## **DART INTERNATIONAL UK**
## **TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 2021**
The trustees of DART International UK are pleased to present their annual report and financial accounts for the period 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021.
DART International UK was entered on the Register of Charities on 22 May 2014 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Registered charity number 1157168). This report represents the Charity's 7th year of operation.
**Background** DART was established as a result of experience gained in the aftermath of Typhoon HAIYAN in the Philippines, when it became apparent that local communities and international aid agencies were poorly equipped to deal with damage to critical infrastructure caused by fallen trees.
Since 2014, DART teams have conducted disaster response operations in the South Pacific island state of Vanuatu, San Jose in Northern Samar and the Caribbean island of Dominica and lastly on Grand Bahama. The Charity has also collaborated with another UK charity working in rural Sierra Leone to deliver arboricultural skills training as part of a sustainable farming development programme and, most recently, project managed the construction of a modern 4 classroom primary school serving the same village.
Further details of this year’s activities are summarised later in the report.
**Our Mission** DART's charitable objectives are:
To provide teams of professionally qualified and experienced arborists, trained and equipped to support disaster relief operations worldwide by dealing efficiently with trees that pose a direct danger to the local community or obstruction of the relief effort.
To promote a more considered approach to the treatment of fallen and damaged trees among international relief organisations, taking account of local knowledge, culture and practice, safeguarding trees that can be saved for future generations and helping process those that cannot in a way that supports the local economy and reconstruction.
**Governance** DART is governed by 9 trustees who meet regularly to manage the affairs of the Charity in accordance with its founding constitution. No DART trustee or associate is employed by or receives any financial or material benefit from the Charity, which is entirely managed and operated by volunteers. The Covid-19 pandemic meant Trustee meetings were not conducted face to face, instead were conducted on-line.
**Volunteer Structure** DART has 145 registered volunteers, 63 of whom have qualified for overseas response team deployment by completing the Charity's mandatory pre-deployment Safety and Security training.
The Charity's Pre-deployment Training programme is underpinned by the Humanitarian Practice Network Good Practice Review, the Humanitarian Charter, the NGO Code of Conduct and field guidance given to staff of the IFRC and other major NGOs.
Typically, DART volunteers are highly qualified and experienced professional arboricultural specialists. In addition to fulfilling the Charity’s professional qualification and experience requirements, DART volunteers are all First Aid trained and receive advanced trauma and expedition First Aid training as part of their pre-deployment qualification.
Each volunteer brings a wide range of additional skills and life experiences to the organisation. The deployable volunteer base currently includes practising and former NHS paramedics, military and expedition trained medics, security and risk assessment specialists, trained engineers, former emergency services personnel, builders, engineers and much more. The deployed teams, benefiting from the diverse backgrounds, can impart more skills to the communities they are helping.
The Charity recognises that our volunteer’s availability and/or willingness to deploy will depend on their personal and professional commitments at any given time. Subject to their availability, volunteers agree to deploy in support of DART on the understanding that their time, energy and professional ability are freely donated; travel expenses, medical insurance, deployment field equipment and rations are funded by the Charity’s operational budget.
**Financial Strategy** The Charity derives its financial support from two main areas. Firstly, a number of corporate sponsors have supplied specialist equipment, with some also providing financial support. Secondly, funds are raised through public and private donations via various fund-raising activities carried out by volunteers and supporters along with additional online donations. Corporate donations are usually solicited for a specific deployment, rather than as 'uncommitted' donations. This gives the Charity's corporate sponsors clear visibility of where and how their donation is being spent and allows DART to operate without maintaining a large cash reserve.
The Charity’s overall budget is divided between 4 main areas of expenditure: ‘Governance’, ‘Equipment’, ‘Training’ and ‘Operations’.
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Budget Amount (£)
5,532.68
Total Income
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Total Expenditure **£357.41**
**Governance** , including fundraising costs, IT, Safeguarding and Postage, accounted for 21% of total expenditure for the year. Receipts associated to publicity and fundraising represent 65% of Governance expenditure. However due to lack of a deployment because of a global pandemic this is atypical year.
**Equipment** , including field kit, rations and medical equipment, accounted for 14% of annual expenditure.
**Training** , The annual volunteer Pre-Deployment Qualification Course was not run this year due to national lockdowns and the measures the government had to introduce to ensure public safety.
Financially, DART continues to benefit from its all-volunteer workforce and donated training/equipment and storage facilities. Consequently, with no paid staff or premises to maintain, DART's financial overheads are extremely modest, and the Charity remains highly cost effective. With no operational deployment this year we have been able to increase our total funds to £18,157.
**Operational Activities** . For all people and charities this has been an unprecedented year. There have been national lockdowns within the UK and significant bans on international travel, therefore DART has been unable to deploy during this financial year.
This has been unavoidable considering the global pandemic but has been frustrating due to a number of tropical storms that have occurred where DART would have been able to help and add resilience to local communities who were in desperate need of assistance.
DART is prepped and ready to deploy when it is needed, and it is deemed safe to do so by relevant authorities. All safeguards will be taken particularly in view of Covid 19 as to ensure biosecurity if helping to deliver humanitarian aid in the future.
DART's aims for the following 12 months are to:
- Expand the Deployment Volunteer Base.
- Develop corporate and charitable partnerships.
- Maintain operational readiness for overseas deployment.
- Strengthen governance and continue trustee succession planning.
- Continue to develop and improve Operational Capability.
**Summary** It has been an understandably quiet year for DART with limited possibilities to deliver our charitable objectives. DART has continued to fundraise and has increased our end of year cash funds by 40%. The lack of a deployment was frustrating, however given the circumstances this year, it was unavoidable.
DART has been working on developing protocols for when international travel can resume, and we can again deploy to areas where our help is needed.
The trustees conclude that DART International UK is well placed to continue its humanitarian work once the global pandemics’ associated restrictions allow.
Approved by the full board of trustees and signed on their behalf by
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J Mackeen (Chair) A Bakere (Secretary)
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