Overall GiG Score: 17 based on 19 data points
Finance: -3
Governance: 9
Support: 11
Strong growth: +2, Fundraising costs high: -5,
Good trustee age range: +3, Dynamic board: +3, Gender balanced board: +3,
Supporters: +11

THE CARES FAMILY LIMITED 

Overview

This Charity announced that it had ceased operating due to insolvency on 31st October 2023

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Helping people find connection and reducing loneliness by bringing people together and bridging gaps across social and generational divides
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • There has been strong growth in spending since inception
  • A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • Over half the Board have joined recently

Financial issues to consider:

  • Fundraising costs are extremely high relative to funds raised
Established: 5 years
(7 years as a company)

www.thecaresfamily.org.uk

alex.smith@thecaresfamily.org.uk

02071180404

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseTwitter
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How you can help

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
31/08/22£949£949£0£261£347£2953.714100
31/08/21£862£629£233£244£347£2294.412100
31/08/20£330£284£46n/an/an/an/an/a25
31/08/19£237£170£68n/an/an/an/an/a15
Download accounts
Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 54.8%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 27.5%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 8%
Highest pay band: £60,000-£70,000
Liabilities/Assets: 72%
Liabilities/Income: 94%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 86%
Reserves/Spending: 3.7 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 4 months
Quick Ratio: 1.2
Asset Split ?
Comment: The Cares Family is made up five independent ‘sibling’ organisations (North London Cares, South London Cares, East London Cares, Manchester Cares and Liverpool Cares), affiliated by brand with joint trustees. The charities each report their own annual accounts separately but share learnings and some economies of scale. Core funding donated to The Cares Family is distributed as needed towards those siblings organisations

Source: Giving is Great

What it does
  • Disability
  • Economic/Community Development/Employment
  • General Charitable Purposes
The Cares Family is a group of community networks that bring young professionals and older neighbours together, allowing them to hang out and help one another while combating loneliness and isolation
Who works here?
  • 14 employees
  • 100 volunteers
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • Elderly/Old People
  • Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
How it operates
  • Acts as an umbrella or resource body
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Throughout England And Wales,

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
The October Club£908,000
The Tudor Trust£182,000
Greater London Authority£67,000
The EQ Foundation£55,000
The National Lottery Community Fund£46,300
Innox Foundation£25,000
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months		 To be used for
The EQ Foundation
£25,000 06/09/2023
Leaving No-one Behind campaign
Innox Foundation
£25,000 25/11/2021
Funding for The Cares Family to reengage young adults in their work
The Tudor Trust
£90,000 23/11/2021
24
over two years as unrestricted continuation funding for a group of charities tackling loneliness by building connections amongst neighbours across the UK
The October Club
£908,000 31/10/2021
The EQ Foundation
£15,000 15/08/2021
Unrestricted
The Tudor Trust
£2,000 22/03/2021
as an additional grant to support staff, volunteer and trustee wellbeing, to assist the organisation deliver its charitable purpose more effectively
The National Lottery Community Fund
£46,300 03/07/2020
6
The funding will provide virtual social clubs that bring older and younger neighbours together in groups through online quizzes yoga sessions history nights discussion groups and more. The aim is to ....more
The EQ Foundation
£5,000 15/06/2020
Coronavirus appeal
The EQ Foundation
£10,000 31/05/2020
Coronavirus appeal
Greater London Authority
£67,000 01/10/2019
The Family Fund supports organisations that are bringing diverse families together for support and common purpose. The fund aims to improve parents social networks, reduce social isolation and ....more
The Tudor Trust
£90,000 15/05/2019
24
over two years towards the salary and associated costs of a new full-time chief operating officer at a charity fostering community networks of young professionals and older neighbours in urban ....more
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How do they operate?

Social Clubs and Community Networks

Objectives: To reduce loneliness and isolation through community networks

Intervention period: Ongoing throughout the year

Beneficiaries: Local communities

Location: Nationally

Description: The Cares Family supports communities to share time, laughter, friendship and new experiences that help those who may struggle to get out and feel part of their community. Community networks are built through Social Clubs that connect people in group activities including film nights, dance parties, new technology workshops, choir sessions, men's cooking classes and Desert Island Disc nights

Love Your Neighbour

Objectives: Reduce loneliness and isolation amongst older and younger people through one-to-one friendships

Intervention period: Intervention will last as long as both parties are happy to continue

Beneficiaries: Younger (18-35) and older (65+) neighbours

Location: Nationally

Description: Love Your Neighbour creates one-to-one friendship connections between young professionals and older neighbours. Once two people have been paired, they share time and experiences together in activities that could include anything from having a meal, playing games, taking a walk in the park to just having a good phone conversation. Friendships are supportive and combat loneliness that elderly, and younger community members could find themselves feeling

Outreach Programme

Objectives: To engage isolated people in communities through outreach work

Intervention period: Ongoing throughout the year

Beneficiaries: Local communities

Location: Nationally

Description: The Cares Family staff team support neighbours in outreach work that allows them to overcome barriers they face in connecting with their community. This can include supporting people with housing issues to helping with food shops, sign posting neighbours to specialist health or mental health support, or introducing people to online technologies such as Zoom. This investment builds trust and brings people into the Cares Family community which opens the door to those wider connections through their other programmes and partnerships

The Multiplier

Objectives: To build a network of community leaders who can help local communities better connect across the UK

Intervention period: Ongoing throughout the year

Beneficiaries: Local communities

Location: Nationally

Description: The Multiplier programme broadens impact by delivering a bespoke relational leadership programme for community leaders to develop, grow and multiply their own bridge-building initiatives in their own communities. By bringing together networks of leaders, a ripple of connection can be built to bring communities together across the UK

Comment: The Cares Family introduced a number of new interventions after pandemic lockdowns started in 2020 including virtual social clubs and check-in calls. They have continued to deliver these interventions to varying degrees across their siblings charities since restrictions eased in a hybrid in person/virtual model

Source: Giving is Great

How effective are they?
Outputs
Outcomes
Y/EPeople sharing time and experiences togetherSocial clubs run in person, online and by phonePeople attending social clubs
31/08/20224,5008131,966
31/08/20215,000
31/08/20206,7879291,639
Notes: Impact data has been aggregated from the various Cares Family sibling charities

Commentary: Engagement of 60-80+ year olds in social clubs and neighbouring support activities has been shown as more valuable when regularly used over a shorter period than sporadically visited over yearly periods. Impact data drawn from evaluations by several social research partners has highlighted older neighbours consistently report decreased loneliness and improved wellbeing after Cares Family interventions
See what you could achieve with a donation of: £
How do we calculate this?

Who works here?

  • NICOLA UPTON
    CEO
    Appointed: August 2023
Having started her career as a community support worker, Nicola has latterly been Deputy Director for Families at the National Deaf Children’s Society, Director of Major Partnerships at Stonewall, and for the last six years CEO of Age UK Sutton.
  • ROXI RUSTEM
    Director of Programmes
    Appointed: May 2019
Charlie ensures quality and sustainability across The Cares Family’s five locations. She has been with The Cares Family since 2015, first leading social clubs and then managing corporate partnerships.
  • CHRIS PEAT
    Director of Finance
    Appointed: January 2023
Chris is both AAT and ACCA qualified with over 30 years’ experience in finance, having spent the past 17 years as a Senior Audit Manager for a leading Midlands audit firm. She now works with several charities and social enterprise businesses, including The Cares Family, helping to build efficiency and robustness into their everyday processes and working alongside senior leadership teams and Boards to drive the businesses forward to a ....more
  • ELLENOR BARON
    Director of Development
    Appointed: December 2019
Ellenor drives partnerships, supports our individual donors and co-ordinates the fundraising strategy. She previously worked as Head of Major Gifts at The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.
  • SARA MASTERS
    Director of Projects
    Appointed: November 2021
Sara has worked across civil society throughout her career including founding and running an arts and human rights charity for a number of years, as well as being a social justice funder. Prior to joining The Cares Family she was the London Programme Lead at the National Trust, supporting the charity to be a more inclusive, relevant organisation in the Capital
  • GINNIE MAXFIELD-WHITE
    Chief Operating Officer
Previously Ginnie has worked in operations and programme delivery for two other national charities, as well as operations in visitor attractions for Merlin Entertainments

How is it governed?

Trustees (7)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split
Based on 6/7 persons

Age Range of Trustees: 34-76
Iana is a public affairs and communications professional, with a passion for supporting people to affect positive change at a local and national level. She has experience across a diverse range of sectors including health, justice, education and finance. Iana has been part of The Cares Family for many years as a younger neighbour at South London....more
Polly is Head of Communications and Marketing at Royal Trinity Hospice where she leads on messaging and campaign delivery. She was previously responsible for communications and partnership campaigns at Missing People, and helped to establish HIV support charity Body & Soul’s social enterprise ‘Brave’.
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 12/11/2018, number: 1180638
  • Registered at Companies House on 16/06/2016, number: 10236615
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Complaints handling
  • Conflicting interests
  • Investment
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Volunteer management
Main office

3 Space
International House
6 Canterbury Crescent
LONDON
SW9 7QE

Objectives

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT AND ARE RESTRICTED TO THE FOLLOWING:TO PROMOTE SOCIAL INCLUSION AMONGST PEOPLE WHO DO NOT REGULARLY PARTICIPATE IN COMMUNITY LIFE, INCLUDING (WITHOUT LIMITATION) THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE LARGE OR STRONG NETWORKS OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY AROUND THEM, WHO MAY BE LONELY OR ISOLATED, OR AT RISK OF LONELINESS OR ISOLATION, AND WHO MAY BE, OR MAY BE AT RISK OF, HAVING DIFFICULTY ACCESSING STATUTORY AND NON-STATUTORY SERVICES, (FOR EXAMPLE, BECAUSE THEY ARE HOUSE-BOUND, IMMOBILE, UNABLE TO DRIVE OR TO EASILY ACCESS TRANSPORT, OR ARE OTHER OTHERWISE DISADVANTAGED DUE TO OTHER SOCIAL OR ECONOMIC FACTORS).TO ADVANCE IN LIFE AND HELP YOUNG PEOPLE THROUGH:(A) THE PROVISION OF RECREATIONAL AND LEISURE TIME ACTIVITIES PROVIDED IN THE INTEREST OF SOCIAL WELFARE, DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THEIR CONDITIONS OF LIFE, AND(B) PROVIDING SUPPORT AND ACTIVITIES WHICH DEVELOP THEIR SKILLS, CAPACITIES AND CAPABILITIES TO ENABLE THEM TO PARTICIPATE IN SOCIETY AS MATURE AND RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUALS.NOTHING IN THE ARTICLES SHALL AUTHORISE AN APPLICATION OF THE PROPERTY OF THE CHARITY FOR PURPOSES WHICH ARE NOT CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 7 OF THE CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005 AND/OR SECTION 2 OF THE CHARITIES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 2008.

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase

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