OpenCharities

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

2021-03-31-accounts

The Karima Foundation Annual Trustees Report 2020/21 Faith Through Action

1

Contents

Contents
SECTION A 3
1. Reference and Administrative Details 5
2. Structure, Governance and Management 5
SECTION B 11
1. Objectives and Activities 11
About Us 4
2. Summary of Achievements and Performance 2019-20 5
COVID19 Response 5
The Castlefield Community Centre (CCC) 6
Trustees Report 11
Priorities for 2021-22 11
Covid Impact Statement 11
Independent Examiner’s report to the trustees 11
Statement of financial activities & balance sheet 14

2

SECTION A

1. Reference and Administrative Details

Charity Name: Karima al Marwaziyya

Other names charity is known by: Karima Foundation or KMF

Registration No.: 1121257 Principal Office: Castlefield Community Centre, Rutland Avenue, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP12 3LL

Trustees: Mr Asim Mahmood Mr Umar Khaliq Mr Imran Rehman Mrs Sundas Aslam

2. Structure, Governance and Management

Karima Foundation is a registered charity governed by a TRUST DEED (AS OF THE 15TH OF

SEPTEMBER 2007). Karima Foundation has a management committee which is comprised of the aforementioned trustees plus an additional team of five who meet on a quarterly basis. These meetings form the basis of the decision-making process and aim to produce a framework for the implementation of current and future strategies and projects.

A detailed financial review is also performed by the trustees in advance of such meetings and discussed before the rest of the committee. All decisions are undertaken by a majority vote. All decisions are then sanctioned by Trustees in accordance with their roles and responsibilities.

The management committee comprises of individuals from the local community which the Karima Foundation serves, these individuals are from a variety of backgrounds. Each individual brings their own area of expertise to the organisation.

3

3. Financial Review

The charity generated a surplus of £27,175 in the year 2020/21, further details can be seen in the accompanying accounts.

The charity holds £585,857 funds in reserve which are designated for the Karima Quran School Building project (£495,857) and the funding of Castlefield Community Centre as agreed with Wycombe District Council (£90,000).

SECTION B

1. Objectives and Activities

Karima Foundation, based in High Wycombe, works on various community projects ranging from education to sports with two distinct primary charitable objectives being;

  1. To advance in life and help young people through –

  2. a. The provision of educational projects;

  3. b. The provision of recreational and leisure time activities provided in the interest of social welfare designed to improve their conditions of life.

  4. To advance the Islamic religion in the community for the benefit of the public through the holding of prayer meetings, lectures, religious festivals, producing and/or distributing literature on basis of faith to enlighten others about the Islamic religion.

About Us

The Foundation operates primarily in the Oakridge & Castlefield area but benefits thousands of people each year across High Wycombe and beyond.

Most of the projects and services delivered by the Foundation operate from The Castlefield Community Centre (CCC). The centre was part of a community asset transfer scheme from Wycombe District Council and is now managed solely by the Foundation offering a venue available for public hire, with community provision being its primary focus. The Foundation has also submitted a proposal to Buckinghamshire council for the lease and management of the Green Street Community Centre (GSCC).

These transfers are testimony to the impact delivered within the community and the excellent relationships built with local organisations. Other partners include Wycombe Youth Action, Thames Valley Police, Wycombe Muslim Communications Forum, amongst other community organisations.

The charity has aims to respond to the needs of the community and react quickly to unforeseen challenges or events. There is no better example than the coronavirus pandemic, where the Foundation was awarded the Proud of Bucks award for the High Wycombe area for its efforts and services provided during the lockdown.

The charity delivers a diverse range of projects including:

· Supplementary schools & Adult Learning - These schools provide young Muslims & adults a secure grounding in Islamic knowledge, helping to shape their identity as British muslims. Graduates from the

4

school have gone on to higher education, built professional careers, and returned to volunteer within their local communities.

· Public Community Library – The library serves the local community with hundreds of books checked out on a weekly basis. The Foundation is one of a few charities in the country which manages a public library service, in partnership with Bucks Library Service

· Youth Clubs – Targeted activities at youth including a weekly club and “Lockdown” designed to provide a safe and welcoming space for young people whilst also nurturing to enable them to achieve their full potential.

· Sports – Designed to tackle poor physical wellbeing in the mostly BAME local community, the Foundation delivers weekly sessions for men, women, and children in Yoga, Circuits, netball, rambling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Archery, Swimming, Circuits, and Tae-Kwon-Do.

· Eid in the Park, Juma & Taraweeh Prayers – A relatively new project which serves the needs of thousands of local Muslims. This involves extensive liaison and planning with Buckinghamshire Council and a significant volunteer led effort on the day.

· Scouts – The scouts troop delivers weekly sessions to Scouts, Cubs, and Beavers. These are designed to raise confidence, build character, and motivate young children aged between 5-14.

· Social & Community initiatives – Food banks, tackling social issues on inequality, drugs, domestic violence

· Health Inequalities – Projects focused on the physical and mental wellbeing

The work of the Foundation was recognised this year by Buckinghamshire County Council, The Foundation received the Proud of Bucks Award for the High Wycombe area for its efforts and services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. Summary of Achievements and Performance 2019-20

COVID19 Response

Over the years, the Foundation has developed to implement projects which react to unforeseen challenges. There is no better example than the coronavirus pandemic, which has had devastating health and economic impact on the world. During the pandemic, the Foundation has supported the community by providing food to vulnerable groups, prescription drops to those in isolation, welfare calls to those with limited social contact, and administrative support to those facing financial difficulties.

As many regions enter a period of recovery, the Foundation is now focused on reducing the economic impact on the local community. This will be an identified priority for the coming years.

In terms of our day to day offering the Foundation was very quick in moving its delivery online and continuing offering services, where possible, as normal

This year has seen the Foundation further expand on projects already being delivered as well as continue to deliver the existing activities.

We continue to partner with or support various community organisations and agencies. These have included:

5

Wycombe District Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Family Support Service, Thames Valley Police, Wycombe Youth Action, Chiltern Rangers, MIND, One Can Trust and many other organisations.

The Castlefield Community Centre (CCC)

Castlefield Community Centre (CCC) is a separate project run by The Foundation. This project has been running since October 2014 when the Foundation took over

running of the centre from Wycombe District Council (WDC). In March 2020, after many years of work, the foundation received a freehold for the site.

As the scope of the work undertaken with this project was significant the trustees and management committee of the Karima Foundation decided that this project be sub-managed by a working group on a day to day basis. As such the project has its own management committee and retains financial and operational independence from the core services and activities of the Foundation. The management committee consists predominantly of unpaid local volunteers who manage and oversee all aspects of CCC with some small services outsourced to local providers. The management committee reports to the trustees of the Foundation who retain ultimate responsibility and oversight of the running of the centre.

CCC’s Community Asset Transfer from WDC has realised a number of benefits:

In the last seven years, the utilisation of CCC has increased significantly. Access and provision of services across all age groups and community groups has increased. CCC has strengthened links with local voluntary organisations, and the community as a whole, establishing a flourishing and self-sustaining community facility that is a vibrant part of the local and wider community.

CCC has a unique operating model in that, it not only provides a local, safe and secure venue for external providers to hire but also facilitates delivery of its own provision. Some of the external providers currently using CCC on long term arrangements are Aflah Day Nursery, A public library service and the local community for private events.

Aflah Nursery has been operating from CCC since January 2017. The nursery runs 38 weeks of the year, Monday to Friday in accordance with the Bucks term dates. Their current provision provides 15 hours of universal funded entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds with parents having the option to take up the 30 hours of universal free entitlement.

In addition to a facility for external providers, CCC has a well-established provision of its own which consist of Castlefield Community Library (CCL), Brazilian Jiujitsu Academy, Autism Spectrum Club, Scouts group, Taekwondo Club, Archery Club, Basketball Club, Yoga, Special Mums’ Club, Youth Club and Fitness Circuits, alongside bespoke events depending on the theme, i.e. Mental Health Awareness Week etc. We’ve provided a brief summary of a couple of the sessions as an insight.

6

Castlefield Community Library – The library continues to serve the whole community and is an established core provision. It runs a number of events to promote reading and is seen as an asset within the community. A dedicated team of volunteers help maintain the provision in partnership with Bucks library services. The library also provides IT facilities for young people to complete homework, research and access to the internet. A significant number of adults use the IT facilities to apply for jobs and print application forms

Karima Scouts –

Like many other activities, Covid caused a major issue for the Scouts programme. The last session was delivered on the 14th March 2020 and a week later we had the first national lockdown.

The leaders made an effort to arrange online sessions but after poor take up and limited engagement, it was decided we would not carry on with online sessions. We continued to engage with the central scouting body but no further activities were delivered for over a year.

This caused an issue in terms of funds as we didn’t charge parents for any subscriptions and had to complete the census for 2021. After discussions, the fee was paid by the district.

The Osswa Jiu_ & Grappling - Carlson Gracie 302 - HW – Taught by a Carlson Gracie black belt, the club made a successful launch last year with attendees from Wycombe and local areas. The club continues to grow, soon to become the largest grappling club in the Wycombe area. The club is now established and continues to grow with three sessions a week. Kids BJJ and Ladies BJJ continue. The club is now well established in the High Wycombe community attracting a diverse age range. Weekly attendance exceeds 100 participants, with whole families now taking part. During the national lockdown these classes were transferred online, with families able to participate from the safety of their homes.

Castlefield Youth Club- A weekly youth club is run from the Castlefield Community Centre to engage young people in positive activities and expose them to a number of role models. The club attracts 20 to 30 teenagers on a weekly basis and works closely with a number of Bucks Youth services including Wycombe Youth Action and Thames Valley Police. It also includes a quarterly event called ‘Lockdown’ which attracts between 50 and 100 young people each time to attend the Centre for activities such as football, pool, PS4 and socialising. We had special guests visit including inspirational role models such as Ibn Ali Miller from the US.

A girls Youth club is now ready to launch Post Covid in partnership with Wycombe Youth action and Bucks Council. (delayed due to Covid restrictions). We are also in the process of arranging outreach street walks in the local community to engage with young people in the places that they enjoy going to (such as the local park).

CCC has vast and varied provision delivery across the week and co-shares the site with Bucks County Council (BCC) Family Support Centre (FSC, previously Sure Start), making the site a true community hub serving its local and wider community. Please note, CCC and FSC are two separate facilities co-joined on the same site.

Over the last seven years, CCC has gained considerable experience managing the facility and working in collaboration with statutory and community groups. All provision is well established, with CC providing a safe and convenient venue for all its users.

7

CCC is always looking at ways to improve its facility and after consultation with users is exploring plans to provide a café, enhance existing washroom and kitchen facilities and improve existing user storage and office areas. These plans are being worked on with the aim to start delivering the improvements from Apr 20.

CCC receives no financial support from the Karima Foundation to support its daily operations and is selffunded through hire income and grants from the local authority.

Education & Supplementary Schools

Our objective of advancing life and helping young people is delivered through our long established supplementary schools. Early Autumn, the foundation started putting plans in for online delivery of its schools, which ensured a smooth transition when the national government announced a national lockdown. We were able to continue providing classes to 300 young people online

The benefits of attending a supplementary school are well documented. The Foundation operates four schools in High Wycombe, now in their 16[th] year. Students are taught from a varied curriculum and enjoy a diverse and engaging enrichment programme.

With humble beginnings, the school has organically grown and now serves approximately 300 young people from ages of 5 to 18. The schools consist of a Quran School, two Saturday Schools (Primary and Secondary) and Foundations of Alimiyyah Studies. A number of professionals teach and contribute to the school’s development ranging from British born Islamic scholars, qualified teachers, lawyers, paralegals, accountants, health and social care professionals and more.

The supplementary schools run a number of themed projects and social studies across the academic year as well as regular classes to enhance the children’s educational and social development and emotional wellbeing, enabling the students to be confident, flexible and resilient young adults, ready to take on future challenges.

Weekday School

With a tailored programme for children aged 6-10 years, The Weekday school runs a 5-day provision serving over 80 young people, teaching the core and most important aspects of Islamic learning. Fusing traditional learning methods with a more contemporary approach to teaching and learning, the Weekday School aspires to nurture upright citizens with a love of the Quran and high aspirations and strong Islamic morals, able to positively contribute to society.

With the advent of the National Lockdown, lessons were delivered remotely from March 2020 to the end of the Academic year. Planned activities were sadly put on hold during this period.

With an extensive Risk Assessment in place, the new academic year, September 2020, welcomed ‘in-person’ classes with a phased return for all students. Classes had staggered start and finish times. With nearly 5 months of children being away from the classroom setting and not being able to meet with their friends, the rigid hygiene measures, social distancing protocols and isolation guidelines did not dampen their spirits. The first few weeks were used to settle the children and ensure a provision was in place to support the students’ wellbeing after such a difficult time.

Headboy, Headgirl and prefect presentations were held online, limiting audience members to staff only, rather than the usual whole school presentations. Selecting role holders was exceptionally difficult as the calibre of presentations was very high. The sought after positions provide an opportunity for the students to mentor the younger pupils and gain vital leadership skills.

A different approach was taken to the annual Macmillan coffee fundraiser, the students held ‘bake sales’ at home and sold their wares to friends, family and neighbours raising a staggering £3,860 surpassing last year’s total of £2,100.

8

The School returned to online classes in January 2020, putting planned events like the Activity day and Theme Month on hold. The Academic Review meetings were held online.

This has been a challenging year, but staff have worked exceptionally hard to offer consistency and some normality in the young people’s lives and continue to deliver lessons and activities with love and care.

Saturday Primary Supplementary

The primary school serves children between the ages of 5 to 9 years with a total of around 80 students attending this year. During this reporting period the school was delivered online in the main, with only 4 months in person classes. This resulted in the majority of planned activities being put on hold/postponed. The students did have an opportunity to take part in a ‘Lap Book’ competition which produced some exemplary work.

Saturday Secondary Supplementary

Our secondary programme of study caters for children aged between 10 to 18 years old. We aspire to nurture upright citizens with high aspirations and strong Islamic morals, who have the ability to positively contribute to society. This year's intake of 180 girls and boys is fairly consistent with the previous year. Our programme of study is designed to go further in depth with specific aspects of Islam that have been introduced at the Primary school. Subjects include Tajweed, which is taught by teachers who take part in our Ijaza (formal teaching authorisation) programme, along with other subject areas such as Tafseer of Quran, Fiqh, Seerah and the 99 Names of Allah.

This year, mirroring the protocol adopted by the Primary school, students were taught via our online portal for the most part; nonetheless, teachers worked exceptionally hard to keep the children motivated and engaged.

Foundations of Alimiyyah Course

A course for children aged 12 years old and older to study introductory modules which have been designed by in house specialists and delivered by qualified teachers. There have now been four rounds of entrants with total intake exceeding expectations with 70 boys and girls enrolling. The programme is one of intensive study including Arabic language, grammar, fiqh, aqeedah and Islamic manners. The core curriculum continues to be reviewed to ensure content is relevant and accessible to students. Our second class graduated this year with many now joining the ijaaza programme and or becoming volunteers at our schools.

Karima Umrah

Due to the ongoing pandemic and other priorities, this remains a project which will be revived at a time the foundation feels is right.

Sports and Leisure:

The Foundation fulfils its objective of providing recreational and leisure time activities in the interest of social welfare through a number of activities these are further described in section The Castlefield Community Centre (a Project of the Karima Foundation)

Sports for Ladies and children

9

The Foundation continues to provide a variety of sports activities aimed specifically at women and children. We have a competitive ladies Netball team (Warriors) who play in a local league at the Kingsmead Netball Centre. We also have Yoga for ladies sessions (weekday morning), social netball for girls 11+ and ladies (weekday evening). As a result of this, a Wycombe based ladies team now competes in a local league. Three separate swimming sessions (weekday evening) catering for ladies, girls and boys from beginners level through to free swimmers. Children's - teen football coaching (weekend).

Adult Education and community provision:

Juma, Taraweeh prayers, weekly and monthly prayer gatherings- The Foundation continues to hold weekly and monthly gatherings of remembrance (mawlid) as well as yearly taraweeh prayers. The average attendees to such events can range between 30 to 200.

We had successful pillars of faith series delivered by Shaykh Wim Van Ael, including the divine names, angels, prophetic adhiya, Balagha and introduction to contemporary fiqh. Due to the pandemic, we moved our classes online, delivering free public classes and community vents via Karima Live. This resulted in a YouTube following of over 9000 members, with on average 1000 views a day. With guest speakers and access specialists in history, psychology and leading imams from across the globe.

Wycombe Community Eid - After the success of the inaugural Eid in 2019 we had planned for more Community Eid initiatives, unfortunately like many other events we were unable to deliver the Eid Ul Fitr celebrations in May 2020 due to Covid lockdown and restrictions. Through communication and a positive relationship with the council we were able to deliver a socially distanced Eid Prayer in the Park in July 2020. The gathering was very limited in terms of activity but was well received by those who attended. The event will, weather permitting, continue to be an annual event catering for the local community who wish to congregate outdoors to pray their Eid prayers safely and in an inclusive environment.

Talks/Lectures/Contemporary series – The Foundation continued to invite scholars and guest speakers to deliver lectures on a variety of topics. The area of focus has been philosophy, theology and contemporary issues.

Karima Building Project –The Foundation remains interested in acquiring land/building for a purpose-built education facility that can cater for the needs of the community and fulfil ever-increasing demand. With the extensive work and delivery taking place across the foundation, and the prohibitive cost of suitably sized sites this project is on hold. However, if an opportunity arises the trustees will pursue all options. On this basis, funds designated for this purpose continue to be treated as restricted. The foundation is actively exploring opportunities to extend Castlefield Community Centre to provide extra space and facilities for the projects and activities we deliver.

10

Trustees Report

The Karima al Marwaziyya Foundation (KMF) is based in High Wycombe. KMF was set up as an informal group of professionals who volunteered in performing grassroots community work, since its inception in 1998. As delivery and audience of The Foundation grew, pragmatic steps were taken for The Foundation to move towards becoming a registered charity, which was agreed and pursued, officially gaining charitable status in November 2007.

The aim of KMF is to facilitate educational and social welfare events and projects aimed at young people and for the benefit of the wider community to help increase awareness and understanding of British Muslims.

The trustees would like to recognise the continued efforts of all our volunteers and donors for their continued support and commitment in helping deliver our objectives which are summarised by our simple intention of servitude to our community.

Priorities for 2021-22

Covid Impact Statement

As can be seen in the reduced income and surplus in the year, the charity was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. However, through the generosity of our donors, partners and local community the foundation has adapted and grew its provision in many new ways. Supplementary education offering has continued in line with government guidelines. The charity has adapted and has continued to deliver in line with its charitable objectives. The demand for the charity’s services grew during the lockdown and continue to grow. As outlined above the charity has created hundreds of hours of online content as well as been active in serving the local community throughout the crisis and been a key strategic community partner to the local authority in its COVID19 pandemic response, resulting in us winning the Proud of Bucks award and our work being highlighted in a parliamentary report by the MP of High Wycombe, Steve Baker.

Independent Examiner’s report to the trustees

11

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Sectlon A Independent ExamIne￿$ Rèport R•port to the trusteesl members of KARIMA AL-MARWAZIYYA FOUNDATION On accounts for the year ¢nd•d 31si Marth 2021 Charlty no Irf any} 1121257 Set out on pages I rep)rt to the trustees on my examinatM)n ofthe accounts of the above charity Iyhe Trusfi forthe year ended Responslbllltles and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are resp)nsible for the prepara￿on basis of report of the acLounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the A￿1. I re￿rt in resped of my examination ofthe Trusfs accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying Out my examination. I have followed the appliCa￿e Direcbons given by the Charity cOr￿ls5￿)n under seth'on 145(5llbl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirrn that no rna￿al matters have me to my attention (other th8n that disclosed below'l in eonnèction with the exanNnation which gives me cause to bdieve that in. any material Ind•pondent examlnerfs staternent accounllng records were not kept In acccydance wth sedon 130 of the A¢1 or th8 ac<x)unts do not acC￿d with th8 a(￿untIng r8cord5 I have no concerns and have come across rK) Other matter5 in connection th the examination to which 8tt8ntion Shou￿ b8 drawn in order to enab18 8 proFer understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Hease delete the words irj the braGkets if Iheydo not apply. Signed: A. Hussain 25101122 Name: Amer Hussain Relevant professional qualificationl¥l or boity Ilf any}: CIWI Associate Addres8: 71 High WY￿rnbe HP11 1TY IER October 2018 12

Section B Disdosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32, IrKJependenl examinati(￿ of tharity acwunts.. diredions and guidan￿ for ex8minersl. Give here brief details of •ny It•ms that th• examinerwishes to disclose. None IER O¢tobor 2018 13

Statement of financial activities & balance sheet .,IMlIl