2022-09-30-accounts

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation Registered Charity Number : 1191471

A Charitable Incorporated Organisation

Report and Accounts for The Year Ended 30 September 2022

Registered Charity Number : 1191471

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Contents

Reference and Administrative Information ......................................................................... 2 Trustees' Annual Report for the period............................................................................... 3 Independent examiner's report on the accounts ................................................................. 9 Receipts and payments accounts .................................................................................... .. 10

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Reference and Administrative Information

Registered Office and Principal Address

20 School Road West Wellow ROMSEY SO51 6AR

Bankers

Barclays 54 Cornmarket Street, Oxford, OX1 3HB Starling Bank 7th Floor, Norfolk House, 31 St James's Square, London, SW1Y 4JR

Independent Examiner

K Cook FCA 1 Therapia Road London SE22 0SF

Registered Charity Number

1191471

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Trustees' Annual Report for the period

Period start date Period end date 01 10 2021 30 09 2022 From To

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1191471 Charity's principal address 20 School Road West Wellow Romsey Postcode SO51 6AR

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

	1 2 3 4 5 6	Trustee name	Office (if any)	Dates acted if not for whole year	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee(if any)
		Professor Richard Oreffo	Chair
		Dr Timothy Clayden	Treasurer
		Peer-Jada Qureshi
		Professor Christopher Aiden-Lee Jackson
		Naomi Dawson
		Jan Howes
		Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
		Name		Dates acted if not for wholeyear

Section B

Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Type of governing document

Foundation Constitution

• (eg. trust deed, constitution)

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

How the charity is constituted

Charitable Incorporated Organisation

(eg. trust, association, company)

Trustee selection methods

(eg. appointed by, elected by)

Every trustee must be appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees.

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:

• policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;

• the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;

• relationship with any related parties;

• trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation (Cowrie) is a lean organisation with 6 unpaid Trustees and no staff at present. The roles for each member of the board are clearly defined. Board meetings are held on a regular basis (typically every two months) with formal minutes taken.

All Cowrie board members are experienced members of other current charity or industry boards.

Decisions are taken on a simple majority basis.

Cowrie has policies covering privacy, data protection and equal opportunities and Diversity Policy.

The board members with authority to spend Cowrie money are limited to three (Professor Oreffo, Chair; P.J. Qureshi, Trustee; and Dr Clayden, Treasurer), any two of which have to authorise any individual spend.

Cowrie has relationships with each of the partner universities. Each relationship is subject to signed partnership agreements that are, as far as possible, standardised. The partnership agreement detail precisely the commitments made by each party to the agreement including funding (universities cover fees, while Cowrie funds living expenses - £8k pa for Cowrie Scholars outside London and £10K pa for Cowrie London scholars). No partnership agreement may be signed by the Chair without the agreement of a Cowrie Trustee and the Treasurer.

The mentor scheme is managed by a sub-group of 3 trustees and a third party paid for organisation With Insight, with support from other Trustees, where necessary and, critically, with full transparency to the board. All mentors have to have DBS clearance before they can take up their roles.

Section C Objectives and activities The objects of the CIO are to advance education and to relieve poverty for the public benefit by making grants and awards in particular, but not necessarily exclusively, to socio-economically disadvantaged British Summary of the objects of the students, with an ethnicity from African, Caribbean and mixed with one of charity set out in its these ethnicities, wishing to undertake a course of higher education, with governing document leading universities of the United Kingdom, which they would otherwise not be able to undertake.

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

In accordance with the aims and objectives of Cowrie, 14 undergraduate black, under-privileged (defined on economic terms using HMG metrics and confirmed by partner universities) started their first year of studies at Universities of Bath, Hull, King’s College London, Liverpool, Manchester, Summary of the main Newcastle (2 scholars), Queen Mary University London, Royal activities undertaken for the Conservatoire of Scotland, Surrey (2 scholars), York (2 scholars) and public benefit in relation to SOAS in Sept/October 2022. these objects (include within this section the statutory Partnership agreements were established with all 11 universities. declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance A mentorship programme for the new Cowrie Scholars was developed over issued by the Charity 2022 in partnership with established with a charity With Insight (CEO Commission on public Christine Kinnear) with the formal mentorship programme launched benefit) November 2022. It is anticipated in autumn 2023, a further 15 students will receive Cowrie funding to attend university. Expenditure on anything other than support for students, is below £3k.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

	In this year Cowrie has been supported fully by volunteer activity. No
	trustee has received any material benefit from participation in the work,
	and some trustees have, in addition to their labour, donated funds. The
	Foundation has a volunteer group of individual (Friends of Cowrie) that
	help fundraise for the Foundation, and in addition to their voluntary
	support, donated funds.
	There were no additional members recruited or, trustees who left the
	Trustee Board.
Youmay chooseto include further statements, where relevant, about:	All Cowrie Scholarship applications come through the participating partner university. Cowrie has no role in the decisions as to whether or not an applicant should be admitted to a specific course – that rests fully with the
•policy on grantmaking; •policy programme related investment;	universities. The Trustees have input on the final student selection process initiated and made by the partner universities, however, final decisions on scholarship allocation rest with the partner university.

• contribution made by Cowrie has no restrictions on the subjects studied by potential beneficiaries. volunteers.

Grants are made on the basis of applications received from students via the universities to which they have applied. The university screens the applications so that only those whose family finances fall below the HMG guidelines for poverty, namely under £25k are sent to Cowrie trustees for consideration.

Cowrie has no investments as the funds are all committed in relatively short time lines which would not suit an investment strategy.

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Section D Achievements and performance

14 Cowrie scholars were appointed and commenced autumn 2022, on full Summary of the main scholarships, at partner universities; namely Bath, Hull, King’s College achievements of the charity London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle (2 scholars), Queen Mary during the year University London, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Surrey (2 scholars), York (2 scholars) and SOAS universities. Funds were raised to enable 14 scholars to attend 11 partner universities on full scholarships with tuition fees covered by universities and living and maintenance costs by Cowrie. The Charity entered a partnership with The Black Heart Foundation, to enable funding for Cowrie Scholars to attend universities (York, Surrey and Newcastle). The Charity was selected by Wellcome as their charity for 2021 and as a consequence received significant fundraising support and funding as a result of activities undertaken by Wellcome staff in 2021. The Charity held a number of webinars with corporate partners to disseminate work in progress, proposed at the Charity and to help support DEI activities at the corporate partner institutions.

The Charity was a finalist at the National Diversity Awards 2021. The Charity was selected by Goldman Sachs as a community partner and as a result was awarded funds to help pay for a professionally managed mentorship programme.

Section E Financial review	Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves Details of any funds materially in deficit
	Cowrie ensures that it has the funds to cover existing commitments, but does not carry a reserve. Should donations reach a level where that becomes possible, the Cowrie board will need to consider a reserve policy.
	None

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

• the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);

• how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Donors to the Cowrie fund fall into the following categories: corporate and direct, individual and direct, through a funding platform (initially GO Fund Me, now Enthuse). All donors are given the option of applying Gift Aid to their donation and many donors avail of this opportunity.

In the examination period, Sept 2021 to Sept 2022, approximately 95% of the donated funds have gone into supporting the beneficiaries of Cowrie – under-privileged black British students. The main expenditure was contract admin support in summer 2022 totaling under £1300.

Cowrie has no investments.

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Section F Other optional information

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Dr T. Clayden Full name(s) Prof. R.O.C. Oreffo Position (eg Secretary, Chair Treasurer Chair, etc) Date 21[st] July 2023

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of On accounts for the year ended Set out on pages	The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation	The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation	The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation
	30/9/2022	Charity no (if any)	1191471
	10-11

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the period ended 30 / 09 / 2022 .

Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the basis of report 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 Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters statement have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

• accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or

• the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 21/07/2023 Signed: Name: Karon Cook Relevant professional FCA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 1 Therapia Road London SE22 0SF

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation	The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation	The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation	1191471	CC16 a
Receipts andpayments accounts
For the period from	01/10/2021	To	30/09/2022

Section A Receipts and payments

A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 199,240 5,633 - 204,873	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 199,240 5,633 - 204,873	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - -	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - -	Total funds to the nearest £ 199,240 5,633 - 204,873	Total funds to the nearest £ 199,240 5,633 - 204,873	Last year to the nearest £
Donations and Legacies	199,240								116,231
Gift Aid	5,633								-
Bank Interest	-								3
Sub total	204,873								116,234
A2 Asset and investment **sales, (see table). **
	-				-				-
Sub total Total receipts	-				-				-
	204,873				-		204,873		116,234
A3 Payments							100,000 3,328 420 1,440 179 484 300 2,400 35 6
Scholarship Grants	100,000		-		-		100,000		19,400
Mentorship	3,328						3,328
Fundraising expenses	420		-		-		420		23,59
Independent examination fee	1,440						1,440		-
Insurance	179		-		-		179		179
Website Costs	484						484		-
Subscriptions	300						300		-
Administrative Support	2,400						2,400		-
General expenses	35						35
Bank Fees	6		-		-		6		-
Sub total	108,592		-		-		108,592		21,938
A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)
	-				-				-
Sub total	-				-				-
Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end
	108,592						108,592		21,938
	96,281		-		-		96,281		94,296
	-		-		-		-		-
	94,296		-		-		94,296		-
	190,577		-		-		190,577		94,296

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The Cowrie Scholarship Foundation

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Endowme
funds funds nt funds
Categories Details
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds
Cash at bank
190,577
Total cash funds
190,577
(agree balances with receipts and
payments account(s)) OK OK OK
Unrestricted Restricted Endowme
funds funds nt funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
Details
B2 Other monetary assets - - -
Current
Fund to which Cost
value
asset belongs (optional)
Details (optional)
B3 Investment assets - -
Current
Fund to which Cost
value
asset belongs (optional)
Details (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
Fund to which Amount due When due
Details liability relates (optional) (optional)
B5 Liabilities Grant commitments unrestricted -
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees Signature Print Name approval [Date of ]
Prof. R.O.C. Oreffo 21/07/2023
Dr T. Clayden
21/07/2023
----- End of picture text -----

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