## **REGISTERED AS A CHARITABLE INCORPORATED ORGANISATION (CIO) IN ENGLAND AND WALES**
**REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1183762**
## **COMMONWEALTH HERITAGE FORUM**
**Report of the Trustees and the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
## **Contents of the Report of the Trustees and the Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021**
||Page|
|---|---|
|Report of the Trustees|1 to 4|
|Receipts and Payments Account|**5**|
|Statement of Assets and Liabilities|6|
|Notes to the Accounts|7|
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2021**
The Trustees present their report and the accounts of the CIO for the period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.
## **REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS**
## **Registered Charity number**
1183762
## **Principal Office**
12 Devonshire Street LONDON W1G 7AB
## **Patron**
H.E. Sir Rodney Williams KCMG
## **Trustees**
Peregrine Bryant (first appointed 12 September 2018) Philip Davies (appointed 12 September 2018) (Chair) Lucy Denton (appointed 12 September 2018) Nicolette Duckham (appointed 12 September 2018) Robert Kerr (appointed 17 February 2020) Giles Quarme (appointed 17 February 2020) Francis Maude (first appointed 12 September 2018) (Secretary and Deputy Chair) Rachel Tranter-Needham (appointed 17 February 2020) Rowenna Wood (first appointed 12 September 2018)
## **Honorary Treasurer**
Geoffrey Rice
## **Bankers**
CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JG
## **Website**
www.commonwealthheritage.org
Page 1
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
## **Report of the Trustees**
**for the year ended 31 March 2020**
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
## **Governing document**
Commonwealth Heritage Forum is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). On 6 June 2019 it was entered on the Register of Charities by the Charity Commission for England and Wales with the registered charity number 1183762. It is governed by a constitution that was adopted on formation.
## **Trustees**
The first Trustees were appointed on 12 September 2018 to serve for specified periods of between two and four years from the formation of the CIO. Other Trustees are appointed for an initial term of three years. New Trustees are selected with regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. All appointments and re-appointments are made by resolution of the Trustees, with the expectation that service will be limited to three consecutive terms of three years.
## **Membership**
The members of the CIO are the Trustees for the time being. Trustees become members on appointment and cease to be members when they stand down as Trustees.
The Trustees are empowered to create associate or other classes of non-voting membership and to determine the rights and obligations of such members. This they have done by establishing three categories of membership with varying rates of subscription: Individual, Institution and Corporate. Membership is open to all those interested in sharing in the built heritage of the Commonwealth.
## **Risk management**
The Trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the CIO is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error. The Trustees have assessed the major risks to which the CIO is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the Trust, and have established systems to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
## **OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES**
## **Objectives and aims**
The objects of the CIO are to advance the education of the public in the conservation, promotion and preservation of sites and buildings of cultural and/or historical significance. It seeks to do this in four principal ways:
## _Communication_
To increase understanding and individual and collective knowledge of all the built heritage of the Commonwealth and between its peoples and institutions.
## _Education_
To advance research, education and scholarship of the architectural, designed landscapes and engineering heritage of Commonwealth countries.
## _Inspiration_
To encourage the conservation of all buildings and places of heritage interest by exchanging professional knowledge and expertise.
## _Conservation_
To facilitate the conservation of all the historic built environment by providing opportunities for learning, research, understanding, skills development and capabilities for all.
## Page 2
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2020**
## **Public benefit**
The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing the CIO’s objectives and aims and in planning future activities.
## **ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE**
## **Charitable activities**
During the year under review the Trustees continued to meet regularly to progress the objectives and aims of the charity. The website was enhanced, further sponsorship was sought and received, further members were recruited and links developed with potential partners for some of the intended projects. The membership and role of the Forum’s International Advisory Committee was broadened. Regular newsletters were published and social media used to raise interest in the common heritage of the Commonwealth and the need to conserve and promote it, to the benefit of all the peoples of the member countries.
The Forum was launched formally on 11 March 2020 at Australia House in London, by the generous invitation of the Australian High Commission. Speakers included the Forum’s Patron, Sir Rodney Williams, and the Australian High Commissioner, George Brandis QC. Under its Commonwealth Heritage at Risk initiative, and in conjunction with local partners, the Forum is currently developing six pilot projects in Fiji, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Pakistan to train local people to prepare registers of historic buildings at risk and identify priorities for action.
The Forum subscribes to the principles and core values of the Commonwealth, while working with partners to raise awareness through education and to improve livelihoods by the sharing of skills and expertise. It has an important role to play in meeting certain Sustainable Development Goals, in particular those addressing education, sustainable cities and communities and climate action. By reusing and adapting the legacy of the past to meet 21[st] century requirements, best use can be made of the embodied energy that buildings contain, reducing the carbon footprint of new development while revitalising historic neighbourhoods and existing communities.
In the spring of 2021, the Forum developed and delivered a series of webinars on issues relating to Commonwealth heritage which attracted a wide global audience. A further series of five talks is planned in the autumn. In addition, in conjunction with the Commonwealth Association of Architects, the Commonwealth Association of Planners, the Commonwealth Engineers Council and the Commonwealth Association of Universities, the Forum helped to plan and deliver a separate series of five online CPD lectures on issues relating to sustainable development, climate change, conservation-led regeneration and post-Covid recovery.
## **Donors**
The CIO does not receive any funding from government or other public sources; it depends entirely on its own fundraising, from individual, institutional and corporate donors and from membership subscriptions. During the prior period a grant to help set up the Forum was received from The
Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund. The Forum is very grateful for this support and the ongoing generosity of its other sponsors.
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
During the prior period, funds were raised to establish and launch the CIO and an experienced consultant was
engaged to assist with this. However, much of the work was undertaken by the Trustees as volunteers and this
continues to be the case. The Trustees hope to raise further funds from donors, and to widen the membership
base, so as to secure sufficient resources to enable the various initiatives that are being planned to proceed on a
secure basis.
Page 3
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
**Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2020**
## **FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS**
The Trustees believe that the CIO can fulfil a vital role in supporting and promoting the appreciation, conservation and imaginative use of the built heritage of the Commonwealth.
Approved by the Trustees on 18 August 2021 and signed on their behalf by:
Philip Davies Trustee
Page 4
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
## **Receipts and Payments Account for the year ended 31 March 2020**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2021 2020
£ £
RECEIPTS
Donations 6,025 20,500
Membership subscriptions 2,500 700
Gift Aid 1,955 -
10,480 21,200
PAYMENTS 12,
General consultancy 300 600
Launch of the Forum - 4,137
Information technology 2,065 1,390
Printing and stationery 40 468
Bank and money processing charges 109 30
2,514 18,625
CASH FUNDS at the period end 10,541 2,575
**----- End of picture text -----**
The notes form part of these accounts
Page 5
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
**Statement of Assets and Liabilities at 31 March 2021**
||**2020**|
|---|---|
||**£**|
|**CURRENT ASSET**||
|Cash at bank|10,541|
|**FUNDS**||
|General fund|10,541|
The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on 18 August 2021 and signed on their behalf by: Philip Davies Trustee
The notes form part of these accounts
Page 6
## **Commonwealth Heritage Forum**
## **Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2021**
## **1. Accounting policies**
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis.
## **2. Trustee remuneration and benefits**
None of the Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits (2020: none).
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