## **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.|
|---|---|---|
|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.|
|---|---|---|---|
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|
|---|---|---|
|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.|
|---|---|---|
|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:|||
|---|---|---|
|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)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|Period start date
6-Apr-21|**To**|Period end date
5-Apr-22|
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**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**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**15,500**|**7,000**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**|**15,500**|**7,000**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**96**|**-**|
||||**1,715**|**-**|
||||**1,900**|**-**|
||||**525**|**-**|
||||**800**|**-**|
||||**152**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**5,188**|**4,216**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**|**5,188**|**4,216**|
||||||
||**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**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**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||Deborah Dudgeon|22/12/22|
|||Lisa Hack|20/12/22|