ROBERTSON OUTDOOR BURSARY (R.O.B)
ANNUAL REPORT 2020
Registered Charity Number 1156739
1. INTRODUCTION & WELCOME
The Trustees present their Annual Report for the Robertson Outdoor Bursary for the year ended 31 December 2020.
In our seventh year of operations R.O.B. had to quickly adapt to the effect that the world wide covid-19 pandemic had on our operations, most notably on our ability to fundraise but more worryingly its effect on tourism in Tanzania and the resulting impact on the lives of the people there that we are trying to support.
Despite this we commenced the year by launching an exciting new partnership with Exodus Travels to encourage women to become qualified guides on Kilimanjaro. This project, called the ‘Mountain Lioness Scheme’, will fund guide training for 30 women over the next three years. The first 10 women commenced their training in October 2020.
In addition to our 10 ‘Mountain Lionesses’ we were also delighted to support three men through their guide licence training.
We were honoured to once again be invited to the Kendal Mountain Festival in November (this year a virtual event) with a presence in their virtual base camp. This gave us the opportunity to screen the film ‘Ngumu’ about the lives of women porters on Kilimanjaro. We also showed 2 short interviews with the film’s director Olly Pemberton and ROB Trustee Sally Batley, explaining all about our work.
We have maintained strong relationships with our corporate sponsors, partners and volunteers through these challenging times, particularly with our Tanzanian partners as to how the situation was evolving. We have been working closely together to see how best we could navigate these stormy waters and continue to improve our ways of working.
The challenges of Covid significantly impacted our ability to fundraise and we are ever grateful to our loyal supporters and especially this year to our regular donors that have enabled our work to continue. Our journey continues and we will continue to adapt to the world situation and obtain the maximum benefit from every penny people donate to us.
We thank all who are walking this journey with us.
Yvonne Robertson
Chair and founder of Robertson Outdoor Bursary
‘As long as there is a purpose there is no failure’ Swahili proverb
2. ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
2020 has been a challenging year for us but has marked by 3 events:
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1) The realisation of a new partnership with Exodus Travels and the launch of the Mountain Lioness Scheme which will fund 30 women to complete their guide training over the next three years.
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2) The training of 10 women and 3 men in October 2020 at the College of African Wildlife Management.
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3) Being invited to participate at this year’s virtual Kendal Mountain Festival and being able to screen the film “Ngumu” and some interviews about our work
2.1 Key Milestones
This period of operation was marked by the following key milestones:
January – March
- Realisation of the partnership with Exodus travels
April
- Launch of Mountain Lioness Guide Training Scholarships
May – August
- Selection and recruitment of 10 women for Mountain Lioness scholarships and 4 men for Guide Training scholarships.
October
- Awardees commence guide licence training at the College of African Wildlife Management.
November
- Present at this year’s Kendal (virtual) Mountain Festival with a screening of the film Ngumu and 2 interviews at their base camp.
2.2 Kit Collections
Due to the effect of the pandemic on tourism our kit collection and distribution programmes were suspended. We have maintained contact and closely monitored the situation with our partners at the Lake District National Park the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project.
2.3 Fund Raising
This year we have been unable to hold any fundraising events but have been grateful to keep the support of our regular donors through our ‘Friends of ROB Scheme’.
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We were delighted to see a continued rise in the income from Amazon Smile donations which this year raised £71.
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We also continue to receive regular income from the ‘ Friends of R.O.B.’ though increasing their number remains an annual focus.
3. AWARDS & AWARDEES
2020 Awards
3.1 Guide Training Scholarships
At the beginning of the year we committed to fund 13 places (three men and ten women) through their guide licence training at the College of African Wildlife Management. We worked in partnership with the college and The African Walking Company to recruit and select the awardees. We have been tracking their progress through their training and waiting for tourism to return to Tanzania to see them working as guides on the mountain.
4. CORPORATE AND OTHER PARTNERS
Our greatest achievement this year has been the realisation of the partnership with Exodus travels to secure funding to train 30 women over the next three years to become guides.
We were delighted to be approached to participate once again in the Kendal Mountain Festival 2020 and are grateful for the opportunity to share our work there.
In this seventh year of operations, our relationships with our Tanzanian partners (the college of African Wildlife Management and Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project are now well established and they continue to be an indispensable source of support and advice for us on how our donors’ money can be most wisely spent.
5. FINANCES
During the year we received total fundraising contributions and donations, of £1706 (inclusive of Gift Aid).
We awarded grants totalling £4,055 to fund 13 places on guide licence training scholarships at the College of African Wildlife Management.
We pledge that the money donated to us will be spent on our educational awards and any administrative expenses are kept to an absolute minimum. Of
our total costs, £4,055 was spent on grants, £49 on Virgin Money Giving collection fees and £195 on website and email hosting.
6. LOOKING FORWARD
The key challenge for us has been adapting to the world wide Covid pandemic and the effect this has had on our ability to fundraise and for our awardees to study and find work. Tracking the progress of our awardees and identifying our next cohort for guide training will be our top priority in 2021.
Our core team is well established but we are aware and grateful for the commitment for the time and energy they donate to volunteer to work with us. We will continue to review our ways of working and seek new volunteers to support us.
Continuing to raise our profile via our website, social media presence and our newsletters will help us to continue to build on new partnerships and keep our donors, supporters and awardees up-to-date with our work.
Fundraising will be a major challenge for us in the coming year and we will be monitoring the evolution of the pandemic and its effect on our work. Maintaining our relationships with our Tanzanian partners will be critical to ensure that we spend the money, that our donors have so generously given, wisely and effectively.
In the year ahead we will:
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Recruit our next cohort of awardees to our Guide Training and Mountain Lioness Scholarships.
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Track the progress of awardees completing their guide licence training and send reports to our new partner Exodus Travels on the progress of the Mountain Lionesses.
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Maintain a web and social media presence
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Continue to consolidate our relationships with our partners in Tanzania and Europe and explore new opportunities of working with them
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Monitor and report income raised from regular donors and Amazon Smile donations.
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Explore new opportunities for fundraising
We are looking forward to a successful 8[th] year for our charity.
7. ANNUAL ACCOUNTS
ROBERTSON OUTDOOR BURSARY
Income & Expenditure Account for the Year to 31st December 2020
| Incoming Resources Regular & Single Donations received Gift Aid Other Fundraising activities Virgin Money Giving fees Grant from Exodus Travels for Scholarships Grant from The Alchemy Foundation Amazon Smile receipts Raffle proceeds at Kendall Mountain Festival Less: Cost of Leaflets, Cards and T -Shirts Total Funds Raised Resources Expended Grants & Scholarships paid for training Cost of Web Hosting and Email account Cost of Printing Leaflets Net Income for the Year |
2020 2019 £ £ 1,286 3,149 254 589 215 520 -49 -87 |
2020 2019 £ £ 1,286 3,149 254 589 215 520 -49 -87 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,706 4,171 3,333 0 0 500 71 32 |
||
| 0 0 |
654 -60 |
|
| 0 594 |
||
| 5,110 5,297 -4,055 -3,085 -195 -189 0 -172 |
||
| £860 £1,851 |
ROBERTSON OUTDOOR BURSARY
Balance Sheet as at 31st December 2020
| Assets Cash at Bank Debtors and prepayment Total Assets Represented by: Accumulated Funds: Balance brought Forward Net Income for the Year Accumulated Funds carried forward |
2020 2019 £ £ 3,919 3,021 180 218 |
|---|---|
| £4,099 £3,239 |
|
| 3,239 1,388 860 1,851 |
|
| £4,099 £3,239 |
The Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet were approved by the trustees on 5[th] September 2021
Yvonne Robertson Founding Trustee
Steve Smith
Treasurer & Trustee
Sally Batley Trustee