OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2025-03-31-accounts

Introduction

The trustees are proud to present the annual report for the 31st March 2024 - 1st April 2025.

Be Trans Support and Community (Be North), os a registered CIO (Charity Number: 1186132). Be North was formed in community interest in March 2010, and registered as a charity in 2019. Over the years, Be has developed local community and contributing to the empowerment of trans lives locally.

The objective of the CIO is to promote equality and diversity and to eliminate discrimination in relation to transgender people in the North East of England, for the benefit of the public by:

Report from Charity Manager - Jay Anderson (he/him)

I have had the privilege of charity managing Be North throughout the period of 24 - 25, and seeing the charity thrive once again in the face of adversity. Be remains a community led, trans led and volunteer led organisation that improves the lives of community. Be has proven it is a needed and life saving service, by using its unique approach to peer led support has made trans, non binary and gender diverse people feel supported and safe. All volunteers at Be are committed to the same common goal: a better world for trans people. This common thread makes our charity a powerhouse of passion, dedication and strength.

Our Support Services

Our support services continue to run weekly, supporting upwards of 60 people. We have upped provision for our peer support 1:1 service - allowing transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people to have dedicated space for their wellbeing, and be signposted to the correct support and receive advice from other transgender people. This service means all volunteers are enhanced DBS checked, and provided with the correct training to carry out the role. This is an in demand service, with up to 60 people attending at one time. Our service users presenting needs are: social isolation, loneliness, discrimination, survivors of hate crime, lack of access to healthcare, lack of safety in the community, substance misuse, domestic violence, mental health difficulties/crisis, unemployment, and advocacy needs.

As we see an increase in waiting times for transgender people to receive gender affirming care, and an increase in government barriers of access, Be’s support services bridge this gap in several ways: harm reduction, peer support, access to opportunities, and tailored support. Our services can be adapted for people with learning disabilities, autism, and/or

other neurodivergence with our large room being able to have break out zones, and our ways of support being person led to what they need.

Be have supported people within this period who have fled countries like Iran due to gender based violence and forced marriage, supported our service users to access services like victims support, rape crisis, food banks, access counselling services and supported our service users to engage to report rape and assault to police.

We are incredibly proud of this service, and the way we can utilise our community trust and reputation to influence services, show other organisations best practice of engaging trans people into society and spaces, and keep community voice at the heart of what we do.

Health and Wellbeing Project

The Health and Wellbeing Project at Be Trans Support and Community is still one of the most popular and most recognisable projects within the charity. Be have continued their work in “right to knowing your risks of cancer”, providing on site cervical screenings for transgender, non binary and gender diverse people who have a cervix. This successful launch of the pilot has supported our partnership organisations to be able to apply to continue this life saving initiative.

We worked with the Northumbria NHS Trust with their EDI event, sharing experiences of healthcare and supporting staff to understand issues trans people face, contributing to their training for the trust.

In light of a non trans inclusive conversion therapy ban, Be provided facilities and space for a psychotherapist to come along and speak with the group around what they need from a a therapist, to share within their network of practitioners and improve overall mental health access to our community.

Be challenged the commissioned review of gender services, including an open letter to NHS England receiving 41 people within the local area agreeing with our stance on how a review into services should be commissioned for equal access to healthcare.

Be are committed to supporting regular sexual health testing, including on site testing, on site PReP advice, and on site access to products like condoms, lubricants, etc. This service has proved a popular and welcomed partnership with NHS Newcroft service.

Dr Ross McLean came to one of our peer support drops in to discuss top surgery options with our service users, and what provisions for more accessible gender affirming care in our region. This was a welcomed drop in and gave lots of needed information around healthcare and access to services.

In the lead up to trans visibility, we used our platform to speak about neurodiversity within the trans community, which is a topic at the heart of what our service users care about.

Sports Inclusion

Our sports inclusion programme ran more sessions this year than ever before, kicking off the year with transgender, non binary and gender diverse only access to tennis introduction sessions. This gave our service users access to inclusive fitness and fun outdoors. Mr Gay Great Britian, Andy Gardiner, provided a dance fitness sessions and pilates for us, and we were able to encourage our service users to express themselves in a fun, unique and lively way.

We continued our monthly yoga sessions, using a trauma informed approach when engaging in yoga to provide a facilitated safe space at the same time as accessible sports.

And we provided again, our allyship to trans inclusion award to rugby, giving a team an award for their dedication to trans inclusion and trans inclusive practices to sports, changing rooms, and fitness.

Around Trans Day of Visibility, we made a visibility video with a transgender rugby player, to talk about the importance of trans people accessing sports, and we showed our commitment to bringing resources directly to community by running trans and non binary only tennis sessions, and having our session with Queer Fight Club.

This year, we have created a sustainable method of our sports inclusion programme, after seeing the direct effects this has had not only in media, but directly to our service users and their self esteem, self identity, and self image, making a focus that 2025-2026 will harness our sports inclusion programme to its highest ability.

Celebrating Community Pride, and our commitment to community development

Within the heart of community development are our volunteers and service users. We focus on outreach to our community, development both personal and professional of those we support, and making pride what the community need it to be.

Throughout Northern Pride season, we held “Community Jam”, providing a safe space for young people, neurodiverse people, and those who do not feel a traditional pride space is a place they can spend the day. Within One Strawberry Lane, we had on site sexual health testing, sensory rooms, community stalls, queer owned businesses, and zinemaking for self expression.

We shared videos for trans day of visibility, to share experiences of those in our local community, and we listened to the voices of community and began holding more regular sessions like our “Be Together Board Game” sessions and our creative writing workshop with Mandy Romero.

Within community development, we have provided grieving spaces for our community for Trans Day of Remembrance, a day which brings people together and focuses on how we

work together to better the life expectancy of transgender, non-binary and gender diverse people.

We attended prides, like Northern Pride, Pride in Sunderland, Pride in Gateshead, Hexham Pride, and more!

This year, all volunteers accessed the opportunity to have over 100 training courses from an inhouse provider and external opportunities sent to the team. All volunteers are Level 2 safeguard trained, first aid trained, and all mandatory training was completed by the volunteers - providing them development to gain employment. We have had volunteers using their roles at Be to be able to gain paid employment and support their life chances.

To continue our development and dedication to our purposes, we have also gotten an office in the city centre. This was a fantastic opportunity and achievement for the charity, and has allowed us to expand our operations smoothly from one central place to work together, hold storage, and plan for our future.

The Charity

Be: Trans Support and Community is constituted as a CIO by association, the most recent updated version of governing document was adopted on the 3rd of November 2019 and the charity was established by the following Trustees:

Katie Marshall Felix Helianthus Gemma Dellbridge Amy Tysoe Ellen Mellor Sonya McChristie

The charity was managed during this period by:

James Anderson - Charity Manager Stephen Teale - Chair of Trustees Gemma Dellbridge - Operations Director Amy Tysoe – Trustee Georgia Kwan - Trustee Hana Glasier - Secretary Byron Magnavacca - Health and Wellbeing Manager, Chair of Trustees Liam Irwin – Volunteer Manager Rosalina Wold - Finance Director Daniel Napier - Media Manager Josie Mackenzie - Media Team

The Charity throughout this period appointed a new chair of trustees, Byron Magnavacca. Byron has successfully managed a board of trustees, including 9 trustees. As we enter the next financial year, we move forward with 9 trustees. We have worked tirelessly on volunteer

retention throughout the year, which has been an asset to the running of the charity and ensuring we have consistently met above a minimum number of trustees for the charity.

Governance

All charity trustees have been supplied with a copy of the governing document, guidance around being a charity trustee and the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. All documents relating to the management of the charity and materials regarding safeguarding have been made available to all members and trustees who carry out activities on behalf of the charity.

Governance remains in place and accessible for all members of the board, all trustees and volunteers of Be Trans Support and Community, and all events are ran with a volunteer who is trained in safeguarding adults, first aid, and all volunteers are aware of the designated safeguarding lead allocated to Be.

Our strategy includes:

A) Meeting the needs of the community

B) Community Development

C) Providing Safe and Accessible Physical Spaces

D) Providing Facilitated Support

E) Healthcare and Active Lifestyles

F) Creating Financial Support Structures

G) Improve Service Provision’s

We meet our strategy always to public benefit, seen throughout our project work to sports inclusion, health and wellbeing, and our dedication to community development and community pride, and the dedication we have in providing high quality support services.

We created financial support structures which supported our charity by continuing to build external relationships with local organisations, businesses and charities. This included having multiple fundraising events held by the community for us, a big contribution to this was from SunnyCon Convention, who due to positive feedback from their attendees of our charity, dedicated an auction to us. TransStock was another notable fundraising event for us, this was a transgender, non binary and gender diverse music festival run in the North East.

Our contribution to local service provisions has welcomed and ensured the safety of trans people into more life-saving spaces like NHS hospitals, ambulances, sports clubs, LGBT owned spaces, and support organisations.

Achievements and Performance

Our key achievements include:

Conclusion

To conclude,

Be have had another year of providing that their service is an essential part of not only the lives of our service users, but to society overall. With Be’s unique approach to support, diversity and equal access.

Upon reflection of last year's financial report, we have not only met the targets, but set foundations for 2025-2026 to exceed these expectations. We plan to continue our targets for the next year to be:

A) Continue to develop our approach of diversity and inclusion, including taking a more tailored and dedicated role to supported plans for people to engage with us and facilitate that support.

B) Continue to encourage trans people to live active lifestyles, including the facilitation of events and making clear trans presence to support events, relaying our belief of trans people having equal opportunities and spaces.

C) Support volunteer retention, including giving more opportunities to volunteer with Be and creating more roles within the charity.

D) Create lasting structure and system changes to the charity, including policy updates, additions and best practice recommendations when representing the charity.

E) Provide more opportunities for community voice to be given, including and outside of our peer support sessions

F) Spread awareness of health inequalities for transgender and non binary communities, including multi-agency working with healthcare practitioners, commissioners, and allow chances for people to engage with services bought to them, in a safe environment.

Financial Reports Profit and Loss B•: Trans Support and Community Date Range.. Apr 01, 2024 to Mar 31, 2025 Report Type.. Accrual (Paid & Unpaldl ACCOUNTS Apr 01. 2024 t• Mat 31. 2025 kncome Dlre¢t Publlc Support- Reeurrlng 1ndlwld￿1 C￿tribUtIOnS £687.00 Dlrect Public Support- Individual Contributions È621.58 Indlrect Public ￿Pport £8,006.92 Totsl In¢om• £9.317.50 T)tal Cflrt olGoods Sold £0.00 Gro&& Pro As a pefcentageolTotsl Income É9.317.50 1QO.OO% Op•rtlNa Ex￿n Contract Servlces E600.00 Depreciat5on Expense £115.87 Donation £170.00 Equiprnent Lease or Rental £1.280.00 Events E941.92 IT SeThlces E187.08 Legal Fees £456.00 OFFicè Suppli¢s È7.98 Postage & Dellvery £43.45 Printlng Reproduction E172.68 Profft atKILa55- Be."Ttans 1ndcurn￿nrtY Date AFY01.2024to Mar X. 102S 30. 2026 Paget12

Op•r•tlnK Exp•n Rèfr4shmènts t46.15 Telephone- Wlrele55 £20.00 Trar15action Fee5 É117.1A Travd Expense E410,81 Total Operallng L¥pen5e5 £4,569.08 t Proflt £4748.42 $0.96 Profftand Loss- Bv. Tr￿S￿pportand Date Ran4e.' Apr 01.2024to Mar31, 2025 created￿ Jan 30. 2026 Pa8e212

Profit and Loss Be: Trans Support and Communlty Date Range." Apr 01, 2024 to Mar 31, 2025 Report Type.. Accrual (Paid & Unpaidl ACCOUNTS Apt 01, 2024 to Mar 31. 2025 Income Direct Public Supsx>rt- Rècurring Individual Ctsntribution$ É687.00 Direct Public suP￿rt- Individual Contrlbutions £621.58 Indlrect Public Support £8.008.92 T•tal IneoM• È9.317.SO Total C05tol Good5 Sold £0.00 Gros$ Profft A5 a percentage ol Total Intornt £9.317.SO 100.00°10 Op•valkn4Exp•ns Contract SeFvice5 £600.00 Derxeciétlon Expense £115.87 Donation £170.00 EquiFfflent Lease or Rental £1,280.00 Events E941.92 IT sèrv￿*% £187.08 LeEal Fees £456.00 Office Supplles £7.98 Post•gè & DoliV8ry £42.45 Printing and Reproductlon E172.68 Profft ènd L05%- Be..T￿n&S￿pPQrtand CommL￿ty Date Ran8e'.A¥rOI, 2024 to Mar31, 2025 Createdon Jan ￿, 2026 Pagt112

OperaVrExpettses Refveshments £46.15 Telephone- Wlreless f20.00 Tranaction Fees £117.14 Travel Expense £410.81 Totsl Opeiatlm8 Exptnsts E4.569.08 Net Ptofft As a PerCentw￿Totl Incorn• £4.74&42 50.96 pr0frt￿ Las5- Be.. T￿Tr5 ￿pport CoMmL￿￿Y Dat• Rany".AprOI. 2024 lo Mar3t 2025 Createdon Jan￿. ￿)26 P¥è212