Finance Score: 0

Governance Score: 1

Support Score: 7

No PartB

No volunteer policy: -2
Gender balanced board: +3

Large volunteers +3
Grant maker support: +4

Overall GiG Score: 8

SANDWELL VISUALLY IMPAIRED

Provision of health, well being support including fitness exercise programmes, to undertake research and to produce information and reports in a range of alternative formats. To hold public events targeted towards visually impaired community and to raise awareness of visual impairment issues within the population. Development of information/training projects and resource base.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

This charity has been successful in attracting volunteers relative to its size
There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
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 gender

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

Although this charity works with volunteers it does not have a Volunteer Management policy
One or more trustees receive payments or benefits from the charity for providing services to the charity

Financial issues to consider:

A PartB annual return has not been required and so detailed financial information is not available from the online data

Established: 7 years

www.sandwellvisuallyimpaired.org.uk

info@sandwellvisuallyimpaired.org.uk

0121 525 4810

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E	Income	Spending	Surplus/ Deficit	Volun- teers
31/03/23	£79,944	£64,315	£15,629	25
31/03/22	£55,020	£57,162	£-2,142	40
31/03/21	£65,835	£54,544	£11,291	20
31/03/20	£62,431	£61,415	£1,016	41
31/03/19	£62,276	£65,961	£-3,685	39

Show financials table -->

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Highest pay bracket: less than £60,000

Listed activities

Disability
Education/Training
Recreation

How it operates

Provides advocacy/advice/information
Provides services

Where it operates

Sandwell,

Who it helps

People With Disabilities
The General Public/Mankind

Who works here?

Unknown number of employees
25 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	£14,838
Heart Of England Community Foundation	£6,289
Wates Family Enterprise Trust	£5,000

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Wates Family Enterprise Trust - SocialEyes - Group Grant February 2023
£5,000	27/02/2023	Ease blind and VI peoples' concerns about going out by providing necessary sighted support. Remove travel barriers and sighted assistance worries about going further afield. Give people a chance to ....more Ease blind and VI peoples' concerns about going out by providing necessary sighted support. Remove travel barriers and sighted assistance worries about going further afield. Give people a chance to take part in activities that sighted people might take for granted but are very difficult for VI people to access without the appropriate help. Offer sighted help every week during the summer months, on walks and local community activities. We will also hold an introduction meeting, a mid-programme get together and an end of programme evaluation event. Checking out at every stage that what we offer is what people want and making changes where needed The programme seeks to engage and work with 150 blind and VI residents of Sandwell and surrounding areas across the duration of the programme.
National Lottery Community Fund - Enablement and engagement restart
£9,828	14/04/2022	This funding will be used to employ an enablement and engagement worker for people living with loss of sight and visual impairments. This will be an extension of a project we previously funded and ....more This funding will be used to employ an enablement and engagement worker for people living with loss of sight and visual impairments. This will be an extension of a project we previously funded and will build on the success of that project engaging with even more VI people and broadening services offered. The project aims to provide essential services improving connectivity and well-being helping people regain confidence post the pandemic while participating in wellbeing activities social groups and peer support sessions.
National Lottery Community Fund - SVI Enablement Worker
£5,010	07/05/2020 6	The funding will be used to employ an enablement worker for people living with loss of sight and visual impairments. The project aims to provide essential advice and support improving connectivity ....more The funding will be used to employ an enablement worker for people living with loss of sight and visual impairments. The project aims to provide essential advice and support improving connectivity and wellbeing during the current health crisis.
Heart Of England Community Foundation - Helping Hand
£6,289	16/09/2019 12	Funding is requested for the full costs of a pilot support service, both face-to-face and by telephone, which will aim to counter the difficulties that VI people have in accessing services, ....more Funding is requested for the full costs of a pilot support service, both face-to-face and by telephone, which will aim to counter the difficulties that VI people have in accessing services, particularly online services by offering practical support, for instance to complete forms. They have found that this is something they are increasingly asked for help with and that they need to offer a discrete service for this, so the staff have the appropriate training and expertise and it can be run at specific times. Volunteers will also be trained to offer this service.
National Lottery Community Fund - Enable Outreach Project
£10,000	18/01/2019 12	This funding will be used meet the salary costs of an enablement worker, who will provide support and activities to visually impaired people.

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (9)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

BRIAN GORMLEY Appointed: 2017

GEORGINA ORLEBAR Appointed: 2017

HELEN ROURKE Appointed: 2017

KAREN AVERIS Appointed: 2017

KIRAN PATEL Appointed: 2019

MR TONY AVERIS (Chair) Appointed: 2017

RAVINDER GILL Appointed: 2023

RICHARD FLATLEY Appointed: 2017

TRISH GRACESMITH Appointed: 2020

Legal constitution

Charity registered in England & Wales on 10/10/2017, number: 1175066

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Paying staff
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

Filing Record

5 returns made; all on time

Main office

SVI
Town Hall
Lodge Road
WEST BROMWICH
West Midlands
B70 8AY

Objectives

TO RELIEVE THE NEEDS OF BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE LIVING OR WORKING IN SANDWELL, THEIR FAMILIES AND CARERS IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY, BY ASSISTANCE IN THE PROVISION OF ADVICE, EDUCATION, INFORMATION AND SUPPORT TO ENABLE INCREASED INDEPENDENCE AND LIFE OPPORTUNITIES.

Data Sources