OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2020-12-31-accounts

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON CHARITY NUMBER 1179744

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON CHARITY INFORMATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Trustees Charlie Newcombe
Nathan Brown
John Pawlett
Katie Pawlett
Jonathan Gilbert
Alice Gilbert
David Casey
Hannah Casey
Simon Sykes
Nicola Harrison
Lesley Gray
Governing Document Trust deed dated 28th August 2018
Charity Number 1179744
Registered Office 26 Meadow Gardens
Huntingdon
PE29 1DB
Independent Examiner Immanuel Kemp
7 Miller Way
Great Cambourne
Cambridge
CB23 5FJ
Bankers CAF Bank
25 Kings Hill Ave
Kings Hill
West Malling
ME19 4JQ
CONTENTS
Page
Charity Information 1
Report of the Trustees 2
Receipts and Payments Account 5
Statement of Assets and Liabilities 6
Notes to the Accounts 7
Independent Examiner's Report 8

1

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Objects of the Charity

The Charity, which is a church, is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is governed by a founding document. The Charity's principal objects, as set out in its trust deed, are the advancement of the Christian religion mainly, but not exclusively, by means of broadcasting messages of an evangelistic and teaching nature, primarily in the Huntingdon area.

Government

The policy and operating decisions of the Charity rest with the Trustees who meet regularly to monitor the activities of the Charity. The Charity also operates as part of the Church of England, with permission to operate a church in Huntingdon under a Bishop’s Mission Order.

Review of Activities

In planning the activities, the Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. To this end, the church is focussed on giving any member of the public the opportunity to explore the Christian faith and person of Jesus by means of weekly Sunday Services, held in a local school. The Charity has sought to encourage those who already profess Christian faith to continue to practice their faith and grow in their education and knowledge of Jesus through the Bible, particularly through small midweek study/support groups.

Because we have discovered such wonderful good news in the person of Jesus Christ, our rescuer and ruler, who reconciles a broken world back to God, we want to share the message of the Bible in line with the vision statement of our church, which is “to see the wonderful good news of Jesus' rescue which transforms, unites and equips a community, prayerfully shared with all in the Huntingdon area”.

Further details of specific activities during the period ended 31st December 2020 are outlined as follows:

2

Financial Review

The preceding accounting period was 16 months due to the Charity starting up in Aug 2018, and ending in Dec 2019, since the Charity’s accounting period ends on 31[st] December. The accounting period for the year 2020 therefore comprises only 12 months and all subsequent periods are expected to be 12 months.

Receipts for the period were £84,167 (2019: £175,343). The receipts in the previous period were in large part made up of a one-off grant of £86,083 to the Charity from St Andrew the Great Church - thus the receipts in 2020 represent a 20% increase in monthly giving by the church congregation, once this one-off grant is factored out and noting in the comparison that the previous accounting period was for 16 months.

Payments for the period were £75,718 (2019: £60,386), increased mainly due to the cost of financing a Pastoral Assistant for Christ Church Huntingdon. However, this total was less than budgeted, which was due to CoVID-19 pandemic. Further discussion of how the CoVID-19 pandemic has affected the Charity is detailed below.

The surplus of £8,449 for the period (2019: £114,957) has been added the reserves of the Charity, in accordance with our reserves policy detailed below.

Due to giving from the members, the Trustees have continued to designate 15% of donated funds to be made available for grants for various projects that are aligned with the charitable objectives of the Charity, with a focus on local projects, national Christian ministry and international missionary work. This is inspired by the early progress of the Christian message growing first locally, then nationally, and then internationally. Therefore, a further £12,317 (2019: £12,104) was moved to the designated Mission Grants Fund in 2020.

During this period, the trustees decided that the cost of funding for a pastoral assistant should be financed from the Church Plant Endowment Fund. This was because the surplus of the General Fund was not sufficient to fund the full costs of this role. Furthermore, the role is for the purpose of seeking to establish the church and help the congregation to reach out in the community, in keeping with the purpose of the fund.

Expenses to the Trustees

Six Trustees incurred expenses and were reimbursed during the period, all relating to the day-to-day charitable activities of the Charity. These expenses totalled £2,078.57 (2019: £6,386.71) incurred during their tenures as Trustees and relating to costs of the activities of the church. No trustee received any other remuneration from the Charity during the period, as the minister is employed by the Diocese of Ely.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees have established a policy that a sensible level of free reserves should maintained to ensure the Charity can continue to operate if income is below budget or if unplanned contingencies are required. The Trustees decided that an amount equivalent to four months’ expenditure should be kept for this purpose. In November 2020, the average monthly expenditure was estimated to be £8,000 (2019: £5,750), mainly increased due to the new cost of supporting the Pastoral Assistant, meaning that the Trustees set £32,000 as the minimum level of reserves required.

At period end, £35,537 (2019: £16,728) was left in the Unrestricted Funds and £74,869 (2019: £86,083) was left in the Expendable Endowment. Since both funds may be used for any charitable purpose, the Trustees deemed that the reserves requirement is covered by these two funds. Therefore, the total amount of reserves of the Charity is £110,406 (2019: £102,811).

3

As a result of these large reserves, the Trustees have decided to continue to finance a Pastoral Assistant in 2021 to further the outreach to the community in accordance with the objects of the Charity and are considering whether a further part-time post should be created to increase the opportunities that may occur as the CoVID-19 pandemic diminishes.

Investment Policy

Since the reserves of the Charity are currently in excess of the minimum required by the Charity’s reserves policy, the Trustees have sought to invest some of the reserves in accordance with the Charity’s objects. It is expected that the extra reserves will be used in the near future, so the Trustees was decided that the Charity should ensure the reserves are accessible within 3 months, and should carry little risk, so as to minimise possible losses that would hinder the outreach work of the Charity hopes to do.

The Trustees also decided that they would pursue opportunities that saw the Charity’s reserves used for Christian purposes, in line with the Charity’s objects, so the Charity has chosen to invest in savings accounts with Kingdom Bank and with Stewardship.

CoVID-19 impact

In March 2020, the CoVID-19 pandemic reached such levels in the UK that the Government imposed a national lockdown that forbade any religious services from happening and prevented any households mixing until July 2020. This severely impacted the Charity, preventing the holding of weekly public services, small groups, and other events where people meet in person.

However, the Charity was able to continue to fulfil its charitable objects by live-streaming services to YouTube and hosting small groups on Zoom, amongst other technical solutions for continuing to operate through this challenging period.

The financial impact on the operations of the Charity is expected to consist of an increase in expenditure on these technical solutions, and a significantly greater decrease in expenditure on venue hire whilst in-person meetings have been prohibited. The Trustees have therefore prayerfully considered how the Charity can help resource local works supporting those in the Huntingdon area during this time, in connection to the Charity’s charitable objects, co-ordinating support of local church food banks and meal support initiatives. A total of £2,800 has been given from general funds towards such efforts in 2020.

The Charity also setup a fund for financially supporting members of the church congregation who were experiencing financial difficulty due to the current situation. A number of restricted gifts were given to this fund and a number of payments have already been given to those facing severe hardship.

Trustees' Responsibilities

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the Charity for the year.

We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and associated regulations.

We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the Charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.

Approval

This report was approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Nathan Brown Treasurer Date: 27[th] September 2021

4

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

_Unrestricted _ Designated Restricted Expendable
Endowment		 _Total Funds _ Total Funds
Note General
Fund		 Mission
Grants		 All
Restricted
Funds		 Church
Plant
Endowment		 2020 2019
Receipts
Planned Giving 60,834
-		 - - 60,834
57,664
One Off Donations 7,000
-		 1,500
-		 8,500
17,350
Gift Aid Reclaimed 13,543
-		 250
-		 13,793
13,993
Grants 3 - - 250
-		 250
86,083
Trading 54
-		 - - 54 253
Interest 736 - - - 736 -
Total Receipts 82,167
-		 2,000
-		 84,167
175,343
Payments
Parish Share 38,472
-		 - - 38,472
38,472
Administration 1,242
-		 - - 1,242 1,986
Staff grants - - - 10,000 10,000 -
Pastoral Expenses 312
-		 400
580
1,292
1,072
Sunday Services Venue Hire 2,407
-		 - - 2,407
8,081
Sunday Services Equipment 2,837
-		 - 634
3,472
5,833
Fellowship Events 1,098
-		 - - 1,098
1,178
Outreach Events 873
-		 42
-		 915
982
Printing and Literature 1,000
-		 - - 1,000
1,551
Mission Grants 2,800
13,021
-		 - 15,821
1,232
Total Payments 51,041 13,021
442
11,214
75,718
60,386
Net Receipts/Payment for Year 31,126 (13,021) 1,558 (11,214) 8,449 114,957
Transfer between funds 4 (12,317) 12,317
-		 - - -
Cash funds at last year end 16,728
12,104
42
86,083
114,957
-
Cash funds at this year end 35,537 11,400 1,600 74,869 123,406 114,957

5

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Cash Funds

Bank Balances
Other Monetary Assets
Gift Aid Receivable
4
Uncashed Cheques
Total Assets
Liabilities

Creditors
5
Unpresented cheques
Total Liabilities		 Unrestricted Designated
Restricted
Expendable
Endowment
Total
Total
General
Fund
Mission
Grants
All
Restricted
Funds
Church
Plant
Endowment
2020
2019
35,537
11,400
1,600
74,869
122,742
114,957
3,208
566
125
-
3,899
1,705
-
-
-
-
1,000
38,745
11,966
1,725
74,869
127,305
117,662
-
-
158
-
158
458
-
-
-
-
-
280
-
-
158
-
158
738

Expenditure on church equipment is written off in the year in which it is incurred. The Trustees are of the opinion that such expenditure has no commercial resale value and that, in view of this, such costs should not be capitalised.

6

CHRIST CHURCH HUNTINGDON NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

1 STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and comprise a statement that shows the Charity's receipts and payments, a statement that summarises the Charity's assets and liabilities and related notes. The accountancy profession have determined that only accounts prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards present a 'true and fair' view and, as these receipts and payments accounts have not (and cannot) be prepared in accordance with accounting standards, these accounts do not present (and are not intended to present) a 'true and fair' view of the Charity's financial activities and state of affairs.

2 FUND ACCOUNTING

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds are donations which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors; they include donations received from appeals for specific activities or projects. Expendable Endowment funds are donations that are intended to be held as capital which may be gradually spent as income by the Charity over a period of time, in accordance with any restrictions imposed by the donors

The Charity holds the following various funds:

3 GRANTS

The CIO received a one-off grant from the PCC of St Andrew the Great Church as the Church was started in August and September 2018. This grant was given in order to finance the setup of the Church and underwrite the operation of CIO for the initial 10 years of the Church. This was therefore classed as Expendable Endowment.

The Charity also received a gift from the Spaldwick Fund in March 2020 of £250 for resourcing spreading the good news about Jesus in the Huntingdon area, which forms a new restricted Thongsley Outreach Fund.

7

4 TRANSFER BETWEEN FUNDS

The Trustees decided to designate 15% of donated funds to be made available for grants for various projects that aligned with the charitable objectives of the Charity. This amounted to £12,317 in 2020 (2019: £13,336), of which £0 (2019: £1,232) had already been given to such projects. £12,317 (2019: £12,104) was therefore transferred to the Mission Grants fund. £10,400 has already been allocated to such projects to be sent in early 2021.

The same principle of designating 15% of donated funds to the Mission Grants fund has also been applied to the Other Monetary Assets, resulting in a further £566 designated to this fund.

5 LIABILITIES

The £158 of liabilities at year end constitutes one invoice dated December 2020 relating to Sunday Service Venue Hire. This was paid in January 2021 and so is reported here as a liability to creditors not paid in the year ending 31 December 2020. It is attributed to the restricted Thongsley Outreach Fund.

Nathan Brown Treasurer Date: 27[th] September 2021

8

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of Christ Church Huntingdon On accounts for the year Charity no ended[31/12/2020] (if any)[1179744]

Set out on pages 1-2

Respective The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. responsibilities of The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year trustees and examiner under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Charities Act”) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given examiner’s statement by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity 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 the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all 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.

Date: 23/10/2021 Signed: Name: Aaron Immanuel Kemp

1

IER

Foundation Certificate in Accounting (AAT, Level 2) Affiliate Volunteer Independent Examiner, ACIE

Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address:

7 Miller Way, Great Cambourne Cambridge CB23 5FJ

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material problems.(E.g. accounting records have not been kept in accordance with s132 of the Charities’ Act 2011 and those accounts do not comply with the requirements of the 2008 Regulations setting out the form and content of charity accounts; any material expenditure or action which appears not to be in accordance with the trusts of the charity; any failure to be provided with information and explanations by any past or present trustee, officer or employee; and any material consistency between the accounts and the trustees’ annual report.)

Give here brief details of n/a any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

2

IER