PEACE PARTNERS ANNUAL REPORT 2020 _________________________________ PEACE PARTNERS UK Charity No 1166456 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 ## **Contents** |1.|Trustees Report .................................................................................................................. 2| |---|---| |2.|Financial Report ................................................................................................................. 3| |3.|Annual Review for Supporters ........................................................................................... 7| 1 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 ## 1. Trustees Report ## **The Board of Trustees** In 2020 the Peace Partners trustees were: Juli Hammersley (Chair), Barbara Andre, Philippa Lyons and Pauline Cook. During the year Chris Waite, the lead volunteer for the Peace Education Programme was appointed as a trustee. Jenny Spicer acted as Charity Secretary. ## **Overview of the Year** 2020 will be remembered as the first year of Covid-19, which brought unprecedented restrictions and limitations on social activities. Like most organisations our plans for events and activities had to be abandoned. But very quickly the team realised we could take the opportunity to extend our communication with supporters and partners by using Zoom and other online tools. This was extremely successful, and we held a number of virtual events through the year. We were also able to raise funds to help provide food and shelter to some of those most badly affected by the situation. During 2020 the team worked hard to launch a new website. This required a complete redesign and refresh, with some content being transferred and other content archived. We are very pleased with the result which the Trustees feel has greatly improved both the image and accessibility of the charity. ## **Structure, Governance and Management** The board of trustees continued to hold Zoom conference calls on a fortnightly basis. The meetings deal with matters of governance and management with relevant information communicated to and from the core management team. During the year trustees considered and approved the following: Volunteer Policy, Safeguarding Policy, Risk Management Register and a Diversity Statement. Covid restrictions prevented Peace Partners holding its Annual General meeting with the full team in 2020. It was initially planned to reschedule, but as the pandemic continued throughout the year it was decided to postpone until a later date. ## **Finance** With the launch of the new website, Peace Partners began to use a new online payment processing service, Red Cloud Donation Manager, to process online donations. This is the most cost-effective system available to UK charities and will enable us to further minimise any costs in the collection of our supporters’ contributions. Throughout the difficult year we have been heartened and inspired by the continuing support of our donors, despite the pressures of lockdown. The Trustees would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved: volunteers, donors, partners and supporters for ensuring the year was successful in making a difference to many people in need, both here in the UK and abroad. Pauline Cook, Trustee 2 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 2. Financial Report CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES PEACE PARINERS Rècelpts and paymènts accounts CC160 r th¢ ￿rI¢￿ fr¢M T¢ Section A Recei ts and ments lthr*$trl¢tsd fund P•$trthdtund$ Flng-tsA¢tyd Or•nt4 1s*y•* Ilvl¥". 12 T¢Wlun¢J$ th•nwMt£ th• Al F*c¢l ts 142T 195 It*f¥tyJth tota L¥ossincomg ￿rAff 797 21.2F4 971 Totalrn¢•*ts 1,797 21.201 AaPwènt& 7•7 F21 ith) fj7 4797 6fJ A4A¥i•t Inv•Btm•*tpur6hii••. Sub tot•1 rotslp8yrngnts 5,?97 N•i(rfro¢Olp¢&￿Ym￿JI•J A5Tr¥$tsr$ b¥rwe¢n tund$ ¢¥h lund& laSt￿tyr ènd C48h ftmd• rh*yur•n 753 589 10J94 8,726 4,120 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 Strctson B Statomèr7t of assets and liabilitTr05 at tho end of thè p$riod L*ie5trthd ¥trlrt•d lund B1 C*ihlurAts 724 9.745 4.126 dowrn•nt nd B2 OtrAr miY*lary444•ts NONE D*t•l S *wwtr•nta88•1s NQNn Fund tv bdon95 lopdondl B4A8$•ts rgtayffjdfrrftrffj Vinus? Fufid tdu•lupUvn*l Vlh•N du•lDplgn41 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 BS N(¥4 Si9neJ tryonEoriwVu*e$on bp￿f0f￿l CERTIFICATE OF INDEPENDEbtr EXAMINER Examinefs name.ffti..zrfEr￿.t￿.15r.J.. Address .1*. .L! rrLE Th.rf.R.Ffytb......... CERTIFICATION sfATEMENT I have examined Peace Partners 2020 statement of accounts, submitted to me on Charity Commission form CC16a. I have also examined the necessary supporting financiaj records. I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the the entries on form CC16a are fairly stated and in accordance with the underlying records. Date ..a.: O?.- I I Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 &g￿dty LV)8 or ￿ In￿te8$ M beh9 rf*l ihg busl88S Signature Prfnl Nam& Date of 4>pr￿1 dul(IL(dJk 71 I￿11Q* Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 ## 3. Annual Review for Supporters We hope you enjoy reading about some of the highlights of the year. It has been a year of difficulties, but it was - despite the hardships for many - also a year of real hope and promise. ## **Early plans** Early January saw the Peace Partners team preparing several initiatives, which would hopefully be brought to fruition later in the year, and our e-Bulletin announced some exciting plans. These included a local introduction event in Newcastle; a Fundraiser with a difference, a go-karting day with recent collaborators, Bedrock Books; the hosting of two of our Waves of Change forum events, one in London, and one outside; expanding our support for Food for People, Peace Education, and our work with our partners; and we were keen to celebrate the anniversary of the launch of The Pledge to Peace at the Houses of Parliament. The beginning of the year had also seen the completion of our peace education strategy in collaboration with Dr. Mitesh Desai, which had begun at the end of 2019. ## **Reappraisal** The developing Covid-19 health crisis saw the postponement, and then cancellation, of the Newcastle event and our fundraiser with Bedrock Books. As what initially seemed might be a temporary period of restrictions became a longer-term health security issue, Peace Partners - along with so many charities in the UK - needed to review our ongoing plans with some immediacy. And as it became clear that physical meeting events would no longer be possible, attention focussed on the possibilities of continuing our initiatives through ‘virtual’ means. This was not entirely new for a relatively small team used to remote working practices, but the level of engagement certainly was, and would require some new learnings. A message from Juli Hammersley, issued on behalf of the trustees, addressed the situation, “ _Please stay safe and take care of each other. It is very sad that we are not able to continue with our planned activities but the health, safety and well-being of our supporters, community, team and interested people are our priority. Our thoughts go out to all of those who have been affected by this unprecedented situation. The Peace Partners team is looking at ways to offer support and assistance to those in need during this time …. Stay positive, stay focused, stay strong. With appreciation and thanks._ ” During April, as we celebrated our 4th anniversary, two online fundraising appeal campaigns were launched to support the coronavirus emergency responses of The Trussell Trust, in supporting extra demand for local food banks, and St Mungo’s, in helping the UK’s homeless access shelter, care and recovery. 7 ## Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 Within a few weeks we were able to raise more than £1000 for each organisation, amounts which were doubled through Peace Partners’ matching funds pledge for both appeals. At the beginning of the year we had provided support for a Prem Rawat Foundation Peace Education Programme workshop course in a local Leicester library. With the curtailment of all physical courses, led by Chrissie Waite, we started to prepare a virtual version of the workshop series, giving particular attention to the unique needs of the self-learning course in such a context. **New approaches** The 10-week facilitated virtual Peace Education Programme course was run using the Zoom platform from the last week in June. It proved to be very successful with participants, and with the volunteer support team as well! At the end of the course one participant reflected, “ _I never learned what tools I needed for hardships and difficulties. I'm learning those values each week and seeing them grow. Listening to Prem's words has taught me how to be a human being_ ”. Its success encouraged us to immediately start planning a further course. To widen interest and accessibility a public introduction webinar was organised, again using the Zoom platform. Following the enthusiastic response to the webinar a further 10-week virtual course with a new support team was organised, starting in October. Again, it has been extremely well received, and further virtual courses are already in preparation for the new year. In June we were delighted to be the recipients of a Movement for Good award of £1000. Our application was recommended by trustee Philippa Lyons and had been put together in record time. The winners of the awards were selected from those applicants with the highest number of endorsements in an online vote, so thanks are due to all our supporters who voted for us! 8 Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 And as an alternative to local introductory presentations about the work of Peace Partners, at the end of June we organised a virtual introductory webinar, featuring a slideshow and with individual presentations from several team members. The webinar was oversubscribed and included guests from all around the globe! Additional online initiatives were undertaken throughout the summer. Our #Letsfocusonpositivityandwellbeing campaign addressed the mental and emotional aspects of the ongoing health crisis. The campaign, designed by Barbara Andre, featured posts on the interrelated themes of wellbeing, peace, and the environment by creative writer Louise Ingham. Published on our website news blog and promoted through social media, the intention was to “focus on the idea of new beginnings and lightness, even when the world seems a little dark”. And a downloadable fun activities booklet ‘Bees Bombs and Basil’ for children was created for the bank holiday. One of our key objectives for the year had been to redesign and relaunch our website, and, after months of preparation the team, led by Emma Payne, went live with it in September. The feedback we have received has been very positive, with comments remarking on how well our aims and activities are represented by the refreshed design. Last year on 21st September, the International Day of Peace, we hosted 'Practice Peace', a live forum at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, south London. In 2020 something similar was impossible; nevertheless, we were able to celebrate the day through some wonderful virtual contributions, including a filmed presentation by the Mayor of Croydon Maddie Henson on her return to Fairfield Halls a year on, and an online interview with Paul Murtha about his work with the Seeds of Hope project in Ecuador. Both were featured on our Peace Day 2020 landing page. As the year neared its close our attention turned to partnerships for winter fundraising appeals. This work is continuing into the new year, but already we have lent our support to The Prem Rawat Foundation Reaching Out Appeal. By providing matching funds and making 9 ## Peace Partners Annual Report 2020 gift aid claimable for UK taxpayers, at the time of writing we had been able to raise approaching £1000 for the initiatives sponsored by our affiliated partner. Amongst other highlights not so far mentioned were: our presentation to the virtual Mayors for Peace conference in June, and the inauguration of a new blog ‘Writings for Peace’, an initiative started by volunteer team member Sean Morrissey, which aims to ‘… provide a safe space for compassion, empathy, and insight into our shared want for a more peaceful society … we showcase work from familiar names and those too-long overlooked by history, as well as the new and emerging voices of today’. With the launch of the new website, we also began the transfer to a new donation payment processing service, Donation Manager. This is the most cost-effective system available to UK charities and will enable us to further minimise any costs in the collection of our supporters’ contributions. Throughout the year we have been gladdened and inspired by the continuing support of regular and occasional donors, despite the pressures of lockdown circumstances. Finally, our heartfelt gratitude to everyone - volunteers, donors, supporters - for ensuring the year was one of promise fulfilled. Your generosity made a difference to many who are in basic need, both here in the UK and abroad. Though there is so much more to be done, a tangible step was taken - thank you! **View a short video of the year’s highlights here:** https://youtu.be/Z_Byk8TownI END-OF-REPORT 10