OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2023-03-31-accounts

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1193519

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Contents of the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023

Page
Reference and Administrative Details 1
Trustees' Report 2 to 12
Independent Examiner's Report 13
Statement of Financial Activities 14
Balance Sheet 15
Notes to the Financial Statements 16 to 21

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Reference and Administrative Details for the year ended 31 March 2023

Trustees

Miss L Elliott Ms M Neilson Ms S Watson-Brown

Principal address

1 Poole Road Hackney London E9 7AE

Registered charity number

1193519

Independent examiner

Cooper Parry Advisory Limited New Derwent House 69-73 Theobalds Road London WC1X 8TA

Page 1

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of Diverse Voices Edutainment (''the charity''), (''Diverse Voices'') for the year ended 31 March 2023. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

Objectives and activities

Our overall purpose

Diverse Voices is a performing arts in education charity working with vulnerable young people in under-resourced areas using original productions, drama-based activities and workshops in the arts.

The charity's ethos is to deliver our work at little or no cost to beneficiaries in the most deprived areas of London, ensuring they have equitable access to arts-based learning opportunities.

We have delivered Theatre in Education for over 12 years, working with over 100 schools and 25 alternative provisions in deprived London boroughs and engaging with over 37,000 young people aged 5-18.

Objectives as set out in our governing document

To act as a resource for young people up to the age of 18 living in the UK by providing advice and assistance, and organising programmes of physical, educational and other activities as a means of:

Significant activities - A brief look at our Year In Review

This year has been about building towards the future, after the significant impact Covid has had on us in previous years. Having existed for over 10 years as a CIC we're now in our second year as a CIO and this year we focused on expanding the core team in order to extend our reach and our capacity.

We rebuilt in many ways this year. Firstly, we secured funding from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation that allowed us to begin work with 5 Hackney primary schools for 3 years, helping prepare their Year 6s for secondary school whilst looking at healthy relationships and online safety. This funding allowed us to hire an Operations Manager to assist with office-based administrative work and logistical support for the PHF project over the next couple of years.

Another way in which we rebuilt this year was to re-establish a connection with Islington & Camden Councils who re-commissioned us to deliver E-learning to their secondary schools and our blended approach within their primary schools. We also received funding from Waltham Forest Council to deliver preventative harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) programmes to their schools through an allocation from their Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) funding.

We continued to work with Belmont Park School and New Rush Hall School in year-long capacities to deliver Music and Performing Arts BTEC accreditations, as well as Key Stage 2, 3 and 4 performing arts education.

This year we also rebuilt by expanding our marketing reach in order to try and build awareness in more schools and areas across the UK, to be able to reach more beneficiaries, and so we attended the Education People Show in Kent in November 2022.

Our beneficiaries are at the forefront of what drives our direction. Before developing new projects we conduct thorough research with our target groups, so we can incorporate young people's views on our intended topic areas and continually adapt to reflect shifting patterns amongst the youth. We worked in great depth with Impact InFocus again this year to evaluate our work with Paul Hamlyn Foundation and we look forward to presenting our reports at the end of this project.

Page 2

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

This year, we have continued to successfully implement blended learning courses in Personal, Social, Health, and Economic (PSHE) education and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). Through drama-based activities, workshops, and e-learning resources, we have addressed important subjects that directly impact young people, equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and resilience to navigate challenging situations and make positive choices. Our PSHE and RSE blended learning courses have been well-received by schools and educational settings, providing valuable resources for teachers to facilitate meaningful discussions and promote healthy behaviours among young people.

This year we heavily utilised the online educational resources we built last year, and used them in a blended format in schools with our facilitators delivering the content, and we also shared them with schools who wanted to use them in their lessons. These courses have allowed us to reach a wider audience, including young people who may not have had previous exposure to our in-person programmes.

We have also conducted engaging and interactive dropdown days at schools, focusing on important topics such as healthy relationships, online safety, consent, the dangers/laws around image sharing and much more. These sessions have been well-received by both students and educators, providing a safe space for open and honest discussions about sensitive subjects.

Overall, it has been an incredibly successful year for Diverse Voices as we continue to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. Through our diverse range of programmes we have been able to provide valuable educational resources, build resilience, and empower young people to make informed choices. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve our communities and look forward to another year of growth and success in fulfilling our mission of using performing arts in education to inspire and educate young people.

We have outlined below the activities undertaken, and objectives met can be found in 'Achievements and performance'.

Main activities undertaken in relation to our purposes

Our mission includes addressing relevant, topical issues prioritised within schools. We have undertaken this work throughout the year with a number of different activities:

Page 3

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Why we undertake these activities for the public benefit

We strive to provide opportunities within the organisation wherever possible for young people seeking employment pathways in the arts and the charity sector, prioritising those with lived experience of the issues we're tackling. We recruit young people as cast, extras and supporting crew on the productions of our educational films, as well as providing work experience for under 16s and work placements for those in further/higher education. We also recruit youth volunteers during our out-of-term projects, providing young people with opportunities to shadow and learn from professional practitioners working in fields aligned with their interests.

Our main beneficiaries who we try to help are described below, and all activities undertaken are discussed under the previous subheading. All our charitable activities focus on supporting vulnerable children and young people through arts-based activities and programmes which we have developed and honed, and are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit.

The young people we work with

The demographic of people disproportionately affected by Covid-19 are households where children are more at risk of being vulnerable - this year we have targeted the most vulnerable young people in each borough's alternative provisions, as our experience has proven that arts-based learning is a highly effective way of teaching in these environments.

To make matters worse, Covid's effects were also felt within school as well as at home. After having missed so much time from school during the pandemic, teachers felt their students had been negatively impacted by their lack of social interaction. Students also had to catch up on work which has also impacted their ability to progress.

To identify the young people we would work with this year, we conducted borough research and created a comparison table compiled from Ofsted reports showing the heritage of pupils, proportion of disadvantage and SEN, to compare to the schools we would work with. This table illustrated that 43.5% of children in the primary schools we're working with are eligible for free school meals, where the national average is 23%. It also illustrated that 61.9% of children in the schools we are working with do not speak English as their first language at home.

For young people whose first language is not English, arts-based learning addresses language and cultural barriers as it isn't dependent on literacy skills. By using visual arts and audio-described reading materials alongside face-to-face discussions and experiential learning, the level of literacy of participants has little impact on their ability to absorb content.

For young people of minority ethnic heritage whose communities have been disproportionately affected by Covid, health inequality issues and cultural barriers to learning in lockdown have multiplied. Our projects combat negative impacts of lack of interaction and time in school, using our drama-based workshops to positively affect social and communication skills, which will minimise the risk of the issues we're exploring with this content impacting them in the future.

For young people with Special Educational Needs, arts-based experiences offer a creative outlet for expression which enhances learning. It is known to build self-confidence providing those with communication difficulties or emotional, behavioural and social difficulties a chance to participate on a level with peers that is harder to achieve in more formal teaching settings.

Alternative Provisions support some of the most vulnerable young people, who benefit highly from alternative methods of education and creative approaches to learning as they've been excluded from mainstream education. We worked extensively with alternative provisions this year, and many years previous, and have seen first hand how these students excel in arts-based learning compared to more formal methods of teaching.

By prioritising schools in disadvantaged areas, often with high populations of ethnic minorities, we ensure young people who are in most need have access to high quality learning experiences during the time in their lives they need it the most.

Page 4

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Areas we work in

We have chosen to work in disadvantaged communities, especially with a focus on where the Covid-19 pandemic hit hardest. The context of the impact Covid-19 has had on disadvantaged communities cannot be stressed enough:

The areas we are working in are areas of high deprivation (as per IMD 2019 and IDACI) with Hackney and Islington in the 10% most deprived areas of the UK. The schools have significant ethnic minority communities and children from low income families.

The alternative learning provisions include children (2/3 boys) who are excluded from mainstream education - many coming from homes in which substance abuse, mental health issues and familial breakdown are commonplace.

Adults we work with

We work with teachers, who through our research have been identified as lacking CPD support in the areas we work in, PSHE and RSE. Findings from our previous funded project 2019-2020 showed the majority of teachers had received little or no specific training to deliver PSHE.

We equip teachers with resources and knowledge to support difficult discussions on sensitive topics with vulnerable young people. Our work also promotes creative learning within teaching practices. We support teaching staff in providing snapshots of their students to tackle specific issues, raise concerns at local authority level and lobby for further support and training as required.

As well as working with teachers, we also employ over 50 different freelance facilitators to deliver learning, developing their skills and training. Training has become even more important as we ensure our facilitators are confident and competent with the new blended approach to delivery. The dialogue with them has been crucial in shaping the structure of the delivery as we continue to refine both the face to face workshops and the online resource.

Recruitment of project facilitators has and will continue to be promoted locally in the boroughs we're working in, giving locally based practitioners the opportunity to feed in their own experiences of the local area. Priority has been and will continue to be given to those with a shared experience of the issues within our projects.

Educational settings we work in

Following our initial research consulting schools, we found that 100% of the schools consulted identified that Covid-19's aftermath is still negatively impacting their students. Some of the areas highlighted included decline of social skills, increased online usage causing safeguarding issues, increased anxiety, more disruptive behaviour, dealing with bereavements, increased gap in learning, financial difficulties, decline in wellbeing and mental/emotional health.

Page 5

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Amongst the most pressing needs identified, most commonly mentioned by teachers were students preparation for secondary school, oracy skills, communication and interaction with their peers, unhealthy relationships, peer pressure, inappropriate use of social media.

100% of schools consulted highlighted that RSE and PSHE is currently of the highest importance and relevance to their students. 85% of schools consulted said there had been direct incidents amongst their pupils which highlighted this level of importance.

Furthermore, our consultations with Alternative Provisions we work with have highlighted they dedicate very little time to the PSHE curriculum, despite it covering areas their students are at a significantly higher risk of being affected by.

We aim to impact school culture by creating a positive environment that engages students in discourse around sensitive topics. Our long term goal is that the work of Diverse Voices around arts-based learning practices and techniques is recognised by local authorities and national bodies as a highly effective solution for PSHE, RSE, and other curriculum points in schools.

Safeguarding and protection of vulnerable young people

Our work requires utmost attention to safeguarding vulnerable children, young people and adults, and we take this responsibility very seriously. We have a safeguarding and digital safeguarding policy for vulnerable children and adults, which we have formally reviewed in March 2022, and our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) regularly reviews these policies internally every quarter.

We also discussed our safeguarding policy at Board level. Our DSL is Managing Director Alex Williams. Alex is trained as a safeguarding trainer by City of Hackney Safeguarding Board and has trained, and will continue to train, all facilitators, partners, and contractors to ensure our projects address the needs and support requirements of vulnerable children, young people and adults.

We have always and will always ensure that every partner, contractor and freelance employee involved in our work has had appropriate levels of safeguarding awareness and training. Where we engage external contractors, we request DBS and/or safeguarding certification.

Public benefit

The Trustees have complied with their duty under the Charities Act 2011 and have paid due regard to public benefit when preparing this report.

Achievement and performance

Significant charitable activities undertaken Arts-based education

We use arts-based activities in our teaching to help embed learning outcomes. We incorporate experiential learning for students; through hot-seating characters, devising scenes and role-playing scenarios based on themes raised. We use drama to develop transferable skills that will be beneficial in the situations explored, in particular confidence and communication. For example, we use:

The medium of drama and the creation of characters allows students to explore decisions they may face without judgement. The exploration of real-life scenarios through made-up characters allows students to learn how their decisions impact and affect those around them without them feeling restricted. Using improvisation to roleplay relevant scenarios of concern to students and teachers directly applies the interpersonal skills gained through experiential learning.

Page 6

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Workshops

We deliver workshops that are curated specifically to suit the needs of the students in the educational setting we are working with. This year, we've had the pleasure of delivering workshops within drama, music, street dance and more.

For example, we worked with students from Belmont Park School in the London Borough of Waltham Forest to deliver Music Workshops, designed to deliver creative and transferable skills to young people involved.

Occasionally our expertise is requested for workshops to address challenging behaviour. This year we worked with Councils within their VAWG allocation to address challenging behaviour between genders to combat violence against women and girls. We used drama-based workshops to teach transferable skills and also reflect on real-life situations that were affecting the young people involved.

Lastly, an example of workshops we delivered within dance includes our work with Brimsdown Primary School, where we delivered street dance workshops providing the opportunity to experience different art forms to under-resourced young people.

BTEC Award

An example of our work to help advance the education and employment chances of vulnerable young people is where we helped students within a SEMH school in Waltham Forest work towards achieving a BTEC Award in either Music or Performing Arts, spending over 3 contact hours per week to help them gain their accreditations. Without previous award opportunities, our support assists them in leaving education with furthered employment changes.

For the BTEC accreditation in Music these hours included music listening and appreciation exercises, to understand the difference between genres and styles. We also covered how to create music within different genres, and creating remixes from the original genre to a genre of students' choosing using a DAW (digital audio workstation).

We also explored the personal skills needed to succeed in the music industry, and collaborated on creating a plan for improvement of personal skills including time keeping and management, teamwork, practice logs and much more. Finally, we looked at using all skills learned to prepare live performances and create original music.

For the BTEC accreditation in Performing Arts, we focused primarily on drama, film and TV, whilst also exploring other creative media such as music, dance, and creative pieces of work that are a synergy of multiple art forms.

Students study different skills and art forms within these media, looking at existing work created by practitioners, identifying elements that contribute towards these creations, and demonstrating the skills learnt through practical application in workshops and devising.

After-school and Summer activities

This year we also delivered multiple after-school and summer activities. An example of our after-school work is our delivery to Learning Hive. Our freelance practitioners delivered creative workshops, giving students an opportunity to experience various art forms and physical activities including drama and street dance.

Our new E-Learning platform and blended learning

We facilitate delivery of the online resource combining it with drama-based activities, and continue the arts-based learning in follow-up workshops.

Our primary school transition to secondary school work used one of the online courses we've developed, 'Primary Concern', which explores themes of healthy relationships and online safety, supporting the mandatory curriculum for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE).

Page 7

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Within this work, we initially spent 2-5 hours with the students involved, covering the first 2 to 3 lessons of our newly developed online resource, mixing it with interactive discussions and drama-based activities. Follow Up Workshops continued to explore remaining online lessons with our practitioners, where sessions were tailored to the needs identified by them and the staff.

Interactive activities, from drama games to role playing scenarios, helped them fully interact with the situations portrayed, giving them applicable learning experience for their personal day-to-day lives. Structured interactive debates and quizzes also helped solidify what had been learned.

We looked at key areas that aren't only statutory parts of the PSHE curriculum, but also at laws around relationships, online safety and sharing of inappropriate imagery which is relevant to their age. We hope that this contributes towards a positive start to their secondary school journeys, as well as helping them to form healthy relationships with their peers and avoid breaking the law.

Our secondary school work within this area used our second online resource we've developed, 'Beat It', which explores harmful sexual behaviour, consent, ideals of beauty, healthy relationships and online safety, supporting the mandatory curriculum for Relationships and Sex Education. The knowledge covered on the online platform provides the foundation of information explored further in the face-to-face workshops. The arts-based workshops have been, and will continue to be, tweaked based on each individual school's needs.

We chose to deliver certain elements of our blended approach digitally, and others in-real-life, because we believe there is a harmony between learning about safe use of the internet and technology in a digital setting, which will help build healthy associations with being online.

The areas we cover offline are the transferable skills developed through arts-based learning, as well as the topics we deem as more sensitive and where students would benefit from experiential learning, using discussions with their peers and role playing activities. For example, devising scenes with alternative outcomes to situations covered in the digital content directly applies the knowledge gained from the digital content and further embeds the learning.

Achievements against objectives set

Our main objective, as set out in the governing document, is to act as a resource for young people up to the age of 18 living in the UK by providing advice and assistance, and organising programmes of physical, educational and other activities.

As previously explored, this year we have focused on delivering original performances, workshops and more in educational settings around online safety, healthy relationships, anti-bullying and much more, explored through role play activities, music, dance, and more.

We have successfully met the objective to provide advice and assistance to children and young people in the UK, and programmes of physical and educational activities. Below we have set out our sub-objectives and how the activities we have mentioned achieve these.

Sub-objective (a) to advance in life, and develop their skills, capacities and capabilities to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature and responsible individuals. Activities undertaken to achieve this objective:

Our second sub-objective, (b) to advance education. All activities we undertake work towards advancing education, and we have detailed some activities below as examples of this:

We also met our sub-objective to support and equip teachers in their work. Teachers found our creative learning elements to be very useful - highlighted in focus group discussions where they detailed that the performance elements really engaged the children and helped them to learn.

Page 8

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Our third sub-objective revolves around (c) relieving unemployment. An example of an activity we have undertaken to support this objective is below:

This objective was laid within our governing document as an objective to support our beneficiaries even more directly, which we have long-term plans to execute.

Parallel to these future objectives for beneficiaries, we can be very proud of the work that we have done this year to support our freelance facilitators, providing employment to our freelance facilitators. We increased our work from last year where we worked with 17 freelance facilitators, and this year worked with 51.

Our final sub-objective as detailed in our governing document revolves around (d) providing recreational and leisure time activity in the interests of social welfare for people living in the area of benefit who have need by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disability, poverty or social and economic circumstances with a view to improving the conditions of such persons.

Overall, we are so proud of all that we have achieved this year. We have included a Year in Numbers overleaf to evidence the wide impact we have managed to have this year.

Page 9

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS

YOUNG PEOPLE DELIVERED TO

1780

HOURS DEDICATED TO YOUNG PEOPLE

712

DAYS DEDICATED TO YOUNG PEOPLE

293

BOROUGHS IN LONDON WORKED IN

10

AVERAGE NUMBER OF CYP PER BOROUGH

178

Page 9

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Performance of fundraising activities against fundraising objectives set

During this year we brought onboard an internal team hire of a part-time Fundraising Manager to assist us with our efforts within Fundraising, as we sought to begin mapping out the fundraising landscape of opportunities, and needed assistance with prioritising these.

Aside from the fundraising we had secured through the Paul Hamlyn Foundation earlier in the year, which during this period was being utilised as we began delivery in our Hackney PHF schools, we were unable to secure further funds from other grant-making organisations during this time period.

We were pleased with the ground work that was completed during this time, to map out the landscape of fundraising opportunities and are confident in our ability to improve the quality of our fundraising applications, to hopefully secure new funding streams for our beneficiaries next year.

Investment performance

The charity did not hold any investments during the reporting period.

Looking at our year ahead

With the current PHF funding we're receiving it will remain a priority to successfully manage and deliver on the outcomes for this project, whilst using it as a springboard to onboard new schools and increase the awareness of our work.

Looking at the year ahead we are determined to focus our efforts on increasing the trading income of the charity. We know pre-Covid how in demand our in-person delivery was, schools and local authorities saw the value in our work enough to cover the expense themselves. As the cost of living and other factors have led to schools having tighter budgets, we have developed cost effective offerings that allow the charity to have its desired impact and reach our objectives, at much lower costs than our pre-Covid delivery. This will include our blended approach, as well as the CPD offerings to schools training them up to use our online resources and tools.

We plan to continue capitalising on the funding opportunities available to us as a charity, that will allow us to deliver our work at no cost, or heavily subsidised, with young people who have the highest need for our services. Beyond project funding it's important for us to source core funding, that will contribute towards our unrestricted funding and create the capacity for our sustainable growth as an organisation.

With 3 permanent members of staff now, we will prioritise recruiting other members of the team who will support us in the areas outlined above; fundraising and marketing. Adding these skill-sets to the Diverse Voices core team will unlock the potential for us to reach our targets in these areas, whilst continuing to build the team and roles imperative to the charity and the next stage of our growth.

Financial review

Financial position

The charity received total income and support in the year of £197,713 (2022: £229,224), and incurred total costs of £202,461 (2022: £162,003). This is inclusive of governance costs of £5,442 (2022: £3,294).

At 31 March 2023 the charity had net assets of £26,659 (2022: £44,759) in unrestricted funds, and £74,141 (2022: £60,596) in restricted funds.

Principal funding sources

During the year the charity raised £86,695 (2022: £139,770) from foundations, with grants amounting to £86,695 (2022: £60,596) being for specific charitable purposes.

The charity raised a further £110,267 (2022: £67,720) from its other charitable activities, with £Nil (2022: £21,720) of additional, non-recurring income in the period coming by way of Government Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme support.

The Trustees are grateful to all those who have provided funding for the charity including Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the largest provider of support during the year.

Investment policy and objectives

The charity did not hold any investments during the reporting period and has not done so since its inception.

Page 10

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Reserves policy

It is the policy of the charity to maintain free reserves at a level to meet its operating costs for a period sufficient enough to cover its wind-down costs in the event it ceased it activities. Unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2023 amounted to £25,715 (2022: £44,759) which in the opinion of the Trustees is sufficient in this regard.

Structure, governance and management

How we are constituted and governing document

Diverse Voices became a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in February 2021. Our governing document is a 'Foundation' model constitution, of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its charity Trustees.

The Trustees are responsible for the overall management and control of the charity and hold meetings throughout the year.

Details of our management team and Trustees can be found in the 'Reference and administrative details'.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Diverse Voices are an equal opportunities employer backed by our policies. We are committed to ensuring that our policies and practices relating to all aspects of management, staffing (paid and voluntary workers), service delivery and development are accessible to and reflect the needs of all groups. Diverse Voices therefore, positively welcomes and actively seeks the involvement and participation of oppressed and disadvantaged groups.

Our recruitment policies are designed in such a way as to ensure that appointments are made on the basis of how well each applicant meets the requirements of the job (the 'Person Specification'). It follows that drawing up the 'Person Specification' is crucial to ensuring equality of opportunity; it will therefore specify as precisely as possible the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the job. Our recruitment policies aim to achieve a workforce that reflects the diversity of the population.

Our work focuses on supporting young people, and we seek to ensure that the needs of this group are appropriately reflected through the diversity of our trustee body and staff. We are therefore made up of 'diverse voices' ourselves. Our senior staff, board and trustee positions are made up of more than 50% that self-identify as women and 10-25% that self-identify as men. 80% of our board and management staff are Black and have come from similar backgrounds, experiencing the same inequalities as our beneficiaries.

Organisational structure

Names of the charity Trustees who manage the charity

Trusteename
Leonie Elliott
Mary Nielson
Simone Watson-Brown		 Office (ifany)
Secretary
Chair		 Dates acted if not for
whole year
Whole year
Whole year
Whole year		 Name of person (or body)
entitled to appoint trustee
(ifany)
NA
NA
NA

Key management remuneration

The Trustees consider the following employees of the charity to be key management:

Dwayne Gumbs - Artistic Director Alex Williams - Managing Director

Whilst neither Trustees, nor officers of the charity, the key management report to the Trustees throughout the year. Key management remuneration in the reporting period amounted to £102,993 (2022: £98,138).

Risk management

The Trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

Page 11

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Trustees' Report for the year ended 31 March 2023

Commencement of activities

On 12 February 2021 the charity was formed as a result of conversion of Diverse Voices Entertainment C.I.C. to a charity status. Any references to amounts as at 12 February 2021 or 'brought forward' as at that date thus relate to balances transferred inherently as part of the aforementioned conversion.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 26 January 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Leonie Elliott (Jan 26, 2024 19:13 GMT)

Miss L Elliott - Trustee

Page 12

Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Diverse Voices Edutainment

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Diverse Voices Edutainment

I report to the charity Trustees on my examination of the accounts of Diverse Voices Edutainment (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the Trustees of the Charity 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 Charity’s accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by Section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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.

Daley Tyndale (Jan 28, 2024 17:01 GMT)

Daley Tyndale (FCCA)

Cooper Parry Advisory Limited New Derwent House 69-73 Theobalds Road London WC1X 8TA

26 January 2024

Page 13

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2023

Year ended
31/3/23
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
fund
fund
funds
Notes
£
£
£
Income and endowments from
Grants and donations
-
86,695
86,695
Charitable activities
Other unrestricted grants
-
-
-
Other trading activities
2
111,015
-
111,015
Investment income
3
3
-
3
Total
111,018
86,695
197,713
Expenditure on
Raising funds
31,067
5,355
36,422
Charitable activities
Charitable activities
92,404
67,795
160,199
Other
5,647
-
5,647
Total
129,118
73,150
202,268
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
(18,100)
13,545
(4,555)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
44,759
60,596
105,355
Total funds carried forward
26,659
74,141
100,800		 Period
12/2/21
to
31/3/22
Total
funds
£
139,770
21,720
67,720
14
229,224
31,556
125,926
4,521
162,003
67,221
38,134
105,355

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 14

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Balance Sheet 31 March 2023

Unrestricted
Restricted
fund
fund
Notes
£
£
Fixed assets
Intangible assets
8
6,697
-
Tangible assets
9
2,251
-
8,948
-
Current assets
Debtors
10
25,260
-
Cash at bank
-
74,141
25,260
74,141
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
11
(7,549)
-
Net current assets
17,711
74,141
Total assets less current liabilities
26,659
74,141
NET ASSETS
26,659
74,141
Funds
12
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Total funds		 2023
Total
funds
£
6,697
2,251
8,948
25,260
74,141
99,401
(7,549)
91,852
100,800
100,800
26,659
74,141
100,800		 2022
Total
funds
£
11,219
-
11,219
10,279
87,911
98,190
(4,054)
94,136
105,355
105,355
44,759
60,596
105,355

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 25 January 2024 and were signed on its behalf by:

Leonie Elliott (Jan 26, 2024 19:13 GMT)

L Elliott - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 15

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023

1. Accounting policies

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Development costs

Development costs are capitalised if it is probable that the expected future economic benefits of the asset that are attributable to the asset will flow to the Charity and the cost or value of the asset can be measured reliably.

At the end of each reporting period the Trustees consider if there are any indicators of impairment.

The capitalised development costs are amortised over a period of 4 years on a straight-line basis.

Tangible fixed assets

Computer equipment is depreciated over period of 3 years on a straight-line basis.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Hire purchase and leasing commitments

Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charity's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Financial instruments

Financial assets and liabilities are recognised when the Charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the financial instrument. The Charity holds financial instruments which comprise cash and cash equivalents, trade and other receivables, equity investments, trade and other payables, loans and borrowings. The Charity has chosen to apply the provisions of Section 11 Basic Financial Instruments in full.

Page 16

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the year ended 31 March 2023

Diverse Voices Edutainment

1. Accounting policies - continued

Financial assets / liabilities - classified as basic financial instruments

Financial instruments

(i) Cash and cash equivalents

This includes cash in hand, deposits held with banks, and other short-term highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.

(ii) Trade and other receivables

Trade and other receivables are initially recognised at the transaction price, including any transaction costs, and subsequently measured at amortised cost including the effective interest method, less any provision for impairment. Amounts that are receivable within one year are measured at the undiscounted amount of the cash expected to be received, net of any impairment.

At the end of each reporting period, the Charity assesses whether there is objective evidence that an receivable amount may be impaired. A provision for impairment is established when there is objective evidence that the Charity will not be able to collect all amounts due according to the original terms of the receivables. The amount of the provision is the difference between the asset's carrying amount and the present value of the estimated future cash flows, discounted at the effective interest rate. The amount of the provision is recognised immediately in profit or loss.

(iii) Trade and other payables and loans and borrowings

Trade and other payables and loans and borrowings are initially measured at the transaction price, including any transaction price, including any transaction costs, and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

2. Other trading activities

3.

Year ended
31/3/23
£
Other charitable activities
111,015
Investment income
Year ended
31/3/23
£
Deposit account interest
-
Other interest receivable
3
3		 Period
12/2/21
to
31/3/22
£
67,720		 Period
12/2/21
to
31/3/22
£
67,720
Period
12/2/21
to
31/3/22
£
10
4
14
14

4. Independent examiners' remuneration

Included in governance costs is the sum of £5,442 (2022: £3,294) paid to the charity's independent examiners.

Page 17

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the year ended 31 March 2023

Diverse Voices Edutainment

5. Trustees' remuneration and benefits

There were no Trustees' remunerations or other benefits for the year ended 21 March 2023 nor for the period ended 31 March 2022.

Trustees' expenses

There were no Trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 21 March 2023 nor for the period ended 31 March 2022.

6. Staff costs

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

7.

Year ended
31/3/23
Key management
2
Support staff
1
3
No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.
Comparatives for the statement of financial activities
Unrestricted
Restricted
fund
fund
£
£
Income and endowments from
Grants and donations
79,174
60,596
Charitable activities
Other unrestricted grants
21,720
-
Other trading activities
67,720
-
Investment income
14
-
Total
168,628
60,596
Expenditure on
Raising funds
31,556
-
Charitable activities
Charitable activities
125,926
-
Other
4,521
-
Total
162,003
-
NET INCOME
6,625
60,596
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
38,134
-		 Period
12/2/21
to
31/3/22
2
-
2
Total
funds
£
139,770
21,720
67,720
14
229,224
31,556
125,926
4,521
162,003
67,221
38,134

Page 18

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the year ended 31 March 2023

7. Comparatives for the statement of financial activities - continued Comparatives for the statement of financial activities - continued
Unrestricted Restricted Total
fund fund funds
£ £ £
Total funds carried forward 44,759 60,596 105,355
8. Intangible fixed assets
Website
development
costs
£
Cost
At 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 18,085
Amortisation
At 1 April 2022 6,866
Charge for year 4,522
At 31 March 2023 11,388
Net book value
At 31 March 2023 6,697
At 31 March 2022 11,219
9. Tangible fixed assets
Computer
equipment
£
Cost
At 1 April 2022 5,043
Additions 3,377
At 31 March 2023 8,420
Depreciation
At 1 April 2022 5,043
Charge for year 1,126
At 31 March 2023 6,169
Net book value
At 31 March 2023 2,251
At 31 March 2022 -

Page 19

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the year ended 31 March 2023

10. Debtors: amounts falling due within one year

Debtors: amounts falling due within one year
2023 2022
£ £
Trade debtors 22,985 -
Other debtors - 8,004
Prepayments and accrued income 2,275 2,275
25,260 10,279
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2023 2022
£ £
Trade creditors - 252
Taxation and social security 3,747 -
Other creditors 3,802 3,802
7,549 4,054
Movement in funds
Net
movement
At 1/4/22 in funds At 31/3/23
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 44,759 (18,100) 26,659
Restricted funds
Restriced 60,596 13,545 74,141
TOTAL FUNDS 105,355 (4,555) 100,800
Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
Incoming Resources Movement
resources expended in funds
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 111,018 (129,118) (18,100)
Restricted funds
Restriced 86,695 (73,150) 13,545
TOTAL FUNDS 197,713 (202,268) (4,555)

11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

12. Movement in funds

Page 20

Diverse Voices Edutainment

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the year ended 31 March 2023

12. Movement in funds - continued

Comparatives for movement in funds

Net
movement
At 12/2/21
in funds
At
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
38,134
6,625
Restricted funds
Restriced
-
60,596
TOTAL FUNDS
38,134
67,221
Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:		 31/3/22
£
44,759
60,596
105,355
Incoming Resources Movement
resources expended in funds
£ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 168,628 (162,003) 6,625
Restricted funds
Restriced 60,596 - 60,596
TOTAL FUNDS 229,224 (162,003) 67,221

13. Related party disclosures

During the reporting period the charity paid amounts totalling £1,500 (2022: £1,200) to a company controlled by its key management for the procurement of video production services used by the charity for its charitable activities and to create content for the charity's online profiles.

Page 21

Cooper Parry Advisory Limited New Derwent House, 69-73 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8TA

Dear Sirs

Financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2023

We confirm to the best of our knowledge and belief, and having made appropriate enquiries of other Trustees and officials of Diverse Voices Edutainment (the “charity”), the following representations given to you in connection with your independent examination of the charity’s financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2023.

We are responsible for the true and fair presentation of the charity’s accounts and for their presentation in accordance with applicable reporting requirements.

The accounts give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity for the period ended 31 March 2023 and of the results for the period then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the applicable reporting requirements.

We confirm that we believe that the audit exemption is available.

All the accounting records have been made available to you for the purpose of your work and all the transactions undertaken by the charity have been properly reflected and recorded in the accounting records. All other records and related information, including minutes of all management and Trustee meetings, have been made available to you.

The charity has at no time during the period made any arrangement, transaction or agreement to provide credit facilities (including loans, quasi-loans or credit transactions) for any Trustees, nor had to guarantee or provide security for such matters, except as disclosed in the financial statements.

There have been no events since the balance sheet date which necessitate revision of the figures included in the financial statements or inclusion of a note thereto.

At the balance sheet date there were no contingent liabilities of a material amount and no litigation in progress, pending or threatened other than as disclosed or provided in the financial statements.

No Trustee or his connected persons had a direct or indirect material interest in any other transaction or arrangement with the charity other than those disclosed

We acknowledge our responsibility for the design and implementation of internal control to prevent and detect fraud. This includes adhering to the legal requirements imposed on Trustees as outlined within the ‘Due Diligence, monitoring and verifying the end use of charitable funds’ chapter of the compliance toolkit as published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

We have disclosed our knowledge of fraud or suspected fraud affecting the entity involving management, employees who have significant roles in internal control or others where the fraud could have a material effect on the financial statements.

We have disclosed our knowledge of any allegations of fraud, or suspected fraud, affecting the entity’s financial statements communicated by employees, former employees, analysts, regulators or others.

We have disclosed all known actual or possible non-compliance with laws and regulations whose effects should be considered when preparing financial statements, including the actual or contingent consequences which may arise from the non-compliance

We confirm that all income has been recorded and any constructive obligations for grants have been recognised. We confirm the funds from Paul Hamlyn Foundation are considered restricted income. We however note that these restrictions still allow us to pay apportion of our overheads from this fund.

All correspondence with regulators has been made available to the auditor including, in England and Wales, any serious incident reports; and

The Trustees consider there to be appropriate controls in place to ensure overseas payments are applied for charitable purposes.

In preparing the accounts, the period to which we have paid particular attention in assessing the appropriateness of adopting the going concern basis is not less than 12 months from the date of approval of the accounts

Yours faithfully

Leonie Elliott (Jan 26, 2024 19:13 GMT)

Diverse Voices Edutainment On behalf of the Board Dated: 26 January 2024

Diverse Voices - Independent Review

Final Audit Report

2024-01-28

Created: 2024-01-26 By: Karen Hill (karen.hill@cooperparry.com) Status: Signed Transaction ID: CBJCHBCAABAAX9yFo4G8t3RNjyzVoxBYdVLqz9aioXOu

"Diverse Voices - Independent Review" History

Document created by Karen Hill (karen.hill@cooperparry.com) 2024-01-26 - 11:30:05 GMT

Document emailed to Leonie Elliott (mail@leonieelliott.com) for signature 2024-01-26 - 11:31:12 GMT

Email viewed by Leonie Elliott (mail@leonieelliott.com) 2024-01-26 - 19:13:00 GMT

Document e-signed by Leonie Elliott (mail@leonieelliott.com)

Signature Date: 2024-01-26 - 19:13:27 GMT - Time Source: server

Document emailed to daley.tyndale@cooperparry.com for signature 2024-01-26 - 19:13:28 GMT

Email viewed by daley.tyndale@cooperparry.com 2024-01-28 - 17:00:59 GMT

Signer daley.tyndale@cooperparry.com entered name at signing as Daley Tyndale 2024-01-28 - 17:01:39 GMT

Document e-signed by Daley Tyndale (daley.tyndale@cooperparry.com) Signature Date: 2024-01-28 - 17:01:41 GMT - Time Source: server

Agreement completed.

2024-01-28 - 17:01:41 GMT