2022-12-31-accounts

Trustees annual report

Year ending 31 December 2022.

Welcome to this annual report. This is the third report we have now filed with the Charity commission, and the first where we have included a more informative Chairperson’s report, to all who are involved in our work, people in the Sangha, local partners and collaborators and any one who might have an interest in what we do. We hope you find it interesting and would welcome any comments or suggestions, by email to [e-mail].

Our purpose

The purpose of Bodhicharya UK is to advance the understanding and practice of the Buddhist faith and philosophy by promoting the Bodhicharya principles of healing, helping and harmony. We do this by:

• (a) providing meetings, teachings and retreats;

(b) encouraging and participating in interfaith and intercultural dialogue;

(c) promoting and supporting well-being in body, mind and spirit; and

(d) supporting the relief of those in need.

The trustees take account of the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in all of its activities.

Chairperson’s Statement

We registered the Charity in August 2020 and like everyone else we endured a long period of lockdown and reduced activities. It was a useful time to put in place good administration processes and policies for our work, and also marked the great shift to remote video access, to meetings and events, which has been so instrumental in expanding the number of regular activities and widening participation.

Since emerging from lockdown, the Bodhicharya UK Team and the work we do has grown and gone from strength to strength. We’d like you to join us in welcoming Trustee Michele Sisto (appointed October 2021), our Honorary Secretary, Natasha Corcoran, and our Bookkeeper, Helen Coppell, to the core team, and thanking them for all their contributions so far. We also said goodbye to Trustee Sarah Delfont (October 2021) during this time, who was very instrumental in the charity registration process, and so thank her for her service.

Some of my personal highlights of our activity to date include:

• Creating better communication networks and collaboration between Bodhicharya groups in the UK. This has included more online activities and a greater awareness about them across all groups, bringing Bodhicharya London and Kent’s finances under the charitable umbrella of Bodhicharya UK and merging bookkeeping.

• Bodhicharya UK becoming an official member of Medway Inter Faith Action (MIFA), Bodhicharya Kent becoming an active part of Medway’s Interfaith Community which has raised the profile of the Buddhist faith amongst MIFA members. A great example of encouraging and participating in interfaith and intercultural dialogue.

• Supporting Green Tara Animal Sanctuary by way of donations and purchasing chicken coups for the sanctuary’s rescued chickens. A great example of helping others – in this case abandoned animals.

• Sponsoring the write up of a new Dharma book by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche on death and dying, the first of many such projects we hope to help with in support of the Buddhist tradition.

• Establishing collaborative links with other Buddhist traditions, including the Western Chan Fellowship and the Jodu Shinshu Tradition via two faith leaders also operating in Kent, namely Stuart McLeod and David Quirk-Thornton, with a view to share a dedicated space for the study and practice of the Buddha Dharma.

• Creating collaborative links with local government in Medway, Kent, for the proposed establishment of a Bodhicharya UK Centre in conjunction with the Western Chan Fellowship and the Jodu Shinshu Tradition. The Centre is envisioned to be a place of healing, helping and harmony and a place where Bodhicharya UK can carry out its objectives for the benefit of the local community and visitors to the area.

• Hosting retreats and teaching events by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche and other Bodhicharya teachers in 2022 and 2023. A great example of providing Buddhist meetings,

• teachings and retreats.

• The creation of a Dharma School outreach team. Due to receiving many requests from schools to “visit your Temple” sent to Bodhicharya Kent’s email inbox in Medway, a team of volunteers from Bodhicharya Kent and London created the Dharma School outreach programme, which has delivered classes in Buddhism and meditation.

We extend our thanks and gratitude to our Patron Ringu Tulku Rinpoche for his continuing inspiration, guidance and support, to Medway councillor Cllr Teresa Murray for her donation towards expenses of establishing of a Bodhicharya UK Centre in Medway, and to Medway mayor, Madame Mayor Nina Gurung, for her continued encouragement and support in this endeavour.

Our success is also directly linked to the hard work of all our volunteers, be them Trustees, group leaders or the network of volunteers and friends throughout the UK who are too numerous to mention. We have made steady progress in difficult times, and I’d like to personally thank everyone for their time, energy, commitment and consistency in moving us forward and helping fulfil our objectives and vision for the benefit of all.

Over the next 12 months we plan to:

• Continue to pursue collaborating with Medway Council, The Western Chan Fellowship and the Jodu Shinshu Tradition to establish a Bodhicharya UK Buddhist Centre in Medway

• Fully merge Bodhicharya London’s finances and bookkeeping with Bodhicharya Kent’s and UK’s

• Host retreats and teaching events by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche and other Bodhicharya teachers in the UK

• Offer Bodhicharya UK’s donation platform to all Bodhicharya groups in the UK when they host Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, to increase awareness of and donations to the charity

• Create a Legacy Fund option for donors to Bodhicharya UK

• Continue to develop the Dharma School outreach team and offering

• ● Continue to support Green Tara Animal Sanctuary

Thank you all for an inspiring and beneficial start to the Bodhicharya UK project. I look forward to continuing our work together over the next 12 months and fulfilling the charity’s objectives for the benefit of all.

Administrative details

Charity registration number 1190768; constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation.

Principle address: 43 Trinity Road, Gillingham, Kent, ME71JA

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity:

David Fry (Treasurer) Sally MacKinnon Stuart McLeod Cesare Saguato (Chair) Michele Sisto

Annual accounts for Bodhicharya UK

Year ending 31 December 2022

Receipts Donatons Book sales Total Payments Rent Event costs book costs Subscriptons Admin Donatons to Rigul Trust Donatons to Green Tara Total payments Surplus for the year Cash balance at 1 January Cash balance at 31 December	£ £ 2022 2021 8,865 3,230 24
	8,889 3,230
	920 420 3,884 1,778 356 0 50 224 359
	5,434 2,557
	175 515 674
	6,283 3,072
	2,606 158
	4,139 3,981 6,745 4,139

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the accounts above.

Signature: Full name: Cesare Saguato Chair Position:

aBodhicharya UK AWAKEN THE HEART BY OPEliI%G THE MIND

aBodhicharya UK AWAKEN THE HEART BY OPEliI%G THE MIND