Charity Registration No. 1205294
Charlbury Refugee Action Group
##
Fiveways House Sturt Road Charlbury Oxfordshire OX7 3AB
## **Contents**
|Trustees’ report|1|
|---|---|
|Independent examiner’s report|6|
|Receipts and payments accounts|7|
## **CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP** (1205294)
##
independent examiner’s statement in respect of the charity for the financial year 2023-2024.
## **A: Reference and Administrative Details**
**Name of charity** : Charlbury Refugee Action Group (also known as CRAG) : 1205294 **Charity registration number**
**Charity’s principal address** : Fiveways House, Sturt Road, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3AB
## :
Hilary Barber (until 16 October 2023) Felicity Brooks Vicky Buser Secretary Angela Gwatkin Treasurer Nick Parker Val Parker Chair Alice Prochaska Christina Surawy Frances Webber
(as at date of submission) Hugh Goyder (elected 20 October 2024)
## **Independent Examiner:**
Hugh Belshaw, 14 Sandford Park, Charlbury, Oxfordshire OX7 3TH
## **B: Structure and governance**
The charity is an unincorporated association. Its governing document is a Constitution, first drafted in 2016 and adopted in its current form by members at an extraordinary general meeting on 16 October 2023.
Trustees are elected annually by members at the charity’s Annual General Meeting.
The Trustees have adopted policies and procedures relating to:
1
- (a)
- (b) Safeguarding;
- (c) Risk management;
- (d) Trustees’ expenses.
## **C: Objectives and activities**
**Objects** : to provide relief and assistance for refugees and those seeking asylum who are victims of war, natural disaster, trouble or catastrophe, primarily by providing grants or donations to such charities or charitable bodies as the trustees shall determine.
## **Activities undertaken in relation to the objects:**
- Raising funds and receiving grants and donations through means including direct requests and appeals to grant-making bodies and individuals, sales and community events;
- Applying the funds thus raised to carry out the work of the Charity;
- Cooperating with other charities and humanitarian and development organisations;
- Supporting individuals and organisations to engage with meeting the needs of those the Charity seeks to serve;
- Disseminating information on refugee-related subjects through means including publications, talks and public meetings;
- Carrying out any other activities which in the opinion of the Trustees will promote the Objects of the Charity and are for the public benefit.
**Public benefit:** In exercising their powers and duties, the Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on the public benefit as required by s17 Charities Act 2011.
## **D. Achievements of the charity during the year**
## _**Report from the chair:**_
working hard to understand our responsibilities and ensure that our activities pursue our objectives and are for the public benefit.
In line with our objectives, we have undertaken the following work during the year:
_**Grant-giving** :_ As raising funds and making grants to front-line organisations working with refugees constitute our main activities, trustees’ main responsibilities are in ensuring that the uses to which our funds are directed meet the needs of their beneficiaries in ways wholly compatible with our charitable objectives and with the public interest, and that the organisations we fund are safeguarding beneficiaries, volunteers and staff and acting in line
2
with the nine principles of the Core Humanitarian Standards. Our grant-making has been informed both by the extent of need in particular areas, and by trustees’ confidence in the grantees’ ability to meet the need appropriately. To that end, we have developed our due diligence processes during the year, so that we know as precisely as possible:
- what the grant will be used for (and monitor the end use of the grant afterwards);
- organisations we fund, and if so how they were dealt with.
We perform full due diligence on all new grantee organisations. We have appointed a duediligence officer (Christina Surawy) to focus on this work. We have consolidated our grantgiving by establishing partner charities with whom we work closely, and to whom we regularly give funds. The charities concerned, in the financial year, were:
**Care4Calais** , who received £4,500 over the year, in three grants, for _inter alia_ clothing for refugees in Calais and for asylum seekers accommodated at former RAF base Wethersfield, Essex;
**Refugee Community Kitchen** , who received £4,500 over the year, in three grants, for purchases including fresh vegetables for hot meals provided to refugees in Calais;
**Safe Passage** , who received £4,640 over the year, in four grants, for the provision of legal advice and assistance for those fleeing conflict, for advocacy on safe routes to asylum for refugees, and for working with young refugees in the UK;
**Asylum Welcome** , a local Oxford charity, who received £5,500 over the year in four grants, for general purposes relating to their work with refugees and asylum seekers, set out in their annual reports and other communications, including provision of basic material assistance including meals; provision of bicycles and laptops; assistance finding legal representation for asylum seekers; mentoring refugee children in local schools and finding sanctuary hosts;
**Collective Aid** , who received £3,500 over the year in three grants, for the provision of new underwear and hygiene items to homeless and precariously accommodated refugees in Serbia, Bosnia and Lesvos, and for rental costs of the warehouse used for storage and distribution of items to refugees in Bosnia;
**The Hope Project** in Lesvos, who received £4,020 over the year in four grants, for ( _inter alia_ ) the provision of hygiene items and fresh food to those seeking asylum on the island, payment of an electricity bill to keep the lights and refrigerators on.
We also made two one-off grants: one of £6,000 to **Medical Aid for Palestinians** for urgent medical assistance to refugees in Gaza, and a grant of £2,500 to **Glocal Roots** for provision for refugees’ basic needs and to foster inclusion (eg, language classes) on the Greek island of Kos.
Thus our total grants this year per country where they were used were:
France: £9,000
3
Greece: £6,520
Serbia: £3,500
Palestine/ Gaza: £6,000
UK: £10,140
Making a grand total of £35,160 given in grants to frontline refugee charities in the year.
_**Fundraising:**_ Trust (on which we performed due diligence checks which enabled us to accept it). The other significant funder is the Evenlode Trust, a local charity linked to an investment company, Wise Investments. The Evenlode Foundation gave us a grant of £5,000 before this financial year, to defray expenses such as those of the concert performers, who often travel quite a long way to perform. This is a restricted fund. It means that every penny we raise in concert tickets and in sales is used for our charitable purposes.
through events such as our winter concerts season, which has now become a mainstay in Charlbury, benefitting our community as well as raising significant sums for our charity; our annual Bring and Buy sale; and other local charity events which in this financial year included a Feast in a local restaurant.
_**Collec ions:**_ We have made two collections of warm clothing and equipment which have been sent to Care 4 Calais.
_**Dissemina ing informa ion:**_ We use a variety of media to disseminate information about the charity and its activities. In addition to CRAG’s Facebook page, and a page on the Charlbury Info website, we now have our own website, where people can find out what we do, the work we support, can book tickets for events and become members. A CRAG newsletter goes out to members once or twice a month, and we have a page in the quarterly Charlbury Chronicle and a column in The Leaflet (St Mary’s Charlbury parish magazine). CRAG members speak to local groups on request.
_**Raising awareness:**_ We are aware of the importance of raising awareness in our local community of the plight of refugees and make sure that we have a presence at local events such as the annual Street Fair, where members of the public stop and ask questions. We participate in the Christmas Tree Festival, with refugee-themed decorations, and for Refugee Week 2024 in June, we partnered with the local Amnesty International group in Chipping Norton in covering an old telephone box in the centre of the town with informative posters. During the 2023-24 financial year we hosted a talk from the author of a recently published report on the criminalisation of asylum seekers arriving in small boats (24 April 2024); and our October 2023 AGM featured a talk from volunteers at Witney charity Volunteer Link-Up, about their work with asylum seekers in Witney hotels.
## **E: Financial review**
4
CharlVJ pollcy on reserves: The charlty has no reserves, as it has no paid staff, premises or
other m•jor expendlture, operatin8 entirely through volunteers. It aims to glve funds to
frontline 8roup5 asslstin8 refugees as quickty as po55ible after receiving the funds.
There are no funds materially in deficit.
For the financial period i September 2023 to 31 August 2024, our total recelpts were
£36,544, of which £l,OCQ is restrlrted. None of our funds come from government contracts
or government 8fdnts, and none of our income ¢ame from outslde the UK.
Our totsl payments were £36,846, of which £1,480 came out of restrlcted funds. The 8rants
we made to frontline charities totslled £35,160. We made grants to our charitable partner5
and other charities in the UK, France, Greece, Serbia and Gaza. We made no grants to
Indlviduals, to non-charitsble organi5ations, and no payments to related parties or to
trustees {except to reimburse expenses incurred in carryin8 Out the charws artivities).
Approved by the Trustees of the charity on 29 Aprll 2025 and slgned on Its behalf by
Val Parker, Chair
Trustee
Angela Gwatkin, Treasurer
Trustee
## CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
**members of**[Charlbury Refugee Action Group ] **Report to the trustees/[c· ,1n1y ]** w11
**On accounts for the year** 31 August 2024 **ended**
**Charity no** 1205294 **(if any)**
**Set out on pages** 1 & 2
(remember to include the page nurPbers of addit,oral shee
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust") for the year ended 31/08/2024
- **Responsibilities and** As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act").
- **basis of report**
**Independent examiner's statement**
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention ee1 II Hli Ilia+ disclosed bele11e. *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material **(rrtl** respect:
- accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the 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.
* _**Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.**_
**Signed:** _ J ~~-~~ _�-----' **Date:** ~~I~~ 30/04/25 L-1 _
**Name:** H R Belshaw I
**Relevant professional MBA (if any): qualification(s) or body** L **I** ----------------------------'
**Address:** 14 Sandford Park Charlbury Oxon. OX7 3TH 1
1
**October 2018**
**IER**
||**CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP**
**Charity Name**|**CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP**
**Charity Name**|**CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP**
**Charity Name**|**CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP**
**Charity Name**|**CHARLBURY REFUGEE ACTION GROUP**
**Charity Name**|**1205294**
**No (if any)**|**1205294**
**No (if any)**|**1205294**
**No (if any)**|**1205294**
**No (if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||01-Sep-23
Period start date||**To**||31-Aug-24
Period end date|||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest**
**£**
**16,858**
**928**
**-**
**-**
**876**
**-**
**-**
**25**
**319**
**15**
**10,803**
**3,897**
**1,349**
**474**
**35,544**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**35,544**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,000**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**1,000**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**16,858**
**928**
**-**
**-**
**876**
**-**
**-**
**25**
**319**
**-**
**1,015**
**10,803**
**3,897**
**1,349**
**474**
**36,544**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**36,544**|||
|Concert income|**16,858**|||||||||
|Café|**928**|||||||||
|Art Fair|**-**|||||||||
|In Memorium|**-**|||||||||
|Bring& Buy|**876**|||||||||
|Talks|**-**|||||||||
|Auction Proceeds|**-**|||||||||
|Recipe Books|**25**|||||||||
|Christmas Cards|**319**|||||||||
|At Home Sales||||||||||
|Evenlode Fund|**15**|||||||||
|GroupDonations|**10,803**|||||||||
|Personal Donations|**3,897**|||||||||
|Just GivingDonations|**1,349**|||||||||
|Gift Aid|**474**|||||||||
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**35,544**|||||||||
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||||
||**-**|||||||||
||**-**|||||||||
|**_Sub total_**
**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Grants**|
**-**|||||||||
|Care4Calais(France)|**4,500**||**-**||**-**||**4,500**||**3,136**|
|Safe Passage(UK)|**4,640**||**-**||**-**||**4,640**||**1,500**|
|Asylum Welcome(UK)|**5,500**||**-**||**-**||**5,500**||**7,850**|
|Hope Project(Greece)|**4,020**||**-**||**-**||**4,020**||**4,760**|
|Refugee CommunityKitchen(France)|**4,500**||**-**||**-**||**4,500**||**2,250**|
|Collective Aid(Serbia)|**3,500**||**-**||**-**||**3,500**||**5,660**|
|Medical Aid for Palestinians(Palestine)|**6,000**||**-**||**-**||**6,000**||**-**|
|Glocal Roots(Greece)|**2,500**||**-**||**-**||**2,500**||**-**|
|Charmaghz|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**500**|
|Medical Volunteers|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**721**|
|Euro Relief|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**1,000**|
|Wonder Foundation|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**2,000**|
|||||||||||
|**Other expenses**||||||||||
|ContingencyFund|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**356**|
|Events expenses|**-**||**1,480**||**-**||**1,480**||**2,116**|
|Calais Trip|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**15**|
|Insurance|**206**||**-**||**-**||**206**||**201**|
|**_Sub total_**|**35,366**||**1,480**||**-**||**36,846**||**32,065**|
|||||||||||
|**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_**||||||||||
|**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
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|General Fund
Evenlode Fund
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**||||**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**501**
**-**
**-**
**501**
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**2,404**
**-**
**2,404**
OK
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**|||
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**
**Details**||||**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**||**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||Signature||||Print Name|||||
||||||||||Date of
approval|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
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