## **Poetic Unity**
**Reports and Financial Statements for period ended 31[st] December 2020**
**Charity number: 1171832 Company number: 09882990**
## **Poetic Unity**
## **Contents of the Financial Statements for period ended 31[st] December 2020**
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|Company Information|1|
|Report of the Trustee's|2-5|
|Report of the Independent Examiner|6|
|Statement of Financial Activities|7|
|Balance Sheet|8|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|9|
|Income and Expenditure Account|10|
## **Poetic Unity**
# **Company Information for period ended 31[st] December 2020**
Trustee's: Sasha Shantel Bennett Naomi Louise McLean Lucrecia Seline Augustin Temwani Melida Mwale Secretary: Ryan Junior Matthews-Robinson Chief Executive: Ryan Junior Matthews-Robinson
Registered Address: 1 Windrush Square, Brixton, London, SW2 1EF Registered Company Number: 09882990 Registered Charity Number: 1171832
Independent Examiner: Mr P Okusi LCIE AFA MIPA
## **Poetic Unity**
## **Report of Trustee's for period ended 31[st] December 2020**
## **Incorporation and Registration**
Poetic Unity was incorporated on 20[th] November 2015 and registered with charity commission on 1[st] March 2017.
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
Poetic Unity is governed by the board of trustees and supported by dedicated staff and volunteers to provide the following objects for our beneficiaries.
1. To advance the education of young people through the subject of poetry and spoken word
2. To act as a resource for young people up to the age of 30 living in London by organising workshops programmes and events as a means of:
(a) advancing in life and helping young people by developing their skills, capacities, and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature, and responsible individuals.
(b) providing recreational and leisure time activity in the interests of social welfare for people living in the area of benefit who have need by reason of their youth, age, disability, poverty, or social and economic circumstances with a view to improving the conditions of life of such persons.
Poetic Unity works with children and vulnerable adults and has safeguarding and child protection policies in place to ensure our activities are conducted in a safe and friendly environment.
The trustee board ensures Poetic Unity is run in a legal way and is in line with charity commission law. The board, staff and volunteers work together to make sure the objects carried out in the community are done so effectively and
responsibly.
## **Objectives and Activities**
- Poetic Unity started off 2020 delivering services such as The Poets Corner, The Communion, Mandem Lets Talk and Last Friday at Black Cultural Archives,
- Theatre Peckham and London Nautical School between January-March providing 14 in person services for hundreds of young people aged 12-30 years old. It was
- announced on March 16th, 2020 that the UK would go into lockdown due to the
- Covid-19 pandemic. All of Poetic Unity’s services before this announcement had
- been delivered in person but it was decided by the board at an emergency meeting that a number of our programmes would go online to support our beneficiaries in this time of need. This included new and adapted programmes such as The Poets Corner Online, Quarantine Poems and The Communion Online. From the week beginning March 23rd, 2020 we started delivering all of our services online via
- Instagram, Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Throughout 2020 Poetic Unity partnered
- with other organisations to extend our impact and support more young people across the UK, this included creating The Laugh Word event with Streatham Space Project, the Get Started in Spoken Word programme with The Prince’s Trust and the
- MOPAC youth Programme with Southside Young Leaders Academy. Poetic Unity received critical funding from Southwark Council, City Bridge Trust, National Lottery Community Fund and London Community Foundation to support our beneficiaries and our sustainability throughout 2020. Poetic Unity’s online
- workshops and events proved to be incredibly successful and allowed us to support young people across the country. Before the pandemic Poetic Unity was largely a local charity with most of our work confined to London boroughs but now Poetic
- Unity is a national charity supporting young people across the country consistently with our online programmes. Between March 23[rd] – December 30[th] , 2020, Poetic Unity delivered 286 workshops and events online and 300 programmes overall in
- 2020 which is the most services we have provided in a single year. Although 2020
- was one of the most difficult years for society, it was a transformative one for Poetic Unity and proved that we can adapt and support our beneficiaries in all scenarios.
## **Achievements and Performance**
Poetic Unity directly supported over 1,000 young people in 2020 and it’s estimated that over 11,000 young people aged between 12-30 years old benefited from our services in total in 2020. However, the impact of our work far exceeds the young people we help directly which includes relieving stress on the friends and family of the young people we work with and building community cohesion in boroughs such as Lambeth which has some of the highest rates of youth violence in London. These services generally provided alternative education, personal development, safe and friendly environments, and mental health support.
## **Financial Review**
At the beginning of 2020 it was a concern that we wouldn’t have sufficient finances to continue some of our services due to the pandemic and the effect on the economy. Fortunately, Poetic Unity’s finances have significantly grown in 2020, coinciding with there being more need for our services. Young people have been struggling particularly with their mental health throughout the pandemic and our services have provided critical support for thousands of young people. Poetic
Unity has seen a significant growth in restricted funding with support from National Lottery Community Fund, London Community Foundation, City Bridge Trust and Southwark Council. Poetic Unity’s unrestricted funding has also grown with us building on our partnerships with the Prince’s Trust and Streatham Space
Project to provide more services for our beneficiaries. Poetic Unity has seen a growth in donations and regular donors who support the work we do. Poetic Unity’s financial forecast is healthy, and we expect to see more financial growth in 2021 with the need for our services becoming greater.
## **Public Benefit**
All the charity's activities are primarily aimed at the development of young people. In creating activities and providing services, the board have taken note of the guidance provided by charity commission on public benefit.
## **Risk Management**
The Board has taken into consideration the major strategic risks, operational risks, and the vulnerability of our beneficiaries. We can confirm our systems have been established to ensure our policies are up to date and reports can be produced when necessary to lessen these risks.
Approved by the board on 09/08/21 and signed on their behalf by
…………………………….. Naomi McLean
## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINATION REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS OF POETIC UNITY ON THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020.**
## **Respective responsibilities of the directors.**
The directors are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The directors consider that an audit is not required for this year.
It is our aim to:
- examine the accounts;
- state whether particular matters have come to our attention.
## **Basis of independent report**
Our review was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by Companies House. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the company 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 directors concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide any of the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair view” and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
## **Independent statement**
In connection with my inspection, no matter has come to my attention.
1. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
- to keep accounting records in accordance with section of the Act; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been met; or
2. to which, in my opinion, attention shown be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Thompson & Co Approved Independent Examiner & Financial Accountants 336-338 London Road Cricket Green CR4 3UD
## **Poetic Unity Statement of Financial Activities For The Year Ended 31[st] December 2020**
|**Poetic Unity**|**Poetic Unity**|**Poetic Unity**|**Poetic Unity**||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Statement of Financial Activities**|||||||||||||
|**For The Year Ended 31st December 2020**|||||||||||||
|||||**Unrestricted**||
**Restricted**|||**Total**|
**Total**|||
||||||**2020**||**2020**||**2020**|
**2019**|||
||||||**£**||**£**||**£**|
**£**|||
|**RECEIPTS**|||||||||||||
|Workshop|||||4,475||||4,475|
2,610|||
|National Lottery|||||||10,000||10,000|
10,000|||
|Southwark Council|||||||3,333||3,333||||
|London CommunityFoundation|||||||10,000||10,000||||
|CityBridge Trust|||||||10,000||10,000||||
|SYLA|||||4,650||||4,650||||
|St Gabriel College|||||700||||700||||
|Theatre Peckham|||||600||||600||||
|Princes Trust|||||18,200||||18,200||||
||||||||||||||
|New Conversations Funding||||||||||3,322|||
|Membership Fee|||||955||||955|
8,616|||
|Donation||||||||||373|||
|**Total Receipts**|||||29,580||33,333||62,913|
24,921|||
||||||||||||||
|**PAYMENTS**|||||||||||||
||||||||||||||
|Events Costs|||||||15,580||15,580|
18,267|||
|Advertising|||||46||1,433||1,479|
54|||
|Telephone / Fax / Internet.|||||||||||||
|Travel & Events|||||51||||51|
1,877|||
|Insurance|||||304||||304|
304|||
|Refreshments|||||||||||||
|Print/Postage/Stationery|||||498||||498|
623|||
|Trustee Meeting|||||||||||||
|Professional fees|||||9,850||||9,850||||
|Recruitment / Training|||||194||||194||||
|Bank Charges|||||||||||||
|Office Rent|||||||||||||
|Volunteer Expenses|||||||2,375||2,375||||
|Other Payments|||||71||||71|
622|||
|**Total Payments**|||||11,014||19,388||30,402|
21,747|||
|**Net Profit**|||||18,566||13,945||32,511||3,174||
|**Fund Brought Forward.**|||||4,794||||||||
|**Fund Balances, 31st December 2020**|||||23,360||13,945||37,305||||
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|We approve these accounts and|||confirm that we have made available all records||||||||||
|information necessaryfor theirpreparation|||||||||||||
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|……………………………||……..……|………………|……………….||Trustee|||||||
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||**POETIC UNITY**|||||||
||**BALANCE SHEET**|||||||
||**31-Dec-20**|||||||
|||||||||
|||**2020**||**2019**||||
||Note|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
||CURRENT ASSETS|||||||
||Cash at bank|37,305||5,044||||
|||||||||
||CREDITORS: Amounts fallingdue within oneyear||475||250|||
||||────||────|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
||NET CURRENT ASSETS||36,830||4,794|||
|||||||||
||||────||────|||
||TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES||36,830||4,794|||
||||════||════|||
|||||||||
||FUNDS|||||||
||||────||────|||
||TOTAL FUNDS||36,830||4,794|||
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||These financial statements were approved and signed bythe member of the committee||||on ...............|..........||
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## **Poetic Unity Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee Notes to the Financial Statements Year ended 31[st] December 2020.**
## **1 Basis of Preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared under the historic cost convention, following the recommendations of the Statement of Recommended Practice FRS 102.
## **2 Accounting Policies**
## **a) Income**
All income is accounted for on an accrual basis, except for voluntary donations, which are taken into account when received.
Grants are recognised in full during the year that they are received.
Incoming receipts from tax reclaims are included in the SOFA at the same time as the gift to which they relate.
## **b) Fixed Assets**
Fixed assets are stated at cost and depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of each asset over its expected useful life.
Computer equipment and office equipment 25% straight line basis. It is the Charity’s policy to capitalise fixed assets that are above a de minimus level of £250.
## **c) Funds held for restricted purposes**
Restricted funds represent income received by the Charity for specific purposes or areas.
## **d) Resources expended**
Resources are accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is appointed to cost categories based on the amount attributable during the year, including the cost of generating funds and charitable activities. Governance costs include legal costs and Trustee meetings only.
## **e) Recognition of Liabilities**
These financial statements recognise all liabilities that the charity has responsibility for. The charity is not aware of any contingent liabilities.
## **3 Trustee Expenses**
No expenses were claimed by Trustees in their role as Trustees, but some are also volunteers supporting the youth and also raising funds through events.