2020-09-30-accounts - Faith Welfare Trust

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Faith Welfare Trust Annual Report 2019-20

FAITH WELFARE TRUST

THE OLD VICARAGE  ACKLINGTON  NORTHUMBERLAND  NE65 9BL TEL 01670 760620

E-mail: fwt.news@gmail.com Web: www.faithwelfaretrust.org

Registered Charity number 327557

Faith Welfare Trust

Annual Report for year ending September 30, 2020

Introduction

Faith Welfare Trust (FWT) is constituted by Trust Deed, established in 1987. The objects of the charity are: to promote the welfare of disadvantaged and/or destitute children and young people in the area of benefit (India); and to support disadvantaged children and young people in the area of benefit in their education and training. To fulfill these objects, it provides support to 2 homes (one for girls, one for boys) for deprived children near Chennai, South India, and Faith School in Rajahmundry (also known as Rajahmahendravaram), Andhra Pradesh state, India, 350 miles to the North.

The trustees have regard to both the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and prevention and relief of poverty for the public benefit. FWT’s work is in accordance with both these guidelines and the main objects set out in the trust deed.

Governance

The Trustees of FWT for the year 2019-20 comprised:

Brian Tugwell, Elsie Tugwell, Alistair Coomer, Chris Sayers, Tessa Sayers, John Fisher, Rachel Fisher, Helen Midda, Joanne Hutchison, April Butterworth (from Arpril 2020).

Tessa Sayers is the chair of trustees and she and Chris Sayers have the role of “managing trustees”. They arrange the twice-yearly trustee meetings and oversee the financial affairs of the charity, banking and acknowledging all donations received, keeping records of these in a spreadsheet and reconciling this with the bank statements. They ensure that Gift Aid is claimed and prepare the annual accounts for the independent examiner. They carry out the annual return for the Charity Commission.

John and Rachel Fisher prepare the once or twice-yearly newsletter to supporters which includes significant events occurring at the projects supported by FWT, the impact of work done at the projects on some of the benficiaries of the projects and articles giving relevant background information. They manage the FWT website and help with FWT’s FaceBook presence.

Brian and Elsie Tugwell play a major role in liaising with the charity's projects in India as they are based in India for several months each year. They attend the meetings of Nambikkai Illam Trust whenever possible and are in regular contact with the staff at the children's homes and Faith School. They keep the other trustees informed of any changes or developments.

Helen Midda’s experience and qualifications as a school teacher and her first-hand knowledge of the children's homes and school in India make her advice very relevant to the operation of FWT.

Alistair Coomer has been on the board of trustees from the charity's inception and this long-term view, together with financial and managerial experience, are very beneficial to the governance of FWT.

Joanne Hutchison has visited the children’s homes and Faith school in recent years. She has taken on helping with acknowledgment of online giving and contributing to the FaceBook page. She also helps in a practical way with newsletter mailing.

April Butterworth has experience working with and supporting children and families with mental health problems (especially autism). She visited the homes in December 2019. Her knowledge of how the homes operate and supporting young people with mental health issues make her advice very valuable to the board.

The trustees meet twice a year (spring and autumn). Due to their geographical dispersal in the UK, it is not practical to meet in person more often, but correspondence is conducted by email on relevant matters arising between meetings, to inform and consult with trustees. The governing document does not specify the number of trustees but there are usually 8-9 at any one time and when vacancies arise, potential new trustees are invited by the existing board. They are usually existing supporters of FWT.

Each year, some trustees usually visit the school and homes in India to see for themselves how things are and make contact with the staff and trustees of the Nambikkai Illam Trust (NIT), the Indian charity that manages the homes and school. In the year from Oct 2019 to Sept 2020, Tessa Sayers and April Butterworth visited the children's homes in December 2020 and Brian and Elsie Tugwell visited the homes and Faith school on numerous occasions during their spells in India. The costs of all visits were met by the trustees themselves and no expenses associated with visits to India were charged to FWT funds. None of the Trustees received any remuneration for their services.

The homes are managed locally by the trustees of the Nambikkai Illam Trust (NIT), based in Chennai, who meet approximately every 2 months to deal with strategic and practical issues as they arise. The chair of trustees is R Prabakaran, a lawyer, who has been on the board of trustees for over 20 years. The other trustees in 2019-20 comprised Dr Esther (a GP), Dr Miriam Samuel (a lecturer in social work), Mrs Soundrakumari (retired children's hostel warden), Mr Dhyaneswar, Mr Dinakaran (local school teacher) and Dr Livingstone (retired teacher at Madras Christian College) and Mrs Sunithy Jeyakaran (runs a local old peole’s home). In August, Mr Dinakaran and Dr Samuel stood down due to a change in the Indian Government rules prohibiting government employees from being trustees of charities. NIT holds a bank account at ICICI bank to which FWT sends funds as necessary to meet the costs of the homes and Faith School. Minutes of their meetings are sent to FWT trustees as well as copies of their bank statements and their audited accounts. The wardens of the homes send a monthly breakdown of income and expenditure to both NIT trustees and FWT trustees as well as regular summaries of what has been happening at the homes.

Faith School is managed locally by Dr Samuel Moses and his wife Kamala. In 2016 a board of advisers was set up to give a wider forum for strategic discussions and to help oversee the operation of the school as it increases in size. Its members are mainly experienced educationalists, a doctor and an economist. Brian and Elsie Tugwell visited during the year. The school's management and finance arrangements are overseen by trustees of Nambikkai Illam Trust who arrange for appropriate funds to be sent from the main Nambikkai Illam bank account to the school.

Over the year 19-20, there have been significant changes to Indian legislation governing the running and finances of charities in India, particularly with respect to

the receipt of foreign contributions and the direct involvement of foreign organisations in the governance of Indian charities. Foreign contributions can now only be paid into an account held at the Delhi branch of the State Bank of India and foreign organisations cannot be involved in appointing the trustees of Indian charities. These changes have meant considerable administrative work for trustees and Chandra Rao, the general manager. Their trust deed has had the required changes made to it so that FWT is no longer involved in appointing trustees. In practice, this had not been the case for many years but it was still in the trust deed. Charities may not now undertake work to convert people to any religion other than Hinudism, but as the objects of NIT are the welfare and education of children it is not anticipated that this will impact our activities in India.

Nambikkai Illam Children’s Homes

FWT supports 2 children’s homes near Sriperumbudur, just outside Chennai, Tamil Nadu State, South India. The accommodation comprises:

Junior and Senior Boys Home at Vengadu village
Junior and Senior Girls Home at Navalur village

The two homes are less than a mile apart. From the beginning of the year until April 2020 44 children (23 boys and 21 girls) were accommodated at the Homes. Normally children would return to the homes after the main school holiday in May but this year, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, schools did not reopen and the children were not permitted to return to the children’s homes. This situation continued until the end of September 2020 (and beyond). The children normally attend the local primary school in Vengadu village and secondary schools in Sriperumbudur, where they are taken by bus each day. The older children are found appropriate further education or training if they wish to continue their education beyond school age and, where appropriate, continue to live at the homes. One boy continued studying for a Bsc and 2 girls continued studying nursing during the year.

A new warden and assistant warden for the girls’ home were appointed in May 2018 – Ruth and Chandrika. Chandra Rao is warden of the boys’ home and also overall manager, helped by his wife Sumathi who is assistant warden. They have held these posts for around 14 years and Chandra gained a degree in social work in recent years.

Members of the Church of God in Pernampet assist with the spiritual development of the children and visit the Homes regularly. A Sunday service for all the children is held most weeks at the church hall in Navalur. In addition, other Christian activities take place from time to time, such as a weekend “camp” run at the homes by a local Scripture Union group, which is much enjoyed by the children. When FWT trustees visit the homes they also help with talks, activities and singing.

During 2019-20, a slightly reduced level of payments (adjusted for inflation) was made towards the running of the Homes, staff wages, food, clothes, school materials, transport, and so on. Costs were lower because of children not being at the homes from Jun-September, although staff salaries continued to be paid. Some financial help was given to the families of the children.

SIPCOT, the development agency, had informed NIT in April 2015 that they would require a plot of land adjacent to the boys' home where the boys currently have small gardens. As last year, there has still been no activity by SIPCOT on this plot

of land in the current year and it now seems that the land will not be required. As ever, the situation is being monitored closely, particularly by Mr Prabakaran, the chair of NIT trustees, in order to get maximum notice of any new developments.

Faith School, Rajahmundry

The Faith Public School opened at the start of the academic year in June 2004, with the aim of providing a free English medium education for poorer students who would not otherwise be able to afford to go to school. Those who can afford it pay the normal fee but they are a small minority. Faith School’s classes range from lower kindergarten to 7th standard, providing a high standard of education for children from the ages of 4 (lower kindergarten) to 13 (7th standard). All pupils are provided with a nutritious free lunch every day. The school is gaining a good reputation locally and it started the year with 320 on the roll. This would have been maintained for new admissions in June but, due to the pandemic, schools were not allowed to reopen after the May holiday. The children are mainly from Hindu families, with some Muslim children also attending. They receive some Christian teaching and singing at their assembly every day and the ethos of the school is generally Christian. In June there was a food distribution to the families of all pupils at Faith School. Teachers there continued to provide online lessons for the children and salaries continued to be paid despite school closure.

Fund raising

The vast majority of FWT’s funds continues to be raised through standing orders from individual supporters and one-off donations by individuals and collections from various churches in the United Kingdom and North America, together with boxes in shops, stalls at fetes, sponsored walks and the like. All one-off donations are acknowledged with a personal letter of thanks. Supporters worldwide receive one or two copies of the FWT newsletter each year to keep them updated about events at the homes and school, including case studies and more general articles. There is also a website and a Facebook page which are updated intermittently. Online donations are collected using Golden Giving which has comprised an increasing share of the income. FWT does not operate any individual child sponsorship scheme.

Over the year from October 2019 to September 2020, income was £49,439, of which £5680 was gift aid payment from HMRC and £671 was bank interest. Outgoings were £53,706, of which £53,400 went directly to India to fund the school and homes and the remainder was spent on administrative costs. Funds in FWT bank accounts at the end of the financial year 2019-20 total £73,554.

Locally, the children’s homes have been attracting incrasing amounts of support from individuals and businesses – money, gifts (informed by a list of needs compiled by the manager – for example kitchen equipment, sports equipment), treats for the children (for example a trip to a local hotel for a Christmas celebration) or labour (for example, local hotel employees helped to tidy up the compound garden). These are encouraged and greatly appreciated by NIT and FWT trustees.

Reserves

The policy of the Trustees is to hold adequate reserves of funds to ensure that standing commitments to support the trust’s projects can be met for at least a year. This extended period is because if it were decided to stop funding the homes or school, alternatives would have to be found for all the children currently supported and this could not be done quickly.

It is important that a regular flow of funds to the projects is maintained as a high proportion of the disbursed funds go towards food, salaries, clothing and medical costs. After consideration, trustees decided that reserves sufficient to fund the homes and school in India for a year should be held. If FWT were unable to continue raising funds, this would allow alternative accommodation/schooling to be found for our beneficiaries or alternative funding to be sought. A shorter period would risk leaving vulnerable children without suitable homes or education. The agreed amount was £60,000.

This reserve can also act as a contingency fund against major disasters, as the region around the Nambikkai Illam children’s homes has been subject to earthquakes on more than one occasion. There is also a risk of damage during the monsoons, which occur each year. While insurances are maintained, in the event of a natural disaster it would be many months before the homes could be repaired and re-built, so it is deemed prudent to retain a reserve against this eventuality.

In addition, no written guarantee has yet been received from SIPCOT that they will not require some or all of the land currently occupied by the boys' home, although nothing has been heard from them for some years. It is therefore prudent to keep reserves to at least cushion that eventuality until such a guarantee can be obtained.

The current balance is higher than the reserve amount, which enables longer term plans to be made for the work in India and protects against exchange rate fluctuation.

Future Developments

The events of 2020 related to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic are still playing out, causing severe disruption to the work among the children in India. We anticipate that the year 20-21 will see continuing disruption and hopefully the start of a return to normal operations. Trustees have also been mindful of a tightening of government control over the finances and operations of charities receiving foreign support, though the changes in legislation should not impact on the work we currently support. Trustees plan to carry out the following development of FWT’s work:

Encourage trustees in India to consider alternative models of support which may enable children to remain with their families – particularly in the light of recommendations by a national body that children’s homes in Tamil Nadu be closed.
Monitor the effectiveness of the Board of trustees of Nambikkai Illam Trust and the advisory committee at Faith School and recommend courses of action to improve, if appropriate.
Continue to increase the number of standing order donors to strengthen the predictable income stream to FWT by widening the supporter base to include a younger generation of Church of God members and those not involved with Churches of God.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the FWT annual report above.

Signature Full name Tessa Sayers Chris Sayers P05itpon Chair ot irusiees Trusiee Dale

FINANCIAL STATEM£NT5 FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 For FAITH WELFARE TRU¥f

FAITH WELFARE TBUST GEIIERAL INFORMATION for Ythr Efidod JO Sepiemb•r 2020 ADDRE55: The 01(J Vlcaraoe Ackhwon Morpdh ME65 98L ACCOUNT ANTS., 60 North AccouDiS Ltd Nlllythp Cotla8¢ Voe 5hethand ZE2 9PT NOTES: l_ These attowts h•ve been prepared on a Ticelpis and payn7enrs basis in accordanee diih the SORP 2015 Account84nd Rtportine by Ch7 the Chaillbes Ad 2DII. 2. All ful5 rcei¥ed from donors 4re unrestilctsd.

FAITH WELFARE TRUST lThJependerrt Exn5ner's Repm to the trnttees of Falth W•ll4r• Tnut I report oft the ar£ovnis of the charFty for the yell eded 30 Seplember 2020, whl¢h art set our on pa¥e$ 2 3. Re5W¥t r•SpbhIltI ol trust••& •xamhn•r The chailtV'S trustees are rtskM)D%ible tbe wep4f4iloD ol the I0116, The charlty's Irustee5 Corlder thai an audli not required this year under $1441?) of ihe Chanlie5 Aa 2011 and th an independent examinjrlon is needed. 11 is rny rEspon5ibility to, - examine the accounts undèr settion 145 vltht Ch110$ Ad 2011 - io follow the yoceedures laxl down In the Itra1 dlrecl&Dn 8lv¢n by the Ch•rlty Commlssim under Jectbon 14S1S1 Ib) of lie A¢t', and . io state wheiher parriculJf matters have come io my attention B•sis ol Ir• twnln•i's r•port My L'idrriiriaiion w)S Larrled oul In aCCord(e with the 8eThEral direclion5 8i¥en by the Charity Comm1$5ion. An eM3rnination irKhJdES a ¥e¥iéw ol thè &t¢)untin4 r•ccwd5 ktpt by charlty and a wmp4rt5Jn Of1 accounts presented wlih those Ords. It also intludes considerètlon ol any unusual Iterns w thsclosures In ihe c1)unts. arml seeking explainztions trorn you a5 trustees ttsntering ahy Suth manérs. Thè pro(eedures ndertaken do rbQt provide all ihe evidErKe that would be requirecl In Jn audlt. and conseqbendy. no opinim Is glven as ro Whetr thè accounts yesem a 'rue and fair ¥iew' and thÉ rerAryff is lim1t io I1Se matters sei out In the sliiemeni below, Independent 51wment ID CMnert wilh my exarp71n)Elon, no matter h•5 come io my 3tt9ntion' Whith we5 me rea5vna&e cause to 11•¥¢ th•t, In •ny matérl•l iespect. Ihe requirements.. lo keep lu0lIn8 records In 0[darICe wlih seawjn 130 of the Att. and to prep atcounts In x£cKd whh the K¢wnllr% record5 to compl¥ the acrountinu requireffrtnts ol tht 2011 have It been rnei, or To T••fvth, In my JOIn, atterntfi shotsld be drawn in Ord to erLknle a pr4)per uThler5tandinB ol the aciounts to bt i¢acheo, Rosalind NKOI Nicol ACCA 2(kA 60 North Arcgunts Ltd Hillyde Cottage voe 51Teilafid ZE2 9PT 2021 Indeperent Ex¥niner

FAIVH WELFARE TRUST RECEIPT5 AND PAYMENTS ACCCAINT for tPrf Y••r Ertd•d 30 Sèptomber 2021J GENE IIAL FUPID 2020 2019 Ffori) Vglun14Tr Sources Legacy 24059 24847 6066 Dor¥•tbws vr+der Gilt Aid Gift AWJ.. Ta ClaiwwTS 5681 From Assets,. L)epos11 Inlefesl 671 662 TOTAL RECEIPTS 49439 55634 Chariiable Aal¥lfy Dliett EApenditure Transfers to Nambikkai Illam Trust 534LKI M•rt4emeTht and AdministTallon TeleFthone, F•x, Posia8e & Sttlontty Tr•vtl A(COuntaTKy 8ank Ch¥ue5 ic 328 150 50 SG 306 378 TOTAI PAYMfP175 53706 6037B Net Receipts IPaymentsl Bank Deposll and Cur¢eY)t kntont Balancès at 10 Stplembtr 2019 .4267 -4744 77821 82565 Bank Deposit and Curvent Ac(ount BanceS al 30 SEPternbeT 2020 73555 77821

FAITH WELF*lRE TRUST STATE•AENT OF ASSETS AND UABIUTIES As at 30 September 2020 PILINETAR Y A55ETS: 2020 2019 Bank Currefii 16B4 878 Bank tkposits 71871 73555 76943 77821 BTOR: Tax on sift old 6839 S681 TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 393 83502 Accounlancv 75 150 Olher eKpenses 75 150 ThE Statement of accounts arp JroVed by the Board TrfTruslee5 Te55a Swffr5 I Irustees Alist•ir Coomer D•ied., 2021

FINANCIAL STATEM£NT5 FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 For FAITH WELFARE TRU¥f