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2023-12-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 01/01/23 To 31/12/23 Charity name: 50 Million Voices

Charity registration number: 1189541

Objectives and Activities

SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document		 Para 1.17 50 Million Voices promotes social inclusion
among people who stutter who are excluded
from suitable employment and career
progression as a result of communication
impairment, by advancing education and
raising awareness about stuttering with
employers, people who stutter and allies.
Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.		 Para 1.17 and
1.19		 The activities of 50 Million Voices throughout
the year reflect our role and purpose as an
organisation that:
●
Focuses specifically on employment
and career progression for people
who stutter
●
Is UK-led with an international
mindset
●
Shines a spotlight on good
communication involving speakers
who stutter and listeners who may or
may not stutter
●
Always brings people who stutter,
allies and employers together to
create change.
We have done this in 2023 through:
1. Flagship Activities & Events
●
Delivering a global Practice
Interviews event in June, involving 97
participants, being 42 interviewees
who stutter, 55 interviewers (a mix of
stutterers and non-stutterers) and 62
interviews with participants from 15
countries.
●
Organising “How Stuttering Voices
Can Help Us All Become Better
Listeners” panel event in October,
with a global audience of over 70
people from 5 continents.
2. Strengthening our Foundations
●
Developing fundraising and other
strategy/planning/management
●
Welcoming new stuttering leaders
from several countries
●
Broadening the base of employers
with whom we work.
3. Collaborations with Employers, Other
Organisations and Individuals
●
Delivering virtual workshops for
several employers, including
collaboration with the British Council,
with whom we co-delivered 4
workshops for their global employee
community
●
Continuing and deepening
relationships with other employers,
with involvement in the Practice
Interviews programme, as panellists
and contributors in other ways
●
Supporting the Heard AI programme
led by Michigan State University
●
Expanding our freely available
resources with the addition of 2
videos and 2 one-to-one podcast
interviews about our work and
impact.
More information about all of the above in
the section on achievements and
performance below.
Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit		 Para 1.18 All trustees are made aware of the relevant
guidance and the need to take this into
account as part of their induction as trustees
(PB1, 2 and 3).

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

SORP reference Para 1.38 Policy on grant making Para 1.38 Policy on social investment including program related investment

See Achievements and Performance Para 1.38 Contribution made by volunteers Other

Achievements and Performance

SORP reference
Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.		 Para 1.20 In many respects, 2023 was a year of
consolidation for 50 Million Voices, building
on the achievements since its origins in 2019
and registration formally as a Charitable
Incorporated Organisation in May 2020.
In practice, this has meant incorporating
learning from previous events into our
activities through the year, deepening
existing relationships with employers,
organisations and individuals and developing
important new ones, all of which is
increasing our reach and impact.
A special thanks to all our donors and all our
volunteers for their generosity and
commitment to our cause. Our volunteers
comprise our volunteer leaders who stutter
from across the world, people working
quietly behind the scenes, our trustees and
all those providing administrative or other
support and also everyone who has
contributed to our continuing flagship
Practice Interview programme and other
events. This includes everyone who has
given their time and expertise as panellists,
speakers and interviewers. Many thanks
also to our development coordinator Shilpa
Sagwal, without whom our events (and
more) would not be possible.
We continue to have impact beyond our size
and have also spent valuable time in the
course of the year developing our thinking
around sustainability, much of which, we
hope, will yield results after the end of 2023.
It should be noted that our fall in income in
2023 does not reflect a fall in support or
ambition, but is mainly due to the timing of
donation receipts compared with prior years.
Consequently, we are confident that our
receipts in 2024 will return to at least the
level of £25,667 seen in 2022.

Achievements

Flagship Activities and Events Practice Interview event 5th-8th June “For the first time in my life, I have entered an interview situation not afraid to stammer. Everyone involved in the {Practice Interview} process has a genuine desire to improve this difficult situation that we all face, and make it more comfortable for those who stammer. I thought the optional sessions were great for those new to the world of stammering, and would make a great resource for advocating for change to ” interview practices. Thank you all . Interviewee who stutters

“It has increased my understanding massively and has helped me think broader and really focus on how I can change my approach to make this a better experience for anyone with a stutter, stammer, clutter.” Ally interviewer

Running this for the fourth consecutive year, this event has become a regular fixture for 50 Million Voices. Our ambitious 2023 virtual event involved 42 interviewees, 55 interviewers and 62 interviews with participants from 15 countries.

However, the numbers only tell one part of the story. For example, we are attracting more and more senior interviewers each time. Other innovations in 2023 included:

share their experiences and practical
tips from varying perspectives, with
differences in ways of speaking,
gender, geography, career paths and
more.
● Running a panel discussion on 3rd
July, a month after the main Practice
Interviews event with speakers from
Sage Group plc (USA) TSB in the
UK and our co-leader from Kenya.
One was an interviewee, and two
were interviewers, one who stutters
and one who does not. The panellists
discussed what they had done or
planned to do - after the Practice
Interviews - to help their own
development - and/or help their
employers become more
stuttering-confident.
● Giving each participant in the
Practice Interviews an individual
signed certificate after the event.
These attracted lots of positive
feedback, including via unsolicited
LinkedIn posts from recipients.
How Stuttering Voices Can Help Us All
Become Better Listeners 17th October
Our panellists for this online event, chaired
by senior BBC journalist Krupa Padhy,
comprised internationally recognised
researcher and author on stuttering,
language and communication, Dr Paul
Brocklehurst; Dr Julie Humphreys, ally and
Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Markel
International and creator of award-winning
podcast D&I Spy; and our Chair and
Founder Iain Wilkie.

The event aimed to challenge long-held assumptions about stuttering and explore the theme from the perspective of the listener rather than the speaker who stutters. It opened up a lively discussion with a large, engaged international audience.responding to the themes covered. These included how culture affects individual choices and listening, ableist expectations of fluency, the power of the stuttered word, and the value of attentive listening and what that means.

Strengthening Our Foundations In the course of the year, as well as delivering events, we have also started to look at how we consolidate and plan for the future, with internal discussions in relation to fundraising strategy, administration and future governance requirements. One of our trustees, Helen Carpenter, whose initial term

of office ended in 2023, was unanimously endorsed to stand for a second three year term. Future planning is not necessarily externally visible and doesn’t produce instant results, but it is no less important for that. We are moving forward and reaching significantly more people with each passing year. Also our impact is significantly greater than the resources we have might suggest. Our presence on LinkedIn has gone from c800 by the end of 2022 to over 1,100 at the end of 2023, a rise of c40%. We are delighted, also, in the course of 2023, to have welcomed new leaders who stutter from China/USA, Israel, Kenya, Northern Ireland and South Africa. Collaborations with employers, other organisations and individuals “We have loved the learning that we gained from working with 50 Million Voices. We’ve had great feedback from colleagues across the British Council globally. Looking forward to more….” Jane Franklin, Acting Head of DEI, British Council We started working with the British Council with 4 interactive awareness-raising online sessions in the autumn of 2023, attracting almost 1,000 participants in total from their worldwide workforce.

This was a great privilege and opportunity to engage with people leading on work in the arts, engaging with schools across the UK and those who manage teaching centres reaching 1000s of English students worldwide. Senior-level commitment and having people who stutter inside the British Council working alongside us made all the difference.

Indeed, Reece Waldron, British Council’s Networks and Operations Lead and Senior Research Adviser, was nominated by the British Council’s Senior Leadership Team as one of the organisation’s 2023 Unsung Heroes for starting a global and organisation-wide conversation on stuttering.

Our collaborations increasingly show the potential to move, and indeed are moving, beyond one-off events.

Another example is the recognition of 50 Million Voices in EY’s UK Impact Report for 2023, along with a separate feature on a staff member who ended up with a job at EY after having 2 Practice Interviews with 50 Million Voices in 2021. We are grateful for the ongoing relationships we have had over the year with these and other organisations and companies. These also include, but are not limited to, BT, Compass, McCann, Reach plc, Sage plc, SLB and TSB. More developments have come at the end of the period covered by this annual report and we are excited to end the year with the prospect of working with Cargill and with Rolls Royce in 2024. As these relationships blossom, we have also delivered a number of other virtual awareness-raising sessions, in the course of the year across a wide range of sectors, including with BT, with the National Health Service East London Foundation Trust (NHS - ELFT) and with McCann Worldgroup (global marketing). Our Chair, Iain Wilkie, also gave talks to groups of people who stutter at City Lit and at Michael Palin Centre about thriving at work with a stutter and continued to network with other relevant organisations during the year, such as Purple Space and the Business Disability Forum. In 2023 Iain also contributed to two podcasts. The first was in March - the award-winning D&I Spy podcast, hosted by Dr Julie Humphreys and Natasha Whitehurst, exploring.‘the gift of stuttering’ and how workplaces can be more supportive of employees who stammer. He talks about quiet leadership and how listening attentively to voices that are different from our own is an ‘open door’.

The second was in August, when he featured on the podcast of the Specialized Center for Stuttering (Centro Especializado en Tartamudez) founded in 2018, which provides treatment for children, adolescents and adults who stutter and training for professionals in South America. The topic was stuttering in the workplace, the challenges if you stutter and the work of 50 Million Voices.This podcast is hosted by Angelica Bernabe, a Director of the Center, and the 50 Million Voices leader representing Peru.

Both podcasts are available to listen to via the Events/Resources page of our website. Heard AI - a different kind of collaboration This project is exploring the impact of AI for people who stutter. It's led by a team from Michigan State University (MSU) who are working with interested parties to identify the challenges of voice activated AI for people who stutter and to help find solutions. Two leaders from our international 50 Million Voices leaders’ group are actively involved in this ground-breaking work. Given that existing AI voice technologies frequently fail to recognise disfluent speech patterns, this is leading to major questions that urgently need to be addressed around accessibility, employment and inclusion. The project is creating an inclusive voice AI platform that comprehends and respects the diversity of human speech, backed with significant funding in the US. More info: https://psychology.msu.edu/news-events/ne ws/heardai.html and https://www.impactmedialab.com/our-work/h eard-ai We are delighted to have signed up in 2023 as a partner organisation to support this important development.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Achievements against
objectives set		 Para 1.41
Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set		 Para 1.41
Investment performance
against objectives		 Para 1.41

Other

Financial Review

Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period		 Para 1.21 The Receipts and Payments account shows
receipts for the year of £13,632 less
payments of £13,572, resulting in net
receipts of £60. This amount added to the
cash funds brought forward at 1 January
2023 of £24,313 resulted in cash funds at 31
December 2023 totalling £24,373
Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held		 Para 1.22 The charity has a reserves policy whereby
cash funds equal to 5 months expenditure
should be held in reserve. This policy is a
prudent estimate of the amount of funds that
could be required to cover costs in the event
of the winding up of the charity.
At 31 December 2023, having incurred total
cash expenditure of £13,573 in the year, the
amount required to be held in reserve under
the terms of the policy was £5,655 (5 months
expenditure).
This was exceeded by the amount of cash
held at 31 December 2023 of £24,373
Amount of reserves held Para 1.22 The amount held was £24,861
Reasons for holding zero
reserves		 Para 1.22 n/a
Details of fund materially in
deficit		 Para 1.24 n/a
Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern		 Para 1.23 n/a

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

The charity’s principal sources of funds (including Para 1.47 any fundraising) Investment policy and objectives including any Para 1.46

social investment policy
adopted
A description of the principal
risks facing the charity		 Para 1.46
Other

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s
trusts:
Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)		 Para 1.25 Constitution adopted May 2020
How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)		 Para 1.25 CIO
Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees		 Para 1.25 Trustees are usually appointed for a term of
three years by a resolution passed at a
properly convened meeting of the charity
trustees

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction and
training of trustees		 Para 1.51
The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works		 Para 1.51
Relationship with any related
parties		 Para 1.51

Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name 50 Million Voices
Other name the charity uses
Registered charity number 1189541
Charity’s principal address 21 Seymour Road
Kingston Upon Thames
KT1 4HN

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not
for whole year		 Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee (if any)
Iain Wilkie Chair
Helen Carpenter
Chris Gemmell
Elias Apreko

Corporate trustees – names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name n/a

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year
n/a

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets
held in this capacity		 n/a
Name and objects of the
charity on whose behalf the
assets are held and how this
falls within the custodian
charity’s objects		 n/a
Details of arrangements for
safe custody and
segregation of such assets
from the charity’s own assets		 n/a

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information) Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of
adviser
Name
Address
n/a
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
n/a

n/a

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other o tional infonnation

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CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES 50 ￿llion Vol¢•s 1189541 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a Forthe witsd 1 January 2023 31 CLnknr2023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted fund8 Endowrnent funds Total fund• La$ty¢4r nw•st E to nMr48t E A1 Rec81 ts tbTh8t￿n￿ and acs aritablè Eclivithgs Inter¢¥l rec¥ 7.514 219 Z19 Sub total(Gross income forAR) A2 Asset and Intrtstmont 5al04 14633 11633 25,821 Sub total 13.633 11633 25,821 st of ￿arit￿ty* JctMI goy 269 Sub tot41 A4 Asset and inve8tment able Sub total 166 N8tof receipts/(payments) A5 Trnnsfer5 between funds A6 Cash funds last year ond C8$h funds t1￿ y•ar •ftd 24 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrnstwictod funds Re8trlcte<l fund8 Endowment funds Cat¢#ories Details B1 Cash furM15 4JrJ Totalca$h fiw¥ls 24.373 CCXX R1 aoyJunts Issi 0411012024

UnrnBtrfLed funds Re8tslct•d funds Endowmont funds to n•v•¥¢£ Detal tbLOts B2 Olhgr rnon•tary assèts Det811s earyl14laxil) Dètail$ B4 Assets retained forthe charlty's own Details rd B5 Uabllltlas 1,112 S¥neO by one or twste8s on behalf of al the IFustee8 De ofapproval CCXX R2 aixxiunts ISSI 0411012024