## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period** **From 1[st] January 2021 To 31[st] December 2021** ## **Charity name: Oxford Insight Meditation** ## **Charity registration number: 1175855** ## **Objectives and Activities** ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para 1.17|To advance the education of the public in
the subject of meditation and the teachings
of the Buddha, in particular but not
exclusively by supporting and encouraging
the study and practice of Buddhist Insight
meditation for the public benefit, in
particular but not exclusively for the benefit
of people in Oxford and the surrounding
areas.| |Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.|Para 1.17 and
1.19|Oxford Insight Meditation carries out these
purposes by offering a year-round
programme of activities and events to the
people of Oxford and the surrounding area,
giving them the opportunity to study and
practise Buddhist Insight Meditation and to
learn about the teachings of the Buddha. We
regularly invite teachers from Gaia House, a
retreat centre in the Insight Meditation
tradition, to lead our retreat days. These
teachers are highly experienced, widely
recognised and bound by a code of ethics.
We are committed to creating inclusive
spaces. We welcome people irrespective of
religious or political beliefs, ethnicity, class,
sexual orientation, gender identity, age,
ability and culture. It is our hope over time
to increase the accessibility of what we offer
to people of all backgrounds through
developing a more varied programme of
events.
Oxford Insight Meditation offers activities on| a sliding scale; it is committed to ensuring that no one is excluded from any of its activities because of lack of funds. People unable to afford the discounted rates will not be turned away. Pricing of events is intended to cover the costs of putting on the events; any additional income goes towards building up reserves. The price of events does not cover any payment to teachers. In the longstanding tradition of ‘Dana’, donations to the teacher are invited at the end of the session, in gratitude for their teachings. The main activities undertaken by the charity to carry out its charitable purposes for the public benefit are as follows: **Teacher-led day retreats –** non-residential day-long retreats in Oxford with respected teachers in the Insight tradition, who offer their teachings free of charge. We ask people to pay a small fee to cover costs and waive this fee where someone is unable to pay it. Donations are invited to support the teacher **.** The days are suitable for both experienced and new meditators. **Weekly drop-in group –** this weekly evening drop-in aims to enable people who are new to Buddhist meditation to have a taster of the practice supported by experienced practitioners, and to support more experienced meditators to practice together on a regular basis. These evenings consist of guided meditation, teaching and discussion. The sessions are facilitated by experienced teachers and those in training and are occasionally peer-led. Donations are invited to support the teacher. **Occasional non-residential courses** – Oxford Insight Meditation occasionally organises and underwrites courses on aspects of the Buddha’s teaching and meditation practice, to support the deepening of understanding and to foster a sense of a community of practitioners. **Website and e-newsletter** – Oxford Insight |||Meditation keeps in touch with supporters
and engages with new people through its
website which has details of events and how
to book a place on retreats. We also send
out regular email newsletters to a subscriber
list of just under 400 people to let them
know about our activities and other related
events.| |---|---|---| |Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit|Para 1.18|The trustees confirm that they have
complied with their duty to have due regard
to the guidance contained in the Charity
Commission’s general guidance on public
benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims
and objectives, in planning charitable
activities and when exercising any powers or
duties to which theguidance is relevant.| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: ||SORP reference|| |---|---|---| |Policy on grant making|Para 1.38|**n/a**| |Policy on social investment
including program related
investment|Para 1.38|**n/a**| |Contribution made by
volunteers|Para 1.38|Trustees receive no remuneration for their
work for the charity. All activities are
planned and delivered by volunteers. The
Trustees are grateful to all of the volunteers
who have offered service during the period
of this report. Without their regular support
and commitment to the organisation, our
charitable activities would be significantly
reduced.| |Other||**n/a**| ## **Achievements and Performance** SORP reference ||Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.|Para 1.20|During the year, Covid-19 continued to
significantly impact our activities, with
events remaining mostly online and with
some suspended.
We offered nine day-long retreats led by
experienced teachers connected to Gaia
House. We offered eight of these retreat
days online, including a day jointly offered
with Sheffield Insight Meditation. Towards
the end of the year we experimented with a
hybrid retreat day, with some participants
attending in person and others online. This
new format was very successful and helped
us to accommodate those wishing to come
in person again, as well as maintaining
accessibility to those still shielding, those
with disabilities or caring responsibilities and
those living further away. Appropriate
Covid-related measures were taken at the
venue. The retreat days attracted between
25 and 100 participants each.
We offered the online retreat days free of
charge but invited donations to help cover
our costs. For our new hybrid retreat day,
we reintroduced fees for participation (both
online and in person), to help us cover the
higher cost of in-person meetings (venue
hire, refreshments, etc.) and to help us
make up some of the shortfall in revenues of
previous years.
The weekly drop-in group met throughout
the year with its usual summer break in
August. In the earlier part of the year all
meetings were online. From September, the
group met in person once a month and
online in the intervening weeks. Experienced
and trainee teachers led most of the
sessions, and where there were gaps the
group was invited to participate in the
‘Online Dharma Hall’ at Gaia House to
maintain continuity. There were between 10
and 25 people at each session. The group
has developed a core of regular participants
with a strong commitment to practice and a
deep sense of community.
The Sunday Morning Meditation group
remained suspended throughout the year.| |---|---|---|---| We didn’t offer any study courses in the period because the trustees lacked the capacity to organise additional events. We completed the redesign and rebuilding of our website, which we hope will make our activities and events more appealing and accessible. As part of this, we revamped the resources pages and included more resources offering an introduction to Insight Meditation in a variety of formats. We also created a CAF Donate button to make it easier for people to make donations. ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |Achievements against
objectives set|Para 1.41|| |---|---|---| |Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set|Para 1.41|**n/a**| |Investment performance
against objectives|Para 1.41|**n/a**| |Other||| ## **Financial Review** |**Financial Review**||| |---|---|---| |Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para 1.2|Oxford Insight Meditation made a small
surplus of £618 in 2021, an improvement on
the previous year when the charity incurred
a loss (£728) arising from the impacts of
Covid. Income was still below pre-Covid
levels, due to many of the year’s activities
remaining online and some activities being
curtailed. The total assets at 31st December
2021 were £3,964.| |Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para 1.22|Reserves are held to cover the small number
of annual fixed costs (insurance, web
hosting, publicity, printing, etc.), and to
provide some contingency if several day
retreats fail to break even. The majority of
costs incurred by OIM relate to activities
that can be cancelled without incurring
significant unrecoverable costs. For this
reason, the reserves needed are low.
Finances will be closely monitored at this
time to ensure that the financial resources
of the charityare not exhausted.| |Amount of reserves held|Para 1.22|£1000| |Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para 1.22|n/a| |Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para 1.24|n/a| |Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern|Para 1.23|n/a| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para 1.47|The principal source of funds are the fees
paid by participants for the various activities
that we offer as well as donations from
members of the public who support our
work.| |---|---|---| |Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para 1.46|**n/a**| |A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para 1.46|The charity’s income is dependent on levels
of interest in its activities, and the capacity
of attendees to pay booking fees and/or
make donations to cover OIM’s costs. The
trustees are mindful of the need to reverse
the trend of recent years of a deficit, and are
actively considering ways to reduce costs
and increase income,without compromising| our policy of ensuring that no one is excluded from our activities because of a lack of funds. Other ## **Structure, Governance and Management** |Description of charity’s
trusts:||| |---|---|---| |Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para 1.25|Constitution| |How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para 1.25|Foundation Charitable Incorporated
Organisation| |Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para 1.25|Appointed by Trustees| ## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about: |||| |---|---|---| |Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction and
training of trustees|Para 1.51|When there is a vacancy for a trustee, the
position is advertised to the OIM mailing list,
on our website and other relevant places,
and applicants are invited for interview.
New trustees are provided with information
on their duties as trustees and their legal
obligations under charity law. They are also
inducted in the work of the charity, its aims
and objectives, its constitution and how it
operates day to day.| |The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works|Para 1.51|Oxford Insight Meditation is part of a
network of Insight Meditation groups
around the country that are connected with
the residential retreat centre Gaia House.
We are in regular contact on practice and
ethical issues. Whilst we collaborate with
these organisations, we are independent,
and there is no formal legal or financial
relationshipwith anyother organisation.| |Relationship with any related
parties|Para 1.51|**n/a**| |Other||**n/a**| ## **Reference and Administrative details** |Charity name|Oxford Insight Meditation| |---|---| |Other name the charityuses|n/a| |Registered charity number|1175855| |---|---| |Charity’s principal address|55 Bartlemas Road Oxford OX4 1XU| ||| **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity** |1
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||Pamela Ruth
Sutherland|Treasurer||The Charity Trustees|| ||Andrew Martin
Finney|||The Charity Trustees|| ||Dione Brigid Avison|||The Charity Trustees|| ||Isabel Grace Tucker|||The Charity Trustees|| ||Kathryn Tulip|Secretary||The Charity Trustees|| ||Jennifer Kirsten
Daniella Nicholson|||The Charity Trustees|| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| ||||||| Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved **Director name n/a** Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity |**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for wholeyear**|| |---|---|---| |**n/a**||| |||| |||| |||| |||| |||| ## **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 assets|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** ## **Declarations** **The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.** **Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees** **Signature(s)** Isabel Grace Tucker **Full name(s)** Kathryn Tulip **Position (eg Secretary,** Secretary and Trustee Trustee **Chair, etc) Date** 29/10/22 ## **Oxford Insight Meditation Accounts for year ended 31 December 2021** |**Income:**
Eventbrite
Cheque/cash
**Expenditure:**
Hall hire
Teacher's expenses
Other expenses
Insurance
**Drop in:**
Hire
0.00
Dana
262.80
**Donations:**
CAF less fees
**Sunday Sangha:**
Costs
0.00
Dana
0.00
**Surplus of income over expenditure**
PayPal balance at 31 Dec
Bank Balance at 31 Dec
Unpresented cheques
Cash in hand
Total Assets and Liabilities|**2021**
**£**
1183.47
30.00
1213.47
-130.00
-131.08
-578.95
-170.80
262.80
152.54
0.00
617.98
0.00
3815.77
148.67
3964.44|-583.20
220.40|**2020**
**£**
1826.50
0.00| |---|---|---|---| ||||1826.50
-795.00
-295.13
-820.91
-170.80
-362.80
-110.00| |||-110.00
0.00|| ||||| ||||-728.14| ||||215.25
3197.79
148.67| ||||3561.71|