Financial Review - How we afford what we do
Payments and Fundraising Expenses
In 2005/06 the group's charitable payments costs amounted to £7,417 (04/05 £8,791), this works out to approximately £86 per member per year.
We have a number of core costs which have to be paid before we have undertaken any activities these include; capitation fees for each member, rent, insurance, heating, lighting and water (these are items note 8&9 on the accounts), which amounted £4,740 (04/05 £5,317). The improvement on the previous year is mainly attributable to the reduction in the water charges which resulted from repairs undertaken on the toilet systems, we do however still have a bill outstanding for the gas we have used. It is important to note that the capitation fees at note 9 are collected on an agency basis on behalf of the national scout movement. This fee has to be paid on behalf of every member and is used to provide the national infrastructure to the scout movement as well as providing such things as personal accident cover. Once these core costs have been met we can then spend money on materials, equipment and activities, note 10, to enable the various sections to offer the Balanced Programme to our younger members. This amounted to £1,979 (04/05 £1,649) In addition to this we have continued to spend money on repairs and maintenance, note 12, some of these you will be able to see and some not, totalling £532 (04/05 £727). We already have plans to continue this during next year, in particular the external guttering. We would welcome any help.
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Donations, Grants, Fund Raising and Other Income
Our main source of income arrives from the weekly subscriptions, note 14, charged to the cubs,
beavers and scouts totalling £3,772, but as you can see this only covers around 50% of all costs and doesn't even cover the core running costs.
A simple way to help is to sign a Gift Aid form for the subscriptions as this turn every £1 into £1.28, enabling us to reclaim money from the government. The gap between weekly subscriptions and our expenses has to be financed from other sources and this is why Fundraising is Very Important. See any leader for a form.
During the year we held 4 major events which raised net of expenses a further £2,321 towards this.
Our smaller events are equally important as every penny counts towards our costs. In addition to this we have received two one off injections of money throughout the year, The first being the reclaim of tax from HM Revenue & Customs £2,144, note 15, being a number of years claims, this arrives for just signing a piece of paper to enable us to claim the tax on donations and subscriptions. The second was a grant from the Leslie Sell Charitable Trust which contributed to the repair work on the HQ, £400, for which we are very grateful. |
New Ideas
We would really welcome some new ideas and new blood to raise funds and this is one very practical way in which you could help your child, and we will give you every support to make your idea work. Gifts in kind
The main stay of the group is volunteer help; all the leaders and helpers give their time freely. On average we have around 25 leaders and helpers who give approximately 3 hours per week for 40 weeks per year, this very valuable gift in kind which equates to over 3600 hours per year. This very valuable gift is not valued in the accounts, but if we were to utilise the national minimum wage £5.05 this equates to around £18,180 each year.
Reserves Policy
The Groups policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the charitable activities of the group should income and fundraising activities fall short. The Group Executive Committee considers that the group should hold a sum equivalent to 12 months running costs, circa £8000 The Group held reserves of approximately £17,000 against this at year end. This is above the level required for operating expenses however this can be explained by the fact that the group has a number of large and expensive maintenance issues to address at the HQ. A contractor has been appointed to replace the guttering at a cost of around £2000. The heating and hot water is failing and initial quotations indicate a replacement cost in the region of £5000. In addition to this repairs and maintenance is also required on the toilet facilities, storeroom area, decorating to main hall and the steps/ramp to the rear access of the HQ to name but a few. The potential costs equate to several thousands pounds. The Group hopes to gain external assistance towards these costs, however this cannot be guaranteed and some of these issues are required to be addressed irrespective of the availability of any external funding. In some cases for external funding it is also important for these agencies to see that the Group is attempting to fund some of these costs from internal sources. Hence the need to set aside additional resources.
Investment Policy.
The Groups Income and Expenditure is very small and as a consequence does not have sufficient funds to invest in longer-term investments such as stocks and shares. The Group has therefore adopted a low risk strategy to the investment of its funds. All funds are held in cash using only mainstream banks or building societies. The Group Executive regularly monitors the levels of bank balances and the interest rates received to ensure the group obtains maximum value and income from its banking arrangements. Occasionally this may involve using an account that requires a period of notice before funds may be withdrawn, before doing so the Group Executive considers the cash flow requirements. Trustee Remuneration
The Trustees do not receive any remuneration
Trustee Transactions and Declarations of Interest.
The group has a duty to disclose any material transactions between the group and the Trustees; this would include payments received by themselves, relatives or employers for goods and services provided to the group. None of the Trustees have had transactions with the group, other than to give their time and resource freely.
The group also has a duty to disclose any declarations of interest that may affect their role as Trustee. John Lyne and Tracey Williamson have declared that they are Trustees of the North Tameside Scout Council.
Notes to Assist with the reading and understanding of the Accounts
The majority of the Group's funds are General funds. Theses are funds, which are received by the group for any purpose in accordance with the constitution of the Group.
The Group Executive may also create Designated Funds for a specific purpose or project from the General Fund. Designated funds remain as General funds and are not required to be separately identified on the face of the accounts. Any material designated funds will be disclosed in the annual report. During the year the Group has not designated any funds for a special purpose or project.
From time to time the Group may also receive Restricted Funds, these are funds, which have additional restrictions upon them that may have been imposed by the donor or by the terms of a fundraising appeal and can only be spent in certain ways. During the year the group as not received any funds that required to be accounted for on a restricted basis. Independent Examination
The independent Examiner is the person who checks and reviews our accounts & finances to provide assurance that our finances are OK.
The independent examiner receives no payment in respect of checkinh the accounts of the charity. We offer our sincere thanks for doing this.
Click here or the image on the right to be taken to our Independent Examiners Report
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