Donaghadeeyouth For Christ- NICI03401AnnUaI Report to 31 December 2022 The trustees of Donaghadeeyouth For Christ are pleased to submit their report and accounts for the period of l. January to 31 December 2022. Purposes Donaghadeeyouth For Christ is a youth organisation. established in Donaghadee in 1995, and based there to provide opportunities for young people in Donaghadee to learn about Christianity. embrace it for themselves and ultimately become members of local churches. It is chartered centre to the national body, Youth For Chrisc Norchern Ireland, which in turn is a chartered programme ofyouth For Christ International. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ runs a 'drop-in' centre at I l High Street. Donaghadee where young people both from churched and non-churched backgrounds can encounter the Gospel in a relevant way, be given the opporcuniry to explore it more for themselves. with the view to them becoming members of one of the local churches. Staffed by one full-time and one part-time staff member. along with a team of trained volunteers, the centre is normally open for l O hours each week and offers a range of activities. games, structured programmes. Bible study groups, prayer meetings and worship events for all young people in the Donaghadee area, alongside the traditional 'drop in, type facility. The centre also runs educationltraining courses for young people looking at citizenship and lifestyle issues such as drugs and alcohol awareness, sexuality. teen pregnancy and road safety, facilitated by both staff members and external providers. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ offers a counselling service to any young person on a wide range of issues. It also provides activities for young people Outside the centre including trips. camps and sporting events. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ carries out outreach work from the centre, which may include visitation of schools. street evangelism. summer teams work and events of all kinds designed to present young people with the Gospel. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ runs evangelistic events, participate5 in church services and engages in such activities as are deemed necessary or desirable for the attainment of the purpose. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ runs a charity shop in the town of Donaghadee. the proceeds of which go towards supporcing the work of the centre. Donaghadeeyouth For Christ cooperates with the churches in Donaghadee and other organisations. the aims of which are similar in characcer. in promoting evangelism particularly among young people. The Centre also seeks to enable young people in Donaghadee to grow up in a spiritually enlightsned environment, irrespective of their background or degree of church involvement and offers programmes and events to allow the practical outworking of the Christian faith through the promotion and demonstration of a strong, moral, ethical lifesryle. equipping young people to make better lifestyle choices and to give them a better understanding of Christian citizenship. Beneficiaries The charity's beneficiaries are primarily children aged 8-13 and young people aged from 14 and up, those young people on the margin5 of the Donaghadee communiry, and those with whom the established churches find difliculry reaching. ActivitieslAchievements The core activities of Donaghadeeyouth For Christ are: Delivery of weekly. age-specific. after-school programmes providing teaching and greater understanding of the Christian faith for children and young people. Delivery of drop-in based. evening youth work session5 for children and teenagers: Partnering with schools. churches and like-minded organisations to increase the standard of professional youth work within the local area; Providing an outreach programme within the local area. The structured programme includes a range of age-specific small groups and includes: Monday: SU group in local primary school for P4-P7 boys & girls (age 7-11).
Drop-in session for the Year 8-10's group (age 11-13) working through practical topics such as drugs, alcohol, bullying, peer pressure, internet safety. Kids Bible Bizz P7 (age l O- I l ). Kids Bible Bizz P6 (age 9-10). Afternoon - Year I | + boys Evening- Teenager5, group (age 13-17) small group sessions, lots of fun trips. group work sessions with organisations such as A.C.E.T. Love For Life, EERN and link up with our local police constable5 to build important relationships of mutu21 respett & tackle anri-social behaviour issues. Morning football sessions for older teenagers. Tuesday: Wednesday: Friday: Saturday: In addition to the weekly programme above, the centre also conducted Time to Move" scyle lessons for P7 pupils in local primary schools making che move to secondary school. 'Mum & Daughter" group work sessions,. assemblies in local primary schoo15. and facilitated group work sessions and residential weekends to places such as Todd's Leap Oucdoor Activity Centre, Jungle Nl and the The Surf Projecr. In addition to the structured programme, Donaghadeeyouth For Christ also provides mencoring and detached street work in the community, and offers services to local primary and secondary schools as well as helping provide training and support to the churches and running one-off events. trips, vrkShopS and residential weekends. With the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. 2022 the centre saw the return to full operations once again in respect of face-to face youth-work. strurtured. age-specific programmes and trips out for the young people. Fundraising activities, like sponsored football and the coffee afternoon were able to be reinstaced and enjoyed very encouraging supporL The charity shop also returned to normal opening hours. Restrictions As the large majority of the Centre's offering is funded by personal donations, grant funding, proceeds from the charity shop and some fundraising events, no charge is usually levied for the regular weekly programme activities other than a nominal annual registration fee. Some exceptional aspetts of the programme may require a contribution from young people, for example a residential weekend. but as far as possible the Centre endeavours to operate at a very affordable level giving priority instead to increased opporcunities for participation. There were no issues of access to facilities to report as the centre is based entirely on the ground floor. includes level access from the street entrance, wide corridor5 and includes the provision of a disabled- access toilet. Harm The were no issues in respect of harm to reporL Harm is mitigated by ensuring that staff and volunteers undergo regular training which included child protection, first aid, mental health awareness and GDPR. Support is provided for continued professional practice to aid the development of the work standards of staff. volunteers and crustees. Through its chartering to Youth For Christ Northern Ireland, the Donaghadee YFC Drop-ln cent also ha5 to comply wich certain 'best practice, requirements of its chartering agreement. Private Benefit There was no known private benefit to the public. In setting the objectives and planning the activities of Donaghadeeyouth For Christ for the year. the trustees have given careful consideration to the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland's guidance on
public benefit to ensure that the activities have helped to achieve the charity's purposes and provide a benefit to the beneficiaries. Financial Review The financial performance for the year to 3 | st December 2022 was satisfactory and as expecced, considering the ongoing recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was very pleasing to che trustees. Income for the year in the general account of £70,090 was up 4.5/0 on the previous year. whilst expenditure was up 16.3Yo to £73,81 I, refletting a return to full operations after Covid-19. The charity finished the year with a modest deficit overall of £4,238, which counterbalanced the surplus of £4.193 reported in the previous period. In addicion to careful ongoing financial management, the trustees have also retained a reserve of £12.000, equating to 16.3Yo of annual expenditure, in line with its policy on reserves. Detailed accounts can be found attached. Funds Materially in Deficit As at 3 1st December 2022 the organisation had no funds in material deficit. Details: Charity Name: Donaghadeeyouth For Christ Northern Ireland Charity Number: NIC103400 Principal Address.. I l High Street, Donaghadee. Co Down. BT21 OAA ChariryTrustees as at 31.12.21: Gordon Currie Stuart Hamilton Paul Bowers David Duncan Reta Pollock Janice MacArthur Chairperson Treasurer Secretary Governance The organisation is governed by a constitution, adopted in January 1994 and last amended in April 2016.. chis can be made available upon request. The organisation is directed by the board of trustees. who receive guidance fromyouth For Christ Northern Ireland through which ic is affiliated by charter. The day-to-day running of programmes and the drop-in centre itself is managed by the staff and volunteers, with oversight from the Centre Co-ordinator. Trustee Selertion and Management As outlined in the constitution, the Board ofTrustees is made up of no more than 14 members. For the year to 31 st December 2022 the board consisted of 6 members. with a representative range reflecting a range of vocations and a balance of age. gender. churches and denominations. The National Director of Youth For Christ Northern Ireland is an ex-officio member of the board of crustees of Donaghadee Youth For Christ. The Board is elecced by secret ballot every year at the Annual General Meeting. where current board members are able to put themselves forward as well as receiving nominations for new prospective members to stand for election. Outside of this, up to three board members can be co-opted onto the Board at any time. providing they a approved by a majority vote of the existing Board. The Board of truscees meets typically monthly throughout the year, with a break in July and August. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic. the trustees met 9 times during the year to 315t December 2022. with the majority of meetings being held in person. At each meeting theTreasurer presents the lacest financial report on the
accounts and these are reviewed againsc budgets and forecasts; spending is discussed and approved. The Centre Co-ordinator presents an overview of recenc activities within the programmes and outlines forthcoming events. TheAnnual Report and Statement of Accounts are approved by the trustees and then presented to the members at theAnnual General Meeting, which took place on 7 November 2022. Prepared for the Board of Trustees on 9 August 2023 and signed on their behalf; Stuart Hamilton