Houses of Promise
Report and Accounts Year ended 31 December 2023
1 Lamb's Passage, London EC1Y 8AB www.stewardship.org.uk
HOUSES OF PROMISE
LEGAL & ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE 2 Martine Close Melling Liverpool L31 1DJ GOVERNING DOCUMENT Constitution dated 02 June 2021 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER 1194658 TRUSTEES Dr Alieu Amara (Chair) Kadie Amara Lynsey Sinnott (Secretary) Zachery Bartram Robert Ansell (Treasurer) INDEPENDENT EXAMINER Ajay Rajani FCIE Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB
INDEX
Page 1 Legal & Administrative Details Pages 2 - 4 Trustees' Report Page 5 Independent Examiner's Report Page 6 Receipts and Payments Account Page 7 Statement of Assets & Liabilities Page 8 Notes to the Accounts
Page 1
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
Introduction
The Trustees have pleasure in submitting the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023.
The charity was born out of a burning desire to help some of the massive number of homeless children (over 300,000) in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Sierra Leone, one of the poorest countries in West Africa, has been ravaged by civil war, AIDS and Ebola Virus Disease over the last twentyfive years.
Objectives and activities
Our objective is to advance our Christian faith by relieving the needs of orphaned children in Sierra Leone and providing practical and financial support to churches, missions and ministry leaders in Sierra Leone to enable them to carry out evangelism and missionary work and deliver charitable projects in disadvantaged communities. We would like to provide these children with a bright future, full of hope and aspirations.
The charity seeks to achieve its objectives by making grants to projects that work with homeless children in Sierra Leone. The first project being supported by the charity is the building and running of a children’s centre in Kent, just outside the capital Freetown in Sierra Leone. Once completed, the children’s centre will provide a home, health care, food, clothing & education for up to 12 children. A new organisation called Houses of Promise-SL was registered in Sierra Leone to undertake this project. Though Houses of Promise-SL is an independent organisation, there is a close working relationship. Two of the charity’s trustees serve as the organisation’s directors and oversee its work.
Following the opening of the charity’s bank account in February 2022, the trustees have been working to raise funds for the project; most of these funds have been used to help build the children’s centre.
The Kindlink fundraising website, established in February 2022 in a bid to kickstart our fundraising activities, is still live and now has regular donors committed to supporting us. (www.kindlink.com/fundraising/Houses-of-Promise/kent).
In planning the activities, the Trustees have applied the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission.
Page 2
Achievements and Performance
In 2023 our fund-raising efforts enabled work on the sanitation of the orphanage site and obtaining water tanks to harvest rainwater for the orphanage’s water supply system. The funds also helped to provide the foundation to electrify the building. Additional work within the interior continued to completion.
More funds have been raised so that building work could be completed, and the children’s centre be ready to open in July/August 2024. The centre was opened in July 2024 and is now fully operational.
Financial Review
In 2023, the charity was able to raise £27,000 (2022: £45,156). From this the charity paid grants totalling £16,500 (2022: £34,050) over to HOPE-SL, most of which was used to help complete the building of the children’s centre. A further £2,425 (2022: £2,471) was spent on administrative expenses, which included amounts spent on oversight, visiting the project in Sierra Leone. As a result the cash held by the charity has increased by £8,076 and the charity ended the year with £16,711 in its bank account.
Reserves Policy
The trustees have determined that for the time being, the charity should aim to hold cash of no less than £1,000 so that the charity can meet its statutory obligations for a period of at least 12 months. The charity ended the year with cash of £16,711 and, since the year end, most of this has been granted to Houses of Promise-SL to help continue work on the children’s centre. The trustees are satisfied that the charity is complying with its reserves policy.
Governance
Responsibility for setting policy and for making operating decisions rest with the trustees who meet regularly to monitor the activities of the charity. New trustees are recruited and appointed by the existing trustees, by a majority vote.
Risk Statement
The charity is exposed to various risks - be they operational, financial or reputational. The trustees review the charity's activities regularly to identify significant risks and, where possible, they take appropriate measures to mitigate those risks.
Page 3
Responsibilities of Trustees
Charity law requires us as Trustees to prepare financial statements for each accounting year which record the receipts and payments of the charity for the year.
We are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable us to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011.
We also have a responsibility to safeguard the assets of the charity and to take reasonable steps to prevent fraud or any other irregularities.
Approval
This report was approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
A.B.Amara
A.B.Amara (Oct 8, 2024 18:42 GMT+1)
Dr Alieu Amara - Trustee and Chair
Date: Oct 8, 2024
Page 4
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT
TO THE TRUSTEES OF
HOUSES OF PROMISE
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Houses of Promise ('the charity') for the year ended 31 December 2023 on pages 6 to 8 following.
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 2011 Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’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 2011 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:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; or
-
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Ajay Rajani
Ajay Rajani (Oct 9, 2024 09:05 GMT+1)
Ajay Rajani FCIE Stewardship 1 Lamb's Passage LONDON EC1Y 8AB
Date: Oct 9, 2024
Page 5
HOUSES OF PROMISE
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
| Notes Income receipts Grants and donations Bank interest Total receipts Payments 2 3 Total payments Transfers between funds 4 Net movement in funds Cash funds as at last year end Cash funds at this year end A Net of receipts / (payments) before Grants paid to Sierra Leone Foundation Administrative expenses |
Unrestricted Funds £ - - - - - - - - - - - |
Restricted Funds £ 26,978 22 27,000 2,425 16,500 18,925 8,076 - 8,076 8,635 16,711 |
2023 £ 26,978 22 27,000 2,425 16,500 18,925 8,076 - 8,076 8,635 16,711 |
2022 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45,145 11 |
||||
| 45,156 | ||||
| 2,471 34,050 |
||||
| 36,521 | ||||
| 8,635 - |
||||
| 8,635 - |
||||
| 8,635 |
The notes on page 8 form part of these accounts.
Page 6
HOUSES OF PROMISE
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
| A Cash funds Cash at bank with immediate access B Other monetary assets Gift aid due to charity C Liabilities Fee payable to the Independent Examiner for preparing and examining the accounts |
Unrestricted funds £ - - - - - - |
Restricted funds £ 16,711 16,711 2,280 2,280 750 750 |
2023 £ 16,711 16,711 2,280 2,280 750 750 |
2022 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,635 | ||||
| 8,635 | ||||
| 732 | ||||
| 732 | ||||
| 660 | ||||
| 660 |
D Assets retained for charity's own use
The charity does not own any significant fixed assets
E Guarantees and secured debts
The charity has not given any guarantees and has not provided its assets as security for any liabilities.
The accounts were approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
A.B.Amara
A.B.Amara (Oct 8, 2024 18:42 GMT+1)
Dr Alieu Amara - Trustee and Chair
Oct 8, 2024
Date:_____
The notes on page 8 form part of these accounts.
Page 7
HOUSES OF PROMISE
NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023
1 Accounting policies
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and comprise a statement that shows the charity's receipts and payments, a statement that summarises the charity's assets and liabilities and related notes. The accountancy profession have determined that only accounts prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards present a 'true and fair' view and, as these receipts and payments accounts have not (and cannot) be prepared in accordance with accounting standards, these accounts do not present (and are not intended to present) a 'true and fair' view of the charity's financial activities and state of affairs.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity. Restricted funds are donations which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors; they include donations received from appeals for specific activities or projects.
| 2 Administrative expenses Legal and professional fees incurred to set up charity Independent examiner's fee for preparing and examining accounts Travel expenses Other administrative expenses 3 Grants paid to Houses of Hope-SL For the building of an orphanage in Sierra Leone |
Unrestricted funds £ - - - - - - - |
Restricted Funds £ 660 1,531 234 2,425 16,500 16,500 |
Total 2023 £ - 660 1,531 234 2,425 16,500 16,500 |
Total 2022 £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,170 - 780 521 - |
||||
| 2,471 | ||||
| 34,050 | ||||
| 34,050 |
Houses of Promise SL is registered as a company limited by guarantee in Sierra Leone. It owns the children's centre that is being built in Sierra Leone and will be responsible for running the children's centre once it is completed. Two of the charity's trustees (namely Dr Alieu Amara and Kadie Amara) serve as this company's only directors; they do not benefit financially from their involvement with Houses of Promise SL.
- 4 Movements in restricted funds
| ements in restricted funds | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund for children's centre in Sierra Leone | Opening balance £ 8,635 8,635 |
Receipts £ 27,000 27,000 |
Payments £ (18,925) (18,925) |
Transfers £ - - |
Closing balance £ 16,711 |
| 16,711 |
During the year the money received by the above restricted fund was used to help build a children's centre in Sierra Leone.
Page 8