2024-03-31-accounts - Friends Of Street Children Bangladesh

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DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

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 (Resigned 28/5/2023) Thomas Lawrance Rensmann Syeda Momotaz Rahim Rumana Yasmin (Resigned 24/3/2024)

Bankers

Nat West

The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report and the financial statements for the charity for the period 1[st] April 2023 to 31st March 2024.

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 participation in the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023. We launched the bi-lingual book, “The Street is Not a Home”, written with children using LEEDO services, at a successful event in the UK held at the Hasan Raja Centre in Tower Hamlets. Profit from sale of the book will support the work of LEEDO in Dhaka.

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

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 LEEDO in Bangladesh totalling £10,000. These grants were to support education with children on the streets, to contribute to the cost of sending a team from the Peace Home to take part in the Street Child United Street Child Cricket World Cup, and to contribute to the cost of outreach, education, and transitional accommodation for children at the station.

In our seventh 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 through the UK launch of our book based on the experiences of children who have used the services of LEEDO. This included input from the Chief Executive of the Consortium for Street Children.
We have produced 2 issues of our newsletter and circulated to over 200 subscribers.
• We have raised £4,144.96 from fundraising events and donations, including sale of our book and copies of prints from the book, to support work with children who have survived on the streets of Dhaka.
We successfully applied for a grant to support LEEDOs work at the railway station in Dhaka
We supported LEEDO’s successful participation in the Street Child Cricket World Cup 2023 and assisted with the organisation of a reception at the British High Commission in Dhaka to raise awareness about, and gain support for, the work of LEEDO.
We held 2 fundraising meals.
We piloted a zakat appeal for funds during Ramadan.
We shared information about street connected children in Bangladesh and promoted our book at a school assembly and summer fair, and through a presentation at an arts festival.
We have 1,300 face book followers, an email circulation list of over 200 and a regularly updated web site.
We use the People’s Fundraising platform for on-line giving. Some people now donate by Standing Order, and we also have occasional donations from other supporters as well as contributions when we organise events,
We have a 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 adopted a new incident reporting policy.

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

Our trustees meet regularly to plan and monitor the work – this is mainly by zoom but included one face to face meeting.

We organised an event to launch our book “ The Street is not a Home” in the UK.

We supported LEEDO to organise an event at the British High Commission in Dhaka to raise funds and awareness about the cricket team participating in the Street Child Cricket World Cup.

Organised 2 fundraising meals – one in London and one in St Albans.

Made use of an on-line giving platform (People’s Fundraising)

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

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

Maintained an email mailing list and circulated 2 newsletters and other information as relevant.

Piloted a zakat appeal to raise funds for work with children at the station.

Made applications to charitable trusts.

Promoted and sold our book based on the experiences of street connected children with whom LEEDO has worked at events and in local book shops.

Grant making

Friends of Street Children Bangladesh awarded two grants to Street Children LEEDO in Dhaka, Bangladesh during 2023/24.

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 successful bid by LEEDO to take part in the 2023 Street Child Cricket World Cup. Apart from our trustees we are assisted by people who volunteer at our events such as the UK book launch and fundraising meals.

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 £7,144.96 from events, fundraising meals, a trust application, donations, and sales of our book “The Street is not a Home”. We made regular use of our face book page and now have over 1,300 followers.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The Statement of Financial Activities shows net outgoing resources for the reporting period of £4,018.54. The funds held, due to surpluses in previous years, stand at £7608.47 in total. Of these funds we have committed £2,000 to support the street school at Rayer Bazar in 2024/25. We are also committed to supporting work with children at the station, including work at the LEEDO shelter near the station, in 2024/5.

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 several successful 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

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

the project commences. On 31[st] March 2024 we were holding £7,608.47 in reserves of which £2,000 has already been sent to LEEDO for work at Rayer Bazar. The trustees have also decided to send more funds to support work with children at the station during 2024/5.

Going concern

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

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

2023/24 was our seventh full year of operation as a charitable incorporated organisation. Our plans for the forthcoming period are:

To continue a programme of 2 or 3 face to face fundraising events, including meals each year.
To build on our experience of on-line fundraising during the COVID pandemic by reintroducing on-line fundraising events.
To continue to promote our book, including at events, bookshops, and using our own on-line bookshop,
To continue to raise funds using the People’s Fundraising platform.
To encourage more regular donations by standing order
To encourage supporters to raise funds on their own initiative – for example when celebrating special occasions such as birthdays or by organising events.
To encourage schools and other organisations to support us.
To support the street school at Rayer Bazar during the next year and then to review
To support the work that LEEDO does with children at the railway station.
To recruit at least two new trustees
To apply for funds from trusts and foundations that we have not previously approached.
To develop use of the book published by Bok Bok books to raise awareness and funds to support the work of LEEDO.
We will continue to maintain our following on face book and our web site, and you tube presence.
To produce two copies of our newsletter each year, to circulate to 200+ subscribers and promote it online.

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.

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

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.

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 22/5//2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Michael Sherriff Chairperson

Saif Osmani Vice- Chair

Correspondence Address: 44 Slimmons Drive St Albans AL4 9AP

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

Friends	of Street Children Bangladesh
Registered Charity Number 1171061
Receipts and payments to 31/3/2023
Receipts		£
Grant:
Education services grant for LEEDO work at station		3,000.00
Donations:
Peoples Fundraising - 0nline donations		2,349.31
HMRC – Gift Aid		432.76
Other donations		767.01
Other income:
Book/ print sales		595.88
TOTAL		7,144.96
(£10,178.28 – 2022-3)
Payments
Payments to LEEDO for Street Child Cricket, education and
Work at the railway station		10,000.00
Street Child United (Cricket Tournament participation fee)		550.00
Printing costs		526.00
Postage		57.50
Bank charges for fund transfers		30.00
TOTAL		11,163.50
(£7,943 - 2022-2023)
Receipts – Payments	£7,144.96- £11,163.5	- 4,018.54
Carried forward from 2022-23		11.627.01

DRAFT Friends of Street Children Bangladesh Trustees Report and Accounts For the period to end of 31 March 2024

Balance at 31/3/2024 7,608.47

Bank Balance at 31/3/2023 = 7,608.47

Michael Sherriff

Chair

Saif Osmani Vice Chair