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2023-12-31-accounts

Trustees Annual Report 2023

Governing Document

Peace Partners is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO): “A type of Charity with Corporate Status and Limited Liability, but governed solely by Charitable Law (Thus giving many of the advantages of a Charitable Company but without being subject to Company Law)”. The Governing Document also referred to as the CIO is presented in full (23 pages) on the Peace Partners website; but as a useful introduction: - the Objects of the CIO Peace Partners, are printed in full below:

Names of Charity Trustees at date of approval

Jemma Crouchman, David Hughes, Christopher Pease, Tracee Cossey, Alex Coupland, and Nidhi Choudan.

Public Benefit

As a charity Peace Partners is required by the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 to produce an annual report which makes clear the Public Benefit arising from its activities in 2023.

Having been previewed on the meeting of 5[th] August, his report was discussed and signed by the Trustees, having given due consideration of “Public Benefit” as laid out in the above regulations in their Annual Report meeting of 12[th] March 2024.

This report lays out how the Charity met its Objectives for Public Benefit (as laid out in the CIO above) in 2023.

Introduction

This report should be read in association with the accounts. A financial breakdown of the following narrative will be found there.

Peace Partners performs its functions through a group of unpaid volunteers who collaborate on specific projects such as Promotions, Fundraising Events and individual Peace Education Programs. Meetings; organisation and communication are conducted through the internet.

Underpinning this is the website which lays out what the Charity does, lists the volunteers with their duties, profile and photo. The site also promotes appeals, accepts and processes online donations. There is an accessible archive containing important documents such as this one, News updates.

How Peace Partners Finances Work

All donations are made directly to the bank or through the website via Merchants such as Stripe, PayPal and the Go Cardless. All payments are made through the bank. Thus all transactions can be traced with the bank statement and downloads from PayPal, Stripe and Go Cardless.

So that the money goes where the donors have stated, the charity uses several funds as channels through to expenditure and these can be found in the accounts:

General Fund – This contains money which has been donated through the “Peace Partners Where the need is Greatest” portal and also Gift Aid payments from HMRC, and is not restricted in its use. TPRF Fund - This contains all money raised by Peace Partners through TPRF Appeals on the Website, or as specified in Standing Orders etc. This money is generally lumped together in response to appeals in order to make use of TPRF matching funding which links donations to a top up from one of their major donors up to an agreed limit.

Funding of the Peace Education Programme and its promotion – This is done using two funds: Lottery Fund £9,900 was awarded in 2019 for Peace Education Programme projects in the UK and in 2023 was mainly used to promote Peace Education Projects.

UK projects and Peace Education Fund Unlike the above this is funded by Donors. This year it has been used to fund the provision of the materials used in the courses by two grants to a UK Prison. Bedrock Books Fund – This fund was established this year so that we could run an appeal on behalf of this partner, for the large scale purchase of books for distribution in a number of settings, including Prisons.

Collaboration with Partners

The charity seeks to achieve its objectives through partnerships with like-minded organisations whenever possible, primarily through cooperating with the Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) as described in the CIO above. This particular Partnership is mainly in the form of fundraising which is conducted through the website, and support of the Peace Education Program in the UK.

Bedrock Books

The partnership activity with the CIC Bedrock Books has already been described above. In response to their request for help in April we ran an appeal through June and into July and the response was much greater than anticipated, £6384 (after fees) was raised.

Celebrate Life CIC

Celebrate run innovative workshops, make films and create events. We began to cooperate with them in 2022. Their Film “Power to Change” along with their supporting team was used to help promote the Peace Education Programme throughout 2023(see UK activities).

The Prem Rawat Foundation

This, our main partner as mentioned in our CIO as is concerned with much of what we do. The public benefit of TPRF is international; founded in 2001 it seeks to advance Peace, Dignity and Prosperity by addressing fundamental human needs. It does this through the flagship schemes of the Peace Education Program and Food for People, as well as cooperating with other agencies on Humanitarian Appeals such as the effects of the War in Ukraine.

A 501 (c) (3) Non Profit Organisation based in the US it is funded by donors from more than 50 Countries. Guidestar and Charity Navigator give TPRF the highest ratings for transparency, fiscal

responsibility, results and management. Annual audits and reports can be found on this link: https://tprf.org/about-prem-rawat-foundation.

Although many individuals in the UK make direct donations to TPRF in the USA, there are a number who choose to do this via Peace Partners. This includes eligible taxpayers who can claim Gift Aid to fully realize the value of their contribution. By combining all of these small donors into a number of large donations in response to each Appeal, Peace Partner becomes eligible as a large donor to TPRF Matching Schemes, where much bigger donors are able to Match our donations; thereby doubling them to an agreed limit.

In 2023 Peace Partners transferred £18,407 to TPRF. This comprised of monthly subscriptions and one off donations to TPRF Appeals throughout the year: The Algeria Earthquake in February and Morocco floods later in the year as well as generic appeals – Transforming Lives and Awakening Dignity.

Activities in the UK

The Peace Education Program

An innovative series of video-based workshops; it helps people discover their own inner strength and personal peace.

“The program gives participants the opportunity to focus and reflect on their own humanity, and their inner resources such as choice, hope, and dignity. Rather than describing or defining personal peace, the program empowers individuals to reach their own understanding. Everyone can benefit. The program has proven effective in a variety of settings including community centres, youth groups, schools, adult education programs, veterans’ groups, healthcare settings, senior centres, homeless shelters, drug rehabilitation facilities, and correctional facilities.

The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) provides access to the course materials to organizations and volunteers free of charge, making the Peace Education Program readily available to diverse populations in more than 80 countries and in 40 languages”.

Peace Partners promotes funds, assists and runs Peace Education Programs in the UK.

2023 Activities

Grants

Two grants were made in response to a request for help with the cost of materials for running a continuing series of workshops by the Peace Education Programme team of Volunteers at HMP Leeds totalling £1500 (from the UK Projects and Peace Education Fund). Here is the feedback we received after our first grant of £500:

As I am sure you are aware Prem Rawat paid a visit to HMP Leeds in July, which was wonderful and a fantastic acknowledgement of all the PEP we have been doing there. He has talked a lot about it since then at his events! Around 80 prisoners, all who had attended at least a few sessions of PEP (Peace Education Programme), came to it plus Prem got a standing ovation and some handshaking on the way out.

The profile in the prison has risen since then. We are running 6 PEP sessions a week in 6 different wings and looking to expand to more. Billa Nanra (ex-offender from Leeds) is also going to start a PEP for ex-offenders when they come out as that is when support is much needed.

As I think I said before, the prison unfortunately does not seem to have many resources. I know in some other prisons they have their own printing facilities for posters etc but not at Leeds, so everything regards workbooks, stationary, promotional materials we have to fund ourselves. We are averaging 50 to 60 PEP attendees each week, sometimes more, and new prisoners joining all the time.

Peace Partners' grant last April has helped enormously, and also a couple of other people have made donations - one person after reading the article about HMP Leeds that was printed in the Peace Partners eBulletin - but most of the money from the grant and donations has been used now.

Promotions

Below are Peace Education Programme outreach events featuring the Film “Power to Change”:

May The screening of the film in St. Austell and Redruth, Cornwall led to a PEP ‘taster’ session being done in June

July A screening in Manchester, led to a senior manager for the children's and young people's charity Power 2 asking for a PEP taster session. This was arranged for her whole team, and this led to the full 10-week PEP sessions beginning early in December 2023

October. The film was screened at Catford Mews, a community hub in Catford, South East London. Peace Partners provided the funding to make this event possible.

Also in October. The documentary was screened at Exeter University - their Tremough Campus in Cornwall. Six students expressed their interest in the PEP for schools and universities afterwards at the information table, six more students were interviewed by Celebrate Life, and one student expressed an interest in helping with PEP. Our partnering with Celebrate Life has made it possible for Peace Partners to work towards obtaining Exeter University’s permission to start the inperson PEP for schools and universities sessions on their campus in Cornwall in the early months of 2024.

Throughout the year the printing of banners and promotional material were funded by the Charity, as well as travel and accommodation costs for those involved in making the event happen and having a long way to travel.

Other Activities

Throughout the year the Charity worked with TPRF and others to continue the development of the Peace Education Program, training and support of volunteers. This included arranging and funding a DBS check and also printing costs of ongoing Programmes.

September The International Day of Peace was celebrated at Croydon College:

“160 students in total joined us .....

.....In watching a short video about the benefits of TPRF's Peace Education Programme .....Hearing the mayor talk about Croydon's diverse population and the importance of living and working harmoniously.

.....Listening to Croydon's Poet Laureate, expressing what Peace means to her through poetry and the spoken word”

Social Media. The Charity already had a page on Face book, regularly updated. Throughout the year Nidhi Choudan the Secretary to the Trustees has been trying to expand this to other platforms and in May we launched on what was then Twitter. It is hoped that others will follow.

Organisation and Governance.

At the beginning of the year the Charity had a review of how it was running. As a result the Trustees made the decision to be more “hands off” and leave the initiative wherever possible to the Teams. To maintain continuity the board of Trustees organised a rota to ensure they had a presence in all of the other regular monthly meetings (Area Leads and Whole Team).

Summary

2023 was busy Year in which much was achieved. Our loyal donors through one off payments and ongoing support gave £28,951 in subscriptions and in response to the various appeals Peace Partners ran through the year. This is the most we have been able to raise for a number of years, partly because it included an initiative to help a new partner –Bedrock Books in their efforts to raise funds for the purchase of “Hear Yourself” by Prem Rawat, for distribution free in Prisons and other related networks.

Summary (continued )

We supported the Peace Education Programme in the UK: £1500 in Grants for materials, and £1388 in promotions throughout the country. In addition there was all the time travelling and effort of a number of dedicated volunteers, in putting the promotions together.

We began to move to a greater emphasis on initiative at the Team rather Trustee level.

As our turnover exceeded 25,000 in this year the accounts have been verified by an independent examiner. After a long search we engaged Celtic Bookkeeping in September 2024 who took the lead in working together on the accounts, which were then examined by the independent person within the Practice, the results of which are published with the report above. Their recommendations have vastly improved our accounting practice; are embedded in the 2023 accounts and should make the forthcoming 2024 reports better and less time consuming. Draft Approved by the Trustees in the Board meeting of 12[th] March 2025.

Spreadsheet version of CC16a
Charity Name No (if any)
Peace Partners 1166456
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period from Period s tart date
01/01/2023		 To Period end date
31/12/2023
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted fun
to the nearest £
A1 Receipts		 ds
 Restricted fund
to the nearest £		 s
E		 ndowment fun
to the nearest £		 ds Total funds
to the nearest £		 Last year
to the nearest £
General 8,641 8,641 -
UK Peace Education 600 600 -
PP Giving 1,081 1,081 -
TPRF Gen 2,964 2,964 -
0 -
Earthquake - Feb 23 2,385 2,385 -
0
Morocco Earthquake - Sep 23 857 857
0
Transformong Lives - Nov/Dec 23 5,740 5,740
0 -
Awakening dignity - Nov/Dec 22 320 320
0
Bedrock Books - Apr/May/Jun 23 6,364 6,364
Unidentified
Sub total(Gross income for AR)
13,285
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).		 13,285 15,666 0 28,951 0
- - -
- - -
Sub total 0 0 0 0 0
Total receipts
A3 Payments		 13,285 15,666 0 28,951 0
PEP 1,401 1,401
Zoom 275 275
B fees 213 213
Insurance 146 146
Cap Expend 0 0
Sundries 0 0
Grants 2,420 2,420
Bedrock B 337 6,364 6,701
Website 57 57
Morrocco earthquake 561 955 1,516
TPRF Gen 12,383 12,383
TPRF Awakening 1,632 320 1,952
TPRF Earthquake 169 2,385 2,554
Paypal fees 146 146
Stripe Fees 146 146
Additional Stripe charges 5 5
Go Cardless fees 53 53
Sub total 19,945 10,024 0 29,969 0
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
Sub total 0 0 0 0
Total payments 19,945 10,024 0 29,969 0
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end		 (6,660) 5,642 0 (1,018) 0
13,225 98 13,323
6,564 5,740 0 12,305 0
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories
B1 Cash funds		 Details Unrestricted
funds
to nearest £
12,305
0
0		 Restricted
funds
to nearest £
0
0
0		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
0
0
0
Cash at bank 12,305 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
B2 Other monetary assets Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
Details		 12,305

OK
Unrestricted
funds
to nearest £
0
0
0
0		 12,305 0
Agreement
Error		 0 0
OK		 0
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
0
0
0
0		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
0
0
0
0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories Details Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds Cash at bank 12,305 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
Total cash funds 12,305 0 0
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) OK Agreement
Error		 OK
Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Endowment
funds
Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets 0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0

----- Start of picture text -----
0 0 0
0 0 0
Fund to which Current value
Details asset belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
B3 Investment assets 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
Fund to which Current value
Details asset belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the 0 0
charity’s own use 0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
Fund to which Amount due When due
Details liability relates (optional) (optional)
B5 Liabilities 0
0
0
0
0
Signed by one or two trustees on Date of
behalf of all the trustees Signature Print Name approval
----- End of picture text -----

Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/
members of
On accounts for the year
ended
Set out on pages
Responsibilities and
basis of report
Independent
examiner's statement
Signed:
Name:
Charity Name
Peace Partners
31/12/2023 Charity no
(if any)		 1166456
1,2,3
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended31 / 08 / 2024.
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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ) in connection with
the examination which gives 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.
Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Date:
28th Jan 2025
28th Jan 2025
Leanda Daddow

1

October 2018

IER

Relevant professional MICB qualification(s) or body Member Institute of Certified Bookkeepers (if any):

Address: Suite 8 Tower House New Portreath Road, Redruth, TR16 4QL

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

2

October 2018

IER

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

There has been a few instances where income has been recorded as net and not included fees deducted by Stripe or Paypal, the process has now been amended to ensure this does not happen again.

3

October 2018

IER