TRUSTEES REPORT for YIDDISH CAFÉ TRUST for the PERIOD
1st April 2023 to 14th August 2024
Charrty Number: 1200053.
INTRODUCTION:
This report marks the moving of the reporting period to better coincide
with the activity cycle for the charity i.e. reporting the period which
includes covering our largest current expenditure, which is the Yiddish
Sof-vokh (weekend) in the summer. As a consequence, this report
includes the Yiddish Sof-vokh in the summers of both 2023 and 2024.
AIM of the YIDDISH CAFÉ TRUST:
It is appropriate here, to recap the aim of the Trust. The Trust exists
solely in the UK for the public benefit. to advan￿ the education of the
PLrt)lic in the subject of the Yiddish language and its associated history,
culture and tradition in the fields of literature, poetry, the*re, art and
music, in particular but not exclusively by the provision of opportunities
for Yiddish speakers of all abilities and those who wish to leam Yiddish
to practice and hone their skills, to creatively engage with the Yiddish
language and to speak, listen and perform publicly in that language.
ACTIVITIES
The Yiddish Café Trust is currently a small organisation with three main
activities, but we have seen an expansion in our activities over this
reporting period:
1) The Yiddish Open Mic Café (YOMC): Historically, our longest
running activity, which predates the official founding of the
charty, the YOMC has been running since 2018. The YOMC
provides opportunities for people to practice their use of Yiddish
before a supportive audience, through short performances of
reading poems or prose in Yiddish, or enacting a brief drama, or
singing Yiddish songs. The YOMC started as an activity in
various locations in London, but is now usually online, with
signfficant international participation. Attempts at hybrid events,
partnering with the large Jewish community centre, JW3, in north
London led to three hybrid events. with in-person events being
livestreamed to our wider audience. however, the technology
proved problematic, as it was not possible to incorporate
contributions from our on-line audience around the country, and

abroad. Consequently, we have suspended this collaboration for
the time being, and the YOMC has ￿Verted to being currently
online only. A varied online only programme takes pla￿ every
month, with a short break over the summer. Currently there is na
income or expenditure involved in the YOMC, other than using
the website which is financially supported by the Sof-vokh.
2) The Annual Yiddish Sof-vokh - a residential weekend where
only Yiddish is spoken. This accounts for almost all the income
and expendrture of the organisation. We receive some money in
donations mostly through the website and booking processes,
and this is earmarked for the provision of bursaries to promote
access, especially for under 35s (most beneficiaries are actually
under 25). We were fortunate in obtaining some funding for the
Sof-vokh in summer 2023 which was spent on bursaries and
gratuities to support aC￿sS for children and young adults. The
2023 Sof-vokh, again at Wortley Hall outside Sheffield (the first
Sof-vokh was in the same venue), was again sold out, and
hugely succéssful. A number of participants felt, however, that
the venue was a lrttle difficult to reach geographically, so we took
the decision to move the Sof-vokh to a venue near Birmingham
(Hillscourt). A vigorous fundraising campaign, including a benefit
perf0rrnan￿ provided by the radio personality, Michael Rosen,
enabled us to provide a significant number of bursaries for
younger people and those less able to pay the fijll fee. Sof-vokh
2024 was again sold out. and we have decided to use the same
venue for summer 2025.
3) Yiddish Theatre Café - theatre evenings and workshops. In line
with our aim to promote the use of the Yiddish language, we are
trying to help facilitate the establishment of a Yiddish theatre
troupe. The Yiddish Café Trust partnered with the Associate
Professor of Yiddish Studies at University College London (UCL),
and with JW3, in a successful application for fvnding from
University College London - this application was led by the
academic from UCL, and the funding was channelled through
JW3. The funding enabled a 'Season of Yiddish Theatre. to be
held, with professional actors, at JW3 in the spring of 2024,
consisting of three different evenings of Yiddish theatre. The
evenings consisted of Yiddish theatre both in Yiddish and with

some pieces in English translation; this included a world
premiere of a translation of a play by Tea Arcszewska (a protégé
of the great Warsaw-based Yiddish writer, Y L Peretz). Since
then, six Yiddish-theatre workshops have been held, and plans
are in hand for the inaugural perf0rrnan￿ by a Yiddish theatre
troupe in Spring 2025. In this regard, the Yiddish Café Trust
collaborated with the Yiddish writerlactor Tamara Micner in
applying for a small grant from the Shoresh Trust to support
these activities. Small donations are also received for the
workshops.
STRUCTURE:
The Trust is set up as a CIO, and originally had nine Trustees who are
responsible for its management,. since that time, we have co-opted a
tenth trustee, Bary Burland, who is a solicitor. At this point, the Chair,
Vice-chair, Secretary and Treasurer are the same as when the Trust
was set up. The Trustees meet on-line exclusively, being located widely
across the country, and are all actively involved in the discussions to
manage the Trust. There are separate Commtttees managing the Sof-
Vokh and the YOMC, including most of the Trustees on a regular basis.
The Yiddish theatre activty is overseen by a group of five, which
includes the Chair and Vice-chair of the Trust.
FINANCE:
The Sof-vokh Bookings process is managed each year by a Trustee
working closely with the Treasurer. Ticket transactions are processed
through Ticket Tailor, with payments going through PayPal and then
to the Charity's Bank Account. As a result, all financial transactions have
a simple trail, and at the same time personal data is kept secure within
these systems.
The Annual turnover is under £25.000 per year. We aim to operate at
cost, except that we build in a contingency factor to either absorb any
unexpected expenses or allow us to slowly grow our reserves. We aim
to have sufficient reserves to prevent any financial risk and, as we have
no employees or physical assets, the main financial risk is of any
cancellations, or other booking problems, that are not covered in our
arrangements with the venue. Our current reserve target is a quarter of
the hotel costs for the Sof-vokh. Following the success of the Sof-vokh

in both 2023 and 2024, we managed a small increase in reserves. The
Yiddish Theatre activities are earmarked as a separate activity within the
YCT accounting.
PUBLIC BENEFIT:
The YOMC continues to provide a real opportunity for participation
whether as performer or audience. Attendance numbers continue to be
around 30 people though they are slightly down on the peak.
For Sof-vokh 2023 and Sof-vokh 2024, we were able to provide about
15 bursaries out of the approximately 60 places. The programme is
designed to support the attendan￿ of families with children.
With regard to the Yiddish theatre activities, the first evening at JW3 was
sold-out, and the subsequent two evenings were well attended.
Workshop attendances have ranged betrNeen 10 and 20.
Through these various activities we explore Yiddish language in the
context of Jewish culture and history, and include music, poetry, song
and theatre, where possible, thus building on, and sharing, cultural
knowledge and awareness.
THE FUTURE
We hope to gradually increase the range of activities that come under
our umbrella, but this is a slow, organic pro￿sS. It is particularly
pleasing to see the gradual development of the Yiddish theatre activities.
CONCLUSION
The seventeen-month period covered by this report has been
successful time for the Trust. We grow in confidence and in financial
stability. We look forward to 2024125.
Steve Ogin (Chair)
Phi( Tomlinson (Treasurer)

I CHARITY COMM15510N
J FOQ ENGLAND ANO WAL£S
Yfjddl•h C￿* Tn
1200053
Recei
tsand
ments accounts
CC16a
For the wrlod
from
1st Apnl 2023
To
31st Awjust 2024
Section A Receipts and payments
Unregtrlcted
R￿trICi•d
Endowmont
fund•
lund•
funds
io lh• f to tr• rwrMt£ tr•ts nD*rwte toth• n•arB•t t
Totsl fundo
L¥•t yèar
toth• nwYo•t £
A1 RKel
Ticket ￿¢8
ation$
ZbM12
21.620
1.628
197
1.628
197
mi
ARJ
see table ,
23
A3Pa
rnen
loan refvnds (inte￿*t￿￿1
BOS
93
refunds
202
COnferer￿
29,847
Sub total
14$
A4 Auet and Inv•S￿ent
Sub tol•l
6.14S
Net of rnceiptsl(payments)
A5 Trnn8f•rn bet￿n fund#
A6 Ca¥h fund8 last year end
Cash funds this year end
9,641
13.150
6,325
823
7.148
CCXX R18ccounts ISSI
15101r2025

Section B Ststement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Unre¥trlct•d
funds
to n•breJt£
R••tricted
funds
endowment
funds
to n•Jrn•t£
to
B1 Cash funds
023
in
100
rotal cash fun¢ts
6,325
823
Unrn8tMcted
funds
Restrlct
funds
n•ar4it£
Endowment
lunds
to n••r••t£
Oetails
Fund to vthi¢h
Cc*t lor￿￿)
Curronf valu•
B3 Inv•stmont •Mots
Fundto whl¢h
Curnint valu•
iort•l
Details
Colt lo￿ty￿)
B4 Assets r•tslnod for the
charlty's own us•
Fund tOT*hkh
Amourt du•
%¥h•n du
BS Li•bllltle8
Signed by 0￿ or truste88 On
tehaK of all ts trustees
Swnature
Print Name
Oale of
PHIL TOMLINSON
IW1112024
CCKX F12 accounts ISSI
1510112025