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 1 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 2 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 3 ## **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):** 1 **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** . 2 **October 2018** **IER** IER October 2018