2021-12-31-accounts - Music For Hope

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Charity no. 1167556

Music for Hope

Trustees’ annual report and receipts and payments accounts for the year ending 31 December 2021

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ANNUAL REPORT 2021 CHARITY NAME: Music For Hope CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1167556

CHARITY ADDRESS: 23 Fernleigh Avenue, Manchester, M19 3LU

CHARITY TRUSTEES:

Katherine Girling Rogers (Chair) Sophie Helsby (Treasurer) Lucie Phillips (Secretary) Andrew Redden Cornelia Graebner

CHARITY GOVERNING DOCUMENT: Constitution for CIO (January 2016)

INTRODUCTION

Music for Hope has managed to successfully navigate another difficult year in the face of a global pandemic. The charity has offered musical tuition, performance opportunities and participatory musical experiences to children and young people throughout the rural communities of the Bajo Lempa in El Salvador. In doing so, we aim to contribute towards a culture of peace and understanding in these communities and to give children and young people the chance to explore alternative avenues through music.

The experience of learning music and being involved in music-making has multiple benefits, including the development and cultivation of social and cultural values, teamwork and leadership, self-expression and awareness of important issues such as the environment and empathy. There are 121 young people from 14 different communities who access Music for Hope and our team of teachers, some of whom developed their skills through the charity previously, offer tuition on an individual or group basis, depending on what is most appropriate. We were able to resume lessons in-person in our music centres this year but have ensured the safety of our pupils and teachers by adhering to good infection control practice. The families of the young people we work with recognise how music has been a great support in these times and have expressed their gratitude towards Music for Hope for continuing services wherever possible. It is estimated that our total beneficiaries are about 1,000 people, including indirect beneficiaries such as family members, school teachers, community leaders and students.

STRUCTURE, MANAGEMENT AND RECRUITMENT OF TRUSTEES

Music for Hope is made up of two teams; one based in the UK and one in El Salvador. Both teams work closely together and communicate regularly with each other via online platforms such as Zoom. This communication is facilitated by a salaried coordinator based in the UK. Music for Hope is a ‘horizontally’ rather than ‘vertically’ structured organisation and the work that we do is based on communication and consensus between the two teams. The UK team is there to support the work and needs of the El Salvador team. Updates, needs, queries and issues from the El Salvador team are communicated to the UK team via the UK-based coordinator.

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The UK Team

The UK team currently consists of five trustees, one salaried coordinator and four volunteers. The trustees include: the Director of Music for Hope, the Secretary, a Treasurer and two trustees responsible for safeguarding. Our volunteers work with the website and social media. The entire team works together on fundraising and outreach. Trustees are recruited after serving as volunteers for a time with Music for Hope.

The El Salvador Team

The team in El Salvador consists of four music teachers based in each of the four music centres in the Bajo Lempa communities, and a psychologist who works with the children and young people who participate in Music for Hope’s activities. One of the teachers acts as the coordinator for the El Salvador Team, whilst another is responsible for safeguarding. The El Salvador team meet regularly (at least once a month) to share experiences, discuss matters that may arise and best practice. They also communicate even more regularly via social media networks (group chats). The team also meet with the UK-based coordinator once a month as part of the horizontal working practices of the two teams.

OBJECTIVES

Music for Hope’s main objectives for the year, in compliance with the charity’s objects stated in the constitution, have been as follows:

To actively promote our work as a positive, non-violent alternative to gangs for young people in the Bajo Lempa;
To promote confidence and leadership qualities in all the young musicians we work with and create opportunities for cross-project team building;
To support La Asociación para el Desarrollo de las Artes y la Cultura en Jiquilisco (ASDACJI) and our team to explore alternative options for funding Music for Hope’s activities and team expenses;
To support and promote Music for Hope’s bands to achieve higher standards and greater exposure inside and outside of the Bajo Lempa;
To provide students and teachers with instruments, equipment and various learning materials including online tuition for our teaching team;
To continue to improve communication and coordination between Music for Hope collaborators locally and internationally;
To continue to improve our music classes;
To maintain and develop our social media capacity and build our Facebook community;
To capture and record aspects of Music for Hope’s cultural history and legacy, as well as that of the Bajo Lempa communities.

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STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING THE STATED OBJECTIVES

To actively promote our work as a positive, non-violent alternative to gangs for young people in the Bajo Lempa:

The charity continues to focus on offering music experiences and music tuition to young people as a means of instilling life skills and providing opportunities for personal growth.
The charity is well respected in El Salvador and the communities we work within see Music for Hope as part of the social fabric of the communities.
Music-making is a social act, through which many social skills can be experienced and learnt. The fact that Music for Hope’s work is so embedded within each community helps promote the building of good relationships, consideration for others, and fostering trust.
Our Music for Hope psychologist has continued working to help young people learn important lessons about self-esteem and respect which we hope they will be able to put into practice through making music and in their lives more generally.
We continue to use music as a vehicle for social change. For example, this year we have taught more girls than in the previous year, thereby helping to champion gender equality.
We constantly encourage our pupils to teach younger children. In particular this year, one of our music groups (made up of young people) has been in charge of creating spaces where different groups from different communities can come together and make music, thus promoting a peaceful, safe and collaborative environment.
In May, our psychologist was able to start working face-to-face with children again and ran workshops around self-expression in which they talked about how music helped them through the pandemic.
All our activities aim to promote peaceful interactions through music.
Our music centres were re-opened in January 2021 through careful consultation with our student’s parents, thus demonstrating effective and democratic methods for confronting challenges.

To promote confidence and leadership qualities in all the young musicians we work with and create opportunities for cross-project team building:

The teacher team are sometimes assisted by their own pupils and can nurture their commitment to music and leadership.
Song writing continues to be a vital part of what we offer at Music for Hope as we believe it helps develop pupils’ emotional intelligence, innovation, and independent and collaborative thinking. Pupils have written numerous songs this year around the topics of keeping safe in the Covid-19 pandemic, Saint Romero, the environment, and emigration.
Music for Hope continued to deliver leadership and team building activities throughout the year.
Each of the scholarship students are giving classes and training different groups. The teachers are now identifying potential teachers for the future and seeing leadership in these students.

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The pupils that had scholarships have now completed their studies and have been taking on more leadership roles within their music centres.

To support ASDACJI and our team to explore alternative options for funding Music for Hope’s activities and team expenses:

We have an established relationship with the Yo Músico Music Academy who continue to provide half scholarships to our pupils, which not only creates unique experiences for our pupils, but also reduces our costs too.
Our Catalonian partners were able to support our work financially this year again.
We created a temporary contract for a freelance employee to explore potential routes for income generation in the Bajo Lempa.
Our teacher team and coordinator work in collaboration with community leaders, schools, and local organisations to contribute to the communities, promote our work and explore alternative funding options.

To support and promote Music for Hope’s bands to achieve higher standards and greater exposure inside and outside of the Bajo Lempa:

We finalised and produced a Music for Hope CD which features songs solely written and performed by young people involved with the charity, enabling their music to be heard outside of the Bajo Lempa and giving them vital experience in writing and recording music.
The CD can be purchased through a variety of platforms thus giving the bands more exposure. It is available for purchase via our website, has been sold in person at solidarity events, and individual tracks can also be purchased via Bandcamp.
In order to offer as many performance opportunities as we usually would prepandemic, we livestreamed some events during 2021. This resulted in our young people’s music reaching a far wider audience, as supporters from all over the world were able to attend these events virtually.
Following the success of last year’s online Christmas concerts, we livestreamed our Christmas concerts this year, presenting a mixture of music written by the young people along with seasonal songs. Many people inside and outside of El Salvador were able to enjoy the wonderful music of the Bajo Lempa communities.
We have continued to ensure that equipment and instruments are in good working order and that resources are repaired/replaced as necessary.

To provide students and teachers with instruments, equipment and various learning materials including online tuition for our teacher team:

The teacher team have made great use of YouTube to upskill themselves so that they can continue to teach online where necessary.
One of our UK volunteers has continued to run social media workshops for the teacher team, and they continue to put what they have learnt into good use. As a

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result, the teacher team now run the Facebook page independently and are able to do so more effectively than ever.

The teacher team learnt how to livestream events so that performance events could be widely shared, whilst keeping the communities safe during the pandemic.
Funds from our main donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, were allocated to ensure decent instruments and equipment were provided wherever needed across the project.
We invested in metal lattice structures at one of our music centres to increase security.

To continue to improve communication and coordination between Music for Hope collaborators locally and internationally:

The UK Trustees continue to meet bi-monthly via Zoom to hear updates on the work in El Salvador and provide strategic support where necessary.
The Salvadoran teacher team meet regularly to plan activities, share ideas, and to generally support one another.
Our co-ordinators in El Salvador and in the UK are constantly in contact to ensure the programme runs smoothly.
The Salvadoran and UK teams have a good relationship, and we meet virtually at least once a year at our AGM to strengthen relationships.
Wherever possible, we get involved with events that help us communicate the work of Music for Hope to wider audiences. We seize relevant opportunities to collaborate virtually.
We have been part of a variety of different charity and activist events this year, which has resulted in us making new contacts and increasing our visibility as a charity.
We gained a new member of staff in El Salvador and a new volunteer in the UK which will help us further our work internally and externally.

To continue to improve our music classes:

Our 8 scholarship students have continued to receive their specialist training online, via Zoom. We were able to pay for the students’ internet usage by reallocating funds that would have previously been spent on travel to and from the music academy.
These 8 students have now completed their three-year scholarship and have consequently been taking on leadership roles within their music centres.
This has been yet another challenging year of music tuition due to the pandemic, but the teachers have remained steadfast in their role of delivering high-quality authentic music classes.
Our teacher team meet regularly and are in constant contact with one another, so they are able to share ideas and make recommendations.
The teacher team are passionate about ensuring they maintain and develop their own musical skills. Many of our teachers play in their own bands and write their own music which helps cultivate their talents and inspires our students.

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To maintain and develop our social media capacity and build our Facebook community:

We have reached people in new ways this year which has resulted in an increase in our Facebook following to a total of 1507 followers and 1320 likes, with 960 followers on Twitter. Several events this year were livestreamed on Facebook thereby further increasing our visibility and profile.
One of our volunteers has continued to run social media workshops for our teacher team so that they can continue to develop their professional skills in this area.
As a result of these workshops, we have now decided to set up an Instagram page which the teachers will develop and run over time.
We now have a Bandcamp profile through which we are able to sell and promote our CD.
Unfortunately, our website was hacked this year. However, this did enable us to embark on a major re-design and refresh of the website, led by UK Volunteer, Emily McIndoe with web designer, Mark Farley of Clover Link. The new site is much fresher, more secure and features an online shop through which we can promote and sell the CD.

To capture and record aspects of Music for Hope’s cultural history and legacy, as well as that of the Bajo Lempa communities:

This year we have been working on finalising a Music for Hope CD which has been in the making for several years. The young people wrote songs featured on the CD through a series of song writing workshops with one of our UK trustees. The songs cover a variety of topics that help preserve the cultural history of Music for Hope.
The CD is a great way to promote the impact and legacy of Music for Hope’s work to a wider audience. Once the initial outlay has been covered, all funds raised support our work in El Salvador.
Music lessons are taught using the cultural aural tradition and musical genres native to El Salvador.
We have been working on an eBook that uses the photos of a professional photographer and friend of the charity. The photos document our work between 1999 to 2011 capturing the growth of the charity, and helping to document our history, celebrate our achievements and explore future plans and challenges. Funds raised will help to support our work in El Salvador.
One of our trustees presented a paper at a Latin American Activism conference. The paper represented Music for Hope through stories about some of our participants.
The ongoing after effects of the pandemic have meant that we have not yet been able to roll out our cultural exchange project within UK schools but we have been crystalising this further so that it is ready to be delivered as soon as we get the opportunity to.

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FINANCIAL REVIEW

REVIEW OF SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN DURING THE FINANCIAL YEAR

Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s
work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as
a whole.

It has been another extraordinary year of, adapting, improving and innovating but one thing that has remained constant is our belief in the use of participatory music and music tuition for community support and development. Music has been an important outlet for pupils and parents alike and they have expressed this openly to our teacher team; the ongoing lessons provided by Music for Hope have offered familiarity, stability and solidarity during a turbulent time.

At the start of 2021 we arranged a collective meeting with our students’ parents to discuss moving back towards face-to-face teaching. A group decision was made to start delivering inperson again, provided we worked in small bubbles, with face masks and full sanitisation of instruments before and after each session. We are fortunate that most of our lessons were able to take place outside, under the shade of a tree, so this helped us take a step back towards normality too. Support from parents was incredible as they recognised the impact of the pandemic on everyone’s mental health, and the alleviation that making music offers through interaction and listening.

Thanks to funds reallocated in 2020, the project was able to produce a CD of music by Music for Hope bands. The aim of this activity is to promote our history, impact and future aspirations whilst raising funds for our work in El Salvador. The CD is now available to be purchased on the new Music for Hope website and on our Bandcamp site, where people can purchase the songs in a digital format.

We have continued to hold onto the positives and use the skills we learnt throughout the pandemic, and this enabled us to safely produce a two-day Christmas concert that was enthusiastically received by all. To ensure the safety of all our beneficiaries we chose to perform the Christmas concert online again but using a different format to the previous year, to continue offering opportunities for our pupils to share their hard work, and to keep our audiences engaged and captivated too.

Many people from the communities and other countries enjoyed two days of concerts (1.5 hours each day); the first of which featured the band’s own music and the second of which featured seasonal music. We were extremely proud that a wide audience inside and outside of El Salvador were able to access and enjoy the fruits of our student’s hard work via these concerts.

We had a major re-design of our website, led by volunteer Emily McIndoe in collaboration with a web designer, Mike Farley from Clover Link. This has resulted in a much-improved website with a fresh look, higher security, which links with our socials and also features a donation function and online shop.

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We also started plans for Music for Hope’s 25[th] anniversary which will be celebrated in 2022. This included:

Planning for our contribution (presentations, a banner, and stall) for the El Sueño Existe Festival which will be celebrated in August 2022, in Machynlleth.
Research, interviews and planning for Music for Hope; 25 Years of Solidarity; a photo book telling the story of our work through beautiful images and testimonies of our Salvadoran teachers, students and international supporters.

Music for Hope in collaboration with Next to Nowhere and Nueva Esperanza Support Group, organised an online event. This event was an opportunity for us to reach diverse audiences in the U.K., including participants of community music groups and local grassroots community activists based in and around Liverpool. In this event, we had the opportunity to share the start of our work in the communities and the positive changes that this brought to the young people in the Bajo Lempa, as well as the challenges faced by our team and students due to the gang violence in El Salvador.

Our team from El Salvador had an important planning meeting where they discussed the future of our work in the communities and how to become self-sustainable. In this meeting, they explored different ideas of project sustainability and as an outcome, the team decide to employ a person to undertake an economic study to see if a sustainable project was possible, or to look for different ways of fundraising either with the local government or international charities. The role of the employee was to present different ideas for a sustainable project to the team to help them to decide on how to raise funds to keep strengthening the project in the communities.

PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT

The trustees of Music for Hope continue to work in accordance with the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and always hold this guidance in mind when making decisions and planning activities as trustees.

Trustees report signed by Katherine Rogers (chair) on behalf of the trustees

……………………………………

Date ……………………………

10 / 17 / 2022

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF Music for Hope

I report on the accounts for the charity for the year ended 31st December 2020 which are set out on pages 10 to 11 and are receipts and payments accounts.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
to follow the procedure laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145 (5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair view’ and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner's statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act

have not been met; or

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Paul Cowham FCA DChA Green Fish Resource Centre 46 - 50 Oldham St Manchester M4 1LE

10 / 17 / 2022

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF Music for Hope

I report on the accounts for the charity for the year ended 31st December 2020 which are set out on pages 10 to 11 and are receipts and payments accounts.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

It is my responsibility to:

examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
to follow the procedure laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145 (5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner's report

Independent examiner's statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act

have not been met; or

(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Paul Cowham FCA DChA Green Fish Resource Centre 46 - 50 Oldham St Manchester M4 1LE

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Music for Hope

Year ending 31 December 2021

Receipts and Payments Accounts

		2021			2020
	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total funds	Unrestricte d funds	Restricted funds	Total funds
Receipts	£	£	£	£	£	£
CD sales	230	-	230	-	-	-
Donations	2,482	1,450	3,932	2,360	1,735	4,095
Gift aid	505	-	505	559	-	559
Main project grant	-	20,000	20,000	-	25,000	25,000
Other grants			-	-	29	29
Total receipts	3,217	21,450	24,667	2,919	26,764	29,683
Payments
General costs	-	-	-	172	-	172
Bank charges	25	-	25
Cd production	502	-	502
Programme delivery in El
Salvador	-	20,015	20,015	-	16,000	16,000
El Salvador expenses in UK			-	-	5,573	5,573
English Language Support	-	200	200
Accountancy and
Independent examination	400	-	400		400	400
Project
coordination	-	4,800	4,800	-	-	-
UK travel expenses	36	-	36	-	-	-
Meeting expenses	103	-	103	-	160	160
IT costs	215	-	215	117	-	117
Website development	-	2,400	2,400	-	-	-
Total payments	1,281	27,415	28,696	289	22,133	22,422
Net of receipts/(payments)	1,936	(5,965)	(4,029)	2,630	4,631	7,261
Transfers	(1,334)	1,334	-	-	-	-
Cash funds last year end	11,423	4,631	16,054	8,793	-	8,793
Cash funds this year end	12,025	-	12,025	11,423	4,631	16,054

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Music for Hope

Year ending 31 December 2021

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year

			2021			2020
	Notes	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Total funds	Unrestricte d funds	Restricted funds	Prior period
		£	£	£			£
Cash funds
	1	12,025	-	12,025	11,423	4,631	16,054
Liabilities	p
December 20 relating to
the period		400	-	400	400	-	400
Grant	received in advance	-	-	-	-	-	-
		11,625	-	11,625	11,023	4,631	15,654

Signed on behalf of the trustees:

Katherine Rogers Name Signed Sophie Helsby Name Signed 10 / 14 / 2022 Date

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