Charity number: 1170492
Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Trustees' report and financial statements For the year ended 31[st] December 2020
Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Contents
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Legal and administrative information | 1 |
| Trustees report | 2 |
| Independent examiners' report | 5 |
| Statement of financial activities | 6 |
| Balance sheet | 7 |
| Notes to the accounts | 8 |
Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Legal and administrative information
| Charity number | 1170492 |
|---|---|
| Principal address | PO Box 75779 |
| London | |
| SW15 9HW | |
| Trustees | Mr Hans Tomas Bjorkman |
| Dr Jonathan Rowson | |
| Mr Ian Christie | |
| Independent Examiner | Ash & Associates |
| Chartered Accountants | |
| 2 London Wall Buildings | |
| London | |
| EC2M 5PP | |
| Principal Bankers | Lloyds Bank plc |
| 25 Gresham Street | |
| London | |
| EC2V 7HN |
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Report of the trustees
For the year ended 31[st] December 2020
The trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31[st] March 2020. The trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report are set out on page 1.
Structure, governance and management
The charity is registered with the Charity Commission (Registration number 1170492) and constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The charity is governed by its constitution dated 30[th] November 2016.
Objectives and activities
The objects of the charity are to seek to advance education for public benefit through:
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a) The provision of materials and activities provided in the interest of promoting ecological sustainability, human development, and democratic engagement.
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b) Such materials and activities will be provided with the purpose of developing individual and collective capabilities to respond to complex societal problems
In meeting these objectives, the trustees have given due consideration to the guidance on Public Benefit issued by the Charity Commission.
Achievements and performance
2020 was a major year for the development of Perspectiva in which we began several new projects, clarified strategy and conducted a visual redesign. By the end of the year the structure of our work became clearer and is discernible in four main interrelated areas: Insight, Praxis, Realisation, Emergence. Those modalities of work represent an underlying theory of overcoming immunity to change (beyond the scope of this update) but in project terms they manifest as our books and essays, our Antidebate and other forms of practicebased inquiry, The Realisation festival and associated activity, and the Emerge project, including its website.
2020 was also, of course, the year the Coronavirus pandemic took hold. Perspectiva’s plans for a public event series were put on hold and we had to postpone The Realisation Festival, originally scheduled for June, and we could not travel to build funding relationships or work with our main partner, The Fetzer Institute. We also stopped renting our office spaces and worked remotely.
On Insight: We worked to develop our publishing arm, Perspectiva Press, with five books prepared for publication in 2021. In two cases, with Unlearn by Hanno Burmeister and Collective Wisdom in the West by Liam Kavanagh, the manuscripts were quite short, their positioning was closely aligned with our own and they were submitted in a close to final form that didn’t require much editing from us. Both these books had their own value, but also helped raise Perspectiva’s profile in adjacent networks. In the case of The Politics of Waking Up by Indra Adnan, we brought this book into being by commissioning Indra to write a series of blog posts for our Emerge website (www.whatisemerging.com) alongside illustrations by Chris Burrows, and then worked with Indra to edit the material into book form. In the case of The Entangled Activist , this project arose from a project Perspectiva helped conceive and raise funding for with the support of The Emergence Foundation, including dedicated research and writing time for the author Anthea Lawson. In the case of Dispatches from a Time Between Worlds: Crisis and Emergence in Metamodernity, this anthology arose
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
gradually by inviting authors within our network to contribute, and our director worked with co-editor Layman Pascal to bring into towards completion.
In 2020 our work on the Digital Ego project also began, led by Tom Chatfield and Dan Nixon; Minna Salami was also commissioned to develop her work on exousiance and help with editing for Perspectiva Press; Zak Stein continued to advise on our work on transformative education, as did Bonnitta Roy. Our Director also dedicated time to further develop the intellectual foundations of Perspectiva’s work, leading to an essay published early in 2021 called Tasting the Pickle: Ten Flavours of Meta-crisis and the Appetite for a New Civilisation. This essay, also a chapter in Dispatches, helped clarify the basis of Perspectiva’s work for the next few years.
On Realisation: Our work here stems from the co-founders’ interest in Bildung, and from our prior work to build a transformative education alliance, supported by the JJ Trust. We partnered with St Giles House in Dorset to put on a festival that would act as a touchstone for the idea of transformative civic and aesthetic education, including an online event. In due course our work on realisation will manifest as accessible course material, in which the annual festival acts as a kind of flagship event.
On Praxis: We were encouraged by The Director of Public Engagement at the John Templeton Foundation to develop a funding application for the idea of The Antidebate, which, after several revisions, was successful at the end of the year. The idea of the project is to create a new social practice that combines the best of dialogue and debate, informed by intellectual humility and the desire to respond to cultural polarisation of all kinds.
On Emergence: As one of its three founding organisations Perspectiva took over operational and strategic control of Emerge, due to the need to put it on a sustainable footing. Emerge is partly a website featuring profile and insight pieces but is also an international (mostly Northern Europe) ‘network of networks’ and incipient social movement that shares an interest in the relationship between societal challenges and the inner lives of human beings. This process included taking over the European entity Cocreation.x gGmbH based in Berlin to make it easier to work with our European network, particularly in light of the impact of Brexit which may make it harder for organisations in the UK to raise funds within the EU. As part of this process we also began a recruitment process for a Director of Emergence at Perspectiva, to lead the Emerge project while also supporting Perspectiva’s broader work. Professor of Cultural History at the University of Kent, Anna Katharina Shaffner, was appointed.
2020 also featured a significant amount of work with the Designers, Sutherland Studios, which led to an elegant visual language to make sense of and help communicate Perspectiva’s work. This redesign was later featured in several Design magazines and led to the format of our books and essays, and informed our new website.
2020 ended with a newsletter capturing the scale of these developments, and clarifying plans for 2021 and beyond.
Financial review
The charity received funds totalling £375,319 (2019 - £322,572) and incurred costs totalling £325,625 (2019 - £322,572). At the year end the funds held by the charity amounted to £241,180 (2019 - £191,486).
Reserves policy
At present no specific reserves are maintained, this will be reviewed once the charity becomes more established and has secured further funding.
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Statement of trustees' responsibilities
The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Annual Report and the 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 financial year which give a true and fair view of charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that year. In preparing these financial statements the trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
On behalf of the trustees
Dr Jonathan Rowson Trustee
9[th ] November 2021
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Independent examiner's report to the trustees on the unaudited financial statements of Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society.
We report on the accounts of Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society for the period ended 31[st] December 2020 set out on page 6 to 9.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and independent examiner
As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts, you consider that the audit requirement of section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) does not apply and that an independent examination is needed. It is our responsibility to examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act, to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act, and to state whether particular matters have come to our attention.
Basis of independent examiner's statement
Our examination was carried out in accordance with the 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 we do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent examiner's statement
In connection with our examination, no matter has come to our attention:
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(i) which gives us reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep proper accounting records in accordance with section 41 of the Act; and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been met; or
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(ii) to which, in our opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
...........................................................
Ash & Associates
Chartered Accountants 2 London Wall Buildings London EC2M 5PP
9[th] November 2021
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Statement of financial activities For the year ended 31[st] December 2020
| Notes INCOMING RESOURCES Grants received 2 Events Publications Bank interest Total incoming resources RESOURCES EXPENDED Office Rent Staff costs 3 Consultants & researchers Event Costs 4 Office & IT Costs Attending conferences & seminars Publishing of materials Recruitment costs Accountancy fees Bank charges Total resources expended NET SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR Total funds brought forward TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD |
2020 £ 373,673 1,131 474 41 375,319 3,025 75,197 138,122 87,638 818 - 18,140 680 1,662 343 325,625 49,694 191,486 241,180 |
2019 £ 322,436 10 115 11 |
|---|---|---|
| 322,572 8,088 74,325 106,520 39,996 - 1,501 3,072 - 3,030 332 |
||
| 236,864 | ||
| 85,708 105,778 |
||
| 191,486 |
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Balance sheet as at 31[st] December 2020
| 2020 | 2019 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| FIXED ASSETS | |||||||
| Investment in subsidiary | 5 | 23,289 | |||||
| CURRENT ASSETS | |||||||
| Cash at bank and in hand | 219,091 | 193,586 | |||||
| CURRENT LIABILITES | |||||||
| Accrued expenses | (1,200) | (2,100) | |||||
| NET ASSETS | 241,180 | 191,486 | |||||
| FUNDS | |||||||
| Unrestricted fund | 241,180 | 191,486 | |||||
| TOTAL FUNDS | 241,180 | 191,486 |
The accounts were approved by the trustees on 9[th] November 2021 and signed on their behalf by:
Dr Jonathan Rowson Mr Hans Tomas Bjorkman Mr Ian Christie Trustee Trustee Trustee
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31[st] December 2020
1. Accounting policies
1.1 Basis of accounting
The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS102 are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with FRS102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”, “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS102 and the Charities Act 2011.
1.2 Incoming resources
All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income:
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Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable.
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Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included.
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Income from investments is included in the year in which it is receivable.
1.3 Resources expended
Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Expenditure includes any VAT which cannot be fully recovered, and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.
2. Grants Received
| nts Received The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust The Fetzer Institute The J J Charitable Trust Hans Tomas Bjorkman Friends Provident The Edith Maud Ellis Trust The Schopflin Foundation The Society for the Study of Science and Religion |
2020 £ - 287,429 - 86,244 - - - - 373,673 |
2019 £ 26,250 152,763 60,000 62,801 2,836 500 4,286 13,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 322,436 |
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Perspectives on Systems, Souls and Society Annual Report
Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31[st] December 2020
| 3. Staff costs Salaries Social security Pension contributions Average number of employees: 4. Event Costs Public Events New Economic Thinking / Friends Provident project Emerge Network – Berlin |
2020 £ 66,000 7,883 1,314 75,197 1 2020 £ 1,900 0 85,738 87,638 |
2019 £ 67,400 5,938 987 |
|---|---|---|
| 74,325 | ||
| 1 | ||
| 2019 £ 980 1,445 37,571 |
||
| 39,996 |
5. Investment in subsidiary
During the year the charity acquired Cocreation.x gGmbH a Berlin based non profit making organisation, to make it easier to work with our European network, particularly in light of the impact of Brexit which may make it harder for organisations in the UK to raise funds within the EU.
6. Related party transactions and trustees’ expenses and remuneration
The charity received grants totalling £86,244 (2019 - £52,801) from Mr Hans Thomas Bjorkman, one of the trustees.
During the year Dr Jonathan Rowson, was employed as the Charity’s full time Director, and received remuneration of £66,000 (2019 - £67,400) and pension contributions of £1,314 (2019 - £987), as permitted by the Charity’s constitution and approved by the remaining trustees.
The remaining trustees all give freely their time and expertise without any form of remuneration or other benefit in cash or kind (2019: £nil). Expenses re-imbursed to the trustees in the year totalled £nil (2019: £524).
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