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2024-04-05-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report

From Period 06/04/2023 to Period 05/04/2024

Charity name: Cumbria–Rungwe Community Link (CRCL)

Charity registration number: 1014491

Objectives and Activities:

Summary of the purposes of the Charity as per the Constitution

Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular those identified in the accounts

The main activities in relation to those purposes were

Statement confirming whether the Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit:

We confirm that the Trustees have had regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.

Contribution made by volunteers:

With the exception of a small honorarium for defined administrative duties, the entire work of this charity is carried out by volunteers.

Summary of the main achievements of the Charity, identifying the difference the Charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.

CRCL Trustee Report: April 2023 – April 2024

Names of the charity trustees who manage CRCL are listed on the final page of this report.

1. Inward 2023 – Julia Lee

The summer of 2023 saw our first inward visit since 2019, before Covid impacted international travel. 2 adults, Vero and Mboka, accompanied a group of 6 students, 2 from each of our 3 link secondary schools.

The initial plan was to bring 3 adults; however Salome was forced to drop out and we took the decision not to replace her. Changing the long standing ratio of leaders to students to 2:6 seemed successful and may be the strategy going forwards for inward visits, where an experienced leader accompanies a less experienced leader each time, effectively handing over the baton for the following inward, thus helping to develop our RCCL partners.

Inward programme

It had been difficult to recruit hosts for the three-week duration of the Inward visit, which led to members of the committee reaching out to family and friends to ensure all 8 of our guests were accommodated throughout their time in West Cumbria. This was successfully managed, and as a result, several additional students became involved, two of whom will travel to Tanzania this summer as a result of hosting in 2023. Student volunteer hours were tracked throughout the year and certificates of participation were issued at our Celebration event at the end of the Inward visit. These were gratefully received by the young people involved.

Summary of feedback – Inward 2023

Detailed feedback was received from all involved, this was especially important this year as it had been so long since the 2019 inward.

The programme was certainly action packed, highlights from our Rungwe visitors included the fundraising events – a bingo, quiz night & our celebration event – which helped to show how we raise money for CRCL. “We learned how hard it is to raise the funds here, this should be continued to include the group when they visit Cumbria again”. Another student commented “I like the bingo and the gift which I have get in the Bingo”!

The hosts were highly praised by all our guests from Rungwe, frequently referred to as loving and kind throughout the feedback forms. The trip to the Beacon, looking at our local history and Sellafield industry was also highly praised. The WOT robot workshop, organised by Amy Ireland at Beckermet Primary School was another highlight, as well as the library and swimming pool activities at SBCHS.

Some of the students did get tired during the Inward, and we need to be mindful of this moving forward, planning set “down-time” into the schedule as much as possible, rather than filling the days and the nights. We did perhaps include too many primary school visits, which at times lacked focus. We discussed solutions to this at our strategy day around the introduction of loan boxes about Tanzania and improved communications with any link schools.

Cumbrian leaders and students also had the opportunity to offer feedback on the Inward visit 2023. Our students also enjoyed the swimming pool session as it was a good ice breaker near the start of the visit. The only criticism of the bingo and quiz nights were that the venues were too small given how many people attended – Which is a good problem to have! The primary schools we visited, which had been attended by our link-students were very well received, students enjoyed seeing their old teachers &/or younger siblings.

The activity with the Rivers Trust fell on a particularly wet day, which was a shame. Feedback here suggested perhaps mixing up the day with more than one activity. Our students expected to be learning about conservation or rivers and ecosystems rather than picking balsam.

Overall, “even better than I thought it would be – I think more students should get involved next year. Loved it. Will miss the Tanzanian group”, sums up the three-week experience perfectly.

2. Outward 2024 Prep – Julia Lee

We launched the Outward preparation with a student and parent meeting in September 2023. Due to the small size of the student group involved during the Inward, all students were offered a place on the 2024 Outward. Eight students took up this offer and after careful consideration of flight options, a three-week trip was organised with Saudi Airlines. We gave all the students involved a survey to gauge interest in a 2-, 3-, 4- or 5-week outward trip to Tanzania. We settled on 3 weeks as this was the most popular outcome of the student-voice survey. With meticulous costing, the personal contribution for leaders and students alike was set at £1,100, a cost that encompassed travel, accommodation and food for the first time, with £100 contingency built in. Little did we know what the future had in store for us. But that’s a story for next year’s TAR*!

Preparation continued each month with team building activities, fundraising ideas, and outward preparation including an improved Kiswahili programme led by Sarah Coan. We are planning to launch a bespoke Kiswahili curriculum to cover the two-year cycle from September 2024.

In terms of fundraising, traditionally, this has been done to fund projects and inward expenses. Perhaps due to the nature of our group, in a break from the tradition, 4 out of the 8 students and 3 of the 5 leaders have spent time planning and running individual fundraising activities to supplement their £1,100 contributions this year. This is understandable given the cost-of-living crisis, and the fact that outward contributions have risen above £1,000 for the first time in our charity’s history. Meanwhile, 1 student and 1 young leader benefitted from an initial grant of £1,200 from the Mary Graves Trust towards their outward experience. We are very grateful to the help MGT continue offer young people in West Cumbria. There are discussions to have moving forward about potentially capping the individual contributions at a maximum of £1,200, as flight prices continue to increase.

Highlights in terms of teambuilding were our sponsored walk and litter pick up Scafell Pike and an evening spent with one of our t-shirt sponsors, escapeeducation, where we walked barefoot in the rain through a local woodland, although this goes outside the timescale of this TAR.

RCCL have once again been fantastic in putting together the outward programme and booking accommodation and transport on our behalf in Tanzania. Without their continued help and assistance, we would not be able to do what we do. We look forward to the first outward since 2018 this summer.

*(Saudi Airlines, although the cheapest at time of booking, took the decision to cancel their route to Dar es Salaam in April 2024 – leading to the need to book new flights at a much higher cost.)

– Strategy Day Ashleigh Huddart

In March 2024, Cumbria-Rungwe Community Link (CRCL) held its first strategy meeting, marking a renewed commitment to bi-annual meetings aimed at enhancing organisational agility and strategic focus. The meeting, attended by nearly half of the committee members, prioritised key initiatives such as developing a volunteer handbook to clarify roles and expectations, and initiating a skills and interest audit to optimise resource allocation and foster collaboration. Discussions also centred on improving volunteer engagement through spotlight sessions addressing topics identified in the skills audit, and enhancing communication channels via a streamlined contact database and updated website features. Ashleigh led efforts to integrate participant feedback and added this to Teams, with the aim of fostering transparency and collaboration. Looking ahead, CRCL has an opportunity to build on these foundations to strengthen community partnerships, streamline operations, and achieve greater impact in its charitable endeavours.

3. Publicity, Website, Social Media & Fundraising – Ellie Geen, Sophie Flynn & Phyllis Fisher

During 2023/24, the focus for publicity was to build our follower base and post content showing our Inward journey. In May, we ran a competition where the prize was a box of cupcakes donated by a local baker ‘Bakes By Gina’; in order to win this prize competitors had to follow us, like our page and tag 3 of their friends to encourage them to do the same. This competition ran for 3 weeks, and during that time our Instagram and Facebook follower counts raised by 42, and 79.5% more accounts engaged with our account than the week before. We also had a paid advertisement through Instagram; we paid for 5 days of boosted posts at £3 per day, helping us reach 648% more followers than we had reached the previous week, however engagement was down. During the Inward trip, our social media focused wholly on the process, posting almost daily with content from the day. After the trip was over we asked for photos from our young people and used this to create a series of posts showcasing the young people’s favourite parts from the Inward. We have also focused on making sure we have consistent and engaging posts, such as the posts over the Christmas period where we had a 12 Days of a Christmas series. We have also highlighted everything anyone would need to know about the charity in 3 brief posts, which are pinned to our Instagram page.

Main fund-raising events during this period have been our regular facepainting sessions held at Muncaster Castle. These events were held at Easter, in May (Medieval week and Sausage Festival), as well as Halloween in October. During this year, CRCL were invited for the first time, to do face painting at the start of Race the Tide which was held in August. We hope to continue with this activity at this yearly event in future years. These events in total raised approximately £4,000.

Other major fundraising events held during the year included a birthday celebration via Wonderful Org, the Great North Run where 2 runners raised money for CRCL, the Inward Visit Celebration, Bingo Night, Afrocrafts sales and pub quizzes. We also raised £1,700 from the yearly Christmas raffle. In total we have raised £14,246 during the 202324 financial year from fundraising events, which is roughly in line with the expected amount, despite having a much smaller student cohort.

4. Community Improvement Projects & Student Sponsorship – Christian White

During our Inward visit, in July 2023, a joint committee meeting was held with RCCL representatives Mboka Mwanjala (Projects Lead) and Vero Kazimoto (Secretary). RCCL echoed sentiments from CRCL, that the partnership was working well and that the move to funding a smaller of projects at one time enabled them to be better managed and of greater benefit to the community in Rungwe. RCCL representatives confirmed that in July 2023 there were no outstanding works or additional funding required, and CRCL requested another round of project proposals.

In November 2023, CRCL received the following seven project proposals:

(Prices adjusted to GBP using 14/06/2024 exchange rate)

For the first time, young people taking part in the two-year cycle reviewed the projects, alongside the CRCL committee. After discussion within the committee and recommendations from the RCCL chairperson, CRCL agreed to fund the projects at Masebe and Bugoba Primary schools. Additionally, in return for reduced fees for the coming Outward trip, the committee agreed to fund £4,000 worth of repair works at the Lutengano Bible Centre. To cover these projects, £14,000 was transferred to the RCCL committee in January 2024.

The committee has stayed well informed during the construction of the three projects thanks to RCCL Projects Lead Mboka. Photographs of the completed projects at Masebe and Bugoba were sent in March and April respectively. Repairs at the Lutengano Bible Centre are underway, with minor repairs and renovations expected to continue into the Summer.

A list of the 12 projects completed since 2019 has been compiled, with the idea that these can be commemorated with a plaque during this year’s Outward visit. At the same time, the Outward leadership team are hoping to review a new set of project proposals for potential funding in the 2024-25 financial year.

Student Sponsorship – Christian White

During a joint meeting with CRCL and RCCL representatives as part of the Inward visit in July 2023, a query was raised regarding £5800 of outstanding sponsorship fees from students at Lubala Secondary School. It appears that, likely due to miscommunication caused by a recent change in leadership at the school, Lubala expected that all students selected to travel to the UK would also have their fees paid for by CRCL. This is not, and has never been the case, and this was promptly communicated to Lubala and all schools affiliated with CRCL. As part of the joint meeting, a list of current headmasters/contacts at all eight link affiliated schools was shared, with the hope that similar queries could be asked directly in the future.

In the 2024-25 financial year, two new individuals have contributed to our student sponsorship scheme, as well as one existing sponsor, donating a £380 one off payment and a £36.75 monthly payment (£30 of which began in January 2024), totalling £551 (£661.2 with gift aid). This has contributed towards the sponsorship of two students from the 2023 inward, Abigail and Eloy.

5. Finance, Funding, Grants & Training – Mary Kipling

As stated in last year's Annual Report, it is increasingly difficult to see how we can attract new Grant Funding, as quite rightly all awarding bodies continue to focus on responses to the devastating aftereffects of the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by the cost-of-living crisis. However, we need to continue to seek funders whose criteria we may fit and engage with them directly to discuss potential applications where possible.

We have supported individuals’ applications to the Mary Graves Trust towards their Outward visit costs – eligibility here depends on low family income criteria, and all that were made were successful. MGT have recently guided us to collate applications in house in future and send these off together once collected at the start of the Outward Cycle.

Other than these, no new grant applications have been made this financial year, although the FC Scott Charitable Trust (towards core costs) and Cumbria Community Foundation grants (towards the Inward Visit Programme) have been spent, and the latter reported on and signed off by the funder.

It is imperative that both these funders and new ones are engaged with to explore potential future grant funding, if only for our ongoing work and delivery in West Cumbria and for Inward visit activity in our area.

We have received £73.71 Everyclick Give As You Live . This requires online shoppers to sign up to Give as You Live, nominating CRCL as their chosen charity, and providing the shopper then clicks through GAYL, a small percentage of online sales is then donated directly to CRCL. Thousands of online retailers and services now participate in this scheme. This passive fundraising needs further promotion, as much needed unrestricted funds can be raised with minimal effort. It is also important that people who have already signed up to GAYL check their details, as one of our members found she had not updated the email she used for shopping with the scheme, so the percentage donations were not going through.

Wonderful.org is our preferred online giving site as all fees are covered. We already use it for sponsored events and can also add a button for general donations at no charge to the donor or ourselves. Any other online donations platforms charge a fee.

£77.41 has been raised this year through Facebook's 'Birthday Fundraiser' initiative , towards Rungwe projects. This is easy to set up and free to use, and providing donors tick the Taxpayer box, Gift Aid is also added. It is another initiative to promote and encourage amongst members and supporters. It works well if the person setting one up has a lot of contacts on the platform and promotes it enthusiastically.

Gift Aid is a great opportunity to reclaim the tax paid on donations made by UK taxpayers. This year we received £3,399.37 reclaimed tax from HMRC from donations made in 2022-23. We make every effort both to attract donations, and then to collect the signed Gift Aid declarations associated with them. For online giving through Wonderful.org and Facebook, there is a box for taxpaying donors to tick for us to claim the Gift Aid. With any Facebook sponsorship, they collect the Gift Aid on our behalf. With Wonderful.org, they provide the information which we add into our annual Gift Aid claim.

We have started to look at new ways to engage with potential funders, in particular the local supply chain and business communities. We also need to look at promoting regular donations from CRCL supporters – for example past students and leaders.

– Training for the year Phyllis Fisher

We continue monitoring Training and encouraging Trustees and Volunteers to take advantage of the online courses available to them. Progress continues to be made with regard to the CPD online training, however this progress has somehow slowed down recently and completion of courses needs to improve once again. More online CPD courses have been allocated to individuals. Focus still remains on mental health and Safeguarding. Four Trustees completed the Safeguarding and Child Protection course provided online free of charge by Cumbria County Council.

Financial Review – Amy Ireland, Treasurer

Review of the Charity’s financial position at the end of the period

The accounts 6 April 2023- 5 April 2024 are available and have been audited by an independent inspector.

SUMMARY:

5 April 2023:
Charitable Account		 2023:
Charitable Account		 £2,153.51
Business Money Manager £11,185.26
Cumberland BS £5,235.75
Cash Float £50.00
TOTAL at end of year £18,624.52
6 April 2024:
Charitable Account		 £2,317.17
Business Money Manager £25,071.11
Cumberland BS £5,432.31
Cash Float £50.00
TOTAL at end of year £32,870.59
Income exceeded Expenditure by £14,246.07

Full details of income and expenditure are shown separately in the Annual Accounts.

Our finances run on a 2-year cycle and at this point, 6th April 2024, the majority of outgoings were spent on 2 major purposes. Some was transferred to RCCL for the funding of projects in partner schools and for Inward activities. All other outgoings have been minor expenses and ongoing running costs.

Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves, stating why they are held:

As explained above, our finances run over a 2 Year Youth Exchange Cycle. Our major expenditures occur episodically, based around funding a visit from a group from Rungwe, Tanzania to West Cumbria in the first summer, and the following summer funding a visit of a larger group from West Cumbria to the Rungwe District of Tanzania. During each 2-year cycle we also raise funds for projects in Rungwe, and for educational sponsorship of impoverished Rungwe school students, as per Objective 2.2.

We aim to start each 2-year cycle with reserves of £10,000, at the start of September, following the 2 yearly JulyAugust visit to Rungwe in Tanzania. The start of the most recent cycle was in September 2022. Due to the cyclical nature of our expenditure, it is inevitable that at times our balance will be much greater as we head towards major expenditures. Conversely, there will be years when our outgoings will be higher.

Amount of reserves held:

Our minimum reserves are £10,000. At the financial year end, they are inevitably greater than this. It is our intention to hold this sum in our Cumberland BS as we move forward.

At 6 April 2024 they stood at £ 32,870.59

RCCL Finances – Phyllis Fisher

Through the RCCL Treasurer, we continue to receive information regarding expenditures in Rungwe.

SUMMARY:

Between 1[st] April 2023 and 31[st] March 2024, CRCL made the following bank transfers to RCCL. 24/01/2024 – Tzs 44,870,000 (£14,000)

1[st] April 2023 - Balance b/f = Tzs 10,485,773

31[st] March 2024 – Balance c/f = Tzs 18,398,073

TzShillings Tzs
Balance b/f 10,485,773 Projects Expenditure 27,014,000
Trans to RCCL 44,870,000 Inward visit costs 9,735,000
RCCL admin costs * 208,000
Balance c/f 18,398,073
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------
Balance 55,355,773 Balance 55,355,773
------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------

*RCCL admin costs – this includes mainly bank charges in Tanzania.

Structure, Governance & Management

Description of charity’s trusts:

Type of governing document Constitution, lodged with the Charity Commission.

How is the charity constituted Registered Charity, with the Charity Commission of England & Wales.

Trustee selection methods including details of any constitutional provisions e.g. election to post or name of any person or body entitled to appoint one or more trustees

Trustees are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting, from the membership of the Charity present at the Annual General Meeting. Additional or replacement Trustees may be co-opted by the Committee (Trustees).

Reference and administrative details

Charity Name: Cumbria – Rungwe Community Link Other name the Charity uses : CRCL

Registered Charity Number: 1014491

Charity’s Principal address : 6 Jericho Road, Whitehaven, CA28 6UB

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
Trustee Name Office (ifany) **Dates acted if not for whole year **
1 Ashleigh Huddart Chair
2 Ellie Geen Secretary
3 AmyIreland Treasurer
4 Rebecca Crowther
5 Dan Pattinson
6 Christian White
7 PhilippaFisher
8 Laura Fowler
9 Lauren Rogers
10 Ellie Geen
11 Sophie Flynn
12 SarahCoan
13 Michael Lewthwaite
14 Amy Fletcher
15
16

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved: N/A

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity: N/A

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others: N/A

Declarations The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) (Chairperson) (Secretary) Full name(s) Ashleigh Huddart Ellie Geen Date 19-06-24

Account Summaries 2022/23

Charitable Account Opening Balance £2,153.51
Business Money Manager Opening Balance £11,185.26
Financial Year Starting Balance
Financial Year Closing Balance		 £18,624.52
£32,870.59		 £14,246.07 Cumberland Building Society
Cash Float		 £5,235.75
£50.00
Total Starting Balance £18,624.52
Total Income £33,866.51
Total Expenditure £19,620.44 £14,246.07 Charitable Account Closing Balance £2,317.17
Business Money Manager Closing Balance £25,071.11
Cumberland Building Society £5,432.31
Cash Float £50.00
Total Closing Balance £32,870.59

£14,246.07

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Cumbria Rungwe Community Link

I report on the accounts of the Trust for the year 2023-2024.

I believe I am suitably qualified as I am a data scientist with a CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting and an MSc in data science as well as being the treasurer for St John’s Church Beckermet.

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 and is in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations2006. 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.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination and subsequent queries, no matters have come to my attention;

  1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements;

  2. a. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act and section 44(1)(a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations; and

  3. b. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act and section 44(1)(b) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 8 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations

have not been met; or

  1. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Andrew Branch

3 East Croft, Beckermet, Cumbria, CA21 2XF Date of statement: 6[th ] June 2024

Checks performed:

Responses

  1. Corrected

  2. Yes, this was just the deposit paid. Remainder was due this FY. That's a long story, but it all plays out in this FYs accounts.

  3. Corrected

  4. These were instances where deposits had been paid for the trip, but they were later awarded grants that exceeded personal contributions, so they were given back the £250 deposit they'd paid. The grants were sent directly to the charity, but the amount was £100 more than required contribution. So the extra £100 was issued to the students to assist in buying equipment, etc.