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AKWAABA ANNUAL REPORT
Reporting Period: April 2021 - March 2022 Charity Registration Number: 1181291
PART 1: ABOUT AKWAABA
Akwaaba is a Hackney-based social centre for migrants. We offer a space for rest, play, learning and mutual support. Akwaaba is for all migrants regardless of immigration status, ‘race’, religion, country of origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity and (dis)ability.
We believe that no-one is illegal. We are committed to actively opposing racism and all other forms of discrimination and oppression.
Our aim is to build community and foster care, cooperation and solidarity. As a community, we try
to make decisions collectively and give all members an equal say in how the social centre is run. Akwaaba is a volunteer-run space.
Our primary aims are to:
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Offer a safe and welcoming space for migrants of all backgrounds for social activities and mutual support
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Foster solidarity and build a shared community of people from different backgrounds
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Provide material support including food, travel bursaries and other donated items to migrant members experiencing hardship
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Summary of changes to Akwaaba’s activities between April 2021 to March 2022
PART 2: ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE
Akwaaba went through a transition period in 2021- 2022 as the organisation moved from operating in pandemic conditions to returning to the usual Sunday community sessions indoors. During this financial period, Akwaaba wound down the pandemic programmes which provided extra support to members in need as a result of the pandemic. Akwaaba then underwent a period of rest and reflection after we moved from our temporary outside venue at St Mary’s Gardens. During the period that Akwaaba ceased weekly open sessions, Akwaaba members worked hard to find a new venue where we could meet inside and maintain community ties and activities. In April 2022, Akwaaba re-opened at Stoke Newington School.
Covid Response
Akwaaba continued our Covid-19 Pandemic response which had been established at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 to support members. In the first six months of 2021-22 we spent £85,642 which was raised for our Covid Response activities. The most significant proportion of the expenditure was for regular hardship support and emergency grants.
In August 2021, Akwaaba ran our first ever beach trip to Margate. 200 members of Akwaaba participated. Approximately half were children. The event was a great success and Akwaaba hopes to make it an annual tradition.
We continued to run weekly Sunday sessions until September 2021 when we closed for six months for a period of rest, reflection and
planning before we moved to a new permanent venue. Akwaaba had successfully organised a significant funding and support drive during the pandemic which ensured that members and a
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wider number of people in need were able to access support, advice and food during the hardest periods of the lock down. The significant increase in support had placed increased pressure on Akwaaba volunteers and it was agreed that a period of rest and reflection was needed before we returned to meeting indoors as we had done before the pandemic. This long-overdue break allowed us to recuperate and work on rebuilding some of our internal structures that had been overstretched by our Covid-response. We caught up on the administrative issues including trustee recruitment, accounting and policy development and to hold a series of member consultations to plan our post pandemic recovery.
During this period, we ran some one off sessions for members so they could remain connected and supported including a Christmas Party in December 2021.
Akwaaba moved to a fantastic new venue - Stoke Newington Secondary School - in April 2022. Akwaaba has been running two sessions a month at the new venue with some online activities while we develop volunteer capacity. In the lead up to April 2022, Akwaaba volunteers reviewed our systems and structures to ensure a smooth transition to the new venue.
Kitchen Performance 2021-22:
The kitchen team continued to grow in strength while cooking under pandemic conditions (where Akwaaba was serving takeaway meals). Members praised the chefs for cooking delicious meals. They said that the food was freshly prepared and served hot in packed takeaways every session.
From April 2021 to March 2022, the Kitchen Team served 200 meals per session including volunteers. Since the end of the pandemic (30 September 2021) the Kitchen Team has not received any food donations from previous community food partners. Akwaaba has been responsible for purchasing food to prepare for the session.
Kids Team
The Kids Team continued activities that had developed in response to the pandemic as well as their usual activities. The Kids Team’s main activities included:
- Running a family support scheme
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Weekly online sessions for the kids activities including arts, crafts, games and cooking
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11 sessions at a local adventure playground across summer;
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Halloween and Christmas sessions including lunch for volunteers, parents & kids
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Running a laptop lending library for families
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Sending all children a card on their birthday
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Supporting parents to organise coffee mornings to socialise and provide other kinds of support
PART 3: GOVERNANCE OF AKWAABA
The Board of Trustees continued to meet quarterly to monitor and oversee the activities of these working groups while individual trustees participated in other working groups. Two new trustees were recruited during the year through an open application and interview process.
During the 2021-2022 financial year Akwaaba continued to function in decentralised way, in which our working groups came to the fore:
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The Budget Group, which is open to all members to join, met regularly to determine the budget for the coming quarter and authorise changes to funds allocated to different parts of the project.
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The Fundraising Group continued to source funding for Akwaaba’s operation
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The working groups managing our Sunday sessions, children’s programme, hardship support, English classes, storytelling and yoga projects worked independently of each other to organise activities remotely or in different locations around Hackney.
Akwaaba’s community ethos continues to be its strength, allowing the project to rapidly respond and making dramatic changes according to the needs of our members.
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PART 4: FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
Akwaaba’s income was £82,663 (2019-20£243,576).
Akwaaba’s income dropped significantly this year as Akwaaba’s operations moved from pandemic emergency support towards normal operations. Akwaaba ended the financial year 2021/22 with a deficit of £43,085, this was due to spending remainders of some of the grants received in previous financial year. The previous year's income was exceptionally large as we responded to the COVID emergency situation by expanding our financial and material support provision for extremely vulnerable members. As a voluntary group we did not have the organisational capacity to sustain this long term and we focus on solidarity rather than charitable service so we wanted to return to our previous way of working. We took the decision to target lower fundraising income in 21-22, and spend down the COVID grants while remaining significantly above our minimum reserves threshold. We have achieved this and are on track to return to surplus in 22-23 having restored our pre COVID model of Sunday sessions and community building.We gratefully thank all those who generously contributed funds. Also those who made such outstanding fundraising efforts.
Net assets at year-end (ie. cash balance) was £66,874 (2020-21£109,914), of which £40,422 (2019-20 £71,762) was unrestricted funds and £26,452 (2019-20 £38,152) restricted funds. Again, the drop in assets was due to some grants held at the end of previous financial year being spent. For that reason Covid-19 response continued to be the biggest expense in this financial year by some margin.
The remainder of the income has been applied to the running of Sunday sessions, and travel costs for members to attend Akwaaba events and meetings. Overheads were mainly for hiring space for the Sunday sessions.
A reserve of £16,000 has been maintained to safeguard the ability to continue running sessions. This provides for approximately six months of essential costs required to run sessions in nonpandemic times. Any restricted fund balances that cover operational costs are taken into consideration when calculating the required unrestricted reserve.
The main financial risk is the loss of income from recurring donations/grants over a sustained period of time, particularly during current difficult socio-economic conditions in the UK which are seeing household and organisational incomes heavily impacted. During uncertain times, Akwaaba is committed to making plans based on existing and confirmed funds only, protecting its reserves and monitoring funds to avoid a deficit position.
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PART 5: ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
| Charity name | Akwaaba |
| Registered charity number | 1181291 |
| Charity’s principal address at 31-03-2021 Subsequently changed |
35c Glenarm Road London E5 0LY |
Names of Trustees at 31-03-2022
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Bukola Akinniyi
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Omolola Alimi
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Khalid Bashar
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Gargi Bhattacharyya
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Naomi Byrne
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Tomasz Muszynski
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Lucy Rix
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Shanthi Sivakumaran
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Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit
This is to confirm that the Trustees have had due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit set out on their website: -benefit-rules-for-charities. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public
Approved by order of the members of the board and signed on behalf by:
25/01/2023
Tomasz Muszynski (Trustee)
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF AKWAABA (CHARITY NUMBER: 1181291)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of AKWAABA Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) for the period ended 31 Mach 2022, which are set out on pages 9 to 12.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Charities Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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1 the accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or
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2 the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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3 the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Kalpesh Shah Association of Chartered Certified Accountants 5 Dacre Road
Croydon Surrey CR0 3DL
Dated: 28 January 2023
| 01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
01 April 2021 31 March 2022 1181291 AKWAABA Receipts and payments accounts Period start date Period end date To For the period from |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CC16a | |||||||||
| For the period from |
01 April 2021 Period start date |
To | 31 March 2022 Period end date |
||||||
| Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 46,843 - - - - - - - 46,843 - - - 46,843 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ 5,615 30,205 - - - - - 35,820 - - - 35,820 |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 52,458 30,205 - - - - - 82,663 - - - 82,663 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| Donation Income | 46,843 | 131,722 | |||||||
| Grant Income | - | 111,854 | |||||||
| Fundraising Income | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
46,843 | 243,576 | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 243,576 | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | ||||||
| SundaySession Costs | 7,490 | - | - | 7,490 | 6,226 | ||||
| SundayKitchen | 8,584 | - | - | 8,584 | 12,215 | ||||
| SundayChildren Activities | 1,211 | 4,781 | - | 5,992 | 4,940 | ||||
| Volunteer Devices & Data | 5,173 | - | 5,173 | 20 | |||||
| Daytrips & Other Activities | 3,397 | 3,397 | - | ||||||
| Support Groups/Meetings | 6,127 | 544 | - | 6,671 | 11,724 | ||||
| Member Training | 150 | - | - | 150 | - | ||||
| CitizenshipSupport | 50 | - | - | 50 | 1,012 | ||||
| - | |||||||||
| Covid-19 Response | 58,983 | 27,642 | - | 86,625 | 158,373 | ||||
| HardshipSupport(Covid-19) | - | - | - | - | 7,500 | ||||
| Overheads | 1,166 | - | - | 1,166 | 2,982 | ||||
| Governance | 450 | - | 450 | 450 | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 92,781 | 32,967 | - | 125,748 | 205,442 | ||||
| - - - 92,781 - 45,938 - 86,360 40,422 |
- - - 32,967 2,853 - 23,599 26,452 |
- - - - - - - - |
- - - 125,748 - 43,085 |
||||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
|||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end CCXX R1 accounts (SS) |
|||||||||
| 205,442 | |||||||||
| - 43,085 | 38,134 | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| 109,959 | 71,825 | ||||||||
| 66,874 | 109,959 | ||||||||
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details Bank Petty Cash Paypal Account Details Signature |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 36,622 26,452 132 - 3,668 - 40,422 26,452 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Tomasz Muszynski |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| Tomasz Muszynski | 25/01/2023 |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
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Section C Accounting Policies and notes to the Receipts and Payments Accounts
1. Company Information
Akwaaba is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Charity Commission: 1181291). The registered address is 35C Glenarm Road, London, E5 0LY.
2. Basis of Preparation of Financial Statements
Charities registered in England and Wales that are not companies are allowed under section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Charities Act’) to prepare receipts and payments accounts, provided the charity’s gross income is less than £250,000.
Receipts and payments accounts have been chosen by the Trustees, since Akwaaba is registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and complies with the above for its accounting periods to 31st March 2021 and 31[st] March 2020.
The accounts have been prepared, using the Charity Commission’s pro forma accounts (CC16a), and have been signed-off as ready for an independent examination.
The following have been prepared by the trustees:
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A Trustees’ Annual Report
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A Receipts and Payments Account
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A Statement of Assets and Liabilities
3. Fund Accounting
Unrestricted income funds represent those resources which may be used towards meeting any of the objectives of the CIO at the discretion of the membership. Restricted income funds are resources which are to be applied to specific purposes as requested by the funder, in line with designated giving.
4. Incoming Resources
All incoming financial resources are included in the Income & Expenditure Account upon receipt of monies into the Akwaaba bank account, cash-in-hand records or PayPal. The balance of income received for specific purposes but not expended during the period is shown in the relevant funds on the Balance sheet. All volunteer time (ie. free time) is considered an in-kind donation which is not recorded/accounted for.
Akwaaba categorises its income into three main categories:
Donation Income : Any gift of cash from an individual or organisation to support Akwaaba’s self-determined goals, for which the funder receives nothing in return. The funder can normally receive tax relief directly from HMRC for their donations. Akwaaba is also positioned to claim gift aid on donations from individuals.
Grant Income: Any funding bid that has resulted in non-repayable funds being awarded to Akwaaba. These funds are mainly provided towards a specific
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purpose and are therefore (generally) accounted for as restricted income.
Fundraising Income: Any funding received through a fundraising event/initiative planned by Akwaaba members.
5. Resources Expended
All expenditure is recognised at the point at which payment is made. Expenditure is classified and aggregated under specific categories, as per their nature (eg. travel costs for members, childcare costs for members, kitchen costs). All costs are directly attributed to categories.
All resources expended are inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
6. Cash at Bank and in Hand
Cash and cash equivalents include cash held in a current account, in a Paypal account and cash in hand which is split into ‘travel’ and ‘general’.
7. Going Concern
The trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the CIO to continue as a going concern. These accounts are prepared on the Going Concern concept.
8. Reserves
A reserve of £15,000 is maintained to safeguard the ability to continue running sessions, in the event that fundraising levels drop below weekly expenditures for a significant length of time. £15,000 provides for approximately six months of normal sessions. Any restricted fund balances that cover operational costs are taken into consideration when calculating the required unrestricted reserve.
9. Tangible Fixed Assets
The full acquisition cost of tangible property below £500 will be fully expensed at the point of purchase. Assets may be capitalised if they have a useful life exceeding one year and a per unit acquisition cost exceeding £500. Capital assets capitalised will be depreciated over their estimated useful economic life.
Any property capitalised by Akwaaba, for its own use, will be disclosed in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.
10. Taxation
Akwaaba uses its income for charitable purposes and is therefore exempt from Corporation tax. No VAT exemptions have been sought as there is no trading.
11. Trustee Expenses/Related Parties
There are expenses which represent reimbursement of legitimate payments made by trustees personally, in order to carry out their duties as trustee (eg. travel expense). There are trustees who are also members of the migrant community and are eligible for cash payments, as part of Akwaaba activities (eg. funds to cover travel expenses or childcare to attend sessions/meetings/trainings).