**To**
## **Trustees' Annual Report for the period**
Period start date Period end date 15 01 2024 31 12 2024
**From**
## Section A Reference and administration details
**Charity name** African Association for the Study of Religions
**Other names charity is known by** AASR **Registered charity number (if any)** 1206540
|**Charity's principal address**|
University of Leeds|
University of Leeds|
|---|---|---|
||School of Philosophy and Religion||
||Woodhouse lane||
||LS2 9JT|Leeds|
## **Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity**
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20|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year **|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee (ifany)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||Damaris Parsitau|President|||
||Abel Ugba|Vice President|||
||Benson Igboin|General Secretary|||
||Adriaan van
Klinken|Treasurer|||
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**Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)**
**Name Dates acted if not for whole year**
March **2012**
**TAR**
1
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|**Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**|
|---|---|---|
|**Type of adviser**
**Name**
**Address**|||
||||
||||
||||
||||
|**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**|||
||||
## **Section B Structure, governance and management**
## **Description of the charity’s trusts**
Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) How the charity is constituted
Constitution
Association
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Trustee selection methods
Election by membership
- (eg. appointed by, elected by)
## **Additional governance issues (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant, about:
- policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
- the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
- relationship with any related parties;
- trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
## **Section C Objectives and activities**
**Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document**
For the public benefit the advancement of education, specifically the promotion of excellence in the study of the religions of Africa and its diaspora worldwide and the promotion of research for the public benefit in all aspects of that subject, in the UK and internationally, by means of the arrangement of conferences, symposia and colloquia, the publication of an online journal, and other associated activities.
March **2012**
**TAR**
2
The main activity during the year reported here (2024), was a joint academic conference held by the Association, together with the Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, which took place in Abuja, Nigeria, in May 2024, about the theme “"Engaging African Realities: Reassessing African values, spirituality; religious innovation and competition”.
In addition, the Association was involved in organising a writing workshop for Africa-based early career researchers, which took place at the British Institute for Eastern Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2024.
**Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)**
The Association further developed plans (and raised funds) for relaunching its academic journal, in collaboration with University of Johannesburg Press. The journal will formally be relaunched in 2025, under the new name _Utambuzi_ .
Finally, the Association organised an online event in December 2024, to present and celebrate major academic publications by its members.
## **Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include further statements, where relevant, about:
- policy on grantmaking;
- policy programme related investment;
- contribution made by volunteers.
March **2012**
**TAR**
3
Section D Achievements and performance
**Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year**
- A successful academic conference
- • Advanced planning and fundraising for the launch of the Association’s academic journal.
- • Support and mentorship of early-career researchers, incl. via a writing workshop.
- • Stabilisation of membership • Increased social media activity and profile • Planning for the next major conference (to be held in Botswana, July 2026)
March **2012**
**TAR**
4
## **Section E Financial review**
**Brief statement of the** The Association holds a biannual conference with a budget of roughly **charity’s policy on reserves** £25,000.
**charity’s policy on reserves**
The aim is to have, as a minimum, enough reserves to cover the costs of the next conference, alongside other commitments.
**Details of any funds materially in deficit**
## **Further financial review details (Optional information)**
You **may choose** to include additional information, where relevant about:
- the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
- how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
- investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
## **Section F Other optional information**
## **Section G Declaration**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
## **Signature(s)**
||**s trustees**||
|---|---|---|
||||
|**Full name(s)**
**Position (eg Secretary, Chair,**
**etc)**
**Date**|Damaris Parsitau|Adriaan van Klinken|
||
President/Chair|Treasurer|
||10/10/2025||
||10/10/2025||
March **2012**
**TAR**
5
TAR
Maich 2012
**African Association for the Study of Religions No (if any) Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period** Period start date Period end date **To from** 15/01/2024 31/12/2024
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
£2,080.00
**1,274**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,354**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**3,354**
**767**
**180**
**41**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**988**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**988**
**2,366**
**-**
**16,156**
**18,522**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**768**
**4,950**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,718**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,718**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**5,718**
**-**
**-**
**5,718**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**2,080**
**768**
**4,950**
**1,274**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**9,072**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**9,072**
**767**
**-**
**180**
**41**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**988**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**988**
**8,084**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Member subscriptions|£2,080.00|||||**-**|
|Earmarked donations - bursaries||||||**-**|
|Abuja conference registration||||||**-**|
|Abuja conference registration|**1,274**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**3,354**|||||**-**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||
|**NA**|**-**||||||
||**-**|||||**-**|
|~~**_Sub total_**~~|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_ **
**A3 Payments**|||||||
|||||||**-**|
||||||||
|Contribution to Abuja conference|**767**|||||**-**|
|Bursaries/awards||||||**-**|
|Website|**180**|||||**-**|
|Bank charges and financial services|**41**|||||**-**|
|Other charitable activities||||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**988**|||||**-**|
||||||||
|**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_**|||||||
|||||||**-**|
||||||||
||**2,366**|**5,718**|**-**|**8,084**||**-**|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
||**16,156**|**-**|**-**|**16,156**||**-**|
||**18,522**|**5,718**|**-**|**24,240**||**-**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
11/10/2025
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**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 £**
**18,522**
**5,718**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**18,522**
**5,718**
OK
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
Damaris Parsitau
Adriaan van Klinken|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||Damaris Parsitau|10-Oct-25|
|||Adriaan van Klinken|10-Feb-25|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
11/10/2025
2