Overall GiG Score: 16 ?
Finance Score: 2
Governance Score: 3
Support Score: 11
  • Poor Liquidity: -1
  • Strong growth: +2
  • Multiple Deficits: -2
  • Fundraising costs low: +3
  • Good trustee age range: +3
  • Grant maker support: +11

BEST BEGINNINGS 

Overview

Best Beginnings provides engaging educational video content and digital tools via their Baby Buddy app and social media that support pregnant women and new parents in the transition to parenthood. They also generate campaigns to help combat issues affecting new mothers and collaborate with partner charities to progress public awareness of these challenges.

The NHS has been highly supportive of their work, and they have been able to develop partnerships with localised healthcare programmes to embed their Baby Buddy app and reach high levels of birth cohorts in regions they're present. This is supplemented by thousands of individual app downloads nationalwide and millions of content views on social media.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

Helping new parents cope better with the challenges of early years development
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
  • Fundraising costs are low relative to funds raised
  • 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 age

Financial issues to consider:

  • Liquidity appears to have been slender at the latest year end
  • On several occasions in recent years income has been less than spending
Established: 17 years

www.bestbeginnings.org.uk

info@bestbeginnings.org.uk

02074437895

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
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How you can help

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£1,882£2,006£-125£151£130£580.3172
31/03/22£1,678£1,937£-259£235£255£1250.8210
31/03/21£1,897£1,507£390£163£603£3192.51622
31/03/20£1,140£1,070£70£143£213£320.41310
31/03/19£937£1,052£-115£101£143£570.71610
31/03/18£1,027£1,026£1£98£257£1131.3140
31/03/17?£735£805£-70£39£256£460.7130
31/07/16£1,131£1,167£-36£0£326£600.6120
31/07/15£1,166£1,211£-45£61£362£350.4120
31/07/14£1,061£845£216£76£407£1942.8100
31/07/13£719£640£80£68£192£581.160
31/07/12£659£823£-164£53£112£1261.870
31/07/11£570£512£58£68£276£1182.840
31/07/10£459£357£101£0£0£0n/a00
31/07/09£346£337£9£0£0£0n/a00
31/07/08£426£393£33£0£0£0n/a00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 8.1%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 7.5%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 9%
Highest pay band: £70,000-£80,000
Liabilities/Assets: 56%
Liabilities/Income: 9%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 45%
Reserves/Spending: 0.3 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 1 months
Quick Ratio: 1
Asset Split ?
What it does
  • Education/Training
  • The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
Best Beginnings creates and disseminates engaging, evidence-based resources including the Baby Buddy phone app, From Bump to Breastfeeding DVD, Small Wonders DVD, Baby Express Magazine and Maternal Mental Health films. These resources help to educate and empower parents and parents-to-be, increasing their confidence, knowledge and skills to give their children the best start in life.
Who works here?
  • 17 employees
  • 2 volunteers
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • The General Public/Mankind
How it operates
  • Acts as an umbrella or resource body
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Sponsors or undertakes research
Where it operates
  • Northern Ireland, Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,

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
The Aim Foundation£235,000
The EQ Foundation£110,000
The Childhood Trust£70,000
Tedworth Charitable Trust£60,000
National Lottery Community Fund£48,480
Garfield Weston Foundation£37,500
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£25,000 06/09/2023
Healthy Eating programme
The Aim Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£30,000 05/05/2022
Development of Baby Steps as part of Baby Buddy about Nutrition in preganancy
Garfield Weston Foundation - Multi-Year Grant (2 Years) award
£37,500 01/04/2022
LGBTQ+, adoptive, surrogate and fostering parents
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£45,000 20/10/2021
Towards core costs
The Aim Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£90,000 24/09/2021
Engagement Lead Salary
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£25,000 15/07/2021
Matched funding programme
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings: Supporting fathers across London
£25,000 22/06/2021
We have been supporting babies, pregnant families & new parents to recover from COVID-19 & lockdowns, but support is needed more than ever to focus on diverse London fathers, who are ....more
The EQ Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£10,000 15/12/2020
Matched funding programme
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings' Christmas Appeal
£20,000 08/12/2020
Across the UK, babies, pregnant families, and new parents need support recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Christmas Appeal will help to mitigate the consequences of the crisis and support ....more
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Big Give Christmas Appeal
£10,000 05/11/2020
Towards its Big Give Christmas Appeal
The Aim Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£40,000 10/09/2020
12
A one off grant towards the work of compiling the fathers content of the updated Baby Buddy App. The work is being done in partnership with the Future Men and the Fatherhood Institute.
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BEST BEGINNINGS
£25,000 22/07/2020
Childhood Trust Matched Giving
The Childhood Trust - Best Beginnings Appeal - Champions for Children 2020
£25,000 03/07/2020
Due to COVID19, babies, pregnant families, and new parents urgently need support. The Appeal will support over 5,000 isolated London parents with our NHS approved Baby Buddy app, providing empowering ....more
The EQ Foundation - Grant to BEST BEGINNINGS
£25,000 15/12/2019
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2019
National Lottery Community Fund - Early Years Digital Partnership - Development Phase (Development Grant)
£48,480 14/10/2019
8
Early Years Digital Partnership - Development Phase
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Running costs
£5,000 11/09/2019
Towards the charity's running costs.
The Aim Foundation - Grant to Best Beginnings
£75,000 24/04/2019
36
A new 3 year commitment towards Parent Leaders Projet reaching vulnerable and at-risk communities in Newham and Birmingham. They will support grass-roots organisations to use a digital innovation ....more
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Evaluation of maternal mental health work - Newham and Birmingham
£10,000 19/03/2019
Towards evaluation of maternal mental health work in Newham and Birmingham.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Main Grants award
£25,000 18/12/2018
The Big Give 2018
City Bridge Trust - Eco audit to Best Beginnings
£2,600 14/09/2018
£2,600 (6.5 days) to undertake an eco-audit.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000 16/03/2018
Towards core costs.
Garfield Weston Foundation - Multi-Year Grant (2 Years) award
£100,000 29/01/2018
Core costs
Comic Relief - Out of the Blue
£120,000 25/01/2017
24
10% of women suffer perinatal mental health issues during pregnancy and in the first year of their child's life. This project will help embed an app called Baby Buddy, which supports pregnant women ....more
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000 09/12/2016
Towards core costs.
Guy's and St Thomas' Charity - Best Beginnings Evaluatiing NHS liaison
£19,652 13/10/2015
Evaluating how best a voluntary sector organisation can work with NHS
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Engaging a consultant
£2,500 12/06/2015
Towards the costs of engaging a consultant to work with senior staff and trustees on a strategic plan.
Tedworth Charitable Trust - Core costs
£25,000 03/03/2015
Towards core costs.
National Lottery Community Fund - Pilot for phone apps which engage and support young mothers
£866,022 12/12/2013
36
Pilot for phone apps which engage and support young mothers
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How do they operate?

Baby Buddy app

Objectives: To provide easy access to trusted, evidence-based information and self management tools during the transition to parenthood and throughout the early stages of parenting

Intervention period: Pregnancy and early years

Beneficiaries: Pregnant women, fathers-to-be and new parents

Description: Baby Buddy is a free, interactive pregnancy and parenting guide available through Google Play, the App Store and the NHS Apps Library. It provides trusted, evidence-based information and self-care tools to help parents build their knowledge and confidence during the transition to parenthood, and throughout the early stages of parenting. The literacy age 11 entry level means its easily accessible to those not in education, training or employment and those whose first language may not be English

Embedding and Training Programme

Objectives: To integrate Best Beginnings services and resources into local health agencies and organisations

Intervention period: Pregnancy and early years

Beneficiaries: Pregnant women, fathers-to-be and new parents

Description: Best Beginnings works in local areas to co-create and deliver plans that train professionals to use their resources as part of standard care that families receive. This bespoke embedding service allows them to work collaboratively with agencies and organisations to bring about change in practice and equality of access. They also support the professional development of staff working with parents by providing interactive tools to enhance their interaction with families. This could include tracking progress between appointments, goal setting and addressing challenging conversations by watching a short video clip together

Comment: The Baby Buddy app is accredited by the NHS and is available in the NHS Apps Library

Source: Giving is Great

How effective are they?
Outputs
Outcomes
Y/EBaby Buddy app downloads% of Baby Buddy users who feel closer to their baby
31/03/202347,340%
31/03/202248,326%
31/03/202152,32292%
31/03/202052,42392%
Notes: Impact data is taken from surveys set up on the Baby Buddy app and sample sizes for these surveys range from hundreds of users to thousands. Surveys pose questions about the ease to use and emotional support the Baby Buddy app provides to produce results averaged in the positive ratings seen above.

Commentary: The Baby Buddy app gives access to hundreds of video resources and daily advice that supports all stages of pregnancy to five years old. Its value is reflected in user reviews and over thousands of downloads are made annually
See what you could achieve with a donation of: £
How do we calculate this?

Who works here?

  • CLARE LYONS-COLLINS
    CEO
    Appointed: January 2023
Clare has a wealth of experience across NHS policy and practice, initially training as an Occupational Therapist specialising in Stroke and Head Injury and laterally in mental health. She has held operational roles in the NHS in acute services, including women's health, mental health and commissioning. She also worked nationally for the healthcare regulator Monitor on national mental health policy as well as leading a national improvement model ....more
  • NICOLA CADBURY
    Head of Content
    Appointed: February 2020
Nicola has previously worked as Senior Policy and Communications Manager for the National Literacy Trust, focusing on influencing work related to language, communication and literacy development in the early years. Prior to that she led campaigns at ActionAid, including the Tax Justice campaign and the Send My Friend to School coalition. This campaign contributed to the UK government becoming the leading global education donor and engaged over a ....more
  • NILUSHKA PERERA
    Head of Operations
    Appointed: June 2020
Born and raised in Sri Lanka, Nilushka joined Best Beginnings after completing her Master’s degree in Public Health in 2016. She has experience in teaching and working on rehabilitating communities dealing with conflict and disaster in Sri Lanka, and has a strong interest in research, behavioural health and a background in Psychology.
  • JAMES HUNT
    Head of Fundraising
    Appointed: October 2023
James has had a varied career to date that has taken him from working on pantomime to working in politics for an MP at the House of Commons. For the past 20 years, he has worked in the charity sector in leadership and fundraising roles. This has included supporting the build of a children’s hospice, developing events and income for a major UK hospital, creating cohesion between large companies and patient organisations, and more recently ....more
  • ANNA LUMBROSO
    Head of Digital
    Appointed: August 2023
Coming from a rich and varied background, Anna has spent the last 10 years managing digital content and marketing strategies for the arts. She enjoys storytelling and crafting unique digital experiences.

How is it governed?

Trustees (7)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 32-63
  • GIDEON HURWITZ Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Fintech Innovation Lab Manager
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 12/07/2007, number: 1120054
  • Registered at Companies House on 05/07/2006, number: 05866886
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
  • Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Complaints policy and procedures
  • Conflicting interests
  • Engaging external speakers at charity events 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
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • 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
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Filing Record
16 returns made; all on time
Main office

10 - 18 Union Street
London
SE1 1SZ

Objectives

(1) TO PROMOTE THE PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND INFANTS THROUGH THE PROVISION OF SUPPORT, EDUCATION AND PRACTICAL ADVICE;(2) TO PROMOTE EQUAL ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES FOR FAMILIES WITH BABIES SO THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY ACCESSING THESE SERVICES ARE ENABLED TO DO SO; AND(3) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC, INCLUDING PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE CONTACT WITH YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES, ABOUT HEALTH ISSUES AFFECTING MOTHERS AND CHILDREN, INCLUDING BREASTFEEDING.

Defined Area of Benefit:

NATIONAL 'NOT DEFINED IN PRACTICE,

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase

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