31/03/2024
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Braillists Foundation Annual Report
## Braillists Foundation CIO
## Annual Report for the Period 01/04/2023 to 31/03/2024
## Trustees
The following people served as Trustees during the financial period:
- Dave Williams (Chair)
- Megan Hastings (Secretary)
- Elaine Cheong (Treasurer to 05/05/2023)
- Matthew Horspool (Treasurer from 10/11/2023)
- Ed Rogers
- Ilka Staeglin
- Stuart Lawler
## Staff and Contractors
The role of General Manager was the only designated paid role during the financial period, and came to an end in June 2023. This was filled on a self-employment basis, with the General Manager responsible for his own tax, national insurance, holiday and sick pay.
In addition, the Foundation procured the services of a freelance text transcriber and two freelance braille transcribers for which remuneration was arranged in line with industry best practice.
## Income and Expenditure
The Foundation's income was obtained through:
- Grant funding: 84%
- Sponsorship: 15%
- Interest and Donations: 1%
All expenditure was made against grant funding.
## Decision-Making and Supervision
The Trustees met 8 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.
Staff and volunteers met on a weekly basis, except where holiday or conflicts with significant events prevented this, and there was usually at least one Trustee present at all such meetings.
Management of contractors was delegated to the General Manager, with Trustee supervision as appropriate, until the role came to an end. The General Manager subsequently continued on a voluntary basis until November 2023, at which point he was appointed Treasurer, and he has continued to manage contractors as part of these roles.
## Activities and Achievements
The following activities and achievements occurred during the financial period:
- Partnering with VIEW (Vision Impairment Education Workforce) to present _Multi-Line Braille in the Classroom_ in November 2023, reaching over 200 Qualified Teachers of the Visually Impaired and featuring six industry stakeholders
Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244
31/03/2024
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Braillists Foundation Annual Report
- Presenting about our work at _Braille Matters_ , a celebration of World Braille Day 2024 by the Braille Revival League, a special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind
- Building relationships with similar organisations in other countries, most notably the Tactile and Technology Literacy Centre in New Zealand
- Attending key conferences and exhibitions, in particularly Sight Village Central and South East, in our own right for the first time
- Expanding the braille Book Club into five breakout rooms to allow braillists to practice their reading based on their ability
- Developing and expanding our presence on social media, increasing two-way interaction
- Continuing to deliver free Masterclasses to improve competency amongst braille users, with recordings, handouts and text and braille transcripts available afterwards
- Continuing to deliver a free “Braille Bar” drop-in service
- Continuing to deliver a free “Braille for Beginners On-Demand” course
- Continuing to support the Braillists email forum for braille users to exchange advice and support, alongside dedicated groups for beneficiaries of “Braille for Beginners On-Demand” and Book Club
- Continuing to publish the Braillecast podcast and make text and braille transcripts of all episodes available
- Continuing to produce SD cards containing all of our audio and text content for distribution at exhibitions, and periodically updating the master copy of that card with new content
- Continuing to provide personalised and personable email support
- Continuing to offer face-to-face “Braille and Beer” social gatherings
## Audience and Reach
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:
|ummarised at the end of this|financial period as follows:||
|---|---|---|
|Medium|Reach This Year|Reach Last Year|
|Newsletter|1858 subscribers|1585 subscribers|
|Braillecast|12 episodes, average 373 weekly
downloads|27 episodes, average 929 weekly
downloads|
|Masterclasses and Special
Events|20 events, average 69 attendees|14 events, average 58 attendees|
|Braille for Beginners|126 new registrants|109 new registrants|
|Braille Bar|17 occurrences, average
36attendees|15 occurrences, average 22
attendees|
|Book Club|43 occurrences, average
27attendees|43 occurrences, average
21attendees|
|Facebook|406 likes/467 followers|376 likes/420 followers|
|Twitter|917 followers|862 followers|
N.B. we have improved how we record and interrogate our statistics during this financial period. Where figures for last year in this report differ from the figures reported in 2022-23, the figures in this report are more accurate.
## Future Plans
In 2024-25, the Braillists plans to build on the work undertaken in 2023-24. In particular, we hope to:
- Celebrate World Braille Day in-person
Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244
31/03/2024
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Braillists Foundation Annual Report
- Improve the functionality of the Braillists' website and IT systems
- Improve the discoverability of Braillists content on smart speakers
- Be present at key conferences and events
- Expand opportunities for braille groups to meet in person
Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244
**The Braillists Found**
**Receip For the period from**
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
**Unrestricted funds**
**to the nearest £**
## **A1 Receipts**
|**A1 Receipts**||
|---|---|
|Grants|**-**|
|Donations|**1**|
|Sponsorship|**1,639**|
|Awards|**-**|
|Interest|**17**|
|Recruitment|**56**|
||**-**|
||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**1,713**|
**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). - -** _**Sub total**_ **-**
|**_Total receipts_ 1,713**
**A3 Payments**|**1,713**|
|---|---|
|Staff|**-**|
|Contractors|**-**|
|Donated equipment/resources
CCXX R1 accounts(SS)1|**-**
24/01/2025|
|Equipment/resources for future donation|**-**|
|---|---|
|Postage|**-**|
|Infrastructure|**-**|
|Memberships|**-**|
|Presenters|**-**|
|Transport|**-**|
|Recruitment|**-**|
|Exhibitions|**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|
|||
|**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_**||
||**-**|
|||
||**1,713**|
||**-**|
||**764**|
||**2,477**|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)2
24/01/2025
## **Section B Statement of assets and l**
**Categories**
## **Details**
**B1 Cash funds**
Great Western Credit U _**To**_
(agree balances with
## **Details**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
Stock items for future do
## **Details**
**B3 Investment assets**
CCXX R3 accounts (SS)3
24/01/2025
## **Details**
**B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use**
## **Details**
## **B5 Liabilities**
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
Signat
CCXX R4 accounts (SS)4
24/01/2025
**----- Start of picture text -----**
dation CIO
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
1187244
**----- End of picture text -----**
**pts and payments accounts** Period start date Period end date **To** 01/04/2023 31/03/2024 **Restricted Endowment Total funds funds funds to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
9,000 - 9,000
- - 1
- - 1,639
- - -
- - 17
- - 56
- - -
- - -
9,000 - 10,713
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- - -
- - -
- - -
9,000 - 10,713
3,160 - 3,160
1,435 - 1,435
808 CCXX R5 accounts - (SS)5 808 24/01/2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**-**||**-**||**-**|
|**545**||**-**||**545**|
|**82**||**-**||**82**|
|**900**||**-**||**900**|
|**263**||**-**||**263**|
|**56**||**-**||**56**|
|**402**||**-**||**402**|
|**7,651**||**-**||**7,651**|
**----- Start of picture text -----**
- - -
- - -
- - -
7,651 - 7,651
1,349 - 3,062
- - -
7,218 - 7,982
8,567 - 11,044
**----- End of picture text -----**
CCXX R6 accounts (SS)6
24/01/2025
**----- Start of picture text -----**
liabilities at the end of the period
Unrestricted Restricted
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £
Union
2,477 8,567
- -
- -
otal cash funds 2,477 8,567
receipts and payments
account(s)) OK OK
Unrestricted Restricted
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £
onation - -
- -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which
Cost (optional)
asset belongs
-
-
-
-
-
CCXX R7 accounts (SS)7 24/01/2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Fund to which
Cost (optional)
asset belongs
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which Amount due
liability relates (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
ture Print Name
Matthew Horspool
CCXX R8 accounts (SS)8 24/01/2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
CC16a
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Last year
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
to the nearest £
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
9,100
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
9,100
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
-
-
9,100
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
7,780
2,026
CCXX R9 accounts 498 (SS)9 24/01/2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
**570 75 350 188 - - 11,487**
**11,487 - 2,387 - 10,369 7,982**
CCXX R10 accounts (SS)10
24/01/2025
## **Endowment**
## **funds**
## **to nearest £**
**-** OK
## **Endowment funds**
**to nearest £ - - - - - -**
**Current value (optional) - - - - -**
CCXX R11 accounts (SS)11
24/01/2025
**Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - -**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
10-Jan-25
**----- End of picture text -----**
CCXX R12 accounts (SS)12
24/01/2025