2024-03-31-accounts - St John's Foundation (UK) Trust

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St John’s Foundation (UK) Trust

Charity Commission No 1105013

Annual Report for the year ended 31st March 2024

Foundation and Structure

The St John’s Foundation (UK) Trust (“the Trust”) was formed in 2004 to be a vehicle for charitable donations to St John’s College from alumni and other well-wishers living in the United Kingdom. The name and objects are aligned with those of the “parent” Foundation in South Africa and are as follows:

The advancement of education at the school known as St John’s College, Johannesburg, South Africa in particular by:

(1) Improving and broadening the life of the College by providing further and better academic, sporting and living facilities;

(2) Providing scholarships and bursaries;

(3) Providing outreach programmes to children at other schools;

(4) Safeguarding the independence and financial security of the College.

The governing document is a trust deed dated 16[th] July 2004 which was amended in 2012. Further amendments to administrative provisions of the deed were agreed by the Trustees and confirmed by a deed of amendment dated 31[st] March 2022.

The Trustees during the financial year were Dr Kimon de Ridder, Mr Clive Brown, Mr Roger Jones (Chairman), Mr Christopher Slyper, Mr John Conway and Mr Andrew Fisher. Mr Fisher took over the role of Treasurer from Mr Brown during the course of the financial year.

All Trustees are old boys of the School with varying professional backgrounds. The School alumni organisation is the Old Johannian Association, and the Trust keeps in close touch with the UK representatives in order to maintain a link with Association activities. The Trust also works closely with the St John’s Foundation in South Africa, in particular, through the Head of Advancement, Ms Shelley Roberts and her team. The financial year of the Trust ends on the 31[st] March, and this report is for the 2023/2024 financial year.

The Jennifer Boulton Memorial Fund

Noel Hobbs was an Old Johannian who died on the 23rd October 2015, and left a substantial bequest to the Trust as a memorial to his wife, Jennifer Boulton. The will contained a request “without imposing any legally binding trust or obligation” that it be used “to provide an income for the upkeep of the fabric of the buildings of St John’s College”. The bequest amounted to £223,893.

The trustees accepted the bequest as an “expendable endowment” with the intention that it should be invested to produce an income to be used as Noel Hobbs requested, but leaving the trustees free to spend capital sums if circumstances warrant it, such as the need for major repair or restoration work to the existing buildings. The Fund has been invested on behalf of the trustees by Rathbone Investment Management on a discretionary basis. As there has been no immediate need for the accumulated income, and after consulting with the trustees of the Foundation in South Africa, the Trustees resolved in October 2019 to transfer the accumulated income to Rathbones, and to instruct the latter to retain and reinvest income until needed.

The market value of the Fund as at the 31[st] March 2024 was £289,394.

125 Sustainability Fund.

In 2019, the School and the Foundation launched a major fundraising appeal known as the 125 Sustainability Campaign. The object of this appeal was to raise an amount of ZAR 125 million by the year 2023, which was the 125[th] anniversary of the School. The funds were to be equally apportioned between endowments via the scholarships and bursaries programmes, and to capital projects.

As a result of the Appeal, a total of £112,531 was raised and paid to the Trust. This is known as the 125 Sustainability Fund. The trustees of the Foundation in South Africa requested that the Fund be retained in the UK, and as the intention of the Appeal is to establish an endowment for the purposes stated above, the Fund was invested with Rathbones on terms similar to the Jennifer Boulton Memorial Fund. The value of the Fund at the end of the financial year was £137,278.

Luke Potter Memorial Bursary Fund

In June 2022, the Trust received a grant of £76,096 (US$100,000) from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. This was a donation in memory of Luke Potter, an Old Johannian, who was tragically killed in a terrorist attack in Nairobi on the 15th January 2019 while working for the Gatsby Foundation. It was awarded “for the purpose of funding student scholarships at St John’s College in South Africa for children aligned to Luke’s values, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity for such an education.” The grant has been subsequently augmented with additional donations made to the Foundation in South Africa, and the current intention of the School is to ,keep the original Gatsby donation intact with a view to establishing a permanent scholarship to fund the fees of one student at any time.

The Gatsby donation is at present retained in the UK, and in September 2023 it was transferred, with other funds, to an interest-bearing account which the Trustees maintain with the COIF Charities Deposit Fund pending a decision whether the capital is to be remitted to the Foundation in South Africa, or retained in the UK.

Income during the Financial Year

The 125 Campaign, which was launched in 2019, was interrupted by the Covid pandemic, and in the event, only ZAR 35 million was raised. In 2023, a renewed Campaign was launched, called the Beyond 125 Campaign, to continue for a further five years to work towards the original goal of raising ZAR 125 million.

A major “Giving Day” was held on the 9[th] / 10[th] November 2023 which was a considerable success, with the target of ZAR 5 million being well exceeded. In the UK, the total income for the year was £75,096, a large part of which was due to the November campaign.

There were no transfers to the Foundation in South Africa during the financial year. Total funds at the year end, including the invested funds at book value, amounted to £509,946

Policies

The trustees have adopted a reserves policy which is to retain £500 general funds at any one time. It is considered that a low reserve is justified as the main purpose of the Trust is to generate funds which will be remitted to the Foundation in South Africa when required. The Trust has no liabilities other than the annual fee for the examination of the accounts. The Trust has an investment policy and a privacy policy, both of which are regularly reviewed.

The trustees continue to have due regard for their duty to comply with guidance of the Charity Commission on public benefit in the exercise of their powers or duties.

St John's Foundation (UK) Trust Charity Number 1105013 Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024 set out on pages 1 to 3. Respective Responsibilities of the Trustee and the Examiner As the chariws trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordan with the requirements of the Charities Acts 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of your charitys accounts carried out under section 145 of the 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 Examiner's Statement I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect= the accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act.. or the accounts do not accord with those records.. or the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a'true and fair. view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination I have no concems and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be brought in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the acc ts to be reached. Geoff Mann Geoff Mann Limited Dee House Highworth Avenue Cambridge CB4 2BQ