Trustees Annual Report for Year 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024
Trustees:
Chair: Muryel Boulay,
Treasurer: vacant position
Trustees: Onaise Omorogbe, Kavita Abraham – Dowsing, Shruti Clayton
Introduction:
Over the financial year 2023/ 2024, Marlow Refugee Action (MRA) continued to give grants to charities focused on providing aid to refugees in the UK. In the last quarter 2023, the decision was taken by the trustees to look at options to close the MRA while looking for partners to continue the work. This is what most of the work of this year was focussed on. The reason for this decision was based on the lack of resources to run the charity.
The year was started on 1[st] October 2023 with an account of £24,407.05 and ended on 30[th] September 2024, with an account of £7,590.39. Overall, the balance of income over expenditure therefore was a reduction in size of our finances by £16,816.66. This was due to the significant funding for Marlow Ukraine Collective (MUC) which was £28, 374.23 (including an income of £11, 557.57) being handed over to MUC. Details below:
| Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
|---|---|---|
| Bank charges | £60.00 | |
| Donatons | £9,061.98 | |
| DUkraine | 250.00 | |
| Event | £2,245.59 | |
| Expenses | £322.48 | |
| Funding | £8,877.33 | |
| Ukraine | £19,114.42 | |
| Grand Total £28,374.23 £11,557.57 |
*** Can please the exact date of money transfers to MUC be inserted here.
THE MARLOW UKRAINE COLLECTIVE became a registered charity (Reg Number: 1202913) in May 2023.
The trustees of MRA changed in this year with Gareth Roblin and, Tania Baldwin having come to the end of their terms and some for personal reasons .
A second strategic decision was taken during this year following a shift in the trustees of the organisation to focus on UK based refugee organisations.
Besides the financial separation from the MUC activities and the lower resource in the trustees, MRA carried out its regular activities given below.
Activities:
The MRA trustees divided their time between fundraising activities, managing partnerships with refugee charities.
Please see below the list of events where MRA organised a stand for fundraising:
| Oh Shala Aug23 | £795.00 |
|---|---|
| BigBand Dec 23 | £698.00 |
| BigBand Jun 24 | £370.00 |
| Movie Night Jul 24 | £174.59 |
| Slack | £208.00 |
The partnership with Oh Shala and Big Band continued as previous years. The Marlow Carnival stall and the annual plant sale during Refugee Week were discontinued due to the volunteers moving on. Two new events were introduced this year. A successful movie night was held at St Peter’s Church and the Marlow Literary Festival was supported and a donation received from their publication, Slack.
Donations were received from:
| All Saints Church | £1000.00 |
|---|---|
| HMRC Gif Aid Claim | £858.53 |
| Marlow CoE School | £122.80 |
The grants were allocated following the review of a detailed grant applications during fund allocation meetings. The list below details the grants allocated per organisation:
| I Have Rights | £4,345.33 |
|---|---|
| Mamasuze | £2,832.00 |
| ForRefugees Calaisfoodcollecton | £500.00 |
| Wycombe Refugee Partnership | £1,200.00 |
| MUC £19,113.32 |
The transfer to MUC followed their registration as a charity with the Charity Commission UK and their opening of a bank account in Oct 2023.
Two additional expenditures have been reported in the finances below. These include the normal bank charge of £60 and running expenses of £322.48 which include cost of leaving gifts, volunteers tea and a fine for a copyright image mistakenly used on the website.
The detailed Trustee Annual Financial Report 2023 – 2024 is attached to this report.
Conclusion:
MRA continues its fundraising and raising awareness activities within the Marlow community. The trustees having taken the difficult decision to close the charity, took the decision to handover our work and any remaining resource to Marlow Refugee Partnership, one of our oldest partners. Going forward the activities in 2024 – 2025 are focussed on closing and handing over the activities of the charity.
Trustees Annual Report for Year
1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024
Bank
Current account @ 1 October 2023 £24,407.05 Current account @ 30 September 2024 £7590.39
Difference
- Difference £16,816.66 - Balance of Income over Expenditure £16,816.66
| Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
Expenditure Income |
|---|---|---|
| Bank charges | £60.00 | |
| Donatons | £9,061.98 | |
| DUkraine | 250.00 | |
| Event | £2,245.59 | |
| Expenses | £322.48 | |
| Funding | £8,877.33 | |
| Ukraine | £19,114.42 | |
| Grand Total £28,374.23 £11,557.57 |
Income Detail
Included in Donations:
| Income Detail Included in Donatons: |
|
|---|---|
| All Saints Church | £1000.00 |
| HMRC Gif Aid Claim | £858.53 |
| Marlow CoE School | £122.80 |
Included in Events:
| Oh Shala Aug23 | £795.00 |
|---|---|
| BigBand Dec 23 | £698.00 |
| BigBand Jun 24 | £370.00 |
| Movie Night Jul 24 | £174.59 |
| Slack | £208.00 |
Expenditure Detail
Bank charges £60.00
Expenses £322.48 (Trustee leaving gifts, volunteers’ tea, fine for misuse of image on website)
Funding (detailed below) £8,877.33
| I Have Rights | £4,345.3 3 |
|---|---|
| Mamasuze | £2,832.0 0 |
| ForRefugees Calaisfoodcollecton | £500.00 |
| Wycombe Refugee Partnership | £1,200.0 0 |
MUC £19,114.42
Marlow Ukraine Collective was set up as a charitable organisation when the war broke out. While they were setting up charitable status and then a bank account, MRA agreed to act as their bank. As soon as their bank account was opened, we transferred the remaining balance due to them.