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2023-01-31-accounts

Charity Number: 1163562

Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for the Period 1[st] February 2022 to 31[st] January 2023

23[rd] July 2023

Reference & Administration Details

Kehillah North London

Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023 Charity Details:

Name: Kehillah North London Number: 1163562 Address: PO Box 78956, London, N4 9LZ

Names of the Charity Trustees who Manage the Charity

Name Office (Re-)Appointed Resigned
Dr Robert Aaron Brown Freudenthal Co-Chair 5thJuly 2020
Imogen Resnick Co-Chair 25thJuly 2021
Susan Helen Maya Lukes Vice Chair 16thJune 2019
Elizabeth Reiner Honorary Secretary 16thJune 2019
Benjamin Austrin-Willis Treasurer 25thJuly 2021
Natasha Thrale Communications Officer
Caroline Elton
Anna Ferris
Francesca Kurlansky
Kayla Erin Lean
Laurence Livsey 24thJuly 2022
Lipika Pehlah

Names & Addresses of Advisors

Role Name Address Bank Co-operative Bank PO Box 250, Skelmersdale, WN8 6WT Independent Examiner Brian Seaton Small Charity Support, 46 Farm Road, Edgware, HA8 9LT

Names of Senior Staff with Delegated Responsibilities

Role Name Rabbi Rabbi Leah Jordan

Responsibilities

Work closely with Chair, Management Committee and Administrator to:

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Kehillah North London

Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023 Structure, Governance & Management

Description of the Charity's Trusts

Religious services, education, life-cycle ritual, pastoral care, befriending, social action.

Type of Governing Document

Constitution.

How the Charity is Constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered on 14[th] September 2015.

Trustee Selection Methods

Trustees are known as Management Committee members and are elected by the members of Kehillah North London at its Annual General Meeting, either by consent or show of hands if unopposed or otherwise by secret ballot, or are co-opted during the year. One-third of the Trustees must stand down each year (in a manner laid down in the Constitution) and are eligible for reelection. There must be a minimum number of three and a maximum number of twelve Trustees. Election to the Management Committee is open only to Full, voting Members.

How New Trustees are Inducted and Trained

According to the Constitution, a copy of the Constitution (together with any amendments) and a copy of the latest Trustees' Annual Report are made available to new Trustees. Trustees learn their responsibilities and duties on the job. We continue to monitor and review this situation, and together with the Rabbi we are looking into what kinds of more formal training may be helpful.

Additional Governance Issues

None.

Object

The advancement of progressive Judaism.

Statutory Declaration on Public Benefit

The trustees declare that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers or duties.

Kehillah North London's activities are of benefit to Jewish adults, children and families who are interested in being part of a Liberal Jewish community in inner north London. Our activities are open to everyone (unless occasionally restricted to members only, for reasons of safety and security) including members and non-members of Kehillah North London, people who are Jewish and people who are not Jewish.

We do not seek to convert people to Judaism. We do, however, provide a proselyte programme for those who approach us wishing to convert.

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Executive Summary and Chair’s Report

The AGM will mark my first year anniversary as co-chair with the inimitable Rob – and what a journey it’s been! Within my first 6 weeks, Rabbi Leah had let us know she would be going on maternity leave from March 2023-March 2024 – a conversation which left us excited for Leah but of course just slightly nervous about who could fill her very big boots.

And so began a fairly extensive search for cover rabbis, a review of the activities and responsibilities led by Leah, as well as analysing our finances to see what we could afford to cover.

This process was very useful for me as a new co-chair (and also fairly new member of Kehillah) as it helped me map out the full breadth of Kehillah’s offer: well-attended services three times a month (led by at least one lay leader), bi-monthly Cheder and Creche, the full life-cycle and festival celebration, climate and racial justice groups, Chesed, wardens’ group, mitzvah day volunteering, and more.

There were many special moments over the past year at Kehillah. One that springs to mind is the Chanukah party – partly because of the excellent band and music, led by the brilliant Robin, and partly because it was the rather tense men’s football world cup final at the same time! In January we were very glad to host the Jewish Museum to lead a session on Black Jewish history, an evening which sparked an interesting discussion on some Jews’ involvement in the Atlantic slave trade and the Jewish justice of reparations – a topic of a future workshop, perhaps?

I also enjoyed the joint Shavuot session we had with New Stoke Newington Masorti and hope to develop more joint learning events with our neighbour in the upcoming year. Purim was a raucous affair – Kehillah members, dressed in their finest fancy dress, delivered witty feminist commentary on the Megillah to much amusement of everyone celebrating that night at St. Mary’s. We have also hosted a sell-out Pesach seder, welcomed a very experienced new Cheder teacher, Rachel Godfrey, to oversee our growing Cheder, and established a consistent Creche volunteer team led by Kehillah member Josh Loeb.

Although we have had plenty of happy news and events this year, I am mindful to mention the very sad incident which happened on our doorstep in November last year. A completely random incident took place which resulted in a community member being subject to antisemitic abuse and assaulted. Rob and I subsequently met with the police, the Hackney Council Deputy Mayor and Councillor responsible for Community Safety, and hosted a community follow-up meeting to discuss the incident and any concerns. For a number of months after the incident, we arranged for local police to check in during services as a precautionary measure. We also reviewed our security arrangements and are looking into training to improve our response should any similar incident occur in the future. Ultimately, we want to reassure Kehillah members that safeguarding our community’s safety and wellbeing is our priority and we welcome views on how to continually improve our approach. Please do get in touch with us if you have any concerns.

We have a lot going on, often led by volunteers who kindly offer their knowledge, energy and experience to keep everything running smoothly. Please do keep volunteering – speak to me or Rob if there’s something you’re interested in running or getting involved with, or if you’d like to help but don’t know yet with what. No task is ever too small.

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

The review process to plan for Rabbi Leah’s maternity leave also allowed us to fully review and be reassured by the health of our finances, which are fully outlined later in this report. As a Management Board, with leadership from our treasurer Ben, we have been careful to safeguard our community’s finances and have been mindful of rising inflationary costs in the past year.

Our stable financial position allowed us to confidently employ 3 part-time cover rabbis to cover most of Rabbi Leah’s responsibilities during her maternity leave: Rabbi Roberta Harris-Eckstein, student Rabbi Kohenet Yael Tischler, and Rabbi Danny Rich. Between them, they’ve been doing a great job leading services, festivals, meeting new members and providing pastoral care.

However, in Leah’s absence we have had to pause some of our usual activities. We are not offering a consistent adult education programme this year; those on the conversion track are instead taking classes offered by Liberal Judaism. We believe that some conversations require a consistent Rabbinic steer and leadership; for that reason, for now, we have paused our exploration of twinning with the Palestinian communities of Massafer Yatta. We will also wait till Leah is back to host a formal review discussing the place of communal prayers for the state of Israel and the royal family in our Shabbat morning service. These are important, sensitive conversations that Rob and I think Leah will be best placed to lead us in.

In sum, we’ve had a fantastic year at Kehillah – full of simchas, activities, and learning – and delivered a smooth transition plan for Rabbi Leah’s maternity. I’d also like to thank our outgoing treasurer, Ben Austrin-Willis, who is stepping down after a number of years of service.

I’m looking forward to the year ahead – particularly the 5 bnei mitzvahs we have in the autumn – and feel optimistic about our future as a community. Please do keep showing up, volunteering, and bringing your warm energy to our kehillah.

Imogen Resnick, Co-Chair

X

Imogen Resnick Chair, Board of Trustees

Kehillah North London is a constituent congregation of Liberal Judaism

Kehillah North London is grateful for financial assistance from the NLPS Trust

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Membership Analysis

Overall membership numbers

Our current membership, including ‘supporting friends’, totals 202 adults and children split over 107 households. This is an addition of one more member when compared with last year’s AGM review (201 members).

Geographic breakdown of membership

The chart below outlines the geographic areas of households on whom we hold residency data.

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Members' (by household) location
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
N15, 16, 17 N4 S London Outside E8 N9 Other
London
Location
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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Membership Age Profile

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Age profile of members
Age 80+
Age 70-79
Age 60-69
Age 50-59
Age 40-49
Age 30-39
Age 20-29
Age 10-19
Age 0-9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
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The graph above outlines the age profiles for most of Kehillah’s membership (we lack DOB data for 22 adult members & some children’s ages are still to the nearest year).

1 - Religion by age and sex, England and Wales Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Financial Review

Statement of the Charity's Policy on Reserves

Designated Fund: Operational Reserve

As a community charity, Kehillah North London has a duty of care to both its beneficiaries and the wider public to ensure that its beneficiaries are not left unsupported in the event that the charity has to cease operating.

Ensuring that all beneficiaries have been appropriately relocated to other charities providing a comparable level of care can take a period of between 6 and 12 months, i.e. potentially longer than the time it would take the charity to terminate its contractual obligations to staff and other service providers.

The Trustees have therefore determined that the charity should hold an operational reserve equivalent to the normal costs of running the charity for up to 9 months, i.e. 75% of £40,000 = £30,000.

This reserve meanwhile functions as a cushion against the possible effects of unforeseeable surges in running costs.

Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit

The Trustees declare that the charity had no funds which were materially in deficit at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.

State of the Charity’s Finances

During the period, there was a surplus of c. £24.6k (compared to c. £6.0k in 2021 and £9.6k in 2020). Of this surplus, c. £17.9k was driven by unrestricted funds, which covers the majority of Kehillah’s regular activities. The additional c. £6.7k surplus came from restricted funds, which covers Kehillah’s burial fund.

The burial fund is not a source of income that can be used by Kehillah, beyond its designated purpose of covering the costs of running the burial scheme for its members. The costs of running this vary from year to year based on the activities the scheme carries out for its members. For example, in the financial year ended 31st January 2023, we observed income of c. £11.8k vs expenses of c. £5.1k generating a surplus of c. £6.7k, whereas in the previous financial year we observed income of c. £12.9k vs expenses of c. £12.4k and a surplus of c. £0.6k. We deem the current funding of the burial fund to be adequate to meet the ongoing requirements of running the scheme for its members.

The remaining c. £17.9k of surplus we observed results primarily from increased membership and membership fees, while expenses remained broadly flat.

We anticipate increases in programming and investment in the running of our community and are unlikely to continue growing at the rate we did in the last 2 years. Therefore we are expecting a reduced surplus in the following financial year. We also became ineligible for grants from NLPS Trust for Progressive Judaism, having been awarded a threshold number of grants in the previous cycle.

The Management Committee also agreed to a salary increase when renewing Rabbi Leah Jordan’s contract due to her outstanding work building the community and raising Kehillah’s public profile. Additionally, the Management Committee made arrangements for Rabbi Leah’s parental leave to commence March 2023, as well as hiring two part-time rabbis to help in her absence. There was also a change in cheder staffing, resulting in an increase to two paid leaders.

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Restricted Funds

  1. We operate a Burials Scheme, to which members voluntarily contribute. Their estates benefit from either a plot in a Jewish Cemetery or a cremation (via a central scheme administered by Liberal Judaism, for which the contributions are collected by us and passed to LJ) plus the cost of a basic funeral (paid for out of a fund accrued from an additional fixed contribution from its members). We have not yet identified an actuary, although we are confident the scheme is in good health, and we have a member who is able to carry out a more formal assessment.

  2. Each year during High Holidays we collect charitable donations. We usually designate another charity as the recipient of either all or part of the collection, and each donor designates the proportion they wish to be assigned to each beneficiary.

Particulars of Any Outstanding Guarantee Given by the Charity

The Trustees declare that the charity has given no guarantee where potential liability is outstanding at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.

Particulars of Any Outstanding Debt

The Trustees declare that the charity has no outstanding debts which are secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the charity at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.

Declaration and signature

The Trustees declare that they have approved the above report and authorised that it be signed on their behalf.

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X
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Imogen Resnick

Imogen Resnick (Chair) 27/12/2023

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts

Report to the Trustees of Kehillah North London (Charity No: 1163562) on the Accounts for the Year 1[st] February 2022 to 31[st] January 2023

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31[st] January 2023 as set out on pages 11 - 15.

Responsibilities and Basis of Report

As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent Examiner’s Statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which give me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act

OR

the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.

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

[date]

Brian Seaton [date] 27 December 2023 Principal Trustee, Small Charity Support, 46 Farm Road, Edgware HA8 9LT

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Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Kehillah North London

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Receipts & Payments for the Financial Year Ended 31-Jan-23
Current Financial Year, Feb'22-Jan'23 Last Year
Unrestr'd Restricted
Total £ Total £
Funds £ Funds £
A1 - RECEIPTS
Voluntary Income 65,617 65,617 49,810
Income Generation 6,450 6,450 1,426
Investments Income 0 0 0
Charitable Income 1,224 11,952 13,176 13,459
Other Receipts 0 0 0
73,291 11,952 85,243 64,694
A2 - ASSETS & INVESTMENTS
0 0 0 0
TOTAL RECEIPTS 73,291 11,952 85,243 64,694
A3 - PAYMENTS
Generating Funds -62 -62 -100
Charitable Activities -31,898 -5,068 -36,966 -42,046
Support Costs -23,304 -23,304 -16,509
Other Payments 0 0 0
-55,263 -5,068 -60,332 -58,655
A4 - ASSETS & INVESTMENTS
0 0 0 0
TOTAL PAYMENTS -55,263 -5,068 -60,332 -58,655
NET OF RECEIPTS-PAYMENTS 18,028 6,883 24,911 6,038
A5 - TRANSFERS {Between Funds} 20 -20 0 0
NET AFTER TRANSFERS 18,048 6,863 24,911 6,038
Cash Funds Last Yr End 53,778 36,464 90,242 84,204
A6 - CASH FUNDS THIS YR END 71,826 43,327 115,153 90,242
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Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Kehillah North London

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Statement of Asset & Liabilities as at 31-Jan-23
Current Financial Year, Last Year
General Restricted
B1 - Cash Assets Total £ Total £
Funds £ Funds £
General Fund 41,826 23,778
Net Payments in Advance 0 0
Designated Funds
OpReserve 30,000 30,000
Total Unrestricted Funds 71,826 53,778
Restricted Funds
RF-Burial Fund 43,327 36,444
RF-HHD Appeal 0 20
Total Restricted Funds 43,327 36,464
Current Charitable Cash Assets 115,153 90,242
B2 - Money Owed to the Charity {Other Monetary Assets}
Gift Aid claim 0 0
B5 - Money Owed by the Charity {Liabilities}
Independent Examination Fee 0 0
Charitable Cash Assets {Net of Liabilities) 115,153 90,242
B3 - Investment assets
0 0 0
B4 - Assets retained for charity's own use.
Fixed Assets 0 0 0
Total Funds (net of liabilities) 115,153 90,242
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----- Start of picture text -----
Movements in Actual Funds for the Financial Year To 31-Jan-23
Bt'Fwd at Receipts Payments Transfers Cd'Fwd at
Cash Assets
01-Feb-22 in Period in Period in Period 31-Jan-23
Cash at Bank & in Hand
Bank, Current Account 30,571 86,095 -61,455 59,943 115,153
Cash Account 0 0 0 0 0
Deposit Account 25,066 115 0 -25,181 0
Deposit Account – Burial RF 34,605 156 0 -34,761 0
Total Cash Held 90,242 86,367 -61,455 0 115,153
Owed to Charity {Overdue Receipts} 0 0
Owed by Charity {Overdue Payments} 0 0
Net Cash Funds 90,242 115,153
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Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf.

Laurence Livsey (Treasurer)

Date 25/12/2023

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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
RECEIPTS 31-Jan-22FYE 31-Jan-23FYE
VOLUNTARY INCOME
Membership Fees 36,159 42,088
Donations & Bequests 7,177 17,227
Gift Aid 6,474 6,303
Miscellaneous 0 0
49,810 65,617
INCOME GENERATION
Fundraising
Fundraising 0 0
Interest on Accounts 3 115
Weddings & Cps 0 2,000
HHD Tickets 1,423 4,335
Miscellaneous 0 0
Charitable Services 0
Other 0
1,426 6,450
CHARITABLE INCOME
GENERAL FUNDS
HHD Lunch -164 786
Pesach Seder 0 0
Other Festivals & Events 380 0
Cheder Childrens Education 0 0
Adult Education 0 0
Sale of Books 312 438
Miscellaneous 0 0
528 1,224
RESTRICTED FUNDS
Burial Fund 4,462 10,162
HHD Appeal 1,344 1,790
12,931 11,952
OTHER RECEIPTS
0 0
SUB-TOTAL RECEIPTS 64,694 85,243
ASSETS & INVESTMENTS
0 0
TOTAL RECEIPTS 64,694 85,243
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Kehillah North London

Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
PAYMENTS 31-Jan-22FYE 31-Jan-23FYE
GENERATING FUNDS
Fundraising 0 0
Charitable Services
HHD Expenses -100 -62
Miscellaneous 0
-100 -62
ACTIVITIES (GENERAL FUNDS)
Ministerial Salary -25,201 -28,589
Ministerial Expenses 0 0
Ministerial T&D -575 0
Other T&D -169 0
Kiddush 0 -14
HHD Lunch -100 -908
Pesach Seder 0 -183
Other Festivals & Events -168 -27
Cheder Childrens Education -1,661 -1,209
Adult Education 0 0
Sale of Books 0 -329
Website Digital & Comms -1,177 -639
Newsletter -623 0
Repair & Replacement 0 0
Miscellaneous 0 0
-29,674 -31,898
ACTIVITIES (RESTRICTED FUNDS)
Burial Fund -3,787 -3,279
HHD Appeal Donations -1,344 -1,790
-12,373 -5,068
Sub-total - Charitable Activities -42,046 -36,966
SUPPORT COSTS
TrusteesExpenses 0 0
Trustees T&D 0 0
Administrator Fees -8,834 -9,656
Rent -2,011 -5,174
Congregational Affiliation Fee (LJ) -4,150 -5,717
Print Post & Stationery -84 -1,043
Sundries 0 0
Insurance 0 -1,377
PO Box -156 -334
Professional Fees 0 0
Recruitment 0 0
BankCharges -4 -2
Other Costs -1,270 0
Independent Examiner 0 0
-16,509 -23,304
Designated Funds
OpReserve 0 0
-16,509 -23,304
0 0
SUB-TOTAL PAYMENTS -58,655 -60,332
ASSETS & INVESTMENTS
0 0
TOTAL PAYMENTS -58,655 -60,332
NET RECEIPTS LESS PAYMENTS 6,038 24,911
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Kehillah North London Trustees' Annual Report & Financial Statements for Financial Period 1[st] February 2022 – 31[st] January 2023

Notes to the Accounts

1 Preparation of the accounts

2 Rounding Errors

3 Payments to Trustees

Kehillah North London Trustees are never expected to be out of pocket for any necessary expenses incurred in the course of discharging their duties, but the role is voluntary and no remuneration is paid. Trustees are expected to consult the Treasurer before incurring expenses. Agreed expenses are reimbursed upon production of receipts.

This year, no Trustee expenses were claimed and thus no Trustee received any remuneration or reimbursement of expenses during the period.

4 Payments to Employees

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