Jim Matthew Camera Collection Trust
– a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), SC050024
The financial year 23/24 saw the expansion of the Trust’s activities, with the Collection being opened to the public every week from April to September, as well as special openings on World Photography Day (August 19th) and for the St Monans Community Arts Festival.
On World Photography Day, we launched the membership scheme that was provided for within our constitution; and also began the creation of a Camera Library, to enable members and others to borrow a range of film cameras and accessories.
Membership numbers have since grown slowly but steadily. Members are encouraged to get involved with the running of the Collection where they can, and those who are not local are kept up to date with our activities via email and social media. We hope to be able to expand on membership activity in the future, with special events and meetings.
Equipment for the Library has been identified, mainly using cameras that have been donated in recent years where the provenance and condition gives some assurance about reliability. Several cameras have been tested to ensure that they are in good working order, and the expansion of the Library is an ongoing project.
Donations of cameras and equipment continue to be made, and the hall of three thousand cameras now has considerably more than that number. We are working on improving displays and where possible creating new display space but clearly, there is limited capacity for additional items. In cognisance of that, we agreed that all new donations would be informed that equipment was being accepted on the basis that, where possible, if the camera filled a gap in the collection, we would try to put it on display (the gap being any variation for the very complete collection of Kodak cameras, especially the Brownies; and generic examples for other parts of the collection). Failing that, if the equipment is in good condition, we would try to find a good use for it, whether that be in the Camera Library, or being made available to other museums, etc., or for educational purposes, or to be sold on, to raise funds for the Trust.
As in the previous year, we continued to reduce the burden of revenue commitments, with further rationalisation of utilities (and some continuing negotiations by the Treasurer regarding overcharging); and sought to increase our income, through more frequent openings to maximise the potential for donations, and to secure a steady source of income from supporters via the membership scheme.
We thank our members, volunteers and visitors for their continued support. Their enthusiasm is what makes our efforts to maintain and develop the collection so worthwhile.
Annual Accounts – summary
| donations | £1,414.22 | Water | £282.32 | |
| membership | £240.00 | Electricity | £250.00 | |
| electricity (refund) | £90.00 | Insurance | £703.20 | |
| ICO | £35.00 | |||
| Income | £1,744.22 | Expenditure | £1,270.52 | |
| opening balance | £517.59 | |||
| income | £1,744.22 | |||
| expenditure | £1,270.52 | |||
| closing balance | £991.29 |