PERFORMERS WITHOUT BORDERS IMPACT REPORT IST JUIY 2022 - 30TH JUNI 2023
www.pwb.ngo Established: July 2007 Charity Number CIO - 1182403 Previous charity number: 1121236
Trustees
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NAME Office Comments
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Contents
| NAME | Office | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Claire Bader | Chair | Appointed at AGM 6th Oct 2019 |
| George Massey | Treasurer | Appointed at AGM 6th Oct 2019 |
| Emily Ball | Secretary | |
| Jonathan Forbes | Founder | |
| Mathew Morris | Founder | |
| Liz Stones | MEARL Adviser | |
| Andy Hodkin | Safeguarding Lead | Appointed at AGM 6th Nov 2022 |
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1.Legal and Admin Info 2.Headline Figures & Impact 3.Charity Objectives and Vision
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4.Brief History 5.Operations Summary 6.Financial Summary 7.Future Plans
Principal Address: 52 Old Hospital Lawn, Stroud, UK GL54GA Contact Address: 72 Peterborough Drive, Netherton, Liverpool L305QP
2. Headline Figures - International
In operation since 2007 Performers Without Borders (PWB) has completed 38 International Tours over 16 years in at least 7 different countries . Since founding PWB-UK in 2019, we have delivered 6 major funded projects in the UK and several other smaller projects.
PWB-International : From 2020-2023 we were prevented from delivering any of our International Projects due to the pandemic. However in 2019-2020 we delivered 123 international workshops . We are aiming to revisit our work in India 2024 for a legacy handover, wrapping up our work there physically, looking to continue mentoring from afar. We're also working on developing new international projects starting in the Philippines , with a very exciting new project partner (SDSN Youth) . So during the time where we couldn't tour internationally we have been busy creating new partnerships, mentoring our India legacy students (The Kashi Fire Warriors) and exploring new potential locations due to the changed state of the world.
– Headline Figures PWB-UK
PWB-UK: Pandemic restrictions in the UK were lifted around July of 2021, which meant we were able to do a lot more outreach in the UK. In regards to bigger grant applications, new projects happened with Care4Calais, The Isle of Man Douglas Council, Shropshire Supports Refugees and Blackburn Young Peoples Services, new funded projects in 2022-2023 were with Manor Achedemy and New College Worcester . Please see our re-vammped YouTube Channel for project video for more! www.youtube.com/@PWB_charity
We successfully delivered 17 UK workshops using the same 2 workshop leaders involving 82 funded hours , reaching 1377 participants and doing 3 shows to an audience of over 726*
In 2021 we launched our 'PWB Produces' project with a first successful partnership with Circus Central in Newcastle. Funding was achieved through Sports England and with support in kind from Percy Hedley Foundation . We are currently looking to expand this project to new PO's.
'PWB Produces' Delivered 10 circus intervention workshops with * 41 SEN students and their 36 support staff using 2 paid facilitators and 3 volunteers
* These are the total number of participants in each workshop, not the number of different children reached because some children would have attended multiple workshops.
Headline Figures - Financial
TURNOVER: July 2021-2022 = £21,840 (restricted £16,400, unrestricted £5440) July 2022-2023 = £17,498 (restricted £10,385, unrestricted £7113)
UK Grants Received: Awards for All - Jan 2020 - £9,660; delivered Autumn 2021 Sports England - April 2022 - £4,900 Awards for All - Jan 2022 - £10,000 Awards for All - June 2023 - £9985; delivered Autumn 2023
www.pwb.ngo/pwb-uk/pwb-produces
www.pwb.ngo/blackburn
3. Charity Objects & Vision
Vision: To teach performance arts and circus skills to disadvantaged young people in the UK and Internationally in order to contribute to improving their physical and mental wellbeing.
Charity Objectives: To advance in life and relieve the needs of children and young people in such parts of the world as the trustees shall determine, and in particular those who are socially and/or economically disadvantaged, including by physical or mental disabilities through:
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(a) The provision of recreational and leisure time activities in the performing arts and circus skills provided in the interest of social welfare, designed to improve their conditions of life.
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(b) Providing support and activities which develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as mature and responsible individuals.
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(c) Raising awareness of the positive psychological and physical impact of training in, and experience of, performance arts and circus skills for children and young adults.
4. Brief History
In 2007 Matt Morris and Jonny Forbes launched Performers Without Borders (PWB) with the first tour of India in 2008 with 8 volunteers and we have returned every year since then. In 2013 Rob Thorburn led the first PWB Nicaragua Tour, followed by Sierra Leone’s only tour in 2014 led by Peter King. Kenya was added to the regular tour list in 2016 led by Abi Cooper. In the meantime Francesca Dunford and Jess Herman, did short tours to Calais and Dunkirk bi-annually for 4 years . All these International Tours were Managed by long time PWBer Emily Ball, who is now a Trustee (Secretary).
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JONNY FORBES
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MATT MORRIS EMILY & ROB
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In January 2018 PWB-UK was launched with Peter King contracted to manage its development. The idea being that it would allow us to recruit a different variety of volunteers and access different funding streams, especially UK Trust Funds. In the summer of 2018, 3 taster workshops were delivered to new UK partners dealing with visually and aurally impaired young people. In 2019 we delivered 8 workshops to a special needs school under the NSC grant (see: www.pwb.ngo/our-impact) In 2019/2020 PWB transformed to a CIO with a refreshed board of Trustees. We received our first grant from Awards for All in January 2020 to teach Looked After Children in the Blackburn area circus skill but because of the arrival of Covid19 restrictions in March 2020 we had to delay delivering that programme until Autumn 2021, as well as suspending our 2021 - 2023 International Tours.
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ABI COOPER
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CHEZ & JESS
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DR PEACHI
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Brief History
During 2021 PWB appointed Jamie Moore as the new General Manager and Gina Disney as the new Tour Manager, Fundraiser and Volunteer Coordinator, this saw a renewal of energy to PWB with some big ideas of where to go in the future! We also saw Julia Cooke and Iain McDonald appointed to UK regional manager status with intentions of achieving more grant funded work up north and in Scotland.
https://www.pwb.ngo/case-studies/
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JAMIE MOORE GINA DISNEY JULES COOKE
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5. Operations Summary
PWB delivers high quality circus skills and performance arts workshops and shows in the UK and internationally. We have 3 part time contracted managers and everyone else is a volunteer. We advertise for volunteers for our international tours every year online between May and August, and the rest of the year in person at events. Our UK operations only operate with funding where we pay our workshop leaders an average industry rate for their work. We're currently looking at handing over our longstanding tours to our legacy students and Partner Organjsation's (PO's) in India and Kenya. And we are exploring new locations and partnerships globally.
5.1 - PWB-International (P-Int) Each year we usually support around 20 volunteers to go on tours to India, Nicaragua, Kenya and Calais from around January to March. We work with local PO's to deliver a series
of circus skills workshops and performances to vulnerable children and communities in their care. On some projects we help them create their own performance which is delivered to
KENYA 2020
the local community at the end of project. Due to political unrest in Nicaragua, in previous years we have switched to supporting local performers to deliver 4x one week mini-tours throughout the year instead where possible.
Due to Covid19 uncertainties we decided to cancel our 2021-2023 Tours and focus on fundraising and PWB-UK work instead. Please see below for a list of Tours from previous years and their impact. For more details (photos, videos and blogs) of the tours please see: www.pwb.ngo/our-tours/
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GREECE 2019
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INDIA 2020
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CALAIS 2019
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Operations Summary
Due to Covid19 restrictions stopping our international tours 2020-2023, we did some online shows for a PO in Kerela LifSkool who works with children with disabilities, we helped them to fundraise over £500! We also continued to support our Indian Legacy Students with online mentoring and support, helping them look towards becoming social circus teachers and professional performers.
Due to the increasing cost of living crisis, rising fuel prices and a ferry company scandal, we were unable to revisit our Calais and Dunkirk Project and Partners in the planned June 2021, we want to restart our short projects here but will have to wait until it can become fundable or affordable, as after the covid crisis it is becoming Care4Calais increasingly difficult to fundraise. We did make contact with the group based in the UK and have done some workshops with them here.
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PWB # # # #
TOUR
Sessions Hours Attended Shows Audience PWBers
CALAIS AND DUNKIRK MAY 2019 7 15 134 2 238 2
CALAIS AND DUNKIRK NOV 2019 10 19 154 2 39 6
NICARAGUA OCT 2019 20 36 96 2 73 2
GREECE NOV 2019 15 18 1500 4 610 4
KENYA 2020 32 75 458 4 180 6
INDIA 2020 39 84 3182 13 2380 6
TOTALS 123 247 5524 27 3520 26
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5.2 - PWB-UK
Since January 2018 PUK has been delivering self-funded taster sessions to PO's in the UK, such as the Royal Society for Blind Children in London, the Manchester Deaf Centre and St Vincent’s School for the Visually Impaired in Liverpool, Shropshire Supports Refugees, New College Worcester (school of the blind) delivered by Jamie Moore, Peter King and Gina Disney. We are continuously applying for grants backed from these sessions with suitable Trust Funds and happy to talk to any new PO's or fundraising streams.
- Swiss Cottage School for Special Needs Project Network for Social Change £7,200 In March 2019, For more see: www.pwb.ngo/pwb-uk/ & www.pwb.ngo/swisscottage/
- Looked After Children Blackburn Awards for All Grant £9,660
On 25th Oct 2019 PWB delivered a free taster session at Blackburn With Darwen (BwD) Children’s Services Participation Relaunch Event, attended by Looked After Children (LAC) and associated professionals. It proved popular and after cconductting surveys we managed to get more funding to return via National Lottery Community Fund of £10,000.
For more on this evaluation please see: www.pwb.ngo/blackburn/
- New College Worcester National Lottery Community Fund £10,000
After self-funding 4 workshops at Visually Impaired residential school New College Worcester in 2022 we managed to obtain funding to return for a longer intervention with the aim of teaching fire skills at the end of the project. We have deliverd half this project in 2023 and will finish in 2024.
' ' - PWB Produces Percy headley & Circus Central Sports England £4900
In 2023 we launched ' PWB Produces ' and working alongside Circus Central in Newcastle and the Percy Hedley Foundation we managed to obtain partial funding from Sports England , and the Percy Hedley Foundation contributed £1500 to meet the full funding target.
For more on this evaluation please see: www.pwb.ngo/pwb-uk/pwb-produces/
PWB-UK
The table below lists our main impact figures for PWB-UK, but please see our website for more details of our work in the UK: www.pwb.ngo/pwb-uk/
In January 2022 we received a further £10,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund to continue this project. The project was delivered successfully in line with the budget and time frame. During this project we introduced fire performing to the older participants, for a memorable experience.
Project Video; https://vimeo.com/783659253
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PWB # # # #
TOUR
Sessions Hours Attended Shows Audience PWBers
PUK 2018-2019 7 19 62 6 69 6
PUK 2019-2020 11 25 380 5 152 8
PUK 2020-2021 2 0 60 2 250 4
PUK 2021-2022 53 90 920 7 355 4
PUK 2022-2023 17 82 1377 3 726 2
TOTALS 90 216 2799 23 1552 24
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6. Financial Summary
PWB-HQ is mainly funded by individual donations via our small donations fundraising network – the FAB500 (www.pwb.ngo/fab500) which raises about £500pm which is about £6000py . The remainder comes from Events or General Giving (EGG) which varies from year to year but averages out at about £1200 per year. We aim to keep around £3,000 in reserves to cover 3 months expenses and possible emergency repatriation costs from our International Tours.
Apart from that our only other income stream is restricted from Grants or one-off workshops for PWB-UK or from what our volunteers raise to go on their tour. The latter averages out at about £1000 per volunteer and is used to pay for their accommodation, food and travel costs whilst on tour and totals around £11,000py . Flights, vaccinations and travel insurance are all paid directly by our volunteers and the tours usually break even every year although we allow for about £2000 for Tour Coordinator costs. This year the international tours didn’t run again so our annual turnover is below £25,000 , as it has been since the Covid pandemic. This year our restricted income was again boosted by the Awards for All grant for £9985 , which was delivered in Autumn 2023. PWB-UK had an earned income of £400 .
FINANCIAI SUMMARY PERFORMERS WITHOUT BORDERS Jul 2022-2023 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30June 2023 Totsls 2023 Totals 2022 Incomln Resourc•s Incoming resources & generated funds Donatlons Fundraisers Volunteer contributions PWB-UK earned Income Grants 1.304 9,985 16,4(K) Total Incoming resources 17.498 21,840 Resources expended Marketing Admin Bank Charge5 Safeguarding checks Training Contractors 438 1,204 24 331 324 PWB-UK costs Grant expenditure Tour costs 8,31XJ 4,135 20,1(KI Total resources expended I7.3 27.078 Net income for the year 495 -5,238 Fund balances at 30th June 2023 21,439 20,944
Financial Summary
The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 28 February 2015. Members have not required the company to obtain an audit, since no member of the company has deposited a notice, pursuant to section 476, requiring an audit of these accounts.
The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the company keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing accounts which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to accounts, so far as applicable to the company.
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to small companies within Part 15 the Companies Act 2006. The accounts were approved at the AGM by the Board on 6th Nov 2022.
11/12/23 Claire Bader Chair of the Trustees Charity Number: 1121236
Independent Examiners report not required this year as turnover is under £25,000
7. Future Plans
Writing this in Jan 2024 after submitting our accounts to the Charity Commission I can say that our International Tours are starting up again and we're very excited! In the UK we have been successfully delivering a bunch of projects and from launching 'PWB Produces' and are continuing to apply for future funding we have been strengthening PWB-UK further. We continue to work on expanding our operations with some exciting new project avenues listed below.
7.1 – Future Prospective Projects
PWB Philippines – We are currently finalising project details with an exciting new Partner Organisation (SDSN) in the Philippines and are planning a tour for October 2023!
PWB Cuba - We visited Cuba in October 2022 as part of a social circus conference with Circo Pal Barrio and explored the possibility of a Tour there in 2023. However the local political climate made this too complicated and regrettably we decided not to focus any more efforts in this area.
PWB Latin America - We are looking to start new PWB tours in Latin America with leads of PO's in Peru and Mexico.
PWB India - We will keep mentoring the India project while looking at changing it's format entirely to a legacy continuation where our longstanding students from Asha-Deep Vidyashram (The Kashi Fire Warriors) will continue to deliver social circus projects supported by PWB.
PWB Produces - Having already completed one PWB Produces project successfully with Circus Central in Newcastle we will look at finding more Partner Organisations in the UK to develop a new project for this we have appointed a new trial Regional Manager for Scotland.
PWB Residential's - This is a new idea we are looking into developing for 2024/25 connecting Social Circuses around the globe with our volunteers for short stay experiences, looking at supporting teacher training, equipment distribution and further outreach, working alongside Caravan network.
We look forward to increasing the depth and range of our outstanding legacy of impacts in 2023 and onwards!
Report written by Gina Disney, Dr Peter King and Jamie Moore and designed by Gina Disney