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2021-12-31-accounts

DHARMACHAKRA 4 Warminster Road Registered Charity 294143 St Werburghs BRISTOL BS2 9UH UK info@freebuddhistaudio.com

DHARMACHAKRA ANNUAL REPORT 2021

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Income for the period amounted to £202,868 .

This represents an increase of £36,254 against 2020 results, an increase of 22%.

This is due to greatly increased performance (see ‘Achievements and Performance’ section below).

PRINCIPLE FUNDING SOURCES

Income includes £98,877 in the form of grants over 12 months.

During the previous year the figure was £86,000, so this represents a 15% increase in grant income.

As well as grants the principal funding for the charity was in the form of donations totaling £90,529 .

The equivalent figure for 2020 was £67,228. This represents a significant increase in donation income of around 35%, primarily due to increased online event dana.

We also derived income from client work, including web hosting. In 2021 this was worth £13,462 .

The equivalent figure for 2020 was £13,386, representing a slight increase of 0.5%.

While we had no gift aid tax revenue in 2021 (for 2020 receipts), we expect to receive gift aid tax benefit in 2023 for both 2020 and 2021 receipts.

Overall we were able to achieve a £ 22,000 positive cashflow in 2021 (compared to a £28,000 profit in the previous period).

This is despite having to pay more grant to the USA side of the charity (which is where we incur a lot of our costs - chiefly payroll, consulting and also our Google Cloud Server), compared to 2020 levels, due to some increased general costs. The US grants increased by 14%.

Our USA side of the charity did perform well. We had a turnover there of £18,000, mainly in donations. This income total is £5,000 less than in 2020, mainly due to a large one-off donation of £6,000 that was unique to that year. In 2021, recurring donations increased by 11%, event dana by 48%, and domain management by 11%.

INVESTMENT POLICY

We will be exploring a new investment strategy over the next year in regard to our significantly increased reserve (see below).

RESERVES POLICY

The trustees have not previously held reserves for any lengthy period. However, in light of our strong financial performance with significantly increased net cash flow ( £22,000 ) and bank balances ( £72,434 ), the trustees have consolidated their intention to hold in future the recommended level of reserve for a charitable organization (there months’ worth of expenditure). The amount held at the end of the year allows this intention to move towards implementation as policy going forward. Reserves, and the investment of portions of the reserve, will be regularly reviewed by the trustees, together with a general review of the financial position of the charity.

LOANS

There are no outstanding loans.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The overall objective of Dharmachakra is the advancement of the Buddhist religion. In particular, its aims are:

• To encourage members and others to live in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha.

• In furtherance of the above purpose, but no further or otherwise, the charity shall maintain close communication with, and work under the guidance of, the Triratna Buddhist Order in cooperation with other groups with the same objects.

To achieve these aims the charity archives, and makes available for free download, both text and audio files of Buddhist teachings. It also runs a web publishing platform and social media spaces to further support connections within our community.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE 2021

This year, Dharmachakra’s project The Buddhist Centre online (www.thebuddhistcentre.com) was the main focus of new work.

Like all businesses and charities, 2021 was a year of extraordinary challenge for Dharmachakra, at all levels. Our team and our online platform rose to these challenges in wonderful ways, as evidenced by very strong financial performance under pressure.

Leveraging work done over years, we were able to quickly respond to the needs of our worldwide community during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic by developing several key new sites and services. The public response to these was very positive, and we were able to fundraise effectively against a raft of live events and online facilities designed to support

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people practicing Buddhism and meditation in their daily lives at a time of continued difficulty.

Specifically, the creation of the Dharma Toolkit platform – for live events, communityfocused media, and shared web spaces – was a major achievement. Developed in just one month in March 2020, this has become a major focal point for a rich array of web services. We continued and expanded our efforts with the Dharma Toolkit and our live events program. We also hope it has helped exemplify for our wider community how online connection can substantively complement in-person contexts for learning and offering guidance to those looking to explore the Buddhist path.

The needs of the situation and of the new platform meant we also urgently needed to grow our team. Fortunately, the generosity of our donors in response to our work meant this became possible in ways we had not predicted. We were able to take on several new team members on a part-time basis and sustain their employment throughout the year. As a charity that places a lot of emphasis on the ethical principles of Buddhist ‘Right Livelihood’ we are immensely grateful for the opportunity to offer meaningful work to others who feel connected to these same values.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE (2022)

Since the pandemic will be ongoing, and the landscape of our community’s presence online has changed in so many unforeseen ways, we envisage continuing and expanding our efforts with the Dharma Toolkit and our live events program. There will be challenges to this as the world gradually returns to ‘normal’ post-pandemic, but we feel there will also be strong opportunities to uphold the value of our online spaces as focal points for shared positive connection within our own community and beyond.

We will also be beginning design and background implementation work on a complete overhaul of our sister site at Free Buddhist Audio. This site has long been a cornerstone of our fundraising strategy, and we’re excited to explore the possibilities for redeveloping it as a major part of what we offer online in future.

The Buddhist Centre Online will continue its mobile redesign process, taking in a completely new menu system, further integration of all our sites and services within the platform (including everything new from 2020), and a new home page with deeper curation of content from around our community.

Our server project will continue to support more experienced webmasters in developing their own websites and social web spaces – and help less experienced situations maintain a secure, virus-free online environment when it comes to their presence online.

Financially, we will push on with our successful efforts to make Dharmachakra more financially independent in ways that would allows us to grow the team further and offer more value to our community and our funding partners. We look forward to another year of challenge and of dana ( Sanskrit: ‘generosity’) as the most effective response.

TRUSTEES IN 2021

David Creighton (Chair), Madeleine Cadwallender (Secretary), Bettye Pruitt, Tim Holden, Sean Boland.

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Dharmachakra (UK) annual accounts to 31st December 2021

Receipts and Payments Accounts

January to December 2021

?
?
?
?		 Donations
PayPal
Standing Orders (Recurring)
Events hosted
Institutional donations during covid-19
Other Donations
Gift Aid Tax		 £
2021 Restricted		 £
2021 Unestricted
34,126
14,041
38,969
1,570
0
1,822
0		 £
£
£
2021 Total
2020
change
NOTES
34,126
32,182
1,945
1
14,041
13,026
1,015
1
38,969
8,045
30,924
2
1,570
4,328
-2,758
3
0
0
0
1,822
2,445
-623
4
0
7,202
-7,202
5
90,529
67,228
23,301
6,780
7,705
-925
503
0
503
7,283
7,705
-423
3,127
0
0
80,000
61,000
19,000
15,000
15,000
0
0
10,000
-10,000
750
0
750
98,877
86,000
9,750
1,650
1,800
-150
2,250
3,380
-1,130
2,280
500
1,780
6,180
5,680
499
202,868
166,614
33,127
4,050
3,150
900
2,635
1,991
644
6
782
0
782
133
193
-60
7,600
5,335
2,266
-34
734
-768
7
1,169
0
1,169
7
1,570
1,831
-262
21,981
20,218
1,562
11,571
14,328
-5,157
8
0
89
-89
0
30
-30
8
0
370
-370
8
0
0
0
8
36,256
37,601
-3,944
8,512
1,734
6,628
19,114
9,233
9,482
56,517
38,304
18,213
84,143
49,271
34,323
128,000
92,206
32,644
9
74,868
74,408
483
-52,613
-46,016
-6,597
9
22,256
28,393
-6,114
Other Income
Domain Names
Other(Publishing Services)		 0 90,529
6,780
503
Grants Received
ECA
Future Dharma Fund
Order Office
Uddiyana
Triratna Trust		 0
3,127		 7,283
0
80,000
15,000
0
750
Client Work
LBC Development
Order Office
Other(Festival Day)		 3,127 95,750
1,650
2,250
2,280
0 6,180
Total Income 3,127 199,741
Administration
Accounting
Bank fees etc
Insurance
Office & Postage		 4,050
2,635
782
133
General Costs
Computer & Software
Depreciation
Domain Names (centre sites)
Social Media Manager
Consultancy - contractors to help with events etc
Miscellaneous event costs
Travel & subsistance (ECA Meetings)
Travel (Other external Meetings)
Travel to TBCO meetings		 0
200
2,400		 7,600
-34
1,169
1,570
21,781
9,171
0
0
0
0
Website Costs
Order Office and Administrative support
Website Management & Content Promotion
Web Development(primary coding)		 2,600
150
400		 33,656
8,362
18,714
56,517
550 83,593
Total Expenditure 3,150 124,850
Cash Flow -23 74,891
Grant Transfer
Paid to US		 -52,613
Adjusted Cash Flow -23 22,279

Dharmachakra (UK) annual accounts to 31st December 2021

NOTES:

Note 1: increase in general donations to The Buddhist Centre Online

In general, The Buddhist Centre Online received a moderate upturn in donations, as people made much more use of our services, either via events and retreats (see note 2 below), or in other ways, due largely to continued Covid-19 health safety measures, effecting the closure of buddhist centres and retreat centres around the world.

Note 2: Events income:

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the ongoing closure of Triratna buddhist centres and retreat centres through much of 2021, Dharmachakra responded by hosting a number of events and

retreats, via zoom, for the Triratna Community. These were by donation, facilitated by the platform Eventbrite. In some cases a proportion of the proceedings was gifted to the teacher of the event, for the work they had put in to the event.

Note 3: In 2021, Institutional donations (furloughs) was lower,

as furlough payments were discontinued and the economy began to recover from lock-downs and pandemic measures.

Note 4: In 2021, 'Other Donations' were lower,

although it included two donations from Triratna Berlin for The Buddhist Centre Online's help with the European convention.

Note 5: Gift Aid receipt

The Gift Aid receipt for 2021 (relating to 2020 donations) is expected to be received in 2023, along with the Gift Aid receipt for 2022. So there is a nil Gift Aid receipt in 2020 and will be a double receipt in 2023 (relating to 2020 and 2021 donations). Note 6: Bank fees etc are made up of International transfers (via Wise) / Paypal fees / Stripe fees/Eventbrite fees.

Note 7: Computer costs are now evaluated for a capitalization threshold of £1,000,

below which, the cost is expensed as Computers; above which, the cost is depreciated over the life of the asset. When comparing computer & software costs from year to year, depreciation expense can be included.

Note 8: Expenses:

Due to covid-19, as mentioned in 'income' notes above, we hosted many online events, which had associated costs eg the hiring of contractors to facilitate the events etc.

Candradasa's travel costs were paid by Dharmachakra, Inc. (US), so the 2021 cost is less than in 2020.

Note 9: increase in USA grant compared to 2020:

Grants passed through to Dharmachakra U.S. increased by 14%, and were used to cover increased operating expenses, primarily Google Cloud service and software costs.

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Fixed Assets
Fixtures, Fittings, Equipment
Accumulated Depreciation		 12/31/2020
NOTES
NOTES
5,376
0
5,376
558
59
42,143
5,641
48,400
0
53,776
0
0
53,776
5,376
48,400
53,776
Current Assets
Cash at Bank & In Hand
Santander No1 & No2 Accounts
CCLA Account
Co-operative Bank Account
PayPal Accounts
Uncleared receipts
Total Assets
Liabilities
Payroll Liabilities
Net Assets
Represented by:
approximate value of fixed assets
Unrestricted funds

Dharmachakra (UK) annual accounts to 31st December 2021

Bank Statement Reconciliations

Santander No1 Account check
Balance as per Quickbooks 70.00
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 70.00 0.00
Santander No2 Account
Balance as per Quickbooks 458.50
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 458.50 0.00
Co-op Dharmachakra Account
Balance as per Quickbooks 66,433.99
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 66,433.99 0.00
CCLA Investment Account
Balance as per Quickbooks 0.00
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 0.00 0.00 Account clo
PayPal (FBA) Account
Balance as per Quickbooks 1,326.04
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 1,326.04 0.00
PayPal (TBC) Account
Balance as per Quickbooks 1,036.52
Plus uncleared deposits
Less unclearedpayments
Balance as per Statement 1,036.52 0.00
TOTAL CASH 69,325.05
UNCLEARED DEPOSITS 3,108.87
UNCLEARED PAYMENTS 0.00
balance of cash & deposits: 72,433.92

?sed in 2021

Dharmachakra (UK) annual accounts to 31st December 2021

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

Fixed Assets
Fixtures, Fittings, Equipment
Accumulated Depreciation		 12/31/2021
6,786
-1,169		 12/31/2020
NOTES
5,376
0
5,376
558
59
42,143
5,641
48,400
0
53,776
0
0
53,776
5,376
20,007
28,393
53,776
Current Assets
Cash at Bank & In Hand
Santander No1 & No2 Accounts
CCLA Account
Co-operative Bank Account
PayPal Accounts		 5,617
529
0
66,434
2,363
Uncleared receipts 69,325
3,109
Total Assets 78,051
Liabilities
Payroll Liabilities		 2,019
2,019
Net Assets 76,032
Represented by:
Book value of fixed assets
Unrestricted net assets (Retained Earnings)
Net Revenue		 5,617
48,159
22,256
76,032

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR E￿lAND AND WAIES Independent examinerfs report on the Section A Independent Examiner s Report R•port to th• tru•t• Ohannachakra On accoun18 for th• y￿r 31112r2021 Charfty no 111 •ny} 204143 I rep￿1 lo ts tru8te88 on my examination of the accounts of the above tharity Trusf) for thè year ended 31j12r2￿2l. R•8ponslbllllS•• and bas1• of rnport As the tharitys tru8te88, you arn r•8pon8ibl8 for th• prnparation of the accounts in accordance the requirements of the Charitie8 Act 2011 I report in re8FCt of my examination of tho Tru8t'• accounts corrlod out urxler 8e(Xion 145 of the 2011 Act and in carryiThJ (xrt my examination. I have followed all the apFlICab￿ Direction8 glven by the Charity Commi881on under sedion 1445Xb) ol the Ala. Indepondent I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matter8 have examlnorf• statsnwnt come to my attention in connection with the exam¥M￿n ￿•ch gNe8 me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accountir¥J records There not kgpl in accordance wilh secti¢)n 130 of Chafthe8 Act. or the accounts did not compty ith the appli￿ble requirements conceming the fom7 and content of account8 88t out in the Charit￿6 (Accounts arKI Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a and fairf view which Is not a matter considered a8 part of an inde[w￿nI examination. with tho examinab"LM to ￿}ch attenlion should bo drawn in this report in order to enable a Fyoper understarKliThJ of ac¢ount8 to be r•ached. S*n•d: 06102r2023 Nam•: Fay Piitchard R•lovaTrt prof••sloMI quallficatlon(•) or body (If any): Addrn88: 8 DaNin Street shreWst￿ry 8Y3 8QE IER Oct 2018