31/03/2022 Page 1 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report ## Braillists Foundation CIO ## Annual Report for the Period 01/04/2021 to 31/03/2022 ## Trustees The following people served as Trustees during the financial period: - Dave Williams (Chair) - Matthew Horspool (Secretary and Treasurer to 24/09/2021) - Megan Paul (Secretary from 05/11/2021) - Ed Rogers - Ilka Staeglin - Ben Mustill-Rose ## Staff and Contractors The role of General Manager was the only designated paid role during the financial period. This was filled on a self-employment basis, with the General Manager responsible for his own tax, national insurance, holiday and sick pay. There were three designated paid roles during the previous financial period, for which final invoices were paid at the start of this period: Community Campaigner, Course Manager and Equipment Manager. In addition, the Foundation procured the services of a freelance text transcriber, two freelance braille transcribers and a freelance logistics executive for which remuneration was arranged in line with industry best practice. ## Income and Expenditure The Foundation's income was obtained through the following sources: |Source|Percentage| |---|---| |Grant funding|83.23%| |Donations(restricted)|14.78%| |Awards|1.61%| |Donations(unrestricted)|0.31%| |Interest|0.07%| All expenditure was made against grant funding, restricted donations and restricted funds remaining from the previous financial period. Two Trustees received remuneration from the Foundation during the financial period for presenting Masterclasses. The remaining Trustees believe that the specialist nature of these Masterclasses renders the activity outside the scope of a Trustee's regular duties, and thus the remuneration is legal and appropriate. The level of remuneration received by the Trustees was equal to the remuneration offered to other specialists presenting Masterclasses who were not Trustees. ## Decision-Making and Supervision The Trustees met 11 times during the financial period, with meetings lasting an hour on average. No meetings were declared inquorate and all business was ratified in meetings, although discussions took place by email outside meetings from time to time. The Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244 31/03/2022 Page 2 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report At least two trustees met with staff and volunteers on a weekly basis, except where sickness absence or holiday prevented this. Management of contractors was delegated to the General Manager, with Trustee supervision as appropriate. ## Activities and Achievements The following activities and achievements occurred during the financial period: - Continuation of free Masterclasses to improve competency amongst braille users, with recordings available afterwards and text transcripts available for all recordings - Delivery of a third free "Braille for Beginners" course - Introduction of a "Braille Bar" drop-in service - Provision of opportunities for braille users to talk with producers and experts in the field - Expansion of the braille Book Club into three breakout rooms to allow braillists to practice their reading based on their ability - Continued upkeep of the Braillists email forum for braille users to exchange advice and support, alongside dedicated groups for beneficiaries of "Braille for Beginners" and Book Club - Distribution of all low cost braille equipment remaining from the previous financial period - Continued publication of the Braillecast podcast - Continued provision of personalised and personable email support - External promotion of the Braillists through presentations at leading national conferences for professionals in the blindness field and appearances on podcasts and radio programmes heard by blind and partially sighted people - Re-introduction of face-to-face "Braille and Beer" social gatherings We were particularly honoured to have been shortlisted for the Partner of the Year award from Visionary, and to have received an honorary mention from the judging panel of the Touch of Genius prize from National Braille Press. The weekly community support Zoom calls in response to the Coronavirus pandemic were phased out during the first quarter of this financial period, but signposting to other sources of support was offered to ensure that beneficiaries were not left isolated. The reach of the Braillists Foundation is comprised predominantly of blind and partially sighted people, but also includes teachers and other professionals supporting braille users. It can be summarised at the end of this financial period as follows: |Medium|Reach| |---|---| |Newsletter|1272 subscribers| |Braillecast|c.410 weeklydownloads| |Masterclasses|417 registrants| |Braille for Beginners|137 registrants| |Braille Bar|c.30 attendees| |Book Club|c.20 attendees| |Facebook|359 likes| |Twitter|636 followers| ## Future Plans In 2022-23, the Braillists plans to build on the work undertaken in 2021-22. In particular, we hope to: The Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244 31/03/2022 Page 3 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report - Continue to expand the Book Club into additional breakout rooms - Introduce a "Braille Improvers" drop-in service - Develop and expand our social media output to increase two-way interaction - Make text transcripts of Braillecast available, and offer braille versions of all text transcripts - Create an SD card containing all audio and text content for distribution at exhibitions and by post to people who do not have access to the internet - Improve the functionality of the Braillists website - Improve the discoverability of Braillists content on smart speakers - Offer a self-service version of "Braille for Beginners" - Be present at key conferences and events as they arise - Re-introduce formal face-to-face Braillists gatherings The Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244 ||**The Braillists Foundation CIO**|**The Braillists Foundation CIO**|**The Braillists Foundation CIO**|**The Braillists Foundation CIO**|**The Braillists Foundation CIO**|**1187244**|**1187244**|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**For the period**
**from**||01/04/2021
Period start date||**To**|31/03/2022
Period end date||| |||||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Grants|**-**||**16,900**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**16,900**||**10,000**| |Donations|**62**||**3,000**|||**3,062**||**353**| |Awards|**327**||**-**|||**327**||**-**| |Interest|**14**||**-**|||**14**||**6**| ||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|

**404**||**19,900**||**-**|**20,304**||**10,359**| |||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||| ||**-**||||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||| ||**-**|||||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||||| ||||||**-**|**20,304**||**10,359**| |||||||||| |Staff|**-**||**4,900**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**4,900**||**4,960**| |Contractors|**-**||**6,055**|||**6,055**||**116**| |Donated Equipment|**-**||**213**|||**213**||**1,646**| |Stock items for future donation|**-**||**354**|||**354**||**500**| |Postage|**-**||**239**|||**239**||**35**| |Infrastructure|**-**||**389**|||**389**||**144**| |Memberships|**-**||**-**|||**-**||**50**| |Presenters|**-**||**660**|||**660**||**-**| |Transport|**-**||**34**|||**34**||**-**| ||**-**||**-**|||**-**||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**-**||**12,843**||**-**|**12,843**||**7,451**| |||||||||| |**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_**||||||||| ||||||**-**|**12,843**||**7,451**| |||||||||| ||**404**||||**-**|**7,461**||**2,908**| ||**-**||||**-**
**-**|**-**||**-**| ||**359**|||||**2,908**||**-**| ||**763**||||**-**|**10,369**||**2,908**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 28/07/2022 1 |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of**|**the period**|| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Stock items for future donation
**Details**
Bristol Credit Union
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**763**
**9,605**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**763**
**9,606**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**354**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||OK| |||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**-**| |||||**When due**
**(optional)**| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||Date of
approval| |||||| |||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 28/07/2022 2