# **BLUE BEAR FREEDOM UK** - 1200131 **Annual Report 2023.**
## **Trustees Annual Report for the year ending**
## **31[st] December 2023**
## **Blue Bear Freedom UK**
Charity number: 1200131
13 Tombland House, Norwich, Norfolk, NR3 1HF
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annual Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
## **Introduction**
This is the first annual report for Blue Bear Freedom UK (BBF UK), an anti-trafficking organisation registered with the Charities Commission of England and Wales on Friday the 19[th of] August 2022.
BBF UK is the principal beneficiary of The Justice Business CIC, a Social Enterprise which trades as Blue Bear Coffee Co, registered with Companies House in England and Wales on 27[th] September 2018.
Prior to the registration of BBF UK, Blue Bear Coffee Co. (BBCC) used the sale of ethically sourced coffee beans as its principal means of producing sustainable funding for established charitable organisations engaged in the fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
The work and regular activities of BBCC and BBF UK can be followed by visiting our website and social media pages:
**Website:** https://bluebearcoffee.com/
**Instagram:** https://www.instagram.com/bluebearcoffeeco/
**Facebook:** https://www.facebook.com/TheJusticeBusiness/
The annual reports for Blue Bear Coffee Co. are available by visiting: https://bluebearcoffee.com/transparency/
Blue Bear Coffee Co’s annual accounts are available by visiting:
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/11592634
The purpose of this report is to outline the activities of BBF UK and how it has exercised its charitable status pursuant to our mission statement, which was agreed upon in our first trustee meeting on January 22[nd] , 2022:
## **‘** _**We exist to protect, equip and empower children effected by human trafficking, and to raise awareness to the injustice of modern slavery and exploitation.’**_
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annual Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
## **2022**
In 2022, prior to the registration of Blue Bear Freedom UK, a group of trustees were identified, each with a clear passion for justice and professional experience across children’s education, safeguarding, modern slavery legislation and law enforcement.
## **Board of trustees:**
- Bryn Frere-Smith
- Andrew Frere-Smith
- Charlotte Pascal
- Kerry Brighouse
- Rossie Gillum
- Anna Dean
On the 13[th of] January we met and decided upon the direction of the year, to establish registration with the UK Charities Commission, open a bank account and launch a website.
The registration with the Charities Commission was completed on 19[th] August 2022.
## **Bankers:**
Charitable Aid Foundation (CAF)
25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ.
## **Website:**
www.bluebearfreedom.org
Over the course of 2022 we held several fundraising events, including our inaugural Blue Bear Freedom Ride (Fig 1 – see below Appendices), a cycling event across Norfolk alongside numerous fundraising dinners, and speaking events. BBF UK activities and profits from BBCC allowed us to donate £7000 (from BBCC) to Score International, a US charity that provided the recipient account for Lily House, an aftercare shelter an hour’s drive from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Funds from BBCC and BBF UK sponsored the wrap-around care of two girls who entered their shelter, sponsoring the costs of their accommodation, healthcare and education for a full year.
£2957.28 of the year’s fundraising total was retained for the opening of BBF UK’s bank account.
Finances from BBCC 2022 financial year are available at: https://find-and- - update.company information.service.gov.uk/company/11592634/filing history
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annual Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
## **2023**
In the Spring of 2023, organisation Founder Bryn Frere-Smith returned to the Dominican Republic to visit Lily House and meet with leaders in the anti-trafficking field who worked across positions in government and the NGO sector in the Dominican Republic. The trip was intended to see if Blue Bear could launch a coffee shop in the Dominican Republic to provide sustainable source of fundraising, safe jobs for survivors and awareness raising to the issue of human trafficking on the island. After meeting with both experts and survivors it became clear that a more direct route to protecting and empowering children would be to fund their immediate and longer-term needs, increasing their protection from re-exploitation. This meant partnering with effective aftercare shelters and developing a fund for girls seeking further education.
In addition to the support we had committed to give the Lily House shelter, we were also able to supply them with a gift of 50 bags of Blue Bear coffee beans to be sold as a way of raising money and awareness for our joint cause. (Fig 2)
In May 2023 BBF UK were represented by two young survivors who attended a large international anti-trafficking conference held in Punta Cana to share their stories. (Global Freedom from Slavery Forum). (Fig 3)
The trustees remained busy in the UK raising money and awareness. We attended a large cycle event and a Triathlon in Norfolk over the summer to sell coffee and share about the work of Blue Bear Freedom UK. (Fig 4)
Students from Christchurch Winchester raised £1000 for BBF UK, swimming the 21-mile distance between Dover and Calais in their local swimming pool.
In August 2023 BBCC opened its first coffee shop in the heart of Norwich in an old, listed former jewellers directly opposite the Cathedral. Having a physical space to base the Social Enterprise and Charity from has allowed us to grow our presence in the local area and form new partnerships with local customers and businesses. (Fig 5)
Claire, an employee of the Mortgage Advisory Bureau (next door neighbours) went on to run the Bristol half Marathon on behalf of BBF UK raising £670.
Later in the year staff from ASI recruitment conducted a sponsored Hot Wing Eating competition which raised a further £1000. (Fig 6)
In October, Bryn was invited to give a Keynote address at the Inaugural Unseen Business Awards ceremony held at oval cricket ground in London, sharing a stage with a representative from Tony’s Chocolonely and Tesco. (Fig 7)
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annual Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
Towards the end of 2023 we began conversations with The Brave Bear Trust regarding a move to absorb and continue their work within the auspices of BBF UK. The Brave Bear Trust (1191986) is a charity which aims to educate Key Stage 2 age children to the realities of modern slavery in an age-appropriate way. The Brave Bear Trust is based around a children’s story book about a teddy bear character called Brave and was part inspired by the origin story of Blue Bear Coffee Co. Bryn Frere-Smith, BBCC Founder is also a trustee of The Brave Bear Trust. The merger is planned to take place in 2024.
In total, over the course of the first financial year, BBF UK raised £16,171 through a combination of BBCC profits and donations to our freedom fund which will be administered in the form of grants and programmes pursuant to our cause over the following 12 months.
Almost all of the charity’s operating expenses were funded by BBCC, allowing 100% of the money donated to BBF UK to be used in direct support of children effected or at risk of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and modern slavery. Please see accompanied accounts.
Sincerest wishes,
Bryn Frere-Smith
Chairman of Blue Bear Freedom UK
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annual Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
Appendices
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Fig1
Fig2
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annu81 Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
Fig3
Fig4
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annu81 Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
CW I
Fig5
1£12
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Fig6
BWE BEAR
Bryn 8pgaklng at tho Inaugural Unseen 8ulne$8 Awards, Crkket Ground.
Sept 21st 2023 Photo.. Ary Lawls
Fig7
Blue Bear Freedom UK
Annu81 Report 2023
bluebearfreedom.org
|**Blue Bear Freedom**|**(UK)**||**1200131**|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Receipts andpayments accounts**|||||**CC16a**|
|**For the period**
**from**|1st January 2023|**To**|31st December|||
## **Section A Receipts and payments**
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**7,036**
**9,126**
**9**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**247**
**70**
**1,666**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**14,187**
**-**
**-**
**14,187**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**7,036**
**9,126**
**9**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**247**
**70**
**1,666**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**14,187**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**7,036**
**9,126**
**9**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**16,171**
**247**
**70**
**1,666**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,983**
**14,187**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Stripe donations|**7,036**|||||**-**|
|Other donations|**9,126**|||||**-**|
|Interest|**9**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**16,171**|||||**-**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||
|||||||**-**|
||||||||
|Stripe fees|**247**|||||**-**|
|Bank charges|**70**|||||**-**|
|Donation to LilyHouse|**1,666**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**1,983**|||||**-**|
||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||
|||||||**-**|
||||||||
||**14,187**|**-**|**-**|
**14,187**||**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
||**14,187**|**-**|**-**|**14,187**||**-**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
1
## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B1 Cash funds**|**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**14,188**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**14,188**
**-**
Agreement Error
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
A. Frere-Smith|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||A. Frere-Smith|27th August 2024|
|||||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2