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← Sadaka

2024-01-21-accounts

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 22 January 2023 Period start date Charity name: SADAKA Charity registration number: 1171075

To 21 January 2024 Period end date

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Objectives and Activities

SORP reference
Summary of the pur-
poses of the charity as
set out in its governing
document		 Para 1.17 Sadaka provides free weekly lunches and basic items for those struggling financially /
homeless in Reading. Sadaka provides a place to enjoy a hot meal, drinks and a chat,
at Fairview Community Centre, 90b Great Knollys Street, Reading RG1 7HL. Sadaka
operates every Saturday (10:00am-1:00pm). We also provide free toiletries, second-
hand books, fruit / ambient food and signposting to similar services.
Alongside our meal services, we also run a Wellbeing programme for our service
users, launched in September 2020 (formerly known as StepUp with Sadaka). This
comprises creative activities (including workshops with visiting artists) and English
language teaching, with a focus on promoting mental and social wellbeing.
Sadaka also runs an outreach project to help families with children in Reading with
groceries, as children are not able to attend our service on Saturday.
CHARITABLE OBJECTIVES:
1) The prevention and relief of poverty and financial hardship in greater Reading by
providing: food, clothing and basic household items to individuals in need and sup-
porting other organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty in greater reading
2) The promotion of equality and diversity for the public benefit by promoting
activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds and in
particular, different religions.
3) The promotion of religious harmony for the benefit of the public by:
(a) Educating the public in different religious beliefs including an awareness of their
distinctive features and their common ground to promote good relations between per-
sons of different faiths;
(b) Promoting knowledge and mutual understanding and respect of the beliefs and
practices of different religious faiths.
4) To advance Islam in greater Reading for the benefit of the public, in particular by
arranging visits to mosques by school children to enlighten them about the Muslim
faith and by such other means as the trustees may determine.
Please Note: Sadaka contacted Charity Commission on 14 Feb 2020 to amend
objective 4) to:
“To work towards a greater understanding of Islam by demonstrating the public good
contributed by its followers, together with people of other beliefs and no beliefs”.
But, this request was rejected_._

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

SORP reference
Summary of the main
activities in relation to
those purposes for the
public benefit, in par-
ticular, the activities,
projects or services
identified in the ac-
counts.		 Para 1.17 and
1.19		 In 2023, the charity supported the relief of poverty and financial hardship in Greater
Reading by a weekly free, nutritional, warm meal service, provided alongside
toiletries and food essentials to those struggling financially.
We continued our service to help families in need and female victims of domestic
violence (in collaboration with Berkshire Women’s Aid [BWA]).
We also continued and developed our Wellbeing programme (formerly StepUp with
Sadaka), providing creative activities and English language teaching in a supportive
safe space to support our guests’ mental and social wellbeing, with signposting to
other services and training courses as needed.
Sadaka services are available to all beneficiaries without judgement or bias. The
charity is privileged to have trustees, members and volunteers from a diversity of
backgrounds, faiths and beliefs, and all are valued equally. Sadaka operates with an
ethos whereby “everyone matters” and respect for others is central to all our actions.
In 2023, Sadaka reiterated our commitment to an open, supportive and inclusive
philosophy.
Main Activities in 2023:
1) Food service
a) Saturday meal service
We continued with our weekly food service in 2023 to serve an average of 67 people

every Saturday. We operated from the Fairview Community Centre.
We provided4120 meals(+10% from previous year). We gave out essentials such

as sugar, milk, coffee, washing up powder, biscuits, toiletries, noodles and soup.
Main meals are cooked by our volunteers, who have food safety certificates or

purchased by Sadaka from local restaurants (once a month). The main meal cost on

average £300 when purchased from restaurants, £120 when cooked by a caterer or

£80 when cooked by volunteers (with the cost of ingredients such as meat, provided

by Sadaka).
In addition, our volunteers donated vegetarian dishes, fresh fruit and desserts to

complete the meals.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Gift bags were also given out for Eid and Christmas and chocolate eggs for Easter. The Christmas gift bags were funded partly by Domo Systems LTD and prepared by Sadaka volunteers. We provided items to treat our service users such as deodorant and chocolates. The sessions were coordinated by 5 session leaders and we managed to secure about 20 chefs from our volunteer pool, who cooked / baked for us on a regular basis. We also developed partnerships with local restaurants to provide the main meal once a month (Kobeda Palace, Yaadgaar, and others). Some restaurants donate the full meal and some cook it for us at a discounted price. b) Meals for Reading university students In March / April we provided a total of 400 meals to struggling students at Reading University during Ramadan. This included a main meal and snacks. We are planning to continue and develop this initiative in the future.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

2) Helping families in need with groceries and women & children fleeing domestic violence With many Reading families struggling as costs go up and incomes reduce, Sadaka stepped in and expanded our work with families in need. We did this in several ways. In 2023 Sadaka continued helping families in need (especially single mothers) and women & children who were fleeing domestic violence. a) Groceries for families in need We provided grocery shopping for 15 families. A group of 10 volunteers shopped and delivered groceries to each family on a weekly basis, based on lists provided by the families. Each family was allocated a budget between £30 and £60 a week for a maximum of 4 deliveries. £2400 was spent on this project in 2023. The families were all based in Reading and were on benefits or without resources, struggling to make ends meet. We offered a tailored service by asking them exactly what they needed and delivered it to their doorstep. The service was highly appreciated by all the families. We also provided 40 clothes vouchers to families supporting a total of 80 children. An additional £2000 was spent on this. Sadaka is continuing this project in 2024 to help families with the increased cost of living. b) Emergency food packs to families in a local shelter We continued to provide emergency food bags to new arrivals at a local refuge. These are women who are escaping domestic violence, with or without their children. They come to the refuge with no assets and are helped to start a new life. Over the last year, Sadaka provided 40 food bags, some of them receiving more than one food parcel in cases of delay to their welfare benefits. We also supported them through gifts and clothing vouchers for children. 3) Wellbeing programme (formerly StepUp with Sadaka) Keeping the format decided upon last year, we continued to run Wellbeing sessions every Saturday between 10am and 11.30am at Fairview Community Centre, with the aim of supporting our service users’ mental and social wellbeing. Part of these sessions is the creative table, which service users can join for a variety of therapeutic activities; painting, sketching, colouring, creative writing, crochet, word search, puzzles and the like. We also provide a range of donated books which guests are welcome to take. People engage in these activities as they please and talk about what is going on in their lives, with other service users, but also with volunteers over cups of tea and coffee. Guests have told us repeatedly that this gives them a reason to get out of bed on a Saturday morning and helps reduce their isolation. This year we developed our creative activities further by holding special art workshops for our service users to work with guest artists, in collaboration with Museums Partnership Reading. Building on this, in September 2023 we put on our first ever art exhibition to showcase creative work (sketches, paintings, decorated objects and even crochet) produced by service users and volunteers during Wellbeing sessions. The event was attended by service users, volunteers and members of the public and received local press coverage, bringing greater awareness to the breadth of Sadaka’s activities.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

In parallel to our creative offering, we also delivered weekly English classes for recent arrivals in the community, including those from Eastern Europe, Hong Kong and Afghanistan. The popularity of these classes, particularly with the Reading Hong Kong community, and wide spread in English proficiency meant that we expanded our service to deliver two levels of teaching (basic and intermediate) when required. Some of our English students have reported that they feel less social isolation and greater integration with the local community as a result, with some becoming regular volunteers themselves for our meal service. At least 65 people accessed these sessions last year, some of them attending almost every week. The maximum attendance at any one session was 16 for creative activities, and 12 for English classes. Sadaka regularly updates a printed list of local services which is shared with guests. This includes food services as well as other sources of support, for example housing, welfare benefits, mental health and so on. Many are referred on to other services or organisations; for example, we make regular referrals to Cowshed for those who need clothes, or to places like The Early Charity and New Directions for training and development opportunities.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Statement confirming
whether the trustees
have had regard to the
guidance issued by the
Charity Commission
on public benefit		 Para 1.18 N/A

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

SORP
reference
Policy on grant mak-
ing		 Para 1.38 N/A
Policy on social in-
vestment including
program related in-
vestment		 Para 1.38 N/A
Contribution made
by volunteers		 Para 1.38 All volunteers devote time, effort and care to the service (meal ser-
vices, training programme, helping families and women & children in
need…) with members contributing a little more outside of Saturday
service hours to administration, training and other efforts.
In addition, many volunteers make regular donations to Sadaka (food,
milk, gift bags…).
All volunteers are great ambassadors to help us raise awareness and
bring in more volunteers and donations.
Sadaka has progressed in up-skilling volunteers and members to take
up leadership roles during (Session Leaders) and outside service hours.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Other The charity will continue to encourage diversity and inclusion at all
levels and expand its services to help as many people as possible in
Reading.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Achievements and Performance

SORP
reference
Summary of the
main achievements
of the charity, iden-
tifying the differ-
ence the charity’s
work has made to
the circumstances of
its beneficiaries and
any wider benefits to
society as a whole.		 Para 1.20 Sadaka has served about 4120 meals in 2023, winning much satisfaction from
its service users for our freshly cooked hot meals and for providing a warm and
welcoming environment since January 2017.
We provide hot meals, hot drinks and snacks inside, in a friendly atmosphere.
We offer a safe place to our service users to have a meal and a chat. Our chefs
are all trained and have a food certificate to cook diverse and balanced meals
meeting safety standards.
We also make every effort to reach more people and adapt to help people who
can’t come to us, especially families with kids who struggle with food. Our
dedicated volunteers go above and beyond to shop and deliver for families and
build a relationship with them in case they need help in the future.
Sadaka has become a local brand which other charities and groups are
comfortable / seek to work with. We also have to acknowledge the fantastic help
of Kaneez Bi Foundation (KBF) this last year who donated main meals.
In addition to expanding our work with families, Sadaka also evolved and
expanded activities to improve the wellbeing of our service users. This has
become an indispensable part of the Sadaka offer.
•

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Summary of the
main achievements
of the charity, iden-
tifying the differ-
ence the charity’s
work has made to
the circumstances of
its beneficiaries and
any wider benefits to
society as a whole.		 Para 1.20 Sadaka’s Achievements:
1. Sadaka’s biggest achievement was that we continued to provide a hot meal

service every Saturday of the year without fail.
2. We served 10% more hot meals at our Saturday meal services this year as

compared to last (3769 in 2022 and 4120 in 2023).
3. We increased the number of meals provided to Reading university students

by a factor of 5 (80 in 2022 and 400 in 2023).
4. We strengthened our collaboration with organisations including Kaneez Bi

Foundation, One Nation, Clean Conscience, Baby Bank, Berkshire

Women’s Aid and various supermarkets. These collaborations allowed us to

reach more people in need and secure more donations and volunteers.
5. We maintained our financial stability and once more ended the year with a
very healthy balance at a time when many other charities are struggling
financially.
6. Sadaka's Wellbeing programme was accessed by 65 service users during

the year.
7. We put on our first art exhibition to showcase creative work produced by

service users and volunteers during Wellbeing sessions, which was

attended by service users, volunteers and members of the public and

received local press coverage.
8. We resumed our attendance at public social events by attending the East

Reading festival to raise awareness and funds for our services.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Achievements
against objectives set		 Para 1.41 N/A
Performance of fund-
raising activities
against objectives set		 Para 1.41 N/A
Investment perfor-
mance against objec-
tives		 Para 1.41 N/A
Other N/A

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Financial Review

Review of the char-
ity’s financial posi-
tion at the end of the
period		 Para 1.21 Sadaka had a stable year from a financial point of view. Fundraising was
deliberately managed in such a way that income was almost exactly
matched by expenses. It was deemed frugal to not raise funds excessively
as Sadaka is sitting on healthy reserves. Being a volunteer led charity,
everyone already gives a lot of time and there was no capacity to expand
services beyond what was currently being delivered.
Income dropped this year, based on the reasons explained above, falling
from £31,564 last year to £23,341 this year.
Expenses were slightly higher than last year, £23,376 as compared to
£21,663. This was in line with inflation and the general rise in the cost of
living.
In terms of income, the major difference was that grants represented 63%
of the total raised last year. While this year, online platforms were
promoted more and contributed 73% towards income generation. This was
a deliberate shift as the competition for grants continues to increase in the
charity sector.
In terms of expenses, we spent much more on meals this year; £6071 as
compared to £3884 last year. This was because we witnessed a steady rise
in the number of service users across the year, while the cost of food also
went up at the same time.
We reduced the number of groceries given out to our Saturday service users
as time and resources went into the families project. This caused a shift in
money spent on ambient food and groceries.
One extra cost item was clothing vouchers for struggling families, against
income received for this at the end of the previous year.
Sadaka ended the financial year with almost the same amount of cash
(£57,702) as we had at the start of the year (£57,737). Of this, £17,000 was
set aside as free unrestricted reserves in a separate bank account to provide
a level of working capital that protects the continuity of our core work,
supports any unexpected opportunities and covers any unforeseen
expenditures. This will cover roughly 9 months of operating costs at last
year’s levels should the need arise.
Sadaka’s stable financial position is testament to the efforts of trustees,
members and volunteers, who continue to offer valuable time and food
donations for our service users. This also signals robust bookkeeping and
steady control over finances, at a time when many charities are struggling
to stay afloat, and demand for services like ours is an all-time high.
Statement explaining
the policy for hold-
ing reserves stating
why they are held		 Para 1.22 To provide a level of working capital that protects the continuity of our
core work, supports any unexpected opportunities and covers any
unforeseen expenditures. This will cover 6 months of operating costs at last
year’s levels should the need arise.
Amount of reserves
held		 Para 1.22 Sadaka maintains £17,000 free unrestricted reserves in a separate bank
account.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Reasons for holding
zero reserves		 Para 1.22 N/A
Details of fund mate-
rially in deficit		 Para 1.24 N/A
Explanation of any
uncertainties about
the charity continu-
ing as a going con-
cern		 Para 1.23 There are no ongoing concerns as Sadaka enjoys a comfortable financial

position and sufficient sustainability for upcoming plans and expenditures.

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of char-
ity’s trusts:
Type of governing
document
(trust deed, royal
charter)		 Para 1.25 Constitution document
How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g. unincorporated
association, CIO)		 Para 1.25 Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Trustee selection
methods including
details of any consti-
tutional provisions
e.g. election to post
or name of any per-
son or body entitled
to appoint one or
more trustees		 Para 1.25 See constitution document for full details

Additional information (optional)

You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Policies and proce-
dures adopted for the
induction and train-
ing of trustees		 Para 1.51
The charity’s organi-
sational structure and
any wider network
with which the char-
ity works		 Para 1.51 Sadaka comprises a Board of 6 Trustees, with about 60 active
volunteers and 6 Members, in keeping with its CIO Model.
Sadaka works with Street Support Network, which is a partnership of
charities and statutory organisations working together to end rough
sleeping and homelessness in Reading.
Relationship with
any related parties		 Para 1.51
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name Sadaka
Other name the charity uses
Registered charity number 1171075
Charity’s principal address 47 ASH ROAD
TILEHURST
RG30 4SG

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if
not for whole
year		 Name of person (or body)
entitled to appoint trustee
(if any)
1 Youssef Alla Chair Voted in by serving Trus-
tees
2 Zobia Kalim Treasurer Voted in by serving Trus-
tees
3 Fatima Alla-Saouiki Operations Manager Voted in by serving Trus-
tees
4 Thomas Williams Secretary 04/08/2023
onwards		 Voted in by serving Trus-
tees
5 Joe Gibbons Food Safety Lead Voted in by serving Trus-
tees
6 Shazia Fazal Events Lead 14/02/2023
onwards		 Voted in by serving Trus-
tees

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole
year

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in
this capacity		 N/A
Name and objects of the charity
on whose behalf the assets are
held and how this falls within the
custodian charity’s objects		 N/A
Details of arrangements for safe
custody and segregation of such
assets from the charity’s own as-
sets		 N/A

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of Name Address
adviser

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

DocuSign Envelope ID: EF17BE65-FA86-4798-8FAF-A93E88DA8C0D

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

----- Start of picture text -----
Signature(s)
Full name(s) Thomas Williams Youssef Alla
Position (eg Secretary, Secretary Chair
Chair, etc)
Date 10th May 2024 10 [th] May 2024
----- End of picture text -----

Classification - Internal Classification - Internal

CHARITYCOMMISSION CHARITYCOMMISSION Sadaka Sadaka Charity
FORENGLANDANDWALES 1171075
Receiptsandpayments accounts CC16a
Fortheperiod 22-Jan-23 To 21-Jan-24
from
SectionAReceipts andpayments
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds		 Endowment
funds		 Total funds Lastyear
tothenearest tothe nearest£tothenearest£
to thenearest£		 tothenearest£
A1Receipts
Corporatedonations 2,200
Grants 5,230 5,230 20,036
Fundraisingplatforms 16,574 550 17,124
Individualdonations 77 910 987
Subtotal(Grossincome
forAR) 16,651 6,690 23,341 31,762
A2Assetandinvestment
sales, (seetable).
Subtotal
Totalreceipts 16,651 6,690 23,341 !
A3Payments
Meals 3,063 3,008 6,071 3,885
Ambient Food & Essentials 1,349 1,349 1,158
Supplies 1,639 1,639 1,256
Storage 3,505 3,505
Venue 2,054 1,022 3,076 2,032
Foodforfamilies 3,317 3,317 5,138
Fundraising&Marketing 436 436 476
Festivalgifts 434 434 803
Insurance 368 368
Phone&Zoomcharges 122 122 299
Voluntertraining&expenses 48 48
ServiceUsertraining& 596 596 335
Miscellaneous 360 360 360
Clothes for children 2,056 2,056 1,087
Sub total 13,378 9,999 23,377 21,785
A4Assetandinvestment
purchases, (see table)
Subtotal
Totalpayments 13,378 9,999 23,377 21,785
Vetof receipts/(payments) 3,273 3,309 36 9,977
A5Transfersbetweenfunds
A6Cash funds last year end
46,732		 11,005 57,737 47,759)
Cashfundsthisyearend
50,005		 7,696! 57,701 57,736
CCXXR1accounts(SS) 1 28/10/2024
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Categories Details funds
tonearest£		 funds
tonearest£		 funds
tonearest£
B1Cashfunds Restricted 7,696
Unrestricted 33,005
Unrestrictedinreserves 17,000
Totalcashfunds 50,005 7,696
(agreebalenceswithreceiptsandpayments
account(9))
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds
Details tonearest£ to nearest £ to nearest
82 Other monetary
assets
Details Fundtowhich
asset belongs		 Cost(optional) Currentvalue
(opticna}
B3Investmentassets
Details Fundtowhich
asset belongs		 Cost(optional) Currentvalue
(optional)
B4Assetsretainedfor
the charity's own use
Fundtowhich Amountdue Whendue
Details liabilityrelates (optional) (optional)
B5 Liabilities
Signedbyoneortwotrusteeson
behalf ofallthe trustees
Signature		 Print Name Date of
approval
ioS2024t
XR3accounts(SS) TREASMRER 28110r2024