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2023-03-31-accounts

Girls Rock London (Registered charity, number 1170457) Financial statements for the period 29 November 2021 to 31 March 2023

Page Contents
2 - 11 Trustees’ annual report
12 Independent examiner’s report
13 Receipts & payments account
14 Statement of assets & liabilities
15 - 18 Notes to the accounts

Girls Rock London Trustees’ annual report for the period 29 November 2021 to 31 March 2023

Full name Girls Rock London

Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation

Registered charity number 1170457

Principal address

7 Felix Avenue, N8 9TL

Trustees

Daisy Swift Maria Turley Roxanne Horton Lorna Gemmell Lowell Black, resigned 18/4/2023 Grace Veenman, Secretary Jyotsna Ram, resigned 19/10/22

Independent examiner

John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL

Governance and management

The CIO Foundation is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 29[th] November 2016.

Objectives and activities

(1) To promote equality and diversity for the public benefit in particular for the benefit of women and girls who are participating or working in music creation and performance primarily in London but also in the rest of England by:

(2) To promote the art of music and to educate in the art of music for the public benefit in particular, but not exclusively, through the provision of (or supporting the provision of) music education activities for girls and women primarily in London but also in the rest of England, in order to increase the participation of women and girls in music creation and performance, and to build their confidence, self-esteem and musical abilities.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit

Participatory music workshops in-person and online; these are aimed at young and adult women, trans people, and non-binary people, with a particular emphasis on those with limited experience of and/or who face additional barriers to participating in music-making.

Distribution of resources to promote music-making and creativity, with a focus on well-being, and an emphasis on the creation of resources that can be used by people with limited or no access to privacy, the internet or instruments.

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Training and support for volunteers, staff and freelancers in order to build skills, confidence and networks

Advocating for gender equality in music and sharing our practice through conferences, training and the media.

Activities include:

Our programmes are open to members of the public and have no entry criteria; they are aimed at people who have no previous experience of music-making. Members of the public benefit from participating in our programmes by developing musical, social and personal skills, as well as through building new friendships and relationships, and learning about careers and other pathways available in the music industry. Audiences, both online and in-person, benefit from our programmes by being able to attend our public concerts at which they enjoy music performed and created by people currently under-represented in music-making and performance.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.

Summary of the main achievements during the period

Between December 2021 and the end of March 2023 we delivered a mixture of inperson and online programmes with and for adults and young people. We also invested in the development of our staff, freelancers and volunteers, participated in a knowledge exchange with peers in Iceland, continued to develop mechanisms to promote community and youth voice in our work, and advocated in the media about gender equality in music.

Youth Programme

With support from Youth Music, The National Lottery, The Childhood Trust, The Big Give, DCMS and Comic Relief, we worked with 27 young people in a variety of contexts, including our ‘Musical Care Package’ programme, a six-day summer music camp, ‘post-camp’ sessions throughout the autumn, and Youth Volunteer and Trainee Community Music Leader (TCML) programmes. We delivered the following activities:

Musical Care Package Programme

In December 2021 we distributed 200 Musical Care Packages to young people across the UK, all but 11 of whom were new to GRL. The pack was developed during the Covid 19 pandemic, and contains music-making and confidence-building resources aimed at young women and trans youth. The resources are specifically designed to be used regardless of the young person’s access to privacy, space, musical instruments or money. The pack was sent to individuals with whom we had direct contact and through organisations who we have had limited or no contact with before including Art Against Knives, Hackney Quest, Into University, Solace Women’s Aid, Resources for Autism, Street Games, Education Links, Skyway and Fight for Peace and Action for Children. This project coincided with the Omicron

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surge at Christmas which led to increased isolation for young people, which is the scenario these resources were specifically designed for. With funding from The Childhood Trust and donations from the public we were able to send this back to double the number of young people we had previously distributed it to.

Trainee Community Music Leader Programme

With support from Youth Music and Comic Relief we recruited a Trainee Community Music Leader (TCML) aged under 25 who worked on our youth programming between June and November 2022. This was a supported work experience placement which included training, mentoring, shadowing and on-the-job experience. Our TCML worked closely with the Creative Director to develop and lead activities at our summer camp and also led the post-camp sessions (more information below).

Summer Youth Camp

In August 2022 we delivered our sixth six-day summer music camp for 22 young women, trans and non-binary youth aged 9-16, at which participants learned the basics of an instrument, formed a band, and wrote and performed an original piece of music. The camp featured instrument tuition, band coaching, workshops, an open mic, visiting artists and jam sessions and culminated in a live performance to family, friends and community members. Recruitment of young people took place through a combination of public promotion and partner referrals from Akwaaba (service for asylum seeker and immigrant families), Hackney CAMHS, local primary and secondary schools, Young Hackney and Gendered Intelligence. Half of the places were provided for free with half being offered on a sliding scale basis, allowing families to pay an amount related to their household income.

This project was delivered by a team of 19 paid staff and freelancers and 27 volunteers.

Autumn Programme

We delivered 6 ‘post-camp’ sessions, the content of which was developed by our Trainee Community Music Leader in collaboration with youth participants following camp; the direction of these sessions was led by young people who wanted a space to jam, experiment and collaborate, and culminated in a live showcase session in November at which all participants performed, and which was captured by a photographer and videographer. Our TCML also provided one-to-one follow up with camp participants during this period to support them to access additional musicmaking activities in their local area.

This programme was delivered by our TCML with support from the Creative Director, Youth Volunteers, and a team of 17 volunteers and paid staff.

Youth Volunteer Programme

We recruited two Youth Volunteers into supported volunteering roles; these two young people worked with a professional videographer to make a film about the

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summer camp, designed and led a workshop exploring performance styles at camp, and supported the guitar tuition and sound teams; they also attended the post-camp sessions, supporting the young people in their music-making.

Impact of youth programming

Taken together, outcome indicators show that young people who participated in our camp and post-camp programme improved their confidence and skills in writing, playing and performing music.

This quote illustrates the impact on performing confidence on one young person in their own words:

“My name is X, music is my passion. I play guitar & drums at home but struggled to get the confidence to perform for others. GRL gave me a positive, supportive & fun environment with great leaders & camp mates I made a real connection with. The camp process of forming a band & creating our own music gave me so much inspiration & confidence. On the day of our concert I was able to put the nerves to one side for the first time & totally enjoy the performance. Since finishing camp I’ve now joined some local groups to ensure I build on my camp experience & perform regularly as I am now addicted!”

And this is a quote from a parent about their perspective on their child’s experience:

“It has been such a total pleasure for me to see X engage in something so wholeheartedly as she has done with GRL. To hear stories about what she has done in the day is unheard of when she comes home from school but from GRL she was full of enthusiasm for the things she had done in the day. The fact she wants to come back, again and again, speaks volumes. The volunteers seem to have an unending amount of passion and talent and enthusiasm, which makes GRL total magic.”

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Youth Voice

Taken together, the data suggest that this programme, building on previous learning, marked a step change in terms of embedding youth voice into GRL’s programme development, planning, delivery and evaluation.

Youth Volunteers

The data gathered shows that the Youth Volunteers had a meaningful impact on programming, underpinned by a balance of support and agency:

Trainee Community Music Leader

The role is a central element of our Youth Voice strategy and this year the data gathered shows that the TCML had significant levels of involvement in both the design of camp and the post-camp sessions:

Overall, our findings demonstrate the importance of prioritising Youth Voice mechanisms in our programming, as these have led to:

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Adult Programme

Album Project

Supported with funding from Arts Council England, we delivered a six-month programme designed to support emerging musicians to take the next steps in their music-making. 18 women, trans and non-binary people completed this new programme, the first time we had worked with musicians to record and release an album of original new music.

We worked in partnership with women, trans and non-binary production and electronic music collective Omnii to deliver the project, building on the relationship we developed with them to deliver our Connect and Create programme in 2021.

The project funding enabled us to offer places on a sliding scale basis according to household income, which included completely subsidised places. Participants could take part through two tracks - online and in-person. This enabled us to work with people outside of London and cater to different people’s schedules and needs.

The programme consisted of accountability sessions, opportunities for sharing works in progress and gathering feedback, music industry workshops, mentoring and reflective work. Participants had the opportunity to learn more about song-writing, collaboration, performance, production and recording, and about developing a career in the music industry.

Participants were also able to draw inspiration from more established women, trans and non-binary artists through our 'inspiration sessions', workshops and live performances. Acts and individuals involved in this element of the programme included Bad Laydee, Dream Nails, All Cats Are Beautiful, Emma Hall, Boomvision and Nadia Javed.

Eight bands recorded their songs, mixed and mastered by Omnii, seven of which were released on an album, and the majority of participants went onto perform original material at the showcase gig at the end of the programme. An accompanying ‘zine’ was produced, showcasing written and artistic material produced by the musicians on the project.

Respondents to our evaluation survey reported:

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Respondents reflected that they:

The team at GRL are absolutely incredible, genuinely go above and beyond to support you and really have your back. I feel forever grateful for my experiences with

GRL… the team have given me the confidence to start singing, DJing and now producing.”

The project provided employment opportunities for 29 women, trans and non-binary musicians and music education professionals, and volunteering opportunities for eight people. 145 members of the public attended our album launch event and recordings of the event were viewed online upwards of 3,000 times.

International Conference

We worked in partnership with Stelpur Rokka, a member of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance based in Reykjavík, Iceland, to deliver a conference for workers and volunteers from both of our organisations to explore shared challenges and best practice in relation to our youth-centred music-making. We sent seven of our team, including trustees, volunteers and freelancers, to Reykjavík in May 2022 to attend the conference, the content of which was created by the two organisations' teams. The GRL team delivered sessions exploring strategic decision-making, antiracist practice, safeguarding, sampling in electronic music making, and vocal chanting.

Workforce development

During this period volunteers, freelancers and staff have had the opportunity to participate in training to support them in their roles. All volunteers delivering our programmes participated in training on music facilitation, safeguarding, health and safety, trauma-informed practice, contextual issues affecting young people we work with, and healing-centred community engagement.

We also delivered bespoke training sessions for the TCML and Youth Volunteers to support them to prepare for their roles at camp and the post-camp sessions All volunteers and freelancers engaged in our work were also invited to participate in disability inclusion training, exploring how to make our practice more accessible for neuro-diverse young people and young people with physical disabilities.

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During this period four younger adults (aged under 30) in the organisation have been engaging in training and coaching using funding from Youth Music. This included Girls Rock London

music leading training, coaching, mentoring, and our Young Trustee undertook Secretary training and has subsequently taken on this role on the trustee board. This investment in external training and development forms part of the strategy to support the meaningful participation and development of younger people in the organisation.

Towards the end of this period we established a new Community Voice group, open to all adult volunteers, freelancers and alumni to provide a new platform for greater community engagement in our work.

Advocacy

Girls Rock London achieved significant press coverage related to our album programme which enabled us to advocate about gender equality in the music industry to a wide audience.

https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/music/girls-rock-london-gender-imbalance-musicbrit-awards-women-shortlist-b1061087.html

Strategic Review

GRL undertook a Strategic Review process between August 2022 and December 2022 to decide on next steps in light of the challenges around fundraising for longterm core costs and two founding Co-Directors stepping down.

This included:

As a result of this work a new Community Voice Group (of alumni, volunteers and previous freelance music leaders) was established in January 2023 to act as a regular consultation group advising and feeding back on strategy and programming going forward.

This and the consultation process has informed development of a new strategy, outline of a new team structure and a successful funding application to Youth Music to support a new long-form youth programme. We are now embarking on a new fundraising plan to resource this over the next 12-18 months.

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Financial review

During this financial period our target was to fundraise enough to support our most ambitious programme to date. We were largely successful in this endeavour, securing 94% of the funds required to support our programming and operations in this financial period (the additional 6% was underpinned by reserves). The majority of these funds were granted by major funders: Youth Music, Arts Council England, Comic Relief, The National Lottery and DCMS. Further significant funding c. £40,000 was also generated through programme fees, individual and corporate donations, community fundraising efforts and merchandise and events ticket sales. Our total income during the first 12 months of this period was £136,337, an increase on the previous year's income of 72%. In total over the 16-month period we are reporting on, we generated an income of £169,859.

Whilst this period has been our most active to date, we end the financial period in a challenging financial position, having had to spend a proportion of our reserves to cover core costs during a period of strategic review before beginning a cycle of fundraising again. This means at the time of writing we have minimal ongoing funding, but with a sufficient reserves level. Despite our fundraising success, we have found it increasingly challenging post-covid, both in terms of the general fundraising climate, and specifically in generating sustainable core funding to support the staffing costs required to both recruit stable long-term roles and to develop our strategy and business model.

The current strategic review is well underway and will result in a revised strategic plan and structure for GRL, after which fundraising will recommence with a renewed focus. We have already been successful in receiving a significant programmefocused grant for youth activity in 2023 and Trustees are confident that this new approach will place the organisation in a strong financial position going forward into the next financial year.

*We changed our financial year end date this year, resulting in a one-off 16-month reporting period.

We would like to thank all of the generous individuals who have donated to Girls Rock London, as well the following grant-making bodies, without whom we could not do our work, for their support:

Arts Council England The Batchworth Trust The Childhood Trust London Community Response Fund The Big Give DCMS Comic Relief The National Lottery Awards for All Youth Music

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Kyne Family Trust

Girls Rock London

We would also like to celebrate our community fundraisers, who have raised funds for us through acitvites including sposnored marathons, raffles and gigs.

We are very grateful to our partner Fame Design who have supported us through developing and delivering an online merchandise shop to fundraise for Girls Rock London.

We would also like to thank the following organisations for continuing to support our work through providing discounted or free loan of musical equipment:

Marshall Roland Focusrite/Novation Gear4Music John Henry Ltd

Finally we would like to thank all of the amazing volunteers who generously and tirelessly give their time to Girls Rock London - we couldn't do any of this without them. Thank you!

Reserves policy

Girls Rock London has a written Reserves Policy, reviewed annually, which ensures a reserves fund is available in order to:

Girls Rock London's reserve fund helps to reduce the risks associated with unplanned closure for beneficiaries, funders, staff, customers and stakeholders. It will be sufficient to maintain of essential services for a period of three months in the event of unplanned closure.

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During this financial period, we had a deficit of £16,333 in our unrestricted funds, after a series of funding setbacks meant we were unable to meet ongoing operating costs without doing so. Trustees approved the use of these funds in order to ensure fundraising, strategic planning and volunteer management could continue along with uninterrupted delivery of planned programming, and to minimise the impact on our beneficiaries. The trustees retained £7,000 in reserves, the figure budgeted to enable the organisation to wind down should that be necessary. At the end of the 2021/23 financial period, we therefore held a total of £7,000 in reserves included within the £14,099 of unrestricted funds.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

14/09/2023 Signed ______ Date _ Daisy Swift, Trustee

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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Girls Rock London for the period 29 November 2021 to 31 March 2023

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Girls Rock London (the charity) for the period ended 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity 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 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

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

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

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.

Signed ____ Date _______ John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE Employee of Community Accounting Plus

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Girls Rock London Receipts & payments account for the period 29 November 2021 to 31 March 2023

2021
Total
Unrestricted
Funds
Funds
£
Note
£
Receipts
49276
Grants & donations
2
32692
9241
Individual giving
9587
1100
Corporate giving
348
9134
Other donations & fundraising
3579
3592
Gift aid
3347
287
Sales
1705
6455
Programme & service fees
7235
79085
Total receipts
58493
Payments
40414
Wages, NI & pension
31660
48905
Contractor costs
38144
1600
Venue & room hire
962
2425
Office costs
33
876
Insurance
759
1347
Equipment and materials
-
533
DBS checks
35
188
Website & IT costs
319
100
Fundraising costs
95
459
Bank charges
-
349
Communications
367
27
Accessibility costs
93
1074
Training and conferences
565
671
Transport
209
708
Food and refreshments
167
239
Membership
182
1558
Legal and compliance
984
138
Miscellaneous
252
101611
Total payments
74826
(22526)
Net receipts/(payments)
(16333)
-
Transfers between funds
1791
53845
Cash funds at start of this period
28641
31319
Cash funds at end of this period
14099		 2023
16 months
Restricted
Total
Funds
Funds
£
£
103550
136242
7816
17403
-
348
-
3579
-
3347
-
1705
-
7235
111366
169859
20562
52222
72234
110378
10668
11630
1285
1318
250
1009
1322
1322
511
546
-
319
-
95
-
-
12
379
-
93
2172
2737
4790
4999
2092
2259
335
517
-
984
634
886
116867
191693
(5501)
(21834)
(1791)
-
2678
31319
(4614)
9485

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Girls Rock London Statement of assets and liabilities at 31 March 2023

2021
£
Cash assets
Note
31319
Bank accounts
31319
Other monetary assets
2700
Debtors
3
2700
Assets retained for the charity’s own use
General equipment.
Total value of instruments owned at replacement cost is £24109
Reverb Bucks instrument vouchers at a value of £213
Liabilities
(7037)
Creditors
4
(7037)		 2023
£
9485
9485
6589
6589
(714)
(714)

These financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:

Signed _____ Dated _____ 14/09/2023 Daisy Swift, Trustee

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Girls Rock London Notes to the accounts for the period 29 November 2021 to 31 March 2023

1. Receipts & payments accounts

Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.

2. Grants & donations

Arts Council England
City Bridge Trust
Youth Music
Comic Relief
Stelpur Rokka
Amplify London
Clarion Futures
The Big Give/DCMS
Batchworth Trust
Kyne Family Trust
The National Lottery Community Fund		 Unrestricted
£
7033
6959
11036
2165
-
-
-
-
5000
500
-
32693		 Restricted
Total
£
£
35997
43030
-
6959
33973
45009
8335
10500
3158
3158
1200
1200
1000
1000
9887
9887
-
5000
-
500
10000
10000
103550
136243

3. Debtors

Grants receivable
HMRC gift aid		 £
4614
1975
6589

4. Creditors

£ Independent examination 714 714

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5. Funds analysis

Restricted funds
Adult Programming 2021
Youth Programming 2021
Youth Voice 2021-23
Album Programming 2022-23
Stelpur Rokka Project 2022
Youth Summer Camp 2022
Unrestricted funds
General		 Opening
balance
£
(1500)
1200
2978
-
-
-
2678
28641
28641		 Receipts
£
1500
2200
42307
34497
3158
27704
111366
58493
58493		 (Payments)
£
-
(1410)
(43773)
(42929)
(2629)
(26126)
(116867)
(74826)
(74826)		 Fund
Closing
transfers
balance
£
£
-
-
(1990)
-
(1512)
-
3818
(4614)
(529)
-
(1578)
-
(1791)
(4614)
1791
14099
1791
14099

The Adult Programming 2021 fund provides support, activities and events including music camps for adults.

The Youth Programming 2021 fund provides support, activities and events including music camps for the local youth.

Youth Voice 2021-23 is a specific programme to deliver a Youth Voice Programme.

Album Programming 2022-23 fund provides support, activities and events related to the production of an album for the adult community.

Stelpur Rokka 2022 fund provides funds to support engagement in the conference.

Youth Summer Camp 2022 fund supports our Youth Summer Camp. Transfer between the Youth Programme 2021 and the General fund represents the overhead charges incurred by the General fund to administer the project. The transfer from the restricted fund to the Album Programming 2022-23 represent the match funding costs incurred to run the project.

The negative balance in the Album planning is covered by the grant debtor. The transfers from the Youth programming 2021, Youth Voice 2021-23, Stelpur Rokka Project 2022 and Summer Camp 2022 represents the overhead and match funding costs covered by the general fund.

6. Trustees’ remuneration

Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period.

7. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions during the year.

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8. Glossary of terms

Debtors: These are amounts owed to the charity, but not received during the accounting period.

Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.

Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor, but still within the general objects of the charity.

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