RASPBERRY Northern Ireland Annual Report 2023 / 2024
Annual Report 2023/2024
Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam
Introduction
The Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam is an Unincorporated Association with members. The organisation became constituted on the 11th February 2017 and has 32 members. Trustees are elected by the members at the Annual General Meeting, originally held in February/March each year but was delayed to October of 2022 with the new General Meetings being held annually then until further notice. This report covers the period from 1st February 2023 to 31st January 2024. The organisation became a registered charity in Northern Ireland on the 14th of December 2020.
Purpose of the organisation
The purpose of the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam is to further the advancement of education of both young people and adults across Northern Ireland in the field of Computer Science, Electronic Engineering and related subjects. This is achieved through family-friendly events for the public (Raspberry Jams), 1 to 1 mentoring for young people and programmes for educators including school teachers and parents.
Activities and Achievements
2023/2024 has been a transformational year for the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam charity. Alongside running our main event, we’ve focused on improving infrastructure and streamlining operations, reducing volunteer workloads through more efficient setups with standardised equipment.
Looking ahead, we’re developing plans to further enhance our infrastructure, with an example of including the use of new equipment, such as the Raspberry Pi 5, for new workshops, with a focus on securing funding for these plans. We've also focused on strengthening relationships with like-minded local events and building connections within the community, whilst attracting attendees from areas such as Dublin and Great Britain.
From February of 2023 to January of 2024 the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam has
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Organised and delivered 9 Raspberry Jam Events
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“Sold” 685 free tickets for Raspberry Jam Events (with ~65% average attendance)
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Volunteering at NIDC and participating in the NI Science Festival Programme
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Over 1050 combined hours volunteered the events throughout the year
Throughout this period of time we have also raised £1,056 through donations, whilst £727 was spent. The organisation closed the year with £1,619 in the bank account.
Annual Report 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam - NI107983 info@niraspberryjam.com
Volunteer Day
In December of 2023, the Jam held a volunteer day in QUB Maths and Physics during which volunteers helped improve the logistical runnings of the Jam’s events. These included re-imaging laptops with up to date software and maintenance, refreshing the network and improving it by adding a new firewall, re-labelling and counting equipment, and reorganising worksheets, all contributing to the future events.
Volunteers also took the opportunity to discuss logistical changes for events to help streamline them. With the day providing a chance for volunteers to be able to relax and connect in a non-event setting. Following this was an evening where members were able to make pizzas and cook them, provided by Andrew Mulholland.
The board deeply appreciates the time and effort given by our dedicated volunteers, with their contributions being invaluable in helping to continually improve the Jam. With a special thanks going to Andrew for catering.
Annual Report 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam - NI107983 info@niraspberryjam.com
Northern Ireland Developer Conference
The Northern Ireland Developer Conference is an annual conference for the tech community based from and held in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Jam has previously helped at NIDC during lockdown in October of 2020 with the kids live track where we held online workshops for attendees to follow along to at home. The organisation has also participated in events after October 2020, including NIDC in 2022
In October of 2023, eight members of the Jam team went to the Waterfront Hall in Belfast and ran a number of workshops including Unicorn horns, Driving Bit:bots and Making Music with Sonic Pi.
Alongside these workshops the team at NIDC also invited the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam to host a booth in the main event hall to show what the organisation does. For this we took the opportunity to show of a project using one of the newly released Pi 5’s (Kindly donated from the Raspberry Pi foundation) and answered questions on it
Once again, this year the volunteers were able to attend the conference and network with local companies, as well as allowing parents and potential attendees to see what the jam offers as a local event in Belfast. A small crèche was also set up at NIDC allowing parents to bring their kids to the event. This then led to them bringing their kids up to attend the Jam’s workshops too.
Annual Report 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam - NI107983 info@niraspberryjam.com
Organisation Structure
The Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam is an Unincorporated Association with members and a constitution. As of January 2024, the organisation has 32 members and 7 trustees.
As of January 2024, the current trustees and their positions can be found below.
| Name | Position | Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel Stuart | Chairperson | October 2022 |
| Jack Delaney | Secretary | October 2022 |
| Claire Mulholland | Treasurer | October 2022 |
| James Dougan | Trustee | October 2022 |
| James Matchett | Trustee | October 2022 |
| Abbie Welch | Trustee | October 2023 |
| Hannah McMullan | Trustee | October 2022 |
The trustee team would like to thank Steven Patterson who stood down from their role in October 2023, for their service as trustee and Secretary over their terms.
All trustees will be standing down at the Annual General Meeting with the opportunity to be reappointed by the members with a majority vote.
Charity Registration
On the 14th December 2020, the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland confirmed that the Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam had officially become a registered charity in Northern Ireland. The charity number for the organisation is NI107983.
Annual Report 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam - NI107983 info@niraspberryjam.com
Financial Review
The Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam’s financial year ran from 1st February 2023 to 31st January 2024.Throughout the year, the Jam received an income from donations or workplace donations of £1,056 total, along with outgoings of a total of £727 . The organisation started the year with £1,291 and closed with £1,619 in the bank.
Although the organisation ended the year on a higher bank balance than it started, some late volunteer expenses occurring in the 24/25 financial year have also caused a minor skew in certain categories that will be addressed in the next year's report. On top of this, the continuation of using Zettle for the use of paid workshops (Where attendees would pay for the materials) and card donations.
As of January 2024, the organisation has a single recurring outgoing of £5 each month to maintain the bank account. As well as monetary support, the organisation has also received significant in kind support from the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen’s University (estimated over £7500 ), Nitec Solutions (estimated over £500 ) and the Raspberry Pi Foundation (estimated over £400 ).
Income Outgoings
| Category | SUM of Paid in | SUM of Paid | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carried forward | £1,290.64 | Category | Out | |
| Workplace Donation | £532.00 | Jam volunteer refreshments | £450.00 | |
| Cash donations | £524.18 | Bank fees | £67.25 | |
| Grand Total | £2,346.82 | Raspberry Jam Programme Equipment |
£58.20 | |
| General Equipment | £34.80 | |||
| Mobile data | £30.00 | |||
| IT Expenses | £27.63 | |||
| Consumables | £25.41 | |||
| Tuck shop consumables | £24.80 | |||
| Travel expenses | £9.30 | |||
| Grand Total | £727.39 |
Annual Report 2023/2024 Northern Ireland Raspberry Jam - NI107983 info@niraspberryjam.com