2022-03-31-accounts - East Africa Children's Project

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EAST AFRICA CHILDREN’S PROJECT

Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts

for the year ended

31 March 2022

EACP is a Registered Charity in England and Wales (No. 1136340)

Trustees: Pieter Lagaay, Jennie Lawes, Martin Sadofski, Ros Stow 2 Eastfield Crescent, Brighton BN1 8EL www.eacpcharity.com

Registration details and Trustees

Charity name

EAST AFRICA CHILDREN’S PROJECT (“EACP”)

Registered in England and Wales

Principal address

Website

No. 1136340 2 Eastfield Crescent Brighton BN1 8EL www.eacpcharity.com

Trustee name Office Date of appointment Pieter Lagaay Chairman 8 March 2010 Jennie Lawes Secretary 20 January 2011 Martin Sadofski Communications 11 December 2012 Ros Stow Treasurer 8 March 2010

Welcome to EACP’s Annual Report for the year to 31 March 2022

The Trustees of EACP are delighted to present their twelfth annual report for EACP’s year ended 31 March 2022.

Once again, we are delighted to report another record-breaking year for donations with total income up 47% from 2021 at over £91,000. This was well beyond our expectations for the year, given the difficult and uncertain times we are in, but is testament to the generosity of our regular donors and the hard work of trustees and volunteers in successfully approaching grant making trusts. Most importantly, it demonstrates the belief of others in the difference that EACP and our partners in East Africa can make to many lives.

In the remainder of this report we will provide you with details of our:

Structure, governance and management.
Charitable objects and how we are putting them into practice.
Project partners in East Africa and our combined achievements.
Financial performance this year.

There then follow EACP’s receipts and payments accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Structure, governance and management

Constitution

EACP began in August 2009 as an informal organisation under the direction of Pieter Lagaay, providing support to projects in East Africa. It soon became apparent that there was a tremendous public interest in these activities and what Pieter was trying to achieve. The logical next step was to enact a more formal constitution and seek full charitable status.

EACP was constituted as a charitable trust under a Trust Deed dated 8 March 2010 and, following amendments to its objects, a new Trust Deed was enacted on 20 May 2010 (the ‘Trust Deed’). EACP then successfully obtained registration as a charity in England and Wales on 14 June 2010.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

Under the terms of the Trust Deed, EACP must have a minimum of three trustees who are appointed for a term of one year.

Pieter Lagaay who has a long and distinguished background in children’s education, particularly those with special needs, as well as experience with development charities in Africa, was appointed one of the first Trustees and he brought together other friends and associates with relevant professional experience to act with him. Trustees are subject to annual re-election by a majority of their fellow Trustees.

We currently have four Trustees, including Pieter, who have each worked with EACP for many years. The current Trustees bring a complementary mix of development, fundraising, communications, administration and finance skills to EACP.

Prior to appointment, trustees are provided with guidance produced by the Charities Commission, for example the publication ‘The Essential Trustee’, and ongoing training needs of trustees are reviewed on an annual basis.

Governance and management

The work of EACP is directed by its Trustees, who provide their services voluntarily and are ably assisted by committed volunteers. The Trustees are in regular contact and hold regular meetings, approximately monthly, where formal decisions to fund individual projects are made and minuted.

We are fully aware of our obligations to our donors and the trust they have placed in us when donating funds. With that in mind, we have developed policies and procedures to minimise the risks to EACP’s assets.

For example, we conduct checks on potential new project partners, formally assess all requests for funding in terms of risks, viability and relevance to our charitable objectives, and monitor the

outcomes of the initiatives we support. We also ensure that our partners have appropriate Child Safeguarding Policies in place.

We aim to conduct a monitoring visit to the projects we support every two to three years to confirm our understanding of the existing work being carried out by our project partners as well as explore new ideas and new organisations which we may consider supporting. The Covid-19 pandemic has prevented us visiting since June 2019 but we have provisional plans to travel to East Africa in early 2023.

Objects and activities

Objects

The charitable objects of EACP are:

To advance the education of children and adults in East Africa for the benefit of the public through the provision of or the assistance in the provision of education, educational materials and training.
The relief of poverty and the promotion and preservation of good health of children and adults in East Africa, through the provision of or the assistance in the provision of projects designed to improve health and welfare.

Main activities

The main activity undertaken by EACP in furtherance of these objectives is the support of projects which:

Directly improve the health, welfare and education of disadvantaged children and their families.
Provide training or sustainable livelihoods for young adults and women which directly or indirectly improve the health, welfare and education of disadvantaged children.

EACP currently supports small, manageable projects in Kenya and Uganda that produce tangible outcomes for children in need. We do not currently support any activities in Tanzania but are open to considering new initiatives there, as well as in the countries where we currently operate.

We strongly believe that working together with local partners produces the best results and our work could not be undertaken without the dedication and initiative of the people who manage the projects we support. We firmly believe that local solutions to local problems are the most effective means of delivering longer term positive change for children and their communities.

Public benefit

In exercising their duties and, in particular, in making decisions as to how EACP’s resources will be applied, the Trustees have had regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission, as required by Section 4(6) Charities Act 2006 and the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008.

Achievements and performance

EACP’s focus this year continued to be initiatives which support improvements in children’s education, health and welfare. We continued to respond to needs created by the Covid 19 outbreak, such as food price increases and the impacts of school closures, as well as supporting direct education costs and infrastructure projects to improve classrooms and sanitary facilities.

Our ability to support this range and extent of initiatives has been made possible by:

Core funding by way of regular donations from individuals, mostly in the Brighton & Hove area. We have been delighted to welcome new donors to EACP during the year and are grateful that the vast majority of our existing donors have continued to support us.
Funding from grant-making bodies that we have approached directly or have been introduced to by a professional fund-raiser. These grants have enabled us to support specific larger projects and we are delighted that the level of funding has increased significantly this year compared to last year.

The impacts of Covid-19 on our supporters and partners continue to be felt but, as at the date of this report, all our funding streams are performing well.

During the year, we made grants to six organisations, as described below. For more details and photos of the outcomes of our work please visit our website: www.eacpcharity.com.

Joy Children’s Centre, Ruiru, near Thika, Kenya (‘Joy’)

EACP has provided significant support to Joy since 2010, during which time Joy has provided a home and primary education to an increasing number of abandoned, disadvantaged and local children. Its founder, Sarah Wanjiku, remains extraordinarily committed, creative and resilient in these difficult times.

We have continued to support basic subsistence needs at Joy as well as improving the buildings and sanitary facilities, and supporting Joy’s older resident children obtain secondary and tertiary education.

Faith School, Uganda (‘Faith’)

Faith was introduced to us in 2017 by one of our volunteers who has been supporting the school personally for some years. Faith is a thriving, well run organisation which has much support from

the local community. We have supported the provision of a variety of school equipment as well as funding the building of much improved classroom facilities.

St Vianney School, Uganda (‘St Vianney’)

We began supporting St Vianney in 2016. This year, the school has faced a number of Covid 19 related and other challenges. Our support has primarily been applied to subsistence for orphans attending the school as well as uniforms and school equipment.

Bulogo School, Uganda (‘Bulogo’)

We have supported Bulogo since 2017. This year we funded school equipment, including wheelchairs for disabled children and setting up a school garden to provide food supplies. Bulogo’s twinned school in the UK, The Lyceum School, has raised funds to install an eco-toilet at Bulogo.

Bulogo Women’s Group, Uganda (“BWG”)

Working with BWG, a community organisation to support local children’s health and education and women’s empowerment, is a relatively new venture for us. This year we raised grant funding to install boreholes at three schools to provide them with a safe and secure water supply.

Let The Children Hear, Uganda (“LTCH”)

This year we entered into a pilot project with LTCH Registered Charity 1145080 to fund speech and language therapy for 10 children with hearing difficulties. The therapy is delivered by qualified practitioners and includes teaching sign language skills to the children and their families. We will evaluate the longer-term benefits of the project before deciding whether to provide further support.

Financial review

Incoming resources

EACP’s total income during the year was £91,896 (2021: £62,505). All our income, except for interest on funds held on deposit, was from voluntary donations as shown in the following table:

Income Voluntary donations Interest	Year ended 31 March 2022 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 91,895 63,936 27,959 1 1 91,896 63,937 27,959	Year ended 31 March 2021 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 62,503 36,840 25,663 2 2 62,505 36,842 25,663

A further breakdown of our voluntary donations is shown in the table below:

Grants Regular donations Other donations Twinned schools Gift aid	Year ended 31 March 2022 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 76,009 50,000 26,009 10,684 10,684 518 518 1,950 1,950 2,734 2,734 91,895 63,936 27,959	Year ended 31 March 2021 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 36,051 22,650 13,401 9,833 9,833 12,178 1,591 10,587 1,675 1,675 2,766 2,766 62,503 36,840 25,663

Our largest source of voluntary donations (both restricted and unrestricted) was from grant-making bodies. Except for specific funding applications, we seek to raise grant funding on an unrestricted basis, so that it may be applied where most needed. This year, as in 2021, both our unrestricted and restricted grant income increased significantly as we increased the number of grant-making bodies we contacted in relation to both general applications for funding and specific appeals. Our successful specific appeals included those for renovating classrooms and installing boreholes.

Donations from individuals by regular standing order continued at a similar level to 2021. These regular donations have in the past provided us with more than sufficient funds to meet our regular funding commitments. As the financial impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak continue to be felt, our regular commitments remain at a higher level with the additional costs being met from unrestricted grants. We benefit from gift aid on most of the regular donations we receive.

Resources expended

During the year, EACP expended a total of £88,579 (2021: £47,797):

Charitable activities1 Fundraising costs Administration costs	Year ended 31 March 2022 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 85,305 51,367 33,938 2,847 2,847 427 427 88,579 54,641 33,938	Year ended 31 March 2021 Total £ Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 44,863 28,382 16,481 2,874 2,874 60 60 47,797 31,316 16,481

1 Including money transfer costs

£85,305 or 96.3% (£2021: £44,863 or 93.9%) of our total expenditure went in grants and donations to the charitable activities and projects we support as follows:

	2022	2021
	£	£
Joy	39,785	24,811
Faith	16,617	3,124
St Vianney	13,088	9,053
BWG	8,344
Bulogo	5,471	1,676
LTCH	2,000
Other2		6,199
	85,305	44,863

As in most previous years, Joy was the main beneficiary of our grants this year. Our funding for projects at Joy increased compared to last year because of additional contributions towards food and subsistence because of the Covid-19 outbreak, plus infrastructure projects relating to new buildings and sanitary facilities. Grants to Faith and St Vianney also included Covid-related additional costs.

As a small charity run entirely by volunteers, we strive to minimise our expenditure on items other than direct project costs.

Our fundraising costs comprise commission paid to a fund-raising consultant plus printing and postage costs for our appeal letters. This year we raised over £24,000 (2021: £21,000) from the grant making bodies introduced to us by the consultant. We have also negotiated reduced commission rates in certain circumstances, for example on repeat donations.

Our administration costs of £427 (2021: £60) were largely for IT and internet subscriptions.

Reserves policy

EACP’s reserves policy is, subject to exceptional circumstances, to maintain a minimum reserve of £2,000 or three months anticipated committed expenditure, whichever is the greater. At 31 March 2022, we had an unrestricted reserves balance of £17,992 (2021: £8,696) which is more than sufficient to cover three months of committed expenditure at current levels (including the additional Covid-19 related funding). Our unrestricted reserves are higher than usual as we take considerable care to ensure that spending decisions in relation to our increased resources are fully evaluated and clearly support our objectives.

We also have a higher surplus of restricted funding at present, all of which is earmarked for specific project activities occurring during 2022/23. Surplus funds are held on deposit and although interest rates are low, the Trustees do not consider it appropriate to invest funds where there is a risk of capital depreciation.

2 Other projects supported in 2020/21 but now discontinued were HRCO and Right Hearts. Our 2020/21 annual report provides further details.

Inspection of accounts

As our income for the year exceeded £25,000 we are required to have our accounts inspected by an independent examiner. This service has been provided on a pro bono basis. The inspector’s report is at page 10.

Declaration

The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ Report above.

Signed on behalf of EACP’s Trustees by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chairman Date: 29 June 2022

Jennie Lawes, Trustee and Secretary Date: 29 June 2022

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF EAST AFRICA CHILDREN'S PROJECT Registered Charity number 1136340

Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2022

The accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, 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 General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The 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 accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent Examiner’s Report

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act;
have not been met; or
To which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Clive R Ward FCA

Market Heath House, Brenchley, Tonbridge, Kent TN12 7PA

Section A Receipts and payments for the year ended 31 March 2022

	31 March 2022	31 March 2022	31 March 2021 Unrestricted £ Restricted £	31 March 2021 Unrestricted £ Restricted £
Receipts	Unrestricted £	Restricted £
Voluntarydonations andgrants	63,936	27,959	36,840	25,663
Interest on deposit accounts	1		2	0
*Total receipts* Payments	63,937	27,959	36,842	25,663

Grants and donations	51,367	33,938	28,382	16,481
Costs of fundraising	2,847		2,874
Administration	427		60
*Total payments* Net of receipts/(payments) during the period Accumulated net receipts brought forward at 31 March 2021 (2020)	54,641	33,938	31,316	16,481

	9,296	(5,979)	5,526	9,182
	8,696	15,064	3,170	5,882
Accumulated net receipts (payments) at 31 March 2022(2021)	17,992	9,085	8,696	15,064


Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March			2022
	31 March 2022 Unrestricted £ Restricted £		31 March 2021 Unrestricted £ Restricted £
Cash at bank	17,992	9,085	8,696	15,064

Signed on behalf of all of the Trustees of EACP by:

Pieter Lagaay, Trustee and Chairman

Date: 29 June 2022

Ros Stow, Trustee and Treasurer

Date: 29 June 2022