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BUILDING
HOPE
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2022 TRUSTEES
Registered Charity No. 1187525
Trustees’ annual report
For the period: 06-04-2021 to: 05-04-2022 Charity name: I AM Charity No: 1187525
Address: 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 4QY
Trustees: Mr Christian Denson (Chairperson) Mr Paul Keith Baker (Secretary) Mrs Emma Loiuse Denson (Treasurer)
Objectives
We believe that quality of life begins at home. I AM was founded to assist and partner with families and individuals in desperate housing need, with the following objectives:
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The relief of poverty in Uganda through the provision or facilitation of accomodation for the benefit of people in desperate housing need.
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The preservation and protection of health in Uganda through the provision or facilitation of clean drinking water and sanitation and hygiene infrastructure to people in desperate housing need.
Activities
This report covers our first full year of operations since registration with the Charity Commission for England & Wales, on 23-01-2020. Our most significant activity in the period of this report was the commencement (in January 2022) of our second home build project, which we will cover in more detail later in the report.
Local Community Support
Although our primary focus will always be to assist families in the building of safe and secure housing, we also undertook some other activities in support of our objectives, in particular the relief of poverty. In July 2021 we were able to offer support & guidance to a particularly entrepreneurial local family, to help start a clothing repair and retail business. This small business has already shown great promise and the family have been able to invest in new equipment, such as an industrial sewing machine. Opportunities such as these are fully assessed by the trustee board. Where families and individuals are doing everything they can to improve their own circumstance, it takes very little by way of resources from the charity - at a local level - to provide a life changing opportunity to those who have an aptitude for and experience in a specific field.
Emergency Support
Following our consultation period, to identify and partner with a home build project family, we undertake fundraising activities in the UK to financially support the home build. During this fundraising period we are committed to providing monthly emergency support to our partner family, by way of essential household and food items. This support continues through the course of the home build project and for some months following, as the family adjust to their new circumstance and develop new income streams.
Registered Charity Number 1187525
I AM, 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West sussex, RH12 4QY
Activities, Acievements, & Perfomance
As of June 2021 we commenced emergency support for our second home build family (single mother of four children, Edith Zawedde). This support is reflected in our financial statement at the close of this report and is, as mentioned above, for the provision of essential household & food items during the period of our committment to the project.
Building Projects
In January 2022 we were able commence our second home build project. Working with our local builder and his team, the five month project provides regular employment, not only for the team themselves but through supply chain of locally sourced building materials. The head of our build partner family, Edith Zawedde, contributed to the build practically through on site labour and catering for the build team.
The building itself is a fairly typical style of home locally. A single storey building with a rectangular foot print, it has a coated sheet metal hip roof and all the walls are internally and externally rendered and painted for longevity and reduced future maintenance. The home has 440 sq ft of living space, comprised of 3 bedrooms, 1 reception room, a small store room, and a small washroom. Separate ancilliary buildings provide bathroom facilities and a kitchen; this is typical of housing in the area, where bathrooms and kitchens do not form part of the main accomodation.
One significant revision for our second home build was the addition of a third bedroom which can, if needed, be entirely isolated from the the main accomodation by means of securely locking doors. This gives the homeowner the possibility to rent the room out as a seperate accomodation and generate some additional household income. As it is very common in the area for school teachers to stay in rented rooms during term time, this option of a rental room offers the very real prospect of a new revenue stream.
While the home is a basic design, to maximise the usefulness of the funds available, it does have several amenities/services to improve the family’s quality of life in small but very meaningful ways. The most significant of these is a rainwater collection system which gives the family access to water for cooking and cleaning. Also, through a supplied filter system, the family have safe, clean drinking water which is a huge health benefit. A small solar power installation is also catered for, which supplies enough power for lighting in all rooms of the home, external lighting at the front and rear of the property, plus one power outlet in the home. The system is quite basic but this makes for easy and affordable maintenance. The provision of electric lighting negates the need to use dangerous and expensive kerosene lamps in the evenings.
The kitchen facility is home to a smokeless oven which has several benefits over traditional open fire cooking methods. The new oven has a sealed combustion chamber which burns hotter and uses far less fuel than traditional methods. The oven also vents the minimal smoke produced out of the kitchen bulding. The reduced risk of injury through burns and the reduced risk of health issues, through smoke inhalation, are very significant benefits to the new oven. There is also the financial benefit of reduced fuel costs.
As of the end of this report period the home was 90% complete and was in fact entirely finished in May 2022. Although it is outside of the dates of this report we are happy to report that Edith and her family have settled very well into their new home and are thriving.
The trustee board acknowledge that they have planned activities with due consideration of the Charity Commission’s published guidance on public benefit, with particular reference to guidance on the prevention or relief of poverty for public benefit.
Registered Charity Number 1187525
I AM, 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West sussex, RH12 4QY
Financial Review
Our total receipts on unrestricted funds were £6,779.35 of which £0 was investment income. For approximately three quarters of the report period we were engaged in fundraising activities for our second home build project. The net result for the year was a deficit on receipts over payments of £1,218.99 on unrestricted funds. Our balance carried forward at 5th April 2022 on unrestricted funds totalled £253.71, with £0 on restricted funds.
Reserves policy
As a small organisation our overheads in the UK are minimal, with 100% voluntary staffing of our UK operation. Presently, our primary activity of home building is undertaken one project at a time, only commencing once the full funds have been raised to complete an entire build project. As such we do not specify any reserve amount of restricted funds for this purpose as we would not consider those funds being raised for a specific identified build project to be ‘in reserve’. We do however aim to hold £1,000 of unrestricted funds in reserve primarily for our secondary objective of the preservation and protection of health.
It is the view of the trustee board that this reserve policy will enable us to adequately meet our charitable objectives for the foreseeable future and realistically represents several months of operational expenditure, excluding specific home build project expenditure.
The trustees will review the reserve amounts required to fulfil the charity’s continuing obligations on a quarterly basis.
Structure, Governance, and Management
I AM operates under the Charity Commission’s Foundation model constitution for charitable incorporated organisations which was adopted on the 17-01-2020. Our Trustee recruitment and induction policy, adopted 01-02-2020, was developed with reference to Charity Commission report RS1 for guidance.
Registered Charity Number 1187525
I AM, 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West sussex, RH12 4QY
Future plans
With our focus on home build projects we continue to investigate the most cost effective methods of construction, to maximise our available funds. We also continue to develop relationships with local partners that stimulate the rural economy during the periods of our active build projects. Our hope is to establish a dedicated build team who can utilise sustainable building technologies, such as interlocking stabilise soil blocks. Outside of our active projects this team would then benefit from the continued use of the build system to develop more housing locally that is not placing an unsustainable drain on resources.
Build partner assesments
In February 2023 our in-country operations manager will begin assessment of potential beneficiaries for housing assistance in partnering on a home build project. As a small oranisation we are only able to consider undertaking one project at any one time. This makes the task of assessment rather more difficult and there is a great deal of sensitivity and cultural awareness required in order to gather necessary information while managing expectations. As a member of the community for forty years our Operations Manager is keenly aware of the circumstances of potential benefactors and following his low-key assesments, the trustee board will make some initial decisions and prioritise cases.
Fundraising
Once a third build partner is identified and a committment has been made to work together we will be able to begin a third phase of fundraising to cover the majority of build costs. As has been the case for previous builds, our fundraising is based around individuals donating through activities such as sponsored events, social media postings, etc. Our previous fundraising targets have generally been achieved within a 6 - 9 month period and so we anticipate being in a position to start our third home build project by late 2023.
Registered Charity Number 1187525
I AM, 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West sussex, RH12 4QY
Financial Statement ~~-~~ for period: 06/04/2021 05/04/2022
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Income 2022
Donations £2,390.00
Fundraising £1,530.60
Gift Aid Payments £1,530.00
Other £351.01
Total Income £6,779.35
Expenditure 2022
Build Project Costs £6,264.49
Training & Education £00.00
Emergency Support £342.03
Business Start-up £23,346.98£99.01
Uganda Office & Admin £205.78
Media & Promo £384.01
£468.65
UK Office & Admin
Bank Charges £114.37
Total Expenditure £7,998.34
Balance 2022
Surplus/Deficit £1,218.99
Year Opening Balance £1,472.70
Year Closing Balance £253.71
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Outstanding Guarantee & Debt
The Trustees declare that the charity has given no guarantee where potential liability is outstanding at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.
The Trustees declare that the charity has no outstanding debts which are secured by an express charge on any of the assets of the charity at the date of the statement of assets & liabilities.
Registered Charity Number 1187525
I AM, 14 Gardeners Green, Rusper, Horsham, West sussex, RH12 4QY