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2021-12-31-accounts

2021

Sunday Assembly Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December 2021

A Company Limited by Guarantee | CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1162995 | COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER 08818905

About Sunday Assembly

Sunday Assembly was established in 2013 as a registered charity and based in London. In 2019, its international network became community groups affiliated with the charity, which meant that the charity was no longer responsible for governing each community group. However, we all continue to bring people together through our motto to live better, help often and wonder more as well as share that one thing we have in common: ‘life’.

Sunday Assembly is a volunteer-led secular community. Our volunteers are at the heart of the charity and a true representation of the work done to provide opportunities to all. To help us achieve this, we also have had the support of two paid roles in 2021 - the Producer and Bookkeeper - who are part-time contractors and give so much of their time and energy. Thank you all .

Live better: our vision

We strive for everyone to live as fully as possible. Through the events we host and the many community groups and activities - occurring in addition to our bi-monthly events - people are able to connect, build relationships, and share a sense of belonging; all of which we believe are everyone’s right to have.

Help often: our mission

Beyond coming together as a community, we extend our activities to supporting other causes and raising awareness of other local movements. Above all, we try to help each other. Covid-19 has meant going above and beyond for our community.

Wonder more: our approach

We provide a platform for inspiring expert speakers, budding poets, and musicians for our community to enjoy. Each bi-monthly event is themed and the choir and band align their performances with that. We aim to bring awareness of interesting topics that provide insight, reliable facts and figures grounded in evidence.

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Contents

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Welcome from the Board

Thanks for taking the time to read our 2021 Annual Report.

Similar to 2020, 2021 was a challenging year due to Covid restrictions. We’re proud that the volunteers and community stuck together and our assemblies kept going online, at a time when people were much in need of connection.

Being able to see each other in person during summer picnics and coming back to Conway Hall in September was a real joy. We’re now able to reach even more people through our hybrid assemblies, using technology alongside in-person interaction at Conway Hall, whilst saving recordings of assemblies online so that no-one misses out.

The Board and Coordination Crew worked together throughout the year, creating a volunteer structure and handbook and developing policies to strengthen our governance. We motivated ourselves through the challenging pandemic lockdown days to produce a more comprehensive and engaging annual report (for 2020) and held our first open AGM in June 2021.

Success in securing significant grants, along with our fundraising events, Wilderness festival attendance, and move towards more user-friendly channels for donations have been key in sustaining our Charity. We are in a strong position from which to continue our 2020 growth strategy and look forward to celebrating ten years of Sunday Assembly in 2023.

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2021 highlights

10 Jan - Improv your year: Happy new year, and happy 8th birthday to Sunday Assembly! At our first assembly of the year, which was held online via the Zoom meeting platform, we welcomed back our co-founder Pippa Evans as the main speaker. Based on her book “Improv Your Life”, Pippa’s talk explained how the tools used in improv performing can be used to help us interact with others in our daily lives. Sanderson Jones hosted, and it was wonderful for

We held twelve virtual assemblies in 2021 - click here to view them all on YouTube.

the community to see our two founders together again.

24 Jan -The Words That Move Us: In honour of Burns Night, we celebrated poetry with internationally renowned poet Nick Makoha as our main speaker, and special guests Dd Regalo and poet and community member Robin Lamboll.

7 Feb - The Truth about Mindreading: Performer and scientist Stuart Nolan debunked some of the myths about mindreading, but also revealed some surprising facts about this field of study, including some modern uses.

21 Feb - A Place to Call Home: Rachel Hamilton, who runs the ‘Home From Home’ program at C4WS Homeless Project, finds temporary placements for homeless people who are waiting for permanent housing. We donated half of the money we raised at this assembly to C4WS in an effort to live up to our “Help Often” mission.

21 Mar - We’ve Come A Long, Long Way Together: After the success of the UK-wide mega-assembly we hosted in September 2020, Sunday Assembly Manchester decided to host another one. It was a great opportunity to connect with Assemblers from far and wide and learn what we all have in common.

7 Mar - When Women Move Mountains: In celebration of International Women’s Day, Lee Webster, a women’s rights activist and director at ActionAid, spoke about how real change only happens when women work together to hold governments accountable for protecting their rights.

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We 4 Apr - A Year to Reflect: commemorated the anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown by inviting Leonora Nicholson of Unheard Poetry to take us through one of her “Take a Break” workshops, giving us the time and space to write and reflect on what the past year had been like for each of us, and to think about what community means to us.

2 May - A Helping Hand: Our main speaker was Rich Walker, a member of the Tottenham community who realised he could make a difference by organising the collection and donation of fruit and veg boxes to people in need.

16 May - Leave Better: Jane Morgan, funeral celebrant and director of the Good Funeral Guide, and Sandra Greenyer, end-of-life doula and Death Cafe host, came together in 2019 to launch London’s first Coffin Club. They taught us how to confront our fears about death and make practical plans for our own eventual ends.

20 Jun - Letting Loose: With restrictions set to loosen in the summer, we decided that this would be our last virtual assembly, knowing that people were excited to finally meet face to face. Our main speaker was Danni Emery from The Insecurity Guards, a lively group of people who go to festivals to help others release their insecurities by writing them down and burning them.

18 Apr - Is There Life on Mars?: In celebration of the NASA rover Perseverance landing on Mars, we invited science rapper Jon Chase to speak and rap about space exploration. Our choir made a lovely music video of the song “Satellite of Love” for this assembly.

30 Apr - 3 May: We participated in the “Captain Tom 100” national fundraising campaign which was launched by the London Marathon and inspired by the fundraising efforts of Captain Tom Moore, who was a true inspiration during the pandemic, raising much-needed funds for the NHS. We hosted 3 events to raise money for Sunday Assembly: a 100-minute dance party featuring DJ Ian Joliet, a 100-mile walk/run, and a 100-minute sing-along led by our choir director Tanya Davies.

6 Jun - Your Opinion Matters: Alastair Lichten, the head of education at the National Secular Society and a member of our community, spoke about why opinion polls are useful but warned about their misuse and suggested ways to improve them. The theme for this assembly was designed to coincide with the opinion-gathering we did at our Annual General Meeting.

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Annual General Meeting: For the first time, we opened our AGM up to our entire community! It was held online as a Zoom webinar immediately following our assembly on 6 June. During this meeting we shared our 2020 Annual Report with the community and the Board elected our new trustees.

From 27 June to 15 August, we organised a series of community picnics that took place every couple of weeks at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, a park near our home, Conway Hall. We took precautions by inviting people to scan our QR check-in code on arrival and recommending everyone give space to each other. But aside from that, it felt like our normal pre-pandemic gatherings. These events helped us rekindle our friendships and connections, and get ready for returning to indoor activities.

Wilderness Festival: Six years after our last appearance, we were invited to return to Wilderness Festival from 5-8 August in Oxfordshire! Co-founder of Sunday Assembly Sanderson Jones led two assemblies in the Forum tent and then our band and singers joined him on the Atrium stage for “The Mother of All Weddings” to celebrate all the couples at Wilderness whose wedding plans had been scuppered by the pandemic. Our photographer, Lesley Burdett, took some truly outstanding photos of our events there.

An Evening of Poetry and Healing featuring Jenny Mitchell: Award-winning poet and longtime community member Jenny Mitchell asked if we could organise a poetry night which would be part open-mic, part poetry performance by her, followed by a Q&A. This was a great opportunity to test out our new live-streaming equipment (see below), so on 19 August we held the meeting at the beautiful Battersea Spanish and livestreamed it from there.

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Return to Conway Hall

In anticipation of our return to in-person assemblies at Conway Hall, we brought together a small team consisting of trustees and Coordination Crew members to make plans for our return. This included a marketing and advertising campaign online and at Wilderness.

We also realised that if we wanted our in-person assemblies to be truly inclusive, we would need to find a way to enable the participation of all the community members we have welcomed to our virtual assemblies who are unable to attend in person, either due to distance or disability. Using our National Lottery Community Fund grant, we purchased the equipment we would need to be able to livestream our events.

For the Sunday events we stream directly to YouTube, allowing online viewers to interact using their live chat feature. Following the events we host “Post-Assembly Zoom Chats” which are moderated; participants have the chance to chat, connect and even discuss their experience, just as we do with our in-person tea time.

Click here to watch the 7 assemblies we live-streamed in 2021

5 Sep - We’re Back!: We welcomed everyone back to Conway Hall with our annual Pridethemed assembly, featuring comedian and spokesperson for the LGBTQ+ community Rosie Wilby. She talked about her new book “The Breakup Monologues”, which was based on her podcast of the same name.

3 Oct - Why Your Memories Are Wrong: Cognitive psychologist Professor Kimberley Wade taught us about the phenomenon of ‘false memories’, explaining how it happens and why it’s sometimes good for us.

19 Sep - We’re All Valued Equally: Our main speaker, Bernice Hardie, founded WAVE for Change as a way to bring together differently abled people in friendship and community. Her talk was deeply heartfelt and relevant to the work we do. The assembly also included a signed poetry performance (with audience participation!) by poet Abe Gibson and Bernice’s daughter, Jess.

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Keeping it Reel: A Sunday Assembly London Ceilidh: For our first in-person fundraising event of the year, we felt we should have a proper knees-up! On the night of 8 October, over 80 people filled the dance floor at Conway Hall as the brilliant Reeling Icenis played and called the ceilidh dances. It was a blast and everyone enjoyed being back together again.

17 Oct - The Rhythm of Life is a Powerful Beat: Ollie Tunmer, percussionist and founder of Beat Goes On gave us a demonstration of one of his workshops. Everyone loved participating in learning about our innate sense of rhythm.

7 Nov - Breaking Free: Debbie Sadler of the charity Unlock explained how difficult it is for people with criminal records to get jobs and find housing, among other roadblocks, due to flawed laws and discrimination. We donated 50% of the funds we raised at this assembly to Unlock.

21 Nov - The Beauty of Struggle: Author and productivity coach Grace Marshall spoke about the good that can come from struggles, and how it can be leveraged to create opportunities. We also had a member of the community sharing her experience living with disability and how struggles have brought her opportunities.

5 Dec - Open Your Mind: This assembly was curated by our guest host, Mags Houston, who is the event producer for The Psychedelic Society. She invited Tarsilo Onuluk, managing director of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group, to talk about the mental and physical health benefits of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin.

…and then COVID reared its ugly head again.

Omicron and on and on

Just when we thought we were finally out of the woods, December gifted us a new, highly contagious variant of the virus. As volunteers fell ill it became clear that we would need to cancel our last two events of the year: our second assembly of the month, and Yule Rock - a Christmas pop music sing-along concert which is our biggest annual fundraiser.

All of our volunteers felt so proud of what they had accomplished by transitioning out of the pandemic during 2021, but it took an enormous amount of effort. In the end, we accepted that Omicron had actually granted us a much-needed break to recharge our batteries for 2022.

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Community impact

Community meetings

From January to April we held four monthly “Chat, Check in, and Catch up” meetings on Zoom, where we discussed Sunday Assembly’s plans for the future and got feedback from the community. It was also a space for people to casually meet and chat. As the world began to open up in the spring, we decided to end the online meetings to make room for our in-person picnics.

Trustee and Fundraising Hub Lead Annie Perez led a community meeting on 16 July to bring people together to discuss fundraising and co-create a new strategy that would help increase fundraising efforts within the community itself.

Band and choir volunteering

Our choir met online weekly from the start of the year through mid-June. This was a great way for community members to stay connected and have fun. They had a break over the summer to make the transition to our in-person assemblies. From the end of August, they had a combination of in-person and online rehearsals.

The band continued to make music videos for our virtual assemblies during the first half of the year, but these were extremely labour-intensive and time-consuming, so they were overjoyed to be able to return to the rehearsal studios to learn songs together and play them live from September onward.

Other Interest Groups

Tea and TED: When community member Liz Wilson came up with the idea in May to run a monthly online meetup called “Tea and TED” the timing couldn’t have been better. We had recently ended our monthly online meetings, but worried that some people might miss it. At Tea and TED meetings, community members watch a TED talk together and then discuss it afterwards. The first meeting was held in June and continued to run monthly for the rest of the year, for a total of 7 meetings.

Article Club: Led by trustee Alistair Baker, the Article Club agrees in advance which two articles they’ll read and then discusses them at the meeting. They met online 6 times between January and August and had 1 in-person meeting in October.

Board Games Club: Led by community member Mitsky Shah, this club met online 17 times and in person 8 times, not including the times they brought board games to the community picnics!

Walking Group: Led by community members Julia Galliers and Carole Maddern, this group did 3 walks in 2021: London Loop Section 2, London Loop Section 1, and Wimbledon Common.

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Paving the way forward

We have recognised for some time the need to diversify our audience and how we operate to be more inclusive and accessible. In doing so, we applied for a grant to train volunteers, implement best practice, and improve our website. In November 2020, we were awarded £7,000 to put this plan into action in 2021.

We successfully recruited three consultants and had our first planning meeting with Alison Austin (digital specialist), Amy McAllister (diversity specialist), and Jenni Elbourne (accessibility specialist) in February 2021. Amy and Jenni ran a “Diversity, Inclusion, and Access” workshop on 29 April for the Board and Coordination Crew to learn what we already do well and how we can improve our events. In May, Jenni delivered three key documents alongside training materials. She audited how accessible Sunday Assembly is, created a training module called “Access at Sunday Assembly” and provided our Front of House team with a much needed Guide.

Also in May, Amy updated the Volunteer Handbook we hand out to new volunteers so it would be compliant with the rest of the work the EDI Team has produced.

In November, Alison ran a workshop with the Website Team to show us all the ways we can easily update our website to make it more accessible and user-friendly. Alison conducted a thorough audit of our website and provided a guidance document “Creating Accessible Content” which the website team has gone on to use in their plan to update the website. Furthermore, we now have a revamped accessibility statement.

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Two teams, one vision

In an effort to align the processes of the Board of Trustees and the Coordination Crew, we decided at the end of 2020 to meet quarterly to discuss plans and flag potential or existing problems. In 2021 we had 3 meetings in March, May, and July. We were unable to hold one at the end of the year due to schedule conflicts, but made plans to schedule all of our 2022 meetings at the start of the year to prevent this problem from coming up again.

Growing our community

It has been tough to grow the community and we expect to be leading a piece in 2022 which bridges the strategy implemented pre-covid with one that reflects a new world and environment. It is without doubt that Covid-19 has stifled our plans to grow, however, the community has grown in other ways which are of equal importance.

The talent across our community has surfaced and connected people in so many ways during what has been an exceptional year; a year of loneliness, isolation and disconnection. Nevertheless, with the hard work of our community, our motto to live better, help often and wonder more has shone through. From people sharing new ideas of how to keep our activities lively to people reaching out to fellow community members who were alone… there have been so many wonderful ways this charity has come together and grown in spirit.

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Our objectives

The global pandemic left no organisation unaffected by how unpredictable the virus was. For Sunday Assembly, we knew working close with our community, volunteers and close partners would give us the best possible chance, but we still foresaw struggles ahead in being able to fulfil our objectives outlined in our 2020 3-year strategy.

Nevertheless, our community’s energy and attitude continues to support this charity and together we have lifted morale. Despite the strategy not progressing in the way we had hoped, we continue to be determined to find ways to sustain our future.

The lessons we continue to learn have contributed to deeper conversations with the community about our identity, purpose and goals. All of which strengthen people’s affinity to Sunday Assembly and lay the foundations for a more robust charity into the future.

Immediate goals

Revitalise “Help Often” with Impact a focus on Covid support

Focus on maintaining current virtual attendance Community and encouraging engagement with other SA services / ”touchpoints” to keep up momentum

Financial transparency & stability (incl. clear and Finances accurate reporting and more regular donors)

Future goals

Focus on making our impact measurable

Focus on growing in-person attendance to 300+ people with greater diversity (target to be refined based on required donations & “the vibe”)

Agree a sustainable model for assemblies (to zoom or not to zoom) and reach a level of financial security sufficient to begin recruitment for an employee

Ultimate goals

Encourage members to engage across multiple “touchpoints” (not just assemblies)

Pack out the room!

Secure financial position to enable growth aspirations and required infrastructure incl. hiring/retention of employee(s)

Secure PR coverage positioning SA as a solution to Covid isolation. Increase Awareness following/engagement with social channels Virtual Assemblies with a London focus but accessible to all Geography Develop a “one-stop-shop” of standards, governance and policy documentation and frameworks for consistent high-quality Quality activities

Virtual Assemblies with a London focus but accessible to all

Invest in a bold marketing push for our in-person relaunch and secure at least two high profile speakers

Get back to Conway Hall, focus on London. Consider continuing Zoom in some form for inclusivity and reach

Focus on the sustainability and morale of our

volunteers. Ensure any virtual experience available once we return to Conway Hall meets quality standards

Drive greater brand recognition amongst our target audience

Drive greater collaboration with other assemblies. Consider

building the infrastructure to support stable geographic expansion (e.g. taking back oversight of UK assemblies, expanding across London - TBC)

Ensure every assembly has seamless, professionalised delivery

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The power of giving and receiving donations

Sunday Assembly relies heavily on the generosity of its community members whereby in-person events bring us the most successful fundraising opportunities. We had to find ways to continue the purpose of the charity and save it. This meant alleviating the community from the financial pressures and instead reaching out to grant providers and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. This section of 2021’s Annual Report will share with you how we achieved that, living by our own values to Live Better, Help Often, Wonder More.

Fundraised income from our community and events have been the lowest we’ve ever raised. Therefore, we needed to focus on harnessing Sunday Assembly’s energy and values to secure, and best utilise, significant grant funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. In addition to last year’s £7,000 to become a more accessible community, this year we successfully received £10,000 to cover our venue costs for 2022 to safeguard our events for next year. We are also proud to say that Sunday Assembly received the London Faith and Community Award for making a difference in local communities in response to Covid-19 alongside a £500 gift. This is a testament to the incredible work of our volunteers as well as our community who continue to give Sunday Assembly meaning and purpose. Thank you.

We leveraged the time we had during 2021 to look deeper into the needs of our community and continued to focus on strengthening our infrastructure so that we could actively learn from our mistakes and support the charity to become more sustainable. We did this by creating a more robust volunteer infrastructure using the £1,692 that we generated through the Aviva Community Fund as well as spending the £7,000 awarded to us in November 2020 by the National Lottery Community Fund to centre diversity, inclusion, and equality in the ways we work and come together.

Understandably, people’s confidence to attend in-person events proved challenging and this impacted our ability to fundraise effectively. However, our community did what they could to support us as did sponsors, like Culture Trip, and highly dedicated community members who absorbed costs to further protect our charity. This meant that when we got involved in the Captain Tom 100 Challenge - which led our community to get active during May; walking for miles, singing their hearts out, and dancing! - we raised £479.49. In October, when we took a leap of faith and did an in-person Ceilidh event we raised over £440 and experienced attendees embracing the moment which filled us with huge joy! And even though our signature event Yule Rock was swept from beneath us at the end of the year, our community stood behind us. With so few claiming their refund, it actually meant that we secured £2,315. Of course, their tickets will be honoured for a ticketed event next year - but what an amazing community!

How our community comes together

Supporters: Financial support from our community was once so lucrative that we could confidently depend on it for all Sunday Assembly activities. However, we’re simply not seeing the same level of support and Covid has made that even harder. This year, our community’s support fell by another 60% in comparison to 2020.

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Attendees: Our audience is integral to the success of Sunday Assembly and we have come to recognise that adopting a hybrid approach to our events and activities will help Sunday Assembly to sustain itself. This has influenced the way we gather feedback and hold community meetings. We are adopting approaches that don’t only centre our audiences but equally ensure their voices are heard and co-create how Sunday Assembly evolves for years to come.

Partnerships and sponsors: We have worked closely with our Trustees to leverage their connections and networks to best support Sunday Assembly and sustain the community. In doing so, Sunday Assembly has not needed to absorb costs and the community’s donations have been spent more on the charity delivering its work than on administration and marketing costs.

Funders: Our financial stability has mostly been secured by the generosity of funders who are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure charities, particularly those that are community based, are supported through these hard times.

Volunteers: Volunteers play a critical role in our work and activities at Sunday Assembly - without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do. Investing in their learning, development and growth is key and our way of valuing their contribution. We have achieved this by involving them in Board Meetings, Quarterly Meetings and wider strategic meetings which span across governance, policy development and best practice.

Leaders of volunteer groups are now equipped with documents to support volunteers to make our charity more accessible, diverse and inclusive. We have also invested in innovative technology and programmes so volunteers were equipped to pioneer our hybrid events.

The future can be brighter

A brighter future is most certainly on the horizon and our main challenges are:

It is only our community that determines how bright our future can be, which is why we go to great lengths to ensure that our governance, strategies and shaping our future are co-created through community-centred workshops. In working together, we hope that whatever change is necessary we’ll be more resilient and stronger for having done it together.

Due to our recent successes in being awarded grants, in addition to our community believing Sunday Assembly makes a difference to their lives, grant providers are equally recognising the impact we have on the community. During another year of hardship, we continue to successfully diversify how we generate our income to continue our purpose and we’re truly humbled by this.

Thank you to everyone who supports Sunday Assembly - it makes all the difference!

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Corporate directory

Legal and administrative information

Charity number 1162995 Company registration number 08818905 Date of incorporation 18 December 2013 Start of financial year 1 January 2021 31 December 2021 End of financial year

Directors at 31 December 2021

Ms J Booth (appointed Feb 2018, appointed Chair June 2020)

Mr A Baker (Treasurer, appointed April 2020) Ms A Perez (Secretary, appointed May 2019)

Ms K Glover (appointed June 2021)

Mr A Newton (appointed June 2018)

Mr A Scott Taggart (appointed April 2020)

Mr J Herbert (appointed June 2019, resigned May 2021)

Ms F Tulley (appointed June 2019, resigned June 2021)

Ms L Chisholm (appointed June 2020, resigned May 2021)

Ms C Townsend (appointed June 2021, resigned December 2021)

Governing document Memorandum & Articles of Association Dated 18 December 2013

Objects

To provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation for the public at large, with the object of improving the condition of life of all who use such facilities, in particular but without limitation by providing facilities for people to meet and associate on a Sunday, without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, race or of political, religious or other opinions.

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Independent examiner

Oluyinka Afolayan CPFA

Independent Examiner 22 Redpoll Way Erith Kent DA18 4BY

Bankers

Metro Bank

One Southampton Row London WC1B 5HA

Co-operative Bank

1 Islington High Street London N1 9TR

Secretary

Annette Perez Conway Hall Red Lion Square London WC1R 4RL

Email: trustees@sundayassembly.com

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Independent Examiner’s report

Report of the Independent Examiner to the Directors of the charitable company on the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021

I report to the Directors on my examination of the financial statements of the charitable company on pages 18 to 23 for the year ended 31 December 2021 which have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) and with the Financial Reporting Standard 102, (effective 1st January 2016) as modified by FRS 102 SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities) 2015, (as amended by the Bulletin issued in October 2018 and applicable to all accounting periods beginning on or after 1st January 2019), (The SORP), published by the Charity Commission in England & Wales (CCEW), and under the historical cost convention and the accounting policies set out on page 19.

Respective responsibilities of the Directors and the Independent Examiner and the basis of the report

As described on page 16, you, the charitable company’s Directors, who are also the Directors of the Company for the purposes of Company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and all other applicable law and with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, applicable to smaller entities, and for being satisfied that the financial statements give a true and fair view.

The Directors consider that the audit requirement of Section 144(1) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) does not apply, and that there is no requirement in the memorandum and articles of the charity for the conducting of an audit, and that the accounts do not require an audit in accordance with Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and that no member or members have requested an audit pursuant to Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006. As a consequence, the Directors have elected that the financial statements be subject to independent examination.

Having satisfied myself that the financial statements are not required to be audited under any legal provision, or otherwise, and are eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:

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Basis of Independent Examiner’s Statement and scope of work undertaken

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under s145 of the Act. In carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act setting out the duties of an independent examiner in relation to the conducting of an independent examination. An independent examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charitable company and of the accounting systems employed by the charitable company and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and seeking explanations from you, as Directors, concerning such matters. The purpose of the examination is to establish as far as possible that there have been no breaches of charity legislation and that, on a test basis of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures made, the financial statements comply with the SORP.

The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and information supplied by the Directors in the course of the examination is not subjected to audit tests or enquiries and does not cover all the matters that an auditor would consider in arriving at an opinion. The planning and conduct of an audit goes beyond the limited assurance that an independent examination can provide.

Consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the financial statements, and in particular, I express no opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view of the affairs of the charity, and my report is limited to the matters set out in the statement below.

I planned and performed my examination so as to satisfy myself that the objectives of the independent examination are achieved and before finalising the report I obtained written assurances from the Directors of all material matters.

Independent Examiner’s Statement, Report and Opinion

Subject to the limitations upon the scope of my work as detailed above, I have completed my examination and can confirm that:

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Section 386 of the Companies Act 2006 and Section 130 of The Charities Act 2011;

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Oluyinka Afolayan CPFA

This report was signed on 10 October 2022

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Statement of financial activities

Statement of Financial Activities (including the Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 December 2021, as required by the Companies Act 2006)

----- Start of picture text -----
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
----- End of picture text -----

£ £ £ £
Income & endowments
Donations & legacies 17,681 11,692 29,373 32,168
Charitable activities 7,275 - 7,275 1,444
Other trading activities 270 - 270 -
Total income 25,226 11,692 36,918 33,612
Expenditure
Charitable activities 24,234 6,554 30,788 22,589
Total expenditure 24,234 6,554 30,788 22,589
Net funds brought forward
Net income for the year 992 5,138 6,130 11,023
Net income afer transfers 992 5,138 6,130 11,023
Net movement in funds 992 5,138 6,130 11,023
Reconciliation of funds:-
Total funds brought forward 30,300 7,000 37,300 26,277
Total funds carried forward 31,292 12,138 43,430 37,300

Resources applied in the year ended 31 December 2021 towards fixed assets for Charity use

for Charity use
2021 2020
£ £
Funds generated in the year as detailed in the SOFA 6,130 11,023
Net resources available to fund charitable activities 6,130 11,023

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Movements in revenue and capital funds for the year ended 31 December 2021

Total revenue funds

Unrestricted Restricted Total Last year
Funds Funds Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
£ £ £ £
Funds brought forward 30,300 7,000 37,300 26,277
Recognisedgains and losses(before transfers) 992 5,138 6,130 11,023
Closing revenue funds 31,292 12,138 43,430 37,300

Breakdown of Income and Expenditure for year ending 31 December 2021

2021 2020
£ £
Income
Fundraised income 34,081 30,527
Gif Aid 2,837 3,085
Gross income in theyear before exceptional items 36,918 33,612
Gross income in theyear includingexceptional items 36,918 33,612
Expenditure
Charitable expenditure, excluding depreciation and amortisation 30,788 22,589
Total expenditure in theyear 30,788 22,589
Net income before tax 6,130 11,023
Net income afer tax 6,130 11,023
Retained surplus 6,130 11,023

All activities derive from continuing operations.

In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, the headings and subheadings used in the Income and Expenditure account have been adapted to reflect the special nature of the charity’s activities.

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Sunday Assembly - Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2021

Notes
2021
2020
£
£
Current assets
Debtors
7
77
997
Cash at bank and in hand
44,020
37,367
Notes 2021 2020
Total current assets
44,097
38,364
Creditors: amounts fallingdue within oneyear
8
(667)
(1,064)
The total net assets of the charity
43,430
37,300
Restricted and unrestricted funds to the charity
Restricted revenue funds
12
12,138
7,000
Unrestricted revenue funds
12
31,292
30,300
Total charity funds
43,430
37,300

The Trustees are satisfied that the company is entitled to exemption from the requirement to obtain an audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Act.

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

The charity is subject to Independent Examination under charity legislation, and the report of the Independent Examiner is from page 21 to 23.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006, applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

Jessica Booth

Director

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 10 October 2022

The notes attached on pages 24 to 33 form an integral part of these accounts.

23

Notes to the Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021

1. Accounting policies

Policies relating to the production of the accounts

Basis of preparation and accounting convention

The accounts have been prepared on the accruals basis, under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102, (effective 1 January 2016) and FRS 102 SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities) 2015, (as amended by the Bulletin issued in October 2018 and applicable to all accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019), (The SORP), published by the Charity Commission in England & Wales (CCEW), effective January 2016, and in accordance with all applicable law in the charity’s jurisdiction of registration, except that the charity has prepared the financial statements in accordance with the FRS 102 SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by Charities) 2015, (as amended by the Bulletin issued in October 2018 and applicable to all accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2019), (The SORP), in preference to the previous SORP, the SORP 2005, which has been withdrawn, notwithstanding the fact that the extant statutory regulations, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 refer explicitly to the SORP 2005. This has been done to accord with current best practice.

Going concern

Preparation of the accounts is on a going concern basis. The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Risks and future assumptions

The charity is a public benefit entity.

The Directors actively review the major risks which the charity faces on a regular basis and believe that maintaining the free reserves stated combined with the annual review of the controls over key financial systems carried out on an annual basis will provide sufficient resources in the event of adverse conditions. The Directors have also examined other operational and business risks which they face and confirm that they have established systems to mitigate the significant risks.

Recognition of liabilities and expenditure

A liability, and the related expenditure, is recognised when a legal or constructive obligation exists as a result of a past event, and when it is more likely than not that a transfer of economic benefits will be

24

required in settlement, and when the amount of the obligation can be measured or reliably estimated.

Liabilities arising from future funding commitments and constructive obligations, including performance related grants, where the timing or the amount of the future expenditure required to settle the obligation are uncertain, give rise to a provision in the accounts, which is reviewed at the accounting year end. The provision is increased to reflect any increases in liabilities, and is decreased by the utilisation of any provision within the period, and reversed if any provision is no longer required. These movements are charged or credited to the respective funds and activities to which the provision relates.

Volunteers

In accordance with the SORP, and in recognition of the difficulties in placing a monetary value on the contribution from volunteers, the contribution of volunteers is not included within the income of the charity.

However, the Trustees value the significant contribution made to the activities of the charity by unpaid volunteers and this is described more fully in Note 4.

Fixed assets

The Charity held no fixed assets during this or the previous financial year.

Debtors

Debtors are measured at their recoverable amounts at the balance sheet date.

Financial instruments including cash and bank balances

Cash held by the charity is included at the amount actually held and counted at the year end. Bank balances, whether in credit or overdrawn, are shown at the amounts properly reconciled to the bank statements.

Pensions - defined benefit schemes

Due to Sunday Assembly not having any employees this is not something which the charity is required to have in place.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Directors in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. There are no endowment funds.

2. Liability to taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

25

3. Winding up or dissolution of the charity

If upon winding up or dissolution of the charity there remain any assets, after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities, the assets represented by the accumulated fund shall be transferred to some other charitable body or bodies having similar objects to the charity.

4. The contribution of volunteers

Sunday Assembly London continues to be a volunteer-led organisation. Its reliance on volunteers is at the heart of the charity and a true representation of the work done to fulfill its mission and provide opportunities for all. Outside of this, the running of Sunday Assembly is managed by two volunteer teams:

The two volunteer teams work independently of each other but they also come together on a regular basis. For Board Meetings, the Producer and Coordination Crew Lead attend meetings and have a standing agenda item. Furthermore, there are quarterly meetings where Board Members and the Coordination Crew Members come together to discuss, co-create and agree plans as appropriate.

5. Staff costs and emoluments

Sunday Assembly has not had staff members since 2019. The charity operates with a Producer who is a contractor and paid on a monthly basis. In 2021, we ended our contract with our Bookkeeper and sought the skills via REACH Volunteering which has enabled us to now have a Bookkeeper on a probono basis.

6. Remuneration and payments to trustees and persons connected with them

Neither the trustees nor any persons connected with Sunday Assembly have received any remuneration from the charity or any related entity, either in the current or prior year. Equally, as there are no employees, no one received emoluments (excluding pension costs) in excess of £60,000 per annum.

7. Debtors

7. Debtors
2021 2020
£ £
Total debtors 77 997

26

8. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2021 2020
£ £
Total creditors 667 1,064

9. Income and expenditure account summary

9. Income and expenditure account summary
2021 2020
£ £
At 1 January 37,300 26,277
Surplus afer tax for theyear 6,130 11,023
At 31 December 43,430 37,300

10. No related party transactions

No payments were made to Trustees or any persons connected with them during this financial period. No other transaction took place between the charity and a trustee or any person connected with them.

11. Particulars of how categories of funds are represented by assets and liabilities

At 31 December 2021
Current assets
Current liabilities
At 1 January 2021
Current assets
Current liabilities
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Total funds
£
£
£
31,959
12,138
44,097
(667)
-
(667)
31,292
12,138
43,430
31,364
7,000
38,364
(1,064)
-
(1,064)
30,300
7,000
37,300

27

12. Change in total funds over the year

12. Change in total funds over the year
Funds brought
forward from
2020
Movement in
funds in 2021
£
£
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted revenue funds
30,300
992
Restricted funds
National Lottery Grant(improving EDI)
7,000
(5,055)
National Lottery Grant(2022 venue cost)
10,000
Aviva Community Fund
-
1,692
Funds carried
forward to
2022
£
31,292
1,945
10,000
193
Total unrestricted funds 31,292
Total restricted funds 12,138
Total charity funds 43,430

13. Analysis of movements in funds during 2021

Income
2021
Expenditure
2021
Other gains
and losses
2021
Movement in
funds
2021
Movement in
funds
2021
£ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted revenue funds 25,226 -
Designated unrestricted funds
Expenditure (24,234)
Total unrestricted funds - 992
Restricted funds
National Lottery Grant(2022 venue cost) 10,000 - -
Aviva Community Fund 1,692 - -
Designated restricted funds
Grant expenditure (6,554)
Total restricted funds - 5,138
Total charity funds 36,918 (30,788) - 6,130

14. The purposes for which the funds are used

Unrestricted and designated funds

One of the main uses for Sunday Assembly’s unrestricted income is to put events on which aim to bring people together, to connect and make lasting relationships that eliminates loneliness and social isolation. We use our motto to live better, help often and wonder more to influence, inspire and excite our audience. All events, aside from our fundraising events, rely on the generosity of our audience so

28

that we can continue doing what we do but also continue to build and evolve this charity so that we can reach out to more people.

Restricted funds

Sunday Assembly has been awarded two grants from the National Lottery Community Fund to support the charity on two key projects. Firstly, £7,000 to provide accessible, hybrid events for all people to participate in and engraining equality, diversity, and inclusion principles throughout the charity’s work to support its long-term goals to welcome all audiences. Consultants were contracted to establish best practices of accessibility, diversity, and inclusion which the Coordination Crew would implement into its working practice and induct volunteers to imbibe. Second, in 2021, Sunday Assembly secured a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund of £10,000 to ensure that the charity’s venue costs post-Covid were mostly covered and alleviate the community and volunteers from the pressure to find the funds. There was an additional fundraising initiative through the Aviva Community Fund which was restricted to work on establishing the Volunteering Infrastructure Strategy which a contractor was appointed to do. This contractor was also responsible for Inducting the Coordination Crew in its implementation so that the work could be carried forward and actioned on an on-going basis.

15. Ultimate controlling party

The charity is under the control of its legal members. Every member of the charity is obliged to contribute such amount as may be required not exceeding £10 to the assets of the company in the event of its being wound up while he or she is a member, or within one year after he or she ceases to be a member.

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16. Donations, grants and legacies

Current year
Current year
Current year
Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total Funds
2021
2021
2021
2020
Donations and gifs from individuals
£
£
£
£
Individual donations (< £1,000)
8,154
-
8,154
17,363
Gif Aid
2,837
-
2,837
3,085
Regular giving
4,315
-
4,315
4,720
One-of fundraising events
7,260
-
7,260
7,034
Lates events
-
-
-
1,404
Annual fundraiser (Yule Rock)
2,375
-
2,375
6
Merchandise
15
-
15
35
Other income(to support fundraisingactivities)
270
-
270
-
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
Total donations andgifs from individuals
25,226
-
25,226
33,612
Revenue grants
National Lottery Community Fund(2022 venue cost)
-
10,000
10,000
National Lottery Community Fund(improving EDI)
-
7,000
Aviva Community Fund
-
1,692
1,692
-
Total public sector revenue grants
11,692
11,692
7,000

17. Partnerships and philanthropy income

Current year
Current year
Current year
Prior year
Notes
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total Funds
Notes
2021
2021
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
Bank of England
Corporate Gif
350
-
350
-
Corporate Donation
Restricted to Aviva Community Fund
-
150
150
-
Culture Trip
Restricted to Ceilidh event
-
200
200
-
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
Totalpartnership andphilanthropy income
350
350
700
-

For the first time, Sunday Assembly has gained support from businesses and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) schemes. It is really exciting to see the amount of money raised here and we hope to grow interest from more businesses, especially local ones, to support our events and our work.

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18. Expenditure on charitable activities

18. Expenditure on charitable activities
Current year
Current year
Current year
Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total Funds
2021
2021
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
Activities and events
2,634
-
2,634
227
Other one-ofproduction expenses
1,529
-
1,529
-
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
Total direct spending
4,163
-
4,163
227

19. Restricted grant expenditure

Current year Current year
Restricted Funds Total Funds
2021 2021
Grant £ £
Contractors restricted to grant
Anj Caims - Infrastructure Aviva Community Fund 750 750
Catja Hamilton - Captioning National Lottery Grant (EDI) 625 625
Jenni Elbome - EDI Consultant National Lottery Grant (EDI) 750 750
Amy McAllister - EDI Consultant National Lottery Grant (EDI) 750 750
Alison Austin - EDI Consultant National Lottery Grant(EDI) 525 525
Total contractors restricted togrant 3,400 3,400
Costs restricted to grant
Restricted technology costs #1 National Lottery Grant (EDI) 2,405 2,405
Restricted technology costs #2 Aviva Community Fund 749 749
Total costs restricted togrant 3,154 3,154
Total from charitable activities 6,554 6,554

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20. Support costs for charitable activities

Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2020
£ £ £
Volunteer costs
Volunteer stewardship 368 368 -
Premises expenses
Conway Hall - venue cost 5,531 5,531 5,919
Conway Hall - storage cost 594 594 -
Supporting costs for activities
Marketing and communications 1,011 1,011 2,525
Band rehearsal 234 234 -
Choir rehearsal 83 83 -
Front of House expenses 276 276 480
Equipment expenses - - 399
Sofware licenses and platform fees 877 877 -
Liability and contents insurance 251 251 241
Sundry expenses 181 181 844
Total 9,406 9,406 10,408

21. Financial costs

21. Financial costs
Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted Funds Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2020
£ £ £
Bookkeeper Contractor 2,340 2,340 3,015
Bookkeeper Expense to HMRC 25 25 -
Legal and auditing fees - - -
Regulator fees 50 50 50
Financial costs
Bank charges - - 639
Total 2,415 2,415 3,704

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22. Administrative overheads

The basis of allocation of costs between activities is described under accounting policies.

Current year
Current year
Current year
Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total Funds
2021
2021
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
Producer Contractor
8,250
-
8,250
8,250
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
Total
8,250
8,250
8,250

23. Total charitable expenditure

23. Total charitable expenditure
Current year
Current year
Current year
Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Total Funds
2021
2021
2021
2020
Total expenditure
£
£
£
£
Total direct spending
12,413
-
12,413
11,002
Grant expenditure
6,554
6,554
-
Total support costs
11,821
-
11,821
11,587
Current year Current year Current year Prior year
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds Total Funds
2021 2021 2021 2020
Total charitable expenditure
24,234
6,554
30,788
22,589

All the expenditure in the prior year was unrestricted.

Prior year
Prior year
Prior year
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
Total Funds
2020
2020
2020
Prior year
£
£
£
Total direct spending
11,002
-
11,002
Total support costs
11,587
-
11,587
Prior year Prior year Prior year
Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total Funds
2020 2020 2020
Total charitable expenditure
22,589
-
22,589

33

Thank you

This year has proven to be yet another challenging year, but Sunday Assembly London has pulled through yet again highlighting the extraordinary lengths taken to keep this community going.

The generosity of our donors, Conway Hall (our venue), Aviva Community Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund have enabled this community to rebuild itself following Covid. As such, we have had the pleasure to work with incredible consultants to propel us forwards and advance our ways of working, particularly in equality, diversity, and inclusion.

Our volunteers continue to be glorious as are our donors. Their combined efforts have undoubtedly helped this charity to survive Covid and make the show go on! Every ounce of energy and pound given goes towards supporting people to live better, help often and wonder more.

www.sundayassembly.com