo Technology

Document Solutions Greggs Hermes

Lloyds Bank LV

Marks and Spencer Morrisons

Ramsdens Sainsburys Starbucks

Suma Syngenta

Thornton & Ross TSB

Community supporters

Co-op Community Fund Dolly Shot Pop Up Picture

House Electric Theatre Cinema Fixby Women’s Institute

Huddersfield University Events Management Students

Imperial Quilters Knit & Natter at Golcar Lily Day Lent Lunches at Lepton Church

Lindley Beavers Marshfest

Mick Moore and friends Charity Bash

Milnsbridge Red & Green Club Lent Lunches

NCS North Stand Loyal

We Shall Overcome music festival

and a very special ‘Thank You’ to all of our

staff, volunteers, trustees and committee members

the welcome centre annual...

Documents