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2025-09-30-accounts

The Raze Collective

Charity Registration No.1167655

Report and Unaudited Financial Statements Year ended 30 September 2025

The Raze Collective

Status: Charity Registration No.1167655
Govening document:
The Raze Collective is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation
(CIO) registered on 16 June 2016 governed by its trust deed.
Registered Office: CW 206, 18-22 ashwin st
London
E8 3DL
Trustees who served since the
start of the year upto today : Cimeon Ellerton-Kay (appointed in March 2025)
Kathryn Bridge - (appointed in October 2024)
Lynsey Bonnell (Co-Chair)
Steve Hignalll (Co-Chair)
Florent Trioux
Pembe Tokluhan
Emily Drake (resigned October 2024
Almiro Andrade (appointed in Feb 2024)
Alice Holland (appointed in Feb 2024)
Independent examiner: Shruti Soni ACCA
Shruti Soni Ltd
Chartered Certified Accountants
117a St. John's Hill, Sevenoaks TN13 3PE

The Raze Collective Charity registration number 1167655

Trustees Report for 12 months ending 30 September 2025

Introduction

We are Raze Collective, a charity established to support, develop & nurture LGBTQ+ performance in the UK. Our mission is to increase access to participation in the arts for LGBTQ+ audiences & create life-changing development pathways for LGBTQ+ creatives. Overall, we support LGBTQ+ people in leading more creative lives.

We are called Raze in response to the closure (razing) of LGBTQ+ spaces in London (a drop of 58% of venues between 2006-2013). Raze was formed by grassroots activists, creatives & community members to fill the gaps in opportunity & community building created by venue closures. More recently COVID had a huge impact on our community, LGBTQ+ creatives experienced a disproportionate decline in income (due venue closures), a decline in mental health & increased feelings of isolation (McCormack & Measham, 2022).

Since 2015 we have built a reputation as one of the only charities in the UK to provide consistent, year-round creative development and artistic opportunities for LGBTQ+ artists. Raze are a relied-upon resource for LGBTQ+ creatives. Our impact is social and cultural, and is evidenced through the achievements of the artists we have supported, who have gone on to national & international success, the audiences we reach, and communities we foster.

We work to establish a sustainable and resilient queer arts sector in the face of a challenging and ever-changing funding landscape and increased discrimination directed at the most vulnerable in our community: LGBTQ+, BAME, and disabled individuals, and those multiply marginalised through existing at the intersections of these identities. Raze Collective works to champion these underrepresented queer voices.

We value the diversity of the queer cultural scene and work with artists, producers and organisations who share our values and ethos focussed on care, accessibility and intersectionality.

Our work to tackle these inequalities is directed by our charitable objects:

Charitable Objects

A. To promote, maintain, improve and advance performing arts, defined as art forms involving voice and/or movement alone or in relation or other objects to convey artistic expression, undertaken by people who identify as Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Intersex (LGBTQI) or that contains LGBTQI themes, content or context, through the provision of workshops, training and cultural events for the benefit of the LGBTQI community and the public.

B. The advancement of education of the public in relation to LGBTQI performing arts through the provision of workshops, seminars, discussions, lectures, screenings and live performances.

C. The advancement of LGBTQI performing arts by assisting young performers of moderate or limited means in such ways as to enable them to become self-supporting.

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D. The preservation of LGBTQI performing arts heritage and culture, including spaces and buildings of historic interest or importance, for the benefit of the LGBTQI community and the public.

Board of Trustees

Resigned during this year:

Staff (engaged on a freelance basis)

Artist Steering Group

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CHAIR’S REPORT

The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30[th ] September 2025. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 of the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland published on 16 July 2014 (“SORP”).

This report covers a substantial body of diverse activities across artist development, workforce support and community programming covering the period October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2025.

Public benefit

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity's aims and objectives and in planning its future activities.In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Related party relationships

The Charity has considered the disclosure requirements of the SORP for related party relationships. The Charity has no related party connections with other organisations. The Trustees consider the members of the Board of Trustees and their close connections to be the only related parties of the Charity. All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the Charity of any kind. No expenses were claimed from the Charity by any Trustees in the reporting year. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them with the Chair of Trustees and to withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.

Managing risk of harm

In carrying out the charity’s purpose to achieve public benefit the trustees have managed risk of detriment or harm to the charity’s beneficiaries or to the public in general (which they feel is minimal). This has been achieved by identifying such risks where possible, minimising them and making sure any harm that might arise is of a minor consequence to the carrying out of such purpose.

Going Concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Accounting Policies.

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Financial Position

Total receipts for the 12 months to 30 September 2025 were £120,447, a decrease of £7,399 from the previous year (12 months) of £127,846.

Total payments for the year were £143,518, of which £142,167 were from restricted funds and £1,351 were from unrestricted funds.

£5,313 was transferred from unrestricted funds to restricted funds. This represents the use of general funds as match funding on arts £5,313 was transferred from unrestricted funds to restricted funds due to overspending on restricted council grants. grants that were taken from general funds.

Unrestricted cash funds of £31,541 and restricted cash funds of £9,765 were held at the year end.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees acknowledge that the reserves should only be used in relation to strategic actions, and that they should be maintained at a level to cover the following financial year’s budgeted minimum operational costs, with ability to maintain core staffing levels for a 3-month period, calculated to be £10,000 in addition to any other unrestricted funds available.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

The remuneration of all staff is reviewed annually. Staff are engaged in a freelance basis so rates of pay are set in line with ITC & Equity minimum rates The Trustees review the remuneration of key management personnel, and draw on their knowledge of the sector, the formal appraisal process, and common practice in other charities of similar size, to ensure that the remuneration set is fair and not out of line with that generally paid for similar roles.

Principal Funding Sources

These are:

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ACTIVITIES

Our activities are split over 3 core programme strands: Artist Development, Workforce Support & Community Programming.

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT:

We worked with partners Stanley Arts to deliver 2 x artist development programmes during this period.

INTRODUCING : Aug 2024 - Jan 2025

Funded by Arts Council England, We launched INTRODUCING. The programme supported 4 emerging artists with a seed commission and 3 month professional development programme to support the creation of a new piece of movement based work. Artists also got to work with filmmaker Courtney Nettleword, to produce video portraits of them & their work..

Supported artists: Louise Rabarijaona (Juggling), Mahika Gautum (dance), Maya Williams (pole) & Laurie Ward (Live art).

LABS : Jan 2025 - Jul 2025

Funded by Arts Council England, LABS, provided continued support for 3 artists with a seed commission to develop a new piece of work. This year we worked with artists whose practices span cabaret, spoken word, theatre, music and dance. Alongside a commission fee, artists received producing support, online mentoring, workshops in accessibility & marketing. This culminated in a sharing at Stanley Arts (50 attendees) on Wed 4th June 2025.

Supported artists: Danielle James (new writing), Bambi Phillips (Dance) & Danielle DZA OsajivbeWilliams (drag).

WORKFORCE SUPPORT:

Queer Clash Diary: Sun 6th Jul 2025

We worked with partners Artsadmin to host our annual networking event, Queert Clash Diary (QCD). QCD is a jam-packed day of talks, presentations, interactive networking and performances & workshops from some of London’s most exciting emerging performers including, Claudio Palazzo, Wet Mess & Jose Funnell. QCD brings together promoters, producers, venues, performers, artists and collectives from across London’s queer performance scene. It is an opportunity to meet peers, share projects, make plans for the future and play.

Queer Clash Mornings QTIBPOC series : Oct 2024-Jan 2025

This year we collaborated with Artsadmin on a new QTIBPOC Queer Clash Mornings (QCMs) series.

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QCMs are a series of creative coffee mornings. Each session is co-hosted by Raze and queer arts professionals who share with attendees’ their journey of working in arts/culture. These informal sessions provide networking activity & skills exchange for queer creatives. Having previously run these as open to all we identified low attendance from QTIBPOC communities so decided to pilot a dedicated series featuring QTIBPOC artists and creatives.

Co-hosts included: Jesulado Lopez, Sadie Sinner, Rena Kalsi & Evelyn Carnate. Each event was attended by between 15-32 participants.

Young Producers Club : September 2024 - November 2024

Funded by City & Bridge In September 2024 we launched our second edition of, Young Producers Club (YPC). YPC is an 8- week course for 18-25 year olds designed as an entry level, intro to Arts Producing, offering workshops exploring: What is a Producer? , Intro to Budgets & Funding, Intro to Marketing , Access in the Arts and Collaborative Working . Sessions take place on Tuesday evenings throughout Autumn 2024 at Theatre Deli.

COMMUNITY EVENTS:

Raze Presents: Black History Month Cabaret : SET.social, 24th Oct 2024

A night including burlesque, vocals, circus and drag performances from current QTIBPOC icons and future stars. It is our first Black History Month event and marked a new realtionship with funder Southwark Council & venue SET.social in Peckham.

COLLIDE : Stanley Arts, Feb 2025

A building wide queer take-over of the historic Stanley Arts theatre. Profiling diverse queer performance makers across live art, music, theatre, poetry and pole. COLLIDe was both a showcase of incredible queer talent and a community celebration for LGBTQIA+ communities in SE London. Commissioned by Stanley arts.

Scratch Sundays : SET.social, April & Jul 2025

A new series of daytime activity for an intergenerational audience. Featuring workshops, makers market and scratch performances. Aimed at providing more queer community space in SE London, where people have the opportunity to connect through creativity. The programme aslo offers performance opportunities to young artists. Funded National Lottery Awards for All.

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ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Over this year we have maintained 4 core staff members, Lucy Hayhoe (Director), Seyi Osibamowo (Creative Producer), Fraser Buchanan (Creative Producer) & Gayathiri Kamalakanthan (Access Producer). In Feb 2026 we recruited Ri Scott, who joined us as a Marketing Intern and has now joined the team as Marketing Lead. In July 2025 Fraser stepped down from Creative Producing services and has been assisting with strategic projects, such as fundraising. Lucy is also embarking on a phased departure from November 2025, and we are currently recruiting for a new Interim Director to start in May 2026.

This year we were successful in achieving multiple grants (ACE, Peoples Postcode Lottery, Abbderahim Crickmay) However we are still in pursuit of multi-year funding, this will be a focus of 2026.

We have been adversely affected by the disruption with Arts Council Englands Gantium platform between July and the end of this financial year. As we were unbale to resubmit a grant proposal which was unsuccessful in June 2025. This led to staff members seeking additional empolyemnt elsewhere, which has resulted in a pause in fundraising at the start of the 2026-27 financial year.

During our last financial year we supported 7 x artists with meaningful development programmes, staged 4 x large scale public events, hosted x 13 industry workshops/events and welcomed an audience of over 1100 attendees across our programme.

FIDUCIARY ACTIVITY:

During the last financial year we acted as agents for unconsituted QTIBPOC grassroots collective WordBenders. We accepted £9,160 income from the LGBT Consortium on their behalf, which was then paid directly out to Wordbenders. Raze acted solely as an agent—without responsibility for the use of the grant or reporting to the funder, and without discretion over the funds.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION TO THE EXAMINERS

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant information of which the Charity’s examiners are unaware; and The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information. The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the Charity's websites. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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PLANS FOR 2025-2026

Raze has contributed significantly to the arts landscape of England, we have continued to unearth and champion the work of marginalised performers and performance collectives, and provide opportunities through our artist development projects, performance platforms and sector support activities.

Due to funding constraights experienced at the atrt of 2025-26 it will a priority to secure the future of the orgainsation.

Plans include:

In addition, we continue to capitalise on the many collaboration offers that we regularly receive, including collaborations with large and small venues and organisations, charities, universities, local councils, privately owned enterprises, producers and the performers themselves.

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TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Trustees are responsible for preparing a Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources, and of the application of resources, of the Charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the applicable Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations, and the provisions of the Charity's governing document. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the Charity and financial information included on the Charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.

APPROVAL OF THE REPORT

This report was approved by the Board of Trustees on 06/07/2026 and signed on their behalf by:

Lynsey Bonnell

Chair, Board of Trustees

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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Raze Collective

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 30 September 2025 which are set out on pages 1211 and 12.and 13.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity’s trustees 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 charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and 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.

Independent examiner's statement

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

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act;

or

  1. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

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 accounts to be reached.

Shruti Soni FCCA FCIE

Date: 13 July 2026

Shruti Soni Ltd 117a St. John's Hill, Sevenoaks TN13 3PE

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The Raze Collective Charity Registration number 1167655

Receipts and payments accounts For the year ended 30 September 2025

Receipts
Arts Council England grants
City and Bridge Trust
Abderahim Crickmay
Southwark Council BHM
Donation
National Lottery AFA Queer Weekender
Hackney Council Culture Hackney
Stanley Arts (Collide)
Ticket Sales
Mighty Hoopla
Other revenue
Payments
Artistic & creative (commission & fees)
Production, management and design
Rent and Utilities
Website and software subscriptions
Office expenses
Marketing
Equipment and consumables
Legal & Professional fees
Training
Evaluation and other direct costs
Net of receipts/(payments)
Transfer between funds
Cash funds last year end
Total payments
Cash funds this year end
Total Receipts		 Restricted
funds
Total funds
£
£
£
-
69,392
69,392
-
9,750
9,750
-
3,000
3,000
-
2,250
2,250
315
-
315
15,000
-
15,000
-
5,350
5,350
-
9,000
9,000
1,194
1,416
2,610
2,500
-
2,500
1,280
-
1,280
20,289
100,158
120,447
408
39,773
40,181
-
82,248
82,248
-
4,931
4,931
519
266
785
411
4,182
4,593
-
5,365
5,365
-
42
42
-
3,872
3,872
-
344
344
12
1,145
1,157
1,350
142,168
143,518
18,939
(42,010)
(23,071)
(5,313)
5,313
-
17,915
46,462
64,377
31,541
9,765
41,306



01/10/2024 to 30/09/2025
Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds
Total funds
£
£
£
-
90,604
90,604
-
3,250
3,250
-
5,000
5,000
-
2,499
2,499
181
-
181
-
19,980
19,980
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,882
-
1,882
4,150
-
4,150
300
-
300
6,513
121,333
127,846
720
27,555
28,275
27
66,201
66,228
115
5,633
5,748
512
1,000
1,512
9
2,520
2,529
-
5,556
5,556
-
44
44
-
1,000
1,000
-
197
197
-
2,340
2,340
1,383
112,046
113,429
5,130
9,287
14,417
(9,364)
9,364
-
22,149
27,811
49,960
17,915
46,462
64,377
01/10/2023 to 30/09/2024
Unrestricted
funds

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The Raze Collective

Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period 30 September 2025

Details Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Total funds
£ £ £
Cash at bank and on hand 31,541 9,765 41,306
Debtors - Accrual income - 10,210 10,210
Creditors - Accrual expenses 1,440 - 1,440

During the year the charity received donated services and facilities totaling £31,648 (2024: £23,129). This includes probono professional services of £1,800, office space facilities £10,580 and venue hire £19,268.

The financial statements comprising of the Receipts and Payments Summary and Statement of Assets and Liabilities were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 06/07/2026

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

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Signature Print Name
Cimeon Ellerton-Kay
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