Finance Score: -4
Governance Score: 1
Support Score: 10
  • Poor Liquidity: -1
  • Deficit on unrestricted reserves: -2
  • Reasonable growth: +1
  • Multiple Deficits: -2
  • Narrow trustee age band: -2
  • Dynamic board: +3
  • Large volunteers +3
  • Grant maker support: +7
Overall GiG Score: 7 ?

THE FOOD CHAIN (UK) LIMITED 

The Food Chain ensures people living with HIV in London can access the nutrition they need to get well, stay well and lead healthy, independent lives. Our tailored support is delivered by volunteers and includes the most appropriate package of home-delivered meals, groceries, nutrition and cookery classes and communal dinners.
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • This charity has been successful in attracting volunteers relative to its size
  • There has been reasonable growth in spending over the last 3 years relative to the previous period
  • A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers and there are significant future grants due to be received
  • The Board appears to be dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • The Board has little diversity in terms of age

Financial issues to consider:

  • Liquidity appears to have been slender at the latest year end
  • There was a deficit on unrestricted reserves of £27,413 at the last year end after deducting the value of own use assets
  • On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending
Established: 33 years

www.foodchain.org.uk

info@foodchain.org.uk

02078431800

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
?

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/03/23£524£585£-61£64£26£-27-0.69127
31/03/22£463£567£-104n/an/an/an/an/a125
31/03/21£574£523£50£55£189£1713.97180
31/03/20£475£394£81n/an/an/an/an/a200
31/03/19£393£376£17n/an/an/an/an/a200
31/03/18£343£412£-69£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/17£497£475£22£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/16£363£637£-274£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/15£602£646£-44£84£361£1913.5100
31/03/14£795£835£-41£110£405£2443.5110
31/03/13£832£792£40£97£446£1622.5100
31/03/12*£804£672£132£98£407£1262.390
31/03/11*£545£540£5£86£274£1383.180
31/03/10*£558£531£27£103£270£972.270
31/03/09£433£435£-2£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/08£441£401£40£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/07*£447£436£11£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/06*£379£299£79£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/05£328£271£57£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/04*£192£224£-32£0£0£0n/a00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 13.9%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 11%
Highest pay band: Less than £60,000
Liabilities/Assets: 59%
Liabilities/Income: 7%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: -106%
Reserves/Spending: -0.6 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 0 months
Quick Ratio: 1.1
Asset Split ?
Listed activities
  • The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
How it operates
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Throughout London,
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • Elderly/Old People
  • Other Defined Groups
  • People With Disabilities
Who works here?
  • 9 employees
  • 127 volunteers

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
National Lottery Community Fund£450,000
City Bridge Trust£280,425
DCMS£128,840
The London Community Foundation£53,790
Garfield Weston Foundation£20,000
Co-Operative Group£10,350
CAF£7,000
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
London Catalyst - The Food Chain - 7
£1,300 23/09/2021
Hardship Fund
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£20,000 20/08/2021
The Food Chain - Good nutrition and food for people living with HIV
The Clothworkers Foundation - Grant to Food Chain (UK)
£5,000 05/08/2021
Kitchen equipment for a charity supporting disadvantagedd minority communities in London
National Lottery Community Fund - The Food Chain kitchen
£450,000 29/03/2021
60
The project is using funding to continue their nutritional support services to help the most marginalised people living with HIV in London get well stay well and live independently. Services are free ....more
The London Community Foundation - Grant to The Food Chain (UK) Ltd
£10,000 24/11/2020
5
The provision of groceries, toiletries and other essential household goods for people referred to us in crisis, with a particular focus on infant formula milk and essential other items for HIV+ ....more
The London Community Foundation - Grant to The Food Chain (UK) Ltd
£38,840 24/09/2020
The funding would help us with • the direct service delivery costs arising form the threefold increase in referrals to the essential groceries service • the additional staff costs ....more
DCMS - VSCE CMC Fund
£38,840 24/09/2020
NET, Comic Relief and Children in Need will use this funding to provide: increased support to vulnerable people and hidden groups, thus reducing the burden on public services; reach local grassroots ....more
DCMS - Coronavirus Community Support Fund
£90,000 23/07/2020
"The fund aims to:1) To reduce closures of essential charities that provide essential services to vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 crisis by ensuring they have the financial resources to ....more
CAF - Grant to The Food Chain
£7,000 17/04/2020
3
Grant to The Food Chain to support the organisation through COVID19
City Bridge Trust - Grant to The Food Chain
£14,175 09/04/2020
A one-off, unrestricted grant of £14,175, equivalent to one regular quarterly payment for the organisation’s current grant’
The London Community Foundation - Grant to The Food Chain
£4,950 06/04/2020
The funding is for the provision of emergency grocery deliveries to vulnerable people living with HIV, low immune system and greatest risk of COVID-19; having complex needs including physical and ....more
Co-Operative Group - Grant to The Food Chain
£10,350 15/11/2019
We want to run nutrition and cookery classes for people living with HIV to increase their knowledge and skills for healthy living.
City Bridge Trust - Grant to The Food Chain
£266,250 30/10/2019
60
£266,250 over five years (£56,700, £50,900, £54,100, £52,900, £51,650) towards the project to support disadvantaged PLWHIV with specialist dietetic, nutrition support as well as volunteering ....more
National Lottery Community Fund - Eating Well for Life
£10,000 03/08/2018
12
The funding will be used to deliver nutritional cookery sessions and eating opportunities for people living with the effects of HIV. The project aims to address issues of isolation and improve ....more
London Catalyst - The Food Chain - 4
£5,000 01/03/2018
The Food Chain Community Cafe and partnership with Positive East
National Lottery Community Fund - Sustaining The Food Chain Kitchen for people living with HIV in London
£6,384 19/04/2017
12
This project will update and replace kitchen appliances and utensils to improve food preparation and maintain food hygiene and kitchen safety for its users who are living with the effects of HIV.
London Catalyst - The Food Chain - 3
£4,000 12/11/2014
To extend geographical reach of Eating Together project to safeguard nutritional intake of those living with HIV
City Bridge Trust - Grant to The Food Chain
£48,100 25/09/2014
£48,100 towards a third and final year of the ‘Eating Together’ programme for HIV-positive clients.
National Lottery Community Fund - Feeding the fight against HIV
£10,000 04/04/2013
12
This is a project by a charity in Camden. The group will use the funding to purchase and install kitchen equipment for their food services for people living with HIV. This will enable the group to ....more
Henry Smith Charity - Grant to Food Chain (UK)
£60,000 12/09/2012
24
towards two years' continuation funding towards the core costs of providing nutritional food and support to people affected by HIV/AIDS in London
National Lottery Community Fund - Eating Positively
£249,815 15/08/2012
36
This is a continuation of an existing project that aims to improve the nutrition, health and overall quality of life for People Living with HIV in London. It does this through hands-on cookery ....more
London Catalyst - The Food Chain - 1
£5,000 23/05/2012
Dietician to train volunteers and set diet plan for each service user with HIV
National Lottery Community Fund - Measuring the impact of a personal approach
£10,000 24/11/2011
11
This is a project by a charity in Islington serving beneficiaries in Greater London. The group will use funding to train volunteers to act as nutrition mentors for people living with HIV. This will ....more
National Lottery Community Fund - Valuing Volunteers
£10,000 05/02/2010
12
This group in Islington will produce a DVD for volunteer induction to replace their current outdated video version, and will design and print handbooks for volunteers to assist their training. The ....more
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (5)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 47-54
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 22/05/1991, number: 1003014
  • Registered at Companies House on 06/02/1991, number: 02580505
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Complaints policy and procedures
  • Conflicting interests
  • Financial reserves policy and procedures
  • Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
  • Internal risk management policy and procedures
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
  • Social media policy and procedures
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
20 returns made; AR12: 2 days late, AR11: 16 days late, AR10: 3 days late, AR07: 60 days late, AR06: 9 days late, AR04: 1 days late,
Main office

439 Caledonian Road
LONDON
N7 9BG

Objectives

FOR THE RELIEF OF SICKNESS BY PROVIDING NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICE FOR THOSE LIVING WITH INFECTION, ILLNESS, AND RELATED CONDITIONS CAUSED BY HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV) OR OTHER CAUSATIVE AGENTS, AND TO THE HOUSEBOUND WITH SPECIFIC DIETARY NEEDS ARISING FROM A MEDICAL CONDITION.TO PROVIDE A NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT SERVICE FOR THEIR DEPENDANTS, AND FOR PARTNERS, CARERS OR FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE DIRECTLY ENGAGED IN CARING FOR THE PERSON LIVING WITH INFECTION, ILLNESS, AND RELATED CONDITIONS CAUSED BY THE HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV) OR OTHER CAUSATIVE AGENTS, OR HOUSEBOUND BY OTHER MEDICAL CONDITION AND WHO ARE IN CONDITIONS OF NEED OR HARDSHIP.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NATIONAL

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase
Authorised officials of this charity can add information to this page (including a Donate Now button) for no cost

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