S A N S A R A
Sansara Choir
A Charitable Incorporated Organisation
Charity No. 1179978
Report and Financial Statements
FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2021
CONTENTS
| Reference and Administrative Details | 3 |
|---|---|
| Trustees' Report | 3-4 |
| Objectives and Activities | 4 |
| Achievements and Performance | 5 |
| Financial Review | 5-7 |
| Structure, Governance and Management | 7 |
| Financial Statements | 8 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | 9 |
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Trustees’ Annual Report
For the period 1[st] August 2020 - 31[st] July 2021
REFERENCE AND ADMINSTRATIVE DETAILS
Charity name
Sansara Choir CIO
Other name the charity uses
SANSARA
Registered charity number
1179978
Charity’s principal address
40 High Point, London SE9 3NZ
Trustees
Mr David Hurley (Chair) Mrs Sarah Hard Miss Sarah Rennix Mr Henry Southern Mr Charles Graham
Report of the Trustees for the year ending 31 July 2021
This year was another deeply affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a diminished performance schedule; but the charity has effectively used its time to develop new projects, as well as create other forms of artistic output in line with the charity’s objectives in the absence of performance opportunities.
Due to prudent financial management throughout the previous two years, the charity has been able to maintain its reserves while continuing to provide financial support to the Artistic Director. In addition, through fundraising, the choir recorded and released its third album – which provided much-needed work for our professional singers, as well as supporting original compositions from the choir’s Associate Composer Marco Galvani. This was received well, and the recording’s mix of electronic and choral music opened the choir’s work to new audiences, particularly on digital platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Project development continued in the period, supporting our new ‘Giving Voice’ strategy, that will be central to our fundraising efforts in 2022 and beyond. This will yield results in the future, as performances become easier and as we move out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The financial stability and continued creative output of the charity during this difficult period would not have been possible without the continued generosity of our donors, who continued to support the choir during a period with little physical performance output. We hope that the digital projects and recordings that were delivered in the period showed the flexibility and creativity of the charity, in still delivering its charitable objectives during difficult times for the performing arts.
In this reporting period there were no changes to the board of Trustees, but Mrs Sarah Hard resigned at the end of July 2021, with the Chair, Mr David Hurley, standing down in the 2021 – 2022 financial year. At the time of writing, the recruitment of new Trustees is ongoing.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Charitable Objectives as set out in our constitution:
To promote the art of choral music for the public benefit by:
(a) the organisation and/or presentation of concerts of high educational and artistic merit, the production of recordings;
(b) the commissioning and performance of new music and/or the presentation of musical works of particular historical and cultural significance, research and presentation of musical editions;
(c) the organisation and presentation of concerts, workshops and collaborations with community musical groups, schools and other places of education;
(d) by such other means as the Board of Trustees shall from time to time determine.
Activities in the period August 2020 - July 2021:
Professional Engagements:
19.06.2021 - Concert at Wiltshire Music Centre
Recordings
28.05.2021 - Invisible Cities released on streaming platforms
Project Development
Rite to Grieve White Rose Les Voix Humaines
Digital Projects
re:create a golden string
Collaborations with The Self-Isolation Choir and Orchestra for the Earth
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ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
In-person activities were significantly curtailed during this period, and so the choir took the opportunity to develop a distinctive creative vision and strategy. ‘Giving Voice’ is a forwardthinking strategy designed with long-term sustainability in mind, as the organisation continues to develop and grow.
The choir’s third album was released at the end of May 2021. The recording of choral electronic and choral music by the group’s Associate Composer Marco Galvani received critical acclaim, with several tracks featuring in major playlists on Spotify and Apple Music.
During this period, the choir developed a ground-breaking COVID-19 response project called Rite to Grieve , with the aim of combining choral music and peer-to-peer bereavement support to give voice to grief, following a time when it had been difficult to do so. This project received funding from the Oak and Paul Hamlyn Foundations.
Work on the multi-faceted White Rose recording project continued, with further funding from the Paul Hamlyn and Genesis Foundations to support the recording of a new album and podcast series in partnership with Oxford University’s White Rose Project.
The Trustees confirm that they have considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit (PB3) and that they report that public benefit has been delivered in line with the charity objects, despite the challenges of the reporting year due to lockdown and the loss of performance opportunities.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Despite the lack of in-person performance activity, the charity is able to report an improved financial position at the close of its financial year.
Following growth in donations income in 2019-20, 2020-21 saw significant growth in grant income, as reported in accounts section A1 . Grants of total £23,500 were received for the White Rose project from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Genesis Foundation and from the University of Oxford. Grants of £15,000 were received for the Rite to Grieve project from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Oak Foundation. A grant of £2,000 was received for the Galvani recording from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust, with grants of £500 received from the Golsoncott Foundation (Les Voix Humaines) and Arts Council England (the final instalment of Emergency Grant support from 2020-21). We are particularly grateful for an unrestricted grant of £4,000 from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, for the choir’s core costs. Donations income decreased slightly, after a significant push in 2019-20, but remains at a healthy level.
Earned income (concert fees, ticket sales and CD sales) declined as a result of successive COVID-19 lockdowns and public performance restrictions. The charity was able to raise some funds by partnering with the Self-Isolation Choir for virtual performances of Mahler’s
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Eighth Symphony and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony , which form the bulk of our earned income for 2020-21, alongside several private engagements.
Expenditure ( A3 ) remained largely consistent with the 2019-20 financial year. Fees for administrative work (principally the Artistic Director’s retainer) remained stable, and the Galvani recording, collaboration with Self-Isolation Choir, Wiltshire Music concert and several private engagements enabled us to provide over £20,000 of work to young professional singers, despite the constrained circumstances.
The charity has no asset sales ( A2 ) or asset purchases ( A4 ) to report.
A transfer of £4,040 was made into restricted funds from the choir’s unrestricted reserve ( A5 ), in order to cover the full costs of the Galvani recording. Accordingly, total restricted funds equalled £43,775 at year end, of total cash holdings of £52,632 ( B1 ). There has been a decline in the charity’s unrestricted reserves, with expenditure on core costs outstripping fundraising, and an ambition for the choir is to increase its unrestricted reserve in 2021-22, for more sustainable support of these core costs.
The continuing COVID-19 pandemic ensured that expenditure remained at a lower level when compared to our last ‘full’ performing year (2018-19), however the charity’s financial year income in 2020-21 was the highest in our history. This is chiefly due to success in grantwinning, despite the loss of most of the charity’s earned income. A healthy sum of restricted funding is therefore on hand, to deliver the projects for which we have won grant funding in 2021-22.
The Trustees have reviewed the financial performance of the charity and are confident that the charity continues to have financial stability despite COVID-19 restrictions. The Trustees intend to undertake and implement a detailed fundraising review during 2022.
Accounting Policies and Management
Receipts and payments are the operational responsibility of the Finance Manager, who has delegated responsibility for expenditures of less than £500. Larger expenditures are subject to the approval of the Trustees.
The charity has a reserves holding policy to cover six months of core costs. The Trustees have reviewed this policy and confirm that the charity has maintained this policy during the period. The Trustees intend to review this policy following a detailed fundraising review in 2022, in light of the charity’s new Giving Voice strategy.
Restricted and unrestricted funds
Funds are restricted where they have been raised for a clearly communicated purpose or project, or have been designated as such by the donor.
Unrestricted funds may come from sales of tickets or CDs, payment for concerts or workshops (by promoters or through ticket sales) or through unrestricted donations such as the Friends of Sansara scheme.
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Risk Management
The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity may be exposed and are satisfied those systems and procedures are in place to mitigate any exposure to these risks. The Trustees have reviewed and updated the risk register to include the COVID-19 pandemic.
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing Document
The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered on 18[th] September 2018 . It is governed by its Charitable Constitution.
Trustees
The Trustees meet at least quarterly, to discuss matters affecting the charity, review the financial position of the charity, and review the charity’s activities and performance against its objectives. New Trustees may be put forward by current Trustees or members of the executive and are considered according to relevant experience, qualifications, or specialist knowledge.
The Trustees intend to embark upon a trustee recruitment campaign in 2022 to manage any skills gaps, and reinforce the resilience of the board.
Management
The organisation is operationally managed by an executive team consisting of an Artistic Director (Tom Herring), Finance Manager (Jack Butterworth), and Learning & Participation Manager (Fiona Fraser).
Remuneration
The Trustees have approved remuneration for administration time for the Artistic Director. The Finance Manager and Learning & Participation Manager serve as volunteers.
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Sansara Choir 1179978
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period 01/08/2020 To 31/07/2021
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations 7,833 3,570 - 11,403 19,599
Gift Aid 939 1,000 - 1,939 4,145
Grant income 4,000 41,500 - 45,500 4,500
Income from services rendered - concert fees 7,785 - - 7,785 15,329
Miscellaneous income - - - - 200
Sale of CDs 500 - - 500 2,644
Sponsorship - - - - -
Ticket sales 50 - - 50 7,630
Sub total(Gross income for AR) [ 21,107 ] 46,070 - 67,177 54,047
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
nil - - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 21,107 46,070 - 67,177 54,047
A3 Payments
Catering - - - - -
Commission of music - 600 - 600 -
Costs of sales e.g. box office 155 - - 155 1,249
Digital and computing 673 - - 673 835
Fees for administrative work 9,400 1,068 - 10,468 8,370
Filming, photography and publicity - 700 - 700 68
Hire of scores, microphones etc. 26 - - 26 -
Payments to singers - expenses 306 - - 306 1,221
Payments to singers - fees 13,155 6,880 - 20,035 18,936
Printing, postage and stationery 91 - - 91 952
Purchase of CDs - 1,750 - 1,750 1,950
Travel and accommodation 18 - - 18 132
VAT on purchases 146 443 - 589 736
Venue hire 198 1,595 - 1,793 1,724
Sub total 24,168 13,036 - 37,203 36,173
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
nil - - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments 24,168 13,036 - 37,203 36,173
Net of receipts/(payments) - 3,061 33,035 - 29,973 17,874
A5 Transfers between funds - 4,040 4,040 - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 15,958 6,700 - 22,658 -
Cash funds this year end 8,857 43,775 - 52,632 17,874
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Signature nil Details Cash funds Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details nil Details nil Details Details Musical scores |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 8,857 |
Restricted funds to nearest £ 43,775 |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,857 | 43,775 | - | ||
| OK | OK | OK | ||
| Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - Fund to which asset belongs n/a Fund to which asset belongs Unrestricted Fund to which liability relates n/a Charles Somerset |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - Cost (optional) - Cost (optional) - Amount due (optional) - Name Graham |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - Current value (optional) - Current value (optional) 500 When due (optional) Date of approval 02/04/2022 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
01/04/2022
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