Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) (Registered charity, number 1044031) Financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022
| Page | Contents |
|---|---|
| 2 - 7 | Trustees’ annual report |
| 8 | Independent examiner’s report |
| 9 | Receipts & payments account |
| 10 | Statement of assets & liabilities |
| 11 - 12 | Notes to the accounts |
Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 December 2022
Full name Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
Other names by which the charity is known Nottingham Buddhist Centre
Registered charity number 1044031
Principal address 9 St Mary’s Place, Lace Market, Nottingham, NG1 1PH
Trustees
Lucy Jane Spence (Kusaladevi), Chair, Dorry Lake (Karunavaca) Rachel Woodburn, Treasurer Jyotida Melbourne Gareth Austin (Dayajava), Secretary Paul Johnson, from 1.2.21 Cornelia Anna Maria Remijn (Khemasiri) Joanne Coates (Kshantika) Jesus Marquez Briceno (Aryavacin) until 20.2.23
Independent examiner
John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL
Governance and management
The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 23 October 1994 and most recently amended 27 March 2011.
All new trustees are invited through discussion between existing trustees (the Council), to ensure that they are in harmony with the aims of the charity. In practice this means that trustees are selected from the pool of ordained Buddhists and those who have requested Ordination in Triratna in Nottingham. Trustees are nominated by the charity’s members and appointed at the AGM as per the constitution. The constitution allows a minimum of 4 and maximum of 10 trustees. Ten regular trustee (Council) meetings were held in 2022.
Objectives and activities
The object of the Triratna Buddhist Community is the advancement of the Buddhist religion, in particular:
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To encourage the members and others to live in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha;
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To support ordained members of the Triratna Buddhist Order and other duly ordained Buddhists, at the discretion of the council of the Nottingham Buddhist Centre;
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To maintain close communication with, and work under the guidance of the Triratna Buddhist Order and in co-operation with other groups with the same objects.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
We are an international Buddhist movement bringing the Buddha’s teaching to the general public.
In 2021 The Council/Trustees revisited the centre’s vision and agreed key themes:
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Facing outward/responding to the world with the Buddha’s teaching;
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Deepening practice of the Buddha’s teaching within our community;
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Making the Buddha’s teachings accessible (by encouraging a diverse and inclusive sangha/community).
We have sustained a diverse range of events and activities that make available the teachings and practices of the Buddha to the local community. We run events for the general public and when possible, to educational establishments across the region. We run activities at the centre and in various locations outside. This year most of our activities have moved back to in-person events, although we have maintained both online and hybrid events (both online and in person) to make our activities more accessible for those who find it difficult to attend in person.
Public benefit statement
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.
Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit
Meditation classes and Buddhist teachings can provide valuable support to people and assist them to deal with the uncertainties of their lives and meditation can improve mental health and decrease stress. This can enable people to more fully participate in all areas of their lives. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, we are noticing that isolation and struggles with life have been higher, so people seem even more appreciative of our activities.
Summary of the main achievements during the period
In 2022, we were able to transition from online activities to most of our activities being back in person at the Buddhist Centre. We have maintained a hybrid (in person and online) element for our sangha (community) nights, to ensure that as many people as possible can attend and to ensure we are more accessible to those who find it difficult to attend physically.
We saw that there was a high demand for Introductory courses in 2022, which seemed to be due to people coming out of the Covid 19 lockdowns and searching for community and Buddhist teaching to support their lives and the suffering they had encountered. This meant that we could fulfil one of our main charitable objectives, reaching and introducing people to the Buddha’s teachings, whilst also helping reduce the isolation present in society due to the pandemic.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
EVENTS
The Buddhist Centre runs regular classes and events for sangha members and also introductory classes for newcomers. This year, we were able to increase our successful drop in meditations back to two in person classes, for the first time in two years. We have now (in 2023) increased to 3 weekly drop in meditation classes, open to anyone who wishes to learn meditation.
Our main regular events this year were sangha night for the whole community (weekly), Drop in meditation classes (2x weekly), study sessions for Mitras and those doing the foundation course, puja nights (monthly), meditation mornings (occasional), Introduction to Buddhism and Meditation courses, follow on courses, men’s and women’s gatherings, sub 35 activities and the monthly People of Colour (EMPoC) group, which has continued to gain momentum and be a very successful group. We also had two residential retreats for the sangha and some guest run weekends at the Buddhist Centre.
This year we also led some events as part of a wider Triratna programme around the Nature of Mind. We held study sessions, open to anyone, Sangha nights around the theme of the Nature of Mind and encouraged our community to attend the two retreats at Adhisthana. These sessions introduced some new people to the sangha and also provided inspiring material for our regular sangha members.
We also celebrated the main Buddhist festivals this year.
Yoga - Bodhiyoga is a regular part of the Buddhist centre offerings, on a donation basis. These classes are a wonderful way for new people to meet the Buddhist centre, as well as supporting those who are regular in the sangha.
We held special evenings during Buddhist Action Month in June, with themes around how to respond to conflict in the world, Race, Gender Diversity and the Triratna Earth Sangha. These events look at those areas where our Buddhist practice meets current world issues. The Earth Sangha team also led a 'Work that Reconnects' workshop day in March. And there was an Ambedkar/Buddhism pilgrimage in April, where some sangha members went to London for the day to celebrate Dr Ambedkar’s connection to Buddhism and Triratna.
DONATIONS
Regular monthly donations were slightly lower than expected throughout the year. This could be in part due to the rise in costs of living and people having higher expenses following the pandemic.
However, many of our other donations were higher than expected throughout the year. Our total donations for the year were around £900 higher than budgeted. We are very grateful for these generous donations.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
MAINTENANCE
We were approached to take part in a Nottingham Trent University Sustainability in Enterprise project. As part of this project, students came to assess the sustainability of our building and make suggestions as to how we might become more environmentally sustainable and use less carbon.
Of the suggestions made, the work we chose to carry out was to double glaze the windows at the back of the building and to install new insulation in the loft space. We received a grant in January 2023 towards 40% of the work carried out thanks to the project. We successfully fundraised for the remaining amount in February 2023.
Other regular maintenance occurred in the building this year as required.
CIO
Work continues to help us transition to being a CIO and this will be completed in 2023.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Our Centre Manager Dayajava was ordained and joined the Trirtana Buddhist Order. It was very joyous to welcome him back into the community after a long retreat.
We had a Presidential visit from Ratnaghosha, who met with the Buddhist Centre council, Mitras and Order members, as well as other sangha members. He also led a fantastic weekend retreat.
At the end of November, we welcomed two new Order members to Nottingham and to our sangha - Upekshanandi and Jnanaruchi. Upekshanandi became the new women’s Mitra Convenor in November 2022.
We continued with Interfaith work this year. Kusaladevi attended and spoke on a Q&A panel at a women of faith event at UoN, there were regular meetings of Nottingham Interfaith group and a Buddhist society visit. We are also working towards having a chaplain in role at the University of Nottingham. Finally, leaders from other faiths visited the centre in October for a well received event.
There have been some changes in the men’s residential community above the centre. One person left the community in February and another left in November. A new community member moved in during January 2023. The women who will live in a residential community (as a private rental they will rent starting in 2023) have been meeting regularly through the year to establish a sense of community amongst themselves.
We adopted new Safeguarding policies for 2022 - these can be found on our website: - https://nottinghambuddhistcentre.org/our policies
Our safeguarding officer has co-ordinated the work to address any safeguarding issues throughout the year. The details of what has been done by whom and why, have been securely logged by her.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
Many volunteers joined or continued with us in 2022, for which we are so grateful. As well as supporting the Centre’s activities, volunteering is an opportunity for members of our sangha to creatively engage together on projects, as part of their Dharma practice.
This year, four people made the commitment of becoming Mitras and three people asked for ordination. There are currently 66 Mitras and 26 of them have requested Ordination.
A new School visits team have been meeting and preparing to start work in 2023.
As part of our good governance, and in response to a process undertaken during 2022, a review was carried out which started in Dec 2022. Procedures, policies and processes were reviewed and a number of useful actions and recommendations were made to the Trustees going forward. The Buddhist centre and sangha are thriving, with many people making commitments in their Buddhist practice and supporting each other, as well as newcomers, in their Buddhist practice.
EMPLOYEE CHANGES
The Men’s Mitra Convenor, Aryavacin, submitted his notice in Dec (and left end Jan 2023). The Buddhist Centre Council extended thanks for all his work over his time working at the centre. He has given much love and energy to support the centre. The Women’s Mitra Convenor, Khemasiri, who was more recently volunteering, finished at the end Dec. The Buddhist Centre Council are very grateful for all she has given and done for the centre and sangha.
Our new women’s Mitra Convenor, Upekshanandi, started in Nov. It’s great to have her working at the centre and we are glad she is part of the team.
At the point of writing, there are 3 supported Order Members (Chair, Mitra Convenor and Centre Manager) and a PT salaried bookkeeper.
Financial review
Given the rising costs of energy and general inflation, plus the £10,000 investment we made into making our building more energy-efficient and sustainable this year, we’re very happy with our financial position at the end of 2022. When the capital investment (which we have 90% covered in 2023 with a Sustainability in Enterprise grant plus our own fundraising) is removed from the picture, we basically broke even in 2022. Besides general rising costs in 2022, we also had some unexpected costs in terms of paying another person to cover some of the duties of our Centre Manager when he was on his 3-month ordination retreat. We also found that we needed to pay our new Women’s Mitra Convenor more than we had our previous one due to her greater financial needs. With all of this in the mix, we are happy to have broken even. We have also recently completed a regular giving campaign from which we are seeing a more than £500/month increase in monthly donations, which is encouraging for the future.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham)
Financial risks
As stated above, we face financial risks from any decreases in regular donations, in event-specific donations, or in rent. Of these three, the biggest risk is probably in regular donations, which is likely to be sensitive to the economic environment. As living costs and inflation increase, donors may have less income available to give us. We mitigate this risk by keeping a close eye on regular giving each month, so we will be able to respond quickly to changes. We also plan to do a regular giving appeal each year.
On the cost side, we also face risks associated with our building, particularly as the climate crisis leads to more frequent and more severe storms which may cause damage which we’ll need to repair. We have replaced windows on the north side of the building as well as improving our loft insulation in 2022, so we can feel confident that we shouldn’t need to do more in that area in the near future.
The charity’s policy on reserves
We rely on income from regular donations, from event-specific donations, and from rent of our building to cover our operational costs. If any of those three were to decrease substantially, we would need to rely on our reserves to cover those costs until we were able to increase income again or cut costs in some way. It’s also possible that we will face an unexpected one-off cost, most likely if we needed an emergency repair or upgrade to our building. We consider it prudent to maintain reserves representing 3-6 months of operating costs in order to protect against these risks.
At the end of 2022, our reserves stood at £20,681 representing 3.1 months of projected costs. This is in line with our policy, but on the low end. In 2023 we have already received £9,000 of the capital costs we spent on our building improvements in 2022, so we feel confident we will be able to increase our reserves closer to the middle of our policy range again this year.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:
Signed ______ Date _ Lucy Jane Spence (Kusaladevi), Trustee
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) for the year ended 31 December 2022
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) (the charity) for the year ended 31 December 2022.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’). I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed ____ Date _______ John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) Receipts & payments account for the year ended 31 December 2022
| 2021 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | Note | £ | |
| Receipts | |||
| 1467 | Activities contributions | 3012 | |
| 24 | Bank interest | 53 | |
| 9063 | Gift Aid reclaim | 7524 | |
| 45108 | Grants & donations | 2 | 51363 |
| 16272 | Rent | 15920 | |
| 2242 | Sales | 2655 | |
| 74176 | Total receipts | 80527 | |
| Payments | |||
| - | Activities & events | 972 | |
| - | Bank and transaction charges | 974 | |
| 94 | Consumable items | 1033 | |
| 1262 | Donations paid | 2145 | |
| 1304 | Equipment, repairs & renewals | 879 | |
| 1277 | Fundraising & publicity | 420 | |
| 612 | Independent examination fee | 612 | |
| 1896 | Insurance | 1983 | |
| 1016 | Payroll & professional service | 851 | |
| 13791 | Premises | 3 | 18482 |
| 54 | Printing & stationery | 108 | |
| 1000 | Shop purchases | 1325 | |
| 1175 | Sundry payments | - | |
| 51816 | Support costs | 52739 | |
| 792 | Telephone & postage | 884 | |
| 3376 | Training, accommodation & retreat expenses | 7479 | |
| 79465 | Total payments | 90886 | |
| (5289) | Net receipts/(payments) | (10359) | |
| 36329 | Cash funds at start of this period | 31040 | |
| 31040 | Cash funds at end of this period | 20681 |
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 December 2022
| 2021 £ Cash assets Note 31032 Bank accounts 8 Cash in hand 31040 Other monetary assets - Debtors 4 823 Prepayments - Insurance 7933 Stock 8756 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Land & building purchased in 1995, cost £135,000 General equipment retained for use by the charity. Liabilities (889) Creditors 5 (889) |
2022 £ 20673 8 |
|---|---|
| 20681 | |
| 4129 826 6402 |
|
| 11357 | |
| (1145) | |
| (1145) |
These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:
Signed _____ Dated _____ Rachel Woodburn, Trustee
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022
1. Receipts & payments accounts
Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.
2. Grants & donations
| Sundry donations Premises Council tax Utilities & servicing Maintenance & repairs Debtors Bank interest Grants and donations Creditors Support costs Independent examination fee |
£ 51363 |
|---|---|
| 51363 | |
£ 2288 4594 11600 18482 £ 52 4077 |
|
| 4129 | |
£ 515 630 1145 |
3. Premises
4. Debtors
5. Creditors
6. Premises
The premises are owned by the Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham). The cost of the property in 1995 was £135,000; the property was last valued in 2019 at approximately £350,000.
7. Trustees’ remuneration
3 Trustees are ordained Buddhists and they receive financial support in the form of a salary totalling £41,017. Trustees are also allowed £1,800 each a year towards retreats. Another trustee is also an employee who received a salary of £1,570 from the charity during the year. Another trustee received 50% of donation takings for the yoga class she delivered.
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Triratna Buddhist Community (Nottingham) Notes to the accounts (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2022
8. Glossary of terms
Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.
Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received in the accounting period.
Prepayments: These are services that the charity has paid for in advance, but not used during the accounting period.
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