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← I Fagiolini Charitable Trust

2024-08-31-accounts

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST Registered Charity No 1116635

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

The trustees present their report for the financial statements for the year ended 31 August 2024. These have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the accounts and comply with the Charity’s governing document (Declaration of Trust), applicable law and the Statement of Recommended Practice.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

I Fagiolini Charitable Trust is a charity, registered in England, number 1116635.

The charity is governed by a Trust Deed dated 8 August 2006.

Trustees:

The Trustees who have held office at any point during the year ended 31 August 2024 and to the date of this report are as follows:

Kieran Cooper (Chairman)......................... to October 2025 Claire Pelly (Secretary) .............................. to October 2024 Simon Trist (Treasurer).............................. to October 2026 John Macgregor ......................................... to October 2024 Judith Nash................................................ to October 2024 Oliver Piper ................................................ to October 2026 Sam Price .................................................. to October 2026 Bridget Rosewell ........................................ to October 2024 Naomi Taylor ............................................. to October 2025

All new Trustees are recruited on the recommendation of organisations and people with whom the charity works, or by existing Trustees. They are given induction information and offered appropriate training in order to fulfil their role. The Trustees have met twice in the year and have also had many conversations by phone and email.

Professional Advisers:

Bankers: CAF Bank. West Malling, Kent TSB. Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire Independent Examiner: P. J. Stevenson, MA, FCA. 8 Harbord Road, Oxford

Membership:

Members of the public who make an annual donation to the Trust become Friends or Patrons of I Fagiolini. A higher level of membership, known as “Fabaelous”, for people committing to give at least £1,000 per year, is also available.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The purpose of the Trust falls within the descriptions of purposes in the Charities Act 2011 for:

The object of the Trust, set out in the governing document, is to advance the education of the public in the appreciation of music; in particular music for chorus, vocal consort or solo voices in all its aspects, and to further the development of the public appreciation and taste in the said arts.

The Trust achieves this by giving grants to performers and composers to enable the production of unique, inventive and educative live performances, recordings and videos of music for voice.

The Trust has now agreed to pay the fees of I Fagiolini singers when indisposed through illness. In the freelance world this is extremely unusual but we want to set a best practice for others to follow and not make singers suffer financially when they are suffering physically, as in any other job.

When making grants, the Trustees of the charity have due regard both to the objectives of the charity, as set out above, and also to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission. The Trustees consider the following benefits when evaluating requests for grants:

  1. Enabling high-quality performances that would not otherwise be commercially viable, including involving additional instrumental forces and creative media, as well as allowing an increased level of rehearsal

  2. Keeping important historical repertoire alive, along with its contemporary performance practice

  3. Commissioning new works to add to the repertoire

  4. Bringing music to new audiences

  5. Supporting the education and development of young singers by enabling opportunities to participate in workshops and performances

  6. Encouraging public participation in singing

Bigger projects are considered at meetings of the Trustees. Authority to make grants for projects is not normally given at these meetings, but may be agreed in principle. All requests for grants are submitted by email to the Trustees, who consider whether they meet the objectives of the charity and whether they are affordable within the available resources. The Trustees vote by email whether to approve or reject the grant request, and if a majority of Trustees vote in favour, the grant is paid.

The Public receive these benefits by being able to experience performances funded by the Trust in person at venues across the UK and abroad, through broadcasts on national radio, as well as online. The support of the Trust allows some of the content to be provided to audiences free of charge.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The Trust’s focus is primarily as the Friends organisation of the professional vocal group “I Fagiolini”.

I Fagiolini is a British solo-voice ensemble directed by Robert Hollingworth founded in 1986. Its core repertoire is Renaissance, Baroque and contemporary solo-voice

ensemble repertoire. It has always pioneered innovative staged presentations of this repertoire. I Fagiolini’s performances of early music are historically informed but at the same time aim to bring the spirit of the music to life for new, non-specialist audiences.

Friends and Patrons join to be kept in touch with what I Fagiolini do, to support their work and to have access to selected professional rehearsals to meet the performers and gain an insight into what is involved in bringing a musical work to a high performing standard.

The funds raised from subscriptions and donations from Friends, Patrons, and other sources are used in furthering our purpose to educate the public in vocal music by giving grants to I Fagiolini Projects Ltd and other bodies to support and enable the production of inspiring performances of artistic merit.

The Trust also sponsors occasional workshops for members of the public to participate in performances of vocal and choral music, helping them to experience the satisfaction of learning, rehearsing and performing music to a high standard.

From time to time we receive requests from other groups, and we aim to provide support to projects when the requests are consistent with the aims and goals of the Trust and we have the resources available.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

This year saw the release of two recordings previously supported by the Trust. The world premiere recording of Orazio Benevoli’s Missa Tu es Petrus was named BBC Music Magazine Recording of the month for April. The recording of the Tenebrae Responsories by Tomas Luis de Victoria was also extremely well received, notably for the creative inclusion to include poetry and what it did for the music.

The Trust has supported many concert performances by I Fagiolini across the UK, including a series of performances of Monteverd’s 1610 vespers, the popular Christmas programme Angels and Demons, as well as touring the Benevoli masses.

The Trust has also supported the second recording in the Benevoli series, featuring the Missa Benevola, which is due to be released in October.

A successful Friends weekend was run by the Trust at Hawkwood College, Stroud, where members of the I Fagiolini Friends were able to rehearse and perform the some of the Victoria Tenebrae Responsories with Robert Hollingworth, along with contemporary music by Adrian Williams, Roderick Williams, and Caroline Shaw.

The Trust continued to support creation of more episodes of the podcast Choral Chihuahua which are reaching over 3000 listens a month. For the first time this year, over 20 episodes will be produced and our funds have enabled the podcast to start raising its own funds through advertising and Patreon support.

The Trust has also been very pleased to support the creation of a new vocal ensemble, The Lyons Mouth, formed from former University of York students, and has so far supported their participation in a recording by Joanna Marsh, and some consort recording and filming.

The number of subscribing members has continued to fall from 400 to 379, but remains more than double pre-pandemic levels.

Details of all the projects the Trust has supported are detailed in Appendix A below.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Trust had total income, including tax recoverable under the Gift Aid Donations

scheme, of £189,622 (2023: £115,746). This sum was raised from subscribing Patrons and Friends, as well as non-member donors, including £100,000 from an individual donor, £19,034 raised for the Benevoli recording project, and £6,720 for the Victoria recording. The Trust also received a grant of £4,000 from Chiltern Arts and £1,942 from the Voces8 Foundation.

The Trust made total grants of £185,299 (2023: £155,002). £174,912 (2023: £141,628) was granted to I Fagiolini and £10,388 (2023: £13,374) was granted to other bodies to support projects as detailed in Appendix A below. No other requests were received.

Other expenses included £2,961 (2023: £5,152) of publicity expenses; £2,107 (2023: £1:244) for administrative support; and £596 (2023: £657) of bank charges, primarily for donations received via PayPal.

The Trust therefore ended the year with reserves of £91,206 (2023: £92,748), of which £ Nil (2023: £ Nil) are restricted funds.

Investment policy:

The Trust does not own any property or investments, as the majority of its funds need to be kept liquid to meet its ongoing obligations. The majority of the Trust’s funds are held with CAF Bank, together with a smaller balance at TSB, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.

Reserves:

The trustees believe that the charity’s assets are available and adequate to fulfil the obligations of the charity as a whole.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The charity trustees have given consideration to the major risks to which the charity is exposed and satisfied themselves that systems or procedures are established in order to manage those risks. As a grant-giving body, the Trust only allocates funds that are already in hand. The Trust continues to have a steady stream of income, and a steady pipeline of new creative projects to support, so the Trustees have no doubts about the continuation of IFCT as a going concern for at least twelve months from the date of signing this report.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The Trust expects to continue to receive a reliable subscription income from Friends and Patrons in the coming year and will continue to raise more funds through donations towards specific projects. The Trust is currently considering supporting the following projects in 2024-25:

INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION

The independent examination of the charity's accounts has been undertaken by Peter Stevenson, Chartered Accountant.

Approved by the Trustees on 26 November 2024 and signed by order of the Trustees by

Signature…………………………… Kieran Cooper, Chairman Date…………………

Appendix A

During the year, the Trust supported the following projects:

Grants to IFPL

Grants to other bodies

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

INDEX

Registered Charity No: 1116635

Page 1

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST Charity No 1116635

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

Note
INCOME
1
Income from charitable activities
2
Grants
Voluntary income
Large donations (inc Gift Aid)
Income from trading activities
Fundraising
Investment income
Deposit interest
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE
1
Costs of raising funds
Fundraising and publicity
Expenditure on charitable activities
Grants
Other
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
Net income/expenditure and
movement in funds for the year
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds b/f at 1 September 2023
Total funds c/f at 31 August 2024		 Restricted
Funds
£
0
31,554
0
0
0
31,554
0
31,554
0
31,554
0
0
£0		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
5,942
48,630
100,000
2,640
856
158,068
2,961
153,745
2,904
159,610
-1,542
92,748
£91,206		 2024
Totals
£
5,942
80,184
100,000
2,640
856
189,622
2,961
185,299
2,904
191,164
-1,542
92,748
£91,206		 2023
(see note 7)
£
11,450
103,707
0
458
131
115,746
5,152
155,002
2,100
162,254
-46,508
139,256
£92,748

The notes on pages 3 and 4 form part of these accounts.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derives from continuing activities.

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST Charity No 1116635

Page 2

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 AUGUST 2024

Note
FIXED ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
3
Cash at bank
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Creditors
4
NET CURRENT ASSETS
NET ASSETS
FUNDS OF THE CHARITY
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds		 2024
£
0
8,366
83,040
91,406
200
91,206
£91,206
0
91,206
£91,206		 2023
£
0
9,908
83,040
92,948
200
92,748
£92,748
0
92,748
£92,748

Trustees' responsibilities

Charity law requires the trustees to prepare accounts for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the results for that period. In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to select suitable accounting policies and to apply them consistently; make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume that the charity will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity, and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

These accounts were approved by the trustees on 26 November 2024

K Cooper Chairman S Trist Treasurer

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST Charity No 1116635

Page 3

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and with the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

The charity meets the definition of a public entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note.

(a) Income is generally recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the funds have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably. Subscriptions and donations are accounted for when received, and gift aid tax recoverable thereon is accrued .

(b) Expenditure is recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is included on an accruals basis. Other expenditure on charitable activities includes the Independent Examiner's fee £200 (2023 £200). No expenses were reimbursed to any trustee (2023: £NIL); no trustee received any remuneration from the charity in the year (2023 £NIL), and no staff were employed in either year.

2. Income from charitable activities
Grants
Large donations (inc. Gift Aid)
Other donations and subscriptions
Concerts
3. Debtors
Gift Aid Tax reclaim
4. Creditors
Independent Examiner's fee
Other		 2024
£
5,942
100,000
80,184
0
£186,126
8,366
£8,366
200
0
£200		 2023
£
11,450
20,795
70,145
12,767
£115,157
9,908
£9,908
200
0
£200

5. Contingent liabilities and future commitments

The Trust had no contingent liabilities at the balance sheet date (2023 £NIL), and had made no specific commitments to support projects in 2024/25 or beyond (2023 £NIL).

6. Related parties

The Trust's focus is in the main, though by no means exclusively, on the work of I Fagiolini Projects Ltd (IFPL), a limited company of which Robert Hollingworth, a former trustee of the charity, is the Principal. Total value of IFPL projects supported in the year was £174,912 (2023 £140,365).

I FAGIOLINI CHARITABLE TRUST Charity No 1116635

Page 4

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2024

7. COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2023

INCOME
Income from charitable activities
Grants
Voluntary income
Income from trading activities
Fundraising
Investment income
Deposit interest
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE
Costs of raising funds
Fundraising and publicity
Expenditure on charitable activities
Grants
Other
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
Net income/expenditure and
movement in funds for the year
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds b/f at 1 September 2022
Total funds c/f at 31 August 2023		 Restricted
Unrestricted
Funds
Funds
£
£
11,450
0
52,140
51,567
0
458
0
131
63,590
52,156
0
5,152
64,090
90,912
0
2,100
64,090
98,164
-500
-46,008
500
138,756
£0
£92,748		 2023
Totals
£
11,450
103,707
458
131
115,746
5,152
155,002
2,100
162,254
-46,508
139,256
£92,748

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of I Fagiolini Charitable Trust I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 31. August 2024, which are set out on pages I to 4. Respective Responsibilities of Trustees aDd Examiner As the charity's trustees you are ￿sponsible for the prcparation of the accounts. You wnsider that the audit requirement of section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) does not apply, and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility lo examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charilies Act. to follow the Procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners under section 145(5Xb) of the Ac( and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention. Basis of Independent Examiner's Report My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An C￿mination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts presented wilh those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and s¢eking explanation from you as trustees concerning any such matters. "I'he procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounls present a 'true and fair view,. and the report is limiied to those matters set out in the statement below. Independent ExAminer's Statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: ( l ) which gives me reasonable cause to bclieve that in any material respect the requirements • to keep accounting records in accordance with Kction 130 of the Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act and with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommendd Practice: Accounting and Rcporting by Charities (FRS 102) have not been met. or {2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. t eÈer J. SltvfAJ o- Peter J. Stevenson Chartered Accountant 8 Harbord Road Oxford OX2 8LJ Date: 26 November 2024