## Trustee Report for Zero Gravity Fund
For the 17 month period to 31 July 2021
## **Overview**
Zero Gravity Fund (“ZGF”) (charity registration number 1188177) is registered at 6th Floor, One London Wall, London EC2Y 5EB. As of 31 July 2021, it has five trustees: William Westwater (Chair), Joseph Seddon (Founder of Zero Gravity), Ian Malcolm (Treasurer), Kirsty Prest (Secretary) and Martin Palmer.
The charity’s objective is to advance the education and career prospects of talented students focusing on those from low-income or disadvantaged backgrounds by: 1) the provision of scholarships during university; and 2) assisting them to achieve relevant guidance and experience to identify and pursue their chosen careers.
ZGF has a strategic partnership with Zero Gravity Tech Ltd (“ZGT”) which enables the charity to deploy hyper-targeted scholarships to the most deserving candidates at zero cost, with impact tracking data provided by ZGT. The only overhead costs that ZGF will have will be directly incurred governance costs.
The formalisation of the relationship with ZGT, other governance set-up activities, and the development of ZGF’s impact model have been the main strategic priorities this year and are expected to be concluded by December 2021. We will implement a robust governance framework, including: a full suite of relevant policies; codification of the strategic partnership between ZGF and ZGT; and expansion of the Trustee Board with independent members. We are being advised by Bates Wells in respect of legal and governance matters.
Founder Trustees – Joseph Seddon, William Westwater and Martin Palmer – will step down once the governance set-up is complete so we can have an entirely independent Trustee Board moving forward. It is intended that Joseph Seddon will still attend Trustee Meetings in his capacity as CEO of Zero Gravity Tech Ltd to provide the Trustees with updates on the strategic partnership activities between ZGF and ZGT.
We intend to pilot a cohort of 36 scholars from September 2021. These scholars will all be Zero Gravity students from low-income backgrounds who have gained a place at a highly-selective university, and they will be selected according to an algorithmic approach which will be decided by the Trustees. The scholarships are intended to be £1000 per year over the three years of students’ undergraduate degrees. The scholarships will be deployed directly to students via a Zero Gravity branded card and we will track students’ spending data and measure the impact of the scholarship on the students’ academic and career prospects. We will use this pilot to inform the long-term impact model of ZGF.
## **Financial review**
The charity was incorporated on the 25[th] of February 2020. The financial objective in the first 17 months was to secure initial funding to allow an initial pilot programme of scholars at the start of the 2021/22 academic year.
In the period to 31 July 2021, ZGF secured £51,100 of donations from a mixture of individuals and small foundations. During the first year, no scholarships were deployed. Operating expenses were limited to necessary start-up costs for IT systems and trustee meeting expenses.
During the period, the charity recorded a surplus on ordinary activities of £50,531.
ZGF’s Reserve Policy was designed in conjunction with the Scholarship Disbursement Policy, which regulates that all scholarships should be fully funded for the full three years prior to the first disbursement. Any committed scholarship funds will be kept in a separate, restricted account.
In addition to the restricted scholarships, the Reserves Policy requires that at least 6 months’ forecast operating costs are held in reserve at any given time.
As at the balance sheet date, the charity has cash on hand of £50,531 and it does not have any debts or liabilities. ZGF does not hold any funds as a custodian trustee.
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Zero Gravity Fund No (if any)
Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Mar 1, 20 To Jul 31, 21
from
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds Total funds Last year
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations 33,100 18,000 - 51,100 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
33,100 18,000 - 51,100 -
Sub total (Gross income for AR)
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total receipts 33,100 18,000 - 51,100 -
A3 Payments
Trustee allowable expenses 106 - - 106 -
IT set-up & consumables 463 - - 463 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total 569 - - 569 -
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments 569 - - 569 -
Net of receipts/(payments) 32,531 18,000 - 50,531 -
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end - - - - -
Cash funds this year end 32,531 18,000 - 50,531 -
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|**Section B Statement**|**of assets and liabilities**|**of assets and liabilities**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|**at the end of the period**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**|**Endowment**|
|**Categories**|**Details**||**funds**||**funds**|**funds**|
|**B1 Cash funds**||**_Total cash funds_**|**to nearest £**
**32,531**
**-**
**-**
**32,531**|
|**to nearest £**
**18,000**
**-**
**-**
**18,000**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
||(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))||OK
|OK||OK|
||||**Unrestricted**||**Restricted**|**Endowment**|
||||**funds**||**funds**|**funds**|
|**B2 Other monetary assets**|**Details**||**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
|**B3 Investment assets**|**Details**||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**|**Details**||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**|**Cost (optional)**
**-**||**-**
**Current value**
**(optional)**|
|**charity’s own use**||||
|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|
||||**Fund to which**||**Amount due**|**When due**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|**Details**||**liability relates**|
|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**(optional)**|**(optional)**|
|Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees||Signature|Print|Name||Date of
approval|
||||Ian Malcolm|||Apr 21, 22|
|**Proft and Loss**
**Zero Gravity Fund**
**For the year ended 31 July 2021**
**Account**
**2021**
**Turnover**
Donations received
50,000
**Total Turnover**
**50,000**
**Gross Proft**
**50,000**
**Administrative Costs**
Trustee meeting expenses
106
IT Software and Consumables
338
**Total Administrative Costs**
**444**
**Operating Proft**
**49,556**
**Proft on Ordinary Activities Before Taxation**
**49,556**
**Proft after Taxation**
**49,556**|**1/3/20 to 31/7//20**
**5m/e 31/7/20**
1,100
**1,100**
**1,100**
0
125
**125**
**975**
**975**|**17m/e 31/7/21**
**2021**
51,100
**51,100**
**51,100**
106
463
**569**
**50,531**
**50,531**|
|---|---|---|
||**975**|**50,531**|
## **Balance Sheet**
Zero Gravity Fund As at 31 July 2021
|**Account**|**Account**|**Jul 2021**
50,531
**50,531**
**50,531**
**50,531**
**50,531**
**50,531**
49,556
975
Brought forward
**50,531**|
|---|---|---|
|**Current Assets**|||
||**Cash at bank and in hand**||
||Barclays Business BankingCurr||
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner s Report
Report to the trusteesl
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I r8POrt to Ihe Irustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
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R••pon•lbllftl•8 and As the d)arity tru8tees of the Trust. you are responsible for the preparation
bas1• of rnport of the acownts in accordance the requlrements of the Charities Act
2011 fthe Act.).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed the applicable Directi$ given by the Charity Commisslon
under 8ectiui 145{5Xb) of the ACL
Indopendent
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