Welcome to our latest governance update giving you an insight into our behind the scenes work so far his year. We ended our 2021 financial year with our finances in a strong position thanks to our successful grant applications and the generosity of our donors. The Trustees have set a fundraising strategy and a robust budget for 2022 aiming to deliver a strong range of services for our beneficiaries this year and beyond.
Another financial year end meant it was time for finalising our Annual Accounts and writing our Trustee Annual Report. Rachel Angus, our brilliant Treasurer, keeps amazing records for us throughout the year and did not disappoint with her prompt production of the accounts and draft report ready for sign off by our March Trustee meeting. Due to our strong income over 2021 our accounts now need an Independent Examination and we are grateful to our outgoing examiner Juliet Thomas and our new examiner Ed Reeve for volunteering to step into her shoes this year. We are in good shape to meet all the Charity Commission requirements for our financial monitoring which is a key duty of the Trustees.
The start of a new financial year is also an opportunity to reflect on what is working well and what areas of our services can be further developed. Our exciting new Resources into Schools project has now been successfully launched and the Trustees are planning for the development of a new service for parent carers later in the year. Setting our strategy and designing our services is a very rewarding part of our governance processes.
Overseeing service delivery, compliance and managing risk are also important Trustee duties which keep us busy throughout the year. Our rolling programme of risk monitoring and policy reviews feature in all our Trustee meetings as do updates from our Head of Operations, Michelle Bolton, helping us to monitor and measure our impact. Part of our measurement includes assessing how well we operate as a Board of Trustees and our recent self-assessment highlighted our strengths and also identified scope for some improvements. As a first part of our development we are delighted that we will be able to welcome a new Trustee, to our existing team of four, at our May Trustee meeting which will mean more capacity, new perspectives and some fantastic complementary skills. Look out for an announcement soon!
As ever we would love to hear from you if you have any questions, comments or feedback on any of our services. Please do message us or email us at info@dsachieve.org