TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 2023
INTRODUCTION
Period covered: From 1[st] Jan to 31[st] Dec 2023
Charity name: International Companion Animal Management Coalition (ICAM) Charity registration number: 1192921
Charity address: 4 Westcroft, Comberton, Cambridge, CB23 7EJ, UK
ICAM is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Association. As an association, ICAM is governed by an ‘Association’ model constitution with voting members other than its charitable trustees. Our members are core to ICAM, representing our combined knowledge and expertise in companion animal population management and providing strategic direction to our organisation. We benefited from seven voting members in 2023 and two non-voting members.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The objects of ICAM are:
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The advancement of animal welfare through the promotion of humane methods of managing populations of companion animals, particularly but not exclusively dogs and cats, to the public and those with responsibility for the control of these populations, to prevent cruelty and suffering among animals for the public benefit.
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To advance education for the public benefit in the management of companion animal populations by providing research, information and guidance.
Our main activity in 2023 to address the promotion of humane methods of managing populations of companion animals has been exploring and documenting the contribution dog population management can make to human health (in particular, rabies control), urban development and human rights. By establishing the link between a positive dog-human relationship and these different areas of the Sustainable Development Goals, we aim to increase the political interest and investment in humane dog population management. Hence achieving
public benefit by preventing cruelty and suffering among unmanaged or cruelly managed companion animals.
Our main activities to advance education for the public benefit in the management of companion animal populations has been launching two online courses in dog population management and running our first virtual international conference. Both activities attracted global interest from a wide range of countries (our conference attracted registrations from 133 countries and learners on our courses are from 57 countries). Our online courses provide a curated and engaging journey through our guidance on dog population management, designed to suit implementers and policy makers. Our virtual conference provided a rare platform for the dissemination of learnings in dog and cat population management, we showcased the work of 7 of our 9 ICAM members in addition to presentations from 23 invited and selected presenters. We have also continued to support and disseminate our freely available street survey tool for dogs and cats: Talea. By making the measurement of roaming dog and cat populations more accessible, we have enabled evidence-based design, monitoring and evaluation of humane management interventions. Hence supporting organisations and governments to achieve more effective humane management of animal populations.
Our monitoring and evaluation guide was also translated into four additional languages in 2023 to increase global accessibility. Translations of the online courses will occur in 2024, once we have established the necessary amendments to achieve World Organisation for Animal Health labelling.
Public benefit statement: In setting ICAM’s objectives and planning activities, our trustees have shown due regard for, and given careful consideration to, the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance.
To achieve our charitable purposes, ICAM has established 6 strategic objectives. The following outlines our activities and achievements under each of these objectives in 2023:
| Strategic objective |
Activities and achievements in 2023 |
|---|---|
| 1. To establish ICAM as a robust and sustainable organisation that fulfils member expectations. |
Engaged our 9 members in 1 virtual conference, 3 virtual members meetings and one in-person with full member attendance. Utilised our ICAM website as our principal resource hub and outreach mode: 21K users in 2023 of which 44% were new users (vs 12K in 2022), 10K of the visitors came to our virtual conference page. There was a wide geographic spread with 118 (vs 97 in 2022) countries with at least 10 users (max 2,698 users in USA), top 10 countries - United States, UK, India, Taiwan, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Germany and Mexico. This is a large increase from 2022 and appears to have been mostly driven by our virtual conference. |
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Figure 1 - Website user locations in 2023
Continued to build and refine functions, policies, and procedures necessary
for a registered charity, including successful completion of our 2nd
independent financial review and submission of our 2nd annual report to
the Charity Commission.
2. Increase the Talea continues to be improved and performance maintained, keeping pace
use of street with changes in device operating systems and associated software. By the
surveys to end of 2023, Talea had attracted 464 signups (316 of which joined within
establish 2023), of which 50 projects, with associated users in 33 countries, have
change in key collected survey data. Over 2,500 surveys have been completed and saved
indicators in the Talea system, 1251 in 2023.
relating to
effective The Talea webinar in March 2022 on the use of Talea for surveying dogs
D/CPM, as and cats attracted 260 registrations from 63 different countries – this
outlined in 'Are webinar is available on our ICAM website and is recommended as an
we making a introduction to Talea for potential users – it attracted 251 users in 2023.
difference?'
3. Veterinary Activities under this objective have not progressed. A new WSAVA
capacity for committee was formed in 2021 called 'reproduction control' to write
competent reproduction control guidelines in collaboration with the 'animal wellness
neutering of and welfare' committee (Chaired by Nat Lee in 2023, ICAM member
dogs and cats representative), however the level of collaboration was not as close as
matches the expected. The guidelines are expected to be published in 2024 and will be
humane reviewed for relevance to the population management community.
population
management
needs
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| 4. WOAH standards are accurate and accessible to national governments, plus supported by tools that allow them to monitor their progress towards compliance at national and local level |
WOAH chapter 7.7 adopted by their members in May 2022 providing a humane and evidence-based standard for DPM with strong overlap with ICAM DPM guide. News of chapter adoption was disseminated at the time through ICAM email distribution list and social media and continues to be referenced in our communications and the international standard to follow, in parallel with ICAM DPM guidelines and courses that provide more detail on actual implementation. When developing our DPM course, we ensured consistency with this standard and, where appropriate, referenced and quoted the WOAH text in our course content. |
|---|---|
| 5. Importance of cat and dog population management is recognised within global priorities / Mainstreaming cat and dog population management within global framework (SDGs) |
Urban development and DPM - Advocacy plan for 2023 and 2024 developed, plus longer-range strategy and narratives developed with ICAM members. 2 research groups identified to fill evidence gaps; social cost benefit of DPM and harmful effects of witnessing violence towards animals. Outputs expected in 2024. Advocacy toolkit drafted. Positive engagement with UAR providing a consistent and objective voice for dog welfare and population management, outputs include: - Supported WHO in the development of a special module ‘Dog Population Management’ as part of their Rabies and One Health online course. - EH invited speaker on UAR podcast on dog vaccination and population management in rabies control. - EH provided co-lead for workstream on dog vaccination and input to 2nd workstream on human-animal bond. Publication of a (free download) book chapter on contribution of DPM to rabies control - co-authored by EH, PKC, Katie Hampson (University of Glasgow) and Eric Brum (FAO). |
| 6. ICAM and ICAM member tools are recognised and utilised to improve cat and dog population management practice globally |
Conducted our first virtual (4th in the series, previous 3 had been in- person) international conference on dog and cat population management over 5 days in June 2023, with 1798 registrations from 133 countries and presentations from 7 of our 9 ICAM members in addition to presentations from 23 invited and selected presenters. All for £2.3K, thanks to Zoom support from ICatCare. 2 DPM courses launched in English on Talent LMS (https://icam.talentlms.com/) in June 2023: Implementing DPM and DPM for policy makers. These courses have attracted 169 learners from 57 countries in the last 6 months of 2023. Negotiations with WOAH on labelling our courses continues, this has delayed translation of course content. ICAM DPM guidelines and M&E guidelines now translated and available on ICAM website in 8 languages. |
FINANCIAL REVIEW
ICAM’s principal source of funding is its membership, either through the payment of annual membership fees (currently set at 8,000 GBP) or through grants (currently 2 grants provided by one of the members).
Progress on our advocacy strategic objective improved in 2023 as compared to 2022 with recruitment of a consultant, however this consultant left after 6 months, resulting in continued underspend in one of our restricted grants. Our financial position of 166,057 GBP at the end of 2023 reflects this underspend, and the underspend of the same grant in 2021 and 2022; 116,584 GBP is restricted funding from these 2 grants, of which 114,277 GBP is underspend of the advocacy grant. However, these activities have been postponed and not cancelled, and underspends are expected to be rectified by increased activity in 2024; as indicated by our 2024 budget which exceeds our expected 2024 income and will hence utilise some of our 2021-2023 underspend.
Our reserve policy is to maintain an Operating Reserve fund equal to 3 months of average operating costs; in 2023 this equated to 26,921 GBP (an increase from previous years due to 2023 expenditure on advocacy consultant for 6 months).
We also have the ambition to build an Opportunity Reserve fund intended to meet special targets of opportunity or needs that further the mission of the organization which may or may not have specific expectation of incremental or long-term increased income. The Opportunity Reserve is also intended as a source of internal funds for organizational capacity building such as staff development, research and development, or investment in infrastructure that will build long-term capacity. This fund is considered secondary to the Operating reserve fund which will be invested to the minimum target as a priority. We will be assessing contribution towards this Opportunity Reserve at end 2024, when the extent of underspend rectification can be measured.
OUR TRUSTEES
Our first trustees are long-term representatives of ICAM member organisations and know our organisations very well from its pre-charity registration days. They volunteered to govern ICAM into its next stage of charity registration and subsequent development into a robust and sustainable organisation. The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Full name Signature Date Pankaj KC (Chairperson) 3 May 2024 Kate Nattrass Atema 18 April 2024 Alexandra Hammond18 April 2024 Seaman Paul Marvell 18 April 2024
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Charity Name No (if any)
The International Companion Animal Management 1192921
Coalition
CC16a
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period Period start date Period end date
To
from 01/01/2023 31/12/2023
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Total funds Last year
funds funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Membership fees 56,000 - - 56,000 52,680
Grant income - 65,193 - 65,193 65,193
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for AR) [ 56,000 ] 65,193 - 121,193 117,873
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 56,000 65,193 - 121,193 117,873
A3 Payments
Charitable expenditure 164 - - 164 60
Management and administration 48,358 59,162 - 107,520 75,246
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total [ 48,522 ] 59,162 - 107,684 75,306
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total [ - ] - - - -
Total payments 48,522 59,162 - 107,684 75,306
Net of receipts/(payments) 7,478 6,031 - 13,509 42,567
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 41,995 110,553 - 152,548 109,981
Cash funds this year end 49,473 116,584 - 166,057 152,548
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| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees Signature B5 Liabilities Details Details B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use Details B3 Investment assets Details B2 Other monetary assets B1 Cash funds Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 49,473 116,584 - - - - 49,473 116,584 OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Paul Marvell Aleksandra Hammond Seaman |
Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - |
| - | ||
| OK | ||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - When due (optional) Date of approval 18 April 2024 18 April 2024 |
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of The International Companion Animal Management Coalition
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of The International Companion Animal Management Coalition for the year ended 31[st] December 2023.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust 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 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 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:
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Accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by section 130 if the Act; or
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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:
Kieren Donnelly ACA
Of: 33A Newleaze, Trowbridge, Wiltshire, BA14 7SD
Dated: 7[th] May 2024