inspiring philanthropy Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements 2015/16 Registered Charity No. 1094446 Registered Company No. 04530979 Contents Page Welcome and Key Achievement 1 Trustee’s Report 3 Strategic Aim 1 - To increase the sustainability and independence of SCF 4 Strategic Aim 2 - To maximise the impact of SCF 5 Strategic Aim 3 - To build a high profile for SCF 8 Strategic Aim 4 – To maintain the highest standards in Management 8 and Governance in SCF Future Developments 10 Financial Review and Governance 11 Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 17 Independent Auditor’s Report 18 Financial Statements 20 Somerset Community Foundation Welcome to our Annual Report for 2015/2016 Somerset Community Foundation’s schools thanks to funding from mission is to be the catalyst for Taunton Deane Borough Council; inspirational philanthropy, providing a attracted over £329,020 of new simpler and more effective way for donors donations to our endowment to make a lasting difference in Somerset. fund, including two new named funds; Throughout 2015/16 we delivered more hosted a new programme of work inspiring philanthropy than we have in any designed to build stronger links previous year, and in doing so have between the public sector and started to forge new and exciting local charities; and partnerships with local public sector continued to connect donors with organisations. each other and with organisations delivering real and lasting change In particular we: in people’s lives locally. awarded grants worth £488,633 to During the year we completed the 233 local charities and voluntary majority of our grant making from the organisations and a number of 2014 Somerset Flood Relief Fund, individuals from our ‘regular’ grant ensuring funds were targeted at the programmes; households in greatest need as they awarded £157,841 from the rebuilt their homes. We have also Somerset Flood Relief Fund; continued to invest in the rebuilding and agreed our first two loans from the rejuvenation of the most affected Somerset Social Enterprise Fund, communities. funded by Somerset County Council, worth £45,450 and In an era of increased public scrutiny of provisionally agreed our third charities, we have increased our attention worth £61,000; to demonstrating the impact we are expanded our Raising Aspirations making, particularly through our grant- mentoring pilot to two further making. We have adopted a framework of ‘impact’ indicators used by the majority of Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016 1 Somerset Community Foundation other community foundations across the Hinkley Point C Community Fund which UK to illustrate the impact of the we will be administering over the organisations we invest in. following decade. During 2016/17 we are continuing to We would like to thank and pay tribute to develop a suite of measures that will help our trustees, staff and volunteers for their us reflect on the impact we have on the commitment and contribution to the effectiveness of the organisations we Foundation. support. In particular we would like to thank and Looking ahead, in the immediate future, say farewell to Peter Wyman (Chairman our goal is to sustain grants from our 2009-2015), Mark Saxton (trustee and regular programmes at a minimum £500k Vice-Chairman 2007-2015) and Stuart per annum. Thorne (trustee 2006-2015) for their work on the Board, and to Karen Collins who Underpinning this we will continue to left the Foundation’s executive team after inspire new philanthropy, focussing on nine years. building more momentum towards our goal of a £10million endowment by 2020. Jane Barrie OBE DL Justin Sargent To support this, the trustees of the Chairman Chief Executive Foundation agreed to invest a small portion of the Foundation’s reserves in 26 September 2016 researching and producing a ‘Vital Signs’ report for Somerset, setting out a clearer role for philanthropy in Somerset for the foreseeable future. We have also continued to promote more efficient and coordinated approaches to funding the local voluntary sector. In particular we secured two new funds from Taunton Deane Borough Council at the end of 2015/16 which will support around £300,000 of additional grant-making during 2016/17. Finally, at the time of writing, the UK Government has just announced that the construction of the Hinkley Point C power station will proceed. Later in this year we anticipate commencing the preliminary work leading up to the launch of the £13m Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016 2 Somerset Community Foundation Trustees’ Report Public Benefit The Trustees of Somerset Community The Trustees confirm they have complied Foundation (SCF) present their report and with their duty in Section 17 of the audited financial statements for the year Charities Act 2011: all of our activities are ended 31st March 2016. This report also undertaken to further our charitable serves as the Directors’ report as required objectives for the benefit of the public. by Section 419(2) of the Companies Act We meet our objectives through grants 2006. programmes and other initiatives that benefit the people of Somerset and Reference and administrative details beyond. SCF is a registered private company, Our Vision and Mission limited by guarantee (no.04530979) and a registered charity (no.1094446) governed Our vision for Somerset is a county of by its Memorandum and Articles of vibrant and inclusive communities where Association. voluntary organisations and social enterprises thrive, transforming and The Directors of SCF are also its Trustees enhancing the lives of the most for the purposes of charity law and are disadvantaged people. referred to as ‘Trustees’ throughout this report. Details of Trustees, the President, Our mission is to be the catalyst for Vice-Presidents, staff and external inspirational philanthropy, providing a advisors are provided on page 14. simpler and more effective way for donors to make a lasting difference in Somerset Objectives through our community investment and thought leadership. The charitable objects of SCF are to: In 2012/13 we set ourselves a three year promote charitable purposes for the goal to become the leading driver of benefit of the community in the community philanthropy in Somerset by area served by Somerset County 2015/16, widely recognised by our Council, and in particular the relief stakeholders for our leadership and the of poverty and advancement of value we add to long-term, independent education; and charitable giving within the county. promote other charitable purposes in the United Kingdom and To achieve this, we set ourselves four elsewhere which are in the opinion strategic aims and at the end of this three of the Trustees beneficial to the year period we can report that we have community with a preference for made very significant progress towards those in the area of benefit. our goal. Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016 3 Somerset Community Foundation Strategic Aim 1: To increase the investment and the flexibility to respond sustainability and independence to changing circumstances. of SCF. During the year we attracted £329,020 of new donations, including £289,760 to Our ability to generate income to support establish the T & PJ (Milborne Port) Fund and expand our charitable work has and £21,500 for the Anne Dodgson remained strong. Total income for the Memorial Fund. year was £1,443,641 (2015: £2,605,902). After adjusting for the one-off £1m Endowment Fund 2010-2016 Somerset Social Enterprise Fund grant and donations to the Somerset Flood Relief 4.50 Fund during 2014/15, the underlying 4.00 performance remains strong. 3.50 3.00 2.50 We also continue to cover more of our 2.00 operational and support costs through the £million 1.50 1.00 work we deliver. We were also able to 0.50 record an increase in our reserves, which - 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 the trustees have agreed to use to invest in further development of our charitable mission. Unfortunately, in line with the general fall in the market value of our investments, Towards the end of the year we began to the overall value of the endowment use this core support to develop new remained static. However, the willingness partnerships with public sector partners of donors to continue establishing new to coordinate funding to the local endowment funds in the current climate voluntary sector more effectively and is very encouraging. more efficiently. Loans 97% (2015: 92%) of our regular grants programmes were funded by In September 2014 we launched the philanthropic and corporate donors who Somerset Social Enterprise Fund (SSEF) have created endowment funds or set up with a £1million grant from Somerset ‘flow-through’ funds. County Council as a means to provide a more sustainable form of investment in Endowment Fund our communities. Building our Endowment Fund continues The programme targets smaller to be our long-term strategic priority, organisations that struggle to access many ensuring that we have the means to of the available forms of social investment address issues that require a sustained funding available due to their size. Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016 4 Somerset Community Foundation During the year two loans with a organisational structure would be needed combined value of £45,450 were made to outside of the Foundation to run the Taunton Athletic Club and We’re Eco CIC, programme at a larger scale. and a further loan of £61,000 was agreed in principle with another local charity. Planning ahead In December the Board debated the future direction of the Foundation, agreeing to dedicate more resource to building a strategic and long-term philanthropic programme based on a significant endowment. This was confirmed in February, with the adoption of a new ambitious strategy to take the Foundation to 2020 with a focus on ‘Inspiring Philanthropy’ through We’re Eco, Creech St Michael Community Investment – grants, An important aspect of the scheme that loans and associated essential has emerged is the value to organisations advice and support to local of the support they receive from SCF’s charities and voluntary Loan Manager and the scrutiny provided organisations.