THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST A Charitable Incorporated Organisation
ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Registered charity: 01174322
THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST
CONTENTS
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Annual Report of the Trustees | 1 |
| Independent Examiner's Report | 4 |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 5 |
| Statement of Assets and Liabilities | 6 |
| Additional Notes | 7 |
THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
The Rochester Good Stewards Trust
The Rochester Good Stewards Trust ("the Trust") is a Foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation registered with Charity Commission (No. 01174322) and governed by the terms of its constitution.
The principal object of the Trust is to advance the Christian religion, as this is set forth in the doctrine of the Church of England, for the benefit of the public residing in the dioceses of Rochester, Canterbury and Chichester, by supporting, through the making of grants and otherwise,
a) the provision and maintence of facilities for public worship,
b) the provision of ministers for the conduct of public worship and provision of pastoral care, c) outreach and evangelisation, and
d) the promotion of the awareness and understanding of the doctrine of the Church of England.
The doctrine of the Church of England is for these purposes construed in accordance with the Church of England (Worship and Doctrine) Measure 1974 as originally enacted.
Trustees
The persons who have acted as Trustees since the beginning of the period are listed below. Under the terms of the constitution the first charity trustees were appointed for a fixed term specified in the constitution and subsequent trustees are appointed for a fixed three year term. New trustees are appointed by the existing trustees and retiring trustees are eligible for reappointment for up to three consecutive terms.
| consecutive terms. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | Originally appointed | Current term ends | |
| David Alan Dryer | 1 | 18 August 2017 | 17 August 2024 |
| Michael Philip Warren | 2 | 18 August 2017 | 17 August 2026 |
| Paul Michael Freeman | 2 | 18 August 2017 | 17 August 2025 |
| Paul Batchelor | 1 | 19 November 2018 | 18 November 2024 |
| Andrew Bratby | 3 | 08 June 2023 | 07 June 2026 |
| Mark Puckett | 3 | 31 July 2023 | 30 July 2026 |
(1) On expiry of their existing terms of office, David Dryer and Paul Batchelor are each eligible to be reappointed for at most one further three-year term.
(2) On expiry of their existing terms of office, Michael Warren and Paul Freeman will be ineligible for reappointment having served three consecutive terms.
(3) On expiry of their existing terms of office, Andrew Bratby and Mark Puckett are each eligible to be reappointed for at most two further three-year terms.
Page 1
THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (Continued.) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Activities
During the year, the Rochester Good Stewards Trust has continued to fund and promote different types of gospel activity in diverse settings across the diocese, promoting Christ-centred ministry and facilitating longterm growth.
The Trustees continued to pursue the principal object of the Trust primarily by making grants to relevant churches in order to support them in meeting expenditure consistent with that object. Work was undertaken to publicise the existence of the Trust and encourage applications for grants. In considering applications regard was had to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.
Grants paid in the year totalled £24,875 (2022: £22,585) and related to continuing support provided to two churches. Summaries of the nature of the Trust's support (the outcomes from which are monitored by the Trustees) are given below.
For a small and financially struggling suburban church, we have made a further grant to support the work of a part-time youth minister.
Having previously assisted a church in the north of the diocese with the costs of initially appointing and training a full-time youth minister, we have now agreed in principle a three-year package of support for the ongoing costs of this work.
During the year we continued our discussions with a church in the diocese considering the establishment of a new church plant and were grateful to be able to provide funding towards the initial set up costs of the plant after the period covered by this report.
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THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
| Year ended | Year ended | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | Unrestricted | Restricted | 31 March 2023 | 31 March 2022 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Receipts | |||||
| Donations received | 9,000 | 25,000 | 34,000 | 14,250 | |
| Total receipts | 9,000 | 25,000 | 34,000 | 14,250 | |
| Payments | |||||
| Grants paid | 15,000 | 9,875 | 24,875 | 22,585 | |
| Website and publicity costs | - | - | - | 85 | |
| Independent examination | 100 | - | 100 | 95 | |
| Bank charges | 60 | - | 60 | 20 | |
| Total payments | 15,160 | 9,875 | 25,035 | 22,785 | |
| Net receipts/(payments) | (6,160) | 15,125 | 8,965 | (8,535) | |
| Opening cash balance | 21,953 | 10,415 | 32,368 | 40,903 | |
| Closing cash balance | 1 | 15,793 | 25,540 | 41,333 | 32,368 |
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| Notes | Unrestricted | Restricted | 31March2023 | 31March2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| cash funds | |||||
| Cashatbank | 1 | 15,793 | |||
| Totalassets | 2 | 15,793 | 25,540 | 41,333 | 32,368 |
| Liabilities | |||||
| Unpaidgrants | 3 | 15,793 | 25,540 | 20.415 | |
| Total liabilities | 15,793 | 25,540 | 41,333 | 20,415 | |
| Netassets/(liabilities) | 11,953 |
THE ROCHESTER GOOD STEWARDS TRUST
ADDITIONAL NOTES
1 Restricted funds
Restricted funds relate to donations received specifically for the purpose of funding particular grants awarded by the Trust.
The restricted funds element of the closing cash balance in particular relates to a donation received subject to the provision that it be used to fund a grant awarded to support the provision of a youth worker at a particular church. That grant remained only partially drawn down by the recipient church as at the year end.
2 Guarantees and charges
The Trust had given no guarantees as at 31 March 2023, nor was any debt secured by an express charge over any assets of the Trust outstanding as at that date.
3 Unpaid grants
Grants awarded by the Trust are, to the extent that they have not been paid, recognised as liabilities once the decision to make the award has been formally notified to the applicant.
Where the Trust awards a grant to be paid in instalments over time, it is the Trust's usual practice to make future payments explicitly contingent on the beneficiaries remaining eligible for support under the Trust's constitutional documents, satisfactory monitoring and, in particular, the Trust having sufficient funds available. This latter point reflects the fact that the Trust will occasionally make awards which it anticipates being funded through forecast donations having had appropriate discussions with donor churches. In this scenario, the liability recognised for accounting purposes will be the lower of the unpaid portion of the grants and the cash available to the Trust to settle the award as at the balance sheet date.
The balance of grants unpaid as at the year end relate to:
-
A grant of £24,000 made during the year ended 31 March 2021 and available for draw down by the recipient church as relevant expenditure is incurred. As at 31 March 2023 an amount of £540 (31 March 2022: £10,415) remained to be paid.
-
A grant of £102,000 made during the year ended 31 March 2023 and payable over three years. As at 31 March 2023 the full amount remained to be paid. The Trust has been advised of planned donations specifically to support the funding of this grant amounting to £75,000, of which £25,000 had been received as at 31 March 2023.
4 Related party transactions
There were no related party transactions during the years ended 31 March 2022 and 2023.
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