ANNUAL REPORT
& STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS
For the year to 31[st] March 2018
www.genderjam.lgbt 028 90 996 819 info@genderjam.lgbt
GenderJam NI is a Registered Charity in Northern Ireland (NIC102201).
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Annual Report for the year ended 31[st] March 2018
The trustees of GenderJam NI are pleased to submit their Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2018.
An introduction to the Charity
GenderJam NI supports trans, non-binary, questioning and intersex young people across the region of Northern Ireland, and is run by and for trans youth communities.
The Charity is also known as “GenderJam Northern Ireland”, or simply as “GenderJam”, which may be abbreviated as “GJ”.
The principal address for the Charity is:
GenderJam NI Belfast Trans Resource Centre 98 University Street Belfast Northern Ireland BT7 1HE
The Charity’s trustees as of the year ended 31[st] March 2018 were:
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Aaron Quigg
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Alexa Moore
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Ellen Murray
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Faolan Hook
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Jack Freeman
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Jonas Ellwood
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Laoise Fitzpatrick
The Charity is governed by its Constitution, the current version of which was adopted in April 2017.
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Activities and Achievements
The year ended 31[st] March 2018 saw significant developments in the work the Charity provided, including a branching out to new locations, increasing the number of trustees on the Committee and continuing to develop the only trans community centre in the UK and Ireland, the Belfast Trans Resource Centre.
The Charity ran twice-monthly GenderJam Belfast events on Saturdays at the Belfast Trans Resource Centre, developing an already-busy trans youth group into a thriving and lively space. These events ran right through the year, including during the holiday periods, with a total of 24 during the year.
The Charity also continued to branch out into Newry, with a monthly GenderJam Newry event running 12 times during the year, including during holiday periods. This group has grown steadily, and now provides a small trans support group local to the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council area.
GenderJam Film Night was also established at the Belfast Trans Resource Centre as a new social outlet for trans young people, and has run monthly on a Wednesday evening since then. A range of events that the Charity has helped with flourished from this event also, including a regular Tabletop Trans gaming evening and afternoon event held twice monthly, an Arts and Crafts Evening event monthly, and a weekly drop-in afternoon every Wednesday, seeing a diverse group of trans and questioning people coming for support, community and friendship, as well as other people seeking information and signposting.
In the summer of 2017, the second annual European Trans and Intersex Summer Camp was held and delivered by the Charity in Derrygonnelly, County Fermanagh, with over 70 trans and intersex young people from across the European Economic Area and Russia attending. The camp lasted a week, enabled trans and intersex young people to form network and friendships from across the continent, and to develop themselves personally. It also introduced the group to the Marble Arch Caves, and the camp was visited kindly by the Chair of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, Cllr Stephen McCann.
With the support of chest binder manufacturer gc2b, the Northern Ireland Binder Scheme grew significantly, delivering over 150 free chest binders to trans young people right across Northern Ireland, with most recipients being on low or very low incomes.
The Pride season in 2017 saw a big step-up in the Charity’s public presence and platform. In Belfast Pride, along with the other organisations in the Belfast Trans Resource Centre, the Charity delivered and co-delivered over 20 separate events for various groups within our beneficiary communities and to the general public. These events were a mix of bringing individuals together socially, providing support, educating the general public, and providing entertainment.
The Charity was also present at Newry Pride and Foyle Pride, and indeed travelled to Dublin Pride to march alongside local trans organisations and groups in the Republic of Ireland.
After the Pride season, the Charity held open applications for new trustees within the trans youth community, and eagerly appointed four new trustees who served for the remainder of this year.
The Charity was present at several Freshers’ Fair events at colleges and universities across Northern Ireland in September 2017, opening up a whole new group of young
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people and young adults to the support and community we facilitate, as well as an introduction to trans language and community more generally to those education environments.
The Charity also helped facilitate a new programme at the Belfast Trans Resource Centre, bringing queer and trans artists and performers together into a regular performance evening.
As part of our continued work alongside other marginalised communities and human rights campaigns, the Charity helped to support and spoke at events related to the Holocaust Memorial Day, the Rally for Choice, Reclaim the Night Belfast, the Outburst Arts Festival, and various community events throughout the year.
The Charity also developed its media profile during this year, doing multiple television and radio appearances as well as appearances on online media and in the news more generally. These include assisting BBC Spotlight NI with a programme on transgender young people, routine radio appearances to discuss trans youth issues, work on national BBC News television relating to trans and LGBTQ rights in Northern Ireland, and various other local news outlets including Belfast community television station NVTV.
The Charity continued to work alongside sector partners in Cara-Friend, The Rainbow Project, SAIL NI and others to co-develop and co-deliver projects, including the Northern Ireland LBGT+ Awareness Week in May 2017, Belfast Pride 2017 events, and various collaborative programmes.
The Charity was pleased to work with some local community funders this year including the Community Foundation NI who provided support for improvements to the Belfast Trans Resource Centre among other items, as well as the Halifax Foundation who provided a small amount of core funding. It is planned in the year 2018-19 that this community funding is expanded, and financial and funding skills are improved among the trustees. The Charity has no debts and all contract supply services including insurance and utilities bills are sustainable and managed.
With regards to the rights available to transgender people in the UK and Ireland, this year saw significant changes in both public opinion, media discussion and on planned legal change, including in areas which directly affect our communities and beneficiaries in Northern Ireland.
In our work this year, as in our plans for the year 2018-19, we have carefully considered our responsibilities for promoting wellbeing and providing support in this changing context, as well as how to reduce the level of harm caused by negative changes in the lives of the beneficiaries we support. In early 2018 we noticed an uptick in negative media coverage discussing transgender children and young people, a factor which has had significant impact on the communities we work within.
To reflect the increasing level of work with more vulnerable and marginalised young people, the Charity organised ASIST suicide-prevention training in 2017 for support volunteers, which has enabled them to more safely and suitably provide support, as well as signpost to other support organisations and providers if and when it is appropriate.
As a result of this, some of our trustees and volunteers have received media training to enable them to engage with the public media and discussion more safely, both for them individually and for the beneficiaries we need to advocate for.
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The Charity also engaged strongly with the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, meeting with the Brackenburn Clinic and the Knowing Our Identity service to reflect the needs and concerns of trans young people accessing healthcare in Northern Ireland.
The Chairperson also met with the Lord Mayor of Belfast as part of a series of LGBT sector collaborative meetings, and shared the experiences and needs of trans young people in the city.
From a regulatory perspective, we have also given careful consideration to the guidance on public benefit provided by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, to ensure that we continue to achieve our purposes and provide what we set out to do.
This annual report was adopted by the Trustees of the Charity on 20[th] January 2019.
Jack Freeman, Chairperson
Alexa Moore, Trustee
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Accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2018
Receipts and Payments Account for GenderJam NI NIC102201 All figures are to the nearest Pound Sterling value.
RECEIPTS
| RECEIPTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted Funds | Restricted Funds | Total Funds | |
| Direct online donations | £1,923 | - | £1,923 |
| Community Foundation NI | - | £500 | £500 |
| Room hire | - | £80 | £80 |
| Direct donations cheque | £85 | - | £85 |
| Erasmus Trans Summer | - | £231 | £231 |
| Camp Reimbursements | |||
| NTYN Travel bursaries | - | £366 | £366 |
| Gift Aid | £15 | - | £15 |
| Belfast Trans Res’ Centre | £500 | - | £500 |
| Merchandise | £110 | - | £110 |
| North Down CFC Grant | - | £1000 | £1000 |
| Halifax Foundation Grant | £400 | - | £400 |
| TOTAL RECEIPTS | £3033 | £2,177 | £5,210 |
| PAYMENTS | |||
| Community travel bursary | £304 | - | £304 |
| GenderJam Newry costs | £70 | - | £70 |
| Volunteer travel | £27 | £158 | £185 |
| Belfast Trans Res’ Centre | £431 | £1,195 | £1,626 |
| Erasmus Summer Camp | £1,270 | £231 | £1,501 |
| Printing | £541 | - | £541 |
| Postage | £67 | - | £67 |
| Film Night | - | £185 | £185 |
| Miscellaneous | £92 | - | £92 |
| Insurance | £50 | - | £50 |
| Banking | £20 | - | £20 |
| NTYN Travel | - | £208 | £208 |
| TOTAL PAYMENTS | £2,872 | £1,977 | £4,849 |
| Balance as of 1stApril 2017 | £1,097 | ||
| Surplus for the year represented | £361 | ||
| Balance as of 31stMarch 2018 | £1,458 | ||
| Represented by | |||
| COOPERATIVE BANK Community Directplus Current Account | £1,458 | ||
| These accounts were approved by the Trustees of the Charity on 20th | |||
| January 2019. |
Jack Freeman, Chairperson Alexa Moore, Trustee
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