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← Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust

2025-06-30-accounts

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

(Charity Registration No. 1008157)

Section 1

Reference and Administrative Details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisors

Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 30[th] June 2025

Notes to the Accounts

Independent Examiner’s Report

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

The Trustees are pleased to present their report, with the independently examined financial statements of the charity, for the year ended 30[th] June 2025.

Section 1 Reference and Administrative Details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisors

1.1 Registered Name

Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust registered as a Charity on 13[th] February 1992. (Charity Registration No 1008157.)

1.2 Registered Office

Bridge House 1 Second Avenue Denbigh West Bletchley Milton Keynes MK1 1ED

1.3 Trustees

Trustees serving during the year and since the year ended 30[th] June 2025 were as follows:

Trevor Crowter Treasurer, Acting Chair (from 12th December 2023 to 11[th] December 2024)

Charlotte Hampson

Dale Small Chair from 11[th] December 2024 Magdalena Williams To 11[th] December 2024

Stephen Gee

Timothy Cutting

Marilyn Benjamin From 11[th] December 2024

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

1.4

Relevant Organisations

a: Independent Examiner:

Stephen Dunham 37 Watercress Way Broughton Milton Keynes MK10 7AJ b: Bankers:

CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ

c: Insurers:

Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc, Benefact House, 2000 Pioneer Avenue, Gloucester Business Park, Brockworth Gloucester, GL3 4AW.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Section 2 Structure, Governance and Management

2.1 Governing Document

The Bridgebuilder Trust is governed by its Trust Deed dated 22[nd] August 1991.

2.2 Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

The Governing Document provides that Trustees may invite new Trustees to fill vacancies. They will be subject to approval by the existing members of the Board of Trustees. There is a minimum of four and a maximum of ten trustees, and none may be remunerated.

2.3 Policies and Procedures for Trustee Induction and Training

New Trustees undergo an induction process and are encouraged to attend appropriate external training courses to facilitate the undertaking of their role. The Trustees normally hold four full meetings a year.

The charity is an associate member of Scripture Union.

Section 3 Objectives and Activities

We are a Christian charity which has been working in the primary and secondary schools of Milton Keynes since 1993. Our vision is: Engaging young people to explore faith and positive life choices.

Our mission is to build bridges between schools and the Christian community to enable young people to explore, be empowered, and engaged on Christian beliefs and values. These are amplified as follows:

Explore

We enable children and young people to explore the Christian faith and values from a personal perspective in accessible and memorable ways.

We communicate in a manner appropriate to pupils of all faiths or no faith, encouraging them to explore their own values and beliefs.

Empower

We help all children and young people to explore and talk about their Personal, Social, Health and Emotional well-being in the context of faith and their belief systems.

We empower young Christians to be confident in their faith and to be a positive influence.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Engage

We provide children and young people of all backgrounds with positive role models and support projects in schools by building bridges between schools and the Christian community.

We connect young people with the Christian community and broaden their horizons by developing opportunities to learn outside the classroom and to visit local churches.

Programmes

The programmes that we operate to achieve these aims are as follows:

It’s Your Move

An enjoyable workshop aiming to give Year 6 pupils confidence as they face the transition to secondary school .

Lifepath

This RE day out is an outreach project (aged 9 – 11) from the Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire areas. It is an event which explores the Christian faith by looking at the lifepath of a famous local Christian from the past.

Christmas and Easter Cracked

A Bridgebuilder resource for churches, so they can host Year 5 or 6 pupils in their church to learn about the meaning of Christmas and Easter.

Assemblies

Interactive and memorable presentations dealing with ethical and moral values. Until recently this was Bridgebuilder’s main activity. We still carry out many assemblies and there is high demand from schools for them. However now wish to broaden our offerings, engage churches more with the work and to provide more activities that foster deeper engagement with faith matters. Those aims together with resource constraints mean that our assemblies are now mostly delivered to those schools who regard our assemblies as an important part of their school life and who show great enthusiasm for our visits.

RE Lessons

We offer these at each Key Stage, following the MK RE syllabus. These are Interactive lessons that help children come to grips with spiritual issues from a Christian perspective.

Worth It

For secondary schools, we can now offer Worth-It , a 6-week therapeutic course for 6 – 8 pupils who are struggling (or might struggle) with their self-esteem.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Emerge

An emotional literacy package, based on Christian faith and values, involving interactive sessions addressing issues such as conflict, anger management and self-esteem. This works well with small groups of students who find school life difficult. It can be used in the PSHE area of the curriculum.

Guardians of Ancora

Guardians of Ancora is a world-class tablet game for 8 to 11-year-olds offering an amazing virtual world and an immersive interactive experience of Bible stories. It combines the excitement and creativity of a high-spec online game with an immersive experience of Bible content and faith formation.

Prayer Spaces

Prayer Spaces encourage the children, through focused activities, to communicate directly with God in prayer for themselves, for their family and friends, and for the world.

Hope MK & Hope Unite

Meetings to engage local teenagers. These empower young people for local mission, providing an opportunity for them to grow in their faith, become emboldened and united for mission and discipleship, and encouraging them to serve their local community.

Church Partnership

We have developed a comprehensive package to provide training, support and back up to those churches who wish to engage in a meaningful way with local schools. We partner with them to be effective in that role. A number of churches have engaged with this process and we hope to see this increasingly bear fruit in the future.

Public benefit

The Trustees have taken account of the Charity Commission’s guidance on Public Benefit. Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust provides a public benefit through supporting the Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development of children and young people in Milton Keynes. We encourage students to think through issues such as fear, honesty, peer pressure, generosity, kindness and self esteem so they are able to build good character, reach their potential and positively impact the world.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Section 4 Financial Review

4.1 Overview of Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust’s Financial Position at 30[th] June 2025

The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis. The core source of income is from donations from individuals and churches, with 52% of total voluntary income coming from individual donors. Fundraising activities are conducted both by volunteers and by staff.

The main expenditure of the charity relates to the salary costs for the staff, who are involved in the schools ministry and the administration of the charity. Volunteers and the trustees are also involved in these activities.

4.2 Restricted Funds.

Money given for specific purposes is allocated to restricted funds.

One restricted fund is for Hope MK, an event held annually for young people from 2013 to 2019. Shorter events were held in October 2022, 2023 and 2024. This restricted fund contained £ 1,891on 30[th] June 2025. The charity also has restricted funds for the Guardians of Ancora (£468 on 30[th] June 2025) and a ‘Specifics’ fund, for the purchase of a wide variety of specified equipment (£1,947).

4.3 Reserves Policy

The Trustees aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds of at least £30,000, intended to cover wind up costs should that be necessary.

4.4 Commentary

This year has been a mixed picture financially. We have had fantastic support from the Broughton Ecclesiastical Charity and from the Joseph Rank Trust over the last few years. Each has donated substantial sums. We have also received generous donations from several other Trusts and a significant one-off individual donation. Donations from schools have recovered well in the last two years, to around the level of a few years ago.

On the other hand, the regular support we have received from individuals and churches has reduced substantially in real terms over the last 10 years. Bridgebuilder is a mission to schools, and it is natural that the churches of Milton Keynes and their members should be the main supporters of the work. This is becoming less the case and presents challenges looking ahead. The final instalment of the Joseph Rank Trust grant was received in July 2025 and the one-off individual donation will not be repeated, so the financial picture may become more challenging in this coming year.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Section 5 Plans for the Future

The Trustees intend the Trust to carry on working in local schools among the young people of Milton Keynes, working in close conjunction with local churches. We plan to continue to offer services both in person and online. Going forward we are moving towards an increasing emphasis on depth of engagement, rather than breadth. We have therefore reduced somewhat the number of assemblies we offer and now aim to spend more time with those schools who really engage with us. We will invest further in building deeper relationships, through workshops like Christmas Cracked and Easter Cracked and our extra-curricular offerings, while encouraging and supporting local churches to join more actively in our mission through the Church Partnership Programme. We are grateful for the financial support we receive from individuals and from Milton Keynes churches. We are also grateful for the support we have received from several grant-awarding Trusts, which has grown substantially over the last few years.

We have reduced staff levels compared with a few years ago. The services we can offer to the schools and young people of Milton Keynes are constrained by the resources we have, rather than the needs and demands for our services. We hope to be able to meet the increasing needs of a rapidly growing city as we move forward into the future

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Section 6 Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each year which give a proper view of the affairs of the Charity as at the end of the financial year and of its results for that period. In preparing those statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records which disclose the financial position of the charity and enable them to ascertain that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and for financial information included on the charity’s website.

Section 7 Independent Examiner

Stephen Dunham was appointed as the independent examiner for the 2024/25 financial period.

Signed on behalf of the Trustees.

T E Crowter

Trevor Crowter

Treasurer

Date: 21.11.25

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 30th June 2025

Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Restricted Total Total 2024
2025
Incoming Resources
Funds		 Funds Funds Funds £ £
£ £ £ £
Incoming Resources from Generated Funds:
Church Gifts 29,817 0 29,817 29,853
Individual Gifts 66,474 70 66,544 39,720
Schools Donations 7,940 0 7,940 7,560
Income Tax RecoveredNote 1 6,396 0 6,396 6,825
Activities for Generating Funds:
Office Income 0 0 0 0
Other Fundraising Activities 670 0 670 2,414
Investment Income:
Interest 2,362 0 2,362 2,822
Incoming Resources from Charitable
Activities:
Schools and Youth Activities 2,611 872 3,483 5,425
Grants from charitiesNote 230,667 0 30,667 27,500
Total Incoming Resources 146,937 942 147,879 122,119
Resources Expended
Costs of Generating Funds:
Fundraising costs 74 0 74 1,349
Total Costs of Activities 74 0 74 1,349
Charitable Activities
Schools Ministry OutreachNote 3 143,947 6,955 150,902 127,318
Governance Costs 1,121 0 1,121 1,023
Total Resources Expended 145,142 6,955 152,097 129,690
Net Incoming/(Outgoing) Resources 1,795 (6,013) (4,218) (7,571)
Balance Brought Forward 56,414 10,319 66,733 74,304
Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733 Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733 Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733 Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733 Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733 Balance Carried Forward 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Balance Sheet as at 30th June 2025

Unrestricted Restricted Total 2025 Total 2024
Funds Funds
£ £ £ £
Fixed Assets
Office Equipment 4 0 0 0 0
Total Fixed Assets 0 0 0 0
Current Assets
Current Accounts 8,166 4,283 8,166 4,283 12,449 16,638
Business Reserve Account 50,000 0 50,000 50,000
Cash 43 23 66 95
Total Current Assets 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733
Total Liabilities 0 0 0 0
Net Assets 58,209 4,306 62,515 66,733

Approved by Trustees on: 24.10.25

Signed: T E Crowter

Trevor Crowter, Treasurer

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Notes to the Accounts

Accounting policies

In preparing the accounts the following accounting policies have been complied with:

1. Income tax recovered

This is the amount of income tax recovered in the accounting year. It relates to gifts made in the 2023/24 tax year.

2. Grants

2025 2024
£ £
Grants from Charities 30,667 27,500

3. Schools Ministry Outreach

2025 2024
£ £
Employee Costs -Note 5 104,559 92,827
Staff Travel 3,227 2,508
Conferences & Training 2,368 343
Ministry Resources 5,572 4,556
Volunteer Expenses 0 0
Youth Events 6,884 5,232
Rent, Insurance & Office Costs 27,805 20,584
Subscriptions and Donations 302 1,268
Digital Platform 185 0
150,902 127,318

4. Office Equipment

Recently the office equipment purchased has been for modest amounts and has been charged at

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

cost in the year of purchase. There are no longer any assets shown on the balance sheet for these items. The charity has no other fixed assets.

5. Analysis of employee costs:

2025 2024
£ £
Gross Salaries 91,522 83,041
National Insurance – Employers 2,724 786
Pensions 10,313 9,000
104,559 92,827

No employee earned more than £60,000 and the average number of employees during the year 2025 was 3.1 (2024, 3.1).

A number of volunteers have supported the charity through the year in respect of schools ministry, fundraising and administration and no financial value has been included in these Accounts for their work. Without their valuable commitment and support the charity would not be able to work at the current level of operation.

Trustee Expenses

During this year the charity did not pay any mileage expenses to the Trustees, nor any other expenses, except for reimbursements of the costs of certain small purchases on behalf of the trust.

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust

I report on the accounts of the Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust (charity number 1008157) for the year ended 30[th] June 2025, which are set out on pages 1 to 14.

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Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] June 2025

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for the year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to :

Basis of independent examiner’s report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

have not been met; or

Signed Stephen Dunham Date 21.11.25

Name: Stephen Dunham Relevant professional qualification or body: CIMA Address: 37 Watercress Way, Broughton, Milton Keynes MK10 7AJ

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