## **London Zen Group**
## **Trustees Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2023**
## **OUR AIMS**
It is our aim to advance the Sōtō Zen Buddhism religion in London for the benefit of the public through the holding of
- regular classes and guided sessions of zazen meditation,
- ceremonies for sick or bereaved individuals,
- open lectures and workshops on Buddhist ethics and doctrines,
- and other open communal activities related to Zen practices and culture
## **REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS**
## **Schedule and Activities**
LZG maintained a daily schedule of zazen meditation except for Saturdays, entirely staffed by its volunteers and trustees. Members of the public were welcome to join our daily morning sessions from Monday to Friday from 7.00 to 8.00 AM in person at our dojo or via our Zoom channel. Regular evening sessions of zazen have been held on Mondays (6:30 – 7:45pm), Thursdays(7:30 – 9:00pm) and Fridays(6:30 – 7:15pm). Drop-in introductions to the practice of zazen-meditation were offered on Monday and Thursday evening sessions for a ½ hour period before our evening session start time.
On Sunday mornings LZG offered a slightly extended period of zazen from 9.00 to 10.30 AM, followed by an extended ceremony, communal cleaning of the dojo space ( _samu_ ) and socializing. Evening and Sunday morning periods of meditation also offered opportunity for training attendees in various ceremonial elements of our tradition.
LZG continued its successful study group activity on Monday evenings following the regular evening zazen sessions on these days. Participants are discussing texts from the Buddhist and Zen traditions under the guidance of one of LZG’s ordained priests.
Each Friday evening, after our scheduled sitting, from 7:00 – 8:00pm, LZG offered public talks on Zen-Buddhist doctrine, philosophy and history. The talks are followed by socializing and free discussion.
Guided workshops for sewing Zen-Buddhist ceremonial robes ( _kesas_ and _rakusus)_ - were offered on Tuesday evenings, and after August, on Sunday afternoons. This activity was designed for those seeking to formally receive the Buddhist Precepts in the “Bodhisattva ordination” or be formally ordained as priests in the Sōtō Zen tradition.
Of those who attended the sewing workshop, three of our regular members received the precepts at formal ceremonies in France during the summer at Bodhisattva ordination ceremonies with two different senior teachers/priests in our lineage. Additionally another person who attended our sewing workshops, who is from a different lineage/group, also received the precepts.
LZG also offered Japanese calligraphy classes on selected Wednesday evenings at its premises.
LZG also held a half-day of silent zazen practice on the morning of December 9th to commemorate the Buddha’s awakening
## **ATTENDANCE**
From January to December 2023, LZG, hosted **473** events and meetings with a total of **2,898** attendees. This included:
- 350 regular zazen meditation sessions,
- 142 introduction classes given to new attendees,
- 93 sessions of zazen combined with studies, talks and discussions,
- 19 sewing events,
- 11 calligraphy sessions.
The statistics describe close to a 30% increase in attendance over the previous year, which we believe represents a true recovery from the decrease we saw due to the pandemic. A detailed statistical summary of activities is attached to this report.
## **OUR FINANCES**
As a small, non-company charity, we prepare our annual accounts in the receipts and payments format according to the Charity Commission CC16a standard.
LZG received £15,775 worth of donations for the financial period of 1st January to 31st December 2022. LZG is primarily financed through voluntary donations, and earns a small amount for renting our practice space out to a group which is in line with the goals of our charity (another Soto Zen Group), we also operate a tiny used book boutique which is normally operates on a break-even basis.
During the same time, LZG made payments of £11,437 in operational expenses.
As a result, LZG realized net receipts of £4,338. This surplus is 152% higher than the surplus made in the previous year, and accords with the increase in attendance noted earlier
LZG’s funds increased to £34,450 by the end of the year.
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
LZG is governed by its board of trustees who are at the same time the caretakers of the group. Trustees meet several times per year and manage the current operations. They plan events and plan future operations and direction of the charity.
## **TRUSTEES**
New trustees are co-opted by the body of existing trustees. New trustees will typically be long-standing members of the community who are also responsible to run regular sessions of zazen. Volunteers are experienced members of the community who may volunteer and be trained and qualified to lead zazen sessions or introductory sessions.
No new trustees or volunteers were appointed during 2023.
## **Trustees of LZG in 2023**
- Rev Alana Berrington - Treasurer
- Rev Edgar Koeb - Secretary
- John Blythe
- Rev Martin Landolt
- Rev Ryan Roberts
- William (Bill) Lamdin - Chair
## **SIGNATURES**
Rev Edgar Koeb 23 August 2024 Rev. Alana Berrington 23 August 2024
**London Zen Group - CIO**
**1194847**
## **Receipts and payments accounts**
**CC16a**
**For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 1/1/2023 12/31/2023
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**
Donations - online
**7,045**
Donations - direct deposits
**5,736**
Donations - cash
**1,751**
Donations - contactless
**4**
3rdpartyusergroups
**720**
Book sales
**85**
Gift Aid
**434**
**-**
**15,775**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 15,775**
**A3 Payments**
Rent
**9,000**
Gas and Electric
**729**
Internet
**372**
Council Rates
**354**
Boutique
**99**
Godo expenses
**20**
DIY
**18**
Equipment
**203**
Supplies
**91**
Zoom
**144**
Miscellaneous expenses
**407**
**_Sub total_ 11,437**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total payments_ 11,437**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ 4,338**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**30,112**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 34,450**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**7,045**
**5,736**
**1,751**
**4**
**720**
**85**
**434**
**-**
**15,775**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,775**
**9,000**
**729**
**372**
**354**
**99**
**20**
**18**
**203**
**91**
**144**
**407**
**11,437**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**11,437**
**4,338**
**-**
**30,112**
**34,450**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**7,045**|**-**|
||||**5,736**|**-**|
||||**1,751**|**-**|
||||**4**|**-**|
||||**720**|**-**|
||||**85**|**-**|
||||**434**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**15,775**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**|**15,775**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**9,000**|**-**|
||||**729**|**-**|
||||**372**|**-**|
||||**354**|**-**|
||||**99**|**-**|
||||**20**|**-**|
||||**18**|**-**|
||||**203**||
||||**91**||
||||**144**|**-**|
||||**407**|**-**|
||||**11,437**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**||
||||**-**||
||||**-**|**-**|
||||||
|||**-**|**11,437**|**-**|
||||||
||**-**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**4,338**|**-**|
||**-**||**-**|**-**|
||**-**||**30,112**|**-**|
||**-**||**34,450**|**-**|
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|**Details**
Cooperative Account 65214200
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**34,450**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**34,450**
**-**
OK
OK
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
Rev. Edgar Koeb
Rev. Alana Berrington
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||Rev. Edgar Koeb|8/23/2024|
|||Rev. Alana Berrington|**8/23/2024**|