OpenCharities

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

← Tariki Trust

2024-12-31-accounts

Tariki Trustees Annual Report 2024

Part 1: Reference and Administrative details

Tariki Trust, Pinkerton Cottage, 34 Temple, Midlothian EH23 4SQ

Charity Registration number: 1149658

Tariki Trust trustees and Management

On 31 December 2024 Tariki trustees were Julia Samworth (chair), Elise Tate, Hussam Al-Nawab and Kathryn Sheridan.

Day to day management of Tariki Trust is delegated to Stephen McCabe, Caroline Brazier and Debbie Swain as Officers of the Trust.

Bankers:

National Westminster Bank PLC

7 Hinckley Road

Leicester

LE3 0TQ

Independent Examiner:

Caroline Sanderson

11 Little Road

Edinburgh

EH16 6SH

Part 2: Structure, Governance and Management

Tariki Trust is a charitable trust in England and Wales no. 1149658 and is governed by a Deed of Trust which was signed in December 2011. It is a registered charity with the Scottish OSCR with the number SC053905.

New Trustees

New trustees are appointed in accordance with the terms set out in the Tariki Trust Deed by invitation of the existing trustee group in consultation with the trust’s officer(s). Trustees undergo an induction process and are supported by the existing trustees and officers in learning about the trust’s activities and policies. In 2024 Paul Burt stood down as chairperson of the trust and Julia Samworth was voted by the trustees as new chairperson. Kathryn Sheridan also joined the board as a trustee in 2024.

Trustee Training

Specific training is offered to the trustee group as appropriate to bring a better understanding of issues affecting the trust. New trustees are given a welcome letter and are made aware of the structures and activities of the trust.

Decision Making

Policies and major decisions are made at trustee meetings which occur every few months and not less than two per year. Other decisions are made by the officers of the trust, acting on the trust’s behalf, or by others to whom specific decision-making power is delegated. Any decision involving expenditure of more than £500 on a single item will be made in consultation with the trustees, and all significant decisions are normally discussed with one or more trustees. Officers currently submit a written report to each trustee meeting.

Identified Risks

The trustees of Tariki Trust identified the following risks:

Risk Reduction Strategies

For the above risks, Tariki Trust has set in place:

Part 3: Objectives and Activities

Objectives of charity from governing document

The trustees shall hold the trust fund and its income upon trust to apply them for the advancement of the Buddhist religion (Dharma).

In furtherance of the objects, but not otherwise, the trustees may exercise any of the following powers:

Activities of the Charity

Ten Directions Ecotherapy Training Programme

Ten Directions Certificate in Ecotherapy: The ecotherapy programme continued to be offered throughout 2024 in our popular online training format, with some in-person options offered for those in the UK who can travel. As many of our students are overseas, the majority of people do the course fully online. This involves the completion of five online units plus 90 hours of attendance at online seminars and workshops offered over Zoom or in-person. Each of the core units was accompanied by a one-day workshop on Zoom conducted by core staff, and other seminars and workshops were conducted by a wider range of people, some of whom had trained on the course in previous years and some of whom had specific areas of expertise. Online courses and seminars proved popular and the number of students taking the year-long certificate was at record levels with 32 people enrolled in the 2023/24 course and a further 21 students enrolled in 2024/25.

The seminars and workshops also attracted a following of people who did not enrol for the full programme, meaning that most individual seminars continued to attract between 8-15 people. No workshops were cancelled in 2024 due to low numbers, which has happened in previous years.

During 2024, there were two in-person offerings, all held in Lothian, Scotland, both non-residential weekends in Midlothian. All were attended by groups of 7-10 people and these were facilitated by Stephen McCabe and Caroline McIntosh, a recent graduate of the Certificate programme.

This year, we offered bursaries to three students in India. All of these women have proven to be extremely engaged in the course and one has become a guest tutor on the course, providing workshops on storytelling and Hinduism’s relationship with nature. It feels important for graduates to run workshops alongside us, helping to cement the Ten Directions course as a learning community, rather than something run by a top-down teaching team. Also, we aim to diversify the backgrounds and religious practices of our tutors. Offering training bursaries to people in developing countries – and then offering them paid teaching work if they have something to offer – seems like an excellent way to do this naturally.

The core Ten Directions staff group continues to consist of Caroline Brazier, Sam Lewis, Paul Maiteny, Stephen McCabe, Harriet Sams and Fairlie Winship, and they continued to do much teaching on the programme. We continue to use Squarespace for our website and publicity and Mighty Networks to deliver our online courses. Students seem to find the latter platform engaging to use and they often share photos, poems, artwork and videos in the forum.

By using Eventbrite to advertise and manage our event booking, we have attracted almost 1500 ‘followers ’on the platform, which is allowing us to reach many new people from across the globe. Our mailing list also continues to grow. Monthly newsletters are sent with updates on our upcoming workshops and Tariki Trust’s general activities.

In both academic years that ran in 2024, we offered over 250 hours worth of workshops for our students to choose their 90 training hours from, creating a tailored experience for students who may want to specialise their ecotherapy work in certain areas.

We received some very encouraging feedback from our 2023/24 students in the summer, demonstrating that the course is a powerful experience for many on a personal as well as professional level. Here are some quotes from the feedback forms, which are shared below with permission:

‘ I think the whole theme of embodiment and wilderness were quite groundbreaking for me. I enjoyed finding out that I'm a soft animal that belongs in this world.’

‘The whole process was precious. The daily exercises were a tremendous support, and I also loved the fact that we could chose all kinds of different workshops. I discovered so many different possibilities in ecotherapy thanks to those, it was wonderful.’

‘Too many highlights to count - the workshops were almost all fabulous. The modules were great. Fantastic connection with other participants. Amazing support from tutors. Wonderful learnings and gentle guidance. Thank you’

‘I have really enjoyed going out in all weathers and having to think about the activities I have chosen to do, focusing my attention and approach. The units around storytelling and ritual were particularly relevant to me and my background, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed taking photographs. It has been good to consider how to encourage others into exploring their surroundings again, and it was refreshing to not be told how to do this. I have learned a lot from my fellow students and their comments.’

‘I've looked forward to the daily exercises and will miss these. It's been a great way to move through the content and deepen my understanding of the subject and relationship with nature. I really enjoyed the poetry therapy module. Reading the thoughts of other participants and the feedback from the teachers has enhanced learning in the core modules as well.‘

Ten Directions Diploma in Ecotherapy: The Diploma programme offers a second year of training for students who had taken the Ten Directions Certificate in Ecotherapy and are looking for support to develop their ecotherapy practice. The Diploma programme is designed to be flexible, meeting the needs of students with a variety of specialisms, working in different therapeutic, mental health and community settings.

Students are expected to plan and complete a project of their own choosing supported by a mentoring process; participate in a series of monthly gatherings attended by all students; complete a professional studies unit; and 90 hours of attendance. Caroline co-ordinates the programme and facilitates the monthly gatherings which are partly based around journal activities relating to professional development which are sent out in advance of the meetings. Other staff offer one to one mentoring. Staff and students are paired according to their common interests and specialisms. Three students took the programme in 2023/24 and in September 2024 six new students enrolled and were joined by one student who had deferred from 2023/24. The other two students from the 2023/24 group completed their projects and received dipomas.

Purchase and use of Abbey Wood

In the summer of 2024, we purchased a small plot of woodland (just under 3 acres) in the Scottish Borders for use as a retreat space. We had previously been searching for land for around three years and we were delighted to find a space in the Borders area of Scotland (which we needed for ease of staff access). The woods has plenty of flat ground for camping and is surrounded by hills, rivers and natural beauty. The woods itself cost £39,000, which we bought with our reserves, but there were many other costs associated with the purchase of (legal and basic renovation costs) which cost roughly an extra £16000 (also purchased with our reserves). In 2025, we will be holding our first retreats in the space for students of the Ten Directions programme. This is an optional choice for students who wish to learn ecotherapy in-person – the course, however, remains flexible in its delivery and other students have chosen to study entirely online. Before we offer our first retreats, we will have landscapers come to create a small car parking area so that staff can get supplies up the steep track into the woods. We are also paying for the filling in of potholes on this difficult track. The work is scheduled to take place in April 2025. We will then run a volunteer weekend in May with a

group of recently recruited volunteers (all recruited via our newsletter) to help us to build a shed, an outdoor kitchen shelter, wooden steps down the steep ravine and also to put a compostable toilet in place, as well as other small jobs that need doing before retreats can take place. We look forward to using the space to develop our work in the field of ecotherapy further. We will use the space to offer a more flexible training course, responding to requests from the public to have more in-person training options.

Supervision Group

Following the success of the supervision group which we ran in 2023/24 for graduates of the Tariki Ecotherapy programme, we reopened the group in 2024/25 to new participants. The group continues to meet monthly for 90 minutes and will run for 10 monthly sessions, facilitated by Caroline. This year the group has been smaller with four practitioners initially, later joined by a fifth member. This smaller number has allowed more in depth supervision so has proved very useful and has still broken even financially. We will continue to set a maximum of 8 participants for future groups and will keep a minimum of 4.

Buddhist Psychology and Other-Centred Approach

Starting in the autumn of 2024 Caroline has offered a series of 10 workshops on Buddhist psychology which are continuing into 2025. These workshops are particularly orientated towards the interface between Buddhist psychology and ecotherapy work. The sessions were well attended with about 1520 participants at each some of whom were Ten Directions students, but others were members of the public. The courses offered in the autumn covered core principles of Buddhist psychology and those in the spring and summer of 2025 will cover their application in therapeutic contexts.

Buddhist Teaching

Buddhist Classes continued to be offered online twice a month throughout 2024. Each month, one of these classes was focused on the teaching of chanting practices and the second on study. In the study classes we completed our teaching series on Sanbutsuge in the first half of the year. This was part of a series of sessions, called the Heart of Amida, which has looked at Sanbutsuge and Juseige, two texts commonly used in Jodo Shinshu practice. Both of these texts come from the Larger Pure Land Sutra. In July we interrupted this series and ran a short series of sessions looking at Buddhist ethics, and particularly at Jodo Shinshu approaches to environmental issues. We then resumed looking at Juseige in January 2025. The classes were led by Enrique Galvan-Alvarez and Caroline. In the monthly chanting practice sessions we practiced core texts, particularly Shoshinge and the Wasan, and have particularly been supporting a group of people who are going to be taking Tokudo ordination through these classes, but we have also been joined by members of the public. In addition, we held solstice events in summer and winter, each consisting of an online Buddhist service and Dharma talk.

Other Involvement with Jodo Shinshu

In 2024 Caroline continued to attend online gatherings of Jodo Shinshu ministers and practitioners from the UK and elsewhere and to be involved with the wider sangha both in the UK and beyond through online events. In September 2025 The European Shin Buddhist Conference will be held in Oxford and Caroline is working with the other Jodo Shinshu priests in the UK who have formed an organizing committee. The event will be hosted at The Ashmolean Museum and will take place over three days. It is a biennial event which attracts Jodo Shinshu Buddhists from all over Europe as well as from Japan and North America. Tariki Trust made a grant of £2000 which is providing seed money

for this event. Any remaining after the event will be kept to support the work of the Jodo Shinshu sangha in the UK. As part of this process, Jodo Shinshu UK is currently applying for charitable status.

Psychotherapy

Caroline continues to work with a small number of ongoing clients and supervisees on Zoom.

GDPR compliance and other policies

In 2018 with the introduction of GDPR legislation, Tariki Trust reviewed its data handling and adopted new policies as a result. At the same time, the officers and trustees worked together on a major review of all policy documents of the trust. These policies have continued to be reviewed in line with the requirements established by the trustee group.

Use of volunteers

Tariki Trust has no salaried staff. Stephen McCabe and Debbie Swain receive administration payments for work done in agreement with the trustees. Teaching staff and other presenters receive honoraria or sessional fees in appreciation of their work. These are generally lower than ‘market rate ’and sometimes substantially so. Much of our work is therefore done on a voluntary or semivoluntary basis.

Part 4: Achievements and Performance

Tariki Trust has continued to deliver a substantial programme of events, mostly focused on its training in ecotherapy. This programme, which is based on a Buddhist understanding of psychology, has grown from strength to strength. In 2024 we saw continued high levels in applications which resulted in 21 enrolments at certificate level and 6 at diploma level. In addition, we have once again seen graduates of the programme joining the teaching staff, supporting the vibrancy of the Tariki community.

Our staff team continues to engage in a collaborative approach to decision making through online gatherings and also through the creation of WhatsApp groups and decision-making forums. In June 2023 we held an overnight meeting, camping in a wood in Cumbria attended by four Tariki staff at which we shared ideas and discussed practice.

Tariki Trust continues to be international in its outlook. The Ten Directions course programme is now being supported by a staff group who are dispersed all over the UK, with guest tutors in Japan, USA, India and Finland. Our student reach remains international with this year’s students coming from UK, Ireland, USA and Croatia. In 2024 we offered heavily discounted places to carers of sick and disabled relatives.

Tariki Trust also continues to offer and support Buddhist practice through online teaching. As a Buddhist priest, Caroline continues to lead Buddhist activities alongside other priests from the Jodo Shinshu community. The Tariki programmes continue to offer a distinctly Buddhist model of therapy both to its students and to others working in therapeutic fields, continuing to contribute to the field of knowledge of Buddhist psychology, psychotherapy and environmentally based working.

Part 5: Financial Review

Income during the year increased somewhat: £55,924 in 2024 as opposed to £54,490 in 2023. Expenditure, however, also increased to £ 48,585 in 2024 (excluding the purchase of woodland) as opposed to £39,836 in 2023. This difference was largely brought about by an expansion of running costs which will be detailed below. There was also an item of substantial expenditure incurred during 2024 with the purchase of a piece of woodland for use as a place to offer attendance-based activities. As a result of this, the total funds held by Tariki Trust at the end of 2024 had considerably diminished in comparison with those held in 2023 (£79,351 in 2024 as opposed to £112,299 in 2023). This expenditure was in line with the trustees’ decision that some of the large reserve accumulated since the formation of Tariki Trust in 2012 should be invested in ways which will support the charity’s work in the future. Tariki Trust still retains a very healthy reserve, some of which will be used in 2025 for the ongoing development of the woodland.

In terms of income, the major part of that taken in 2024 once again came from student fees. In addition, there was increased income from supervision and counselling. This particularly came from a year-long supervision group.

With regard to expenditure, we can note the following:

Phone and Internet: shows an increase from £249 to £2190. In part, this reflects the timing of particular payments within the financial year but also a number of improvements made to our online capabilities. In addition to subscriptions to our various providers, we have started to pay for 'Speechify' yearly. This is an AI app that transcribes text into voice files and is a development which was needed to make our courses more accessible for a number of students.

Staff and officer costs were a lot higher this year, in part due to our largest ever calendar of events and in part due to some moderate increases in staff payment rates. In September 2025 this will be pared back significantly as we deliver less online in general, something identified as needing paring back for the long-term security of the course.

Subscriptions, Hall hire, training etc: This category increases from £255 to £838. This is due to hosting several in-person retreats in Scotland, where hiring a venue was necessary to deliver the events. This will not be needed from now onwards, due to us having our own land. Likewise, two staff were trained in Outdoor First Aid this year, which is required only every three years.

Advertising costs rose this year as we experimented with advertising via paid magazines and online ads. Neither proved fruitful and so this will not be happening again in the near future.

Accounting Costs: There were costs of £152 associated with adjustments and costs involved in closing the French bank account. Closure of this account had proved extremely difficult and in the end we were not able to achieve it in the most straight forward way but instead had to make a series of smaller transfers These costs incurred therefore included bank charges associated with these transfers as well as losses due to exchange rates. The loss also reflected the fact that in the accounts figures had not been adjusted in line with exchange rates for several years, making the actual sum transferred to the UK bank account rather less than had appeared in previous accounts.

Purchase of Woods: During the year the event that stood out was the purchase of a piece of land in the Scottish Borders. We have been looking into the possible purchase of a piece of land on which we can conduct ecotherapy events for several years without success so we were delighted to find this particular parcel which is part of a larger wood near to Earlston. The place has particular folklore associations which add to its suitability for ecotherapy work. The trustees agreed a sum of £55,000

for the purchase and this has more than covered costs so far. The purchase price of the woods was £39,000 and then there were additional legal costs. Other costs will be met in 2025 and will involve creating suitable working conditions. Planned expenditure amounts to roughly £16,000. We do not envisage ongoing costs for the woodland being high, though there will be some expenses involved as we develop the site. These should be offset in future by income from events held there and from general Tariki revenue.

Other costs have remained roughly in line with the previous year’s accounts.

Overall, we can see that 2024 was another very successful year for Tariki Trust. As we go forward into 2025, we are confident that, by reflecting current trends in environmentally based education and in engaged Buddhism, we will continue to offer a quality service to our students, participants and all who use our services whilst maintaining financial prudence.

Part 6: Plans for the Coming Year and Beyond

2024 was a good year for Tariki Trust so we plan to build on this success in the year to come. In particular we hope to offer more events in our woodlands, Abbey Wood, the purchase of which has been a highlight.

Tariki Trust Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2024 Statement of Financial Activity

Note
Incoming Resources
Voluntary Income: Donations
1
From Charitable Activities
2
Total Incoming Resources
Resources Expended
Cost of Generating Funds
3
Charitable Activities
4
Governance Costs
5
Total Resources Expended
Net Incoming Resources
Less major capital expenditure
9
Net Movement in Funds
General Funds: Balance brought forward
Total Funds Carried Forward
Represented By:
Current Assets
Cash and Bank
8
Total Assets		 2024
2023
194.00
1,257.54
55,730.04
53,233.15
55,924.04
54,490.69
48,585.18
39,386.73
48,585.18
39,386.73
7338.86
15,103.96
40286.00
-32947.14
15,103.96
112,299.07
97,195.11
79,351.93
112,299.07
79,351.93
112,299.07
79,351.93
112,299.07

Notes Forming part of the Statement of Financial Activity for the Year to 31 December 2024

2024
£
1
Donations consists of
Donations
194.00
194.00
2
Charitable Activities Income
Student Fees
54,312.08
Counselling and Supervision
1,417.96
55,730.04
3
There were no appeals or fund-raising events in the year.
4
Charitable Activities Expenditure
Food and Consumables
245.16
Travel and Subsistence
Car Running Expenses
0.00
Other Travel and in transit Accommodation
276.87
Office and Admin costs
Printing postage and stationery
239.97
Computers
0.00
Phone and internet
2190.38
Independent examiner for end of year accounts
220.00
Course Costs & Training
Staff costs
33906.80
officer honorarium
8500.00
Supervision
380.00
Subscriptions, hire of hall etc
838.00
Books and equipment
56.44
Promotion/advertising
389.43
Insurance
897.81
Buddhist outreach, networking and Sacristy
241.77
Trustees- present for retiring trustee
50.00
Accounting
Bank charges (French bank account)
21.00
Adjustment re closing French bank account
131.55
48,585.18
5
Governance Costs
No trustee claimed any expenses and there were no other governance costs.
6
No income received was earmarked (restricted) for any particular purposes.
Thus all Tariki Trust's funds are unrestricted funds.
7
Debtors - none
8
Cash and Bank closing balances
National Westminster main account
77430.41
Euros cash and bank
0.00
Pay Pal
1921.52
79,351.93
9
Major Capital Expenditure
Purchase of Woodland
40286.00		 2023
£
1,257.54
1,257.54
53,083.15
150.00
53,233.15
94.24
-
398.27
205.56
1,287.99
249.55
220.00
27,656.94
7,560.00
350.00
255.00
70.93
-
838.25
200
-
-
-
39,386.73
104,509.94
3,764.33
4,024.80
112,299.07
0.00

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of Tariki Trust On accounts for the year ended 31 De￿rnber 2024 Charity no (if any) 1149658 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ('the Trusf) for the year ended 3111212024. Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 {"the Acf). I report in respect of my examination of the Trusys accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicab￿ Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have corrE to my attenb.on in connection with the examination which gives me cause to bélieve that in, any material respect.. accounting records vEre not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord ￿1th the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have corrE across no other matters in connection th the examinab'on to which attenb'on should be dra￿1 in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: C.A.S Date: 20 August 2025 Name: Caroline SarKJerson Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Member of the Insb'tute of Certified Bookkeepers Address: 11 Litt￿ Road Edinburgh EH166SH IER October 2018