2023-12-31-accounts - Beyond Conflict

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Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 01 2023 31 12 2023

From

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1176499

Beyond Conflict

Charity's principal address C/O RDC, HOWARD KENNEDY,

NO 1 LONDON BRIDGE LONDON Postcode SE1 9BG

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

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Dates acted if not for whole Name of person (or body) entitled
Trustee name Office (if any)
year to appoint trustee (if any)
Edna Fernandes Trustee (Co- Whole Year
1
Founder/Director)
2 Edmund Newell Trustee (Chair) Whole Year
John Tress Trustee (Financial 01/01/2023 – 31/05/2023
3
Trustee)
4 Kishan Manocha Trustee Whole Year
5 Gillian Dare Trustee Whole Year
6 Abda Mahmood Trustee Whole Year
7 Luke Tomkins Trustee 01/06/2023 – 31/12/2023
8 Adam Perkins Trustee 01/07/2023 – 31/12/2023
9 Sara Hunt Trustee 01/07/2023 – 31/12/2023
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
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Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

Name Dates acted if not for whole year

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser Name Address

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

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Constitution

(eg. trust deed, constitution)

How the charity is constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

(eg. trust, association, company)

Through personal networks and by consensus agreement among existing Trustee selection methods members of the Board.

(eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
relationship with any related parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

All Trustees are given a copy of the Charity Commission’s Guidance on the role and responsibilities of charities and are required to review these. We have not implemented any formal training procedures for new trustees. Trustees are only invited to join the board if they are seen to be sufficiently experienced and have approval of all the existing board members. Trustees are also reminded of key definitions such as the definition of public benefit and their role as trustees on a regular basis.

As a small volunteer-led charity, the Director works with the wider team and partners/organisations to deliver our projects. These include advisors such as legal counsel, mental health experts and media and fundraising experts. People taking up advisory positions are also subject to board approval before we begin working with them. All our trustees work with us on a pro bono non payment basis

We have worked with several key delivery partners in the year, namely; the Ukrainian Welcome Centre based out of the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Mayfair, which helps to support Ukrainian refugees who have been displaced to the UK s a result of the war in Ukraine; the United Jewish Israel Appeal; and Medical Aid for Palestinians. The latter two NGOs will run projects with funding from us in early 2024, using the monies we received from the London Stock Exchange Group Foundation.

As a Charity, we consider our key risk areas to be the safety of the volunteers and partners working on the ground. A second risk associated with our work because of the countries we work in is the need to be aware of avoiding unintentional terrorist financing. We have continued to take several steps to mitigate these risks and vet all potential partners/donors thoroughly beforehand as part of our due diligence. We have in place a Safeguarding policy approved by the Trustees and we check our Partners

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also have Safeguarding policies.

Also, we have continued to focus on ensuring that any face-to-face meetings that take place on behalf of the Charity’s operations are carried out in a responsible manner to reduce the risk to those taking part. We will continue to assess the lessons learnt in the wake of Covid and will continue to implement safety protocols to reduce the risk to anyone who attends in person events ran by the charity.

In order to reduce the risk of working abroad we have implemented several safeguards. These include partnering with trusted local organisations that already have a respected presence and experience working on the ground in the countries we are working in. We also have liability insurance in place.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

1) PROVIDING MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT FOR CIVILIAN ADULTS AND CHILDREN SUFFERING FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA AS A RESULT OF WAR, TERRORISM AND DISPLACEMENT. SINCE WE WERE FORMED IN JANUARY 2018, WE HAVE CARRIED OUT PROJECTS SUPPORTING WIDOWS AND ORPHANS IN SOUTHERN IRAQ; FRONTLINE WORKERS IN THE ROHINGYA REFUGEE CAMP IN COX’S BAZAR CAMP IN BANGLADESH; HELPED UKRAINIAN REFUGEES AT THE POLISH BORDER AS WELL AS REFUGEES IN THE UK. AT THE END OF 2023, WE WERE APPROACHED BY A MAJOR DONOR. LSEG, TO SUPPORT TWO NEW PROJECTS IN RESPONSE TO THE ECALATED CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST. IN EARLY 2024 THE CHARITY WILL BEGIN TWO PROJECTS, VIA OUR LOCAL NGO PARTNERS, TO SUPPORT CIVILIANS AND FRONTLINE WORKERS IN THE PALESTINIAN WEST BANK AND SOUTHERN ISRAEL.
2) THE CHARITY SUPPORTS PROJECTS THAT SUPPORT MENTAL HEALTH FOR CIVILIANS, WORKING WITH CREDIBLE PARTNER NGOS ON THE GROUND.
3) THE ADVANCEMENT OF TRAINING FRONTLINE WORKERS IN POST CONFLICT ZONES/REFUGEE CAMPS. THE AIM IS TO TRAIN FRONTLINE WORKERS TO SUPPORT VULNERABLE REFUGEES/CIVILIANS SUFFERING FROM POST CONFLICT/DISPLACEMENT TRAUMA AND OTHER MENTAL HEALTH IMPACTS.
4) THE CHARITY SEEKS TO ADVOCATE ON THE NEED FOR GREATER PROVISION OF MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT IN POST CONFLICT ZONES, PARTICULARLY FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER VULNERABLE GROUPS. WE DO THIS THROUGH PUBLIC EVENTS SUCH CONCERTS AND EXHIBITIONS, WITH OUR PARTNERS, AS WELL AS PUBLIC PANEL DISCUSSIONS WITH LEADING EXPERTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. WE ALSO SEEK TO RAISE AWARENESS VIA THE MEDIA.

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Beyond Conflict’s work in 2023 included running several projects as well as continuing to build relationships with our international partners.

1) Beyond Conflict ran a follow up project in Najaf, southern Iraq, in conjunction with our partner Al Kawthar. This project was aimed at providing mental health wellness circles for widows and orphans.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

2) Beyond Conflict continued to build its partnership with the Ukrainian Welcome Centre (“UWC”), based in the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Mayfair, London. Together, we ran a successful project providing music therapy to Ukrainian refugees currently living in England, utilising the UWC’s network. This project was run by a young music therapist from Germany who has worked with refugee communities around the world. It was overseen by Beyond Conflict and UWC and supervised by the Head of Music Therapy at the London Guildhall School of Music and the Charity’s Ambassador, Adrian Snell, who is a music therapist and composer. After the course was completed in the autumn, we received excellent feedback from refugees and frontline workers who attended. Beyond Conflict and the UWC hosted a musical reception for all participants. In addition, Beyond Conflict negotiated with the London Barbican Centre to donate several thousand pounds worth of free Christmas concert tickets to Beyond Conflict to give to the refugees and families who took part in the music therapy project.
3) The charity continued to push its fundraising goals and we were extremely pleased to be recognised by two major organisations:
a. The London Stock Exchange Group (“LSEG”) Foundation reached out to Beyond Conflict in October 2023, after seeing the work being carried out over the last few years, and offered funding for two projects to support those affected by the escalating conflict impacting Israel and the Palestinians. The two new projects were scheduled to start in early 2024 and involved two separate work streams, working with those affected on both sides of the conflict.
b. In December 2023, the John Lennon Foundation, which is run by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, announced that Beyond Conflict was one of 50 charities from around the world to be selected to receive a rare recording of “Give Peace a Chance” to be used to promote our work. We were selected alongside some of the most respected and established charities in the world. The Foundation said it admired our work and our ethos including the aim of serving people of all faiths and none. Beyond Conflict plans to use this recording as an auction prize at a future fundraising event.
4) Beyond Conflict also began working with two new partners; the United Jewish Israel Appeal (“UJIA”) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (“MAP”) with who will run the two projects in southern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, using the funding being provided by the LSEG. Work begins in early 2024.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

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A number of volunteers assist the Trustees through pro bono work: the founder runs the day-to-day operations with support from the Treasurer, Legal Counsel, mental health advisors and partners. We work with experts, including those on social media and fundraising.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

Our charity is run by volunteers at board and operational level, which allows us to dedicate all monies raised to the work concerned, barring minor administrative costs. As we seek to build on our work, we aim to increase the amount of money we raise and raise our profile internationally.

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;
contribution made by volunteers.

Going forward, since we have established a strong track record in our formation years, we seek to build on this by targeting institutional funding. This is with the aim of steadying our income stream to allow our projects to become sustainable on a longer term basis. Also we want to widen and deepen the scope of our work, to help more people and look at new projects that come to us.

We aim to continue to build our media profile by conducting more panel discussions, events with respected partners and via media interviews/articles.

Section D Achievements and performance

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

In 2023 the main activities carried out by the charity related to fundraising and awareness raising activities as we work towards the implementation of several planned projects in 2024. Our key activities and accomplishments in 2023 are as below:

1) Beyond Conflict ran a follow up project in Najaf, Iraq in conjunction with our partner Al Kawthar. This project was aimed at mothers and orphans in the area who were in need of mental health support.
2) Several fund raising activities were arranged by the Trustees and other supporters of the charity including a marathon, bake sales and other events, this raised around £2,000 for the charity.
3) Beyond Conflict continued to build its partnership with the Ukrainian Welcome Centre (“UWC”) based in the Ukrainian Cathedral in Mayfair, London. We ran a highly successful project providing music therapy to Ukrainian refugees currently living in England, utilising the UWC’s network. The London Barbican Centre and head of music therapy at the Guildhall supported our work.
4) We strengthened our Board with the addition of two new Trustees with much valued expertise and international experience. We then reviewed our strategy and published our Mission Statement with core values, providing a road map for the next phase in our development.
5) The Charity continued its drive to try and secure institutional funding. In autumn 2023 we secured a funding agreement from the London Stock Exchange Group Foundation (“LSEG”), which donated £20,000 to fund concurrent projects in Israel and for Palestinians in the West Bank. These projects will aim to provide mental health support to people who have been affected by the conflict in the region and will begin in January 2024.
6) The Charity also began working with the War Through Children’s Eyes competition for schoolchildren who express how war impact children to highlight the mental health impact in particular. In 2024 these images will form part of an Exhibition in London, which Beyond Conflict and UWC have helped organise.

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Section E Financial review

Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves

Beyond Conflict ended the year with cash reserves of £30,250, this was primarily driven by the institutional funding received from the LSEG (£20,000), relating to projects which are due to begin in 2024.

The Charity received a £5,000 contingency loan from a supporter to cover the costs of our Child of War Exhibition, planned for 2024 with our partner UWC. This was in case our partner, the UWC, could not secure planned funding to stage the Exhibition at the Ukrainian Cathedral. However, in the end we did not need the loan as our partner UWC secured the funding for the upfront costs of mounting the exhibition from one of its own sponsors. Therefore, Beyond Conflict was able to return the £5,000 contingency loan, unused. That donor made a straight donation of the same amount to Beyond Conflict in 2024, in support of our broader work.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

N/A – No funds are materially in deficit

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

Beyond Conflict is still primarily fundraising from the general public through concerts, exhibitions and other fundraising efforts.

It is the intention of the Trustees to continue to focus on getting hold of institutional funding as a key priority. Institutional funding is regarded as a key step in progressing the work performed by the charity.

how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

N/A

Section G Declaration

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

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) LUKE TOMKINS

EDNA FERNANDES

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Edna Fernandes Full name(s) Luke Tomkins Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Trustee Trustee etc) Date 27/10/2024

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Charity Name No (if any) Beyond Conflict 1176499 Receipts and payments accounts For the period Period start date Period end date To from 1/1/2023 12/31/2023

CC16a

Section A Receipts and payments

Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Donations and Legacies 27,737 Loans 5,000 Interest 14 - - - - - 32,751 - - Sub total - Total receipts 32,751 A3 Payments FundraisingExpenses 303 Projects 8,232 Bank Fees 60 Other Fees 216 - - - - - Sub total 8,811 - - Sub total - Total payments 8,811 Net of receipts/(payments) 23,940 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end - Cash funds this year end 23,940 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)	to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds	to the nearest £ Endowment funds	Total funds to the nearest £ 27,737 5,000 14 - - - - - 32,751 - - - 32,751 303 8,232 60 216 - - - - - 8,811 - - - 8,811 23,940 - - 23,940	Last year to the nearest £
		- - - - - - - - -	27,737	13,252
			5,000	-
			14	4
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			32,751	13,256

		- - -	-
			-	-
			-	-

		-	32,751	13,256

		- - - - - - - - - -	303	2,075
			8,232	11,732
			60	81
			216	434
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			8,811	14,322

		- - -	-
			-
			-	-

		-	8,811	14,322

	-	- - - -	23,940	- 1,066
	-		-	-
	-		-	-
	-		23,940	- 1,066

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Details CAF Bank Details Details Details Details Signature Luke Tomkins Edna Fernandes Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Loan from Mr Reynolds to underwrite child of war project	to nearest £ to nearest £ 30,250 - - - - - 30,250 - Agreement Error OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Unrestricted Funds 5,000 - - - - Print Name Luke Tomkins Edna Fernandes Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional)	to nearest £ Endowment funds
		-
		-
		-
		-
		OK
		to nearest £ Endowment funds
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		Current value (optional)
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		Current value (optional)
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
		When due (optional)






		Date of approval
Luke Tomkins	Luke Tomkins
Edna Fernandes	Edna Fernandes

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Ind•p•nd•nt Eumln•¢• R•port Réwrt to the truste¢ L¢.. m•mbors 01 On accoun1• for th• y•ar nded 3111212023 Charlty no 1.1176499 111 any) out on pag•8 1whJ2 I lert to the Iwslee5 on my examin8ts)n ol the ntS ol the al>)ve chanty Ilhe Trusl-l lor the year ended 3111212023. R•sponsibilitles and As Ihe charity 1rnste ol Ihe Trust. you a rèsp0nsb for th¢ Pfeparalion bas18 of report ol Ihe aDntS In acc4Ydance wilh Ihè rnquiremenls of th• CharrtS Acg 2011 l-lhe Ad") I report respecl ofmy exam1t)n of the TnJ5t's ac£ounls carried oul uThJer sectK)n 145 01 the 2011 Acl and In carrying out my exarninalion, I have foll¢Md the app1Kae DIrectn$ gjven by the Charrty Commission r sectw)n 145ISllbl ol the Acl. I havt CompIed my examinalh)n I confimi that no material mallers have 1xe lo my atten1 (other than Ihat dtscl)sed tk)w'l in connection with Ihe eXernat whth 9Nes irn ¢ause to beIve Ihal in. any mat•rial respect. Independent examinerfs statement couTrtiThJ lerdS were TrJt kept in xoydance wrth seCtn 130 01 thè Act or Ihe accounts do rKJt vthh the accounting records I hgv no ts)nwns and have CC4M auoss no other matters in ¢)nnec1n wrth Ihe examinat to whth attention shoukl be drawn in Order lo enab a proper underslanding of the accounls to be reathed. ' Please delele the th& brn¢kels rflh8y (k) rn)18P Slgn•d.' Dat•: 2611012024 Nam•: gup SAt4PATtLtutrth Relev¥nt prof•sslonal qualificationl¥l or t>ody Irf any).. Addr•ss: FLAT &Lec-JJuwC SE , OTd IER Octob¢r 2018

Section B DI1¢1Ure coMpte Il Ihe examiner needs to huhlynl mtilleis tsl LonLelll Ibeè L, 32. Independent exan¥nalh)n ol chanty accounts direction5 and guidance lor examinernl. Give he brief detall¥ of any items that the examln•r wishos to disclose. )IA IER October 2018