Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Annual Report, and Unaudited Accounts For the Period 1[st] January - 31[st] December 2024
Reference and Administrative Details
Charity Name Empower International Charity Registration Number 1168552 Charity Registered Address 49 Normandy Road, Hilton, Derby, DE65 5GW Trustees Mandy Simpson Phillip Edmundson Marie Rogers
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Empower International
Trustees’ Report
Introduction
Empower International was granted status as a UK charity on 2[nd] August 2016.
Structure, Governance and Management
Empower International operates within the CIO Foundation Model Structure and Constitution.
The charity decision making process is actioned in accordance with the constitution and our working practice document dated May 2017.
The appointment and retirement of trustees is to be in accordance with the constitution. The lead trustee proposes the appointing of a new trustee to the trustees, and upon a unanimous endorsement by the trustees, is appointed.
Objectives and Activities
The objects of the charity as set out in its governing document are…
1) The relief of unemployment for the benefit of the public, including the provision of training to those socially disadvantaged, to provide them with the skills to improve employability.
2) The relief of poverty (or financial hardship) by offering support services such as advice, coaching, mentoring, to assist individuals to help themselves, in order to enable those individuals to generate a sustainable income and be self-sufficient.
Summary of the main activities of the charity in relation to these objectives are…
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1) To provide employable skills training through the Empower Romania project to both men and women of various ages, including (but not limited to) carpentry, construction, sewing and embroidery.
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2) Empower Romania training programmes also include mentoring and assistance in developing wider skills necessary to become a valuable part of the workforce. This includes, for instance, encouraging daily consistent attendance, punctuality, the need to retain a good attitude, respect for authority and colleagues, and teamwork.
Empower International have taken the charity commissions’ public benefit guidance into account when making any decision that it is relevant to.
Achievements and Performance
We begin our review of 2024 by providing a brief summary on the charitable work we have undertaken in North-West Romania. Empower Romania was a project developed over two sites between 2014 and 2020, presenting opportunities to Roma communities in Lazareni and Sanpaul to be involved in
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training programmes, with particular attention given to developing employability skills. Over time we chose smaller groups of people to create ‘core’ teams with both men and women and did so by providing clear parameters and criteria in which we would make selections about who we could work more closely with, and who would most benefit from the training. This was how we chose an initial team to work with, and we developed and expanded it from there.
In short, Empower Romania consists of two separate training programmes, one an apprenticeship in carpentry and construction, and the other for sewing and embroidery called the Lydia Project. The purpose of the training programmes is for the benefit of the public, to help those in financial hardship, and to help marginalised people from Roma communities to learn skills that could help them to become employable, and also in some cases to see the value of employment. Both programmes were designed to teach employability skills by learning to operate tools and machinery and producing various items and completing assignments to a high standard. Whilst training was taking place, mentoring was also taking place, including learning a wider skill set that could help people become a valuable part of a workforce. These projects operated both simultaneously and separately from the point of launch in October 2014 until November 2020. A consideration of a third site within Romania did not proceed due to the interruption of both Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, but also training opportunities had become more widely available to Roma communities in Romania through EU funding in recent years, and with the close proximity of the Caleb Foundation and the Corabia Foundation (our former partner organisations) to the communities, adequate ongoing support is available to the people we have had the honour and privilege to work with during our time in Romania.
2021 was a challenging year to be able to offer support packages from the UK to Romania. During 2022 and 2023 we continued to contemplate ways to develop our charitable aims through consideration of how value could be added by the charity in a more local context. The lead trustee has recently completed further education in the UK with the intention of using the qualifications gained to champion causes in the UK and begin guiding the work of Empower International into a new direction. This endeavour would require a repurposing of the charitable aims since international projects were affected by Covid-19 interruptions, and having not resumed as planned, the pandemic has meant changes to both the short-term and long-term work of Empower International.
Looking forward to 2025
It has not been possible to make meaningful decisions about future directions during 2024 as the lead trustee required time to complete her higher education training, so throughout 2025, it is our intention to continue considering a plan to repurpose and restructure the charity and further consideration will be given to this as we continue moving forward in the coming year.
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Financial Review
Our funding was received through individuals who chose to support the charity during 2024 and its transition period.
| Donations | Unrestricted Funds | Restricted Funds | Total Funds |
|---|---|---|---|
| £819.72 | £ 819.72 | ||
| Expenses | Unrestricted Funds | Restricted Funds | Total Funds |
| Banking Fees | £ 60.00 | £ 60.00 | |
| Website | £ 379.49 | £ 379.49 | |
| Accountancy | £ 67.20 | £ 67.20 | |
| Administrative Expenses £ 27.22 |
£ 27.22 | ||
| £ 533.91 | £ 533.91 | ||
| Carryover from Community Account 31 December 2023 | £2,900.81 | ||
| Opening Balance | 01/01/2024 | £2,900.81 | |
| Donations | £819.72 | ||
| Accountancy, Online Support and Administrative and Banking Fees | £533.91 | ||
| Closing Balance | 31/12/2024 | £3,186.62 |
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Trustees by Mandy Simpson
(Chair of Trustees)
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Empower International
1168552
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period 01/01/2024 31/12/2024 To from ~~ee ee ee ee~~
Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts
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|---|---|---|---|---|
|Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|
|Total funds|Last year|
|funds|funds|funds|
|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £|
|820|-|-|820|820|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Sub total|(Gross income for|
|AR)|[ 820 ]|-|-|820|820|
|A2 Asset and investment sales,|
|(see table).|
|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|Sub total|-|-|-|-|-|
|Total receipts|820|-|-|820|820|
|_——————|
|A3 Payments|
|534|-|-|534|738|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|-|
|Sub total|[ 534 ]|-|-|534|738|
|A4 Asset and investment|
|purchases, (see table)|
|-|-|-|-|
|-|-|-|-|
|Sub total|[ - ]|-|-|-|-|
|———=—|Total payments|[ 534 ]|-|-|534|738|
|Net of receipts/(payments)|286|-|- 286|82|
|A5 Transfers between funds|-|- -|-|-|
|A6 Cash funds last year end|2,901|- -|2,901|2,819|
|Cash funds this year end|SS|3,187|-|SS]|- 3,187|2,901|
----- End of picture text -----
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
10/06/2025
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | funds | |||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||
| B1 Cash funds | 3,187 - - - - - - - - 3,187 - - Total cash funds ~~—====>~~ |
||||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments | (agree balances with receipts and payments | ||||||
| account(s)) | OK | OK | OK | ||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||
| funds | funds | funds | |||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~===~~ |
||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||
| B3 Investment assets | - - - - - - - - - - ~~ee~~ |
||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
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| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~mie~~ |
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| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | |||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities CCXX R2 accounts (SS) |
liability relates (optional) (optional) - - - - - Date of approval 10/06/2025 Details Print Name Mandy Simpson Signature 2 10/06/2025 ~~—=~~ |