## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) Charity number 1189773 ## Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 **----- Start of picture text -----**
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Triratna Buddhist Community (York) Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 |**Contents**|**Page**| |---|---| |Trustees' report|2 to 6| |Examiner's report|7| |Receipts and payments account|8| |Statement of assets and liabilities|9| |Notes to the accounts|10| ## **Prepared by West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO** 1 ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Trustees' report for the year ended 31 December 2021 ## **Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors** The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were: **Name Position Dates** Shakyapada Jenny Roberts Chair Mark Jones Treasurer Kathryn Readman Mark James Leech Frances Irene Hooker Robert Burdett **Charity number** 1189773 Registered in England and Wales **Principal address Bankers** 38 Gillygate Triodos Bank plc York Deanery Road YO31 7EQ Bristol BS1 5AS **Independent examiner** Sarah Coates MAAT **West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO** Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW ## **Structure, governance and management** The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Association formed on 3 Jun 2020. ## **Method of recruitment and appointment of trustees** The trustees of the charity are appointed by the members at the AGM. 2 ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021 ## **Objectives and activities** ## **The charity's objects** The object of the CIO is to support the advancement of the Buddhist religion, in particular by: Encouraging members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha. Supporting ordained members of the Triratna Buddhist Community and other duly ordained Buddhists, at the discretion of the council of the CIO. Maintaining close communication with and working under the guidance of the Triratna Buddhist order and in cooperation with other groups with the same objects. Using applications of the Buddha's teaching to promote the health and well-being of all. ## **Encouraging members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.** We are here to support people who wish to learn about and practise Buddhism. In order to achieve this we provide courses and classes which explore Buddhist practice. These include teaching basic meditation techniques to complete beginners, and more advanced classes and courses for those who want a deeper understanding of Buddhist practice and how this can be explored in contemporary society. We have a small Spiritual and Gift shop to provide access to meditation accessories, etc. and Buddhist literature not easily available elsewhere. All the work and teaching at our Centre, including the shop, is carried out by volunteers. No one is paid. We raise money from donations at the classes and events and from members of the Sangha (community). We aim to promote the Buddhist ethic of 'dana' or giving, so most of our activities are paid for by donation. People are free to attend even if they have no money. We have a commitment to making our activities and premises accessible to all by providing access for disabled people. ## **Supporting ordained members of the Triratna Buddhist Community and other duly ordained Buddhists, at the discretion of the Council of the CIO;** At the moment we do not support anyone. However, this may be necessary in the future as we grow, The contribution made by members of the Triratna Buddhist Order remains essential to provide the experience, depth of practice and understanding of Buddhism needed in a spiritual community, and to make this available to others. ## **Maintaining close communication with and working under the guidance of the Triratna Buddhist Order and in co-operation with other groups with the same objects;** We work in co-operation with other Triratna Centres, Retreat Centres and with the Preceptors College (which oversees the Ordination process). This allows us to maintain clarity with regard to our vision, to benefit from the experience of other groups with similar objectives, and so make the best use of the resources we have in York. ## **Using applications of the Buddha's teaching to promote the health and well-being of all.** Triratna Buddhist Community(York) is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our sangha, and eliminating discrimination. Everyone is welcome regardless of age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, income, sex and sexual orientation. People attending our classes or events classes do not have to be a Buddhist or feel the need to become a Buddhist. Specifically, we do this by: - a. Holding services of worship and devotion; - b. Organising talks, courses, classes meditation sessions and retreats; - c. Publishing materials (written and online); - d. Raising funds and invite and receive contributions. Our aim is to encourage members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha. So, the Triratna Buddhist Community (York) provides an understanding of Buddhism through a programme of classes and events, both for regular members of our group as well as for newcomers from the local community and others. 3 ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021 ## **Objectives and activities (Continued)** One of the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching is a grounding in Buddhist ethics. These ethical values are central to, and are threads that run through all the Buddha's teachings. Non-Buddhists are in no way expected or required to take on or follow these precepts. Instead, they are invited to test the ethical principles in their own lives to determine their effects on themselves and others around them, for the enhancement and benefit of society as a whole. These ethical values are expressed in both a positive and negative form in what are called The Five Precepts: ## Negative formulation: I undertake to abstain from taking life. I undertake to abstain from taking the not-given. I undertake to abstain from sexual misconduct. I undertake to abstain from false speech. I undertake to abstain from taking intoxicants. ## Positive formulation: With deeds of loving kindness, I purify my body. With open-handed generosity, I purify my body. With stillness, simplicity, and contentment, I purify my body. With truthful communication, I purify my speech. With mindfulness clear and radiant, I purify my mind. ## **The charity's main activities** We are a community of friends who support the Buddhist religion in York mainly through our Centre and online. Our activities encourage members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha. We use applications of the Buddha's teaching to promote the health and well-being of all through classes and courses and other means. ## **Public benefit statement** In setting our objectives and planning our activities the Trustees have given serious consideration to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit and in particular the advancement of religion, encouraging members and others to live ethical lives in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha and, through those teachings, promoting the health and well-being of all. ## **Achievements and performance** A programme of classes and events has been available during the year. Because of Covid most of these were held online with Zoom until 1st June 2021 when limited numbers were allowed in the Centre for our Sangha Night (community night) with the rest of our sangha attending online as normal. After restrictions were relaxed the centre was opened up completely for during September, October November and early December when events were sometimes hybrid (some people on Zoom, some in-person). We closed again in mid-December when the Omicron variant was starting to spread rapidly. In this way we have been continuing with all our usual activities: Sangha (community) nights are held on Wednesday evenings, covering a broad range of the Buddha's teaching together with a period of meditation. These have been attended by between eight and twenty sangha members during the year. These are mainly led by Shakyapada, Mark Jones and Kate Readman with occasional visits from outside Order members. 4 ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 December 2021 ## **Achievements and performance (continued)** Study Groups: Two separate study groups up until July 2021 and three study groups from September 2021 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Evenings. Each of these is following part of the four-year Triratna Mitra Training Course which gives a comprehensive overview of the Triratna presentation of Buddhism, These groups run continuously for most of the year with breaks between modules. Normally students in Year Two are required to be Mitras (i.e. they regard themselves as Buddhists, follow the Five Precepts and are committed to practising with Triratna for the time being). These were led by Shakyapada, Mark Jones and Kate Readman. Mitra Ceremony: Two of our sangha became Mitras on the evening of 3rd August at an in-person event at St Olave’s Church hall which was hired for the evening. The event was led by Kate Readman and Shakyapada. Live Meditations via Facebook and YouTube: The early morning meditations which we started in the first lockdown continued to run every weekday from January through to the end of October this year when they ended. However an archive of 450 of these meditations remains available on both media outlets and are still being used by our sangha and members of the public. These each last around thirty-five minutes and each of the live ones was attended by between eight and thirty people. We believe that these sessions have been really helpful to people living their lives under restrictions and many of the morning meditators have gone on to join one of our Introduction to Buddhism Courses. Some have also joined our regular community and enjoyed other activities with us. These sessions were led by Shakyapada, Sanghaketu, Kate Readman, Alex Carr-Malcolm and Jo McVey. Day Retreats: We have held three Day Retreats this year. One in March on Zoom with Taravandana attended by twelve people, one in October at our Centre led by Punyamala, attended by eleven people and the other on Sangha Day in November at St Olave’s Hall, led by Mahasraddha and Shakyapada and attended by 12 people. Residential Weekend Retreats: Normally we run two weekend residential retreats each year, but this year, because of Covid, it was only possible to run one in September. This was at the Beamsley Project, near Skipton on the theme of ‘Inviting our Demons to Tea’. It was led by Shakyapada and Taravandana and was attended by 17 people. Another special Weekend Retreat was held at our Adhisthana Meditation Centre near Hereford in July when eleven of our community practised there over one weekend and ritually marked our community opening a centre. This was led by Shakyapada, with help from the sangha and members of the Adhisthana Community. Introductory Courses: This year we have run two four week introductory courses on Zoom, in January, led by Mark Jones and Kate Readman and May, led by Shakyapada and Jo McVey. These were each attended by around 10 people. A ‘follow-on’ course for newcomers on the subject of Buddhist Myth was held online for 7 weeks in February and March, led by Shakyapada and attended by twelve people. An in-person introductory course was held in September/October for six weeks at our centre, led by Shakyapada, Alex Carr-Malcolm and Joan Taylor and was attended by eleven people. The Buddha’s Bazaar: The Centre shop which was established last year was relaunched in April, when restrictions were eased, with more space and more products on offer, including giftware as well as Buddhist artefacts. It opened for three afternoons each week, staffed by volunteers from April to November when it closed in preparation for a proposed move to new premises in the new year. The shop sold goods to the retail value of £7,427. This is on top of sales for the previous year and, even though some stock was sold off at cost price in November, we believe that the shop has made a valuable contribution to our finances. It has also enabled our community to work together and has been a valuable focal point for our sangha during the restrictions earlier in the year. Thanks to Joan Taylor for managing this so well. 5 Triratna Buddhist Community (Yorft) hlw•ments and P￿10m￿ne• l¢onlinwl} SuP￿rt in our Cfflimunty. DuriNJ the (Kw'KalyaH Mitrn, (spiritual fri8nd) Taravandana has met up with ttvjse Mitras aro training Ordinticm arKI also contirnMI to meet up wllh them and Financlal Sliual￿. We have t)een f￿tunate this to have hal the bwfft of rent-fr8e premis8s for the of the peri(MJ thrwh the ￿nerOsIty of tNJr Lthair. Shakydpada. Together with low overheads. a go(MJ number of stsrnliThJ orders. r8•dar othar dcThtions. aid WKI sty) proffts tr4s has left us in a very hethy cash at ts eThJ af th& Future Plans: We were lucky on0￿h to find some [￿W and bwer PTemises in the centre of York la81 Sgptember. These offw9d at a rw)t tMJt r￿ded ffttiThJ out *rylh 11c￿. ceilrys. tolots I￿hts a￿1 thr{x￿h a 61x ￿. £25.(XKI108n fr(wn (*txh ts pwi of ts Triratr)& mo¥6m8nt). Thè Ne￿￿&11tr. We wblthe all our events ttwh a wcrfjuced byJenry Watker, and IhrwJh swol med￿. mainly F&ebocl(. 8ThJ our **bsite at WW4¥.>trkb￿Idh1$1¢e￿tr8.0TG Litxarr. We have a substsnlia I￿ary(￿ PAthhist books n th8 Cgntre so that thoy are avallablts to everyone vAthoul th8 nood lo trtry. IxrfrcMT a tthk I a m(x)Ih al a tim&. There is no chwge but pandern￿. in thal we have attracted people from beyond York as well as Ioc81 people. We have discovered new vrays of ro8thwwJ out lo more Fw18 thr￿h ZcM)m aThJ sCtI￿ modia broadcasts. AS we. hopefulfy. Fln•fyKknI r•vl The net receipts for tho £15.098. atl rel8lJrwJ to UMStr￿ funds. pyemises Sn 2022. We 9¢kr￿A8dge th81 current reserves arn in excess of cwr kx)kcy limil. Ho￿Ver. ￿ are k))king lo Invest a slgnrfranl amount oflhLs ex(*ys into r8lwtMthent of leaseh￿ txgmlses and ￿ 8nl*ip* cw reser PAark (Tn￿) ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Triratna Buddhist Community (York) Charitable Incorporated Organisation ('the CIO') I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the CIO for the year ended 31 December 2021, which are set out on pages 8 to . ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity trustees of the CIO you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act'). I report in respect of my examination of the CIO's accounts as carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. ## **Independent examiner's statement** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect: 1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2 the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: …………………………………… Name: Sarah Coates MAAT 04/05/2022 ## **West Yorkshire Community Accountancy Service CIO** Stringer House 34 Lupton Street Leeds LS10 2QW 7 ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Receipts and payments account for the year ended 31 December 2021 |Notes
**Receipts**
Grants and donations
(2)
Shop sales
Other income
Gift aid
Courses
Retreats
Fundraising
Income from association
**Total receipts**
**Payments**
Marketing and publicity
Books, resources and stock
Accountancy and independent examination
Travel and subsistence
Rent, rates and room hire
Retreat costs
Legal and professional
Training
Printing, postage and stationery
IT software and consumables
Furniture and equipment
Bank charges
Utilities
Insurance
Centre refurbishment and decoration
Sundry
Donations to ECA
Telephone
**Total payments**
**Fund balances brought forward**
**Fund balances carried forward**
(3)
**Net receipts / (payments)**|2021
Total
funds
£
14,850
7,427
7
3,159
273
1,469
1,350
-
28,535
241
5,151
450
14
808
467
2,868
-
24
425
(467)
328
574
588
918
297
310
441
13,437
15,098
12,477
27,575|2020
Total
funds
£
11,452
1,540
3
858
-
-
-
11,807
25,660
238
4,795
-
-
-
-
-
100
102
874
1,326
83
216
825
4,288
132
-
204
13,183
12,477
-
12,477| |---|---|---| 8 Triratna Buddhist Community (York) Statement of ass•ts aTrd Ilabllltles as at 31 Decembw 2021 Total Cash fvnds Cash al bank Cash in hand 12.205 272 12,477 131 27.575 A•80ts rntalned for th• ¢hwltys own 21 x stackable chairs HP laptop UaWUU•s Mark J (Tnth) ## Triratna Buddhist Community (York) ## Notes to the accounts continued for the year ended 31 December 2021 ## **1 Accounting policies** ## **Basis of accounting** The trustees have taken advantage of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and have prepared the accounts on a receipts and payments basis. There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year. No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years. ## **Taxation** As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from income tax and capital gains tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates. ## **Fund accounting** Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. |**2 Grants and donations**
Triratna Future Dharma Fund
Dana - General Donations
Dana - Newcomers
Dana - Recurring Payment
Dana - Standing Orders
Dana - Study
Dana - New Central Appeal|2021
Unrestricted
funds
£
-
3,188
355
4,456
6,591
221
39
14,850|2021
Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|2021
Total
funds
£
-
3,188
355
4,456
6,591
221
39
14,850|2020
Total
funds
£
2,000
1,835
81
247
3,982
55
3,252
11,452| |---|---|---|---|---| ## **3 Related party transactions** ## **Trustee expenses** No trustee received any expenses during this year or the previous year. ## **Trustee remuneration and benefits** No trustee received any remuneration or benefit during this or the previous year. ## **Other related party transactions** The charity is located in premises owned by one of the trustees - Shakyapada Jenny Roberts. During the year refurbishment costs of £917 were incurred relating to that property. The charity will rent the property at £400 per month but no rental costs were incurred during the accounting period. 10