2023-06-05-accounts - Afrocats

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Charity Number: 1173334

Afrocats

Report and financial statements For the year ended 5[th] June 2023

Afrocats

Reference and administrative information

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

Charity number 1173334 Registered office and operational address

83 Ducie Street, Manchester, M1 2JQ

Trustees Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:

Reina Euphemia Jukon Yaidoo Chair Linzi Jane Stirrup Secretary Pauline Adjemo Trustee Ruth Alison Bellhouse Trustee (left in July 2022)

Key management Magdalen Bartlett

Chief Executive Officer

personnel

Bankers Lloyds

42-46 Market St, Manchester M1 1PW

Independent Examiner Catherine Hall FCCA DChA Slade & Cooper Limited

Beehive Mill,

Jersey St, Manchester, M4 6JG

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

The trustees present their report and the unaudited financial statements for the year ended 5[th] June 2023.

Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the charity's trust deed and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.

Objectives and activities

The promotion of social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society.

For the purpose of this clause, 'socially excluded' means being excluded from society or parts of society, as a result of one or more of the following factors: unemployment; financial hardship; youth; ill-health (physical or mental); discrimination on the grounds of race, ethnic origin, religion, belief, creed; poor educational and skills attainment.

Our vision : A robust and more inclusive society for asylum-seekers, refugees and diverse young people.

Our mission : To build agency, aspiration and opportunity for women and young people to improve their overall life chances through creative engagement.

The trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The trustees report on the success of each key activity and the benefits they have brought to the charity beneficiaries. The review also helps the trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities have remained focused on its stated purposes.

The trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

Our programmes

All Afrocats charitable activities are programmes for work refugees, asylum seekers and young people from diverse backgrounds. Afrocats’ activities focus on three thematic strands:

Inclusion
Health and wellbeing
Opportunities for development

Our programmes are guided by our theory of change which outlines how we will achieve our vision for society. All activities are delivered to further Afrocats' charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Natives of the World

On our Natives of the World programme, we work with adults from marginalised backgrounds. Through our activities, everyone can feel included and part of society. We aim for the adults we work with to access volunteering and creative activities to improve their well-being and employability skills.

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

The adult refugees and asylum seekers we work with often experience complex health and social care needs. Our support is focused primarily on newly granted stay, low-wage or unemployed adults who suffer from low self-esteem and confidence, and those that have poor mental health.

Youth of the World

Youth of the World is our programme for young people to broaden their horizons. We work with children and young people aged 5 to 18 who do not have access to activities and education support. Without this, young people have low aspirations and limited future employment opportunities.

The children and young people we work with are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The children and young people who access our programmes include young refugees and asylum seekers, home-schoolers, children from low-wage households and young carers.

Achievements and performance

From 2022 to 2023 Afrocats worked with:

187 adults
78 children and young people
26 volunteers
15 diverse facilitators
33 commissioners who were schools, businesses and cultural organisations
8 partners

To deliver:

29 Saturday sessions for Youth of the World
107 events for women on Natives of the World
8 events for families
30 wellbeing boxes
28 outdoor experiences
8 commissioned activities for school children
4 training sessions for organisations

A highlight of our year was the opportunity for the children and young people on Youth of the World to walk with Little Amal at the Manchester Day Parade thanks to our partners, Walk The Plank. This also gave Afrocats a platform to promote our charity to the thousands of people who lined the streets of Manchester to watch the parade.

We continued to deliver our Saturday youth programme funded with thanks to BBC Children in Need and the Didymus Trust. The sessions provided creative, cultural activities for children and young people who have little or no access to supplementary education. We focused on giving diverse artists to deliver creative activities such as circus skills, crafts and animation for children aged 5 - 11 and youth leadership and debate with the young people aged 12+. Our Christmas party was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of the young people on our programmes with a showcase of work. We commissioned the production of a film to act as a legacy of our work over the year so the children could have a record of how their confidence has grown.

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

“My hopes for the future are to be successful, be confident, and speak about the things that need to be spoken about.”

This year we were awarded a Spirit of Manchester Award for our work with communities, where we use creative facilitation and cultural sensitivity to help women develop connections and networks. With funding from Arnold Clark Community Fund and support from Cross Street Chapel, every Friday women on our Natives of the World programme join together for two hours to talk, dance and have good conversations at our Table Talk group, an initiative led by an Afrocats beneficiary.

“I want to get a paid job and leading Table Talk helps give me the confidence to make that happen. It helps me develop day-by-day because Afrocats believes in me.”

We were delighted to end this year working with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the Caribbean and African Health Network (CAHN), and Ardwick and Longsight Primary Care Network to explore ways to improve maternity care for women from Eastern African backgrounds living in Longsight. 15 women from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia took part in weekly sessions to begin to dismantle the communication barriers they experience in their journey to motherhood. The sessions aimed to connect pregnant women and mothers with local health and social services to improve their lifestyles.

"Here you can get help, ask about anything you want, before I did not know about Surestart, I only hear about Sure Start here. In this group you can get support if your child can't speak, we now know about speech therapists. My wellbeing has improved and I will keep coming and also tell people to come."

Strategic partnerships

Our strategic partnerships have helped us to further opportunities for the people we work with across our thematic strands.

We developed a new partnership with The Menopause Charity to deliver information, advice and guidance to asylum seekers and refugees facing considerable barriers to healthcare access. Through our work, we offered a friendly and safe place for women to talk about their reproductive health, raise much-needed awareness around the menopause experience, and dismantle widespread illusions surrounding it.

“Very motivating and answers a lot of my doubts and concerns about the menopause.”

Our partnership with the Whitworth Art Gallery aims to make the gallery a place of sanctuary for refugees and asylum seekers. During each school holiday of 2022, 1674 families engaged in the activities, a record number of visitors since re-opening after the pandemic. 90% of families visiting had never visited the gallery before. For our takeover in April, we took our partnership outside with 600 families participating over three days, braving the Manchester weather. At our final gallery takeover of the year, drumming and storytelling artist Godfrey told participants:

“you don’t have to be a good singer or dancer, from Africa if you can walk or talk you can sing and dance.”

The partnership has led to a change in practice at the gallery. Which now provides family information and activity signage in Urdu, Farsi and Persian. Afrocats artists have helped diversify the Whitworth artist practitioner team. And Afrocats delivered training to all staff so they have the knowledge, understanding and empathy needed to welcome those seeking asylum in the city.

We were pleased to continue to develop our partnership with Women Asylum Seekers Together to deliver cultural dance workshops funded by the Caribbean and African Health Network. The sessions gave the women something to look forward to each week, supporting their health and wellbeing.

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

We have worked with WAST on My Community, My Cookbook; a National Lottery Community Fund project to build connections and cooking skills amongst women seeking asylum. And, thanks to funding from Sport England and the Canal and River Trust we have been able to develop a walking project for women across both of our networks.

School workshops

We have been commissioned to deliver Afrocats workshops in schools across Greater Manchester, during the period we worked with 663 children in schools:

26% were white British
73% were from other backgrounds
23% had a disability
72% were girls

Training and mentoring

During this year we have developed a new strand of work, training for cultural organisations and businesses and mentoring for diverse artists. Working with our partners such as MADE and Whitworth we have delivered training in arts and trauma and improving accessibility for people seeking asylum and refugees.

“Magdalen provided an exceptional session for us. It gave us the opportunity to learn more about Afrocats and different approaches to delivering and documenting trauma-informed work. The space was safe, creative and allowed the group opportunities to reflect on their own practice.”

This is an area of work that we plan to grow next year and have begun fundraising so we can develop this work further.

Fundraising achievements

In June 2022 were delighted to have been successfully awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to develop our capacity as an organisation. This news kickstarted a year of successful fundraising performance for Afrocats. With thanks to our corporate and community partners, individual donors and a gift-in-kind donation from Cash For Kids Mission Christmas we raised over £4,000 for our Christmas appeal and were able to provide a gift for every child we work with.

8 new grant funders
1 regular giver
11 donors
3 new community partners
3 corporate donations

Marketing and audience development

Over 2022 - 2023 we continued to develop our reach and engage our audiences.

Social media statistics

Facebook	Page visits 377	Impressions 4,376	Reactions 655	Post Reach 2,898	New Fans 21

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

	Up 63.2%	Up 37%	Up 41%	Up 15%
Twitter	Impressions 21,00 Up 73%	Engagements 173 Up 18%	New followers 211 Up 53%
LinkedIn	Engagement Rate 6.48% Up 25%	Clicks 114 Up 14%	Impressions 3,467 Up 37%	New Followers 28 Up 43%
Instagram	Reach 19,204 Up 10.7%	Profile visits 1,942 Up 159.6%	New followers 7 Up 15%

Website statistics

Users 1,408 Up 94%	Unique visitors 708 Up 65%	Avg. session duration *5m 29s*

Financial review

Expenditure for the year is £98,957.00. From 2022 to 2023, we secured £88,478.00 in charitable funds to continue to deliver our programmes of work and develop our capacity as an organisation. Funding from The National Lottery Community Fund has helped us to continue to grow our reach and maintain a sustainable team of freelancers and staff. In January 2023 we began to implement our fundraising plan to maximise our income across charitable trusts and foundations and build on our successes with individual giving, corporate partnerships and community fundraising.

During this period we have continued to grow our partnership work which has established an income stream from commissioned work that contributes to our financial sustainability by building our reserves. We are confident that our approach will continue to attract significant, long-term grants and donations that will enable our organisation to grow financially and deliver our much-needed work to service users.

Reserves policy

Our reserve policy stipulates that we aim to have enough unrestricted cash to cover operating expenses for three to six months' expenses. As we are still a young and small charity we currently run on a grantby-grant basis but we have continued to diversify our income streams to grow our reserves and financial sustainability.

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

Structure, governance and management

Afrocats Structure

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Afrocats' leadership is made up of the board of trustees and the charity CEO. 100% of the leadership team are women and 75% are from a Black background.

Governance

Our board of three trustees are passionate about creating change for the people Afrocats support. The board of trustees have strategic oversight of the charity and its running, the trustees make critical decisions by majority vote. The trustees specify who can become a director, call board meetings, and decide how the board elects the charity officers.

The trustees are volunteers and don't share in any operating surplus. Afrocats elect trustees to be board members through advertisement and invitation. Each individual must undergo an interview and selection process with long-standing Board members and the CEO. In June 2022 Pauline Adjemo joined the Afrocats board of trustees. Pauline has experienced the asylum system and uses her lived experience to shape the strategic decision-making of our charity.

Management

Afrocats was founded by Magdalen Bartlett, she is the charity’s CEO and is responsible for the day-today management of the charity. Magdalen uses her lived experience of migration and culture shock to build programmes of work that will create meaningful change for the communities that Afrocats represents.

Afrocats has a team of freelancers and volunteers who are managed by the CEO. The charity currently does not have contracted staff but once core funding is secured the Board of Trustees will contract parttime roles. Funding from The National Lottery Community Fund has enabled Afrocats to commission regular freelancers who give the charity’s programmes, marketing and grant fundraising stability and consistency.

Magdalen organises regular team meet-ups consisting of a board member, one or more staff and groups of volunteers. The staff team are offered training opportunities to develop their skills and their personal development.

Afrocats Trustees’ annual report

for the year ended 5[th] June 2023

Operations

Afrocats CEO oversees the day-to-day operations with project management, managing volunteers, finance and budgets, and reporting to funders and the trustees.

Magdalen Bartlett does this with support from volunteers and freelance project assistants. Ali Gunn provides Communications and Marketing support on a voluntary and freelance paid basis. Edel Fernandez Vanaclocha provides project coordination support on a freelance basis.

Magdalen Bartlett reports to trustees at monthly meetings with the Chair to ensure the smooth running of the charity's aims and finances according to our constitution and newly completed business plan. Any surplus Afrocats has is reinvested into our charity.

The organisation is a charitable incorporated organisation, registered as a charity on 08/06/2017 in England and Wales. The charity is constituted under a trust deed date. The trustees are members of the charity but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 5 of the accounts.

Statement of responsibilities of the trustees

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 the charity's financial activities during the period and of its financial position at the end of the period. In preparing financial statements giving a true and fair view, the trustees should follow best practice and:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
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 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 the Charities Act 2011. 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.

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.

Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Reina Euphemia Jukon Yaidoo (Chair) Date

Independent examiner’s report

to the trustees of

Afrocats

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the charity for the year ended 5th June 2023 which are set out on pages 10 to 15.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').

I report in respect of my examination of the charity's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Catherine Hall FCCA DChA

Slade & Cooper Limited, Chartered Certified Accountants Beehive Mill, Jersey Street Manchester, M4 6JG

Date

Afrocats

Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 5 June 2023

Unrestricted funds Note £ Receipts Donations 4,575 Grants 3 500 Commission 42,154 Total receipts 47,229 Payments Project Management 12,863 Website, Marketing and Publicity 2,112 Equipment and Materials 1,515 Freelance Artists 18,209 ACCESS Costs 3,779 Overheads 64 Postage, Print and Stationery 169 Venue Hire 1,400 Food Parcels - Freelance Fees - Information Technology 193 Travel - Translator Costs - Refreshments - Gift Vouchers 1,160 Telephone and Internet 241 Volunteer Costs 256 Training 324 Administration - Project Slip - Other Freelance Costs 1,155 Total payments 43,440 3,789 Transfer between funds (347) Surplus/(deficit) 3,442 Net receipts/(payments)	Restricted funds £ - 41,249 - 41,249 23,421 2,815 322 10,572 7,515 1,833 109 1,845 - 1,000 3,658 - - - 430 134 403 460 - - 1,000 55,517 (14,268) 347 (13,921)	Total funds 2023 £ 4,575 41,749 42,154 88,478 36,284 4,927 1,837 28,781 11,294 1,897 278 3,245 - 1,000 3,851 - - - 1,590 375 659 784 - - 2,155 98,957 (10,479) - (10,479)	Total funds 2022 £ 1,691 38,152 12,675
			*52,518*
			9,438 3,438 1,280 16,455 3,016 382 443 1,465 858 15,980 133 2,667 180 1,571 - 2,389 891 - 720 200 1,865 63,371
			*(10,853)* -
			*(10,853)*

Afrocats

Statement of assets and liabilities as at 5 June 2023

Unrestricted funds Note £ 3,292 3,442 6,734 Cash funds Bank and cash balances at start of year Surplus / (deficit) shown on receipts and payments account Bank and cash balances at end of year	Restricted funds £ 23,173 (13,921) 9,252	Total funds 2023 £ 26,465 (10,479) 15,986	Total funds 2022 £ 37,318 (10,853)
			26,465

Approved by the Trustees on //______ and signed on their behalf by:

Reina (Chair) Euphemia Jukon Yaidoo

Afrocats

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 5 June 2023

1 Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared on the Receipts & Payments basis.

2 Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity.

Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.

3 Grants received

10GM Ltd Arnold Clarke Arts Council England BBC Children in Need Canal and River Trust Community Arts North West Community Fund Didymus Event Brite Greater Manchester Mental Health Manchester Alliance Market St Manchester Manchester Metropolitan University Plan International Reaching Communities School Workshops Spirit of Manchester The Charity Service This Girl Can Walk the Plank We Love Manchester	Unrestricted £ - - - 500 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 500	Restricted £ 5,505 - - - 5,438 - - - - - - - - 800 21,620 - 1,000 3,000 - - 3,886 41,249	2023 £ 5,505 - - 500 5,438 - - - - - - - - 800 21,620 - 1,000 3,000 - - 3,886 41,749	2022 £ - 1,000 1,500 9,998 - 990 4,400 2,000 142 3,000 920 390 1,358 - 2,300 385 - 1,000 8,025 744 -
				38,152

Afrocats

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 5 June 2023 (continued)

4 Receipts from charitable activities

Donations Commission	Unrestricted 4,575 42,154 46,729	Restricted - - -	2023 4,575 42,154 46,729	2022 1,691 12,675
				14,366

5 Trustee remuneration and expenses, and related party transactions

No trustees or other persons connected with them received any remuneration during the year .

Trustees received travel and subsistence expenses during the year of £nil (2022: £nil).

No trustee or other person related to the charity had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity, including guarantees, during the year.

6 Analysis of movements in restricted funds

10GM Ltd Canal and River Trust Plan International Spirit of Manchester We Love Manchester Total Reaching Communities The Charity Service This Girl Can Greater Manchester Mental Health GMCVO BBC Children in Need Arts Council England Arnold Clarke Didymus The Community Fund Community Arts North West D'Oyly Carte Manchester Youth and Play Fund* Albert Hunt Trust	Balance at 6 June 2022 £ - 71 1,000 492 9,180 - 15 4,024 2,000 100 2,141 2 - - 780 - 800 2,568 - 23,173	Receipts £ 5,505 - - - - 5,438 - - - - - - - 800 21,620 1,000 3,000 - 3,886 41,249	Payments £ (4,875) - (993) - (9,314) (3,616) (11) (4,200) (1,965) - (2,134) - (2,020) - (22,051) - (1,084) (2,609) (645) (55,517)	Transfers £ - - - - 134 - (4) 176 - - - - - - - - 41 - 347	Balance at 5 June 2023 £ 630 71 7 492 - 1,822 - - 35 100 7 2 (2,020) 800 349 1,000 2,716 - 3,241
					8,622

*Manchester Youth and Play Fund deficit is due to a grant being received in 2023-2024.

Afrocats

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 5 June 2023 (continued)

Name of fund

Description, nature and purposes of the fund

10GM Ltd	Our test and learn site will allow space for PCN representatives
	to hold consultations around social prescribing and maternity
	with women in the community to identify their needs and work
	collaboratively to find out barriers rather than making cultural
	assumptions about the needs of women.
	To provide access and project management for our Natives of
Albert Hunt Trust	the world programme
	Arnold Clarke funds Afrocats to provide travel expenses and
Arnold Clarke	refreshments for our Natives of the World Programme
	The £1500 was a percentage that Arts Council England retained
Arts Council England	until the completion of the project
BBC Children in Need	Three-year fund to support our Youth of the World programme
	to support creative activities
Canal and River Trust	Funding for this project will allow us to continue to fund our
	cultural dance workshops, which support 15 women weekly to
	engage in cultural dance, creative movement, and fitness
	programs whilst exploring Manchester canals.
Community Arts North West	Contracts to contribute to creative activities in Manchester with
	children and young people
The Community Fund	To Support our food and creative activities
	To support our creative activities with our children and young
Didymus	people
D'Oyly Carte	To support our creative activities with our children and young
	people
Forever Manchester	To provide essential items for women and their families
Greater Manchester Mental Health	To provide creative and well-being activities for women
GMCVO	To provide creative activities for participants in our Natives of
	the Wold programme
Manchester Youth and Play Fund	To partner with Whitworth Art Gallery to provide a large outdoor
	Art Studio for children, young people, and their families to enjoy
	and contribute to.
Plan International	To provide an opportunity for youth to have an experience to
	improve their health and wellbeing.
Spirit of Manchester	To provide access to support for our service users to take part in
	well-being and creative activities in Manchester.
The Charity Service	Afrocats engaged with women, children and young people
	across Manchester to visit cultural and social interest places
	such as local parks, museums, art galleries, and events and
	festivals
This Girl Can	To provide cultural dance classes online or face-to-face with
	women and girls
We Love Manchester	To offer cultural dance classes to refugee and asylum seeker
	women in Manchester.

Afrocats

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 5 June 2023 (continued)

7 Analysis of movement in unrestricted funds

Grants Donations Commission	Balance at 6 June 2022 £ 183 1,960 1,149 3,292 Restricted General Total	Receipts £ 4,575 42,154 500 47,229	Payments £ (3,946) (38,324) (1,170) (43,440) 9,252 6,734 15,986	Transfers £ - - (347) (347)	As at 5 June 2023 £ 812 5,790 132
					6,734