OpenCharities

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

2024-03-31-accounts

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

~ The Advocacy Academy’s ~ State of the Movement 2023/24

Building the Collective Power of Young People to Create a More Fair, Just, and Equal Society for All

INTRODUCTION 1
WELCOME TO THE ADVOCACY ACADEMY 3
OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 4
STEERING OUR SHIP TOWARDS A MORE FAIR, JUST AND EQUAL
FUTURE 8
DEVELOPING OUR CULTURE: TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE APPROACH 8
BUILDING A VALUES-LED CULTURE 8
LOOKING AHEAD 8
CAMPAIGNING FOR CHANGE 10
CAMPAIGNS & MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENTAL STRATEGY UPDATE 10
CAMPAIGN UPDATES: THE FELLOWSHIP 10
CAMPAIGN UPDATES: HOST PROGRAMME 11
MEMBERSHIP UPDATES: DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT 12
MEMBER-LED GOVERNANCE: FOUNDATION BUILDING 12
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS: 13
LOOKING AHEAD 13
DEVELOPING LEADERS WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE OF INJUSTICE 14
PROGRAMME UPDATES & OVERVIEW 14
OUR SAFEGUARDING ROADMAP 18
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS: 19
LOOKING AHEAD 19
ORGANISING OUR COMMUNITY 19
CLOSING VINING STREET 19
DEVELOPING COMMUNITY SAFETY 20
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE COMMUNITY DEPARTMENT 20
CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS: 21
LOOKING AHEAD 21
ACTIVATING NEW ALLIES 22
MEASURING OUR IMPACT THIS YEAR 22
LOOKING AHEAD 22
FINANCE AND FUNDRAISING 25
FINANCE REVIEW 25
FUNDRAISING REVIEW 25
KEY RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES 26
GOVERNANCE AND TEAM 28

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

OUR CURRENT STAFF 28 OUR PATRON AND TRUSTEES 30 GOVERNANCE 31 AUDITORS REPORT & ACCOUNTS 34

INTRODUCTION

Daniel Taylor MBE FRSA, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Reflecting on the past year at The Advocacy Academy, I am immensely proud of our achievements in empowering young activists and enhancing community engagement. Our efforts to integrate campaigns and membership strategies have deepened connections within our alumni network, ensuring that members feel valued and supported.

Our community and programme work has been instrumental in creating spaces for dialogue and growth. Initiatives like the Marhaba Space and Open Houses have engaged diverse community voices, strengthening our collective impact.

This year, our Fellowship saw the launch of impactful campaigns like BFAIR, Medsogyny, and Homes Not Houses, demonstrating the creativity and passion of our young changemakers. The success of our first campaigns fellowship weekend marked a turning point in nurturing campaign skills and amplifying the voices of our members. Our HOST programme continues to pave the way for youth-led initiatives, providing essential infrastructure and support for campaigns tackling vital social issues, ensuring that our young activists have the tools they need to effect real change.

Closing our Vining Street location was a significant step for us, allowing for a fresh start in a space designed to foster collaboration, creativity, and inclusivity. We hope that the Liberation Centre will become a vibrant place, based in the heart of Brixton, where the wider community and young people can access resources, engage in political education, and build lasting connections that drive community mobilisation.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt gratitude to my fellow trustees - Marjorie, Thishani, Abimbola, Michelle, Mark, Jack, and Calum - for your dedication and support. Your expertise and passion are invaluable to our mission, and together, we are making a lasting impact on the lives of young people across our communities.

As we move forward, let us continue to embrace our shared vision and remain steadfast in our commitment to equity and social justice. Thank you for your ongoing support and belief in the transformative power of youth activism.

1

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Saba Shafi, CEO

As we reflect on the past year at The Advocacy Academy, I am struck by the resilience and tenacity that defines our community. In the face of challenges and change, our young activists, staff, and trustees have demonstrated the power of commitment and collective action. Each step forward has been a testament to what we can achieve when we believe in our vision and support each other.

The 2023-24 period has been a transformative time for TAA, marked by significant staff growth and a strategic pivot towards deeper community engagement. Our new Head of Campaigns, Pascale, has revitalised our approach to campaign development, ensuring our young advocates are better equipped and more deeply supported. Further, Darcey’s expanded role as Head of Member-Led Governance has spearheaded the development of a governance model that truly reflects the voices of our members. We’ve also deliberately invested in our development and HR teams to support our growth.

In the realm of campaigns, we have made substantial strides. Our Fellowship programme restructured its campaigns pathway, allowing for deeper engagement and more comprehensive learning experiences. This shift led to the successful launch of three new campaigns: BFAIR, targeting immigration raids in Brixton; This is Medsogyny, addressing neurodiversity and medical racism; and Homes Not Houses, advocating for better social housing conditions in Southwark. Moreover, our new Host programme has provided crucial infrastructure support to ongoing campaigns like Halo and LatinXcluded, further bolstering their capacity to drive change.

Our Programmes Department has also seen remarkable growth. We recruited 58 young people for our redesigned Fellowship programme, despite facing a COVID outbreak during the summer residential. We adapted swiftly, introducing the innovative Campaign Weekender to maintain momentum. The Spark programme, led by our newly promoted Spark Development Lead, Betty, successfully onboarded 13 young changemakers and integrated them into our broader membership activities.

The Changemaker Development Programme (CMDP) expanded significantly, training 17 Changemakers, the largest cohort to date, with impressive satisfaction ratings averaging over 9/10 for support and development feedback. We are excited to build on this foundation, introducing community organising modules and exploring accreditation models to further professionalise our training.

Community engagement remains at the heart of our mission. As we bid farewell to Vining Street and prepare to open The Liberation Centre in Brixton, we are committed to creating a hub for organising, education, and community-building. This new space will facilitate our open access initiatives and serve as a beacon for collective liberation, supporting young people and community members alike.

Looking ahead, we face the dual challenge of a polarised political landscape and the pressing need for collective care amid social and economic pressures. However, our focus on community safety, political education, and intergenerational learning that help foster resilient communities gives us confidence. Together, we will continue to champion a youth organising movement, where young people ages 16-30, with lived experiences of injustice, build their collective power to take

2

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

action and drive systemic change in their communities and contribute to the waves of change we need to bring about a more fair, just and equal society.

WELCOME TO THE ADVOCACY ACADEMY

We are youth organisers working to create a more fair, just, and equal society, by building the collective power of young people to bring about change. We train young people with lived experience of injustice to achieve long-term systemic change for themselves and the communities they live in. We combine formal instruction in social and economic systems, practical training in community organising, with the heart and soul of radical youth work. We equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to become active agents for change in the community.

Our work to date has focused on three core areas:

  1. The delivery of a highly regarded community organising, training programmes for young people (the Fellowship, Spark and Changemaker Development programmes).

  2. The development of young people’s campaigning work, helping them build campaigns that shake the nation, supporting them through a membership model.

  3. The bringing together of young people and local civic leaders in our community hub in the heart of Brixton, rooting our work in community and solidarity.

At our heart we believe that young people are best able to create the futures they want to see in this world. Looking ahead, we want to ensure The Advocacy Academy matches the scale and ambition of our 200+ members, providing them, their campaigns and our allies the support they will require over the coming years.

OUR VISION FOR A MORE FAIR JUST AN EQUAL WORLD

OUR MISSION

Build the power of young people aged 16 – 25 with lived experience of injustice to take action to realise systemic change for themselves and their communities.

3

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

OUR STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK

We have a clear view of our destination. But with no precedent in the UK, we’re tackling through uncharted waters to reach it. We don’t have a map or ten-point plan to follow - so instead, in 2020 we created a Compass for Change to guide us. Our compass orientates us across four poles, with every choice we make guided by our Advocates Charter and our Theory of Social Change.

The core thinking we developed in 2020 remains true. Our Compass for Change (see left) reflects the ‘known knowns’ of this work. Achieving our vision and delivering on our mission requires investment in these four quadrants. Critically through the restructure it has become clear that the historic focus on entry programmes, on the “developing leaders” quadrant while important initially has not over time prevented us from delivering on the promises we made to our young people and to our funders and partners.

True growth and scale come from more balanced investment across all four areas:

1st phase of growth - Developing Leaders: To build the minimum scale for organising, investing in this initial activation point was necessary, but at a certain scale it is no longer sufficient. Increasing the number of young people entering our movement doesn’t help if they aren’t supported once they’re in!

2nd phase of growth – Organising the Community & Campaigning for Change: With enough numbers in membership, it is critical to invest in building institutional power with local (geographic, sector, values) communities, and to focus on our membership and campaigns. Focus here allows us to rapidly scale our national impact.

3rd phase of growth – Activating new Allies: At some point our impact and power will be limited unless we bring in new partnerships, allies, and expansions. This can come through online materials, hosting for non-membership groups, etc. expansion of our activation programmes.

OUR COMPASS FOR CHANGE

DEVELOPING LEADERS: WE ARE TRAINING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE

We believe that those with lived experience are the best placed to lead change, so we focus on building the skills, experience, connections, and confidence of young people to organise in their communities and become life-long agents of change. Our young people learn to analyse socio-political conditions, identify innovative solutions to problems they have experienced, and run their own grassroots campaigns which seek specific policy changes that will benefit their communities.

We have two main entry programmes: the Fellowship, a

six-month leadership programme, and Spark, a one week introduction. These are supported by the Changemaker Development Programme, which trains graduates from our entry programmes in activist youth work allowing them to lead our programmes.

4

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

We measure our success through pre-and post-questionnaires which assess young people’s experience, their learning of key skills and knowledge, and their confidence and intention to continue their journey as activists.

CAMPAIGNING FOR CHANGE: WE ARE BUILDING OUR IMPACT AS A POLITICAL MOVEMENT

Every Movement has a campaigning arm and a training arm, and The Advocacy Academy is no different. Most movements focus on their campaigns in the beginning, and then later develop their training and membership absorption arms. Because our Theory of Change holds that young people with lived experience should be leading our campaigns, it was critical for us to start by building the best social justice training programme in the country.

We support our young people to deliver Campaigns. More information on the campaigns delivered are provided later in the report.

We work with young people to incubate and explore justice issues and develop campaigns. Once a campaign is stabilised and ready to launch, they are hosted within our governance structures and provided with steady support through their expansion. We also support our young people in creating their own organising and governance structures, accessing training and employment in activist organisations, as well as helping them socialise.

We measure the success of our work through turn-out and participation, number of campaigns in incubation and being hosted, and through the impact our campaigns have on the world.

ORGANISING OUR COMMUNITY: WE ARE GROWING OUR COMMUNITY

The power we are building is relational (among and between people) because history has shown us more times than we can count that well-organised people can challenge dominant power (power over people) and win. We work closely with schools, community groups, activists, and youth workers to grow our impact. We also open our Brixton Campus for Young Activists to other grassroots organisations in South London, building bridges between movements and offering much-needed space to organise our community. We have moved away from using volunteers and offer all our supporters’ honorariums for their time.

We work with local grassroots organisations to access our Hub in Brixton also supporting them with needs on an adhoc basis. We also host open houses and solidarity events connecting our young people with local activists. The programmes here are in development as we explore the communities’ needs and interests.

We measure the success of our work through turn-out and participation, and Campus usage. KPIs will develop as we further develop programmes.

ACTIVATING NEW ALLIES: WE ARE SUPPORTING NEW AND EXISTING ALLIES IN THE UK

We want youth organising to flourish in every corner of the UK, but we have always been a locally rooted movement. Putting a Campus in every town has never been our goal. Instead, we want to invest in the infrastructure that will allow us to activate new allies and support them to unleash the power of the young people in their orbit. Through our train-the-trainer work, we will share our learnings, experience, energy, tools, and resources with other grassroots movements as they develop their own young leaders and campaigns.

We are not actively developing programmatic work in this department and are pursuing things adhoc for the time being.

5

Docusign Envelope ID." 1AB966FM2B84F72-8991-1D4AA47812D8 PART ONE: WHAT WE ACHIEVED IN 2023-24

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

STEERING OUR SHIP TOWARDS A MORE FAIR, JUST AND EQUAL FUTURE

DEVELOPING OUR CULTURE: TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE APPROACH

As we grow our team, we want to ensure that we build an internal culture which actively seeks to avoid replicating harm. We have decided to manage this process through a transformative justice framework. In essence, transformative justice is a radical, abolitionist approach to addressing harms that occur to, or within communities, that seeks to address the root causes of harm and respond in a way that prevents further harm. Instead of punishment, transformative justice seeks understanding, meaningful apologies, and healing. Transformative justice is a political framework that “actively cultivate[s] the things we know prevent violence such as healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved”[1] .

For us, this has meant changing the way that we relate to each other - from the micro interactions we have day to day, to the macro structures and policies that guide and enable our work.

“We will tell each other we hurt people, and who. We will tell each other why, and who hurt us and how. We will tell each other what we will do to heal ourselves and heal the wounds in our wake. We will be accountable, rigorous in our accountability, all of us unlearning, all of us crawling towards dignity. We will learn to set and hold boundaries, communicate without manipulation, give, and receive consent, ask for help…” Adrienne Maree Brown, We Will Not Cancel Us, 2021.

BUILDING A VALUES-LED CULTURE

Through the TCCP that we began last year, our staff team agreed that our culture should not be a fixed point but rather a set of values that will guide us as we reimagine our Movement. These are:

We will be continuously working on how we evolve these into a set of behaviours, in areas including how we prioritise, line manage, address conflict, communicate, hold meetings, and how we take responsibility.

The journey - for ourselves as a Movement, and for our wider communities towards a more fair, just and equal society - has not been, and was never going to be, a smooth one. By acknowledging this and placing focus on how we can heal and keep going, we can feel confident in setting a course for change.

LOOKING AHEAD

We are shifting into our 2nd phase of growth. With our campaigns gaining momentum and visibility, the size of our membership growing rapidly, and the power of our institution now tangible, we are steadily shifting into our 2nd phase of growth. TAA is now not only stabilised but also better aligned

1 “Transformative Justice: A brief description” Mia Mingus, 2018: https://transformharm.org/transformative-justice-a-brief-description/

7

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

to deliver on our mission and see through our strategic framework. In the next three years, we must invest in critical infrastructure which enables us, prepares, and protects us for national visibility and widespread systemic impact. The key areas of investment are:

Campaigning and activism has its risks, but all risk is manageable with the right preparation and investment… and of course with no risk there is no reward!

Below you will find our starting point for our three-year strategy. These represent critical areas of growth, in place of a comprehensive set of annual objectives.

Investing in our Governance, Finance, HR and Operations:

Over the next three years, the main thrust of our work will centre on five critical areas of growth. Our strategic plan is designed to prioritise the following key objectives:

Financial Stability and Control:

To set the framework for financial resilience and security. We will:

Process and system improvement:

Clear and efficient internal systems and processes and excellent IT underpin our work, culture, and help us fulfill our aspiration to our young people. We will:

Governance

The governance goals aim to identify priority areas of governance and address any skills gaps through recruitment or committee co-option. We will:

Proactive Risk Management:

Our goal is to start tracking and monitoring key areas of risk at TAA. We will:

Supportive People Management

We want the TAA to be a great place to work. We will:

8

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Investing in our Fundraising:

CAMPAIGNING FOR CHANGE

CAMPAIGNS & MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENTAL STRATEGY UPDATE

During 2023-24, the campaigns department continued working on the strategy to shift our focus from solely supporting Fellowship & Alumni Campaigns to integrating this work with our wider Alumni support function.

We hired Ivie as our Head of Membership Development and Support to develop the “Membership” offering for those who have completed their programs but want to remain active in the TAA community and campaigning work both with TAA and beyond. We also recognised the need to build links between new members and the older member community ensuring we are more than the sum of our parts, and to rethink how we support young people to build effective relationships with external experts and activists.

This year, 2023-24, we developed Darcey’s role of Head of Member-Led Governance and she has been working with the Member Working Group to develop what Member-led Governance could and will look like at The Advocacy Academy.

We also hired Pascale, our new Head of Campaigning to help us develop and refocus the role of campaigns in the fellowship, review the curriculum and role of campaigns in the young people’s overall learning journey.

CAMPAIGN UPDATES: THE FELLOWSHIP

The Fellowship Team implemented the new pathway for Advocates to develop their campaigning experience as part of the Fellowship. This has included:

9

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

residential to forming them and then ‘launching’ with actions in December 2023 and graduation in January 2024.

*Photos of the Campaign Groups from Fellowship Graduation 2024

CAMPAIGN UPDATES: HOST PROGRAMME

ABOUT THE HOST PROGRAMME:

HOST is the name of our campaign’s infrastructure offer for youth led campaigns. This means that we will act as the legal entity responsible for the campaign or project and provide support for groups to manage their money, develop effective systems to self organise and provide strategic and pastoral support as needed. We see this as an important piece of infrastructure currently missing in the youth campaigning space and we are still working through some aspects of the policy.

CURRENT HOSTED CAMPAIGNS:

Halo: The Halo campaign works to end hair discrimination. There are currently more than 1000 organisations who have signed up to the Halo code. HALO received £20K for three years to further develop their work. They have also secured an administrator to manage their inbox and support the young people to find space to think more strategically. Significantly more funding is needed to support the campaign in moving beyond their first win into developing a longer-term strategy.

Choked Up: Choked Up continues to campaign on air pollution. They are developing their strategy following their initial success in influencing the Mayor’s ULEZ policy.

10

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

LatinXcluded: Following a stellar response to the awareness campaign MUINPE (My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar), it was the first time Brixton House had a sold out week and was a huge success for the campaign. Interest from production companies in developing a series. Valentina secured funding to continue the LatinXcluded campaign around data collection in the LatinX communities. She will be developing a strategic plan for the year to build on her initial successes in local councils.

MORE CAMPAIGNS & ACTIVIST PROJECTS AT TAA

Collective Punishment: This is a new campaign being led by Jemmar Samuels to tackle the issues childrens of prisoners face when their parents are imprisoned. We supported Jemmar with a successful application to Blagrave’s Challenge & Change Fund which will allow her to spend 2 days a week working on early campaign development. We are supporting this through fortnightly supervision sessions.

ReRoot.Ed: They continue with the Voices project in partnership with Decolonising Geography. The VoicesProject is a collaboration between teachers, students and institutions aiming to create a more inclusive, critical and anti-racist curriculum. The project uses oral histories to talk about geographical themes and historical moments, whilst centring the voices of cultural groups who don't usually get to be heard in the classroom.

Action for Palestine : Action for Palestine is collective of young people from TAA community who stand in solidarity and mobilise in unity with the people of Palestine in their ongoing struggle against genocide and apartheid, set up in November 2023. They have come together to organise action against those complicit in this ongoing suffering, that our government endorses, including arms companies like BAE systems.

Under the Umbrella: Under The Umbrella believes in equal access to healthcare for everyone. Set up in 2022 fighting for the faster implementation of the Woman’s Health Strategy 2022 at a Lambeth Council level, presenting our idea to MPs in Parliament. Their current aim is to force action to reduce Black maternal mortality rates, and are building their strategy at the minute by speaking to others working on the issue and deepening their knowledge.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATES: DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT

MEMBER-LED GOVERNANCE: FOUNDATION BUILDING

Darcey and the MGWG (Membership-led Governance Working Group (MGWG) focused on building the foundational stage of what memberled governance could look like and the decision-making process of members at TAA. This has looked like:

The Membership-led Governance Working Group (MWG) is a project that began in October 2023.

11

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

They aim to create a Youth Governance Structure that will create more leadership opportunities in TAA, through a shared design process that includes the members of the MWG and the wider alumni and membership community. The aim is to ensure that there is a formalised mechanism within The Academy where young people can raise ideas, suggestions, concerns and when appropriate organise themselves to create the peer led spaces and support services that allow the Membership to thrive. This is part of TAA’s commitment to routes for cyclical leadership.

Phase 1: Members were informed about the opportunity and encouraged to join in.

Phase 2: This involved active participation. As a team, we made progress in creating a foundation for the MGWG. This included defining values, group agreements, setting aims, and outlining working processes for accountability, conflict, and decision-making.

CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS

LOOKING AHEAD

Moving towards a Membership Model

Our membership model transformation began last year, and we projected that it would take 18 months to transition across to it. The previous iteration of the Fellowship used campaigning as a pedagogical tool that required Advocates to identify an individual interest to pursue from an early stage. What we’ve heard is that in practice, many young people feel under pressure to find a cause, and once they graduate from the Fellowship there is a lack of clearly defined staff support to help them continue. Then, when young people do not continue their campaign beyond the framework of the Fellowship, they can feel that they have ‘failed’. Responding to this, we are planning to move towards a membership model at TAA, repositioning the Fellowship as one of two entry points to the movement (the other being Spark).

In FY24/25 we aim to boost our membership engagement by clearly communicating and integrating our membership model with pathways for involvement. These pathways include internal paid opportunities, activist employment support, and training programs, along with a focus on transitioning "Developing Leaders" participants into Campaign membership. We are also redesigning our internal governance structures to include member integration, piloting some initiatives currently. In terms of campaigns, our goal is to have a three-year target of 30 active groups in incubation. Our active membership target for the year is 50%, with a three-year goal of 60%. Looking ahead, we plan to enhance visibility into engagement pathways, provide regular training opportunities, and integrate members into key institutional areas.

12

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Once the work is completed, we envision a Movement that builds power as a campaigning institution, supported by our local partners and getting our wider communities behind our campaigns to win real and lasting change.

Extending Host

While we develop the Membership model, we are testing ways to support our young people’s campaigns in the immediate term. This year, we piloted ‘HOST’ with two of our campaigns, Halo and ChokedUp and we will be extending the HOST offer to all Alumni-led campaigns and projects in the following years.

Our goal by the end of three years is to have standardised our campaign hosting framework, defined what campaigns can and cannot be hosted by TAA, have finalised the HOST agreement structure, while setting up beta infrastructure around automating financial and governance requirements, allowing for easy induction process. We also envision having M & E structures set up across all of the campaigns. In three years’ time we aim to have the HOST framework matured and tested, with the infrastructure embedded and iterated. We aim to explore potential pilots around non-member campaign HOSTing, while having our around 15 hosted campaigns hosted through single-issue entry points, in contrast to our current general approach. By the end of these three years, we aim to have a better understanding of coalition campaigns, knowing when a campaign outgrows TAA, as well as having on hand a committee of legal, financial, comms, and reputational advisors to support TAA and the campaigns.

HOST will provide a range of support and benefits for groups seeking to make change. These include: fiscal hosting, technical support, strategic guidance & mentoring, startup funding, fundraising & budget support, media & press support, access to TAA’s wider networks and community relationships, free meeting and workspace, and HOST organiser training where we will deep-dive into campaigns management, skills development, press work and effective communications with masterclasses from social justice experts across the UK.

HOST groups will remain the ultimate decision makers about the direction of their campaign. Some groups may, in time, want to set up as established organisations in their own right, while others may not. We are committed to supporting groups to set up independently as and when this becomes appropriate for them.

DEVELOPING LEADERS WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE OF INJUSTICE

PROGRAMME UPDATES & OVERVIEW

There have been a number of changes in our Programmes Department at TAA. This includes a growing team, changes to the contents of our programmes and changes in the way we offer support and structure within our programmes, including supervision support and safeguarding.

We kick started the year with recruitment for our new cohort for both Fellowship and Spark resulting in 35 school assemblies, 100 applications and 58 young people attending our redesigned Open Days to land a place on one of our coveted programmes.

We hired two part-time staff members to support in the delivery of our work, Ella Asheri as Programmes Administrator in 2023, and in January 2024, Azryah Harvey as Movement Entry Lead.

13

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME

Our 2023-24 Fellowship underwent a number of changes.

Mid-way through Summer residential there was a COVID outbreak amongst staff and Alumni, while the team’s management of the crisis was swift and effective, it derailed much of the curriculum and community development planned.

We managed to reallocate the delivery of the curriculum, although there were some delays and other impacts felt in the cohort this was to be expected given the importance of the Summer residential on the remainder of the programme. The team anticipated this and saw these issues smooth out over time.

We tried something new: The Campaign Weekender. As much of the summer residential had to be moved online/cancelled, we shifted the initial campaign pieces to a Campaign Weekender. The Campaign Weekender was our first chance to do in depth work developing this year's Advocate campaigns and actions. Fast tracking what would normally happen over several weeks we ran a carefully guided mini ‘incubator’ for young people’s campaign ideas. Helping them get from the big problem they care about to a clear ask and helping them to understand the process, where they fit in the wider campaigning world and to meet key allies along the way.

We also said goodbye to Ilhan and Mel, as Ilhan completed the grad scheme and will be pursuing a teaching role, while Mel is pursuing her creative talents in music. We also welcomed Maz who has supported us as an external Changemaker to add capacity and expertise to the delivery of the Fellowship programme.

We completed Thursday gatherings with Advocates, with time spent on developing campaigns and building social justice knowledge including a trip to the London College of Fashion as part of Gucci Changemaker Partnership focusing on social justice and the fashion industry - Decolonising Fashion .

Our Autumn residential was completed in Bedfordshire focussing on forming campaigns and building leadership skills, and the residential teams were made up of Changemaker Alumnis, External Changemakers and staff which worked well and made sure that there was ample programmatic support.

The Winter Residential took place in Brixton, and the cohort focussed on delivering actions for their campaigns, and showing up in solidarity with Palestine by attending a NVDA action.

This year's cohort graduated in January 2024 with an event in Brixton Jamm, attended by over 60 people with friends and family of graduates, and friends and family of The Advocacy Academy.

Key Statistics:

14

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Following the completion of this year's Fellowship programme, the Head of Fellowship assessed the sustainability and efficacy of the programme in meeting the organisation's strategic goals. The main takeaway was that the Fellowship (in its current design) could not build consistently meaningful campaigns. Coupled with the fact that the young people we work with are under more pressure than ever before - participants are 16-18 years old and doing their A Levels - we found the capacity to continue campaigning after the programme is taken up by revision and exams, and then the reintegration back into campaigning is more challenging.

It was then decided that The Advocacy Academy had to reimagine its programmatic offer in order to make sure that we were building the skills, tools and drive in young people to develop campaigns that are sustainable and winnable.

REIMAGINING PROGRAMMES

The Head of Fellowship, Frankie, shifted into a new role: The Head of Reimagining, tasked with answering the questions:

From March - September 2024, Frankie will be exploring existing research, theories & best practices related to youth campaigning, identifying and speaking with key internal and external stakeholders who can provide insights, summarising key findings, themes & gaps and creating a high level review into our current programmatic offer. In September, a report will be written and an implementation plan suggested for the next few years of programmes at The Advocacy Academy.

SPARK PROGRAMME

Programme Development and Goals

At The Advocacy Academy, we are committed to refining our programmes to empower young changemakers. Our goals have revolved around enhancing our flagship 5-day Spark programme, ensuring its smooth delivery, and expanding its impact. To achieve this, we are intensifying our efforts in several key areas.

15

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Outcomes:

CHANGEMAKER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (CMDP)

The Changemaker Development Programme (CMDP) is a leadership development training programme. It is open to all graduates of TAA’s programmes (Spark and Fellowship). CMDP trains TAA graduates, known as members over 6 months, and roughly 145 hours in youth work and facilitation skills. Split across 8 ‘hats’ or skill areas, ranging from pastoral care to group dynamics and educator, the programme focuses on the skills, leadership styles and approaches to doing youth work and facilitating complex social justice content. At the heart of the programme is the principle of cyclical leadership wherein Changemakers have the opportunity to deliver back the same programmes they were participants on, and inversely, participants are being led by those who have experiential knowledge of these programmes.

Programme Development and Goals

The Changemaker Development Programme 23/24 was delivered by Maddy Leftwich, Head of the Changemaker Development Programme (Head of CMDP), on the Fellowship and Spark programmes with Farah Elemara as CMDP Support Lead. Our goals have centred on expanding the reach of CMDP to bring in, train and employ more members as leaders of the programmes they were a part of (Fellowship and Spark). We have sought to expand and develop the Changemaker Development Programme to also meet the needs of more experienced, returning Changemakers, and support them in developing their skills, expertise and specialisation. We have done this, throughout delivery of CMDP 23/24 in the following ways:

What happened:

16

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Outcomes:

For the following delivery cycle, our aims and targets remain consistent with the strategic goals of the organisation. Through training and supporting more members to join the programme, and return and upskill whilst on the programme, we will continue to develop new leaders and organise our community. We will specifically do this in the coming year through designing and piloting the following additions to the programme:

OUR SAFEGUARDING ROADMAP

We are continuing to strengthen our safeguarding practice with a two-year strategy that builds on our efforts from last year. This action plan consists of six strands:

  1. Strengthening our governance and accountability processes 2. Improving case management, data storage and GDPR practices

  2. Further improving safer recruitment practices

  3. Rewriting our safeguarding policy to reflect our justice-informed and holistic safeguarding practice

  4. Expanding our training offer and increasing staff confidence

  5. Further improving communication, transparency

Mid-way through our implementation timeline, we have established effective and consistent processes for ensuring strong residential safeguarding practice, including a safeguarding checklist with detailed guidance and standardised risk assessments. We have also standardised our Trustee induction process and are offering more support for Trustees to align with our justice-informed approach to safeguarding. The appointment of Mark Straw to the role of Lead Trustee for Safeguarding has strengthened the Safeguarding team’s capacity to further pursue this strategy into the upcoming year. We have further integrated safeguarding into our HR work and standardised induction. We recently conducted a needs survey with three departments, which will complement the existing strategy, and we are also integrating the support needs of hosted campaigns into this strategy.

17

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

We still aim to use these stronger foundations to develop a more comprehensive, long-term safeguarding, well-being, and pastoral care initiative through a justice lens. This perspective will continue to guide our ongoing efforts in creating a supportive and equitable environment for young people, aligned with our core mission. These endeavours underscore our commitment to ensuring safeguarding and pastoral care throughout the journey that our members and alumni take with us.

CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS:

Safeguarding Enhancements: TAA is progressing through its two-year safeguarding strategy, with strengthened governance, risk management, and training. Our safeguarding policy now reflects a justice-informed approach, and our Trustee induction process has been standardised. We are integrating safeguarding into HR and aligning it with our holistic pastoral care approach.

LOOKING AHEAD

Our goal by the end of three years is to make sure we have scaled dependencies on infrastructure which are understood and actively managed. Making sure that our membership intake is monitored and actively addressed, ensuring a balanced focus on efficiencies of scale. We will also be prioritising critical components including standardised templates for risk management, budgeting and tracking, coordinating M&E with first draft structure, setting up holistic safeguarding structures, and developing targeted programmes to address membership disparities (e.g., reduced numbers of men entering the programme). We also aim to finalise our Spark programme design and develop a map to scale the reach of the programme. This includes understanding costs to scale through different methods and associated limitations, and mapping out detailed pathways for growth and integration into the wider organising movement at TAA.

ORGANISING OUR COMMUNITY

CLOSING VINING STREET

During 2023-24, we had a number of big and small changes on the work of the Community Department. We held a number of joyful Open Houses in partnership with TAA members and community groups, trialled out an approach to Open Access through Marhaba Space, and continued to root ourselves in community building in South London.

Goodbye to Vining Street. Our time at Vining Street came to an end, with our final send off to the space being held for members from across all our programmatic cohorts and the wider community. It was a joyful evening and a worthy goodbye to a space which held importance to us with music, a chaotic auction, and lots of games and good food.

18

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

DEVELOPING COMMUNITY SAFETY

We are safer together . Our move into a more central location in Brixton brings about many exciting opportunities, it also presents some challenges. As our communities experience the devastating effects of displacement through gentrification, rising costs of living, continuous over-policing, and deteriorating conditions and mental health, it becomes more important than ever that we set a new standard for the practice of collective care in and around our new space. We are in the process of developing a new and more methodical approach for how to do this work safely while keeping true to our values of ensuring safe and accessible spaces for members, staff, and community members. We will be launching a series of activities in the near future to help build our collective knowledge and power on this as a way to invest in our membership and communities as well as equip ourselves with the tools we need to create safer spaces for our communities without perpetuating the harm we experience from violent and unjust systems.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE COMMUNITY DEPARTMENT

The Liberation Centre - a new chapter in our journey of community-based organising. As a South London-based organisation, we continue our commitment to build spaces which embody the world as it should be in our neighbourhoods. For the last 2 years, we have been negotiating with Lambeth Council for a space to trial new ways of organising together and house us as well as other social justice organisers in the community.

In June 2024, we signed the contract for a unit on Beehive Place and over the summer this space will be transformed into The Liberation Centre, a hub for organising, community-building, education, and causing good trouble. We are committed to continuing our investment in building

19

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

the power and the voice of our members and partner organisations, and the Liberation Centre will ensure this practice continues while wearing our values of collective liberation on its sleeve. To help make the space as accessible, equitable, and useful as it can be to members, staff, neighbours, and allies, we held a series of design and dreaming sessions in 2023 to dream up and design what our ideal headquarters should look like, as well as map out and make clear the needs we hoped it would meet. We will be working with MDC Group, an architectural firm, in making this space happen over the next few months.

We will be opening the space gradually over autumn 2024 with a series of events, and will be opening our doors for members, co-conspirators, and allies to join us in the space over time.

A space for young people. This year, we experimented with a version of Open Access in TAA. Marhaba Space came in late 2022 and ran until August 2023 to create accessible, welcoming, and safe spaces for young people in the community. We are hoping to continue building this practice in our new space, and will be launching a youth-led and designed open access space in autumn 2024 - making our movement more accessible to young people from South London while staying true to our values of collective liberation. Our open access practice will put our political education work into full gear while also unapologetically centering young people and their wellbeing in what it does.

A place for community-building and learning. Finally, as we enter a challenging year with a General Election on the horizon and a polarised political landscape, we are continuing our commitment to creating spaces for meeting, organising, political education, and political mobilisation on the issues which matter to our members and the broader communities we work with. We will be creating spaces for intergenerational learning and movement building, as well as continue our practice of Open Houses which centres movement-building in its design. The next financial year will see us push our political organising work to the maximum to mobilise our members and communities to demand a better world for all.

CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL RISKS

Despite these accomplishments, challenges remain. The move to the Liberation Centre involves risks related to maintaining continuity during the transition, tensions with local stakeholders, and ensuring staff are adequately prepared for the shift. We are strategising how to engage new allies and deepen partnerships to maximise both financial sustainability and impact.

LOOKING AHEAD

We aim to have successfully established ourselves as a recognised institution in the field of activism, particularly in the South London region. Our clearly defined ideology and political positioning will be effectively communicated to external partners, strengthening our influence and impact.

In an environment that is increasingly hostile to oppressed communities coming together to build power, we are taking up vital physical space and sharing it with members of our wider community to empower grassroots activism in the fight for social justice. Our commitment to investing in a community hub has borne fruit, with steady income from the hub covering core costs, and utilisation rates currently standing at 50%. Looking forward, we aim to have secured a new community hub and anticipate that, within three years, steady income from the hub will not only continue to cover core costs but also extend to building-associated salaries, with usage projected to rise to 70%. This strategic investment is poised to further enhance our community engagement and resource sustainability, continuing to create space for our young people to deliver groundbreaking community organising work, and build the power of our communities to realise a better tomorrow.

20

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

We will focus on activating new allies and launching strategic partnerships. They aim to streamline efforts by focusing on collaborations that bring multiple benefits, including fundraising, organisational growth, and national positioning. With clear goals and a commitment to collective care, we are poised to strengthen our work in the coming year, especially with the approaching General Election, which will demand increased mobilisation and community engagement.

ACTIVATING NEW ALLIES

We take an outward-facing and community-orientated approach to our movement building, planning to return stronger next year after the introspection of the past year.

To support this, our strategy with allies, partnerships, and consulting must be super strategic and time-efficient.

MEASURING OUR IMPACT THIS YEAR

We take impact evaluation at The Advocacy Academy extremely seriously and are continuously assessing our impact-measurement process to draw on what we learn, compare them against our KPIs, and improve our programming for the next cohort of young people. We evaluate our success through three lenses: the impact of our pedagogy; the strength of our community; and the lasting change we create in the world.

The impact of our pedagogy:

We want each young person to graduate from the Fellowship with the skills and networks to become passionate and effective leaders. Each of our activities work together to bring about our 65 learning outcomes which sit across five categories: knowledge and insight, skills, character, networks and access, and active citizenship. We use pre- and post- programme impact surveys, alongside one-to-one feedback sessions to monitor individual progress and allow for self-evaluation.

The strength of our community:

Fostering community and building networks is critical to achieving change. The more Alumni, the bigger and stronger our movement. Each cohort learns and grows together and is encouraged to guide and inspire future generations. We track data on the number of participants at our alumni events, and on those who re-join the programme to become Changemakers.

Lasting change in the world:

We track the real world impact our Advocates deliver during and after their time with us. We are beginning to see the ripples of change our Advocates are creating, however we currently don’t hold KPIs for this area. More info on our member’s campaigns can be found earlier in the document.

LOOKING AHEAD

Over the past eight years, we have gained a strong and passionate supporter base who want to follow our young people’s campaigns and turn out for their actions, because they share our belief that the future is not fixed and that young people, working together, can shape it for the better. We

21

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

also know there are other movements like ours across the UK who can benefit from our learnings (warts and all!), for whom we want to share our thought leadership in the field of youth organising.

Over the next three years, we are embarking on a strategic journey to activate new allies through a comprehensive communication strategy. Our overarching goal is to solidify our core brand, messaging, and communications strategy while simultaneously expanding our digital footprint. This includes growing our presence on Twitter and Instagram to engage funders and partners and venturing into new platforms to connect with a broader audience of young people. We aim to establish regular donor communications and community updates, streamline content collection from our membership, and relaunch our website.

Our active communication across the community will serve a triple purpose: sharing our work and key updates, securing consistent donations, and providing essential support for organising and campaigning efforts. Moreover, we intend to explore innovative content distribution methods, such as piloting online courses for trainers and creating how-to guides for young activists. By achieving these strategic milestones, we will build a robust network of allies and supporters to advance our mission over the next three years.

22

Docusign Envelope ID." 1AB966FM2B84F72-8991-1D4AA47812D8 PART TWO: FINANCE & FUNDRAISING REVIEW 23

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

FINANCE AND FUNDRAISING

FINANCE REVIEW

The Advocacy Academy’s income has seen a significant increase this financial year, rising from £911,758 to £2,091,819. This growth is largely due to a significant increase in multi-year grants awarded to us, reflecting the demonstrated success and impact of our work. We are deeply grateful to our funders for their trust and commitment to supporting our mission. Their long-term support enables us to create meaningful, sustained change and empowers the next generation of leaders to tackle systemic challenges.

Our expenditures have also risen, from £1,244,727 to £1,406,609, as we resumed in-person working and continued to fill critical roles to align with our growth strategy, ensuring we have the capacity to sustain and scale our efforts effectively. The Senior Leadership team and trustees have worked closely to ensure responsible financial stewardship. Together, they have placed an emphasis on managing costs by carefully restricting outgoings, particularly focusing on limiting the indirect costs of charitable work, such as governance and administration expenses. This disciplined approach ensures that the maximum possible resources are directed toward advancing our mission.

The combination of increased funding, strategic investments, and prudent financial management positions The Advocacy Academy to expand its reach, deepen its impact, and maintain the stability of our financial planning. We remain committed to ensuring that every pound entrusted to us is used effectively to empower young leaders and drive systemic change.

Full details of The Advocacy Academy’s activities in 2023-24 is shown in the statement of financial activities on page 39

ReservesOverview

We review our reserves position on a regular basis to determine whether the funds held are adequate for our work. We consider operating expenses for continued service delivery as well as unforeseen circumstances, particularly those relating to future funding uncertainties.

Our total charity fund ending FY24 is £881,547 of which £321,579 is designated unrestricted, £363,631 is restricted and £196,337 is unrestricted. The designated unrestricted reserves reflect the multi-year grants from different funders for core activities. We aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level equivalent to 3 months of operating costs (£196k). We believe that this level will provide TAA with the necessary breathing room to adjust quickly if circumstances change, and lend assurance that any such fluctuations will not impede our ongoing work. The reserves policy and the levels of reserved required will be reviewed annually as part of the annual budgetary process.

FUNDRAISING REVIEW

This year has been challenging for fundraising as, like so many charities, we have felt the continued impact of the rising cost of living on our programme delivery and operating costs, as well as the impact on our supporters. Despite these challenges, we are pleased to have raised £2,091,819 in income over the year. Of this, £1,998,811 (95.55%) came from trusts and foundations, £93k(4.45%) from donations and charitable activities.

In addition to fundraising for our operating costs, our team successfully raised an additional £58k this financial year towards our capital fundraising campaign for the Liberation Centre, our youth

24

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

organising centre set to open in Autumn 2024. This marks a significant step forward in our vision to create a dedicated space for empowering young leaders to drive systemic change. Fundraising for the remaining costs of this transformative project will remain a priority for our team over the coming months.

As ever, we are deeply grateful to all our donors for their support. Your contributions enable us to weather challenges, sustain our work, and move closer to realising a future shaped by young leaders equipped to make lasting change.

KEY RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

Weathering an uncertain political, environmental and economic times ahead

Already our young people have shared the tension of participating in our work alongside part-time jobs they’ve had to take around school. While we are at a steady but also important time of our growth as an organisation and the fluctuations from cost-of-living changes can hit our budget hard with short notice. This is why investment in our infrastructure remains critical:

Maintaining relationships and the trust and integrity which nourish them

In traditional organisations, scale sometimes comes at the expense of those starting relationships. Organising is designed specifically to prevent this erosion (even at scale), however, there is still risk considering. That’s why our investment in membership governance and organising the community is important, alongside investment in our staff people:

The pros and cons of increased visibility and high impact campaigns

As with any organisation campaigning for change our institution and our young people will face scrutiny and judgement alongside the success of their campaigns. We have seen pockets of this already, and if we are to move forward to scale, we need to put ourselves beyond reproach and invest in governance and risk management including but not limited to:

25

Docusign Envelope ID." 1AB966FM2B84F72-8991-1D4AA47812D8 PART THREE: GOVERNANCE AND TEAM 26

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

GOVERNANCE AND TEAM

OUR CURRENT STAFF

Saba Shafi Managing Director, CEO

Saba has an MBA from Wharton and eight years of management consultancy experience. She kicked off her career leading healthcare initiatives in refugee camps and diversity and inclusion programmes in graduate schools in the US. Saba is passionate about growing The Advocacy Academy.

Toyin Onasanya, Director of Finance and Resources

Toyin is the Finance and Resources Director and is responsible for leading TAA’s Finance and Resources Strategy. She holds a CIMA qualification and has over eight years of experience in leading the finance and operations functions within non-profit organisations. Her previous roles include positions at The Children’s Society, Arthritis Care, the Microbiology Society, and the Nuffield Foundation (Ada Lovelace Institute), where she also led the institute-wide anti-oppression initiative.

Benjamin Linsley, Director of Development

Benjamin has 25 years of experience in fundraising, business development and public policy, working across the commercial and charity sectors both in the UK and United States. With several decades of activism experience in the Labour Party, including working as a Labour Councillor in the London Borough of Hackney, and in New York, where he helped grow the Center for Popular Democracy into the largest progressive community organising network in the US.

Shoomi Chowdhury Director of Programmes

Shoomi has extensive experience leading transformative programmes, joining us after seven years in human rights education at Amnesty UK and anti-oppression programmes in the arts and cultural sector. She has a track record of getting things done whilst centring the lived experience of people and communities impacted by oppressive structures.

Hiba Ahmad Director of Community

A Human Geography graduate & enthusiast, Hiba is passionate about building fair cities and creating lasting, inclusive spaces that bring people together. As a researcher she has focused on just transitions across the globe and as a campaigner and organiser she works in critical pedagogy, liberation work, anti-gentrification, and climate justice.

Lydia Rye, Director of Campaigns and Membership

Lydia was previously the Senior Organiser Citizens UK, Grantee Influencing Support Lloyds Bank Foundation.

Imane Maghran, Associate Director Spark Programmes

Imane is a social justice educator and youth programmer who runs The Advocacy Academy’s Spark programmes. She’s worked across sectors specialising in programme design and delivery, youth empowerment and social justice learning, and is most excited by reimagining education and embedding social justice in youth spaces.

Princess Ashilokun, Associate Director of Communications

I have built my strategic communications and brand strategy knowledge working on global and grassroots projects both within the traditional advertising and non-profit sector. I’ve worked with governments, civil society, foundations, academia, and NGOs, using social behaviour change communications (SBCC) to positively influence social impact, development and sustainability policies, and behaviour. With a background in student campaigning, and a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Oxford.

27

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Darcey Williamson, Head of Membership Governance

Darcey is a youth worker and informal educator whose practice is informed by a radical youth work paradigm. She employs critical education methods and participatory action research, working with others to co-create projects that challenge epistemic and social injustices. Darcey leads our Younger Changemaker Apprenticeship programme, training and supporting our Alumni community to develop their leadership practice and social justice education methods to become Changemakers, who are central to our movement.

Frankie Garnons Williams, Head of Fellowship

Frankie has over eight years of experience working with young people and campaigners of all ages, designing and delivering transformative workshops and training across the UK, Canada and the USA.

Maddy Leftwich, Head of Changemaker Development

Maddy has nearly a decade of experience in mentoring, facilitating and support work, and has worked for several years in community arts and through-the-gate support roles, within prisons and post-release settings, as well as alternative educational contexts with young people

Ivie Itoje, Head of Member Development and Support

I am committed to promoting radical self-acceptance and joyful communities. Outside of my part-time work with The Advocacy Academy, I run The Body Respect Project. These intersectional workshops support students in fostering positive body image and increased self-esteem as a collective. I have also worked as an Anti-Racism Expert for Flair, and Legal Advisor for the London Black Women’s Project.

Dola Akinniranye, Head of People

Dola is a HR professional with about 7 years of experience in generalist HR. She has worked across various sectors like education, charity, management consulting, health care and real estate. Dola has an MA in Human Resources and is currently doing a PHD on “the effect of culture on employees’ workplace decision making and behaviour”.

Amarah Khan, Operations Lead

Amarah has a master’s degree in environmental psychology. Starting her career in qualitative research, she uses evidence and insight to create fairer spaces. She is passionate about creating social and physical spaces that dare to have chutzpah and be unapologetically beautiful.

Betty Mayo, Community Engagement Lead

An Alumni of the Class of 2017, Betty has organised campaigns such as Influencers and Education Not Exclusion and was heavily involved in the documentary Excluded. She was President of Feminists’ Society at Nottingham where she studied Politics and IR and is currently part of the Involving Young People Collective for Esmée Fairbairn.

Farah Elemara, Partnership and Events Lead

My background is in education, having trained and qualified with TeachFirst in 2016. I went on to teach secondary school Mathematics in the UK and Turkey for six years before leaving mainstream teaching, dreaming of a more inspiring and fairer kind of learning environment for young people. I then pursued third sector work in Istanbul, and later anti-racism facilitation and resource development with Intersect Madrid. I also work with Isla Foundation where I’ve had the opportunity to support and offer grants to creative education-focussed social impact projects. I’ve joined the development team at TAA whilst completing my part-time MA in Social Justice and Education at UCL.

Naran Singh Bahra (he/him), Data and Prospect Lead, September

Simultaneous to completing his Master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Nottingham, Naran gained extensive experience in funding and development within the charity sector. This included prospect researching, proposal writing, managing a bid writing team and also

28

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

developing new organisational programmes and income strategies. Before joining the Advocacy Academy, he worked for a number of charities that supported disadvantaged youth and disabled people.

Faiza Ameer, People Lead, November 2023 - April 2024

HR professional with a decade of experience in Recruitment & Selection along with other HR functions. She has been part of the Healthcare and Information Technology Industries throughout her career. She holds a master degree in Project Management, and passionate about bringing a change in our society that creates a safe haven for all.

Vanessa Castro, Community Organiser

Vanessa graduated from TAA in 2016 and then completed a BA in Politics and International Relations. As a Changemaker she has participated in many fun, radical campaign actions whilst empowering and supporting young Advocates. She is co-organiser of Latinxcluded, a collective that fights for the representation of the Latinx community in the UK.

Ella Asheri, Programmes Administrator

After being part of anti-racist activist spaces at university, I was elected as Undergraduate Education Officer at Sussex Students’ Union. In this role, I co-created a pilot programme for students and staff to collaboratively redesign their curriculum, informed by feminist, decolonial and critical pedagogy.I have a Master’s in Cultural Studies, where I wrote about liberatory education, feeling and abolition. I did this alongside working at Goldsmiths College as an Alumni Relations Assistant, supporting communications, events and fundraising.

OUR PATRON AND TRUSTEES

PATRON Helen Hayes MP

Helen has been Patron of The Advocacy Academy since before she was elected as Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood! She is a staunch affordable housing advocate in Parliament, where she sits on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee.

CHAIR Daniel Taylor MBE

Daniel Taylor is the Founder and CEO of MDC Group, a highly respected design agency with a reputation for designing and building bespoke interiors for public and private sector clients. Daniel is a founding trustee for the Creative & Cultural Skills Council, a Fellow of the RSA, a trustee for the Aleto Foundation and Ambassador for the Black Health Collaborative Organisation.

VICE-CHAIR Marjorie Perkins

Marjorie is a multi-award-winning TMT professional, who has worked for over 20 years at BT. Marjorie is also a Program Delivery Lead at the Aleto Foundation. Previously, Marjorie was a member of the Advisory Board for Career Ready, and the Area Director for Toastmasters International.

TREASURER: Thishani Nadesan COO | Cleo AI

Thish’s start-up Cleo AI works to radically improve our relationship with money. She is a passionate believer that business and tech can be a force for positive social and economic change and brings board experience in business strategy and scaling companies.

Abimbola Wingate-Saul Barrister | 25 Bedford Row Chambers

Alongside her professional work and trusteeship of Advocacy, Abimbola is currently Chair of the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board on the Police Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race. She is also a founder and co-host of The Manifesto Read Podcast which breaks down the manifesto pledges of the big three parties.

29

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Michelle King Director of Transformation | Allvue Systems

Having spent over 20 years in Finance, Michelle setup Silent Way Partners to promote economic opportunity based on merit, not on race, gender, or class. She went on to create the Silent Way Foundation to promote equality of opportunity for marginalised communities and invest in minority women founders, before moving to Allvue Systems.

SAFEGUARDING Mark Christopher Straw

Mark’s background of 25 years is in Youth and Community work, an expert in Informal Learning and Critical Theory. Mark graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University and built his practice through a method of Praxis…. a commitment to supporting people to name their world, recognising the need for enquiry and equity to underpin all work to develop trust and meaning to the work. Mark works locally, regionally, nationally and internationally where he presents himself as the nexus between frontline practitioner and strategist. Mark has worked across the statutory, voluntary and the social enterprise sector.

TRUSTEE Jack Van Cooten, Research Team Manager at Management Consultancy Oliver Wyman, specialising in technology.

He is also currently undertaking a master’s at Oxford University in Social Science of the Internet. Jack truly believes that empowering young people and reducing inequality are the best ways that we can improve our society.

TRUSTEE Calum Green, Director of Advocacy & Communications, Involve As Director of Advocacy & Communications at Involve, he builds political and public support for ensuring people from all walks of life are part of decisions that affect their lives. Before this, he was Chief Executive of London CLT and a Senior Organiser at Citizens UK. Calum brings 15 years' experience in organising, campaigns, strategy and governance

GOVERNANCE

Governing Documents

The Advocacy Academy operates as a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). It is governed by a constitution, which was passed, and last amended, on 1 January 2015. The official charity registration number is 1161785. The Advocacy Academy does not formally use any name other than its registered name.

Charitable Objects

Advance the education of the public, particularly but not exclusively people under the age of 25, in such ways as the charity trustees think fit, including but not limited to in the subject of politics.

To develop the skills, capacities, and capabilities of young people in such a way that they are better able to identify and help meet their needs and enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible adults.

Key Activities

We train young people to engage in collective action to improve their communities and tackle social issues which directly affect them.

Public Benefits Disclosure

The Trustees have given due consideration to the Charity Commission’s published guidance on the Public Benefit Requirement under the Charities Act 2011.

30

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Founded

20 February 2014: The United Nations World Day of Social Justice

Registered

21 May 2015

Trustees

Abimbola Wingate-Saul (May 2021 to present) Constantinos Christou (May 2020 to July 2023) Daniel Taylor MBE FRSA, CHAIR (Jul 2022 to present) Marjorie Perkins, VICE-CHAIR (Jul 2022 to Mach 2024) Michelle King (May 2020 to present) Thalia Papanicolaou (May 2020 to present) Thish Nadesan (Dec 2018 to present) Mark Christopher Straw (16/01/23 - present) Jack Van Cooten (16/01/23 - present) Calum David Green (1/09/23 - present)

The Trustees have ultimate responsibility for The Advocacy Academy, work to ensure good governance, sign off on the overall strategic direction and are the highest decision-making body. The Board works with the executive team (see staff bios in the previous section) which is responsible for the day-to-day running of the charity. Trustees maintain a good working knowledge of charity law and best practice.

The Board has the power to appoint Trustees as it considers appropriate, with particular reference to enriching skills and increasing representation from communities reflected in our Alumni community. There are informal procedures in place for their induction. New Trustees are provided with one year’s worth of Board minutes, financial reports, and TAA constitution.

The Board meets quarterly to review TAA’s fundraising, financial performance, opportunities, and to monitor any significant issues affecting the charity’s work. Four full Board meetings took place in FY24. In addition to these, the Chair of the Board and the Chief Executive meet regularly between Board meetings. We have also established a Finance and Risk Committee, where the Treasurer and Director of Finance meet quarterly to monitor financial performance in detail.

Risk Management

A comprehensive risk framework is in place. Trustees review the major risks to the organisation on a quarterly basis during Board meetings. Systems are established to monitor and control identified risks, mitigating the impact they may have on the charity. The Senior Leadership Team reviews both operational and strategic risks on an ongoing basis, ensuring they are standing agenda items in their weekly meetings. This process ensures that current and emerging risks are regularly considered and, if necessary, escalated to the Board.

Pay & Remuneration

Employee salaries are set at a specific scale and level which is reflective of similar organisations pay. An incremental rise is considered every April following the completion of TAA financial health. Any substantial changes to remuneration are approved by the board as part of the annual budget setting.

Registered Office

Unit 1, 2 Beehive Place, London, SW9 7QR.

31

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Bank

HSBC, 421 Brixton Rd, London SW9 8HE RBS, London Cavendish Square, W1M 0BD

Auditors

Knox Cropper Chartered Accountant, 65 LeaderHall Street, London EC3A 2AD

Pro Bono Solicitors

Allen & Overy, One Bishops Square, London E1 6AD

Socials

The Trustees have read and reviewed the State Of The Movement Report, and approved at the Board meeting 29 November 2024.

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the income and expenditure of the Charity for that period. In preparing these accounts, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011, the applicable Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the governing document. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

32

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

In so far as the Trustees are aware

This report was approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Name: Daniel Taylor

Role: Chair, Board of Trustees

Signature:

Date 12/17/2024

33

Docusign Envelope ID." 1AB966FM2B84F72-8991-1D4AA47812D8 PART FOUR: AUDITOR'S OPINION & ACCOUNTS 34

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

Independent Auditors' Report to the Trustees of The Advocacy Academy For the year ended 31 March 2024

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Advocacy Academy (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the

35

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement in trustees’ report, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of financial statements which give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

36

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Knox Cropper LLP

Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditor

65 Leadenhall Street

London EC3A 2AD

12/17/2024 Date

Knox Cropper LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

37

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2024

General
Note
£
Income from:
2
1,151,949
3
Commissioning (spark programme)
-
Other income
13,330
Other trading income - campus hire
3,800
1,169,079
4
184,507
4
662,973
4
847,480
321,599
(321,599)
()
Reconciliation of funds:
196,337
14
196,337
Charitable activities
Grants, donations and legacies
Total income
Expenditure on:
Total expenditure
Charitable activities
Raising funds
Total funds carried forward
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
Unrestricted
Total funds brought forward
Net income / (expenditure) for the year		 Unrestricted
Designated
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
321,579
321,579
-
321,579		 Restricted
£
922,740
-
-
-
922,740
-
559,129
559,129
363,611
20
363,631
-
363,631		 2024
Total
£
2,074,689
-
13,330
3,800
2,091,819
184,507
1,222,102
1,406,609
685,210
-
685,210
196,337
881,547		 General
£
302,248
-
1,080
6,620
309,948
136,323
506,594
642,917
(332,969)
180,000
(152,969)
349,306
196,337
Unrestricted		 Unrestricted
Designated
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(180,000)
(180,000)
180,000
-		 Restricted
£
585,810
16,000
-
-
601,810
-
601,810
601,810
-
-
-
-
-		 2023
Total
£
888,058
16,000
1,080
6,620
911,758
136,323
1,108,404
1,244,727
(332,969)
-
(332,969)
529,306
196,337

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 13 to the financial statements.

The notes on pages 41 to 49 form part of these financial statements

38

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2024

Note
£
Fixed assets:
9
Current assets:
10
896,741
194,241
1,090,982
Liabilities:
11
126,500
12
13
14
321,579
-
-
196,337
Total unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets / (liabilities)
Total net assets / (liabilities)
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Defined benefit pension scheme asset /
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
Revaluation reserve
Fair value reserve
Total assets less current liabilities
Net assets excluding pension asset / (liability)
Debtors
Restricted income funds		 Note
£
Fixed assets:
9
Current assets:
10
896,741
194,241
1,090,982
Liabilities:
11
126,500
12
13
14
321,579
-
-
196,337
Total unrestricted funds
General funds
Total charity funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
The funds of the charity:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets / (liabilities)
Total net assets / (liabilities)
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Defined benefit pension scheme asset /
Unrestricted income funds:
Designated funds
Revaluation reserve
Fair value reserve
Total assets less current liabilities
Net assets excluding pension asset / (liability)
Debtors
Restricted income funds		 2024
£
17,065		 £
16,620
223,525		 2023
£
28,105
17,065
964,482		 28,105
168,232
1,090,982
126,500		 240,145
71,913
321,579
-
-
196,337		 -
-
-
196,337
981,547
100,000		 196,337
-
881,547
-
881,547		 196,337
-
196,337
363,631
517,916		 -
196,337
881,547 196,337

Approved by the trustees on and signed on their behalf by 12/17/2024

…………………………….. - Trustee

The notes on pages 41 to 49 form part of these financial statements

39

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2024
Note
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
Depreciation charges
Dividends, interest and rent from investments
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash from/(used in) operating activities
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand and at bank
Total cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Net cash provided by / (used in) financing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash inflows from new borrowing
Cash flows from financing activities:
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of fixed assets		 £
(6,785)		 £
685,210
17,825
-
(880,121)
54,587
2024		 £
(3,918)		 £
(332,969)
17,346
-
187,333
18,257
2023
(122,499)
(6,785)
100,000		 (110,033)
(3,918)
-
100,000 -
(29,284)
223,525		 (113,951)
337,476
194,241 223,525
At 31 March
2024
£
194,241		 At 31
March 2023
£
223,525
194,241 223,525

40

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The Advocacy Academy is a charity registered in England with registration number 1161785. Its registered office address is 7 Vining Street, London SW9 9QS.

b) Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019); the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102); and the Charities Act 2011. The accounts are presented in GBP rounded to £1, which is the functional currency of the charity.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

Every year, the charity conducts a review to evaluate its ability to continue as a going concern. We undertake the assessment as part of the budget-setting process for the following year, taking into account the forecast financial statements for the current year. The assessment takes into account key forecasts for income generation, expenditure, risk register, cash flow, external factors, and contingencies required to secure the charity's future business operations.

Trustees believe that, having reviewed the assessments, The Advocacy Academy can be considered a going concern for the foreseeable future, and that suitable risk mitigations and contingencies are in place.

The Trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties in relation to going concern in the foreseeable future

Income, including from Government and other grants and donations, whether 'capital' or 'income', is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably.

Grants with performance-related conditions, commissioning and other earned incomes are only included in the SoFA under income from Charitable Activities once the charity has provided the related goods or services or met the performance related conditions.

Gift Aid receivable is included in income when there is a valid declaration from the donor. Any Gift Aid amount recovered on a donation is allocated to a separate fund unless the donor or terms of the appeal has specified otherwise and instead is treated as an addition to the same fund as the initial donation.

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated services (including the time given to the organisation by volunteers) and facilities are included in the SOFA when received at the value of the gift to the charity, provided the value can be measured reliably. Where appropriate, donated services and facilities are recognised as income with an equivalent amount recognised as an expense under the appropriate heading in the SOFA.

In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable.

41

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

h) Fund accounting Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund.

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular for a particular future project or commitment.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity (support costs), comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the following basis which are an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity.

˜ Social Justice Leadership Fellowship 4%
˜ Alumni and campaigns 76%
˜ Commissioning (spark programme) 17%
˜ Community Programmes 3%

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure. Pension costs are allocated to various activties and restricted funds on the same basis as salaries.

Governance costs, which are considered a category of support costs, are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

k) Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £250. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

l) Financial Instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

l.1) Financial assets

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

42

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

m) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Cash balances exclude any funds held on behalf of service users.

n) Significant accounting policies

In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the charity is required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

There are no estimates and assumptions that are considered to have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the financial statements in a future period.

o) Redundancy and termination costs

Redundancy and termination costs are recognised as an expense in the Statement of Financial Activities and a liability on the Balance Sheet immediately at the point the Charity is demonstrably committed to either: terminate the employment of an employee or group of employees before normal retirement date; or provide termination benefits as a result of an offer made in order to encourage voluntary redundancy. The Charity is considered to be demonstrably committed only when it has a detailed formal plan for the termination and is without realistic possibility of withdrawal from the plan.

p) Holiday pay accruals

The charity makes a provision for annual leave accrued by employees as a result of services rendered in the current period and which employees are entitled to carry forward and use.

2 Income from donations

Income from donations
Donated Facilities (note 15)
Grant Funding
Donations and gift aid		 Unrestricted
£
1,137,696
-
14,253		 £
857,315
65,425
-
Restricted		 2024 total
Total
£
1,995,011
65,425
14,253		 2023
Total
£
749,610
120,000
18,448
1,151,949 922,740 2,074,689 888,058

Income in 2023 comprised of unrestricted income of £302,248 and restricted income of £585,810

3 Income from charitable activities

Income from charitable activities
Commissioning (spark programme)
Other earned income
Total income from charitable activities		 Unrestricted
£
-
13,330		 £
-
-
Restricted		 2024
Total
£
-
13,330		 2023
Total
£
16,000
1,080
13,330 - 13,330 17,080

Income in 2023 comprised of unrestricted income of £1,080 and restricted income of £16,000

43

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of expenditure
Staff costs (Note 5)
Accommodation and venue hire
Campus for Young Activists (note 14)
Communication and marketing
Community Culture and wellbeing
Premise & General Office
Programme delivery costs
Staff recruitment, training, travel and
wellbeing
Temporary staff and contractors
Trustees
Grant no longer receivable
Depreciation
Support costs
Total expenditure 2024
Total expenditure 2023		 Cost of
raising
funds
Social Justice
Leadership
Fellowship
Alumni and
campaigns
Just
Education
£
£
£
£
167,149
20,447
391,951
87,706
-
216
48,213
87
3,954
-
-
-
-
-
-
2,095
1,365
1,011
-0
-
-
-
-
927
1,143
286
423
-
2,105
69,239
26,833
1,315
-
5,304
7,647
6,605
1,424
-
6,711
18,002
3,538
8,135
-
-0
- 0
- 0
-
-
-0
- 0
- 0
-
-
-0
- 0
- 0
-
-
184,507
166,056
430,311
102,957
-
-
19,330
370,548
82,917
-
184,507
185,386
800,859
185,874
-
136,323
331,243
307,022
224,515
(533)
Commissioning
(spark
programme)
Charitable activities		 Charitable activities Total
Charitable
activities
515,752
52,254
-
2,376
-
2,322
109,637
20,999
31,173
-
-
-		 Support
costs
£
267,357
-
65,425
190
26,168
59,969
4,144
9,023
37,489
-
-
17,824		 2024 Total
£
950,258
52,470
65,425
4,661
26,168
63,218
115,886
35,326
75,373
-
-
17,824		 2023
Total
£
749,193
49,953
120,000
1,825
-
94,076
72,821
8,578
100,877
58
30,000
17,346
Just
Education
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
 Power +
Privilege
Workshops
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Community
Programmes
£
15,648
-
-
-
470
12,250
5,323
1,498
-
-
-
184,507
-		 166,056
19,330		 430,311
370,548		 102,957
82,917		 -
-		 -
-		 35,189
14,794		 734,513
487,589		 487,589 1,406,609
1,406,609		 1,244,727
1,244,727
184,507 185,386 800,859 185,874 - - 49,983 1,222,102
136,323 331,243 307,022 224,515 (533) (533) 246,689 1,244,727

Of the total expenditure, £825,478 was unrestricted (2023: £612,917) and £581,131 was restricted (2023: £601,810). Fees in respect of audit were £6,000 (2023: independent examination £3,550)

Supports costs for 2023 consist of the following.

2023
Total
£
Staff costs 132,256
Accommodation and venue hire 328
Campus for Young Activists (note 14) 120,000
Communication and marketing 751
Grant no longer receivable 30,000
Premise & General Office 64,514
Programme delivery costs 10,763
Staff recruitment, training, travel and we 1,331
Temporary staff and contractors 1,399
Trustees 17
Depreciation 17,346
378,705

44

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries and wages (including termination payments)
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes		 2024
£
847,615
84,117
18,526		 2023
£
666,140
67,407
15,646
950,258 749,193

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) during the year in bandings of costs greater than £60,000:

2024 2023
No. No.
£60,000 - £69,999 4 1
£70,000 - £79,999 - 1
£80,000 - £89,999 1 -

The total employee benefits including pension contributions of the key management personnel, made up of Benjamin Linsley (Commercial Director), Saba Safi (CEO), Hiba Ahmed (Community Director), Lydia Rye (Campaigns & Organising Director), Rohima Chowdhury (Programmes Director) and Toyin Onasanya (Finance Director) were £392,476 (2023: £249,612).

6 Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

follows:
Commissioning (spark programme)
Cost of raising funds
Social Justice Leadership Fellowship
Alumni and campaigns
Governance and support
Community Programmes		 2024
No.
3.7
0.5
8.7
2.0
0.3
6.0		 2023
No.
2.9
3.0
3.6
2.6
3.0
3.2
21.2 18.3

7 Related party transactions

No trustees were reimbursed for expenses of travel or subsistence during the year (2023: nil).

No charity trustees were paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2023: £nil). No other charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2023: £nil).

There are no other related party transactions to disclose for 2024 (2023: none).

8 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax to the extent that all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

45

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

9
Building
£
49,148
-
(49,148)
-
40,197
8,951
(49,148)
-
-
8,951
All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
10
11
12
Loans
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals
Tangible fixed assets
Trade creditors
Cost
Depreciation
Net book value
Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Eliminated on disposal
At the end of the year
Grant debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Disposals in year
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Debtors
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year		 Building
£
49,148
-
(49,148)		 Fixtures and
fittings
£
12,850
-
-		 Office
equipment
£
24,735
6,785
-		 Total
£
86,733
6,785
(49,148)
- 12,850 31,520 44,370
40,197
8,951
(49,148)		 6,701
2,570
-		 11,730
6,304
-		 58,628
17,825
(49,148)
- 9,271 18,034 27,305
- 3,579 13,486 17,065
8,951 6,149 13,005 28,105
2024
£
2,100
894,641		 2023
£
2,320
14,300
896,741 16,620
2024
£
3,335
91,610
12,389
19,166		 2023
£
11,950
38,661
2,038
19,264
126,500 71,913
2024
£
100,000		 2023
£
-
100,000 -

During the year the charity secured a loan of £250k towards building works. Of the total loan, £100k has been drawn down. The loan is unrestricted with zero percent interest rate. The charity has flexibility over the repayment time frame. Total amount to be repaid will be 105% of the amount withdrawn.

46

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of net assets between funds
Long term liabilities
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Tangible fixed assets		 General
unrestricted
£
17,065
279,272
(100,000)		 £
-
321,579
-
Designated		 Restricted
£
-
363,631
-		 Total funds
2024
£
17,065
964,482
(100,000)
196,337 321,579 363,631 881,547

13 Analysis of net assets between funds (continued)

14
City Bridge Trust
CrowdFunder
Ellis Campbell
GreenPeace
Gucci
Impact for Urban Health
John Ellerman Foundation
Lipman Milibanlmt
National Lottery
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Postcode Society
Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds
Net assets at the start of the year
Total funds
Total unrestricted funds
Core strategy and operations
Unrestricted funds:
Movements in funds
Restricted funds:
Designated funds:
Donated facilities
Net current assets
Tangible fixed assets		 At 1 April
2023
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 General
unrestricted
£
28,105
168,232		 £
-
-
Designated		 Restricted
£
-
-		 Total funds
2023
£
28,105
168,232
196,337 - - 196,337
Incoming
resources &
gains
£
82,500
3,351
60,000
5,000
8,390
205,084
80,000
3,000
334,990
50,000
25,000
65,425		 Outgoing
resources &
losses
£
(37,485)
(3,371)
(18,999)
-
(8,390)
(203,774)
(39,747)
(2,918)
(104,115)
(50,000)
(24,905)
(65,425)		 Transfers
£
-
20
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 March
2024
£
45,015
-
41,001
5,000
-
1,310
40,253
82
230,875
-
95
-
- 922,740 (559,129) 20 363,631
- - - 321,579 321,579
- - - 321,579 321,579
196,337 1,169,079 (847,480) (321,599) 196,337
196,337 1,169,079 (847,480) (20) 517,916
196,337 2,091,819 (1,406,609) - 881,547

47

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

14 Movements in funds (continued)

Movements in funds (continued)
Impact for Urban Health
City Bridge Trust
Commissioning
John Ellerman Foundation
Gucci
LB of Lambeth
GLA
Total restricted funds
Total designated funds
General funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Total funds
Stewart Investors
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds:
The Tides Foundation
BBC Children in Need
Donated facilities		 At 1 April
2022
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Incoming
resources &
gains
£
185,595
12,500
16,000
40,000
85,666
1,000
3,300
127,749
10,000
120,000		 Outgoing
resources &
losses
£
(185,595)
(12,500)
(16,000)
(40,000)
(85,666)
(1,000)
(3,300)
(127,749)
(10,000)
(120,000)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31 March
2023
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 601,810 (601,810) - -
180,000 - (180,000) -
180,000 - - (180,000) -
349,306 309,948 (642,917) 180,000 196,337
529,306 309,948 (642,917) - 196,337
529,306 911,758 (1,244,727) - 196,337

Purposes of restricted funds

Impact on Urban Health – To support our work with our alumni City Bridge Trust – Delivery of leadership programmes to marginalised communities Gucci –To support marginalised young people from South London National Lottery - To support young people’s skills development for employment. Post Code Society – To support our Sparks Programme Ellis Campbell – To support TAA expansion work Lipman Miliband – To deliver one week Spark Programme John Ellerman – To support executive salaries Paul Hamlyn Foundation – To support our building investment Crowd Funder – To support our building investment GLA – To help our young people to fulfil their potentials Tides Foundation – Delivery of our leadership programmes BBC CIN – Delivery of our leadership programmes Lambeth (Commissioning) – Delivery of our Sparks Programme & Community work

48

Docusign Envelope ID: 1AB966F3-32BB-4F72-B991-1D4AA47812D8

The Advocacy Academy

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Purposes of designated funds

In 2024 the trustees have designated £321,579, which spans various unrestricted funds, including Esmee Fairbairn and Paul Hamlyn. These funds were awarded to support TAA’s core strategy and operations over a two-year period. We will be drawing down the funds each year until the amount is fully utilised.

15 Operating lease commitments

The charity signed a lease on the Vining Street premise in Brixton for a five-year period on 18 January 2019. The lease was donated to the charity, with the annual charge payable being a peppercorn amount only. We have included the value of the donation (65,420) in the current year up to 16 November 2023, which was when the lease ended, as income and charged the equivalent amount to expenditure in the SOFA based on the open market rate payable on a comparable lease.

16 Funds received as agent

The charity has acted as an agent for the following third-party , whose aims and objectives are consistent with those of the charity. Funds, held in cash, are administered on the instruction of the principal and recorded ithin a separate genral ledger sub-code and adjusted in financial statements. The movement in funds during the year was:

funds during the year was:
Balance at 1 April 2023
Funds received
Funds paid out
Balance at 31 March 2024
representing cash held		 Choked Up
£
16,750
-
(15,061)		 Charity So
White/HS
Charity
£
6,451
-
(1,830)		 Total
23,201
-
(16,891)
1,689 4,621 6,310

Choked up - Teenagers campaigning for clean air Charity So white: Tackling institutional racism within the charity sector.

17 Pension Commitments

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately in an independently administered multi-employer fund. During the year, £18,526 was charged to SOFA (2023: £14,926) and at the balance sheet date there is a outstanding balance of £3,811 (2023: overpayment of £68).

18 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

49