Trustees Annual Report
Year ending 31[st] March 2023
Charity name Video Bible Talks Charity registration number 1181337 Registered address 8 Appleby Green Romford RM3 7SL Trustees Jonathan Trinder (Chair) Alan Witchalls Maxwell Fenn Independent examiner Alan Gray
Objectives and activities
Video Bible Talks has the following objects contained in the charity’s constitution:
- To benefit to public by the advancement of the Christian faith throughout the United Kingdom and in particular, but without limitation, by the production and distribution of Bible teaching videos.
The mission of Video Bible Talks is to provide high quality video-based Bible teaching for church groups and ministries that is freely available to view and download online, allowing volunteer leaders to focus on pastoral care and personal discipleship. The vision is to see churches grow and thrive as more groups and ministries benefiting from high quality and accessible Bible preaching and teaching.
We confirm that the charity trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers or duties.
Achievements and performance
Activities this year
Video production
Writing for two new series of videos began in 2022. The first series was intended to be a six-video series from Genesis 12-36 (entitled Promises and Blessings, exploring the narratives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). Principal filming for this series had to be delayed due to an issue with the planned presenter for that series no longer meeting the standard criteria for Video Bible Talks presenters (as agreed by the trustees to ensure presenters have a reputable character and are in good standing with their church community). Production for this series was rescheduled to begin in the second half of 2023.
Production of the second series of three-videos from Obadiah (entitled What goes around...) was moved forward and began mid-2022. Pre-production started in June 2022, principal filming began in October 2022 and post-production began in March 2023. The series is due to be completed and released in June 2023.
We are thankful that the 2022-2023 period has seen a return to production of Video Bible Talks videos after the challenges of the past few years.
Charity development
The charity was awarded a development grant of £5,000 from Le Cornu Charitable Trust (registered charity 1088294) to update and improve the website, and to provide funds for hiring video production assistants.
Using the grant from Le Cornu Charitable Trust, the Video Bible Talks website is in the process of being updated and improved, as follows:
-
An improved user experience when downloading videos.
-
Clearer and more prominent call-to-give points in the user experience.
-
Improved analytical information to better profile and understand our user base.
The website is due to be completed May 2023, ahead of the release of the new series from the book of Obadiah.
Charity performance
By God’ grace, the number of people reached and the number of groups supported in teaching the good news of Jesus Christ has remained generally steady throughout 2023.
By the end of the 2022-2023 period, there had been...
-
6,326 views online
-
3,471 video downloads
-
207 churches/ministries worldwide using our ministry
To date, there have been eight series of Video Bible Talks produced, consisting of 41 videos in total.
Future development
Video production
Principal filming for Promises and Blessings (Genesis 12-36) is scheduled to begin autumn 2023, with a view for post-production and release to take place early 2024.
Writing for an eight-video series from Revelation 1-3 will begin mid-2023, with principal filming pencilled to begin in 2024.
Charity development
The trustees are considering ways to broaden the scope of our work. This includes producing videos that might be helpful to a broader catchment of users, producing videos in partnership with other charities, and producing videos that better utilise popular video platforms (such as YouTube).
The trustees are also considering ways to broaden and increase the donor base and funding sources for the charity. This includes exploring monetisation opportunities (on platforms such as YouTube[1] ),
1 Maintaining zero-cost for videos that explicitly preach and teach the message of the Bible.
seeking grants from grant-making trusts, and establishing/utilising crowdfunding to drive some areas of future content.
Financial review
Regular donations have remained constant throughout 2022-2023.
The expenses during the 2022-2023 period represent the pre-production and planning work on the postponed Promises and Blessings series (Genesis 12-36), the production of the What goes around... series (Obadiah), and the ongoing running costs of the charity.
The trustees remain very thankful to God and to both our regular supporters and the users who give single one-off donations.
Looking ahead, Video Bible Talks is expected to continue being primarily funded by individual supporters of this ministry, with occasional one-off donations from individuals and churches who have benefited from our videos. However, with the release of the What goes around... series (Obadiah) and the release of series in currently in production, we are confident that this will see an increase in users, and we trust a subsequent increase in financial support.
A summary of the accounts for the period ending 31st March 2023 is included below.
Reserves Policy
The reserves as of 31 March 2023 are represented by the bank balance. It is the intention of the Trustees to hold a level of reserves once the finances of the charity allow for this.
Structure, governance, and management
The charity is governed by a constitution and was formed as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 21 December 2018.
The charity is organised and managed by the trustees named above, with Alan Witchalls managing the activities of the charity as video Director and Producer on a self-employed contract basis, and the other trustees appointed according to their skills and expertise as it may benefit the charity. All Trustees are required to subscribe and adhere to, in belief and lifestyle, the Statement of Faith adopted by the Charity.
Accounts summary
For the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023
| Opening balance | 2022-2023 2021-2022 £18,043 £15,278 |
|---|---|
| Income Regular supporters Single donations Gift Aid Grants Other income Expenditure Contract staff Running costs Production costs Equipment costs Other expenses |
£16,281 £16,647 £493 £1,218 - - £5,000 - £32 £45 |
| £21,806 £17,910 £18,360 £12,360 £1,475 £1,458 £1,525 - - £1,327 £52 - |
|
| £21,412 £15,145 |
|
| Closing balance | £18,437 £18,043 |
Closing remarks
The trustees of Video Bible Talks are extremely thankful to God for his provision in this ministry, and for our supporters and users for contributing to and making use of the content we provide.
Approved: Jonathan Trinder (on behalf of trustees) Date: 25/04/2023
| Video | Bible Talks | 1181337 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | ||||
| For | the period from |
4/1/2022 | To | 3/31/2023 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | 16,281 493 - 5,000 32 - - - 21,806 - - - 21,806 18,360 1,475 1,525 - 52 - - - - 21,412 - - - 21,412 394 - 18,043 18,437 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
to the nearest £ Restricted funds |
to the nearest £ Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
| Regular donations | - - - - - - - - - |
- | 16,281 493 - 5,000 32 - - - 21,806 |
16,647 | |
| Single donations | - | 668 | |||
| Gift-aid reclaimed | - | - | |||
| Grants | - | 595 | |||
| Other income | - | - | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | - | 17,910 | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||
| - - - |
- | - - - |
|||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||
| - | - | 21,806 | 17,910 | ||
| Contract staff | - - - - - - - - - - |
- | 18,360 1,475 1,525 - 52 - - - - 21,412 |
12,360 | |
| Runningcosts | - | 1,458 | |||
| Production costs | - | - | |||
| Equipment costs and upgrades | - | 1,327 | |||
| Other expenses | - | - | |||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | 15,145 | |||
| 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 |
|||||
| - | - | 21,412 | 15,145 | ||
| - - - - |
- | 394 - 18,043 18,437 |
2,765 | ||
| - | - | ||||
| - | 15,278 | ||||
| - | 18,043 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details NatWest bank account Details Details Details Production equipment Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ Unrestricted funds |
to nearest £ Restricted funds |
to nearest £ Endowment funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18,437 | - - - - |
- | ||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| 18,437 | - | |||
| OK to nearest £ Unrestricted funds |
OK | |||
| to nearest £ Endowment funds |
||||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| - | - | |||
| Fund to which asset belongs |
Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Fund to which asset belongs |
Current value (optional) |
|||
| Unrestricted | 2,500 | |||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Fund to which liability relates |
When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
||||
| 12/14/2023 | ||||
| 12/14/2023 | ||||
| 12/14/2023 |