31/03/2025 Page 1 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report ## Braillists Foundation CIO ## Annual Report for the Period 01/04/2024 to 31/03/2025 ## Trustees The following people served as Trustees during the financial period: - Dave Williams (Chair) - Megan Hastings (Secretary) - Matthew Horspool (Treasurer to 28/03/2025, Ordinary Trustee from 28/03/2025) - Ami Turnbull (Treasurer from 28/03/2025) - Laurent Cadet de Fontenay (from 06/09/2024) - Stuart Lawler - Darren Paskell (from 06/09/2024) - Ed Rogers (to 06/09/2024) - Stephanie Sergeant (from 06/09/2024) - Ilka Staeglin (to 06/09/2024) ## Staff and Contractors There were no designated paid staff during the financial period. The Foundation procured the services of a freelance text transcriber for which remuneration was arranged in line with industry best practice. ## Income and Expenditure The Foundation's income was obtained through: - Sponsorship: 61% - Interest and Donations: 39% Expenditure was made against: - Grant funding obtained in previous years: 65% - Sponsorship: 21% - Interest and donations: 14% ## Decision-Making and Supervision The Trustees met eight 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. Two Trustees retired and four new Trustees were appointed within the financial period to help drive our mission, and to maintain adequate trustee oversight. Operational meetings with regular volunteers were held on a weekly basis, except where holiday or conflicts with significant events prevented this, and at least one Trustee was present at all such meetings. Management of contractors remained delegated to the Treasurer, with oversight from the Board of Trustees. Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244 31/03/2025 Page 2 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report ## Activities and Achievements The following activities and achievements occurred during the financial period: - Hosting the UK's first face-to-face World Braille Day Conference, in celebration of 200 years of braille, at New College Worcester, with approximately 80 attendees, keynote speakers and workshops, a world class braille heritage exhibition and a braille technology showcase featuring ten exhibitors - Presenting about our work at _Braille Matters_ , a celebration of World Braille Day 2025 by the Braille Revival League, a special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind - Generating income through corporate sponsorship for the first time - Moving our Newsletter to a new platform, reducing costs and improving the accessibility of the Newsletter itself and the publication process - Training additional volunteers to support with event moderation and facilitation - Building and maintaining relationships with organisations in other countries through Braillists Trustees being present at the eighth General Assembly of the International Council on English Braille in New Zealand and other international events - Attending key conferences and exhibitions in the UK, including Sight Village Central and South East - 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 offer the braille Book Club, allowing braillists to practice their reading in five breakout rooms based on their ability - 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 - Maintaining our presence and two-way interaction on social media - 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|2103 subscribers|1858 subscribers| |Braillecast|29 episodes, average 369 weekly
downloads|12 episodes, average 373 weekly
downloads| |Masterclasses and Special
Events|13 events, average 65 attendees|20 events, average 69 attendees| |Braille for Beginners|118 new registrants|126 new registrants| Braillists Foundation is a registered charity in England and Wales, no. 1187244 31/03/2025 Page 3 of 3 Braillists Foundation Annual Report |Braille Bar|16 occurrences, average 34
attendees|17 occurrences, average 36
attendees| |---|---|---| |Book Club|42 occurrences, average 29
attendees|43 occurrences, average 27
attendees| |Facebook|416 likes/497 followers|406 likes/467 followers| |X(formerlyTwitter)|933 followers|917 followers| ## Future Plans In 2025-26, the Braillists plans to build on the work undertaken in 2024-25. In particular, we hope to: - 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 Foundation CIO**||**1187244**||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**Receipts andpayments accounts**||||**CC16a**| |01/04/2024
Period start date
**For the period**
**from**|**To**|31/03/2025
Period end date||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**-**
688
**2,334**
**-**
**19**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,042**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,042**
**-**
**-**
**855**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**99**
**563**
**-**
**1,260**
**2,777**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**2,777**
**265**
**-**
**2,477**
**2,742**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**800**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**800**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**800**
**-**
**4,163**
**398**
**-**
**-**
**423**
**84**
**1,500**
**-**
**-**
**800**
**7,367**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**7,367**
**- 6,567**
**-**
**8,567**
**2,000**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**1,488**
**2,334**
**-**
**19**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,842**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,842**
**-**
**4,163**
**1,253**
**-**
**-**
**423**
**84**
**1,599**
**563**
**-**
**2,060**
**10,144**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**10,144**
**- 6,302**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Grants|**-**|||||**9,000**| |Donations|688|||||**1**| |Sponsorship|**2,334**|||||**1,639**| |Awards|**-**|||||**-**| |Interest|**19**|||||**17**| |Recruitment|**-**|||||**56**| ||**-**|||||**-**| ||**-**|||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**3,042**|||||**10,713**| |||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||| ||**-**|||||| ||**-**|||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**||||||| |||||||**10,713**| |||||||| |Staff|**-**|||||**3,160**| |Contractors|**-**|||||**1,435**| |Donated equipment/resources|**855**|||||**808**| |Equipment/resources for future donation|**-**|||||**-**| |Postage|**-**|||||**-**| |Infrastructure|**-**|||||**545**| |Memberships|**-**|||||**82**| |Presenters|**99**|||||**900**| |Transport|**563**|||||**263**| |Recruitment|**-**|||||**56**| |Exhibitions|**1,260**|||||**402**| |**_Sub total_ **|**2,777**|||||**7,651**| |||||||| |**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_**||||||| |||||||**7,651**| |||||||| ||**265**|**- 6,567**|**-**|**- 6,302**||**3,062**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**| ||**2,477**|**8,567**|**-**|**11,044**||**7,982**| ||**2,742**|**2,000**|**-**|**4,742**||**11,044**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 05/01/2026 1 ## **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
Matthew Horspool
Ami Turnbull
**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**
Great Western Credit Union
Lloyds
PayPal
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**- 175**
**1,340**
**2,238**
**798**
**679**
**- 139**
**2,742**
**2,000**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Matthew Horspool|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of
approval| |||Matthew Horspool|10-Jan-25| ||||| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 05/01/2026 2