Annual Report
Charity registration number: 297667 Charity name: Abortion Talk
Period ending 30/09/2021
Summary of activities
1. Repurpose existing charity with new name and new objectives:
to advance education, particularly for public benefit, for all those affected by pregnancy decision-making and its consequences, including abortionrelated stigma, by the provision of advice, support and services and by the promotion of research related to pregnancy decision-making and its consequences
A new governing document has been drafted, approved by the Trustees and submitted to the Charity Commission.
2. Appoint Trustees and Establish Advisory Group.
Trustees: Jane Fisher (chair); Hayley Webb (treasurer); Chowa Mwenya Nkonde (secretary); Wendy Savage; Sally Gimson; Zoe Macalpine
Advisory Group: Carrie Purcell; Fiona Bloomer; Christina Boateng; Isadora Sinha; Joe Strong; Lisa Hallgarten; Mara Clarke; Patricia Lohr; Pollyanna Cohen; Isadora Sinha; Sam Rowlands; Upeka De Silva; Yvonne Neubauer
3. Develop website and launch Abortion Talk.
This involved recruiting, through a competitive process, a general manager (Kellie O’Dowd) and communications officer (Zachi Brewster). Both were recruited for 6 months to help with repurposing the existing charity, building the website (along with Deb Googe), organising the launch event. They joined Jane Calvert (Talkline developer and manager) who had been involved with Lesley Hoggart, Jayne Kavanagh, Jane Fisher, Lisa Hallgarten and Patricia Lohr in a series of meetings discussing whether and how to repurpose the charity. The charity was then run by the three employees (as consultants) with the support of Lesley Hoggart and Jayne Kavanagh as volunteers.
The repurposed charity was launched with an on-line event on 28 June 2021. The launch event had over 100 attendees.
- Set up ‘Talkline’ for anyone who wants to talk about abortion experiences.
Involved:
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Scoping work commissioned (on existing helplines and also from Decolonising Contraception on abortion and equality, diversity and inclusion issues). Two reports were produced and considered by the charity’s three employees.
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Recruiting volunteers. We advertised for volunteers through social media and received over 20 applications. These were all considered. Those who were already known to the volunteer manager and could be vouched for were accepted for training. The remaining volunteers were all interviewed. In total 15 were selected for training. Remaining volunteers are involved in other supporting activities.
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Training volunteers. Training by jane Calvert for 15 volunteers took place over 4 weekends 14 hours in total, including a dedicated safeguarding session. Topics covered listening skills with opportunity for practice, empathy, maintaining confidentiality and boundaries, pregnancy options with information on pathways for each. Information on treatments involved for abortion care for supporting providers.
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A manual to support the training is available detailing helpful information and up to date pathways for access to pregnancy information including abortion pathways.
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An ever-changing list of useful organisations supports the manual and volunteers.
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One to one support is available to all volunteers on demand and opportunities to share good practice via bi-annual supervision.
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Developing volunteer agreement.
The talkline is open Monday, Wednesday + Thursday from 7pm - 10pm (UK time).
- Develop and pilot workshops.
Involved:
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Pump-priming from Open University to pilot and evaluate workshops. This was in order to support the research impact activity of Lesley Hoggart and Victoria Newton and also to provide an evaluation to draw upon in a large grant application led by the Open University. This is currently being prepared and will be submitted during the 2022/3 academic year.
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Attending provider share workshop training. The charity paid for three supporters (including Jane Calvert, Lesley Hoggart, Kellie O’Dowd) to attend a series of training workshops arranged by RCOG and facilitated by Provider Share trainers (Kate Austen of MSI and Jane Hassinger co-founder of the Providers Share Program and the Director of Training and Education for the Providers Share Global Workgroup at the University of Michigan). Several of our volunteers also attended funded by RCOG.
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Three pilot workshops with providers (one with a hospital in London, and two in Northern Ireland)
Tw The section 4 headline reads "Set up ‘Talkline’ for anyone affected by abortion", this sounds a little stigmatising / feels like it has negative connotations to me, I wonder if it would be better to say "Set up ‘Talkline’ for anyone with abortion experiences"?
- o pilot workshops with students (Queens University Belfast)
ABORTION TALK ANNUAL REPO
WISE Account
OUTGOING Category Staff Wages Office/ Admin Expenses Volunteer Expenses Talkline Expenses Comms and Marketing Event/ Workshop Expenses Training and Development Expenses Expenditure on Raising Funds Bank Charges Research expenses
TOTAL
PayPal Account
Outgoings Category Staff Wages Office/ Admin Expenses Volunteer Expenses Talkline Expenses Comms and Marketing Event/ Workshop Expenses Training and Development Expenses Expenditure on Raising Funds Bank Charges Research expenses Transfer to WISE Account
TOTAL
FINAL ACCOUNTS
TOTAL OUTGOINGS
ORT 01.10.2020 - 30.09.2021 Updated with additional det
INCOMING
| INCOMING | ||
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Category | |
| £ | 21,067.98 | Individual Giving |
| £ | 295.05 | Grants |
| £ | 42.35 | Partnership/ Sponsorship |
| £ | 337.24 | Events |
| £ | 1,383.60 | Workshops |
| £ | - | |
| £ | 444.99 | Transfer from PayPal |
| £ | - | |
| £ | 5.14 | |
| £ | 3,000.00 | |
| £26,576.35 | TOTAL | |
| NET |
Income Amount Category £ - Individual Giving £ - Grants £ - Partnership/ Sponsorship £ - Events £ - Workshops £ - £ - £ - £ - £ - £ 167.14 £167.14 TOTAL NET £26,743.49 TOTAL INCOME NET
tails 04/04/2023
Amount £100.01 £27,065.00 £ - £ 409.92 £ - £167.14 £27,742.07 £1,165.72
Amount
£ 313.76 £ - £ - £ - £ -
£313.76 £146.62
£28,055.83 £1,312.34
Abortion Talk
Independent Examiner's Report to the Members of Abortion Talk
Year Ended 30 September 2021
I report on the accounts of the charity for the year ended 30 September 2021.
Respective Responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
Having satisfied myself that the charity is not subject to audit under charity law and is eligible for independent examination, it is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act;
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act; and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner's Report
My examination was carried out in accordance with the general Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent Examiner's Statement
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Charities Act
have not been met; or
(2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Jane Ascroft FCA MA (Cantab) Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) and Independent examiner
Enterprise House Harmire Enterprise Park Barnard Castle County Durham DL12 8XP
11[th] April 2023