Finance Score: -3

Governance Score: -3

Support Score: 9

Spending falling: -1
Multiple Deficits: -2
No PartB

Only 4 Trustees: -1
Narrow trustee age band: -2

Large volunteers +5
Grant maker support: +4

Overall GiG Score: 3

CHESHIRE CONNECT

Our objectives are delivered by matching relevant skills and expertise offered pro bono from the business community to resource needs in the voluntary sector.We do this in three ways: Short-term projects, or Quick Fixes; longer-term projects involving a range of professional skills; and, sourcing Trustees, Mentors, or Critical Friends to deliver longer-term ongoing support.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

This charity has been very successful in attracting volunteers relative to its size
The charity has received backing from several prominent grant makers recently

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

This charity only provides its support via other charities
There are only 4 trustees
The Board has little diversity in terms of age

Financial issues to consider:

A PartB annual return has not been required and so detailed financial information is not available from the online data
Spending has fallen significantly over the last 5 years relative to the previous period
On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending

Established: 11 years

www.cheshireconnect.org

MARTINHOWLETT@CHESHIRECONNECT.ORG

01244688436

Charity Commission for England and Wales

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
30/04/23		£152	£126	£26	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	150
30/04/22		£130	£129	£1	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	150
30/04/21		£175	£157	£18	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	250
30/04/20		£140	£160	£-19	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	217
30/04/19		£181	£216	£-35	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	118
30/04/18	*	£186	£200	£-13	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
30/04/17		£204	£182	£22	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
30/04/16		£155	£177	£-21	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
30/04/15		£195	£96	£99	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
30/04/14		£49	£33	£16	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0

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Highest pay bracket: less than £60,000

Listed activities

Economic/Community Development/Employment

How it operates

Provides advocacy/advice/information

Where it operates

Cheshire East, Cheshire West & Chester, Halton, Warrington,

Who it helps

Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies

Who works here?

Unknown number of employees
150 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

Cheshire Community Foundation	£20,000
Steve Morgan Foundation	£10,000
DCMS	£5,000

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Steve Morgan Foundation - Grant to Cheshire Connect
£10,000	29/11/2021	For the salary of the Business Connector working for CWAC
Cheshire Community Foundation - Cheshire Connect Transform Programme
£15,000	02/04/2021	Cheshire Connect links business skills donors with charities that need their skills to become both sustainable and to offer their services and impact to greater numbers of Cheshire and Warrington ....more Cheshire Connect links business skills donors with charities that need their skills to become both sustainable and to offer their services and impact to greater numbers of Cheshire and Warrington communities. The twelve month Transform Programme will deliver to twenty charities - targeted business skill donors for strategic development and planning, one to one business mentor, leadership development, leadership support and finally numerous 'empowering' skill matches such as marketing, governance, HR etc. The grant funding will be used to pay for salaries. The programme will have lasting impact. Using a proven implementation strategy based around Inspiration, Aspiration and Support, twenty charities will achieve sustainable development that will allow them to deliver more services and remain operational to serve the communities in which they work. Cheshire Connect will work with partners such as the CCF, CVS, WCVA and CWCVA to identify charities that need to rapidly develop their capacity and delivery to ensure that the needs of the communities they serve are met.
Cheshire Community Foundation - Leadership and Support Programme and Covid Response
£5,000	03/09/2020	Cheshire Connect links business skills donors with charities that need their skills tobecome both sustainable and to offer their services and impact to greater numbers of Cheshire and Warrington ....more Cheshire Connect links business skills donors with charities that need their skills tobecome both sustainable and to offer their services and impact to greater numbers of Cheshire and Warrington communities.We want to use our relationships with business skill donors to support a middleleadership development programme and also a peer support programme acrossCheshire and Warrington. The funding secured will pay for staff costs to lead theprogrammes and also to support the more targeted skills matches that would come fromlistening to what the individuals in the sector need in relation to Covid responses.These programmes are significant as they develop quality leadership and resilienceamong leaders but also give charity leaders a support network and foster partnershipworking. We have been running these experimentally during Covid and have found thatfor the first time ever in the sector, we are finding that the programmes are building areal trust among the attendees which fosters more partnership working andcollaborations around projects that the communities need.
DCMS - VSCE CMC Fund
£5,000	03/09/2020	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 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 on-the-ground community response to the crisis; and, support local charitable organisations to mobilise volunteers to enable better targeted support in communities through empowered local groups.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£15,000	07/03/2019	Cheshire Connect Skills Match

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (4)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 44-60

CLIVE PETER SYKES Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Business Executive

KATHERINE LOUISE FRANCIS Appointed: 2020, Occupation: Charity Worker

ROBERT MCKAY Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Consultant

DAVID BRIGGS (Chair) Appointed: 2013, Other trusteeships: THE CHESTER CATHEDRAL DEVELOPMENT TRUST, THE BRIGGS CHARITABLE TRUST, WARRINGTON YOUTH ZONE LIMITED, KNUTSFORD TOGETHER,

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 09/08/2013, number: 1153334
Registered at Companies House on 30/04/2012, number: 08050352

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
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

10 returns made; AR18: 95 days late,

Main office

UHY Hacker Young
St. Johns Chambers
Love Street
CHESTER
CH1 1QN

Objectives

THE CHARITY’S OBJECTS (“OBJECTS”) ARE, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC:(A) TO PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF CHARITIES; AND (B) TO PROMOTE CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY AND GOOD CITIZENSHIP.

Data Sources