Finance Score: 2

Governance Score: 3

Support Score: 11

Poor Liquidity: -1
Strong growth: +2
Multiple Deficits: -2
Fundraising costs low: +3

Good trustee age range: +3

Overall weighted support: +11

Overall GiG Score: 16

BEST BEGINNINGS

Overview

Best Beginnings provides engaging educational video content and digital tools via their Baby Buddy app and social media that support pregnant women and new parents in the transition to parenthood. They also generate campaigns to help combat issues affecting new mothers and collaborate with partner charities to progress public awareness of these challenges.

The NHS has been highly supportive of their work, and they have been able to develop partnerships with localised healthcare programmes to embed their Baby Buddy app and reach high levels of birth cohorts in regions they're present. This is supplemented by thousands of individual app downloads nationalwide and millions of content views on social media.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Helping new parents cope better with the challenges of early years development

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
Fundraising costs are low relative to funds raised
A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government
The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age

Financial issues to consider:

Liquidity appears to have been slender at the latest year end
On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E	Income £k	Spending £k	Surplus/ Deficit £k	Fundraising Cost £k	Total Funds £k	Unrestricted Funds £k	Mths Rsrvs	Staff	Volun- teers
31/03/23	£1,882	£2,006	£-125	£151	£130	£58	0.3	17	2
31/03/22	£1,678	£1,937	£-259	£235	£255	£125	0.8	21	0
31/03/21	£1,897	£1,507	£390	£163	£603	£319	2.5	16	22
31/03/20	£1,140	£1,070	£70	£143	£213	£32	0.4	13	10
31/03/19	£937	£1,052	£-115	£101	£143	£57	0.7	16	10
31/03/18	£1,027	£1,026	£1	£98	£257	£113	1.3	14	0
31/03/17?	£735	£805	£-70	£39	£256	£46	0.7	13	0
31/07/16	£1,131	£1,167	£-36	£0	£326	£60	0.6	12	0
31/07/15	£1,166	£1,211	£-45	£61	£362	£35	0.4	12	0
31/07/14	£1,061	£845	£216	£76	£407	£194	2.8	10	0
31/07/13	£719	£640	£80	£68	£192	£58	1.1	6	0
31/07/12	£659	£823	£-164	£53	£112	£126	1.8	7	0
31/07/11	£570	£512	£58	£68	£276	£118	2.8	4	0
31/07/10	£459	£357	£101	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
31/07/09	£346	£337	£9	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
31/07/08	£426	£393	£33	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

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Financial Ratios

Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 8.1%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 7.5%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 9%
Highest pay band: £70,000-£80,000
Liabilities/Assets: 56%
Liabilities/Income: 9%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 45%
Reserves/Spending: 0.3 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 1 months
Quick Ratio: 1

Asset Split ?

Balance Sheet History

Established: 17 years

www.bestbeginnings.org.uk

info@bestbeginnings.org.uk

02074437895

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Tweets

How you can help

What it does

Best Beginnings creates and disseminates engaging, evidence-based resources including the Baby Buddy phone app, From Bump to Breastfeeding DVD, Small Wonders DVD, Baby Express Magazine and Maternal Mental Health films. These resources help to educate and empower parents and parents-to-be, increasing their confidence, knowledge and skills to give their children the best start in life.

Listed activities

Education/Training
The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives

GiG Classification

Emotional support, counselling or therapy

How it operates

Acts as an umbrella or resource body
Provides advocacy/advice/information
Sponsors or undertakes research

Where it operates

Northern Ireland, Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,

Who it helps

Children/Young People
The General Public/Mankind

Who supports them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

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

Major supporters in last 5 years

Department of Health	£196,210
The EQ Foundation	£110,000
Tedworth Charitable Trust	£80,000
The Childhood Trust	£70,000
Garfield Weston Foundation	£37,500
The Aim Foundation	£30,000

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Towards its core costs
£25,000	22/04/2024 12	Towards its core costs
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£25,000	06/09/2023	Healthy Eating programme
Department of Health - Best Beginnings
£196,210	16/12/2022	The Health and Wellbeing (HW) Programme is a joint initiative managed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) and (soon to be confirmed UKHSA) (the system partners), providing a framework for ....more The Health and Wellbeing (HW) Programme is a joint initiative managed by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and Improvement (NHSE/I) and (soon to be confirmed UKHSA) (the system partners), providing a framework for collaboration with the voluntary sector in a way that is responsive to policy challenges and which promotes equality and the reduction of health inequalities.
The Aim Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£30,000	05/05/2022 12	Baby Steps Programme
Garfield Weston Foundation - Multi-Year Grant (2 Years) award
£37,500	01/04/2022 24	LGBTQ+, adoptive, surrogate and fostering parents
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£45,000	20/10/2021	Towards core costs
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£25,000	15/07/2021	Matched funding programme
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings: Supporting fathers across London
£25,000	22/06/2021	We have been supporting babies, pregnant families & new parents to recover from COVID-19 & lockdowns, but support is needed more than ever to focus on diverse London fathers, who are struggling to engage in their child?s early development, ....more We have been supporting babies, pregnant families & new parents to recover from COVID-19 & lockdowns, but support is needed more than ever to focus on diverse London fathers, who are struggling to engage in their child?s early development, alongside rebuilding their own mental & physical health.
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£10,000	15/12/2020	Matched funding programme
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings' Christmas Appeal
£20,000	08/12/2020	Across the UK, babies, pregnant families, and new parents need support recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Christmas Appeal will help to mitigate the consequences of the crisis and support thousands of families to recover and rebuild their ....more Across the UK, babies, pregnant families, and new parents need support recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Christmas Appeal will help to mitigate the consequences of the crisis and support thousands of families to recover and rebuild their mental and physical health.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Big Give Christmas Appeal
£10,000	05/11/2020	Towards its Big Give Christmas Appeal
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BEST BEGINNINGS
£25,000	22/07/2020	Childhood Trust Matched Giving
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings Appeal - Champions for Children 2020
£25,000	03/07/2020	Due to COVID19, babies, pregnant families, and new parents urgently need support. The Appeal will support over 5,000 isolated London parents with our NHS approved Baby Buddy app, providing empowering and quality-assured information for vulnerable ....more Due to COVID19, babies, pregnant families, and new parents urgently need support. The Appeal will support over 5,000 isolated London parents with our NHS approved Baby Buddy app, providing empowering and quality-assured information for vulnerable families.
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BEST BEGINNINGS
£25,000	15/12/2019	Big Give Christmas Challenge 2019
National Lottery Community Fund - Early Years Digital Partnership - Development Phase (Development Grant)
£48,480	14/10/2019 8	Early Years Digital Partnership - Development Phase
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Running costs
£5,000	11/09/2019	Towards the charity's running costs.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Evaluation of maternal mental health work - Newham and Birmingham
£10,000	19/03/2019	Towards evaluation of maternal mental health work in Newham and Birmingham.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£25,000	18/12/2018	The Big Give 2018
City Bridge Trust - Eco audit to Best Beginnings
£2,600	14/09/2018	£2,600 (6.5 days) to undertake an eco-audit.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000	16/03/2018	Towards core costs.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Multi-Year Grant (2 Years) award
£100,000	29/01/2018 24	Core costs
Comic Relief - Out of the Blue
£120,000	25/01/2017 24	10% of women suffer perinatal mental health issues during pregnancy and in the first year of their child's life. This project will help embed an app called Baby Buddy, which supports pregnant women and new mothers, across two areas in North-West ....more 10% of women suffer perinatal mental health issues during pregnancy and in the first year of their child's life. This project will help embed an app called Baby Buddy, which supports pregnant women and new mothers, across two areas in North-West England and two areas in the South-West. Healthcare professionals will be trained to use the app and become App Leaders in their area, encouraging young women to use Baby Buddy to support themselves between appointments. A new perinatal mental health component called Out of the Blue will also be piloted. More young women will have access to expert advice, helping them understand physical and mental health issues, and seek help earlier on.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000	09/12/2016	Towards core costs.
Guy's and St Thomas' Charity - Best Beginnings Evaluatiing NHS liaison
£19,652	13/10/2015	Evaluating how best a voluntary sector organisation can work with NHS
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Engaging a consultant
£2,500	12/06/2015	Towards the costs of engaging a consultant to work with senior staff and trustees on a strategic plan.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000	03/03/2015	Towards core costs.
National Lottery Community Fund - Pilot for phone apps which engage and support young mothers
£866,022	12/12/2013 36	Pilot for phone apps which engage and support young mothers

Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How do they operate?

Baby Buddy app

Objectives: To provide easy access to trusted, evidence-based information and self management tools during the transition to parenthood and throughout the early stages of parenting

Intervention period: Pregnancy and early years

Beneficiaries: Pregnant women, fathers-to-be and new parents

Description: Baby Buddy is a free, interactive pregnancy and parenting guide available through Google Play, the App Store and the NHS Apps Library. It provides trusted, evidence-based information and self-care tools to help parents build their knowledge and confidence during the transition to parenthood, and throughout the early stages of parenting. The literacy age 11 entry level means its easily accessible to those not in education, training or employment and those whose first language may not be English

Embedding and Training Programme

Objectives: To integrate Best Beginnings services and resources into local health agencies and organisations

Intervention period: Pregnancy and early years

Beneficiaries: Pregnant women, fathers-to-be and new parents

Description: Best Beginnings works in local areas to co-create and deliver plans that train professionals to use their resources as part of standard care that families receive. This bespoke embedding service allows them to work collaboratively with agencies and organisations to bring about change in practice and equality of access. They also support the professional development of staff working with parents by providing interactive tools to enhance their interaction with families. This could include tracking progress between appointments, goal setting and addressing challenging conversations by watching a short video clip together

Comment: The Baby Buddy app is accredited by the NHS and is available in the NHS Apps Library

Source: Giving is Great

How effective are they?

	Outputs	Outcomes
Y/E	Baby Buddy app downloads	% of Baby Buddy users who feel closer to their baby
31/03/2023	47,340	%
31/03/2022	48,326	%
31/03/2021	52,322	92%

Notes: Impact data is taken from surveys set up on the Baby Buddy app and sample sizes for these surveys range from hundreds of users to thousands. Surveys pose questions about the ease to use and emotional support the Baby Buddy app provides to produce results averaged in the positive ratings seen above.

Commentary: The Baby Buddy app gives access to hundreds of video resources and daily advice that supports all stages of pregnancy to five years old. Its value is reflected in user reviews and over thousands of downloads are made annually

See what you could achieve with a donation of: £

How do we calculate this?

Who works here?

CLARE LYONS-COLLINS
CEO
Appointed: January 2023

Clare has a wealth of experience across NHS policy and practice, initially training as an Occupational Therapist specialising in Stroke and Head Injury and laterally in mental health. She has held operational roles in the NHS in acute services, including women's health, mental health and commissioning. She also worked nationally for the healthcare regulator Monitor on national mental health policy as well as leading a national improvement model ....more

NICOLA CADBURY
Head of Content
Appointed: February 2020

Nicola has previously worked as Senior Policy and Communications Manager for the National Literacy Trust, focusing on influencing work related to language, communication and literacy development in the early years. Prior to that she led campaigns at ActionAid, including the Tax Justice campaign and the Send My Friend to School coalition. This campaign contributed to the UK government becoming the leading global education donor and engaged over a ....more

NILUSHKA PERERA
Head of Operations
Appointed: June 2020

Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Nilushka joined Best Beginnings after completing her Master’s degree in Public Health in 2016. She has experience in teaching and working on rehabilitating communities dealing with conflict and disaster in Sri Lanka, and has a strong interest in research, behavioural health and a background in Psychology.

JAMES HUNT
Head of Fundraising
Appointed: October 2023

James has had a varied career to date that has taken him from working on pantomime to working in politics for an MP at the House of Commons. For the past 20 years, he has worked in the charity sector in leadership and fundraising roles. This has included supporting the build of a children’s hospice, developing events and income for a major UK hospital, creating cohesion between large companies and patient organisations, and more recently ....more

ANNA LUMBROSO
Head of Digital
Appointed: August 2023

Coming from a rich and varied background, Anna has spent the last 10 years managing digital content and marketing strategies for the arts. She enjoys storytelling and crafting unique digital experiences.

How is it governed?

Trustees (7)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 33-64

ANGELA HORSLEY Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Nurse

BIRTE HARLEV-LAM Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Executive Director Professional Leadership

DHAVAL NILESH PONDA Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Global Head Of Sales

GIDEON HURWITZ Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Fintech Innovation Lab Manager

KIRSTIN JOHNSON Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Manager

LADY HILARY ANN RUSSELL Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Company Director

LORRAINE BARCLAY (Chair) Appointed: 2020, Occupation: General Manager

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 12/07/2007, number: 1120054
Registered at Companies House on 05/07/2006, number: 05866886

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds 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

16 returns made; all on time

Main office

10 - 18 Union Street
London
SE1 1SZ

Objectives

(1) TO PROMOTE THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND INFANTS THROUGH THE PROVISION OF SUPPORT, EDUCATION AND PRACTICAL ADVICE;(2) TO PROMOTE EQUAL ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES FOR FAMILIES WITH BABIES SO THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY ACCESSING THESE SERVICES ARE ENABLED TO DO SO; AND(3) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC, INCLUDING PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE CONTACT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES, ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES AFFECTING MOTHERS AND CHILDREN, INCLUDING BREASTFEEDING.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NATIONAL 'NOT DEFINED IN PRACTICE,

Data Sources

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