2022-03-31-accounts - Friends Of Street Children Bangladesh

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Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Registered charity name Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Charity registration number 1171061 Address for Correspondence 44 Slimmons Drive St Albans AL4 9AP

Board of Trustees

The trustees who served the charity during the period were as follows:

Michael John Sherriff (Chair) Saif Uddin Osmani (Vice-Chair/Treasurer) Anthony Stevens Mahreen Ferdous Dulon Miah (Resigned 12/2/2022) Thomas Lawrance Rensmann

Bankers Nat West

The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report and the financial statements for the charity for the period 1[st] April 2021 to 31st March 2022.

The trustees confirm that the financial statements comply with current statutory requirements.

OUR AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Purpose and aims

Our charity’s purpose as set out in the objects contained in the Constitution are:

The promotion of health and relief of need of children and young people living on, or connected with, the streets of Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh, in particular by supporting the work of street children LEEDO to reach children abandoned on the streets and to provide counselling, and residential facilities to meet their needs

The Trustees have developed the charity as a small organisation raising funds to support specific work undertaken by Street Children LEEDO in Bangladesh. This year we have continued to support non- formal education and social mobilisers working with children on the streets of Dhaka and in the transitional shelter at the station. We have also supported LEEDO’s forthcoming participation in the Street Child Football World Cup 2022 and a mentoring project with the older children of LEEDO Peace Home.

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

Public Benefit

During the reporting period the trustees have considered section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 and Charity Commission guidance on public benefit. We have sought to ensure that the charity is fulfilling its charitable purpose to benefit the public by raising funds for specific projects. This year we sent two grants to Bangladesh. One was provided by the Charitable Trust Education Services to support education on the street and at the transitional shelter that works with children who are, or have been, on the streets at the station. The second was for non-formal education and street social mobilisers. From funds received from the University of West England we also paid the participation fee for the LEEDO girls’ football team who will be taking part in the Street Child United Football World Cup 2022.

In our fifth year of operation, we have achieved the following outcomes from our work:

We have sent two grants to support the work of LEEDO
We have raised awareness of the position of street children in Bangladesh at our zoom fundraising events, which have included children from both the Peace Home and the shelter. We have arranged performances of songs and dance as part of a programme celebrating 50 years since the independence of Bangladesh and held an innovative art workshop on the theme of rivers as part of the Thames River Festival.
We have produced 2 issues of our newsletter and circulated to 180 subscribers
We have raised £3,273.24 from fundraising events and donations to support work with children who have survived on the streets of Dhaka.
We have developed our innovative mentoring scheme with volunteers from the UK and Bangladesh to provide advice on future careers for older children living at Peace Home
We are supporting LEEDO’s successful bid to send a team of girls to take part in the Street Child Football World Cup 2022
We now have 1,297 face book followers, an email circulation list of 200 and a regularly updated web site
We continue to use Golden Giving to raise funds and have also received donations using text giving
We have developed our you tube channel to raise awareness and assist our fundraising
We have linked with other organisations concerned with children who have survived on the streets- Street Child United and Give One Back in Germany
We have developed an Active Supporters’ Group, which includes 8 people willing to promote and organise events to raise funds for our work

The activities that we have undertaken to achieve these outcomes include:

Recruited 8 people to become Active Supporters of our work

Organised 3 on-line fundraising events, a quiz, an art workshop, a fundraising meal at a restaurant and taken part in a sleep out at Dhaka railway station.

Made use of on-line facilities including Eventbrite, you tube, zoom, on-line banking and text giving to enable us to function effectively during the UK “lock downs” and to enhance our overall effectiveness

Included regular posts on our face book page and updated our web site and youtube site

Worked with the Bangladesh Medical Students Association, a dancer, and an artist to provide advice to the older children of LEEDO about future career options

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

Collaborated with the University of West England to support the team of girls from LEEDO Peace Home taking part in the Street Child United Football World Cup 2022 in Doha

Grant making

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh awarded two grants to Street Children LEEDO in Dhaka, Bangladesh during 2021/22.

Volunteers

The trustees of Friends of Street Children Bangladesh are all volunteers, organising fundraising events, applying for funds, publicising the work of LEEDO, and providing support to initiatives such as the new mentoring initiative and the successful bid by LEEDO to take part in the 2022 Street Child Football World Cup. During the year we established an Active Supporters Group of 8 people who are willing to play a bigger role in our fundraising initiatives.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Our achievements are monitored at regular trustee meetings at which we consider our performance and progress. During the reporting period we raised £5,873 through on-line events, a sleep out, a fundraising meal, an application for a grant, and donations. We made regular use of our face book page and now have over 1,200 followers.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Statement of Financial Activities shows net incoming resources for the reporting period of £2,393.24 and our funds stand at £9,391.73 in total. Of these funds we have committed £6,350 to support the girls team participating in the Street Child Football World Cup and £1,500 to support the street school at Rayer Bazar in 2022/23. We have committed to supporting the Rayer Bazar School for the next 3 years and to supporting LEEDO’s participation in the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023.

The charity is dependent on fundraising and support from charitable Trusts, and individuals. We have registered with the inland revenue to claim gift aid from donations and have also established an online giving facility. We have held successful on-line and off-line fundraising events during the year.

All funds are held in a bank account with Nat West bank.

Reserves

Our plan is to hold £1,500 in uncommitted reserves at any one time. This sum is to enable us to support priority projects with LEEDO where we have not raised sufficient funds by the time the project commences. We are currently holding £9391.73 in reserves of which £7850 is committed to be sent as a grant to LEEDO at the beginning of 2022/3 with further commitments in subsequent years.

Going concern

The trustees confirm that Friends of Street Children Bangladesh is a going concern

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

Principal risks and uncertainties

During the year the trustees kept under review the risks faced by the charity. We hold a register of risks related to governance, finance, operations, external factors, and legal compliance. These risks and the action to mitigate them are kept regularly under review. Two trustees have previously attended workshops organized by the Charity Commission for recently formed charities working in high-risk areas internationally.

PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS

2021/22 was our fifth full year of operation as a charitable incorporated organisation. We have continued to make use of on-line facilities for our trustee meetings and fundraising and plan to continue to build on this experience in future. Our plans for the forthcoming period are:

To re-establish a programme of 2 or 3 fundraising meals at restaurants each year and explore whether it is possible to build on our links with restaurants to introduce a restaurant donation scheme like the one organised in Germany by Give One Back.
To organise an on-line fundraising event linked to the participation of the girls’ team from LEEDO in the Street Child Football World Cup 2022.
To hold a third online art workshop to raise funds
To send funds to LEEDO for the next 3 years to support the street school at Rayer Bazar
To support LEEDO’s participation in the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023
To support mentoring and guidance for older children at the Peace Home to help them live independently in future
We will continue to increase our following on face book, those viewing our web site and you tube channel and those receiving our newsletter. We will continue to maintain on-line giving facilities.
To continue to develop our Active Supporters Group
To recruit 2-3 new trustees with relevant skills to develop our work

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The charity is constituted as a charitable incorporated organisation and is governed by its constitution. The charity was registered on 10[th] January 2017

The provisions of the governing document have been complied with during the reporting period under review.

The trustees serve on a Board of Trustees consisting of at least three members. Apart from the first charity trustees, every appointed trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

At present there are 5 trustees. The trustees keep under review gaps in experience and expertise represented on the board and aim to recruit new trustees accordingly.

There are no staff employed by the charity.

STATEMENT OF THE TRUSTEES’ REPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with UK law and the Charities Act 2011.The statements of accounts, reports and returns must be sent to the Charity Commission, regardless of the income of the CIO, within 10 months of the financial year end.

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

As the gross income of the charity is less than £25,000 in the current financial year there is no requirement to have the accounts independently examined or audited.

The accounts are submitted on a receipts and payments basis.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with requirements of the Charities Act 2011. The trustees 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.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

The trustees’ report has been approved by the trustees on 2/4/2022 and signed on their behalf by:

Michael Sherriff Chairperson

Saif Osmani Vice- Chair

Correspondence Address: 44 Slimmons Drive St Albans AL4 9AP

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Registered Charity Number 1171061 Receipts and payments to 31/3/2021

Receipts

£

Grant:
Education services grant for LEEDO mobile school	2,600.00
Donations:
Golden Giving - 0nline donations	2,670.51
HMRC – Gift Aid	199.14
Paypal Giving	144.07
Donr (text giving)	54.52
Other donations	205.00
Other income:
UWE Support for Girls’ Football Team taking part	5,000.00
in Street Child Football World Cup 2022
TOTAL	10,873.24
(£8,768.22 - 2020-21)
Payments
Payment to LEEDO for social mobilisers and	5,000.00
non-formal education
Payment to LEEDO for education related to
work at the station	2,600.00
Street Child United- Participation fee for LEEDO
Team in Street Child Football World Cup 2022	850.00
Bank charges for fund transfers	30.00
TOTAL	8,480.00
(£7,782.50 - 2020-2021)
Receipts – Payments £10,873.24- £8,480	2,393.24
Carried forward from 2020-21	6,998.49

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2022

Balance at 31/3/2021 9,391.73

Bank Balance at 31/3/2021 = 9,391.73

Michael Sherriff Chair

Saif Osmani Vice Chair