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2020-12-31-accounts

Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

12 months to 31 December 2020

Company Limited by Guarantee

Company Registration No. 4476247(England and Wales) Charity Registration Number 1098106

Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

CONTENTS
Page
Letter from the Chair and Interim CEO 2
TRUSTEES’ REPORT
Objectives and Activities 3
Strategic Report 5
Our impact 5
Our work in the Field 5
Plans for the Future 9
Financial review 11
Structure, governance and management 14
Principal Risks and Uncertainties 16
Policies 19
Statement of Trustee responsibilities 23
Independent Auditor’s Report 24
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 27
Reference and administrative details 42

1

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR AND INTERIM CHIEF EXECUTIVE

In a year like no other, our colleagues at Relief International (RI) continued to provide vital services to millions of people in vulnerable situations and worked to prevent and treat COVID19 in communities who faced the pandemic with very few resources.

In some of the most fragile areas in the world, Relief International provided 12.3 million vital services to people across 16 countries, investing US$160 million in 2020 with the UK contribution being $82million. We are especially proud of our success ramping up our COVID19 responses in the areas of health, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), education, livelihoods, and protection.

We also worked together to face our own organizational challenges. In late 2020, our internal controls uncovered a serious prohibited parties’ incident in one of our Alliance partners which breached our humanitarian principles. The Alliance took immediate action, setting up a management response team which dealt with issues arising including informing donor and spending several months rigorously reviewing and improving all activities, practices and policies at the organization (see Trustee Report for more details). In doing so we have built on our existing standards of compliance across a range of policies, added key procedures and improved a wide range of measures to ensure this situation cannot happen again. We now have in place a long-term plan to continue improving our operating practices in the difficult and fragile settings we work around the world.

We could not be prouder of our global staff and partners who have worked tirelessly to continue to deliver high quality programming, standing alongside families from Myanmar and Iran to Syria and Ghana, as we faced the pandemic together to protect lives and livelihoods. We are grateful to all our donors who continue to support vital services to so many communities in fragile settings.

2021 marked a grim milestone of the 10[th] year anniversary of the Syrian war. This reminds us that the plight of refugees – the Rohingya in Bangladesh, East Africans in Sudan and South Sudan, Afghans in Pakistan, and Iran, requires attention and innovative solutions now more than ever.

Relief International has been with these communities since these crises started. We are proud to continue to deliver life-saving services to refugees and host communities. Yet, more durable, and sustainable solutions are needed. To bring lasting change for communities we must work with them to address the root causes of fragility and go beyond providing immediate humanitarian assistance.

Relief International therefore launched a new strategy in 2021 which emphasizes addressing conflict and climate change. Combined with our enhanced accountability and compliance programs, our work will continue as we stand together to face the challenges of 2021 and beyond with renewed hope and resilience.

Chip Levengood Chair October 28, 2021

Ann Koontz Interim Chief Executive October 28, 2021

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OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Our Purpose

Relief International partners with communities in fragile settings to save lives and build resilience, dignity, and long-term wellbeing .

The challenges facing fragile communities

People living in fragile settings are subject to complex, interconnected, and deep-rooted vulnerabilities. Climate change, conflict, and COVID-19 are now the major drivers accelerating and intensifying fragility around the world, straining the coping capacities of those least able to cope. Families living in fragility are more than twice as likely to be undernourished, more than three times as likely to be unable to send their children to school, twice as likely to see their children die before age five, and more than twice as likely to lack clean water.

Our Vision

All communities in fragile settings can achieve long term wellbeing.

Our Mission

To become a leading innovator in empowering communities in fragile settings to build resilience against vulnerabilities caused by climate change and conflict.

Our Impact Objectives

We aim to:

RI-UK Activities

RI exists to provide timely and efficient services and material resources to assist people living in fragile settings. We provide emergency, humanitarian and development assistance to 16 countries around the world. We are non-political and non-sectarian and are solely dedicated to reducing human suffering.

RI partners with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty by supporting their response to crises, building their resilience to disasters and emergencies, and promoting dignity and the long-term well-being of people in the communities we serve.

RI’s core partners are communities of poor and vulnerable people, especially –

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Our Values

Our values are at the heart of what we do and how we do it. They are:

Integrity

We are transparent and accountable in working with participants, partners, donors, Team Members, and the communities with which we work.

Adaptability

We embrace agility and innovative thinking, program approaches and ways of working.

Collaboration

We harness complementary expertise and networks to ensure that each issue, situation, or community gets the best solutions available.

Inclusivity

We embrace practices and policies that provide access to employment, opportunities, and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.

Sustainability

We support communities to build their own long-term resilience and well-being throughout all our work.

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STRATEGIC REPORT

Our impact

RI-UK contributed towards these global RI impacts:

Our impact
I-UK contributed towards these global RI impacts:
Nos.
Total people reached 2.4m
Health 1.6m
WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) 0.3m
Education 72k
Economic Opportunity 24k
People with increased knowledge of key hygiene behaviours 253k
People trained on disease prevention 831k
Protection activities 36k
Direct food assistance 42k
Healthcare providers trained 2,944
Sustainable employment opportunities created 1,696
Critical skills and capacity building to enable employment 3,143
Teachers or educators trained 203

Our work in the Field

RI-UK work in 2020 included delivering the following projects:

Local partnerships lead the way!: RI supports CSOs to provide humanitarian aid for displaced in Myanmar

Sectors addressed: Economic opportunity, WASH

In Myanmar, amid intensifying conflict between the Arakan Army and Tatmadaw in Mrauk U District since March 2019, the humanitarian needs of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have significantly increased. As of August 2019, close to 18,000 families (5,510 households) were living in 62 IDP camps across Mrauk U District. Needs assessments conducted by RI and other UN/INGOs highlighted the urgent need among IDPs for staple food items, shelter, and non-food items (NFI) such as hygiene and dignity kits.

In this challenging context, to help meet the needs of IDPs in Mrauk U District through local organizations, RI implemented a 16-month project (September 2019 – December 2020) to strengthen the organizational and technical capacity of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to effectively deliver humanitarian assistance. The main activities included:

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  1. Mapping and Organizational Capacity Assessments (OCAs) of local CSOs, using RI’s OCA tool, with a focus on governance, finance management, project management and humanitarian technical capacity;

  2. Capacity building and technical training for CSOs, through module-based learning and on-the-job training;

  3. Distribution of humanitarian assistance (NFIs, cash) through partner CSOs.

Despite the unforeseen challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflict in target areas, RI was able to identify 28 local CSOs, and conduct comprehensive OCAs for 27 of these. Based on the assessments, RI identified three priority areas for trainings: organizational development, humanitarian principles and compliance, and technical trainings, such as cash transfers, gender mainstreaming, and post-distribution monitoring. In 2020, 239 CSO staff members (48% female) participated in CSO capacity building trainings, following COVID-19 safety protocols. Partner CSOs also conducted 28 distributions of essential NFI, including COVID-19 hygiene and prevention supplies, reaching 41,396 IDPs in Mrauk U district. In the next phase of the project, to be implemented in 2021, RI aims to partner with additional CSOs for OCA and trainings. Furthermore, RI will continue to support CSOs to lead humanitarian distributions (including NFI and cash) to meet the evolving humanitarian needs of IDPs in Mrauk U District.

Critical access to education for Syrian refugees’ children during Covid 19 pandemic

Sectors addressed: Education

Established in 2004, RI Jordan has been supporting Syrian refugees in Za’atari and Azraq Camps since 2013 and 17 schools across 4 governorates since 2019. In 2020, RI provided access to education to 5,514 children of whom 4,233 advanced in their grade level. RI was the only actor offering remedial education support to Tawjihi (Grade 12/Year 13 final exam) students in both Za’atari and Azraq Camps and running a Drop-Out Program for Syrian refugee students in Za’atari Camp. RI successfully maintained provision of remedial education through distance learning to its students during the year long school suspension period caused by COVID-19. During the year, RI trained 577 teachers and 366 educators and launched an awareness campaign on bullying and violence in schools that is now planned to be extended nationally.

RI in Jordan remains one of the lead agencies providing Remedial Education, Ministry of Education (MoE)-certified Non-Formal Education (NFE), and Early Childhood Development (ECD).

Facing the plagues of Lebanon, economic meltdown, Beirut blast and Covid 19

Sectors addressed: Health, Economic Opportunity, Protection, and Education

Established since 2006, RI Lebanon went through an extraordinary difficult year while attempting to support the most vulnerable communities in a country affected by series of disasters in 2020. RI supported refugees and host communities’ access to 23 health facilities providing 15,758 Primary and Mental Health consultations and directly delivered Comprehensive COVID-19 Response through community health interventions and critical support to primary healthcare centres, hospitals, and isolation centres.

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RI responded to Beirut Blast Emergency through cash distribution and by allocating medical staff, personal protective equipment to health workers in Beirut and supporting 7 Health facilities, post-explosion rehabilitation and provision of services. RI ensured 1,000 families multipurpose cash delivery for 1.5 million USD over the year and access to conditional Cashfor-Education (CFE) transfers for some Syrian refugee children integrated with provision of homework support groups and mental health and psychosocial support services to ensure school enrolment and retention. In addition, RI and its Child Protection partner have launched integrated livelihood and child protection programming to combat child labour in North Lebanon.

RI is Co-chair of the health working Group in Bekaa, co-chair of Basic Assistance Working Group in Bekaa, and active member of Health and Basic Assistance Working Group at national level.

Fighting the famine in Yemen

Sectors addressed: Health, Nutrition, Economic Opportunity, and WASH,

Based on our 10 years of experience in Yemen, in 2020 RI Yemen has expanded our largescale integrated health, nutrition, food security, protection and water, hygiene and sanitation programming as well as our emergency response capacity.

RI has supported over the year up to 63 health facilities providing a total of 540,000 consultations. An average of 55,000 families were reached monthly through the emergency food assistance (food, cash or vouchers) program across 4 governorates. In addition, 6,556 newly displaced families with essential non-food items and ration kits were supported in 3 governorates hosting new arrivals.

RI supported three Women's Centres benefiting 5,354 women and adolescent girls with psychosocial support, skills-building activities, awareness sessions and access to information. The food security and livelihoods program in the north and extended to the south of Yemen has provided revenues to 5,416 conflict-affected families and improved 15 communities’ assets.

Moreover, RI rehabilitated community water infrastructures across two governorates, benefiting more than 18,000 individuals complemented with hygiene kits distribution and health and hygiene awareness activities plus a behavioural change component, reinforced and adjusted to cope with the local epidemic context. RI contributed strongly to Yemen's COVID-19 response, which included awareness to 250,000 people and training on infection prevention and control, provision of personal protective equipment, and adaptation to prevention of virus spreading such as social distancing during distribution activities.

Combatting COVID-19 in North Darfur

Sectors addressed: Health, WASH

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on health systems, infrastructure and livelihoods particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries. In Sudan, COVID-19 exacerbated an already dire humanitarian context characterized by conflict, displacement,

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food insecurity, a lack of basic services, and a prevailing economic crisis. In addition, the health system in Sudan continues to be faced with inadequate infrastructure, lack of qualified medical staff, and chronic shortages of lifesaving medicine, medical equipment and supplies. North Darfur is particularly affected due to the protracted humanitarian crisis, conflict, widespread displacement, and a weak health system.

To mitigate the impact of COVID-19 in North Darfur, Relief International (RI) implemented an emergency health and Water Sanitation & Health (WASH) COVID-19 preparedness and response program supported by UN OCHA’s Sudan Humanitarian Fund. In close collaboration with the Darfur Ministry of Health, RI established and equipped five isolation centres and supported 32 additional health facilities and rural hospitals with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Infection, Prevention and Control (IPC) supplies. To promote hygiene practices and ensure the community’s access to safe water, RI’s teams installed 18 foot-press handwashing stations at public places and provided 15 foot-press handwashing stations to community water committees across North Darfur, including in Zamzam IDP (internally displaced people) camp. In addition, RI’s health teams trained 336 health workers including 127 Rapid Response team members and Ambulance Operators to ensure that the affected populations are provided with quality management of COVID-19 cases when needed. Through this project, RI reached a total of 65,906 community members with COVID-19 sensitization and awareness raising sessions.

Overall, RI’s intervention was closely aligned with Sudan’s country preparedness response plan (CPRP) with a focus on its three priority public health pillars for preparedness and response: 1) Comprehensive Case Management for COVID-19 cases; 2) Infection Prevention and Control (IPC); and 3) Risk Communication and Community Engagement. To ensure sustainability of the project beyond this project, RI handed over the established and equipped isolation centres to the State Ministry of Health to ensure continued service delivery through trained staff.

Update on 2020 Objectives

In 2019 we indicated that we listed four priority areas for 2020:

  1. Complete the 2021-25 strategic plan

  2. This was completed and approved by the Board in November 2020. The revised approach is reflected in the Objectives and Activities section above.

  3. Strengthen our balance sheet

  4. RI-UK made a small surplus and Unrestricted funds more than doubled in the year to $652,000.

  5. Strengthen safeguarding and security management RI issued an updated Safeguarding policy during 2020. Security management is now integrated into all grant applications. In January 2021 the Global Security Director was promoted to VP and now sits on the SMT.

  6. Adjust to the Covid pandemic

  7. Early on in the pandemic we established a global emergency team that agreed on protocols for Field and office work and staff who can continue to work remotely. Our local teams adopted Covid protocols and we secured

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much needed funding for PPE and implementing Covid secure delivery. Some programs saw a slower rate of implementation but overall RI has adapted well to the restrictions caused by the pandemic. We see this situation continuing for some time to come as the vaccination rates in our localities of operation remains low.

Plans for the Future

In 2021 Relief International launched its next five-year strategy (2021 – 2025). The strategy was developed over a year’s time with broad consultation from staff and the board and builds on Relief International’s commitment to being a fragile settings specialist that provides integrated economic opportunity, education, health/nutrition, WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), and protection programming. In developing our five-year strategy Relief International considered that:

Therefore, Relief International is proud to be putting five major elements at the forefront of our strategy:

  1. Apply programming and operational methods, systems, and skillsets that build community resilience to climate change and conflict

  2. Become a leader in putting Communities at the Centre

    1. Incubate, test, and help scale up transformational ideas

  5. Create a flexible and diverse funding model

  6. Build a more agile, disciplined, and diverse organization

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Relief International is heavily investing in increased compliance and structural change that will make Relief International more disciplined and accountable, embracing greater diversity and retaining agility to best operate in complex environments. The focus on the five strategy elements will build on our successes with communities in education, health and nutrition, WASH, Economic Opportunities, and protection while advancing transformational ideas needed to reduce fragility and increase resilience.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

Income

Income in the year to 31 December 2020 fell by just over 15% to $82.2m with Gifts in Kind income down by 28% to $22.5m and charitable activities funding by nearly 9% to $59.7m. This drop in income was anticipated as all the RI Alliance’s new European grants were obtained by MRCA-RI France from early in 2019. Turnover is expected to fall again in 2021. The main donors supporting RI-UK programmes are arms of the UN, including UNICEF, UNHCR, OCHA, UNFPA and UNOPS. We also received funds from governmental aid agencies such as DFID in the UK and GFFO in Germany.

Expenditure

Charitable activity in the year fell in value from $96.5m to $83.9m, a fall of just over 13%. The mix of activity also changed as follows:

Sector Change 2020 2019
$m $m
Economic activity +8% 6.8 8.8
Education +60% 19.0 11.9
Health -18% 23.6 28.9
Multi-sectoral +8% 13.7 12.7
WASH +100% 1.6 0.8
Other -43% 19.2 33.4
Totals -13% 83.9 96.5

The charity has very few private donations and recorded no fundraising costs in the year. Expenditure exceeded income by $1.6m due to the movement in GiK out of restricted reserves.

Balance Sheet and Cashflow

The charity had restricted reserves as at 31 December 2020 of $261,899 (2019: $2,136,481). The restricted reserves arise from the accounting treatment of stock in hand from Donations of Gifts in Kind. This largely reversed out in 2020 as the stock was distributed. Unrestricted reserves during 2020 increased from $303,880 to $560,590, an increase of $256,710. Cashflow was over $1m positive in the year, largely due to a decrease in debtors.

Reserves Policy

RI-UK holds financial reserves to be applied to future activities in the following categories:

Each year the trustees consider the appropriate level of unrestricted reserves. They review RI-UK’s requirements and consider a sustained fall in income to be a reasonable basis for setting a minimum level. It is the intention of the trustees to hold sufficient reserves to enable expenditure to be reduced in a managed fashion, should the need arise, avoiding the need to halt work abruptly. The trustees have agreed that free reserves should normally be within a range of 3-6 months of non-project operational expenditure.

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As at 31 December 2020, RI-UK held unrestricted general funds of $560,590 (2019: $303,880) which represented just over 2 months (2019: 1 month) of future non project central expenditure. RI-UK intends to grow its reserve ratio to within the 3-6 month target through tighter cost control and initiating UK based Fundraising.

Serious Incident

During the year our internal controls identified a prohibited parties issue within our Alliance partner MRCA-RI France and this was reported to the Charity Commission as a serious incident in December 2020. RI reported this to all donors and in 2021 this led to RI-US being suspended from bidding for new US government grants in March 2021. This suspension was lifted in May 2021. The incident also led to a delayed issuance of the ECHO framework partnership agreement (FPA) for MRCA-RI France.

The incident led to an overhaul of several policies with the introduction of a Prohibited Parties Policy (which updated RI’s previous terrorist financing policy) and additional training for all staff and partners. RI-US is now in an Administrative Agreement with the US government and has an external monitor in place who is also supporting the further strengthening of our internal controls. For further information see mitigating actions taken under Principal Risks and Uncertainties below. Trustees are confident that in future there are mechanisms in place not just to identify such incidents (as actually happened) but to prevent them taking place at all.

There remains a possibility of governmental fines being levied on the US and France entities, but these are considered remote and if levied would be subject to ability to pay. The Charity Commission has written to say that it is satisfied that RI-UK has taken all necessary actions and have closed its interest in the incident.

Going Concern

We have set out in this report a review of RI-UK’s financial performance, the reserves position and principal risks and uncertainties. One of the fundamental uncertainties is whether income flows from donors will continue for the foreseeable future. In fact, our donors remain committed to funding projects in fragile settings. During the year we benefitted from additional COVID funding and the pipeline for future projects remains strong at the time of signing this report.

RI-UK has undertaken a scenario-planning exercise of income and planned expenditure including financial and cashflow projections to forecast how various outcomes might affect RI-UK and the Alliances’ operations in 2022. This exercise takes into account the risk of decreased income from various sources and the ability of RI to implement its activities across the globe. The results of the scenario planning have been used as a basis from which to formulate a model for strategic planning.

We have conducted detailed cashflow and net asset forecasts up to December 2022 and are confident, based on 2021 income and current pipeline, that in the next 15 months we will not see critical cashflow difficulties and will experience a gradual rebuilding of unrestricted reserves. This view is supported by the improvements we have made in both financial controls and Awards Management and in our continued strong global risk assurance function. These matters combined mean that we remain confident that the operational and financial risks faced by our operating teams in fragile settings are well managed.

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The trustees recognise that the charity’s continuation as a going concern is underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RI-USA and MRCA-RI. The RI entities support each other to deliver effective programmes through the commitment of their respective human and financial resources in support of their shared mission of partnering with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty. The trustees have no reason to doubt that this relationship will continue and are committed to furthering the collaboration between the organisations. RI-UK is consequently well placed to manage the business risks it faces.

We will continue to monitor the situation and manage our finances accordingly. The results of the scenario planning together with the support from the Alliance, and a continuation to shift to a more adaptable unrestricted cost structure, indicates that RI-UK has sufficient resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

The charity does not face material uncertainties itself but both RI-US and MRCA-RI France do face possible investigations and charges from their respective governments into the serious incident reported late in 2020. Trustees believe that it is likely these potential liabilities can be settled out of court without materially affecting RI balance sheets.

The trustees therefore have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future being at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements and are not aware of any other material uncertainties which may adversely affect the organisation. Accordingly, the financial statements continue to be prepared on the going concern basis.

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STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Board of Trustees and Organisational Structure

RI-UK is an independent organisation. It has a longstanding alliance agreement with Relief International Inc, a USA-based registered not for profit organisation (hereinafter referred to as RI-USA), MRCA-RI France and RI-Europe (currently dormant).Together, the four organisations are known simply as Relief International (hereinafter referred to as RI), a global humanitarian and development alliance whose mission is to work with communities in fragile settings to escape from poverty by supporting their response to crises, building their resilience to disasters and emergencies, and advancing dignity and long-term well-being.

RI-UK collaborates closely with the other alliance members to deliver RI’s work. The organisations do not establish separate field offices, but rather support field operations and administration in each country by contributing financial and technical assistance to emergency response, early recovery, and longer-term poverty-reduction programming across a wide range of sectors, including education, economic opportunity, health and nutrition, protection and water and sanitation.

By combining support to one field office in each country of operation and sharing the use of key support staff and systems across the organisations, RI avoids duplication, ensures that each organisation’s costs are minimised, and is able to operate in a unified manner to effectively manage and monitor overseas activities.

RI-UK also coordinates its activities closely with UK and other European governments, multilateral agencies and other international and national NGOs to share best practice, avoid duplication, and maximise collaboration to make a positive impact in the lives of the communities it serves.

RI-UK’s Board of trustees administers the charity. The Board normally meets quarterly, and there are subcommittees covering strategy and programmes, governance and human resources, finance, audit and risk, and fundraising which also meet quarterly in advance of the full Board meeting. The CEO is appointed by the trustees to manage the day-to-day operations of the organisation, and has delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the trustees, for all operational matters including strategy implementation, programmatic and fiduciary oversight and the management of key risks. The CEO is supported by a senior management team (SMT) across key functions who, as leadership personnel themselves, are responsible for the management of staff across departments and countries of operation.

Trustee induction

On being appointed to the RI-UK Board, trustees are given an induction and are provided with a trustees Welcome Pack containing all RI-UK trustee policies, including code of conduct and conflict of interest guidance. Trustees also receive a comprehensive briefing about the organisation’s structure, strategic priorities, and their roles and responsibilities as Board members, including access to online orientation and training.

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Trustee Attendance

rustee Attendance
Trustee Name Committee Board Committees
Membership Total
Attended		 Total Attended
Paul Levengood (Chairman) A, D, E, F, H, S 5 5 28 28
Steve Hansch (Treasurer) A, D, E, F, H, S 5 5 28 24
Dana Freyer (Secretary to D, E, H 5 5 11 10
March 2020)
Beverly Morris Armstrong A, F 5 5 11 11
Amanda Barnes A, S 5 5 11 11
Daniel Bader D, E 5 3 7 7
Eden Collinsworth (to Sept S 2 2 3 3
2020)
Stéphane Crescitz F 5 5 10 9
Debra Davis A, E, F, 5 5 17 17
Ellen Frost H, S 5 5 8 8
John Gage F, S 5 5 12 7
Deirdre Guice Minor (from A 4 4 4 3
June 2020)
Julia Guth D, H 5 5 3 2
Edwin Davisson Hardman Jr. E, S 5 5 9 9
Leon Irish (to Sept 2020) A, F, H 2 0 10 0
Philippe Oberlin S 5 5 5 4
Irene Wurtzel (to March 2020) 1 0 0 0

Key:

A – Audit & Risk

D – Advancement /Development

E – Executive Committee

F – Finance

H – Human Resources & Governance

S – Strategy & Programming

Trustee interests

None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £10 in the event of a winding up. All trustees are also members or directors of the other RI Alliance members. In making decisions about RI-UK they are required to consider what is in the best interests of the company rather than the Alliance as whole, though these interests are usually seen to be aligned. No trustee had any beneficial interest in any contract that RI has with third parties.

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Principal Risks and Uncertainties

RI works in some of the most challenging areas of the world working with fragile and often conflict affected communities. Risk taking is therefore an integral part of RI’s work due to the dynamic nature of its operating environments. The key objective of Risk Management at RI is to support the board and management in their roles and protect the organisation. The Board has overall responsibility for establishing a risk management system that ensures comprehensive and consistent management of all material risks. A major part of this responsibility is delegated to the Audit and Risk Committee, which provides the necessary oversight of the risk management process, with support provided through the Global Assurance function and the Incident Management System.

As an Alliance we recognised the need for a greater emphasis on risk analysis in order to better weigh the pros and cons of long-term programmatic work, and the need to build a more sophisticated and holistic risk management approach that reflects the fragile settings in which most of our programmatic activities are undertaken. A process to bring the risk assessment exercise to life has ensued in 2021 to embed its core position in critical decision making. RI’s new Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework sets out principles, processes and responsibilities as well as how we organise and apply its risk management practices to ensure all activities are coordinated.

The principal risks faced by Relief International and the control and mitigation strategies employed are as follows:

Principal Risk Control and Mitigation
1 Business Continuity
There is a risk of insolvency linked to the
possible failure of one of the other
members of the Alliance.		 Each member of the Alliance shares financial
budgets, results, and forecasts. There is a joint
management team and a joint approach to
compliance and internal control. Financial reporting
and forecasting has been improved to give Trustees
a clearer picture of current operations and future
prospects of each entity on a monthly basis.
Following the prohibited parties incident (see
Serious Incident above) there have been senior
management changes, compliance improvements,
the ECHO FPA has been re-signed and RI-US is no
longer suspended but working under an
Administrative Agreement.
2 Administrative Agreement
RI-US is unable to fulfil all of its
commitments under the Administrative
Agreement leading to reinstatement of
suspension and a knock-on effect on RI-
UK due to a loss of economies of scale.		 Trustees see the Administrative Agreement signed
with the US government as a positive development
which helps further strengthen our already robust
planning and control systems. The agreement
requires the appointment of a Chief Ethics and
Compliance Officer who will be in place later in
2021 and this post will ensure that compliance
matters carry equal weight to programmatic and
finance issues at senior management level.

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Principal Risk Control and Mitigation
3 Program Quality and Effectiveness
Lack of adherence to internal and wider
sector best practices leads to disjointed
and inconsistent program design and
implementation, and an inability to
demonstrate long-term programmatic
impact		 RI is building its Monitoring, Evaluation and
Learning (MEL) systems across the organisation to
adhere to MEL global standards along with its
technical design and quality standards. The
Technical Assistance Department (TAD) team is
also supporting technical design processes at
proposal development and implementation stage of
project life cycle to ensure technical program
quality. To ensure sustainability of this approach,
the team is building RI’s capacity to win larger multi-
year awards with a focus on developing a strong
evidence base of programmatic impact.
4 Prohibited Parties Policy
RI jeopardises its reputation and risks
donor suspensions by knowingly or
unknowingly providing support for or
transacting with any prohibited party.		 RI has promoted the General Counsel and VP
Global Security to the SMT. RI has also put in place
a Prohibited Parties Policy as a replacement to its
Terrorist Financing policy. In addition, RI has
invested significant resources in staff training on the
Prohibited Parties Policy. The Global Assurance
function as well as an independent consultant will
both review RI’s compliance with the PPP annually
over the course of the next three years.
5 Safeguarding
RI’s safeguarding program fails to protect
the physical and emotional welfare of
children and adults at risk, who
participate in programs either directly
implemented by RI or through a third
party working collaboratively with us.		 RI has recruited a new Global Safeguarding
Manager, appointed a board focal person for
Safeguarding and strengthened the organisational
capacity to investigate safeguarding incidents. The
RI Safeguarding program is contained in a
framework which covers the six core Preventing
Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) principles of
the Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC). To
mitigate Safeguarding risks, RI is ensuring that it
honours its commitment to ‘Do no harm’ by focussing
its work on the six core principles of (i) building a
Safeguarding Culture (ii) ensuring Accountability and
Governance (iii) recruiting safely (iv) undertaking
safe programs (v) safe reporting and response and
(vi) safe communications and media.
To provide further oversight, RI has also set up a
Safeguarding Governance Group made up of senior
management staff and the board focal person on
Safeguarding. Regular training and awareness
building on Safeguarding is continuing across all RI
Countries of operation.

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Principal Risk Control and Mitigation
6 Staff safety and Security
Staff and those associated with RI are
exposed to harm or danger as a result of
RI's work in fragile settings and/or weak
internal security measures and culture.		 RI faces significant safety and security risks due to
the fragility of the areas in which programmes are
implemented. In response, a number of mitigation
steps are being taken to minimise the risks. These
include: (1) Streamlined security documentation for
each Country Office (2) Updated Security Risk
Assessments and Country Security Plans
developed and implemented in Countries (3)
Training and regular security drills.
7 Financial Mismanagement
Risk of fraud, disallowances, suspension
and other penalties as a result of non-
compliance with donor regulations and
poor financial management.		 As part of efforts to mitigate the risk of fraud and
disallowances RI has introduced an Optimize
Finance program which is delivering operational
improvements in Finance especially in the areas of
foreign exchange management, accounts payable
and receivables as well as on the conduct of audits.
A Finance Risk Register is used to monitor all
finance related risks to which the Finance
Committee provides oversight.
In addition, the Global Assurance function
undertakes internal audits of Country Offices and
global functions and reports on the outcomes of
these to the Audit and Risk Committee of the
Board.
8 People Management
Freeze on pay rises, low staff morale,
staff burnout, loss of institutional
knowledge, reduced workforce from high
staff turnover and the effects of COVID
19 (e.g. availability of vaccines) all
contribute to difficulty in meeting
obligations and delivering programs.		 Mitigation activities for people related risks include
CEO communication with all staff, Town Hall
meetings between the Senior Management Team,
Country Directors and Regional Office Staff. A
strong training and organisational development
programme ensures that staff have the necessary
ability, skills and training to undertake their
responsibilities.

Public Benefit

The trustees have given due consideration to Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity Commission’s guidance on the operation of the Public Benefit requirement and are satisfied that RI-UK is in full compliance with its public benefit obligations.

18

The trustees believe that RI-UK benefits the public through the achievement of its goals and objectives, specifically by:

RI-UK is a signatory to the ICRC Principles of Conduct and the NGO personnel in disaster response programmes and subscribes to the Sphere Project’s Minimum Standards in Disaster Relief. It is also guided by the Core Humanitarian Standard on quality and accountability which sets out the essential elements of principled, accountable, and high-quality humanitarian action.

Policies

Grants

The vast majority of our income is derived from government and transnational organisation grants. These tend to be for one-to-three-year periods. There is a formal approval process that is followed before a grant is approved internally. Once programs are underway, they are systematically monitored throughout their implementation period. Major programs are subject to a final evaluation process, and most are subject to detailed donor audits. Monies advanced to our delivery partners in the field are also subject to monitoring and evaluation according to specific performance measured agreed in advance.

People

Our ability to deliver programs around the world depends on the skills, capability and motivation of our staff. There have been some recent changes in our management structure including a new (interim) Chief Executive, a new Chief Financial Officer and the appointment of Regional Directors, Global Counsel, Global Human Resources Director (interim) and Global Security Director to the SMT.

UK Staff

During 2020 the average number of Global Support Office staff (all entities) was 62. The average number of people employed by RI in the UK was 16 (i.e. those employed on UK contracts) which is relatively low, compared with the US GSO workforce. This is due to the fact that management and support of nearly all projects is carried out by RI-US.

Remuneration

Relief International’s remuneration approach is to leverage a combination of factors in the employment market as well as internal equity considerations. Factors of supply and demand of skills, experience and education, and external benchmarking surveys, are used when determining compensation levels. Our internal compensation structure includes grade levels and a spread of 12 steps, thereby allowing staff members growth within their grade as they

19

progress in their jobs. Remuneration for key management personnel is agreed by the remuneration Committee of the Board.

Diversity

It is our policy to respect the diversity of all employees, treating all equally regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, caste, culture, nationality, ethnic origin, religious belief, or age.

Relief International promotes diversity and inclusion in our hiring, compensation, promotional, and training opportunities. We take several actions to ensure that our employment practices are consistent across gender, race, and ethnicity. In 2022 we will develop a Policy on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion which will be rolled out over 2-3 years in the RI-UK, the other Alliance entities and in the Field.

Learning and Development

We are committed to increasing the skills and competencies of our staff and RI provides a plethora of training through the RI Academy (RI’s learning management system) This includes a Local Leadership Development Program (LLDP) for exemplary performers.

All staff are required to complete mandatory orientation including the following Policy training:

They are also enrolled in:

In 2021, we added new mandatory training in:

We continuously assess staff training needs through the RI performance management system and recommend content for staff from within the RI Academy and through external sources such as WHO, Humanitarian Leadership Academy (Kayaconnect.org) and eCornell University.

20

Staff Wellbeing

All RI staff around the world have access to in-country psychological support and counselling. In the UK the is provided through an external Employee Assistance Program and also a modest health insurance policy.

During 2020, in response to the Covid pandemic, we provided extensive information and guidance to staff on a range of Covid-related topics including: safe working practices; guidance on remote working and working from home; and stress management. We issued periodic pulse surveys to staff worldwide to get feedback on how better to support them. We converted key training courses for Zoom delivery so that continuous learning could continue. And we contracted with local providers of psychological support in all RI programming countries. RI’s health and life insurance policies were further enhanced to ensure coverage of staff in programming countries.

Safeguarding

We are committed to providing a safe and trusted environment for all our staff, partners and the people we serve. We take a zero-tolerance approach to breaches of our safeguarding code of conduct and put the wellbeing and rights of our staff and stakeholders at the heart of what we do. Ultimate responsibility for safeguarding rests with the Audit & Risk Committee which receives regular reports on safeguarding matters.

We developed a Safeguarding Framework in 2020 that outlines the 6 key core standards that are interlinked:

  1. Safeguarding culture : RI’s values, beliefs and codes of practice are conducive with an organisational culture that is committed to preventing harm and abuse

  2. Governance and accountability : Safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and roles and responsibilities for safeguarding assigned.

  3. Safe people : All staff are safely recruited and trained in safeguarding

  4. Safe programmes : potential safeguarding risks in programmes and project are identified and addressed and this includes partners.

  5. Safe reporting and response : A comprehensive complaints mechanism is in place and safeguarding reports and concerns are investigated.

  6. Safe communications and media : Safeguarding measures are incorporated into all communications and media activities.

Adopting this framework ensures that we have a strong safeguarding program that allows RI to measure itself across each standard in order to identify strengths and areas for development. Each standard has a strategic lead that works alongside the Global Safeguarding Manager to review the project plan, identify areas RI already adheres to, review missing indicators, risk assess and prioritise plans, identify stakeholders and embed resources. This program is the framework for how safeguarding is measured in RI across the donor requirements and sector principles, alongside responsiveness to incident reporting.

The first six month of 2021 has seen a higher number of safeguarding incident reports than the whole of 2020. This is a positive indication of the effectiveness of Safeguarding Focal Points at country level, training and awareness raising across our teams and programs. The increase in reporting has allowed greater analysis of the safeguarding profile for RI and allowed more holistic views of how to understand the wider systemic issues that may be

21

impacting on our staff, volunteers and communities and exploring further preventative measures.

The safeguarding approach in RI remains underpinned by the ‘do no harm’ principle and survivor-centred work. RI is still young in its safeguarding program, but staff and leaders have shown a commitment to not only meeting standards but exploring innovative ways to embed these further in RI, helping to create a stronger safeguarding culture across the organisation.

Safety and Security

Operating in the fragile countries that we do means that we encounter armed conflict, political crises and natural disasters as we deliver humanitarian assistance. Despite the additional challenges posed by the Covid epidemic we continue to deliver lifesaving humanitarian work in many conflict areas. We were able to obtain funding for and source sufficient PPE to protect thousands of our health workers in the pandemic.

Countries where we are operational continue to suffer from atrocities committed by armed groups. In addition, many areas tend to have poor road safety records and we have seen a spate of vehicle accidents, which has again focused our training and energies towards road safety. Our staff deliver our humanitarian services at great risk to themselves, and political destabilisation had a direct impact on our team’s security in countries like Myanmar and Somalia. Sadly, we have noted a number of team member deaths in countries such as Afghanistan related to the armed conflict. We take heart from the service and commitment of our teams and strive ever more to improve their safety and security.

In the last eighteen months we have rolled out an entire new structure of risk management, which seeks to be of greater effectiveness and have faster reaction times and training for all management. We have delivered numerous security trainings such as road safety, fire, VHF radio operations, building evacuations, safe room bunker drills, guard training and basic driver training.

RI security has implemented changes to its country security plan now to include a risk mitigation matrix that shows deliverables and has an achievement percentage. This is complimentary to RI RIGSS Global Security Standards documents. Also, we have introduced a new budgetary process, which raises awareness of security budgetary gaps within country portfolios and assists with bridging those gaps in future donor proposals, in a constructive auditable manner.

Fundraising

The vast majority of our funding comes from international donors, but we do have an aim to increase funding from private donations. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and are committed to the Code of Fundraising Practice. We ensure that all fundraising activity is compliant with the Code and monitor this regularly. We do not routinely use agencies or fundraising partners, but we do undertake checks on all new suppliers to ensure they are financially viable and meet our ethical criteria prior to working with them. We listen to our supporters and endeavour to build long term relationships with them. During 2020 we did not receive any complaints about our fundraising activity.

22

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards) and applicable law.

Under company law, the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company at the year end and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and ensuring that assets are properly applied in accordance with charity law, hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each of the trustees confirms that:

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees are aware of the Charity Governance Code published in 2017 which sets out principles and recommended practice within the sector. The trustees are committed to maintaining high standards of governance in accordance with the principles of the code.

This Annual Report, which incorporates the Strategic Report, was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

PK Levengood Chair of the Board of Relief International-UK Date: 28 October 2021

23

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Relief International-UK

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Relief International-UK (‘the charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2020 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee's use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorized for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit

24

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act

2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 23 the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives

25

that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), employment legislations, taxation legislations and anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation. We also considered compliance with local legislation for the charity’s overseas operating segments.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit and the Trustees about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, review of overseas office audit reports, review of donor audit reports, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed noncompliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Naziar Hashemi Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London 30 October 2021

26

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Statement of Financial Activities

(incorporating an income and expenditure account)

Notes
Incoming from
Donations and gifts in kind
3
Charitable activities
2
Total income
Expenditure on
Charitable activities
4
Total expenditure
Foreign exchange losses/(gains)
7
Net income/movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Funds balance at 1 January
Funds balance at 31 December		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
2020
Total Funds
2019
Total Funds
$
$
$
$
-
22,509,245
22,509,245
31,438,519
3,611,107
56,149,095
59,760,202
65,484,775
3,611,107
78,658,340
82,269,447
96,923,294
3,377,038
80,765,916
84,142,954
95,821,802
3,377,038
80,765,916
84,142,954
95,821,802
(22,641)
(232,996)
(255,637)
672,484
256,710
(1,874,580)
(1,617,870)
429,008
303,880
2,136,479
2,440,359
2,011,351
560,590
261,899
822,489
2,440,359

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirement for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

The notes on pages 30 to 41 form part of those financial statements. There are no recognized gains or losses in the current or preceding year other than as shown in the statement of financial activities.

27

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Balance Sheet

Notes
Current assets
Debtors
9
Cash at bank and in hand
Stock
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
10
Net current assets
Total net assets/liabilities
The funds of the charity
Restricted funds
11
Unrestricted funds
12
Total charity funds		 2020
2019
$
$
14,154,963
15,258,140
2,680,428
1,570,200
261,898
2,136,480
17,097,289
18,964,820
(16,274,800)
(16,524,461)
822,489
2,440,359
822,489
2,440,359
261,899
2,136,479
560,590
303,880
822,489
2,440,359

Notes 1 to 15 form a part of these financial statements. The financial statements were approved on the authority of the Board and signed on its behalf by:

Mr. PK Levengood Chairman of the Relief International UK Board of Trustees Date: 28/10/2021

Company registration number 4476247

28

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Cash Flow Statement

Cash Flow Statement
Notes
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
(a)
Cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period
(b)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the
reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the
reporting period
Notes to the cash flow statement for the year to 31 December 2019
Reconciliation of cash flows from operating activities
Notes
(a)
Net income for the reporting period (as per the
statement of financial activities)
Adjustments for:
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
(Increase)/decrease in stock
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Increase/(decrease) in long term creditors
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
(b)
Total cash and cash equivalents		 2020
2019
$
$
1,110,228
(1,450,186)
1,110,228
(1,450,186)
1,570,200
3,020,386
2,680,428
1,570,200
2020
2019
$
$
(1,617,870)
429,008
1,103,177
1,801,108
1,874,582
(1,045,014)
(249,661)
(1,401,880)
-
(1,233,409)
1,110,228
(1,450,186)
2020
2019
$
$
2,680,428
1,570,200

29

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

Relief International-UK (RI-UK) is an international humanitarian and development non-governmental organisation (NGO) with its headquarters in London. RI-UK was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales on July 2, 2002 and registered as a charitable organisation with the Charity Commission on June 19, 2003. The charity is a company limited by guarantee and is an independent and non-profit making humanitarian agency that is non-discriminatory in its practices. The registered company number is 4476247 and charity number is 1098106.

The Trustees of Relief International-UK have taken due regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.

1. Accounting policies

1.1. Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice as it applies from 1 January 2015.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. It should be noted that the operations of the charity continue to be underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RI-US and the other organisations in the RI alliance. The Trustees have no reason to doubt that this support will continue to be available. The RI alliance continues to implement high performing programs that meet the needs of the communities we serve and that comply with donor requirements.

While our revenue base of many short-term (12 months or less) humanitarian grants implies that there are significant uncertainties with respect to income and cash flow, we have processes in place for monitoring and managing unfolding conditions and adjusting accordingly. Our donors remain committed to funding projects in fragile settings. In 2020 we have benefitted from additional COVID funding and the pipeline for future projects remains strong at the time of signing this report.

We have undertaken a scenario-planning exercise of income and planned expenditure including financial and cashflow projections to forecast how various outcomes might affect RI-UK and the Alliances’ operations in 2021-22. This exercise takes into account the risk of decreased income from various sources and the ability of RI to implement its activities across the globe. The results of the scenario planning have been used as a basis from which to formulate a model for strategic planning.

We have conducted detailed cashflow and net asset forecasts for 2021 and 2022 and are confident, based on 2021 income and current pipeline, that in the next 18 months we will not see cashflow difficulties and will experience a gradual rebuilding of unrestricted reserves. This view is supported by the improvements we have made in both financial controls and Awards Management and in our continued strong global risk assurance function. These matters combined mean that we remain confident that the operational and financial risks faced by our operating teams in fragile settings are well managed.

30

Year to 31 December 2020

Relief International - UK

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.1. Basis of preparation (continued)

The trustees recognise that the charity’s continuation as a going concern is underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RI-US and the other organisations in the RI Alliance. The organisations support each other to deliver effective programmes through the commitment of their respective human and financial resources in support of their shared mission of partnering with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty. The trustees have no reason to doubt that this relationship will continue and are committed to furthering the collaboration between the organisations. RI-UK is consequently well placed to manage the business risks it faces.

We will continue to monitor the situation and manage our finances accordingly. The results of the scenario planning together with the support from the Alliance, and a continuation to shift to a more adaptable unrestricted cost structure, indicates that RI-UK has sufficient resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

The charity does not face material uncertainties itself but both RI-US and MRCA-RI France do face possible investigations and charges from their respective governments into the serious incident reported late in 2020. Trustees believe that it is likely these potential liabilities can be settled out of court without materially affecting RI balance sheets.

The trustees therefore have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future being at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements, and are not aware of any other material uncertainties which may adversely affect the organisation. Accordingly, the financial statements continue to be prepared on the going concern basis.

1.2. Functional currency

The functional currency of RI-UK is considered to be US Dollars because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the charity operates.

1.3. Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the Charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be measured with reasonable probability.

Donations comprise of gifts from individuals, corporations, and charitable trusts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable.

Gifts in kind are shown as incoming resources and accounted as grants in kind. The value of gifts in kind from institutional donors is pre-determined by the donor according to grant agreements, typically based on market prices for the relevant goods. An amount equal to the value of distributions to beneficiaries is included as in-kind expenditure in the statement of financial activities.

Income and expenses for donated goods, facilities and services are booked at the time of receipt using the lower of either the donor given or market value.

Grants receivable from government and other agencies are included as income arising from activities in furtherance of the charity's objectives where granted for specific projects and services or as donations where money is given with flexibility of use.

Where grants are received in arrears based on projects expenditure incurred, income where reasonably probable, is accrued according to the terms of the contractual funding agreement.

31

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.3. Incoming resources (continued)

For grant income received in advance where the amount of income exceeds the level of expenditure for the year, the income is shown as deferred income as conditions for use of the funds have not been met at the balance sheet date.

1.4. Liabilities

Liabilities are recognised with the Charity has an obligation (legal or otherwise unavoidable) to make payment to a third party.

1.5. Resources expended and the basis of apportioning costs

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and comprises the following:

The majority of costs are directly attributable to specific charitable activities and staff costs are apportioned to the costs classified above on the basis of time spent. Other costs not directly attributable are allocated on the basis of budgeted apportioned costs as per contractual agreements with donors.

1.6. Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Assets for use at RI-UK headquarters are capitalised at a value above $750 and stated at cost minus depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost over its expected useful

Assets for use in overseas operational projects purchased using restricted grant funds are not capitalised but expended in the period of acquisition.

1.7. Foreign currency

Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange at the date of the transaction. All exchange differences are accounted for in the statement of financial activities.

32

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.8. Accumulated funds

Unrestricted funds comprise accumulated surpluses and deficits from general funds and include those monies which may be used towards meeting the charitable objectives of the charity and applied at the discretion of the Trustees.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purpose and use of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the accounts.

1.9. Pension scheme

RI-UK operates a defined contribution scheme for its employees. Contributions to the scheme are charged to the SOFA when incurred.

1.10. Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty policy

In order to prepare the accounts trustees and management have made judgements and estimates. The most significant of these are:

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.

In the view of the Trustees, no assumptions concerning the future or estimation uncertainty affecting assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date are likely to result in a material adjustment to their carrying amounts in the next financial year.

1.11. Financial instruments

Relief International has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, short term cash deposits and the charity's debtors excluding prepayments and accrued income. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise the charity's short and long term creditors excluding deferred income and accrued expenditure. No discounting has been applied to these financial instruments on the basis that the periods over which amounts will be settled are such that any discounting would be immaterial. The values of basic financial instruments are given in note 15.

33

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

2. Incoming resources from charitable activities

Economic opportunity
Education
Health
Multi-Sectoral
WASH
Other
Total		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2020
2019
Funds
Funds
Total
Total
$
$
$
$
409,944
5,776,179
6,186,123
4,379,257
535,098
9,392,538
9,927,636
11,847,733
1,239,090
20,701,101
21,940,191
27,092,794
861,686
12,735,801
13,597,487
12,320,669
108,412
1,491,187
1,599,599
821,865
456,877
6,052,289
6,509,166
9,022,457
3,611,107
56,149,095
59,760,202
65,484,775

3. Donated goods, facilities and services

Economic opportunity
Education
Health
Multi-Sectoral
WASH
Other
Total		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2020
2019
Funds
Funds
Total
Total
$
$
$
$
-
-
-
5,351,816
-
9,023,228
9,023,228
-
-
1,773,119
1,773,119
1,101,189
-
85,088
85,088
-
-
16,787
16,787
57,881
-
11,611,023
11,611,023
24,927,633
-
22,509,245
22,509,245
31,438,519

34

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

4. Charitable activities

Economic opportunity
Education
Health
Multi-Sectoral
WASH
Other
Total
Staff costs
Project costs
Total		 Project
Support
2020
2019
Costs
Costs
Total
Total
$
$
$
$
6,440,819
265,153
6,705,972
8,802,103
18,449,282
768,262
19,217,544
11,908,282
22,647,255
930,641
23,577,896
28,852,013
12,829,441
533,735
13,363,176
12,721,958
1,514,040
62,978
1,577,018
834,747
18,885,079
816,269
19,701,348
33,375,183
80,765,916
3,377,038
84,142,954
96,494,286
Project
Support
2020
2019
Costs
Costs
Total
Total
$
$
$
$
26,526,730
1,705,289
28,232,019
29,536,652
54,239,186
1,671,749
55,910,935
66,957,634
80,765,916
3,377,038
84,142,954
96,494,286

Support costs are those eligible overhead expenses and governance costs required to administer project activities. These costs are allocated against the activities based on percentages of revenue generated by sector and whether the costs are directly related to the sector.

35

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

5. Trustees

None of the Trustees or any persons connected with them received any remuneration or expenses through RI-UK during the year.

6. Governance costs

Audit costs 2019
Audit costs 2020
Total		 2020
2019
Total
Total
$
$
51,642
71,846
65,000
-
116,642
-

7. Net expenditure for the year

Net incoming resources are stated after charging:
Auditor's remuneration - Audit fee
Foreign exchange losses/(gains)		 2020
2019
Total
Total
$
$
116,642
71,846
(255,637)
672,484

36

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

8. Employee and staff costs

Staff costs during the year were:
UK staff wages and salaries
UK staff social security costs
UK staff pension contribution costs
Total UK support staff costs on behalf of RI-UK
RI staff working on RI-UK projects worldwide		 2020
2019
$
$
1,467,427
1,100,778
148,977
113,130
88,885
77,452
1,705,289
1,291,360
26,526,730
28,245,292

RI-UK collaborates closely with the other alliance members to deliver RI’s work.

The organisations do not establish separate field offices, but rather support field operations and administration in each country by contributing financial and technical assistance to emergency response, early recovery, and longer-term poverty-reduction programming across a wide range of sectors, including education, economic opportunity, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation. By combining support to one field office in each country of operation and sharing the use of key support staff and systems across the organisations, RI avoids duplication, ensures that each organisation’s costs are minimised, and is able to operate in a unified manner to effectively manage and monitor overseas activities.

The CEO is supported by a senior management team (SMT) who are together the Key Management Personnel and work across key functions and are responsible for the management of staff across departments and countries of operation for RI.

The staff costs note above includes the salaries of individuals who are employed directly by RI-UK as well as a proportion of the salaries of the KMP employed by RI-US. Total remuneration paid to KMP whether through RI-UK or RI-US was $527,708 (2019 - $474,556). Total cost of RI staff working on UK projects worldwide was $26,526,730 (2019- $28,245,292).

These costs are not included within the staff costs note above and are included as direct project costs (see note 4).

The average number of UK employed staff was:

16 12

Total RI staff worldwide for information was 3049 in 2020 (2019: 3220)

There were 5 employees based in the UK whose annual emoluments were £60,000/$75,000 or more in 2020 (2019: 3)

Emolument 2020 2019
£60k - £70k/$79k - $92k 1 2
£70k - £80k/$92k - $105k 4 1
£80k - £90k/$105k - $118k - -

RI-UK covers the full or partial salaries of RI staff employed to work on RI-UK projects worldwide.

37

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

9.
Debtors
Accrued income - Grants receivable
Amounts due from RI-US
Advances to Department for International
Development (DFID) projects		 2020
2019
$
$
8,507,374
12,412,656
5,647,589
2,176,697
-
668,787
14,154,963
15,258,140

10. Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
Deferred income
Accrued expenses
Amounts due to RI-France
Advances refundable to donor
Other creditors
Opening
Income
Balance
Received
$
$
Deferred income
4,793,795
4,469,813		 2020
2019
$
$
4,572,720
4,793,795
2,844,480
2,956,750
7,060,343
6,385,469
988,815
-
808,442
2,388,447
16,274,800
16,524,461
Income
Closing
Deferred
Balance
$
$
4,248,738
4,572,720

11. Restricted funds

The programme income funds include restricted funds unexpended at the year end held to be applied for specific purposes. This includes donation in kind of $22,509,242.

Economic opportunity
Education
Health
Multi-Sectoral
WASH
Other		 At January
Income
Expenditure
At December
2020
2020
$
$
$
$
945,500
5,776,180
6,440,819
280,861
33,446
18,415,767
18,449,212
1
81,184
22,474,221
22,423,703
131,702
89,243
12,820,889
12,822,222
87,910
6,480
1,507,971
1,514,040
411
980,626
17,663,312
18,882,923
(238,985)
2,136,479
78,658,340
80,532,919
261,899

38

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

11.1 Analysis of Prior Year Restricted funds

Economic opportunity
Education
Health
Multi-sectoral
WASH
Other		 At 1 January
Incoming
Outgoing
At 31
2019
Resources
Resources
2019
$
$
$
$
-
9,459,736
(8,514,236)
945,500
-
11,467,903
(11,434,457)
33,446
348,656
26,458,890
(26,726,362)
81,184
396,551
11,511,156
(11,818,464)
89,243
-
823,040
(816,560)
6,480
346,259
33,174,638
(32,540,271)
980,626
1,091,466
92,895,364
(91,850,351)
2,136,479

12. Analysis of net assets between funds

Current assets
Total net assets
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2020
2019
Funds
Funds
Total
Total
$
$
$
$
560,590
16,536,699
17,097,289
18,964,820
-
(16,274,800)
(16,274,800)
(16,524,461)
560,590
261,899
822,489
2,440,359

12.1 Analysis of Prior Year net assets between funds

Current assets
Total net assets
Creditors: amounts falling due more
than one year
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year		 $
$
$
$
303,880
18,660,940
18,964,820
21,171,101
-
(16,524,461)
(16,524,461)
(17,926,341)
-
-
-
(1,233,409)

Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
2019
Funds
2018
Funds
303,880
2,136,479
2,440,359
2,011,351

39

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

13. 2019 Statement of Financial Activities

Income and Expenditure
Incoming from
Donations and gifts in kind
Charitable activities
Total incoming resources
Expenditure on
Charitable activities
Total outgoing resources
Net income/movement in funds
Funds balance at 1 January 2019
Funds balance at 31 December 2019		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
2019
Total Funds
$
$
$
-
31,438,519
31,438,519
4,027,931
61,456,844
65,484,775
4,027,931
92,895,363
96,923,294
4,643,936
91,850,350
96,494,286
4,643,936
91,850,350
96,494,286
(616,005)
1,045,013
429,008
919,885
1,091,466
2,011,351
303,880
2,136,479
2,440,359

14. Related parties

RI-France, RI-UK and RI-US are related parties. They collaborate closely to deliver relief, rehabilitation and development activities by contributing financial, technical, managerial and administrative assistance to country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. RI-France, RIUK and RI-US routinely advance monies to country offices on each other's behalf to fulfil project activities in anticipation of payments from donors. The amounts advanced to country offices from one organization on behalf of the other fluctuates during the year depending on the timing of actual donor receipts. All transactions have been carried out at arm's length. At the end of 2020, the amount due from RI-US was $5,647,589 (2019: $2,176,696) and the amount due to RI-France was $7,060,343 (2019: $6,385,469).

40

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2020

Notes to the Financial Statements

15. Post Balance sheet events

Following a self reported prohibited parties incident in our Alliance partner MRCA-RI France there was some uncertainty regarding future grant income of MRCA and of RI-US as ECHO (the EU humanitarian arm) delayed signing the former's Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) and the US government put RI-US into suspension form new grants in March 2021. RI-UK donors and the Charity Commission were also informed of the incident. Much work was done within the Alliance to strengthen policies and procedures.

The US government removed their suspension in May 2021 and RI-US now operates under an Administration Agreement which entails working closely with an external monitor to further strengthen controls. An interim Chief Executive was appointed in January 2021 and the Alliance has also subsequently appointed a Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. ECHO signed a one year agreement in August 2021 and MRCA-RI France is working towards signing a future longer term FPA. All RI-UK donors are once again working actively with us on program development and implementation. Trustees are confident that the measures now in place will ensure that a similar incident would be prevented from happening in future

41

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Board of Trustees

Chair Paul Kugler Levengood Other Trustees Steven Hansch (Treasurer) Dana Freyer (Secretary to March 2020) Beverly Morris Armstrong Amanda Barnes Daniel Bader Eden Collinsworth (to September 2020) Stéphane Crescitz Debra Davis Ellen Frost John Gage Deirdre Guice Minor (from June 2020) Julia Guth Edwin Davisson Hardman, Jr. Leon Irish (to September 2020) Philippe Oberlin Irene Wurtzel (to March 2020)

Registered Details

Charity Number 1098106 Company Number 4476247 Registered Office 31-35 Holborn London EX1N 8TE, UK

Auditors

Crowe UK LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW, UK

Solicitors

Executive Officers

Chief Executive Officer Nancy Wilson – to February 2021 Ann Koontz (Interim) – from February 2021 (previously SVP Technical Assistance) Other Officers VP European Operations Jamie Hall – to September 2020 Chief Financial Officer Eric Fullalove – to August 2020 Martin Clemmey – from August 2020 Head of Office, VP Risk & Assurance Lanre Amao – from September 2020 SVP International Programs Andy Pugh – to June 2021 VP Human Resources Elia Makar – to March 2021 Lead Human Resources Director Joan Coyle – from February 2021 Chief Program Officer Jamie Jones – from June 2021 (previously VP Program Development) Regional Director Asia / Africa Valerie Rowles (interim) – from June 2021 Regional Director Middle East Morgane Aveline (interim) - from June 2021 General Counsel Lara Kalwinski VP Global Security Raymond Bonniwell

Bankers

Barclays Corporate Level 27, 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP, UK

Bates Wells 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE, UK

42