Finance Score: 0
Governance Score: -4
Support Score: 9
  • Strong growth: +2
  • Multiple Deficits: -2
  • No PartB
  • Only 3 Trustees: -2
  • Narrow trustee age band: -2
  • Large volunteer base +3
  • Overall weighted support: +6
Overall GiG Score: 5 ?

WATER LILY PROJECT

The project is working with women in their time of crisis across the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole areas. It is currently offering one-to-one support, self-development training, and group community activities to women, helping them rebuild their lives. 85% of beneficiaries are escaping abusive relationships and many have additional mental health support needs. We also run a community cafe.
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • This charity has been successful in attracting volunteers relative to its size
  • The charity has received backing from multiple prominent grant makers recently
  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • Why are there only 3 trustees?
  • The Board has little diversity in terms of age

Financial issues to consider:

  • On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending
  • A PartB annual return has not been required and so detailed financial information is not available from the online data

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
30/09/23£143£122£22n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/22£138£113£26n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/21£87£109£-22n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/20£122£70£51n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/19£40£72£-32n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/18£61£22£39n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/17£43£39£4n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/16£35£38£-4n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/15£54£39£16n/an/an/an/an/an/a
30/09/14?£7£13£-6n/an/an/an/an/an/a
31/03/13*£7£4£3n/an/an/an/an/an/a

Highest pay bracket: less than £60,000
Established: 13 years

www.waterlilyproject.org.uk

manager@waterlilyproject.org.uk

01202246763

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookX
UN SDGs
?
Listed activities
  • Accommodation/Housing
  • Economic/Community Development/Employment
  • Education/Training
  • Religious Activities
GiG Classification
  • Support for victims of domestic or sexual abuse
  • Emotional support, counselling or therapy
How it operates
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Dorset,
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • Other Defined Groups

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
Postcode Local Trust£25,000
National Lottery Community Fund£20,000
Dorset Community Foundation£17,500
People's Health Trust£7,949
The Fore£5,000
DCMS£4,986
CAF£2,000
Co-Operative Group£1,729
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
Postcode Local Trust - Unrestricted Funding
£25,000 30/06/2023
Funding will be used to fund a trained Support Worker and their management to deliver front line support service
Dorset Community Foundation - Mental Health Resilience Training Programme
£5,000 06/02/2023
Mental Health Resilience Training Programme for vulnerable women, as part of a range of services offered by the charity to support them to address issues and develop healthier & happier lives
Dorset Community Foundation - Grant to Water Lily Project
£7,500 06/12/2022
Meals in community cafe for those identified in highest need, by Water Lily and Christchurch Foodbank
Co-Operative Group - Grant to Water Lily Project
£1,729 22/10/2022
We want to offer free 1:1 support sessions to vulnerable women in the Christchurch, Bournemouth and Poole area; with access to training, therapy sessions, IT support and professional counselling too.
National Lottery Community Fund - Water Lily Project Waiting List
£10,000 21/10/2022
The funding will be used to continue to provide one to one support activities courses and training to vulnerable women affected by issues including domestic violence mental health issues and isolation. The project will enable the organisation to ....more
People's Health Trust - Crafty Diggers
£7,949 18/07/2022
This two-year project is for women from Bournemouth and Christchurch who have been affected by domestic violence. It aims to offer peer support in a safe and welcoming environment, enabling the women to build friendships, learn new skills, gain ....more
Dorset Community Foundation - Water Lily Wellbeing Project
£5,000 10/02/2022
Contribution to cost of services focussing on improving the mental health of vulnerable women
DCMS - VSCE CMC Fund
£4,986 25/09/2020
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 and small organisations who can provide an ....more
The Fore - RAFT COVID-19 response grant to Water Lily Project
£5,000 08/06/2020
36
Grant from The Fore's RAFT Immediate Response Fund to Water Lily Project, as part of The Fore's COVID-19 Response programme.
CAF - Grant to Water Lily Project
£2,000 17/04/2020
Grant to Water Lily Project to support the organisation through COVID19
National Lottery Community Fund - Water Lily Project Support
£10,000 03/04/2020
12
A project to support women who have been affected by domestic violence substance abuse poverty and poor mental health. Women will be able to access training mentoring counselling support and signposting services at the organisation’s cafe.
National Lottery Community Fund - Chatterbox
£37,675 28/02/2019
25
This funding will enable the project to provide a coffee morning to bring together the older community who are living in isolation and parents with young children who have described feeling alone and unwelcome. The project runs a drop-in café space ....more
Lloyds Bank Foundation - Grant to Water Lily Project
£15,000 25/07/2018
12
To fund the charity manager to have additional capacity to develop the business and income generation plan with support from external consultancy, to implement Lamplight and develop at new website.
National Lottery Community Fund - Water Lily Project Training Programme
£9,970 12/06/2018
12
The project will provide emotional and practical support to women who are experiencing the effects of domestic violence, substance misuse, economic disadvantage and negative impacts of adult entertainment industry.
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (3)
Current Trustees appointed

Age Range of Trustees: 68-73
  • COLIN BENNETT (Chair) Appointed: 2011, Occupation: College Lecturer
  • JAN CRAWFORD Appointed: 2012, Occupation: Teacher (Head Of Children'S Centre Development)
  • SUSAN ELIZABETH HILL Appointed: 2020, Occupation: Retired
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 01/02/2012, number: 1145718
  • Registered at Companies House on 27/09/2011, number: 07789396
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
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
11 returns made; AR13: 68 days late,
Recent reorganisation events:
  • Asset transfer in from THE OAKS COUNSELLING SERVICE LIMITED on 19/09/2024
Main office

Water Lily Cafe
131 Barrack Road
Christchurch
Dorset
BH23 2AW

Objectives

1) FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT, TO RELIEVE VULNERABLE WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN IN CHRISTCHURCH, DORSET AND SURROUNDING AREAS, WHO ARE IN NEED DUE TO AGE, FINANCIAL HARDSHIP, ABUSE, SOCIAL OR ECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCE OR OTHER CHARITABLE NEED, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE PROVISION OF SUPPORT, ADVICE, EDUCATION AND ACCOMMODATION.2) SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT AS ARE EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE ACCORDING TO THE LAWS OF ENGLAND AND WALES AS THE TRUSTEES MAY FROM TIME TO TIME DETERMINE.THE CHARITY'S ACTIVITIES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN IN ACCORDANCE WITH A CHRISTIAN ETHOS TO ENCOURAGE ITS BENEFICIARIES TO LIVE BY POSITIVE CHRISTIAN VALUES AND PRINCIPLES.

Defined Area of Benefit:

LOCAL

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving

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