Playgroup closure and leftover money

[Gymmum82]

So before Covid I used to run a playgroup. It was passed down the line from mum to mum. Little community affair in a small village. Everyone paid £2 a week. Which included snacks and drinks.

Anyway it closed over Covid and has never reopened. It will never reopen. The space where it was held has been taken over by another company so cannot be used. I have returned to work full time etc. Toys have been thrown away by them.

I have a dilemma in that I still have the bank account with around £200-300 in it. I still have all the paperwork. Statements, a small amount of petty cash. I don’t know what to do with it? Donate it to charity? I dont want to be accused of stealing. But equally I don’t want to keep it forever.

What should I do?

Is there another community charity like a library that could use it ? Or Even the local
primary school ?

Do you have a written constitution for the playgroup? If you do there's usually a bit about what you do with assets if the group stops running.

If you don't, then just donate to another group that benefits local children, and if you have any social media for the old playgroup, post on there about where the money has been donated

Is it a registered charity? If so, there are specific rules.
Otherwise, as a PP has said, does it have a constitution and does that say anything?
If not, were there other "committee members" or regular helpers? If so, I'd be tempted to agree a plan with them (so it's not just you deciding). Once you've come up with a plan, I might even be tempted to advertise it on the local FB what you'll be doing.
In terms of your options, I would suggest you either donate to another local pre-school group or, if all or most of the children went to the same primary, donate it to the school or their PTA. Then the intended beneficiaries will still end up benefitting from it

I was in a very similar situation at the beginning of the year. The committee officers: Chair, Treasurer & Secretary met & decided where we would like the money to go. There were 4 local charities that were doing similar things and we divided the money up between them. They were all so pleased to receive it, it made me feel better about the fact we weren't able to carry on post Covid.

I could donate it to the local school. Library is council run and I wouldn’t trust the council

Home start if they're in your area do a lot of good in ours.

Not a registered charity. No committee. There were a few other regular helpers but I lost touch with them all unfortunately. They only helped with setting up and packing away. Not really with anything else

I would donate it to a worthy cause of your choice with a similar aim of the playgroup.

A one off 'farewell' party for the group?

Where do preschoolers go now? You could donate to them an say so on a local Facebook group. Put it in writing and ask the recipient for a receipt.

or

what about a Christmas party for all the old attenders? You could hire a hall and have cakes and games for the kids and coffee for the mums.

Do you have a local charity like The Baby Bank?

Why don't you donate it to your local Reception class, with strings attached - that the money has to be used for toys and books? That would be in the spirit of the playgroup

I was in the exact same position a few years ago.
No committee, not a charity, no other members of staff. I gave the money to a local toy library- they were over the moon!

You could try to track down a few of the old committee members and ask them if they agreed to donate money to the local primary school. I think children should benefit from it in some way. Also you can get it all signed off then.

If you don't want to give it to anything council owned, could you buy Christmas gifts for kids with very little? Most towns / cities have schemes were you can buy gifts or even toiletries for local disadvantaged kids and teenagers xx

I’d donate it to the local school. Get a picture of yourself handing over a cheque to a representative of PTA, or with some toys/ equipment they buy with the money so it will be on their social media.

Oh that’s a nice idea. There will be xmas appeals coming up soon I’m sure