## TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT 2022/23
(1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023)
We have been an independent charity since the end of November 2016. The Trustees’ annual report outlines progress made in respect to compliance and financial control, philosophy and working practices, as well as a progress update on numbers of students supported and our current financial position.
## The John Aves Education Project team
JAEP’s policy has always been to enrol Trustees and committee members with relevant experience and skills to fulfil the objects of the JAEP. This is to identify and monitor selection of suitable candidates from the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Palestine as well as to manage efficiently and with compliance the administration of the charity.
JAEP currently has four Trustees and two committee member who joins in the Board of Trustees meetings and regularly liaises with the Trustees. The experience, skills and interest of the team are wide and all are mentioned here:
## Trustees
_Anne Aves_ is our Chair and Treasurer. Anne is the widow of John, in whose memory JAEP was founded. Anne worked at City College Norwich from 1984 until her retirement in 2017. Her roles have included teaching, Head of Department and managing regional projects to re-engage vulnerable young people. Anne has returned to Dheisheh Camp, Al Quds and Bethlehem universities more than ten times.
_Liz Magem_ is the secretary for our committee. Liz has been involved in education for over 30 years. Her roles have included Head of Department at City College Norwich, a training consultant for Aviva and a principal lecturer for QA, the UK's leading learning company. Liz is currently a freelancer trainer. Liz and Anne Aves have been friends for over 40 years, and through that friendship Liz came to know John. Liz has accompanied Anne on her visits to Dheisheh Camp in 2018, 2020 and 2023.
_Nick Taylor._ Nick is a retired local businessman with solid financial and management skills. His companies won many local and national business awards and he brings a discipline and focus to the charity.
_Ben Aves_ . Ben is a son of John and Anne. Ben is Director – Global Communications Strategy at LEGO group the UK base is in London.
## Committee members
_Ed Aves_ Edmund is a son of John and Anne. Edmund works as a freelance photographer.
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Samia Tabari is a member of JAEP’s committee. She is a social development expert with a focus on refugee programmes, in the Middle East. She retains professional and personal connections to the Middle East and speaks Arabic. Samia leads on the scholarship process. She is based in the UK.
## Compliance
We have a Trust Deed that fully complies with the requirements of the Charities Commission. We have further controls beyond our statutory obligations which are outlined in the following documents. Procedures and Policies. Here we outline our working procedures that enable full and accountable management of our charity.
1. We only commit to the funding of a student if we have sufficient funds (plus a reserve) to finance the entire duration of their course.
2. **The Reserve.** We quantify the total financial commitment to our students for their entire course. To this figure we add 10% and a further £1,000. This becomes our reserve and no expenditure can dip into this amount.
3. Risk Register. This is regularly updated to ensure that risk is identified, measured and minimised. In light of any weaknesses then the Procedures and Rules are amended to mitigate any identified risk.
4. Data Protection. We take our responsibilities seriously and do not share any individual’s information with any other organisation except with Inland Revenue in respect to claiming Gift Aid.
5. Safeguarding Policy. Informed by attendance at a Charity Commission International Engagement Team webinar our safeguarding policy and procedures have been updated and embedded in our procedures and policies.
Barclays Bank were instructed by the UK Government to undertake a Periodic Review of all their accounts to ensure all account holders were abiding by Money laundering laws. It would appear the task was under resourced by Barclays, emails and phone calls were not answered for weeks. JAEP received the first request in September 2022. The process wasn’t completed until December 2022 and was very labour intensive!
## Financial control & Report
During the 2022/23 financial year our income increased slightly. This was mainly due to a very successful fund-raising event held in November 2022, The Big Give Christmas Campaign raised £5292. This was the first time we had run the, well established, match funded campaign which was well received by our supporters. JAEP also had a stall for the second successive year at Mannington Hall Charity Day in September.
Regular gift aids increased on the previous year by a hundred pounds which is an indication of the level of support JAEP receives that hasn’t been impacted by the continuing cost-of-living crisis and world uncertainty.
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JAEP continues to receive regular financial support from local churches and Quaker Meetings. Namely St. Peter Mancroft, Eaton Parish Church, URC Ipswich Road, Aylsham, Exeter and Norwich Quaker meetings.
The 20% reduction in the value of the pound against the US$ had a big impact on the number of students we felt it was expedient to fund in September 2022. Scholarships are confirmed in September / October, i.e. at the beginning of the academic year. This coincided with an hourly fall in the value of the pound. Fortunately, our policies protected us during these times and underlines our prudent approach.
As the £ continued to be unpredictable against the $, the current level of reserve needed for commitment to existing students is added to the notes section of the monthly accounts.
Income from card sales decreased slightly during the year from £3,726 to £3,334. This was due to one of the designs not selling well.
Travel expenses were incurred this year as covid travel restrictions have been lifted. These monitoring visits are an essential part of our validation process for student selection and provide student stories for fund raising talks.
As in the previous year student grants were paid using some of our reserves and these were reduced by £45k. This was anticipated and reflects the roll out of funding from the very generous gifts received in 2019 and 2020. The donor requested that the money was used to provide more scholarships and not invested.
At the year end we are holding £112,585 in our bank accounts. £72,842 is the amount already committed for grants, this leaves us with £39,743 to fund new students.
The accounts will be independently checked and a letter of compliance issued.
As we work through the generous gifts previously made, I am satisfied with the continued progress the charity is making and the controls in place to ensure comprehensive compliance and levels of reserves. We have adjusted our support to new students to reflect the current level of income and fluctuations in the pound /US$ exchange rate.
The treasurer updates the ledgers once every month onto an Excel spreadsheet. After the bank reconciliation a copy of the account spreadsheets is emailed to each of the Trustees to ensure that there is transparency but also to ensure that back-ups are available off site in addition to regular on-site procedures.
## Selection and monitoring of students
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JAEP has funded seventy four young people to achieve an undergraduate degree.
At Al Quds University election of new students is carried out in collaboration with the Financial Aid Department (IAD) at the University. Al Quds University remains JAEP’s main partner. Al Quds University has campuses in East Jerusalem, Abu Dis, and al-Bireh. JAEP reviews its scholarship guidance notes and application form with each university on an annual basis. The FAD uploads JAEP’s notes and form on the university’s website as part of the annual call for JAEP’s scholarship applications. At Bethlehem University the Student Finance Manager promotes the project to students from Dheisheh in need of financial aid.
JAEP Trustees and members review the scholarship applications and any supporting documents and then interview shortlisted candidates via Zoom. The applications from Bethlehem University were received well after the closing date. Because of this JAEP did not to fund any students in September 2022. JAEP launched its application process for 2023/2024 in April 2023 (outside this reporting period).
The JAEP team continues to ensure and provide evidence that we are selecting young people who are academically able to benefit from and in need of our financial support. To this end we receive transcripts of student results at the end of each academic year. Any student who either had poor results or did not complete the year would be contacted by JAEP.
## – Monitoring visit 18 28 February 2023
The Chair and Secretary returned for their first post Covid visit since 2020. The visit took the same format as previously. Staying in Ecce Homo Convent Via Dolorosa from 18 – 23 February, travelling daily by bus from East Jerusalem to Al Quds University (AQU) in Abu Dis. From 23 – 27 February staying in Dheisheh Palestinian Refugee Camp. In Bethlehem. While staying in Dheisheh the trustees spent a morning at Bethlehem University (BU). At both AQU and BU the staff who administer JAEP cleared their diaries to spend time with us. As a result our partnerships continue to grow and deepen. At the time of our visit JAEP was sponsoring 26 young people living in Dheisheh, 21 at AQU and 5 at BU. We spent time with 15 at AQU and all 5 at BU. The 6 current AQU students we didn’t see were out on placement. While staying at Dheisheh we met a number of the young people again and recorded videos.
The visit didn’t raise any concerns with our relationships at either university. While staying at Dheisheh Camp the staff there set up a meeting with The Head of Student Affairs at Dar Al Kalima University in Bethlehem.
## JAEP management of the project
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Trustee meetings and sub meetings throughout 2022/2023 were all in person, with the option of trustees joining via zoom. Members also have regular e- communications. JAEP does not have an office or paid staff members.
The Chair and Secretary continue to look for opportunities to attend events by the Charity Commissioners International Engagement Team.
## Outreach and success with grant applications
We have continued to receive support from Unipal. In 2022/2023 Unipal continues to fund two JAEP students. Both students are studying Midwifery one at Al Quds University and the other at Bethlehem University. Unipal have committed to fund both students for the remaining years of their course. Unipal funded a student studying Special Education at Al Quds University for two years 2018/2019 and 2019/ 2020.
JAEP was successful in their application to The Big Give Christmas Challenge Campaign. We launched the campaign in July 2022 and by the deadline of 02/09/2022 JAEP had received £1000 in pledges. This was matched by a donation of £1000 from a Champion. The next step in the Big Give Challenge was to raise £2000 in a week from 29 November to 6 December. We launched this stage with a JAEP event on 29 November. The total raised was £5292 (includes gift aid).
JAEP was successful in their application to run one of the Bishop of Norwich Open Gardens. Our allocated Sunday is 21 May.
JAEP had further success in being selected to organise, with the Matthew Project. Mannington Hall and Gardens Charity Day on Sunday 3 September. We will share the profits 50/50.
As Covid-19 restrictions have eased we have returned to talking to groups. For 2022-2023 we have given eight? which includes St. Peter Mancroft having JAEP as their Lent Appeal in April 2022 and Mannington Hall Charity Day in September. JAEP continues to receive support and donations from many of these organisations for examples as Charity of the Month.
Online donations continue at a steady rate and were invaluable during the Big Give campaign.
JAEP produced Newsletters in July, October and November (Big Give Campaign) 2022. The Newsletter was sent electronically to an increasing number of supporters 99, 103 and 114 respectively. The open rate continues to be high, 76.8%, 79.6% and 80.4% retrospectively. Seven supporters receive the Newsletter by post.
## The Future
Monitoring visits enable us to:
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Maintain and develop our links with Dheisheh Refugee Camp. This enables us to better target the most disadvantaged students with the greatest potential.
Maintain and development our strong link with Al Quds University. Continue to develop our understanding of how JAEP applicants are selected by Bethlehem University
Follow up on the meeting to discuss funding undergraduate students, with the newly appointed Director of Student Affairs at Dar Al Kalima University of the Arts in Bethlehem.
2022 – 2023 has been a very busy year for fund raising events. The plan is for 2024 to be maintaining contact with the twenty organisations who, pre the pandemic regularly invited us to give talks and/or make donations to the project, to offer to return to update them about JAEP. We continue to grow this number and maintain a calendar of talks and events throughout the year.
2024 marks the 20[th] anniversary of the death of John. Events are being made to mark this with one major event at Norwich Cathedral.
The Trustees feel that future “organic” growth will better target the students able to provide a dividend of skills in their community while keeping costs to a minimum.
Anne Aves (Trustee)
Liz Magem (Trustee)
Nick Taylor (Trustee)
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## **JOHN AVES EDUCATION PROJECT YEAR END 31st March, 2023**
|INCOME||**2022/23**||
|---|---|---|---|
|Regular Gift Aid Donations||6,580||
|One-off Gift Aids||5,186||
|Tax reclaim Gift Aid||2,223||
|Other Donations/Fund Raising||10,929||
|Bank Interest||253||
|Xmas Cards and other sales||3,334||
||**£**|28,505|**£**|
|EXPENDITURE||**2022/23**||
|Bank Charges||0||
|Educational Grants||67,501||
|Administration Expenses||55||
|Foreign Travel Expenses||2,719||
|Other Costs||3,182||
||**£**|73,457|**£**|
## **STATEMENT of FUNDS**
|||**2022/23**||
|---|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Balance at beginning of year||||
|Current & Business|157,541||205,130|
|||157,541||
|Add Surplus (loss) for year||||
|Income|28,505||26,163|
|Expenditure|73,457|-44,952|73,752|
||**£**|112,589|**£**|
|Represented by||||
|Current Account|**£**|1,746||
|Saving Account|**£**|110,840||
||**£**|112,585||
## **2021/22**
6,477 2,054 2,112 11,530 264 3,726 26,163
## **2021/22**
70 71,722 57 0 1,903 73,752
**2021/22 £**
205,130
-47,589 157,541
##
|Section A|IndependentExaminer's Report|IndependentExaminer's Report|
|---|---|---|
|Report tothe trustees|||
|On accounts for the year
ended||Charity no
(if any)
I /
4/|
|Set out on pages|||
|||I report to thetrustees on my examination ofthe accounts of the above
charity ("the Trust") for the yearended|
|Responsibilities|and|As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the|
|basis of report||accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011|
|||("the Act").|
|||I report in respect of my examination of theTrust's accounts carried out|
|||undersection 145 of the 2011 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||[The charity's gross income exceeded E250,000 and I am qualified to
undertake the examination by being a qualified member of [insert name of|
|||applicable listed body]]. Delete [ ] if not applicable.|
|||I have completed my examination.
I confirm that no material matters have|
|||come to my attention in connection with the examination|
|||disclosed-below-9 which gives me cause to believe that in, any material|
|||respect:|
|||o
the accounting records were not kept inaccor
nce with section 130|
|||of the Charities Act; or|
|||•
the accounts did not accord with th
ccounting records; or
•|
|||the applicable requirements
•
the accounts did not compl|
|||content of accounts set out in the Charities
concerning the form|
|||eports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement
(Accounts a|
|||ccounts give a 'true and fair' viewwhich is not a matter
tha|
|||considered as part of an independent examination.|
|||I have noconcerns 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 theaccounts to be reached.|
|||* Please delete the words in the brackets iftheydo not apply.|
||Signed:|Date:
zoz|
||Name:|V
v'evv+|
|Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body||@va-.üd-t;
a-4
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|IER||1
Oct 2018|