INFORMATION NEfwoRK FOCUS ON RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS COMPANY REGIsfRATION NO: 02346855 ARITY RE 17 KNOX CROPPER Page I REPORT OF THE DIREcfoRS OF INFORMATION NEfwoRK FOCUS ON RELIGIOUS MOVEMEN The Trustees (who are also the Directors of the charitable company for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their combi￿1 DirLrtors' reFM)rt and Trust￿. annual re￿rt, as required by company Law, together wth the audited financial statements of Information Network on Religious Movements (the Charty) for the year end￿ 31 March 2022. The Trustees confirni that the annual rep)rt and fin3no31 statements of the Charity comply with the current ststutory requirements, the ra]uirements of the Charity's goveming document and the provisions of the Statement of Retx)mmerKI PraLtI￿ ISORP) "Accounting and Rewrting by Charitr'es" applicable to charities preparing their ￿COUnts in accordarKe with the Financihl Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and RepulAic of Ireknd {FRS 102) (eff￿tive l January 2019). ADMINIStRATIVE AND LEGAL MATtERS The Company is incorporated in England and Wales a5 a company limited by guarantee under the Companies Acts (Registration No. 02346855) and operates under the name INFORM. Its registered office is: Clo Dept. of Theolcxjy and Religious Studies Virginia W(K>lf Building 22 Kingsway London WC2B 6LE The following Dir￿rS of the Company listed bek)w have continu&l to serve from l April 2021 to the date of this rew>rt unle55 Stated otherwise: Professor Eileen Barker Dr George Chryssides Dr Graham Harvey Professor Mark Hill Professor Kim Knott Father Toby Lees The Reverend Andrew Moguire Dr Marat Shterin The Reverend Aan Walker The Reverend Stephen Hollinghurst The Right Reverend William Kenney (appointed August 2021) (Chair) (appointed on 25 June 2022) (Treasurer) (stepped down Cktober 2021) TRUSTEE RECRUITMENT AND APPOINTMErir PROCEDURES Four tmstees of the charity are mminated, one each by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the British kniological Ass(￿lation StKiology of RelvJion Study Group, The Free Churches Group and the Westminster Roman Catholic Di￿. Up to ten additional trustees are appointed by agreement of the current trustees. Areas of skill. experb"se, rerognttion or diversity which may be beneficial to the operation of the charity are identified through a process of discussion among the trustees, and recommendation by specialist netr40rks. When the current trustees are satisfied that a wtents.al trustee is suitsbk for appointrnent, an invitstion to join is issued. All trustees agr￿ to promote the Charity's objectives and to Co￿lutt its business in accordance with the Charity Commission's guidelines. Page 2 REPORT OF THE DIREcfoRS OF ED The Company has obtained charitable ststus and is registered with the Chaiity Commission (Registration No. 801729). hs a registered Chaiity, Infom is entitled to the exemptions from taxation in respect of Income and Capital Gains to the extent that such income and capital gains are applied for charitable purt#)ses. PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS Bankers.. National Westminster Aldwych Branch Connaught House, 65 Aklwych London WC23 4EG Auditor5: Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants 65 Leadenhall St. London, EC3A 2AD OBJEcrs To advance public knowledge and understandirrfj by the promotion of stuty and research into religions and those movements commonty known as new religious movements concerned with the exploration of spiritual life or phik)sophie5. and the dissemination of the useful results of such study and research to the public. Page 3 REPORT OF THE DIRECtO OF INFORMATION NEtWORK FOCUS ON RELIGIOUS MOVEMEritS REVIEW OF ACllVITIES AND ACHIEVEMEpifs DURING THE YEAR Infomi pursued its charitsble obj￿5 in 2021122 by meons of the folbwirKJ activities.. collecbng, assessing and disseminab.ng objective information aLx)ut minorty religions,. resFK)nding to enquirers, requests for inf(MTnabon atK)ut minority religions,. Co-operating with requests from statmtory bodies in the UK and abroad for information aiNJut minority religions: publishing information for the public aiM)Ut minorty religions in online leaflets, in the Critical Dictionary of Ar￿CalyptiC and Millenarian Movements {CDAMM) and as factsheets for the Religion Media Centre; publishing articles in Scholar￿ bwks and continuing wort on a series of edited th)oks with Routledge, including online bcx)k launches. setting up a new tKMJk 5eiies With Bthmsbury, entitled"Religion at the Boundaries". maintaining a national and intemational netY40rk of researchers, and other parties with an expert andlor personal knOw￿dge of infomiation about minority religions. facilitating public dialogue about issues surrounding minority religions; hosting I￿0 online seminars and tsyo online twk launches; mentoring carefully selected intems,. lecturing in schools, universities, international conferences and various other forums; commissioned proJeLt work for Govemment Departments, the Centre for the Critical study of Apocatypb"c and Millenarian Movements, and the Religion Media Centre,. secLJring fiJrKling to complete the ProJ￿"mapPIng the kn"ology of Religion in Britsin via the history arKI devek)pment of SOOiEL" (the Brib"sh kniobgi(zl ss(Kiation's knology of Religion study group); continuing to make acbve contributions to the National Wothing Group for Abuse Linked to Accusab"ons of Witchcraft arKI Spirit Pos5es90n; continuing colla￿ratiOn with the Religion and sexual Abuse Project led by Professor Amanda Lucia at the Univergty of California Riverside. continuing work on an 18-month projert funded by the Culham St Gabriel'5 Trust on Promoting the Exploration of Religion and Worldviews in Schwls in partnership with the Faith and Belief Forum and The Open University; entering into conversation with King's Col* W￿re the Infomi office is based about future collatrtyation and Offi￿ use; seeking to yeseNe for the fu￿lre in an aC￿sIble manner Infomi's significant archive of materials. Page 4 REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS OF NFORMATION NETWORK FOCUS ON REUGJOUS MOVEMEN copirINUED The trustees believe that this wid￿rangIng programme of activitie5 helF￿d InfoTm to achieve its strategic aim of bringing the best available knowledge. based on the methods of the scKial sciences, a￿ut minority religions to the attention of memters of the public and relevant statutory authorities. In this way* Infom)'s educational obiectwe of advancing public knowledge and understsnding of minorty religions was achieved. This programme was carried out in co-operation wf(h numerous universities, researther5, relig￿US organisations, and professional asrrikn"ons, Ixth in the UK arKJ abroad. Inform's Director, Senior Researth Offi￿r and Researth Consuhants for swfic projects have undertaken a review of best Practi￿ on researth integrity. with special attenb.on to online research ethics. This resulted in an upjated ststement on Dats Protection and Research Ethi15 which can be found on the Inform website at rm Throughout the peri(k4 Infonn was in communication with officials in Q)vernment departments about future project funding. Appli(ations for funding were made to various trusts. FINANCIAL REVIEW Total income for the 12-month ￿riod ended 31st March 2022 was £63,852 being £32,798 lower than income for the 12-month pericKJ ended 31 March 2021. Expenditure for the 12- month period ended 31st March 2022 decreased to £50,030. Over the year there was a net increase in re50urce5 of £13.822. RESERVES The level of unrestricted reserves, whith at the year*nd amounted to £106,276, is necessary to enable the charity to continue to OFerate durirNJ those periods when donation income significantly decreases. These reserves will enable the charity to continue into 2022123 as it explores possibilities for securirwj funding for the fU￿re. GOING CONCERN The ability of the charity to cOntinl￿ as a going concem is dependent upon securing new sources of funding. Numer(yJs applications have been made tr) Tnjsts and Government Departments. The outcome of these is awaited. If new fvnding is not secured it may be possible to continue to operate at a significantty redu￿ level of activity. COVID 19 Restrictions, which had applied Sin￿ mid-Mar(h 2020, on access to the Inform office in the Virginia Woolf buikling at King's Cdlege. gradually eased durirvJ this financial year. Remote working has continued where appropriate and helrrful for achieving Infom s work goals. Additionally INFORM is in conversation with firo'5 Col￿ge atrout the payment of rent during the period when there has not been access to the office. RISK The trustees rewew the risks that the tharity is exFK)sed to on an ongoing basis and take steps to mitigate those risks as ar¢>ropriate. Page 5 REPORT OF THE DIREcfoRS OF FORMATION NEfwoRK FOCUS ON REUGIOUS MOVEMENTS ED FINURE DEVELOPMENTS Work will continue on Infomi s datsbase. publication5. aThJ websrte. which will enable more of Infom s material to LEC0￿ putlicty ava1k7l￿e. Work will continue on finding fundraigThJ ￿¥lUtionS for tth short-temi viability and long- term susiainability through work on funded prOj￿ts and Commission￿ reporLs. Infomi will continue to take an active role in appropriate nets¥orks suth as the National Working Group for Abuse Linked to Acojsations of WitchcTaft aThJ Spirit Possession. There will further collaboration on a research pmiect with Dr Amanda Luaa from The University of California on the topic of sexuol abuse within religions. The collaborative research project furKled Culham St Gabriel's Trust on Promoting the Exploration of Religion and Worldviews in Sch(x)Is will continue until July 2022. Further online events wll ￿ purSu￿j in lieu of in-person seminars and the viability of holding in-person events in future will continue to ￿ reviewed. There will be a continued focus on expk)ring ways of ciH)perating wth the Theology and Religious Studies Depathient at Kings col￿ge, London, in whose building Infomi's offi has been based from May 2018. TIE5e conversations will indude discusson about the basis on which the office is used. In March 2022, Dr &rah Harvey, Inform's Senior Research Officer. wll begin working a5 a Research Assoaate on the Arts and Humanities Counol funded project, Abuse in Religious Settings, led by Professor Gordon Lynch at the University of Kent. This will be by way of a "secondmenv, from Inform for an agreed number of days per w￿k up to September 2023. Dr Harvey's employment with Infomi will continue. The oversight and governan￿ of Inform will te twadened and diversified in the coming year. Attention will te paid in partiojlar to issues of ￿gacY and future continuity. Infomi will, of course, maintsin its commit￿nt to its prinopal objecbve of helping enquirer5 by providing informab.on that is as reliable arKI up-to-date as p055ible. and it welcome5 recewing enquiries, infornioticffi and suggesbons from all 9)Ur￿5. PUBLIC BENEFIT StATEMENT The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty set out under sertion 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the ￿arity Commission's guidan￿ on public benefit 'Charities and Public Benefrf in developing the objectives for the year and in planning activities. Page 6 REP RT FTHE DIRE INFORMATION NETWORK FOCUS ON RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS CONTINUED srATEMENT OF DIRECTORS. RESPONSI8ILrriES The trustees (who are also the dirertors of the Information Network RKUS on Religious Movements for the purFoses of company low) are resFonsible for preparing the Report of the Dirertors and the financial ststements in accordance wrth applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Stsndards (United Kingdom Generalty AC￿pted Accounting Prattl￿), including Finanoal Rep)￿ng Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Irdand.. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which gwe a true and fair view of the state of affair5 of the charitsble company nd of the incoming resour￿ and application of resour￿, induding the income and expenditure, of the charitsble company for that period. In preparing those financial Statements, the trust￿ are required to: select suttable accounting FK)licies arKJ then appty them consistenlly obseNe the meth(xls and principles in the Charity SORP make judgements aThJ esb"mates that are reasonable and prudent prepare the finar￿la1 ststements on the going con￿rn basis unless it IS inappropriate to presume that the charitsble company will continue in business. The trustees are reswnsible for keeping pryr accounting records which disdose with reasonable acajracy at any time the financial tx)sb"on of the charitsble company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Art 2006. They are also responsibk for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and det&t"on of fraud and other irreguLirities. In so far as the knstees are aware: there is no relevant audfc Informatic￿ of which the charitable company's audthrs are unaware,. arm the trustees have tsken all steps that they ought to hove tsken to make theMSe￿e5 aware of any relevant audit infomiation and to establish that the auditors are awa￿ of that inforniab"on. AUDITORS The auditors, Knox Cropper LLP, will be prowsed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. This reFOrt has been prepared in accordan￿ with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. APPROVAL This rewrt was approved by the Board of Directors and Trustees on 28th September 2022 and signed on their beha￿ by.. Name: KIM KNO Signature: Page 7 INDEPENDENT AuD￿ORs. REPORTTO THE MEMBERS OF INFORMATION NETWORK FOCUS ON RELIGIOUS MOVEMEpirs Opinion We have audfced the financial statements of Infom)ation Nebvork F￿5 on Religious Movernents (the 'charitsile QD[npan￿ for the year e￿ed 31 March 2022 which cornprise the Statement of Finanoal Activities, the Balan￿ Sheet and notes to the finanaal staten￿nts, InclLJdi￿ a summary of significant accounting polKies. The finarKial rewrbng framework that has been applied in their preparab.on is applicab￿ law and United kn"rKJdom Accounting Stsndards, InCI￿ling Financial Reporbry Stsndard 102 The Financial Re￿rtsng StsrKlard applicabk in the UK and Republic of Ireland, (United ￿"ngdoM Generalty Accepted Accountr"ThJ Practi￿1. In our opinion the financial statements: gwe a true and tsir view of the state of d)aritable companvs affrdirs as at 31 March 2022 and of its income and expenditure for the year then ended; have been property prepared in accordan￿ wrth Unitoj ￿"ngdoM Generally Accepted Accounting practi￿,. and have LEen prepared in accl¥dan￿ with the re¥4Ul￿rnents of the Companie5 Att 2CKJ6 Basi5 of opinion We conducted our audit in accordan￿ with Intemational Stsr¥Jards on Auditing (UK) (IS4s {UK)) and applicable law. Our resw)nsibilities under those standards are fijrther described in the Auditorfs re5ponsibiltb.es for trE audit of the financial ststements 5eLtion of our report. We are i￿lependent of the charrtable company in accordance wth the ethical requirements that a relevant to our aud￿ of the financial ststernents in the UK, 1￿￿lKI1ng the FRC'S Ethical Stsndard, and we have fijifilled our other ethical reswnsibl1￿es in &COrdan￿ with these requiretnents. We believe that the audit ewderKe we have Obtai￿ is gJffiaent and apprwrkite to prowde a basis for our opinion. Material uncertainty related to going concem We draw attention to note 19 in the finanaal statements whith indicate5 that the ability of the charitsble company to continue as a g￿Trg cOn￿M is dependent u￿n regukrfy securing new source5 of funding. If new swrcs of funding are secured ttEn tt rnay still W55ible to continue to operate at a significantly reduc&J level of ￿tiVty. The COr￿ltionS indicate ttr￿t a material Un￿rtaInty exists that may cast signifitsnt doubt on the charitsble company's abilty to continue as a going COn￿rn. Our opinion is mLyJified in respect of this matt￿. Other inforniation The other infomation comprises the infomation I￿uded in the annual report. other than the finanoal statements and our auditorfs ￿rK￿rt thereon. The trus￿ a￿ res[X)n￿ble for the other infomiation. Our opinion on the finanaal statements not cow the other informatm and we do not express any forrn of assuran￿ C￿lUSion there￿. Page 8 Our resp)ngbility is to read the other inf[Th￿tiOn and, in doing ￿, consKler whether the other infomiation is materkalty inconsi&ent with ts finanaal staternents or our knOw￿dge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to t￿ Mater￿lty mis*ated. If we identrfy such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misststement in the fi￿n0a1 statements themselv￿. If, based on the work we have rkrfom)ed, we condude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to retK)rt that tstt. We have nothing to rew)rt in this regard. Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 21)06 In our opinion, based on the work uThJertaken in the c(yJrse of ihe audit.. the information given in the trustees. repJrL which 1Th￿l￿e5 the directors, report prepared for the purrM)ses of company Law, for the finanrial year for whith the financial statements are prepared, is consistent with the financial *tements,' and the directors. rep)rt induded within the trustees. reFQrt has teen prepar&J in ￿cordan with applicable ￿gaI reouirements. Matters on which we are required to rem by exception In the light of the knOw￿dge and underst3rKlirKJ of the Charitab￿ company and its environment obtairEd in the course of the audtt, we tr￿e not identified rnaterial rni55tatements in ttE directors. report included within the t￿￿tee5. reFMrt We have mthing to rewt in res￿ of the frAlowng matters Whe￿ the Companies Art 2(X)6 require5 US to repjrt to you rf, in our opinion- adequate and proper accounting recLYds have not teen kept, or rebjrrs adequate for our audit have not been received from branches Mt vi%ted by us.. or the financial statements are rK)t in agreerrent with the accLxJntirKJ records an(1 retums; or rtain disc109Jres of trustees. remuneration specified by law are not made,. or we have not received all the infomation and expL3natiorLS we require ft)r our audit. the trustees were not entitkd to prepare the finanoal siatements in accordan￿ with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small Compan￿5, exemption from the r￿Uirement to prepare a StrategK Rewt or in Neparing Directors, RerKxt. Responslbilltles of Trnstees As explained more fvlly in the Trust￿. Resp)nsbilib"es stat￿nent set out on page 5, the Trustees (who are also the diredots of the (haritable company for the purtX)se¥ of company lawl are ￿POn￿ble for the preparation of the financial stathents aThl for being ￿tisfIed that they give a true and ftair wew, and for ￿(h intemal control as the trustees detemine is necewry to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misststemen¢ whether due to frdud or error. In preparing the finanoal staternents, the trustees are res[￿n￿ble for assessing the charitable company's ability to conts.nue as a goiThJ cotKem, dIScb￿"ng4 as applicable, matters related to going concem and using the wing concem basis of accounling unkn the tnjstees either intend to liquidate the charitsble c(Knpany ￿ to ￿se (wrati(Ks. (x have no realisbc a￿ernatiVe but to do so. Page 9 Audltor's responslbllltles forthe audlt of the financlal statements Our obJ"ectives a￿ to obtain reasonable assuran￿ ab(MJt whether the financial statements as a whole are free frorn material mithtemenL wFther due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditorfs re￿)rt tt)at includes our c4)inion. Reasonable assuran￿ is a high level of assuran￿, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducied in acc￿dan￿ with ISAfj (UK) will always detect a material misstatement Wh￿ it exists. Mi55tatements Ian arise frotn fraud or error and are considered material if, indimdualty or in the aggregate, they coukl reasonabty be expetted to influentr the economic deagon5 of user5 tsken on the bags of the* finanoal Statements. IrregUlar￿e5. including fraLvJ. are Instan￿ of non<0mplian￿ wf(h laws aThJ regulations. We design procedures in line wth our reswnybiI￿'e5, ouuined aiK>ve, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregukrib"es, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are ca￿b￿ of detecting irregularities, ind￿ling fraud is detail&J bebw- The Chartsble Company is required to compty wilh tK)th company law and charity law as ap￿ICable in England and Wales and. based on our knowledge of its artivf(ies, we identified that the legal requirement to &turatety ac(nunt r￿triCted funds was of key significance. We gained an understanding of how the charitable company complied with its 1gJal and regulatory framework, including the requirement to properfy account for restrictrd funds, through discussions with management and a wew of the documented PK)licies, pro￿ureS and controls. The audit teatn, which i5 experienced in the audit of congdered the charitable cornpanW5 suxeptib'lity to matsrial mi55iatement and how fraud may ¢Kcur. Our conSiderati(￿S inclL*Jed the risk of managernent ovenide. Our approath was to the