Finance Score: 1

Governance Score: -3

Support Score: 5

Good reserves management: +3
Multiple Deficits and declines: -5
Fundraising costs low: +3

No conflicts policy: -1
Very static board: -5
Gender balanced board: +3

Grant maker support: +5

Overall GiG Score: 3

LISTENING BOOKS

To provide a postal and internet based audiobook service to: Any child or adult who suffers from an illness or disability which makes it hard to hold a book, turn its pages or read in the usual way; including people with specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia, and people with visual impairments.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

The charity has received backing from multiple prominent grant makers recently
Reserves management has been consistently within official guidelines
Fundraising costs are unusually low relative to funds raised
The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of gender

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

This charity does not have a Conflict of Interests policy
The Board composition appears to be very static

Financial issues to consider:

Income has been volatile and on several occasions in recent years less than spending

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
31/03/23	£877	£1,037	£-160	£42	£596	£440	5.1	13	20
31/03/22	£896	£1,002	£-107	£42	£771	£664	7.9	13	14
31/03/21	£867	£887	£-20	£32	£837	£662	8.9	12	5
31/03/20	£1,361	£1,416	£-55	£46	£790	£574	4.9	11	25
31/03/19	£743	£791	£-49	£37	£844	£539	8.2	11	44
31/03/18	£1,410	£1,069	£341	£32	£863	£630	7.1	11	0
31/03/17	£1,186	£1,184	£1	£33	£511	£345	3.5	11	0
31/03/16	£969	£984	£-15	£31	£471	£364	4.4	10	0
31/03/15	£641	£609	£32	£33	£487	£420	8.3	10	0
31/03/14	£1,243	£1,067	£176	£36	£447	£427	4.8	9	0
31/03/13	£922	£919	£2	£36	£268	£164	2.1	9	0
31/03/12	£812	£780	£32	£35	£255	£186	2.9	9	0
31/03/11	£963	£1,050	£-87	£36	£224	£161	1.8	10	0
31/03/10	£786	£832	£-46	£39	£306	£198	2.9	12	0
31/03/09	£951	£911	£40	£45	£327	£317	4.2	12	0
31/03/08	£831	£787	£44	£47	£303	£296	4.5	11	0
31/03/07	£759	£737	£22	£50	£263	£177	2.9	12	0
31/03/06	£662	£625	£37	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/05	£491	£568	£-76	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/04	£635	£649	£-14	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0

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Financial Ratios

Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 4.9%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 4%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 10%
Highest pay band: £80,000-£90,000
Liabilities/Assets: 5%
Liabilities/Income: 4%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 74%
Reserves/Spending: 5.1 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 3 months
Quick Ratio: 5.4

Asset Split ?

Established: 52 years

www.listening-books.org.uk

info@listening-books.org.uk

02074079417

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Listed activities

Disability
General Charitable Purposes

GiG Classification

Services for people with disabilities

How it operates

Provides services

Where it operates

Northern Ireland, Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,

Who it helps

Children/Young People
Elderly/Old People
People With Disabilities

Who works here?

13 employees
20 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

Garfield Weston Foundation	£75,000
RS Macdonald Charitable Trust	£13,500
The Clothworkers Foundation	£5,000
Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust	£4,500

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust - Listening Books - 18/10/22
£3,000	11/11/2022	Core Funding
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£50,000	06/05/2022	Listening Books
Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust - Listening Books - 04/08/21
£1,500	03/09/2021	Audiobook service for print-impaired people
RS Macdonald Charitable Trust - Audiobook service for visually impaired people in Scotland
£9,000	04/05/2021	Seeking funding to provide free or heavily subsidised access to our audiobook lending service of 9,500 titles available via internet streaming/downloads and MP3CD (freepost) to people in Scotland ....more Seeking funding to provide free or heavily subsidised access to our audiobook lending service of 9,500 titles available via internet streaming/downloads and MP3CD (freepost) to people in Scotland living with a visual impairment. We seek funding based on the true average cost of £150 per annum.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award - COVID19 response
£25,000	31/07/2020	Listening Books
The Clothworkers Foundation - Grant to Listening Books
£5,000	06/05/2020	COVID19 : purchase tablet computers for a charity that works with adults who struggle to read nationally
RS Macdonald Charitable Trust - Audiobooks for visually impaired in Scotland
£4,500	27/11/2019	The project will provide free access to an audiobook library service for visually impaired people in Scotland who would find it difficult to pay heavily subsidised fees, which start at £20. Funding ....more The project will provide free access to an audiobook library service for visually impaired people in Scotland who would find it difficult to pay heavily subsidised fees, which start at £20. Funding is sought on the basis of £150 each per annum, the true average cost.
RS Macdonald Charitable Trust - Audiobooks for print impaired people in Scotland
£4,500	29/11/2017	Funding to provide a free audiobook service of over 7,000 titles via MP3 CD, internet streaming and downloads to anyone with a visual impairment in Scotland.

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Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (6)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 56-84

DAVID OWEN O' NEILL Appointed: 2011

ANNE-MARIE WILLIAMS Appointed: 2006, Occupation: Director

CHRISTOPHER SINCLAIR-STEVENSON Appointed: 1993, Occupation: Publisher

JULIA ECCLESHARE Appointed: 2002, Occupation: Journalist

MRS GILLIE HOWARTH (Chair), Occupation: Teacher

NICHOLAS DAVID FORSTER Appointed: 2011, Occupation: Company Director

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 06/07/1972, number: 264221
Registered at Companies House on 26/05/1972, number: 01056004

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints 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
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Filing Record

20 returns made; all on time

Main office

LISTENING BOOKS
12 LANT STREET
LONDON
SE1 1QH

Objectives

TO RELIEVE DISABILITY OR INCAPACITY, WHETHER PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY, ARISING FROM ANY SICKNESS, INJURY OR OTHER PHYSICAL OR MENTAL CONDITION, IN PARTICULAR, BY THE PROVISION OF AN AUDIO BOOK LIBRARY SERVICE INCLUDING RECORDED LITERATURE AND OTHER MATERIAL, TOGETHER WITH EQUIPMENT FOR THE REPRODUCTION OF SUCH LITERATURE OR OTHER MATERIAL, INCLUDING THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION OF PERSONS SUFFERING FROM SUCH CONDITIONS.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NOT DEFINED

Data Sources