# **The Orthodox Christian Community of St Constantine the Great, York** ## **Trustees Annual Report** ## **for the period** **1[st] January 2023 – 31[st] December 2023** **Charity number 1201173** ## **Structure Governance & Management** Charities principal address: 31 Keble Park Crescent Bishopthorpe, York YO23 2SY Names of Trustees that served during the year: Rev Michael Alexander – Chair Christopher Bennigsen – Secretary Stephen Nendick – Treasurer Melissa Bryan Natalia Dowding Rev David Hoskin Safeguarding Officer – Peter Comley The Orthodox Christian Community of St Constantine the Great, York (St Constantine’s) is a CIO with a Foundation Constitution whose trustees are appointed by members. The trustees meet quarterly, while the Church Council convenes more frequently for practical discussions and decision-making. The Council consists of the Trustees and an additional six elected members. We take safeguarding very seriously. Our Safeguarding Officer ensures that all Trustees, as well as congregation members in positions of responsibility, are DBS checked (as required) and remain up to date with regular safeguarding training. The Trustees are notified of any safeguarding concerns, and any relevant outcomes. **Objectives** The objectives of St Constantine’s are to promote the Orthodox Christian faith; to advance Orthodox Christian education; to sustain the well-being of the Orthodox Christian community in York and the surrounding area; to assist in the relief of poverty locally, nationally and internationally; to support other charitable objectives as the trustees may from time to time decide. ## **Activities and Achievements** Weekly Sunday Eucharist services were held throughout the year, augmented by mid-week prayer services once per month and special services to mark Liturgical feasts. The average attendance at Sunday services increased from 30 to 40, while mid-week attendance increased from 3 to 12, largely due to student members. Our current membership consists of 103 adults and 32 children. Educational classes were held throughout the year for ‘catechumens’, i.e. those preparing for sacramental reception into the Orthodox Church. We had eight catechumens in the year, of which two were baptised, while the others continued their instruction into 2024. In addition, we baptised two infants. We had 2 successful parish pilgrimages, to Crowland and Hibaldstow. These gave us the opportunity to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with other parishes in our diocese. There were opportunities for the congregation to be involved in talks and discussion groups during the year. The children performed a Nativity Play on Christmas Eve which was enjoyed by all. We are hopeful that our children’s provision will grow in 2024. During Lent, we collected items and cash for Carecent and the York Foodbank, encouraging the congregation to contribute when coming to services. This was a tangible way to help those in our city. We were delighted to assist in the opening of our Mission Parish in Scunthorpe which started weekly services in September 2023. They have grown in numbers and are blessing the community there. ## **Financial Review** We do not receive any external funds. We rely on donations from our congregation. During 2023 we were successfully able to launch a planned giving initiative, replacing our weekly collection plate. This saw an increase in planned giving of around £700 per month – most of which is tax-efficient giving. Our income increased 50% from 2022 to £15,000, while expenditure remained similar to 2022. This resulted in a surplus of nearly £6000. As we have no overheads and do not employ any staff or clergy, our biggest outgoing is our parish share to the diocese. This equates to 15% of our income. Our reserves policy equates to £8,000. We finished the year with reserves of £22,000. Therefore the Trustees have recommended that a portion of this is moved into a designated building fund to help us purchase our own building. ## **Declaration** The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees Michael Alexander, Chair 17/02/2024 Melissa Bryan, Trustee 17/02/2024 ||**THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF**|**THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF**|**THE ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF**|**1201173**
**No (if any)**|**1201173**
**No (if any)**|**1201173**
**No (if any)**|**CC16a**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**ST CONSTANTINE THE GREAT, YORK**||||||| ||**For the period**
**from**|01/01/2023
Period start date|**To**||31/12/2023
Period end date||| ||||||||| |**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||| |**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Restricted funds**
**to the nearest £**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**

**-**
**-**
**-**

**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**7,078**
**5,866**
**662**
**320**
**-**
**150**
**230**
**252**
**14,558**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**14,558**
**1,818**
**243**
**110**
**560**
**2,655**
**2,116**
**1,154**
**-**
**-**
**8,656**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**8,656**

**5,902**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |Planned Giving|**7,078**|**-**|**-**||||**3,055**| |Collections at services|**5,866**|**-**|**-**||||**4,389**| |Candles|**662**|**-**|**-**||||**687**| |Other Donations|**320**|**-**|**-**||||**954**| |Gift Aid recovered|**-**|**-**|**-**||||**-**| |TradingIncome|**150**|**-**|**-**||||**90**| |Investment Interest|**230**|**-**|**-**||||**26**| |Specific CharityDonations|**252**|**-**|**-**||||**461**| |**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**14,558**|**-**|**-**||||**9,662**| ||||||||| |**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||||| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||||**-**| |**_Sub total_**|**-**|**-**|**-**||||**-**| |**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||| ||**14,558**|**-**|**-**||||**9,662**| ||||||||| |
Parish Share|**1,818**|**-**|**-**||||**1,190**| |ClergyCosts|**243**|**-**|**-**||||**459**| |Premise Hire|**110**|**-**|**-**||||**66**| |Mission Givingand Donations|**560**|**-**|**-**||||**845**| |Church runningexpenses|**2,655**|**-**|**-**||||**2,669**| |Administrative|**2,116**|**-**|**-**||||**958**| |Other Expenses|**1,154**|**-**|**-**||||**1,232**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||||**-**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||||**-**| |**_Sub total_ **|**8,656**|**-**|**-**||||**7,419**| ||||||||| |**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_**|||||||| ||**8,656**|**-**|**-**||||**7,419**| ||||||||| ||**5,902**|**-**|
**-**||
**5,902**||**2,243**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**16,211**|**-**|**-**||**16,211**||**13,968**| ||**22,113**|**-**|
**-**||**22,113**||**16,211**| CCXX R1 accounts (SS) 12/07/2024 1 |**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the**|**period**|**period**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| ||Bank current account|**9,321**||**-**||| ||Deposit Account|**12,792**||**-**||| |||**-**||**-**||**-**| ||**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**22,113**
||**-**||**-**| |||||||OK| |||||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**| |||**-**||||**-**| |||**-**||||**-**| |||**-**||||**-**| |||**-**||||**-**| |||**-**||||**-**| |||**-**||||**-**| ||**Details**|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| ||**Details**|||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| |||||||**-**| ||**Details**|||||**When due**
**(optional)**| |||||||| |||||||| |||||||| |||||||| |||||||| ||Signature|||||| |||||||Date of
approval| |||Michael Alexander||||17/02/2024| |||Melissa Bryan||||17/02/2024| CCXX R2 accounts (SS) 12/07/2024 2