2022-05-31-accounts - Pundarika UK

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Pundarika UK Annual Report 2021-22

Pundarika UK Annual Report

1[st] June 2021 - 31[st] May 2022

Registered Charity Number 1104530

Contact Details

Address: 2 Mallard House Townmead Rd Fulham SW6 2BF Phone: 07444172078 Email: jason.pundarika.uk@gmail.com Web: www.pundarika.uk.net

Trustees

Jason Upton - Chair Michelle Bernard - Secretary Rosie Roberts - Treasurer Erica Whitfield Carole Bishop Matt Hart

Charity Commission Classification

Pundarika UK is committed to:

Religious activities
Education/training
Relief of poverty

Background

In 1999 the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Tsoknyi Rinpoche requested some of his British students to set up Pundarika UK in order to organise Buddhist teachings for the general public as well as raise funds to support his monastic communities in Nepal and China (Tibet). We registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Trust in 2004.

Since then, we have been organising an annual six-day residential retreat every year for which we use rented accommodation. Buddhist philosophy is taught as well as meditation instruction given. These retreats are popular although numbers are limited by the nature of the

Pundarika UK Annual Report 2021-22

accommodation, usually we have around 150 people.

After expenses, profits from the retreat are used to support Rinpoche's monastic community, now mainly nuns in Nepal. We also support a girls’ school in Nepal. Many of our supporters pay a monthly standing order to support the nuns as well as the school in Nepal.

Activities this year for Public Benefit

Our 2022 Easter retreat was held online due to the ongoing concerns around covid. The retreat lasted six days with 759 people attending from different countries around the world. The retreat was offered on a donation basis to allow people to pay what they could afford. We believe that this accounted for the high number of people attending from so many different countries. Each day, Tsoknyi Rinpoche taught from a text by Khenpo Gangshar titled: Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet, Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path. Gerardo Abboud provided translation from Tibetan into English as well as offered afternoon Q&A sessions. In addition, we held morning and afternoon meditation sessions which included video instructions by Tsoknyi Rinpoche. We received very positive feedback regarding the format of the retreat which attempted to mirror an in-person retreat by providing four online sessions each day. As per last year, the retreat was held via Zoom. We opted to use the Zoom Events platform in order to increase the security of the event as well as to provide greater flexibility in terms of delivery. We combined webinars for the principal teachings with large zoom rooms for greater interactivity in the Q&A sessions. Overall, the retreat was a tremendous success and allowed us to expand our community to those living in other countries.

Finances

The retreat brought in donations of £55,276. The relatively small overheads associated with hosting an online retreat (£5,610) meant that we turned a good profit enabling us to increase our yearly donation to Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s projects. We donated £30,000 to the Tsoknyi Gechak School and £35,000 Tsoknyi Gechak Ling Nunnery. The latter figure included donations made by our regular supporters who offer monthly payments to assist with the living costs of nuns within the nunnery. At the start of this financial year, we had 45 monthly sponsors, as well as people making generous individual donations.

Future Plans

In August 2023, we plan to host our first in-person retreat since 2019. Our usual venue, the Bruton School for Girls, Somerset, has unfortunately closed. The trustees have explored several options for venues which will accommodate our needs. In the end, we chose the Lord Wandsworth College, Hampshire, and preparations are already underway. With the tremendous success of our two online retreats, we plan to offer a hybrid retreat of both in-person and online attendance. We hope that this will allow those who are unable to come in-person to still attend.

We are also in the process of updating our website. Last year, we hired Carbon Creative to create a new website to improve its look and feel as well as offer improved functionality. We hope that

Pundarika UK Annual Report 2021-22

the website we help us attract new participants for our activities. It will also allow us to expand our activities to include online talks and events. Furthermore, we are planning to start a membership scheme that will provide access to videos from past retreats. This will be hosted on our new website. A date for the launch of the new website has not been set yet.

Signed

Jason Upton Chair Pundarika UK

Date: 25[th] March 2023

PUNDARIKA UK

Statement of accounts for period 1st June 2021 - 31st May 2022

BANK CASH PAY-PAL Funds as at 01/06/21 £ £ £ £ Balance LloydsTSB current account 50,370.18 Cash in hand 36.82 Balance at PayPal account 19,944.50 TOTAL FUNDS 70,351.50	BANK CASH PAY-PAL Funds as at 01/06/21 £ £ £ £ Balance LloydsTSB current account 50,370.18 Cash in hand 36.82 Balance at PayPal account 19,944.50 TOTAL FUNDS 70,351.50
Receipts Retreat donations 5,121.27 47,893.10 Translator donations 50.00 Malay retreat donations 985.00 948.69 Cash float transfer Recordings 10.36 120.56 Re-payments 95.00 Miscellaneous 52.23 Gift Aid TOTAL RECEIPTS 6,313.86 0.00 48,962.35 55,276.21 Payments Retreat Venue Printing Insurance Accomodation & Hospitality Flights and Travel Website costs 403.67 530.58 Office Expenses 203.98 Recording Equip & Expenses 687.79 Translator fees & gifts 2,354.66 Retreat set-up costs 1,151.57 Retreat workers expenses Equipment storage Transfer Charges 73.13 Bank Miscellaneous 145.66 0.00 Refunds 58.98 Trustees Expenses TOTAL PAYMENTS 3,868.89 0.00 1,741.13 5,610.02 GENERAL FUND Receipts & Payments (unrestricted funds)
	MONASTIC COMMUNITY SUPPORT FUND Receipts & Payments (restricted funds)
Receipts Sponsers 7,954.00 1,981.62 Donations for Nepal School 1,993.00 1,041.10 Monastic donations 2,408.00 TOTAL RECEIPTS 12,355.00 3,022.72 15,377.72 Payments Monastic donations Asian Monastic Support 35,000.00 Nepal School Support 30,000.00 TOTAL PAYMENTS 65,000.00 0.00 65,000.00
Fund transfers From PayPal to Bank 50,000.00 50,000.00 T0TAL FUNDS at 31/05/22 Balance at bank 50,170.15 Cash in hand 36.82 Pay-Pay account 20,188.44 TOTAL FUNDS 70,395.41

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ Pundarika UK members of On accounts for the year 31 May, 2022 Charity no 1104530 ended (if any) Set out on pages Pages 1 & 2, section A only required.

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 05/04/22 DD / MM / YYYY .

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of basis of report the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. * Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Signed: Date: 20 March, 2023 Name: Roy Sutherwood

Relevant professional Not required for receipt and payment accounts. qualification(s) or body (if any):

October 2018

IER

Address: The Coach House 1 White Hart Street London SE11 4EP

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

October 2018

IER

IER October 2018