Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
From: 06/04/21 (Period start date) To: 05/04/22 (Period end date)
Charity name: Multitrack
Charity registration number: 1191498
Objectives and Activities
| SORP reference | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document |
Para 1.17 | The promotion of equality and diversity and the promotion of social inclusion amongst those who are socially excluded due to being members of a socially and economically deprived community, in audio, radio, podcasting and associated audio production by: A) the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of race or disability, B) advancing education and raising awareness in equality and diversity; C) promoting activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds; and D) cultivating a sentiment in favour of equality and diversity. |
| 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 if |
Our main activity is running the Multitrack Fellowship, a scheme for aspiring audio producers from groups that are under- represented in the audio industry. The core of the fellowship takes place over a 10 week period and includes: ●Two months paid work placements with audio production companies or platforms (usually a month each at two companies) ●Practical training sessions which fellows attend together as a group, taught by industry experts (one day a week for ten weeks) ●Networking opportunities ●A chance to compete for a paid commission for a national platform, after the completion of the fellowship. |
| The Fellowship impacts many people beyond the Fellows themselves. We work closely with the host companies to ensure they follow our Multitrack code of practice, and provide opportunities for them to share ideas and seek advice on how to improve their workplaces. Individual staff members and other industry professionals are invited to join our team of volunteers, which helps facilitate the initiative and spread the Multitrack ethos. In addition to the Fellowship we organise regular events open to all, where people from all levels, including industry leaders and aspiring newcomers can discuss their experiences, and increase understanding of the barriers to entering and thriving in the profession. We maintain an active website and social media presence, where we regularly share job offers, training and networking opportunities and aim to make the industry more accessible. And we have appeared at industry events and on discussion platforms to advocate for greater inclusion in the industry. We also host an active WhatsApp group for alumni of the Fellowship to share work and training opportunities, advice and support. Our work to create a fairer and more inclusive industry benefits everyone at all levels of the workforce. And the general public benefits from a more diverse pool of producers, making content for a wider audience. |
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| Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit |
Para 1.18 | All our Trustees receive a guidance pack, that includes a document on public benefit, which can be read here. |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
SORP reference
| SORP reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contribution made by volunteers |
Para 1.38 | Multitrack could not function without its volunteers. In addition to the unpaid management team (more details below), we also have a pool of volunteers from within the audio industry. These are some of the ways in which they contribute to Multitrack: |
Shortlisting for the Fellowship : volunteers from the host companies and wider industry help assess applications against a strict criteria Training : a team of volunteers design the curriculum and learning outcomes, liaise with host companies on training design and delivery, and act as training coordinators on the training days Outreach : making sure the Fellowship is publicised in the right places for our target audience, across the country. Making links with community groups who can spread the word to potential beneficiaries, and with companies who can provide placements or training. Ambassadors : volunteers across the country who act as Multitrack representatives in their region. Fundraising : spotting opportunities and helping with applications Events : helping plan, organise and run specific events Social media : designing flyers, helping to manage our Twitter and Instagram feeds 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 | This reporting period fell between two Fellowships, so attention was focussed on some of our other core activities, as well as preparation for the 2022 Fellowship. New Website In January 2022 we launched our new website, Multitrack.uk. We worked with a website designer and web developer to design a platform to better promote and grow Multitrack’s work, building on our existing branding. We now have an online hub where we can promote the Fellowship, showcase our Fellows, and recruit volunteers. But more crucially, the website allows us to better serve a wider group of beneficiaries, by sharing information about opportunities, resources and events with both aspiring audio producers and production companies keen to learn more about diversity and inclusion. This is a key part of our strategy, which we intend to build on further. Research One of our goals is to conduct some original research into the state of the audio industry, to better understand the specific challenges faced by people from a variety of backgrounds and experiences to meet our charitable aim of advancing education and raising awareness in equality and diversity. In July 2021 we took our first steps by conducting some initial scoping work, employing a former Multitrack Fellow to research all available data on this topic from a variety of sources including OFCOM, other charities, etc. This will allow us to focus our research on the areas where there is least information. Organisational Structure In January 2022 we created a new paid Secretary role (half a day a week) to support the charity with administration, volunteer coordination, the creation of key policies, etc. This has greatly increased our capacity to meet our charitable aims, and grow our offering to our beneficiaries. The role has also helped alleviate pressure from the volunteer steering team, which requires a large time commitment from members. We recruited two new members to our steering team, both of whom have become integral to the ongoing success of Multitrack. And we recruited our first Treasurer to the Board of Trustees. |
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Throughout the year, we also made a number of incremental changes to the way we work, to improve our effectiveness as a charity and to better support our volunteers. This included introducing a rota for Chairing our steering meetings, a rota for checking and triaging our email inbox, and new volunteer policies and onboarding processes. We continued to work with Equalities, Diversity & Inclusion specialist, Yassine Senghor, who supports us in our thinking about Multitrack’s aims and strategy, and also runs check ins with our steering team, to help us nurture our team dynamic, and ensure we’re being thoughtful and intentional in how we work together and relate to each other as colleagues. The cumulative effect of evolving these ways of working is essential to the successful running of the charity, and its potential for longevity and impact on our beneficiaries over time. Regional Ambassadors This year for the first time we established a group of ‘regional ambassadors’, representing regions of the UK outside of London, including the south west and north east of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These ambassadors worked with us to help us better understand the audio industry nationally, identify potential Fellowship host companies outside of London, and conduct outreach work to support recruitment of Fellows from all over the country. Events In March 2022, we hosted an audio community event at Somerset House in Central London, which marked the launch of applications for the 2022 Fellowship. It was the second event of its kind we’ve organised - an ‘open space’, where members of our audio community were invited to put forward discussion questions under the theme: ‘How can we make our audio community better?’ Attendees were invited to be part of small discussion groups addressing 10 different questions posed around that theme, including topics like disability, inclusion and diversity, audio drama, payment for work, and more.
As well as bringing people together from every level of the industry (from aspiring new producers to commissioners at major - platforms) for thought provoking discussions,
| the event also included drinks and |
|---|
| networking. It was very well received by |
| attendees, who appreciated the value of |
| getting together in person with industry |
| peers, especially post-COVID. Many senior |
| figures commented on the positive and |
| progressive nature of the conversations, and |
| one BBC commissioner described Multitrack |
| as “a vehicle for conversations.” |
| HearSay Audio Festival. |
| In May 2021, Multitrack alumni were invited |
| to host a showcase of their work at this |
| international festival held in Ireland (remotely |
| this year because of COVID). The event was |
| curated and hosted by the Fellows |
| themselves, and attended by audio |
| producers from all over the world, giving the |
| Fellows a platform to share their creativity |
| and build their networks and reputations |
| within the industry. It also presented an |
| opportunity to share and raise awareness of |
| Multitrack’s vision and values for the audio |
| industry with colleagues internationally. |
| Audio Production Award |
| In November 2021, we were awarded a |
| Bronze Award in the Grassroots category at |
| the Audio Production Awards. Our entry |
| comprised extracts from professional work |
| completed by Fellows in the previous year, |
| and our success demonstrated the creative |
| value of a more diverse workforce, |
| highlighting the importance of Multitrack’s |
| work. |
| Alumni Success |
| Three years in from our inception, we are |
| more able to assess the effectiveness of The |
| Fellowship in terms of the career |
| development of alumni. Here are some |
| highlights: |
| - From the 2019 fellowship, 4 of the 5 |
| alumni have regular work in the audio |
| industry, in a mix of staff jobs and |
| freelance roles |
| - From the 2021 fellowship, we know |
| that at least 8 of the 10 alumni have |
| regular work in the audio industry,- |
| including roles in commissioning at |
| the BBC and independent production |
| companies such as Whistledown |
| (which has been a host company in |
| all years of the Fellowship so far) |
| - One of our alumni from the 2021 |
| cohort was nominated for a Best |
| Newcomer award at the Audio |
| Production Awards-a major UK |
| audio awards platform, organised by | audio awards platform, organised by |
|---|---|
| the industry body AudioUK | |
| - In March 2022 BBC Radio 3 |
|
| broadcast 3 x 15 minute creative | |
| feature documentaries produced by | |
| alumni and commissioned as part of | |
| the Multitrack Fellowship. The series, | |
| entitled “Multitudes” was comprised | |
| of Unread by Calum Perrin, Sounds | |
| from an Armenian Childhood by | |
| Olivia Melkonian and Peace | at Last |
| by Meera Kumar | |
| By the end of this reporting period, | |
| applications were open for the 2022 | |
| fellowship - planned to run from Sept-Nov | |
| 2022. We had received expressions of | |
| interest from 18 host companies, and were | |
| working to expand our reach into more cities | |
| than ever before. |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
Achievements against objectives set |
Para 1.41 |
We maintain a living strategy document, which outlines a number of aims for the coming year, the strategy we’ve created to meet each aim, and a breakdown of actions to execute the strategies. There is a timeline associated with each stage of the strategy, which we review and update through the year. The following are some key highlights from our Aims and associated strategies in the year 2021-2022. We have provided some information on our progress against each below. AIM: Expand Multitrack's Reach (to be accessible AND inclusive to more beneficiaries from under-represented backgrounds all around the UK) - We exceeded our aim of creating five Fellowship places outside London, and by the end of March 2022, had secured host companies in Manchester, Salford, Edinburgh and Bristol. We had set a further aim to widen participation to those from rural areas, by funding their travel to nearby cities, but have yet to meet that aim. - We also strengthened our Inclusion requirements for host companies by tightening up our Company Code, and increasing the level of engagement host companies must |
|---|---|---|
| make with it. We demonstrated our | |
|---|---|
| commitment to the code through | |
| enforcement action around non- | |
| compliance. Actions in support of this | |
| objective are on-going, as working | |
| with host companies on inclusion is | |
| one of the core activities Multitrack | |
| undertakes around the Fellowship | |
| - | We were keen to improve provision |
| for people with disabilities and | |
| actively encouraged Fellowship | |
| applications from disabled audio | |
| producers. We made connections | |
| with several disability consultants | |
| and industry groups, as we work | |
| towards building our knowledge and | |
| capability on this. This work is still | |
| ongoing. The creation of our new | |
| website was an important aim that | |
| we achieved this year. There is still | |
| more work to be done on creating | |
| content for it, and keeping it updated. | |
| While our marketing and social | |
| media has continued thanks to the | |
| dedication of our volunteers and | |
| steering team members, we haven’t | |
| yet been able to develop a true | |
| strategy for marketing and social | |
| media. We’ve identified this is an | |
| area where we need additional | |
| expertise, and there will be more to | |
| follow on this in future annual reports | |
| AIM: Be Sustainable as a charity. Multitrack | |
| relies | heavily on the work of volunteers, and |
| at times can be a big commitment. We need | |
| to be | resilient as an organisation to ensure |
| our longevity. To this end, we achieved the | |
| following aspects of our strategy: | |
| - | Expand the steering team - we added |
| two new people to our steering team | |
| this year (the team which meets | |
| every 1-2 weeks to manage to day to | |
| day running of the charity) | |
| - | Develop the Trustee Board - we |
| recruited a treasurer, and created an | |
| onboarding process and Trustee | |
| pack for all new Board members. | |
| Work to develop the Trustee Board | |
| and how it interacts with the steering | |
| team and day to day running of the | |
| charity is still on-going, as we believe | |
| there is more we can do to make the | |
| most of our Board, and evolve it over | |
| time | |
| - | Get clear on our Financial / Legal |
| responsibilities / oversight - we | |
| appointed a Treasurer to the Board | |
| of Trustees and conducted an | |
| internal audit of our processes, |
| updating our policies and making sure we are compliant with charity legislation. We have created a risk assessment which requires further action |
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|---|---|---|
| Performance of fundraising activities against objectives set |
Para 1.41 | Our fundraising objectives during this period were to be able to support the following: - to be sustainable as a charity - to allow more Fellows from outside London to participate - to launch a new website - to improve our administration We achieved these aims and ended the financial year with bigger reserves than we started with. Our main donor was Audible, who donated fifteen thousand pounds to help build the website, fund IT running costs and allow us to hire an administrator. This has had a huge impact in enabling us to build stronger working policies, and have the capacity to expand outside London. In addition, we increased the administration fee charged to host companies, which has allowed us to widen participation in the Fellowship. This bore fruit in the financial year 22-23, so more details will follow in our next report. |
| Other |
Financial Review
| Review of the charity’s financial position at the end of the period |
Para 1.21 | The charity was in good shape financially. As a small organisation we don’t want to raise more funds than we have the capacity to put to good use. We had just received our first sizeable donation, and were clear about how we were going to spend it. |
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| Statement explaining the policy for holding reserves stating why they are held |
Para 1.22 | At the end of this financial period we had received our donation from Audible, but not yet spent the majority of it. The website had been built but still not fully been paid for. Our administrator had been hired fairly recently, and much of the Audible donation would fund her salary. |
We had just launched the 2022 Fellowship, and secured placements with host companies around the country, but not yet recruited the Fellows. The core running costs were yet to come. Amount of reserves held Para 1.22 £13096 Reasons for holding zero Para 1.22 reserves Details of fund materially in Para 1.24 deficit Explanation of any Para 1.23 uncertainties about the charity continuing as a going concern
| Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements |
Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements |
where relevant about: |
|---|---|---|
| The charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising) |
Para 1.47 | The Fellowship is supported by an administration fee charged to all Host Companies (who offer work placements to fellows) And during this period we raised £15k from a key supporter, Audible. |
Structure, Governance and Management
| Description of charity’s trusts: |
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|---|---|---|
| Type of governing document (trust deed, royal charter) |
Para 1.25 | Foundation model constitution |
| 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 | Apart from the first charity trustees, every trustee must be appointed for a term of 2 years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the charity trustees. In selecting individuals for appointment as charity trustees, the charity trustees must have regard to the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the effective administration of the CIO. |
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name | Multitrack |
|---|---|
| Other name the charity uses | |
| Registered charity number | 1191498 |
| Charity’s principal address | 100 Sutton Road, London, N10 1HG |
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Nam e of pers on (or body ) entitl ed to appo int trust ee (if any) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisa Hack | ||||
| Nicole Logan | ||||
| Arlie Adlington | ||||
| JobyWaldman | From 12 Feb 2021 | |||
| Leanne Alie | From 23 March 2021 | |||
| Deborah Dudgeon | From 14 Jan 2021 | |||
| AmyTurton | From 15 Jan 2021 | |||
| 8 |
Other optional information
Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Full name(s) Deborah Dudgeon Position (eg Trustee Secretary, Chair, etc) Date 22/01/23
| Charity Name |
Charity Name |
Charity Name |
No (if any) | |
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| For the period from |
Period start date 6-Apr-21 |
To | Period end date 5-Apr-22 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | ||||
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| A1 Receipts - Audible UK donation 15,000 Ann Charles donation 250 Audio UK forproduction awards 250 - - - - 15,500 - - Sub total - Total receipts 15,500 A3 Payments bank charges 96 IT and website charges 1,715 Fellows Coordinator 1,900 Administrator 525 consultants 800 launchpartymerchandise(via RL) 152 - - - Sub total 5,188 - - Sub total - Total payments 5,188 Net of receipts/(payments) 10,312 A5 Transfers between funds - A6 Cash funds last year end 2,784 Cash funds this year end 13,096 Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ Sub total(Gross income for AR) A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Restricted funds |
to the nearest £ Endowment funds |
Total funds to the nearest £ - 15,000 250 250 - - - - 15,500 - - - 15,500 96 1,715 1,900 525 800 152 - - - 5,188 - - - 5,188 10,312 - 2,784 13,096 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
| - - - - - - - - - |
- | - | ||
| 15,000 | - | |||
| 250 | - | |||
| 250 | - | |||
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| 15,500 | 7,000 | |||
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- | |||
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| - | 15,500 | 7,000 | ||
| - - - - - - - - - - |
96 | - | ||
| 1,715 | - | |||
| 1,900 | - | |||
| 525 | - | |||
| 800 | - | |||
| 152 | - | |||
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| - | - | |||
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| 5,188 | 4,216 | |||
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- | |||
| - | ||||
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| - | 5,188 | 4,216 | ||
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10,312 | 2,784 | |
| - | - | - | ||
| - | 2,784 | - | ||
| - | 13,096 | 2,784 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B3 Investment assets B5 Liabilities B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Details CAF bank account balance year end Details Details Details Details Signature Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) |
to nearest £ to nearest £ 13,096 - - - - - 13,096 - OK OK to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Print Name Deborah Dudgeon Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) Lisa Hack |
to nearest £ Endowment funds |
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| to nearest £ Endowment funds |
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| Date of approval |
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| Deborah Dudgeon | 22/12/22 | ||
| Lisa Hack | 20/12/22 |