Olympias Music Foundation Trustees report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022
Olympias Music Foundation
Trustees report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022
Contents
Trustees and advisors..........................................................................................................................1 Trustees report.....................................................................................................................................2 Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 December 2022..............................................7 Balance sheet as at 31 December 2022..............................................................................................8 Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022............................................9
Olympias Music Foundation
Trustees and advisors
Trustees
Jo Yee Cheung (resigned on 20[th] April 2023) Rick Eling – Chair (appointed on 20[th] April 2023) Yana Eskandari Aziz Ibrahim Helen Krizos Joseph Markus (resigned on 20[th] April 2023) Suki Pardesi Keisha Thompson (appointed on 20[th] April 2023)
Registered office
7 Brundretts Road Manchester M21 9DA
Bankers
Lloyds Bank plc Blackheath London Branch
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Olympias Music Foundation
Trustees report
The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements covering the year to 31 December 2022. OMF was established in 2015 to carry out various activities in the Manchester area, focusing on the provision of access to music and music education to disadvantaged groups including, in particular, children and vulnerable adults.
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing Document
OMF was established as an unincorporated association, governed by its constitution dated 23 June 2017 (as amended on 10 January 2018). On 23 April 2021, OMF resolved to dissolve itself for the purpose of incorporating as a charitable incorporated organisation (‘CIO’). The CIO was established on 23 April 2021 and is governed by its constitution of the same date. These accounts concern the CIO, which succeeded the association and operated from 23 April 2021. The charitable purposes of the CIO, its objectives and activities mirror those of its predecessor organisation.
Appointment of Trustees
The Trustees are appointed in accordance with the constitution and are listed on page 1. The minimum number of Trustees is three; there is no maximum number. The method for appointment of trustees and the duration over which they hold office is described in the constitution.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The objectives of the charity are to advance the education of the public in the subject of music by providing opportunities for active engagement and participation in music-making. This is done by providing choirs, music workshops, concerts, music lessons and other musical opportunities for children and adults – with a particular focus on reaching communities in the areas of Ardwick, Longsight, Rusholme and Moss Side.
The Trustees seek to achieve those objectives by establishing services in Manchester which provide access to music education for children, vulnerable adults (including refugees, asylum seekers and victims of domestic violence) and individuals with special educational needs, and to seek to advance community integration and social empowerment of those groups.
STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT
The Trustees have referred to the information contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The Trustees believe that the activities carried out benefit the public by providing music education and access to music to members of the community in disadvantaged parts of Manchester that would not ordinarily enjoy that sort of education or access.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
2022 marks Olympias Music Foundation’s (OMF’s) 7[th] year in Longsight and a year of growth and transformation for the charity. In previous years, the charity relied heavily on partnerships with local schools to deliver free music lessons through its Maingot Violin Scholarship Programme and SEND music workshops for children with additional needs at St John Vianney school. The charity also maintained two community children’s choirs after-school (Children’s Voices for primary school-aged
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children and Youth Voices for secondary school-aged young people) and a singing group for female refugees and asylum seekers (Voices of Hope) alongside these school-based music lessons.
The consequences of the 2020/21 coronavirus pandemic, and its impact on young people’s mental and physical health and well-being, made it clear that OMF needed to be able to communicate with families directly and make decisions about how to deliver its programmes independently of schools. Moreover, OMF teachers felt that what was best for their students from a music pedagogy perspective (e.g., one-to-one or small group lessons in a quiet classroom) was often at odds with what was possible within the structures of school timetable and the spaces available, with children missing out on classroom teaching to attend music lessons and/or having their lessons in less than ideal venues (e.g., storage cupboards, school corridors or gyms in which PE lessons are also taking place).
As detailed in OMF’s 2021 Financial Statements, this led to the creation of the Learn to Play free instrumental lesson programme in September 2021, which is open to all children aged 6-16 in receipt of free-school meals, income support or who are refugees and asylum seekers irrespective of school or where they live in Manchester. Following the successful launch of the programme and the recruitment of 46 children onto the programme in 2021, our priority in 2022 was to now secure core funding to stabilise the charity and the sustainability of Learn to Play in future years. On 24[th] February 2022, OMF was awarded £115,028 over three years from the Oglesby Charitable Trust (the charitable arm of the Manchester property development company, Bruntwood) towards salaries for OMF’s Programmes Coordinator (0.4FTE) and Chief Executive (0.6FTE). In May 2022, the charity was contacted by the Matthew Nicholls Foundation about the possibility of donating a major gift. The Matthew Nicholls Foundation is small family charity created by Rob and Rachel Nicholls to commemorate their son, Matthew, a talented musician from Cheshire who tragically took his own life in 2017. Having been connected with OMF through Forsyth’s Music Shop (who had recently held a fundraiser for OMF), the Foundation were looking now to make a final ‘legacy’ grant to a local music charity before winding down their own organisation on what would have been Matthew’s 30[th] birthday. On 22[nd] July, after months of relationship-building and negotiations, the Matthew Nicholls Foundation confirmed that they would award OMF a grant of £80,000 to support the recruitment of a full-time Development Director, and part-time Programmes and Finance Administrator. A portion of this money was also ear-marked for the Chief Executive’s salary over the next three years which, combined with core funding from the Oglesby Charitable Trust, enabled OMF’s Chief Executive to receive her first ever salary from OMF in September 2022 after 7 years of being OMF’s only unpaid worker.
Other funding successes in 2022 include a grant of £49,728 from Arts Council England in March towards a month-long artist residency with 34 members of Migrant Voices (OMF’s network of migrant musicians living in Manchester, developed through an Emergency Response Grant from Arts Council England in 2020); as well as successful applications to the Garfield Weston Foundation, D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust, and National Lottery Community Fund, amongst others. These grants were invaluable in stabilising the charity and giving OMF the breathing space to plan for the future. By September 2022, OMF had raised enough to not only recruit two new members of staff, but also to fully fund all of the OMF’s programmes for 12 months from September 2022 to August 2023 – the first time OMF had ever managed to raise a full year’s programme and core costs in advance, and a precedent we hope to maintain.
Alongside the fundraising and development work taking place internally, OMF teaching staff continued to deliver a large number of music projects including the Learn to Play instrumental scheme; SEND workshops; and our Children’s Voices, Youth Voices, and Voices of Hope choirs – all with their own termly concerts, social gatherings and (in the case of the children at St John Vianney SEND school) a video-performance project based on Maurice Sendak’s story ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, with original music created by participating pupils.
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In May, five musicians from Migrant Voices collaborated with art students from Manchester Metropolitan University as part of a multi-disciplinary module called Unit X, in which students from across the arts department to create artistic responses (films, illustrations, zines, sculptures etc) on a theme or stimulus from outside of the university. In June, 34 Migrant Voices musicians from 27 different countries took part in a month-long artist residency (funded by Arts Council England) culminating in a performance of 4 new musical works at Stoller Hall. 263 people attended the final performance (53 OMF families), and reported feeling ‘excited’, ‘inspired’, ‘joyful’, energised’ and ‘less broken’. Manchester Cultural Partnership tweeted “what an extraordinary concert! Migrant Voices led by @OlympiasMusic @StollerHall a beautiful expression of the creativity of our city’s musicians”. 925 attended a restaged performance at John Rylands. The project was subsequently shortlisted for the ‘Made in Manchester’ Prize at the Manchester Culture Awards 2022.
In July, our first Learn to Play student successfully sat and passed his Grade 2 cello exam, achieving a Merit.
In September, 40 additional children joined our Learn to Play programme, bringing the total number of children receiving weekly instrumental lessons to 85. We also took the decision to relocate Learn to Play from the 422 Community Hub to Dean Trust Ardwick school in Longsight. As part of a support in kind offer negotiated with the school, OMF agreed to provide free music lessons (singing, piano and violin) to a number of Dean Trust Ardwick students and start a new school choir, in exchange for use of the school’s classrooms in the evenings by OMF for Learn to Play. The partnership has been a great success and has saved OMF thousands of pounds in rent, as well deepening our relationship with local partners and our community in Longsight. During this year, we also successfully recruited a Programmes and Finance Administrator, who joined us in October, and Development Director, who joined us in January 2023 – funded by the Matthew Nicholls Foundation grant. We ended the year with our annual Christmas Concert at Longsight Library, which was attended by over 300 people comprising all 85 Learn to Play instrumentalists and their families and culminated in a Christmas feast of extra-large takeaway pizzas and halal mince pies.
As part of our annual monitoring and evaluation cycle, OMF publishes a yearly Impact Report based on data collected from individual interviews with all children, teachers, and parents involved in our Learn to Play programme. Over the course of 2022, OMF:
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Provided free weekly music lessons and an instrument for 85 children from low socioeconomic backgrounds; a total of 2,070 hours of free lessons delivered by professional teachers
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Worked with an additional 165 children and adults through our choirs and SEND music workshops
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Distributed 300 free tickets to OMF families for concerts at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Stoller Hall and Bridgewater Hall
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Supported 9 children to attend RNCM’s prestigious Pathfinder scheme, and 1 child to successfully audition for and join the Hallé Children’s Choir
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Hosted 9 concerts, 3 focus groups with families, 5 community dinners and 1 iftar during Ramadan
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Presented our work to an international audience at the Positive Pathways Conference at Contact Theatre
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Worked with partners including RNCM, Chetham’s School of Music, Bridgewater Hall, Stoller Hall, Dean Trust Ardwick School, St John Vianney School, 422 Community Hub, Longsight Church of the Nazarene, Longsight Library, Manchester City of Literature, City of Sanctuary, Manchester City of Literature, John Rylands Library, Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Centre, Oxford Road Cultural Corridor Group, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Forward Institute.
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Quantitative data taken from interviews with children from our 2022 impact report also indicates that:
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81% of children reported that music had become an important part of their life as a direct result of the project.
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100% of children reported enjoying their music lessons.
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94% said that music lessons had improved their confidence in social situations.
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88% reported making new friends through OMF.
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78% reported that OMF projects had improved their mental health, especially during COVID lockdowns.
Children told us:
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“The teachers are very kind and they make you learn new songs and new things which is very important to our mental health. It’s very important to all of us” – Jasibe, aged 10
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“ It’s really fun because I get to have other friends learning together and my teacher is really nice and it’s interesting […] Normally, when we performed something for the class I didn’t put my hand up. Nowadays, it doesn’t matter and I put my hand up” – Azra, aged 9
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“Music makes me feel good about myself in an emotional way. Sometimes in the week I feel stressed because I do loads of exams but playing my saxophone today and yesterday helped with the stress because I felt much better after that” – Ola, aged 12
Parents have also commented on the positive impact of music on their children’s lives, reporting improvements at school and in social situations because of learning music:
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‘We are all given equal opportunity. It bonds me to this OMF more because if you look at the cross-section of the people in the OMF… it is a cross section of the community we serve. It is not an elite group.’ – Rosemary, mother of Darrah aged 6, Denzel aged 8, David aged 11 and Adora aged 13)
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"Alice (violin tutor) has helped her to be more confident playing the violin. If you learn how to deal with something in music, it can help in school as well." – Lidia, mother of Xiana aged 9
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“When we first came to the UK in 2020, my children were very lonely for a long time. We have felt the heavy feelings lose their influence with the help of music” – Pinar, mother of Rana aged 12 and Elif aged 10 (who are Turkish refugees).
As the OMF enters the next phase of its growth and development, we fully recognise the social, financial, and economic challenges facing both arts organisations and the third sector. We also recognise the importance of developing meaningful musical opportunities for diverse young people from low-income backgrounds, and a sustainable, long-term pathway for progression. Over the coming years, we look forward to continuing to work with new and existing members of the OMF team to nurture our community of young musicians and their families, and to grow our reach and impact in Manchester and the UK.
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Total income for the year was £180,333, consisting of £154,445 of grant income from funders including the Oglesby Charitable Trust, Maingot Charitable Trust, Kinder Charitable Trust and Matthew Nicholls Charitable Trust; £14,289 from contributed income including donations; and £11,599 from earned income. Current assets sat at £162,217 and in fixed tangible assets were £8,673. We are grateful to all funders and supporters for their kindness and generosity.
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Olympias Music Foundation
Expenditure for the year was £164,634 and included teaching costs, instruments, venue hire and salaries for OMF’s Chief Executive; Development Manager; Programmes Coordinator; and Programmes and Finance Administrator.
By 31 December 2022, the balance of our unrestricted funds was £96,671, and the balance of our restricted funds was £7,283.
RISK REVIEW, FUNDS AND RESERVES POLICY
The Trustees regularly review OMF’s risk management systems, risk register and policies developed to mitigate the key risks identified by the Trustees. The key risks are considered to be:
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Complaints against an OMF teacher, particularly of a safeguarding nature
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Precarious nature of funding streams
The Trustees believe that these risks are minimised by holding regular meetings, the level of expertise on the board, monitoring of staff and development of policies. Key staff are child safeguarding trained. The Trustees are satisfied that there are sufficient procedures in place to mitigate these risks to an acceptable level.
The Trustees recognise the need for the association to establish and maintain reserves to enable it to continue to carry out its objectives. The Trustees aim to maintain unrestricted free reserves equivalent to three months running costs. Actual reserves as 31 December 2022 were £96,671.
TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES
Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of the charity and of its surplus or deficit for that year. In preparing those financial statements the Trustees have:
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selected suitable accounting policies and applied them consistently
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made judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
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stated whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
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prepared the financial statements on the going concern basis (see note 1 for further details)
The Trustees are responsible for keeping records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the requirements of the Charity Commission. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Approved by the Trustees on 26[th] October 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
Rick Eling Chair of Trustees
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Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 December 2022
| Notes | Unrestricted | Restricted | 31.12.22 | 31.12.21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| funds | funds | Total funds | Total funds | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Income from | 1 | ||||
| Grant income | 21,300 | 133,145 | 154,445 | 52,000 | |
| Earned income | 4,844 | 6,755 | 11,599 | 3,860 | |
| Contributed income | 14,289 | - | 14,289 | 10,844 | |
| Transfer from previous | - | - | - | 68,427 | |
| association | |||||
| Total income | 40,433 | 139,900 | 180,333 | 135,131 | |
| Expenditure on | |||||
| Freelance teaching costs | - | 44,858 | 44,858 | 20,885 | |
| Salaries & overheads | - | 50,242 | 50,242 | 16,528 | |
| Instruments/maintenance | - | 1,698 | 1,698 | 1,618 | |
| costs | |||||
| One-off events/projects | 40 | 57,511 | 57,551 | 347 | |
| Other | 1,480 | 8,805 | 10,285 | 7,498 | |
| Total expenditure | 1,520 | 163,114 | 164,634 | 46,876 | |
| Net income/(expenditure) | 38,913 | (23,214) | 15,699 | 88,255 | |
| Fund balances bought | 57,758 | 30,497 | 88,255 | - | |
| forward | |||||
| Fund balances carried | 96,671 | 7,283 | 103,954 | 88,255 | |
| forward |
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Olympias Music Foundation
Balance sheet as at 31 December 2022
| Note | Unrestricted | Restricted | 31.12.22 Total | 31.12.21 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| s | funds | funds | funds | Total funds | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |||
| Fixed assets | ||||||
| Tangible assets | 5 | 5,096 | 3,577 | 8,673 | 7,952 | |
| Current assets | ||||||
| Cash at bank | 91,955 | 70,262 | 162,217 | 84,493 | ||
| Current Liabilities | ||||||
| Tax & social security costs | - | (5,180) | (5,180) | (509) | ||
| Deferred income | - | (54,191) | (54,191) | (3,350) | ||
| Other creditors | (380) | (7,185) | (7,565) | (331) | ||
| Net current assets | 91,575 | 3,706 | 95,281 | 80,303 | ||
| Total assets less current | 96,671 | 7,283 | 103,954 | 88,255 | ||
| liabilities | ||||||
| Net assets | 96,671 | 7,283 | 103,954 | 88,255 | ||
| Total funds | 96,671 | 7,283 | 103,954 | 88,255 |
All amounts are derived from continuing operations and OMF has no recognised gains and losses other than those passing through the statement of financial activities.
The financial statements on pages 7 and 8 were approved by the Trustees at the Annual General Meeting and signed on 26[th] October 2023 on its behalf by:
Rick Eling Chair of Trustees
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Olympias Music Foundation
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2022
1 Accounting policies
The principal accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the financial statements are set out below.
Basis of accounting
The accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis in accordance with the historical cost convention and comply with the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities (FRS102)” (issued in 2015), the Charities Act 2011 and applicable accounting standards in the UK.
Fund accounting
General unrestricted funds are available at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of OMF. Designated funds are those set aside by the Trustees for specific purposes and may be released to general funds at their discretion.
Restricted funds are funds subject to specific restrictions and conditions imposed by funders or by the purpose of the grant. Details of the balances on restricted funds are given in the notes to the financial statements.
Donations, Grants and other income
Income, including donations, capital grants and revenue grants, is recognised in the accounting year in which it is receivable, except in the following circumstances, when the income is deferred and included in creditors:
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Where the income relates to a future accounting year
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Where some of the terms and conditions of the grant have not been met, including the incurring of expenditure and the grant conditions are such that unspent grant must be refunded. Where conditions are imposed which restrict the use of the income to specific purpose then it is included in incoming resources under restricted funds when it is due
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Where the income relates to a refundable deposit taken as part of the Learn to Play scheme.
Expenditure
Costs are defined as follows:
Freelance teaching costs – The costs associated with the teaching time associated with any of OMF’s charitable activities.
Salaries and overheads – The costs associated with employment of OMF staff and other administrative activity associated with performing OMF’s charitable activities.
Instruments/maintenance – The costs involved in purchasing and maintaining instruments required for the purpose of OMF’s charitable activities.
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One off events/projects – The costs involved in staging or executing one off performances or projects as part of any of OMF’s charitable activities.
Other – Other costs not covered by any other category of expenditure, and including depreciation.
Tangible fixed assets
OMF records musical instruments initially valued at £100 or more as tangible fixed assets. OMF records depreciation of tangible fixed assets in the form of musical instruments over a 10-year timeframe, resulting in an annual rate of depreciation of 10 per cent.
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2 Reconciliation of movements in funds
For the year ended 31 December 2022
| Opening funds | 88,255 |
|---|---|
| of which restricted | 30,497 |
| of which unrestricted | 57,758 |
| Receipts | 180,333 |
| of which restricted | 139,900 |
| of which unrestricted | 40,433 |
| Payments | (164,634) |
| of which restricted | (163,114) |
| of which unrestricted | (1,520) |
| Closing funds | 103,954 |
| of which restricted | 7,283 |
| of which unrestricted | 96,671 |
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Controlling and related parties
Olympias Music Foundation is controlled by six trustees, each of whom were appointed in accordance with the constitution.
4 Related party disclosures
Pursuant to ‘Condition A’ agreements, made under section 185 of the Charities Act 2011, Jo Yee Cheung was remunerated £10,424 for Chief Executive duties and £3,864 in artist fees as Creative Producer of Migrant Voices during the year. During the year OMF paid £250 of pension contributions in respect of Jo Yee Cheung
There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.
Nadia Eskandari, who is the daughter of Yana Eskandari, a Trustee of OMF, provided services to OMF in the role Violin and Viola Tutor and received income of £4,985 from OMF. At the end of the year, £539 was owed to Nadia Eskandari.
One trustee, Jo Yee Cheung, was reimbursed expenses incurred on behalf of OMF in the total sum of £2,151. Those expenses related to instrument purchases bought on behalf of OMF; food and drink
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for staff, volunteers, and participants in OMF’s charitable activities; and other costs incurred in connection with OMF’s charitable activities.
5 Tangible fixed assets
| Instruments | |
|---|---|
| £ | |
| Cost | 8,288 |
| At 1 January 2022 | 1,723 |
| Additions | |
| At 31 December 2022 | 10,011 |
| Depreciation | |
| At 1 January 2022 | 336 |
| Charge for year | 1,002 |
| At 31 December 2022 | 2,218 |
| Net book value | |
| At 31 December 2022 | 8,673 |
| At 31 December 2021 | 7,952 |
No tangible fixed assets were donated in the 2022 financial year between 1 January and 31 December 2022.
6 Total staff costs and employee benefits
Within the reporting year, OMF employed an average of three staff (2021: zero), consisting of two part-time members of staff from January to August 2022; and one full-time and three part-time members of staff from September to December 2022. Total staff costs and employee benefits were as follows:
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Salaries: £38,385 (2021: £4,018)
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Social security costs: £2,163 (2021: £143)
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Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension scheme: £780 (2021: £161)
No employee received total employee benefits of more than £60,000.
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Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of the Olympias Music Foundation
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Olympias Music Foundation (‘the CIO’) for the period ended 31 December 2022.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the CIO 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 CIO’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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 CIO as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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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.
Signed:
Name: William Allen Relevant professional qualification: ACA Address: 49 Michael Road, London, E11 3DY Date: 31 October 2023
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