Registered Charity 328492
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
1
Word of Life
Word of Life
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
CONTENTS
| Legal and administrative details | 3 |
|---|---|
| Structure, governance and management | 4 |
| Aims and objectives | 6 |
| Receipts and Payments Account – CC16a | 7 |
2
Word of Life
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
The trustees present the report and financial statements for the nine-month financial period ending 31 December 2021.
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Charity name: Word of Life Charity registration number: 328492 Date of formation: 22 January 1990 Principle office: Central House 13 Ravenhurst Street BIRMINGHAM B12 0HD
Trustees
Mr John Douglas (Treasurer) Ms Shadi Fatehi Rev Canon Dr Philip Rawlings (Chair) Mr Kamran Tajermanshadi Mr David Watson
Bankers
The Charity holds bank accounts at:
The Co-operative Bank PLC, P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP and
CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ
3
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing document
Word of Life is a charity registered on 22 January 1990. The charity was established under a Constitution dated 8 December 1989.
Recruitment and appointment of trustees
Under the requirements of the Constitution, the trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting. All trustees are members of the charity.
Trustee induction and training
All trustees are familiar with the practical work of the charity and are encouraged to be involved with the on-going work of the charity. They are encouraged to actively engage with its activities and are familiar with the context within which it operates, including:
-
The obligations of trustees
-
The main documents which set out the operational framework for the charity including the Constitution
-
Resourcing and the current financial position
-
Future plans and objectives
Organisational structure
The trustees meet at least four times a year (quarterly) and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present there are five trustees from a variety of backgrounds all relevant to the work of the charity.
A scheme of delegation is in place. The Chair and Treasurer continue working closely with the Director (Tim Green), with whom day to day responsibility rests; the Administrator (Lindsey Stephenson); and several Track Leaders, some who are employed by the charity (Jennifer Fenton) and others on a seconded or voluntary basis (Pat Brittenden, Flora Davies, Helen Lee).
The Director, Administrator and Track Leaders work closely with groups of contracted staff (Michelle Simon, Elham Khassafi, Parsa Zardouz) and volunteers on a regular basis, within the different projects of the charity.
Financial review
NB This report refers to a nine month financial period as we worked to adjust our year in line with the calendar year.
With the aid and support of supporters, volunteers and grants, the Charity raised £72,619 (2020-21 full year - £54,327) for the year. Gift aid has been claimed and will be received in the next financial year.
4
The Charity’s expenditure during 2020-21 financial period was £27,624 (2020-21 full year - £30,235). This was spent on the development of our projects, salaries, governance and administration overheads.
The surplus for the period was £44.995 (2020-21 full year - £24,092). This was partly due to incomplete projects, where grant spending weas received for a multiyear project and most of it is allocated for activity in 2022 and 2023.
As of 31 December 2021, the Charity held assets as cash in bank of £101,375 (2019-20 full year - £56,380).
The trustees intend to continue to support the charity’s projects, working in development of resources, training and research in the following financial year.
Principal funding sources
Funding sources are grants and gifts from supporters.
Investment Policy
All of the charity’s funds are to be applied in the short term and no funds are held for long term investment.
Reserves Policy
Word of Life holds a reserve in its bank account which will allow it to operate for a three-month period in the event of future financial difficulty. The Reserves Policy was revised in 2021. As at 31 December 2021, the charity held free reserves of £62,990 (2020-21 full year - £39,201). The trustees are confident that the current reserves position will allow the charity to continue operating its current activities over the next financial year.
Plans for future periods
The charity will continue to seek for grants and support through donations, in order to advance the Christian faith in accordance with its objects.
Responsibilities of the trustees
Charity Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity as at the balance sheet date and of its income resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees follow best practice and:
-
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
-
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
-
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is not appropriate to assume that the charity will continue on that basis
5
The trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with Charity Law.
The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Purpose and aims
The charity’s purposes, as set out in the objects in the Constitution, are the advancement of the Christian faith in such ways as the charity trustees may from time to time decide.
The trustees do not consider that any detriment or harm would arise from this charity’s charitable purposes.
Ensuring work delivers our aims
We review our aims, objectives and activities annually. This review considers what has been achieved over the previous year, and how the charity has fulfilled its aims, while reflecting on the challenges and any disappointments. It helps the trustees to ensure that our aims, objectives and activities remain focussed on our stated purposes. This review also sets vision and targets for the following year, with reference to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.
The focus of our work
Our main objective for the period was to advance the Christian faith.
How our activities deliver public benefit
The charity develops and publishes Christian materials, in different languages, for use by new Christians in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith. It seeks to train people in the use of these materials and is engaged in research concerning these peoples who are new to the Christian faith.
The beneficiaries of our work have been both leaders and members of churches in the UK, Europe and around the world who have received our materials and been trained in using them. The materials we produce have been translated into a number of different languages enabling their use by people from a variety of places including South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Signed for and on behalf of the trustees:
(Chair) 15/9/22
(Treasurer) 15/9/22
6
328492
Word of Life
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period 01/04/2021 from
31/12/2021
To
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted[Restricted ] funds funds to the nearest to the £ nearest £
Endowment Total Last year funds funds to the nearest to the to the nearest £ nearest £ £
| Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | 22,950 - 2,152 - - - - 25,101 - - 25,101 |
18,997 - - 28,521 - - - - 47,517 - - 47,517 |
- - - - - - - - - - - - |
41,946 - 2,152 28,521 - - - - 72,619 - - 72,619 |
|
Donations |
22,950 | 50,421 | |||
| Subscriptions | - | - | |||
| Book Sales & Royalties | 2,152 | 3,409 | |||
| Grants | - | - | |||
| Gift Aid Reclaimed | - | - | |||
| Training event donations | 497 | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
25,101 | 54,327 | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
- | ||||
| - | |||||
| Sub total | - |
- | |||
| Total receipts | |||||
| 25,101 | 47,517 | - | 72,619 | 54,327 |
A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff Costs | 766 | 12,017 | - | 12,784 | 19,666 | ||||
| Staff and Volunteer Expenses |
- | - | 108 | ||||||
| Development of Christian materials |
428 | 6,501 | - | 6,929 | 8,376 | ||||
| Promotion, Printing and Postage |
926 | 440 | - | 1,366 | 1,960 | ||||
| Training events | 4,668 | - | 4,668 | - | |||||
| Sundry expenditure | 173 | - | 173 | - | |||||
| Office Costs | 330 | 221 | - | 551 | - | ||||
| Governance Costs | 1,153 | - | 1,153 | 125 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | 3,777 | 23,846 | - | 27,624 | 30,235 |
7
| A4 Asset and | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| investment | |||||||||
| purchases, (see | |||||||||
| table) | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Total payments | 3,777 | 23,846 | - | 27,624 | 30,235 | ||||
| Net of | |||||||||
| receipts/(paymen | |||||||||
| ts) | 21,324 | 23,671 | - | 44,995 | 24,092 | ||||
| A5 Transfers | - | ||||||||
| between funds | 2,465 | 2,465 | - | - | - | ||||
| A6 Cash funds last | |||||||||
| year end | 39,201 | 17,179 | - | 56,380 | 32,288 | ||||
| Cash funds this | |||||||||
| year end | 62,990 | 38,385 | - | 101,375 | 56,380 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricte d funds to nearest £ 23,222 39,621 147 62,990 OK Unrestricte d funds to nearest £ - |
Restricte d funds to nearest £ 38,385 - - 38,385 OK Restricte d funds to nearest £ - |
Endowmen t funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|
| - | ||
| - | ||
| - | ||
| OK | ||
| Endowmen t funds to nearest £ |
||
| - | - | - |
Categories Details
Coop Bank account CAF Bank account Paypal Account
B1 Cash funds
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
Details
B2 Other monetary assets
Details
B3 Investment assets
Details B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
Fund to which Cost Current value asset belongs (optional) (optional) - - Fund to which Cost Current value asset belongs (optional) (optional) - - - -
8
Fund to which Amount When due liability relates due (optional) (optional) -
----- Start of picture text -----
Details
B5 Liabilities
----- End of picture text -----
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
| Signature | Print Name Philip Rawlings John Douglas |
Date of approval |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Rawlings | 15/9/22 | |
| John Douglas | 15/9/22 |
9
Registered Charity 328492
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
1
Word of Life
Word of Life
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
CONTENTS
| Legal and administrative details | 3 |
|---|---|
| Structure, governance and management | 4 |
| Aims and objectives | 6 |
| Receipts and Payments Account – CC16a | 7 |
2
Word of Life
Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statement
1 April – 31 December 2021
The trustees present the report and financial statements for the nine-month financial period ending 31 December 2021.
LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Charity name: Word of Life Charity registration number: 328492 Date of formation: 22 January 1990 Principle office: Central House 13 Ravenhurst Street BIRMINGHAM B12 0HD
Trustees
Mr John Douglas (Treasurer) Ms Shadi Fatehi Rev Canon Dr Philip Rawlings (Chair) Mr Kamran Tajermanshadi Mr David Watson
Bankers
The Charity holds bank accounts at:
The Co-operative Bank PLC, P.O. Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP and
CAF Bank Ltd, 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ
3
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing document
Word of Life is a charity registered on 22 January 1990. The charity was established under a Constitution dated 8 December 1989.
Recruitment and appointment of trustees
Under the requirements of the Constitution, the trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting. All trustees are members of the charity.
Trustee induction and training
All trustees are familiar with the practical work of the charity and are encouraged to be involved with the on-going work of the charity. They are encouraged to actively engage with its activities and are familiar with the context within which it operates, including:
-
The obligations of trustees
-
The main documents which set out the operational framework for the charity including the Constitution
-
Resourcing and the current financial position
-
Future plans and objectives
Organisational structure
The trustees meet at least four times a year (quarterly) and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present there are five trustees from a variety of backgrounds all relevant to the work of the charity.
A scheme of delegation is in place. The Chair and Treasurer continue working closely with the Director (Tim Green), with whom day to day responsibility rests; the Administrator (Lindsey Stephenson); and several Track Leaders, some who are employed by the charity (Jennifer Fenton) and others on a seconded or voluntary basis (Pat Brittenden, Flora Davies, Helen Lee).
The Director, Administrator and Track Leaders work closely with groups of contracted staff (Michelle Simon, Elham Khassafi, Parsa Zardouz) and volunteers on a regular basis, within the different projects of the charity.
Financial review
NB This report refers to a nine month financial period as we worked to adjust our year in line with the calendar year.
With the aid and support of supporters, volunteers and grants, the Charity raised £72,619 (2020-21 full year - £54,327) for the year. Gift aid has been claimed and will be received in the next financial year.
4
The Charity’s expenditure during 2020-21 financial period was £27,624 (2020-21 full year - £30,235). This was spent on the development of our projects, salaries, governance and administration overheads.
The surplus for the period was £44.995 (2020-21 full year - £24,092). This was partly due to incomplete projects, where grant spending weas received for a multiyear project and most of it is allocated for activity in 2022 and 2023.
As of 31 December 2021, the Charity held assets as cash in bank of £101,375 (2019-20 full year - £56,380).
The trustees intend to continue to support the charity’s projects, working in development of resources, training and research in the following financial year.
Principal funding sources
Funding sources are grants and gifts from supporters.
Investment Policy
All of the charity’s funds are to be applied in the short term and no funds are held for long term investment.
Reserves Policy
Word of Life holds a reserve in its bank account which will allow it to operate for a three-month period in the event of future financial difficulty. The Reserves Policy was revised in 2021. As at 31 December 2021, the charity held free reserves of £62,990 (2020-21 full year - £39,201). The trustees are confident that the current reserves position will allow the charity to continue operating its current activities over the next financial year.
Plans for future periods
The charity will continue to seek for grants and support through donations, in order to advance the Christian faith in accordance with its objects.
Responsibilities of the trustees
Charity Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charity as at the balance sheet date and of its income resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, for the financial period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees follow best practice and:
-
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
-
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
-
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis, unless it is not appropriate to assume that the charity will continue on that basis
5
The trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with Charity Law.
The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
OUR AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
Purpose and aims
The charity’s purposes, as set out in the objects in the Constitution, are the advancement of the Christian faith in such ways as the charity trustees may from time to time decide.
The trustees do not consider that any detriment or harm would arise from this charity’s charitable purposes.
Ensuring work delivers our aims
We review our aims, objectives and activities annually. This review considers what has been achieved over the previous year, and how the charity has fulfilled its aims, while reflecting on the challenges and any disappointments. It helps the trustees to ensure that our aims, objectives and activities remain focussed on our stated purposes. This review also sets vision and targets for the following year, with reference to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.
The focus of our work
Our main objective for the period was to advance the Christian faith.
How our activities deliver public benefit
The charity develops and publishes Christian materials, in different languages, for use by new Christians in order to develop their knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith. It seeks to train people in the use of these materials and is engaged in research concerning these peoples who are new to the Christian faith.
The beneficiaries of our work have been both leaders and members of churches in the UK, Europe and around the world who have received our materials and been trained in using them. The materials we produce have been translated into a number of different languages enabling their use by people from a variety of places including South Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Signed for and on behalf of the trustees:
(Chair) 15/9/22
(Treasurer) 15/9/22
6
328492
Word of Life
Receipts and payments accounts
For the period 01/04/2021 from
31/12/2021
To
CC16a
Section A Receipts and payments
Unrestricted[Restricted ] funds funds to the nearest to the £ nearest £
Endowment Total Last year funds funds to the nearest to the to the nearest £ nearest £ £
| Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | 22,950 - 2,152 - - - - 25,101 - - 25,101 |
18,997 - - 28,521 - - - - 47,517 - - 47,517 |
- - - - - - - - - - - - |
41,946 - 2,152 28,521 - - - - 72,619 - - 72,619 |
|
Donations |
22,950 | 50,421 | |||
| Subscriptions | - | - | |||
| Book Sales & Royalties | 2,152 | 3,409 | |||
| Grants | - | - | |||
| Gift Aid Reclaimed | - | - | |||
| Training event donations | 497 | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
25,101 | 54,327 | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
- | ||||
| - | |||||
| Sub total | - |
- | |||
| Total receipts | |||||
| 25,101 | 47,517 | - | 72,619 | 54,327 |
A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Staff Costs | 766 | 12,017 | - | 12,784 | 19,666 | ||||
| Staff and Volunteer Expenses |
- | - | 108 | ||||||
| Development of Christian materials |
428 | 6,501 | - | 6,929 | 8,376 | ||||
| Promotion, Printing and Postage |
926 | 440 | - | 1,366 | 1,960 | ||||
| Training events | 4,668 | - | 4,668 | - | |||||
| Sundry expenditure | 173 | - | 173 | - | |||||
| Office Costs | 330 | 221 | - | 551 | - | ||||
| Governance Costs | 1,153 | - | 1,153 | 125 | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | 3,777 | 23,846 | - | 27,624 | 30,235 |
7
| A4 Asset and | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| investment | |||||||||
| purchases, (see | |||||||||
| table) | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Sub total | |||||||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Total payments | 3,777 | 23,846 | - | 27,624 | 30,235 | ||||
| Net of | |||||||||
| receipts/(paymen | |||||||||
| ts) | 21,324 | 23,671 | - | 44,995 | 24,092 | ||||
| A5 Transfers | - | ||||||||
| between funds | 2,465 | 2,465 | - | - | - | ||||
| A6 Cash funds last | |||||||||
| year end | 39,201 | 17,179 | - | 56,380 | 32,288 | ||||
| Cash funds this | |||||||||
| year end | 62,990 | 38,385 | - | 101,375 | 56,380 |
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricte d funds to nearest £ 23,222 39,621 147 62,990 OK Unrestricte d funds to nearest £ - |
Restricte d funds to nearest £ 38,385 - - 38,385 OK Restricte d funds to nearest £ - |
Endowmen t funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|
| - | ||
| - | ||
| - | ||
| OK | ||
| Endowmen t funds to nearest £ |
||
| - | - | - |
Categories Details
Coop Bank account CAF Bank account Paypal Account
B1 Cash funds
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))
Details
B2 Other monetary assets
Details
B3 Investment assets
Details B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use
Fund to which Cost Current value asset belongs (optional) (optional) - - Fund to which Cost Current value asset belongs (optional) (optional) - - - -
8
Fund to which Amount When due liability relates due (optional) (optional) -
----- Start of picture text -----
Details
B5 Liabilities
----- End of picture text -----
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees
| Signature | Print Name Philip Rawlings John Douglas |
Date of approval |
|---|---|---|
| Philip Rawlings | 15/9/22 | |
| John Douglas | 15/9/22 |
9
Word of Life Charity Number: 328492 Period Ended 31[st] December 2021
Independent Examiner's report to the Trustees of Word of Life
I report on the accounts of the charity for the financial period ended 31 December 2021 which are set out on pages 1 to 2 of CC16a.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
-
examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;
-
follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act; and
-
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 prese a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
Independent examiner’s statement
ln connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
-
which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:
-
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
-
to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act
have not been met; or
- to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
John Meredith ACA 13 Tristan Close Exeter EX4 9BT
Date: 16/09/2022