DISCOVERU

Registered charity 1197061 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as DISCOVER U

Discover U is a charity working to help people with barriers into employment. We believe that everybody who wants to should have the opportunity to work and we support them to do that with a wide range of programmes and opportunities. Our aim is to provide work related experience to adults with some level of learning disability or others similarly disadvantaged because of physical disability.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE TO PROVIDE WORK RELATED EXPERIENCE TO ADULTS WITH SOME LEVEL OF LEARNING DISABILITY OR OTHERS SIMILARLY DISADVANTAGED BECAUSE OF PHYSICAL DISABILITY.TO RELIEVE THE NEEDS OF DISABLED PEOPLE BY;1) PROVIDING EDUCATION, TRAINING AND SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY; AND2) BY HELPING TO FIND WORK PLACEMENTS AND WHERE POSSIBLE PAID WORK FOR SAID PEOPLENOTHING IN THIS CONSTITUTION SHALL AUTHORISE AN APPLICATION OF THE PROPERTY OF THE CIO FOR THE PURPOSES WHICH ARE NOT CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH [SECTION 7 OF THE CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005] AND [SECTION 2 OF THE CHARITIES ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 2008]

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Disability · Economic/community Development/employment · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£458k

Latest spending

£496k

Registered

2021

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity incurred a net expenditure of £37,497 for the year, resulting in total funds decreasing from £135,375 to £97,878. The trustees note that reserves have fallen to approximately two months of expenses, below their policy target of three months, due to rising costs. They anticipate further significant increases in staffing and utility costs in the coming year.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £98k; policy: three months of reserves)

“At the year end the reserves of the charity were equal to around two months of expenses due to the rise in overall costs.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

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
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — DiscoverU (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

Feast Uk — “We are supported by local companies like Feast Uk and Porter & Woodman.” (source page)
Porter & Woodman — “We are supported by local companies like Feast Uk and Porter & Woodman.” (source page)

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook

Register events

Received assets from another charity (24/06/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Steven Smithchair
David Reynolds
Kathleen Jenkins
Stephen Mills

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Dudley

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£458k	£496k
31/12/2023	£445k	£439k
31/12/2022	£393k	£393k

Common questions

Is DISCOVERU financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity incurred a net expenditure of £37,497 for the year, resulting in total funds decreasing from £135,375 to £97,878. The trustees note that reserves have fallen to approximately two months of expenses, below their policy target of three months, due to rising costs. They anticipate further significant increases in staffing and utility costs in the coming year. Its FY2024 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds DISCOVERU?

Funders whose own accounts filings name DISCOVERU as a grant recipient include THE EDWARD GOSTLING FOUNDATION.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE EDWARD GOSTLING FOUNDATION	FY2022	£10k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	28/07/2022	£96k	Discover U 2

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE HAPPOLD FOUNDATION	1	—
THE LIVINGBRIDGE FOUNDATION	1	£501k
SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUST	1	£382k
MISSION44	1	£362k
THE SLAUGHTER AND MAY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£330k
THE FIDELITY UK FOUNDATION	1	£232k
THE PWC FOUNDATION	1	£99k
THE DULVERTON TRUST	1	£97k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY CENTRE EAST LONDON.

CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY CENTRE EAST LONDON income £3.1m
DYSCOVER LIMITED income £244k
DISCOVERSVS income £235k
THE DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT income £135k
UPP FOUNDATION income £118k
UNITY WORKS SOCIAL ENTERPRISES income £3.0m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
DISCOVERU	£458k	—	0	below	—	no doubt
CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY CENTRE EAST LONDON FY2025	£3.1m	£60,001 - £70,000	1	below	—	no doubt
DYSCOVER LIMITED FY2025	£244k	—	0	below	—	no doubt
DISCOVERSVS FY2025	£235k	—	0	below	—	no doubt
THE DISCOVERY SAILING PROJECT FY2025	£135k	—	0	unclear	—	noted
UPP FOUNDATION FY2025	£118k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.