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2021-09-30-accounts

Company Registration No. 09792264 Charity Registration No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT (ACE)

(Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee without share capital)

ANNUAL REPORT

and

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

for the year ended 30th September 2021

Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE]

(Company Limited by Guarantee without share capital)

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT

for the

Year ended 30th September 2021

Company and Charity Information

Name:

Acronym Community Empowerment [ACE]

Company Registration Number: 09792264 Charity Registration Number: 1187744

Governing Document: The organisation is a registered Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee, governed by Memorandum & Articles of Association, adopted 18th August, registered on 23rd September 2015; revised 2nd October 2019 and 16th January 2020. Charity registration agreed on 4th February 2020.

Registered Office: 36 Marlborough Road Liverpool L13 8AX

Directors/Trustees Moses Uwaomah Ndukwe serving during the year Hayad Ibrahim Resigned 18th October 2021 Azarias Luke Morris Lovena Annmarie Francis Andrea Tuzio Resigned 3rd April 2021 Jacqueline Dallas Appointed 14th January 2021 Bankers: Barclays Bank Liverpool South Branch 164 Allerton Road Liverpool L18 2DH Independent Examiner: Jan Brooker CDC Finance Services 40 Arundel Avenue Liverpool L17 2AU

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE] TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT

for the Year ended 30th September 2021

The Charity’s Trustees, who are also Directors for the purposes of the Companies Act, have pleasure in presenting their fourth Annual Report and Financial Statements, for the financial year ended 30th September 2021.

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Governing Instrument

The Company is constituted as a charitable company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital and is governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association. After the financial period covered by this report, the Company’s Objects were revised, as below.

Membership

Membership is open to interested individuals interested in promoting the Objects of the Charity and accepted into membership by the Trustees.

Trustees/Directors

The Company’s day-to-day work is delegated by the members, to a Board of Directors – who are also the charity’s Trustees, who are elected by, and report to, an Annual General Meeting [AGM], that receives an Annual Report and the Financial Statements [Accounts] of the organisation.

One third of the Directors/Trustees stand down at each AGM, in rotation, by length of service, but are eligible for re-election. The Trustees meet as required to manage the business of the Company.

Between AGMs the Trustees are responsible for overseeing the running of the Company - governed by both Company and Charity law/regulations - and for obtaining funding, running projects and allocating resources. Collectively, they are responsible for the overall management of the operations of the Company/Charity.

Having reached the income and expenditure level required in the previous financial year, for charitable registration, the company successfully applied for charitable status.

Objects of the Company

The [simplified] objects of the Charity are, to advance the education of the public in the subject of in particular but not exclusively English, Maths, Science, CV writing and reading and writing skills.

Board of Directors / Trustees

During the year Andrea Tuzio resigned as a Director/Trustee to concentrate on bringing up her new baby. We thank her for her work, and congratulate her on the new addition to her family.

We sadly said goodbye to Hayad Ibrahim, a founding member, who resigned from her role as Director [and Treasurer] due to family commitments.

We welcomed the appointment of Jacqueline Dallas as a Trustee [Director], who brings a range of different skills to the work of ACE.

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE]

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT

for the Year ended 30th September 2021

REVIEW OF THE YEAR

Development

During the year the organisation commenced its operations as a Registered Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. The year proved to be a challenging period for the voluntary committee, and the organisation’s usual business, due to the Cov19 pandemic, and the need to adapt and respond to the extremely challenging impact of the lockdowns, heightening awareness of problems faced by the community.

Inequalities within Black and minority communities are well-documented, further reports on racial Inequality produced by the Runnymede Trust race thinktank, in April 2021, and The ONS Health Analysis research findings, highlighted that disadvantaged minority communities were significantly harder hit by the pandemic due to higher health risk factors, unemployment and poor housing conditions. These coincided with the completion of our Power for Change project (£15,500) supporting women into employment, and implementation of other Covid Relief support projects; MCF Youth Violence Reduction programme (£7,400) using participatory theatre methods as a diversionary tool. We also delivered an African Health Policy Network project (£1,000) to support mental health and wellbeing ; underpinning actions identified in our group development action plans. These activities were completed by March 2021.

Online platforms and working arrangement were introduced using Zoom or Microsoft Teams to engage with clients during lockdown restrictions, until April 2021 and the lifting of Covid -19 restrictions, when we were able to resume face-to-face contact.

Capacity building/training

Other developments included trustee capacity building training in a 12-week support received from Ubele and Power for Change - to review current and future organisational activities and capacity needs of BAME-led charities. The topic areas included securing a community asset transfer, understanding asset and liability management, core staffing and accessibility, the ability to generate economic viable and sustainable community business growth, and long-term financial health. Including diversifying our charitable activities to generate income, develop different sources of income and hosting larger community fundraising activities.

The trustees completed an online Media & Marketing training with The Media Trust’s Digital Mentoring Programme for charities in February 2021. The Digital Comms Programme helped to review the organisation’s marketing strategy for fundraising, and campaigning with their Volunteer Platform connecting with skilled volunteers.

The charity’s website was redesigned to reflect an updated communication strategy.

New Initiatives

Further development on initiatives tackling climate change and finding local solutions to improve green spaces and biodiversity was a priority, following the success of Disposable, a £7,500 project funded by Merseyside Recycling and Wast e Authority and Veola.

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

This was followed through with support from Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor Community Environment Fund (£20,000) to deliver Save Our Bees beekeeping project; training children and adults the skills of bee husbandry and protecting declining bee colonies and pollinators. Income generated from honey harvested was reinvested into sustaining the community apiary based at two neighbourhood community centres, The Caribbean Centre and John Archer Hall in Toxteth in partnership with Merseyside Bees & Honeycomb.

The project received media attention and our young beekeepers featured on BBC regional news, ITV and in the Liverpool Echo . They also took part in the Liverpool Combined Authority video excerpt for Glasgow Climate COP conference . The project was also the subject for Sky TV documentaries, released for Black History Month October 2021, on Together TV . A Netflix documentary was also released in March 2022. (This will be included in the next reporting period; also mentioned in future developments).

School closure due to Covid 19 exacerbated child mental health issues, and problems arising from school. In response to a growing demand for education advocacy support an informal volunteer/parent led Covid Recovery Education group was set up to assist primary and secondary school children and their parents faced with issues such as permanent or short-term school exclusions, in year transfers or accessing SEND provision. The team formed from parents/women who participated in an African Policy Network Mental Health funded project (£1,000) in January 2021, and an additional £500 to extend the work based on the outcomes, and pay for the costs of an education specialist to represent children at meetings and panel hearings - with confidence that they would have their voices heard. This work was supported by LCVS Community Impact Merseyside Fund (£1,500) for our project Parenthood Recovery (PR) received in August 2021, and a further £5,000 support from the Community Foundation’s Merseyside Dulverton Trust for a Brighter Futures Homework club - to support English and Maths catch-up and develop independent learning skills and self-confidence.

We resumed face-to-face children’s activities as registered provider (for the next 3 financial years) for the holiday activities and food programme ( HAF) which follows the successful roll-out of the programme across England in 2021. From our local grant supporters, Merseyside Play Action Council, we received £28,114 to successfully deliver a five weeks’ programme for 30 children aged 7-11 years (more in future work).

After a review of existing policies such as safeguarding, risk assessment, health & safety and environment policies were updated and signed by trustees, including reviewing appropriate Insurance cover is in place. A skills audit was conducted to identify core skills and training needs of trustees and volunteers. A range of other online training such as Prevent, Autism Awareness, school food standard Good Food for the Holidays training and toolkits. We supported other community events, deepening cooperation and partnership with local groups, community organisations and statutory agencies.

Projects summary in this period

We were awarded a grant by St Helens MBC Community Foundation & Veola for a Fashion Disposable project, £2667 x 3 instalments for a mixture of online practical workshops and family creative activity boxes - with outdoor tables swop shop and upcycling textiles led by a local community artist.

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

Power to Change awarded a grant of £15,279 for delivery of Rise projects, supporting a ‘Girl Boss Bootcamp’ women’s empowerment training - delivered over six months. Topics on developing communication and soft skills, including social leadership competencies, and creating positive impact as effective social leaders. Additional support received from The Eleanor Rathbone Foundation of £3,000 was used to deliver an extended project for an additional 6 weeks.

An Open Dialogue mental health awareness and self-help network received support from African Mental Health Policy Network BAME Healthy Communities Surviving Cov-19 micro-grant of £1,000 in January 2021 - for training costs for two healthcare volunteers and an additional £500 in September, to extend work based on the outcomes & pay the costs of an education specialist to represent children at meetings and panel hearings - with confidence that they would have their voices heard.

From March to September 2021, two key activities were launched: our environmental beekeeping project Save Our Bees was funded by Metro Mayor Steve Rotherham’s environmental green pledge, with a grant of £20,000 - to train new generation of community beekeepers, engaging local primary schools and adults to learn in a multigenerational setting. We also helped to generate a sustained interest in grassroots community beekeeping; with appearances in newspaper, radio interviews and a story headline on BBC News Northwest, including Netflix and Sky TV documentaries and representing the city at CoP climate conference [in October 2021].

As part of the roll-out of the programme across England in 2021, we registered as HAF providers with MPAC (Merseyside Youth Action Council); our local grant supporters, and LCVS. In July 2021, we received £28,114 to deliver five weeks programme for up to 30 children aged 7-11 years old, This will work will continue for the next 3 financial years to deliver holiday activities and food programme (HAF).

Our education and mental well being support continued via LCVS’ Community Impact Fund (£1,500) delivering a Parent Recovery-PR programme in August 202; this was further supported by Merseyside Community Foundation-Dulverton Trust who provided a £5,000 grant for our Brighter Futures homework club to help the group to continue to deliver targeted learning for adolescents that have fallen behind their expected grades.

Consultation, beneficiaries and feed-back

The number of direct and indirect beneficiaries exceeded 1,000 participants - who engaged and supported our activities in the Princes Park Ward, Toxteth, Liverpool L8 locality where are services are delivered. 4 listening exercises and consultations were conducted throughout the year with our service users to evaluate the impact of our work and identify gaps in service provision, and how we can improve delivery to meet changing needs and demands. Other monitoring and evaluation exercises were performed using feedback forms and questionnaires.

Marketing

The organisation promotes its work on its own website, which can be found at: https://www.acronymcommunityempowerment.org/

………………………. Moses Uwaomah Ndukwe Director

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE] TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT

for the Year ended 30th September 2021

AUDIT EXEMPTION STATEMENT

For the year ending 30th September 2021, the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts. These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.

RESULTS FOR THE YEAR

The results for the year are set out on the finance pages following this report.

RESERVES

The balances at 30th September 2021 amounted to £2,988, taking into account the value of fixed assets in use [which were for practical purposes zero] by the company.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

During the year greatly increased funding was received from a range of sources, as the Projects report, and shown below in the Grants received section. Income for the year was £80,206 [2020 £11,167] and Expenditure £78,552 [2020 £10,320].

THE FUTURE

Future activities focus on providing holiday-time activities for KS2 children with the support from MPAC, LCVS and Liverpool City Council. Further grant applications to Community Foundation Merseyside have been made to support our youth based community learning programmes, i.e. a Youth Diversion Fund by Merseyside Police & Crime Commissioner (£5,000) and Merseyside Community Investment Fund (£2,000).

We will continue to promote reducing waste and pollution, supporting wildlife and biodiversity to improve the environment. A Growing Community Roots application to Liverpool City Region (£40,000) aims to improve Princes Park community green spaces, upgrading a plot into a community herb garden for residents and visitors.

We are updating the group’s online platforms and website, which will be relaunched with a new domain. A fundraiser will be launched in September 2022 for International Women’s Day and to support other local issues will be launched in September 2022

We will explore opportunities to develop a women’s Community Cafe as a training hub and a local drop in service. We will also explore using recycled fashion items such as t-shirts, greeting cards and reusing plastic to create new functional items.

We continue to consider project proposals to enable us to meet our objects, and have developed partnerships and relationships with community groups to meet these aims. Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees on 25th June 2022

.………………………. Director

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE]

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

for the Year Ended

30th September 2021

Notes
Incoming Resources
1
Grants
}
Misc
}
2
Donations
}
2
Bank Interest
3
Total Incoming Resources
Resources expended
Charitable expenditure
4
Support Costs
5
Total resources expended
Net incoming resources
Net Movement in Funds
Total funds brought forward
Unaccounted for surplus
(shortfall)
Total funds carried forward		 Restricted
Funds
2019-20
£
11,167
-
-
-
11,167
10,320
-
10,320
847
0
287
200
1,334		 Unrestricted
Funds
2019-20
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
0
-
0		 Restricted
Funds
2020-21
£
80,206
-
-
-
80,206
78,552
-
78,552
1,744
0
0
1,334
(90)
2,988		 Unrestricted
Funds
2020-21
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
0
0		 Totals
2020-21
£
80,206
0
0
0
80,206
78,552
0
78,552
1,744
0
1,334
(90)
2,988

All activities of the Company are continuing.

Note 1

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are funds which have been given for particular purposes and projects. The purpose of the restricted funds currently established are as listed.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources receivable or generated for the objects of the Company without further specified purpose and are available as general funds.

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE]

BALANCE SHEET

as at

30th September 2021

Notes
Current assets
Cash at bank and in hand
Total current assets
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year
Net current assets (liabilities)
Total assets less current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due after
more than one year
Provisions for liabilities
and charges
Accruals and deferred income
Total net assets (liabilities)
Capital and reserves
Capital assets
Other reserves
Surplus and deficit account
Total funds		 30/09/2020
£
£
2,988
2,988
0
2,988
0
0
-
2,988
0
0
0
-
2,988		 30/09/2020
£
£
2,988
2,988
0
2,988
0
0
-
2,988
0
0
0
-
2,988
2,988
0
0
0
-
2,988
0
0
0
-
2,988

Approved by the Board on 25th June 2022, and signed on their behalf by:

………………………. ………………………. Moses Uwaomah Ndukwe Azarias Luke Morris Director Director

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT [ACE]

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

for the Year Ended

30th September 2021

2. Voluntary Income
St Helens MBC
Power to Change
Rathbone Foundation
Community Foundation
African Health Network
Merseytravel
Liverpool CVS
Lancs BME
Donations, etc
3. Investment income
Interest on UK bank
deposits
4. Charitable Expenditure
Sessional staff
Office costs/room and venue hire etc
Equipment
Travel, Training, Trips, Events etc
Stationery, post, etc
Publicity & Marketing
Misc. costs
Admin, Finance & Accountancy
5. Support Costs
6. Trustees' Expenses		 Restricted
Funds
2020-21
£
5,333
15,279
3,000
7,420
1,500
17,960
29,614
100
-
80,206
-
0
44,010
9,600
11,942
4,250
0
3,350
1,900
3,500
78,552
-
-		 Unrestricted
Funds
2020-21
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
0
0
-
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
0		 Total
2020-21
£
5,333
15,279
3,000
7,420
1,500
17,960
29,614
100
-
80,206
0
0
44,010
9,600
11,942
4,250
0
3,350
1,900
3,500
78,552

No remuneration was paid to the trustees; out-of-pocket expenses only are reimbursed, of which £nil.

7. Debtors
Grants Due
Gift Aid Recoverable		 2021
£
-
-
-
8. Creditors:amounts falling due within one year
Other creditors £
0
0

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Company No. 09792264 Charity No. 1187744

ACRONYM COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT (ACE)

TRUSTEES' ANNUAL REPORT and FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30th SEPTEMBER 2021

Independent Examiner ’ s Report on the Accounts

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Acronym Community Empowerment (ACE)

I report on the accounts of the Charity for the year ended 30th September 2021, which are set out on pages 1 to 7.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under section 43(2) of the Charities Act 1993 (the Act)) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the accounts.

Independent examiner’s statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

Signed:

Name: Jan Brooker; Community Development Consultancy Qualifications: B.A. (Hons.) Architecture; R.I.B.A. (Intermediate) Address:

40 Arundel Avenue, Liverpool L17 2AU

Date:

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