DREAMSAI Milton Keynes Charity Number: 1184822
Financial Statements for the year ended 31[st] March 2021.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2021.
The trustees present their annual report and independent examined financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 and confirm they comply with the Charities Act 1993, as amended by the Charities Act 2006, the trust deed, and the Charities SORP 2005.
Reference and Administrative Information
Charity Name DREAMSAI Milton Keynes Charity Registration Number 1184822 Principle Office 106, walhouse road, Walsall, West Midlands, WS1 2BE
Board of Trustees:
Lakshmana Rao Kastala (Chair) Srinivasa Rao Velupula Surabhi Sharan Pramod Parepalli (until 25[th] oct 2020)
Independent Examiners:
Anand Associates 106, Walhouse Road Walsall WS1 2BE
Bankers:
HSBC Bank plc The Bridge, Walsall, West Midlands WS1 1LN
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Contents
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2021. ................................................................... 4 Structure, Governance and Management .......................................................................................... 4 Governing Document ...................................................................................................................... 4 Organisation Structure .................................................................................................................... 4 Risk Management ........................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives and Activities ..................................................................................................................... 5 Summary of the main activities .......................................................................................................... 5 Strategies ............................................................................................................................................ 5 Volunteer Contribution ....................................................................................................................... 6 Activities and Achievements ............................................................................................................... 6 Food for SAI – Cooked Meals Project .............................................................................................. 7 Food Outreach – Festive Hampers, Food Parcels & School Breakfast ............................................ 7 Blood Donation ............................................................................................................................... 8 Spiritual ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Partnerships ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Financial Review .................................................................................................................................. 8 Reserves Policy ................................................................................................................................ 8 Principal funding sources ................................................................................................................ 8 Statement of Trustee’s responsibilities .............................................................................................. 8 Income & Expenditure Account for period ending 31[st] March 2021. ................................................... 10 Balance Sheet for the period ending 31[st] March 2021 ......................................................................... 11 Independent Examiners Report ............................................................................................................ 12
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2021.
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
DREAMSAI Milton Keynes is constituted as a charitable trust registered with the Charity Commission in August 2019 under the charity number 1184822. It is governed by the deed of the trust.
Organisation Structure
Trustee Board is the ultimate accountability for the CIO, and responsible for strategic direction & organisational governance. The trustee board collaborates with executive team for the implementation. The executive team with the support of the volunteer pool operates the projects. The organisation foundations are underpinned by support from volunteers and members of Milton Keynes community.
Governance is at the heart of the strategic and operational decision making. DREAMSAI is registered with fund raising regulator. No cash policy is a modern & transparent fundraising policy successfully implemented since inception; all the monetary donations are received via digital channels only. Volunteers in contact with vulnerable members of the community are DBS checked, it is mandatory for all the volunteers handling food to be food safety certified. DREAMSAI is registered with Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and utmost care is taken for the personal data. DREAMSAI uses Digital First strategy and minimal paper usage. Technology systems are used for operational efficiency and information governance.
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Risk Management
The trustee has assessed the risk that charity faces and have drawn up a risk matrix which identifies the high/medium/low risks and its probabilities. The trustees review the risk matrix regularly at their meetings. The trustees are satisfied that systems are in place or arrangements are in hand to management the risks that have been identified – especially in the areas of Criminal Records Bureau checks, safeguarding policies and procedures, food and hygiene process and fund-raising regulations.
Objectives and Activities
The objects of the CIO are
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The advancement of the Hindu religion for the public benefit in Milton Keynes in particular by promoting the teachings of Shirdi Saibaba as set out in the Satcharita
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The prevention of sickness and the preservation of the health by raising awareness of the needs of donors of blood, bone marrow and stem cells within Asian and Indian Communities
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The prevent or relief of poverty for public benefit in Milton Keynes supplying food, hygiene items, essentials to homeless and needy people in temporary sheltered accommodation.
Summary of the main activities
DREAMSAI is an inclusive charity run by the local community working for the benefit of diverse communities. DREAMSAI Milton Keynes are making profound impact on the diverse communities. Many community-led activities are initiated to positively contribute for community wellbeing and successfully motivated the residents to become more involved through volunteering. The charity’s reach and impact are maximised by collaborating with various partners in the sector. DREAMSAI is a bridge in connecting and building stronger communities
Based on the teachings of Indian Saint Shirdi Sai, DREAMSAI organize spiritual events and celebrate Indian and diverse cultural festivals of various faiths, support homeless community with free cooked meal and essential items, deliver free food & essential parcels to vulnerable communities and promote blood donations from ethnic minorities.
Every week hundreds of community members attend and benefit from the spiritual & cultural activities. Thousands of home cooked hot meals are served every year to the homeless or those in temporary accommodation. Festive Hampers are distributed to those in need during diverse festivities including Diwali, Christmas & Eid demonstrating our inclusive approach. The group has also been responsive and adaptive to the changing needs of this city and addressing the gaps to meet immediate community needs – our rapid response to COVID-19 pandemic being one of them. Many lives are supported with the blood donated by DREAMSAI donors every year.
Strategies
In its current capacity DREAMSAI is fulfilling all its objectives without a base of its own. All the activities and projects are being executed from various physical premises of partners, the Trustees’, & volunteers’ own premises. The absence of a centralised hub /base has been an impediment in the maximising the reach & impact. The growing scale of operations would be better served by the centre which would be an anchor for not just the current projects but also for much bigger activities planned.
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It is crucial for a growing city to establish infrastructure representing the demographics. It is evident that there are limited or non-existential hubs for diverse communities in Milton Keynes. DREAMSAI aspires to fill up this void by building a centre.
Apart from advancing the social cause, the centre will also host multi-faith orientated celebrations. Enacting the age-old Indian tradition of welcoming one and all, DREAMSAI, which is known for its social engineering and philanthropic activities, under the aegis of the central hub act as social glue to bring together all the diverse communities on humanitarian grounds and cultivate one-ness in multiplicity creating a unique example of creating a unity from diversity. This unparalleled act will enhance the diversity & inclusive profile of Milton Keynes
Volunteer Contribution
DREAMSAI are 100% volunteer run organisation. An organisation structure is in place for strategy, governance, and operational purposes. The Trustee Board is the ultimate accountable and decisionmaking body. The Board and Executive team members work hand in hand with support provided by the volunteers. The organisation foundations are underpinned by support from volunteer pool and members of Milton Keynes community.
The members of community interested to volunteer will be added to volunteer pool and then onboarded to specific projects by Executive Team. Executive Team are the leads managing Food for SAI, Food Outreach, Blood Donation and Spiritual projects. Experienced Volunteers who are interested & qualified to lead the projects will be appointed to Executive Team after due consideration. Executive Team is a route to join the Board. An exception to this is the honorary board members who will be appointed from a chose field of specialisation to benefit the organisation objectives.
DREAMSAI has 142 registered volunteers. Fifteen youth members are also doing Duke of Edinburgh (DofE) voluntary work as part of their secondary school award scheme. Volunteers provide their services to either one project or multiple projects. Volunteers are recruited upon reference to ensure enhanced suitability check. All the interested volunteers’ details will be added onto the volunteer pool upon their request. The personal details of the volunteers are securely managed in the online system with appropriate access management. DBS checks are performed to the volunteers who will be interacting with service users The volunteers managing the Food for SAI project are also required to complete the Level 2 Food & Hygiene Safety certification.
Activities and Achievements
The year has been challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic – our group not only continued with regular projects but also doubled the hot meal donations and initiated new food parcel service to support the elderly. When the sudden lockdown has posed the challenges on the physical space our living rooms & personal garages were converted into warehouse to meet immediate need. MK Community Foundation report reveals that 64 per cent of city people do NOT believe MK is meeting the needs of its migrant communities. Some of our activities would address this challenge. All our volunteers who are working professional working 40 hours+ every week are going above and beyond their call of duty to support the social cause. It is
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important to note that agile groups like ours are rising to the challenges and meeting the most immediate needs within our communities. The group has also been responsive and adaptive to the changing needs of this diverse city and addressing the gaps to meet community needs – an immediate response to COVID-19 pandemic being one of them. DREAMSAI services are available to anyone within the local community, independent of their race, colour, age, or sex. Humanity is at the heart of everything they do.
All services are funded by voluntary digital donations or corporate donations or funding. DREAMSAI is one of the first organisations to accept digital only donations since inception for modernization, streamlining of the financial accountability. DREAMSAI is registered with Fund Raising Regulator and adheres to the recommended guidelines.
Food for SAI – Cooked Meals Project
Homelessness has become a major issue in Milton Keynes over the last few years. According to Vital Signs 2019, a report published by the MK Community Foundation, 1 in every 117 people in Milton Keynes are homeless. Many organisations in MK are providing various services to end Homelessness but there is a gap for hot meal service. DREAMSAI started with delivering 25 meals every Saturday in April 2018 – but based on the demand the numbers have increased to 120 (almost an increase of 5 times) by 2021. The guests who are homeless or in in temporary accommodations in Milton Keynes are dependent on the service every weekend.
Food Outreach – Festive Hampers, Food Parcels & School Breakfast
As lockdown was announced in March 2020, DREAMSAI has launched the food parcel service to support the elderly in self-isolation. The service was later extended to support everyone in need. Every guest who reached out to DREAMSAI during these unprecedented times has received support with complete discretion, no judgement, or questions. A survey performed with the food parcel recipients - 87% elderly guests responded that they haven’t received support from any other agency and would have struggled without support from DREAMSAI. The list of organisations sending requests for food parcels to DREAMSAI is ever increasing.
Festive Hampers are delivered to guests celebrating festivals including Christmas, Easter, Eid & Diwali.
One in five city children are still living below the poverty line - and the problem is getting worse. Victims of domestic violence is on growth with guests placed in temporary accommodation. Many organisations need support for the guests waiting for universal credits. Two different types of food parcels are delivered weekly, free of charge, to school children. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but the number of children facing food poverty has continued to rise in MK, mirroring what is happening nationally - and the Covid-19 pandemic is contributing to this surge. DREAMSAI delivered a weekly breakfast parcel to various local primary schools during school term. These food parcels contained cereals packs and milk sufficient for a week. Since start of the pandemic DREAMSAI have been giving free essential food parcels to families with children during term holidays and summer holidays. The project has delivered over 6500 parcels which enabled our vulnerable communities to have 100,000 meals on dinner tables. 4000+ PPE were distributed to local BAME communities identified as high-risk group
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Blood Donation
As per report published by NHS Blood & Transplant, fewer than 5% of blood donors who gave blood are from ethnic communities. This is despite BAME communities representing around 14% of the population. DREAMSAI aim is to try and readdress this imbalance. Since the launch of our project, many Indian community members in Milton Keynes area have registered to donate blood. 80% of those donated blood through our call out confirmed that they have never given blood in their life and did it for the first time through DREAMSAI. A positive impact of this initiative.
Spiritual
As per 2011 census Milton Keynes has 3.3% Indian population. There is a significant growth in the last decade, estimations indicate that the growth of these communities would double by next census. Milton Keynes as a new city does not have infrastructure to meet the changing demographics. It is crucial to build the facilities for the cultural wellbeing of these communities. DREAMSAI is leading an initiative to build a temple & community centre where all the above services can be centralised and will be an epitome of humanity. The cultural and spiritual activities organised by DREAMSAI in rented premised are usually experienced by 80 – 100 community members every week. Due to the pandemic the services have been moved to telecast only online live.
Partnerships
As an inclusive group, the charity developed positive partnerships with many national & local organisations to collaborate and provide joined up services to widen the reach and impact while minimizing the duplication.
Financial Review
Reserves Policy
The trustees have reviewed the reserves of te charity, Their policy is to hold enough to meet six months operating costs.
Principal funding sources
The financial donations are only accepted using digital channels since inception, making this charity a pioneer in using this model. Majority of the donatons are received using payment options provided on the website or using the card machine at the spiritual events conducted every Thursday. Corpoarte partner funding is another source of income. In addition to the financial donations, the charity also receives the food donations from partners like food bank , local super markets and the communities. The charity is goiverned by the fund raising regualtor.
Statement of Trustee’s responsibilities
The charity trsutees are responsible for preparing an annul report and financial starements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdon Accounting standards ( United Kingdom Accepted Accounting Practice)
The law applicable to chariies in England and Waled requires the charty trustess to prepre financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the stete of affairs of the charity and of the incoing resources and application of resources of the charty for that preriod. In prpeparing the financial starements th trustess are required to:
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Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistenctly; observe the methods and principle in the Charities SORP;
Make judgements and estimates that are reasoble and prudent; state whee applicable qaccounting standards have been followed, subject to any matterial departures discoles and explained in the financial statements;
Prepare the financial satteemnts onteh going concern basis unless it is inaprropriate to presume that tegh chartuy wil continue in business
The trustees are resposible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose resonable accuracy at any tine thefinancial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charties acr 1993, the charity ( acccounts and Reports0 Regulations Act 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. Theya re also resposible for sageguarding the assests of the charty hence taking reasoble steps for the prevention and detection of the fraud and other irregularities.
The trustee for the purposes of charity law who served during the year up to the date of this report are set out in page 1.
Approved by the trustees and signed on the behalf by:
Lakshmana Rao Kastala (Chair)
15/11/2021
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Income & Expenditure Account for period ending 31[st] March 2021.
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Balance Sheet for the period ending 31[st] March 2021
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