CEO Report
Trustees,
Q3 has been the strongest quarter this year, both operationally and financially. Three things stand out.
First, our beneficiary work is now running on the new system in earnest. In the last three months we've received 47 new applications, closed 17 cases, and approved £24,850 in direct support. Average decision time is down to 4.2 days — from a starting point in April of just under three weeks. Emma and the trustee approval loop is holding up well. Safeguarding: zero incidents this quarter.
Second, fundraising is ahead of budget by 18%. The two grants we secured — Garfield Weston (£15,000) and The Rank Foundation (£8,000) — landed inside the quarter and are reflected in the figures. Regular giving is up 9% year on year. The July skydive raised £18,400 against a target of £12,000. Cash reserves stand at £127,400, comfortably above our six-month policy.
Third, the grant pipeline is significantly stronger than a year ago. The AI-supported grant-matching work has identified 147 funders whose criteria align with our mission. Five applications have been won this year to date, eight are in draft, and 23 have been submitted. The team's capacity to actually engage with this pipeline is now the constraint, not funder access.
Two matters where I would appreciate the board's steer this meeting are set out in section 13 — the autumn appeal budget and the trustee vacancy.
On safeguarding I have nothing beyond the routine report at section 10.
Emma
Managing Director