Bear Necessities for Bulgaria
Receipts and Payments Accounts For the year ended 30 November 2024
Scottish Charity No: SC046123
Trustees ’ Annual Report
For the year ended 30 November 2024
Bear Necessities for Bulgaria (BNFB) was first registered with SCIO in November 2015. The Trustees have pleasure in presenting their annual report together with the financial statements and the independent examiner’s report for the period ended 30 November 2024.
Reference & Administrative Information
Charity Name
Bear Necessities for Bulgaria
Charity No
SCO46123
Address
60 Novar Road, Alness, IV17 0RG
Current Trustees
Christina Ross (Chair) Cathey Reece (Treasurer) Louise Harrison (Secretary) Rumen Ganushev
Independent Examiner
Ken Hamilton ACE Business Management Solutions 17 Lethnot Road Edzell DD9 7 TG
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Structure, Governance & Management
Constitution
The charity is an unincorporated association having charitable status under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. It is governed by its constitution and was granted charitable status by OSCR on 11 November 2015.
Introduction
The Scottish Registered Charity Bear Necessities for Bulgaria was set up to work with those affected by poverty throughout Bulgaria, specifically to relieve poverty and the advancement of education. Our main projects working towards these aims are the soup kitchen, which provides and delivers hot food to those most in need, by reason of age, ill health and financial disadvantage, and our school age children. We also support a project which focuses on ensuring all the school age children in the village have shoes and coats to attend school in the winter. The social kitchen building in Orizari, Bulgaria also functions as a community centre and project hub, and we support satellite projects like the gym and the knit and natter groups. In addition we have also opened a Health Clinic, with the support of an anonymous donor, who is generously funding the basic running costs. This Clinic can provide basic triage care and can refer on to the local city hospitals, local GP and specialists as required.
Bear Necessities for Bulgaria is a charity with Christian principles at its heart and we work primarily through partnerships with churches and other related organisations in much of our fundraising and delivery. As a charity we also promote racial and religious harmony by providing aid for all in need regardless of ethnicity and religion and we work closely with our contacts in Bulgaria to ensure that we reach as many of those in need regardless of their faith or their race. It is our desire to improve local equality and diversity practice by modelling these standards in our work.
Management
The trustees are responsible for the strategic direction and governance of the organisation, and ensuring that objectives and activities fall within the remit of the constitution.
Activities
This year has been a busy and exciting year for the Bear team. We ended 2023 with the news that the charity had been chosen to be a project partner for the 25-27 session by The Church of Scotland Guild. This is a huge undertaking for the team as it will be the biggest piece of work we have undertaken to date. The project will be called Build My Church and will be earmarked to fund the church plant project in the city of Sliven. Our main challenge will be finding a way to balance fundraising for the existing Bear projects as we fulfill our speaking commitments to the Guild as well. The team are discussing and planning for this. We were also invited to speak at The Northern Convention in Dingwall, which was a great opportunity too.
The Scottish team visited the projects in Bulgaria in January, and held a progress meeting online with the staff in Bulgaria in February. Other visits to churches and further discussions with the Church of Scotland Guild took place throughout the year.
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Achievements and Performance
The outcomes of the work of Bear Necessities this year has been that the soup kitchen operated on approximately 65 days between December and April, serving around 3,300 folks, and around 20 days between October and our end of year in November, serving approximately another 1000 folks in the village who have been seriously impacted by poverty and hunger. Our priorities are, as always, to serve those who are ill, isolated, have no wage earners in the family, widows and nursing mums, and candidates are identified by our contacts working in Bulgaria. The homework club has operated on most soup days and has encouraged the children who attend not only to have soup, but also to access support to progress at school. The clinic continues to operate, but due to increased costs and pressures the service is reduced to one session per month, but at a similar cost. One of our greatest success stories is the Nativity and Christmas Party, funded by the Choir, and now attracting children and young people from the surrounding area. This year the children took part in acting out the nativity while the teens performed a musical number. The biggest impact overall from the Bear Necessities projects has been the inspiration and instigation of the new Build My Church project. This is a huge impact, and the Bear team are very excited to begin the partnership with the Church of Scotland Guild.
Financial Review
Bear’s income over this year has been mainly from two sources, as usual. Firstly donations from individuals, which has raised around £550 for various projects this year. Secondly donations from events and talks, which has raised over £3,500.
The outgoings for the projects this year have included £200 for the after school homework club, £2,200 for the soup kitchen and clinic running costs, £450 for the Christmas party and Sunday School nativity, which has grown arms and legs and involved around 150 children and their families this year, around £1,300 for printing newsletters and other literature, and a little over £2,300 for travel and accommodation costs over the year. The reserves of the BNFB amount to £4,968 as at 30 November 2024.
Reserves Policy
Bear Necessities for Bulgaria would aim to keep a reserve figure relating to three months operational activity at all times. The current reserves of £4,968 are within this target range.
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Plans for Future Periods
It is our plan for 2024-25 to continue to operate all of the existing projects on the same basis, with priority for the soup kitchen and clinic, both of which are operating at capacity at the moment but also maintaining effectiveness. We are in a sound financial position at the moment and it is the decision of the trustees to keep the ship steady, to continue forward as we are at the moment, whilst adapting to the commitment to the Guild
Christina Ross Chair
20 May
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Bear Necessities for Bulgaria SC046123
Independent Examiner ’ s Report to the Trustees of Bear Necessities for Bulgaria (BNFB)
I report on the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 30 November 2024, which are set out on pages 6 to 8.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”) and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) (“the 2006 Regulations”).
The charity’s trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1)(d) of the 2006 Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section (44)(1)(c) of the 2005 Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of Independent Examiner ’ s Statement
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Regulations. 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 seeks explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, consequently, I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent Examiner ’ s Statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:-
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements:-
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 44(1)(a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Regulations, and
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Regulations have not been met, or
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to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Ken Hamilton ACE Business Management Solutions
Date: 20 May 2026
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Bear Necessities for Bulgaria Receipts and Payments Account Year Ended 30 November 2024
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | Total | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | Funds | ||||
| Note | 2024 | 2024 | 2024 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| Receipts | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Donations and Gift Aid | 3720 | 0 | 3720 | 4821 | ||
| Legacies | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Activities for Generating Funds | 561 | 561 | 1785 | |||
| Bank Interest | 105 | 105 | 66 | |||
| Investment income | ||||||
| Total Receipts | 4386 | 0 | 4386 | 6672 | ||
| Payments | ||||||
| Cost of generating funds | ||||||
| Charitable Activities | 3892 | 3892 | 1153 | |||
| Donations made | 2200 | 0 | 2200 | 5500 | ||
| Governance costs | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total Payments | 6092 | 0 | 6092 | 6653 | ||
| Excess of Receipts over payments | -1706 | 0 | -1706 | 19 | ||
| Transfer between funds | 0 | |||||
| Excess of Receipts over payments | -1706 | 0 | -1706 | 19 |
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Bear Necessities for Bulgaria Statement of Balances At 30 November 2024
| Bear Necessities for Bulgaria Statement of Balances At 30 November 2024 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||
| Funds | Funds | Funds | Total | Total | |
| 2024 | 2024 | 2024 | 2024 | 2023 | |
| Bank & Deposit Balances Bank and deposit balances - 1 Dec 2023 Movement in year: Excess of Receipts over Payments Bank and deposit balances - 30 Nov 2024 |
£ 6674 -1706 4968 |
£ 0 0 0 |
£ | £ 6674 -1706 4968 |
£ 6655 19 6674 |
Investments at market value Assets Liabilities
These accounts were approved by the Trustess on 20 May 2026
For and on behalf of the Trustees of Bear Necessities for Bulgaria
| Christina Ross | Trustee |
|---|---|
| Catherine Reece | Trustee |
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