Report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2014
July 2015
INDEX LETTER FROM THE BOARD..............................................................3 THE NUMBERS – SINCE 2008.........................................................4 GO HELP – WHO WE ARE..................................................................... 5 CHARITY RALLIES – WHAT WE DO.............................................. 6 OUR PEOPLE................................................................................................7 OUR ORGANISATION............................................................................... 8 OUR CHARITY PROJECTS................................................................... 9 OUR CHARITY PARTNERS............................................................... 15 OUR ADDED VALUE.............................................................................. 16 OUR SUCCESS........................................................................................... 17 ACHIEVING OUR GOALS.................................................................... 18 GO HELP FUNDING SOURCES....................................................... 19 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT................20 FINANCIAL REVIEW............................................................................21 OUR ANALYSIS........................................................................................ 23 APPENDIX A - REFERENCE INFORMATION....................... 26 APPENDIX B - ANNUAL ACCOUNTS.......................................... 27
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Charity Ralliers,
Go Help sits at the intersection of charity and adventure and our organization exists to develop and support the spirit of charitable adventuring. Every year, we are fortunate enough to be supported by likeminded people: those hungry for travel and adventure, generous in spirit, driven to give back to the countries and communities they venture into. We benefited greatly this year from the generosity of our Charity Rallies teams and their sponsors. The Herculean efforts that our Charity Rallies teams put in to venture halfway around the world for Go help resulted in us being able to nearly double our funding to our charity projects in Mongolia. We can’t thank our Charity Ralliers enough for their support. Our Rally Commander, Joanna Meade, has been at the forefront of driving our fundraising and events platform, Charity Rallies, forward this year. Jo pulled off the awesome feat of managing our Charity Rallies events while simultaneously preparing to drive to Mongolia in a fire engine – check out the photo below from the 2015 launch in Brussels. Building a successful charity is somewhat like taking part in the Mongolia Charity Rally: one of the best things you will ever do, but a long and bumpy road nevertheless. The number of teams taking part in Charity Rallies events, from which we derive our charity fundraising, dipped slightly from 73 teams to 61 teams in 2014, though our overall income increased as a result of teams fundraising more individually. Looking ahead, we are focused in the coming year on launching a new website with refreshed branding for Charity Rallies, while enhancing our marketing to increase our team count to our medium term target of 100 teams per year across our Charity Rallies events. We are always on the look out for volunteers, supporters and trustees with the time and energy necessary to help build Go Help. If this charity drives you, please get in touch and we’ll put you to work.
David Griffiths on behalf of the Board of Trustees: Dulguun Batkhishig William Dodsworth Charlie Hogg Ryan Walker
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THE NUMBERS – SINCE 2008 Over
£520,000
14,581k
raised
Faceboo ‘likes’
13,8itte5r2 Tw followers
1,399
Facebook ‘friends’
3
Over
1,100 g
participatin ralliers
nts
rally eve
Over
3,000,00en0
Over
9,0ts0he0lped
patien e mbulanc through a s donation
miles driv
300 teams
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GO HELP Go Help is a UK adventure charity that is committed to working with local communities in Central Asia and Central America to improve their access to education and healthcare services. It is run by volunteers, and began as an effort to launch and operate ambulance services in third world countries. The cause is now much broader and we endeavor to help local organisations in any way we can. Our charitable activities are largely in the fields of healthcare and education.
Go Help’s core objectives include: • To promote charitable adventuring; • To enable access to primary healthcare through the provision, distribution and maintenance of emergency vehicles; • To foster local talent, through providing scholarships and employment opportunities for young people; • To support education projects which provide opportunities for literacy and self-improvement; and • To facilitate the placement of skilled health and education volunteers with the aim of enhancing the capacity of local communities. Go Help is staffed almost solely by volunteers and most are past ralliers. As part of Go Help, enterprising ralliers have pioneered and trialled a number of other projects in recent years, including an ambulance to Nepal and tuk-tuks through the Cambodian jungles. There are always new and great ideas in the pipeline.
Go Help’s Board of Trustees David Griffiths is a co-founder of Go Help and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He is a lawyer based in New York with significant pro bono and human rights related experience, having worked with UN-ICTR, UN-WFP and the OAS.
Charlie Hogg took part in the Mongolia Charity Rally in 2008 driving the first fully equipped ambulance to Mongolia. He joined the Board of Trustees in 2009 and won the Rotary Young Citizen of the Year award the same year.
William Dodsworth is a co-founder of Go Help. He is a lawyer based in London. He has also worked as a teacher at the Mongolian National Legal Centre.
Ryan Walker is a founder of the annual Go Help fundraising event the Roof of the World Charity Rally. He works for Mercedes F1 and became a Trustee in 2010.
Dulguun Batkhishig was previously head of the Go Help Mongolian Office in Ulaanbaatar. She is now a Trustee.
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CHARITY RALLIES Charity Rallies is the fundraising platform for Go Help. Charity Rallies currently runs three rallies: the Mongolia Charity Rally from Northern Europe to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; the Roof of the World Charity Rally from Northern Europe to Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and the MesoAmerica Charity Rally from San Diego, United States to Siguatepeque, Honduras. Each of these works with different projects in the destination country, all within the fields of health care and education.
The MesoAmerica Charity Rally is a 2,500 mile rally from San Diego to Honduras. After a successful test run that saw two US ambulances crewed with Go Help volunteers be successfully donated to Siguatepeque and Comayagua in Honduras, Charity Rallies added the event to its roster in 2014.
The Roof of the World Charity Rally is a 6,000 mile rally from Northern Europe to Tajikistan. The event was set up by former ralliers who had taken part in the Mongolia Charity Rally and funded by Go Help. Go Help now has an office in Tajikistan that oversees its charity projects there and assists ralliers at the end of their epic journey.
The flagship rally in the Charity Rallies lineup, the Mongolia Charity Rally, is an incredible 10,000 mile rally from Northern Europe to Ulanbaatar. The rally was started in 2007 and Go Help established an office in Mongolia in 2008 to manage its charity projects, vehicle imports, and to assist ralliers at the end their rally.
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OUR PEOPLE Go Help Regional Officers
Charity Rallies Coordinators Joanna Meade manages the events and communications for Go Help and is Charity Rallies’ Rally Commander. She tested the MesoAmerica Charity Rally in 2011 and will be rallying to Mongolia in 2015.
Javzaa Myagmar is the head of the Mongolian office in Ulaanbaatar and Mongolia charity projects coordinator.
Sophie Willingale runs the fundraising and development for the Roof of the World Charity Rally and the general administration and events for Go Help in the UK.
Tseveendavaa Ozoi is our legal advisor in Mongolia. He deals with the Ministry of Finance and Mongolian customs on vehicle tax exemption.
Murray Johnson was in one of our most memorable teams on the Roof of the World Charity Rally. He is the brains behind the MesoAmerica Charity Rally and he manages it from the United States.
Uyanga Bold works in our Mongolia office running our accounts and assisting with charity project coordination.
Fayoz Rizvonov is from Tajikistan and currently lives in London. He has been volunteering with Go Help for the past two years, helping the Roof of the World Charity Rally coordinators with teams on the ground.
Mergan Niyozov runs our Roof of the World Charity Rally activities in Tajikistan. He came on board in 2013 and has been working towards expanding our projects in the country.
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OUR ORGANIZATION Go Help is a UK registered charity founded by a team of individuals with a passion for charitable adventuring. The charity started out initially as an entirely volunteer-led effort, and has since expanded to include paid staff as the organization has grown in size and complexity. Go Help’s core operations are run from northern Europe, with its trustees and volunteers being based principally in London and Brussels. Go Help has an office in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, staffed by a charity project manager, a logistics expert and a mechanic. The staff of the Mongolia office principally oversee Go Help’s charity projects in Mongolia, handle incoming ralliers on the Mongolia Charity Rally, and service, manage, donate or sell vehicles that are donated to the charity through the Charity Rallies platform. In addition, the Mongolia office funds a librarian in the Book House (Book Ger) and there are between seven to nine scholarship students who contribute to the Mongolia office and community projects a minimum four hours a week each. This year, Go Help also opened a small office and hired its first employee in Tajikistan. By opening this office, the charity is seeking to replicate its successful model in Mongolia, with an office that can both support the charity projects that Go Help funds as well as manage ralliers arriving in the country. Go Help volunteers have been crucial to the charity and its development. The charity has volunteers of many different nationalities based in many different countries and they work across the spectrum of website development, accounting, event management, media and charity development.
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OUR CHARITY PROJECTS Since Go Help was founded we have worked hard to build on-going projects in Mongolia and Tajikistan. Our flagship enterprise, the Ambulance Project is built around ambulances donated by teams on Charity Rallies events, which are then provided to local organizations as necessary. In Mongolia, we also run educational projects, including the Book House Project and the Mobile Library. The Book House in the Nalaikh district of Mongolia offers local children the opportunity to increase their skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking and also provides space for mothers and retired people to use for reading and socializing. Our Mobile Library takes this project on the road, ensuring that even children in the remotest areas have access to books and basic skills. 2014 also saw the expansion of Go Help’s collaboration with Medics2Mongolia, a UK charity facilitating the placement of medical students in Mongolian hospitals to teach medical English to local doctors. Go Help’s educational projects aim to provide benefit and support to disadvantaged children in marginalised communities in Mongolia, while the medical projects focus on improving facilities, equipment and the knowledge base of doctors in hospitals both in and outside Ulaanbaatar. After a series of very severe winters (or dzuds) in Mongolia many traditionally nomadic families have found themselves forced to move to urban areas to find other work. Go Help projects are needed by the community. The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, has seen significant urban sprawl and poverty on an enormous scale. Unfortunately, many children do not have the relevant documentation required to enrol in state run schools, and since many of the existing state schools are not able to provide the capacity to take in new children, many children and teenagers cannot access formal education. Go Help’s Book Ger Project is providing a crucial point of access to non-formal education and supplies learning materials, learning activities and a safe environment for all children as well as supplying a focal point for the community.
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OUR MEDICAL PROJECTS The Ambulance Project Mongolia The 2013 rally generated four ambulances. The Ambulance project 2014 therefore focused on two hospitals: 1. Central Hospital of Nalaikh district The Nalaikh district is isolated, located 45km from central Ulaanbaatar. The district is divided into seven khoroos (sub-districts) and houses 38,000 residents, 10% of whom are herders.
2. Central Hospital of Mongolian National University of Medical Science (MNUMS) MNUMS opened Erkhes, an education and research based polyclinic in 2008. In 2012, the polyclinic expanded into the Central hospital of MNUMS. The hospital has 30 beds for inpatients and a sanatorium in Bayanchandmani, in the Tuv province.
As the district expands year after year, the hospital requires more staff and more technology as well as ambulances, but the roads are rough and this takes its toll on urban vehicles. The cars owned by the hospital are not sufficient so Go Help placed a donated ambulance with them. The vehicle held up for half of the year, but the hospital will require a 4x4 vehicle for the project period 2013-2014.
The central hospital required a vehicle for daily activities such as transporting patients and supplies.
This year’s figures: Number of emergency call-outs
Preventive check-ups
Patients delivered to sanatorium
People who attended organised lectures
22
1043
13
950
The Ambulance Project 2015: The Future of the Project
The Ambu lance Pr oject Mon has work golia ed with m ore than 20 hospit als sinc e 2008
Go Help’s leasing scheme has proved effective and the limitation of ambulance imports has ensured that those that we do import meet the high standards we expect. In 2014 the five ambulances imported were urban and used in hospitals within Ulaanbaatar. For 2015 the focus will shift to 4x4 ambulances that can be used in rural areas and withstand the harsh weather conditions of the Mongolian steppe. Go Help will be placing more importance on spare parts not readily available in Mongolia to ensure that older ambulances can be maintained and kept up to standard.
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OUR MEDICAL PROJECTS The Ambulance Project Tajikistan The primary work performed by Go Help Tajikistan over the last 12 months has been the continuation and expansion of the flagship Ambulance Project. Go Help currently employs one part-time member of staff in Tajikistan, Mergan Niyozov, who assists with the Roof of the World Rally and monitoring and maintaining the ambulances. Go Help Tajikistan Ambulance Project to date: •
Number of ambulances: 11
•
Districts: Kurgan-Teppa, Muminobod, Hamadoni, Pamir, Dushanbe, Kulob, Khojand
•
Varzob, Darvoz and Istaravshan
•
Total number of patients served: 51,765
•
Total distance covered: 228,700km
•
Total repair costs to date: US$1140
The Tajikistan Ambulance Project 2015: The Future of the Project
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OUR MEDICAL PROJECTS Medics2Mongolia Medics2Mongolia provides students with an opportunity to understand a different health care system and culture while undergoing their mandatory internship. The healthcare professionals in Mongolia give students the opportunity to work in hospitals in exchange for English-language teaching and training. The project, started in 2014, is implemented by both Medics2Mongolia and Go Help, the former working on the internship side of the project, while Go Help assists with coordination with hospitals and the management of students on the ground. The project is currently implemented in four hospitals, where we did our research. This year eight medical students from the UK completed the project in four hospitals. Each student spent four to eight weeks in Mongolia to provide medical Englishteaching for hospital staff. Before implementing this project, a survey was carried out to establish the need for the service. The survey included 89 doctors and 52 nurses in the following four hospitals: 1. Health Center of Nalaikh district (isolated district) 2. Regional Health care center of Uvurkhangai province 3. National Traumatology Center 4. MNUMS Central Hospital
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5
Mongolian students volunteered
50
doctors were involved in the project
The Medics2Mongolia Project 2015: The Future of the Project
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studen ts from the UK pa rticipa ted
OUR EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS Book House Project
Project Achievements
The shutdown of the state mine in 1990 put 1,500 people out of work; the Nalaikh district never recovered and unemployment hovers around 70%. This decreases opportunities for children of disadvantaged families and reduces the chance of them receiving a good education.
1. Statistics
The Book House Project (Book Ger) was first started by Go Help on July 23, 2011 in the 3rd khoroo (subdistrict) of Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar.
2. Libraries in Nalaikh
• In 2014 the number of visitors increased 31% compared to 2013. • The reading ability of regular visitors to the library is superior to the drop-in visitors by 18.5%.
The Nalaikh district has a total of 18 libraries, including school libraries. Excluding school libraries, there are two in the 3rd khoroo (sub-district) – one is run by the Korean NGO Good Neighbors, and the other is Go Help’s Book House. During the past four years, Go Help’s Book House project has consistently demonstrated visible results. As well as more than 1,500 books, the project offers free Internet connection, training and workshops for children and access for parents. Based on these results, a long-term strategy and objectives should be determined and developed for the future of the Book House and the children of the Nalaikh district.
With this project, Go Help creates opportunities and encourages the education of children and youth in Nalaikh and improves their future prospects. Currently, there are about 6,000 students in Nalaikh studying at either primary or secondary level; approximately 1,200 students at university and 1,126 children attending nursery school. In a study carried out in 2013, there were 647 children living within the 3rd sub-district and 115 of them were regularly attending the Book House.
3. The Book House is Go Help’s core educational project
A survey conducted in 2014 compared the reading ability of these regular visitors to the library with that of drop-in visitors. The results show a reading ability of regular library attendees as being 18.5% superior to that of the visitors. By reading books, children develop their knowledge and skills and their academic grades improve.
The Book House is the main and most visible educational project. Both volunteers and Mongolia Charity Rally teams ask to visit the Book House and invariably end up spending a lot of their time there. Go Help has become more widely recognised as a result of the success of the Book House, so this project therefore helps stimulate fundraising activities.
Plans for the project:
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OUR EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS The Scholarship Programme 2013-2014 The main purpose of the Go Help Scholarship Programme is to help develop the skills and competencies of students within different professional sectors. In the period 2009-2014, 19 students were involved in Go Help’s Scholarship Programme. Since 2009, six students successfully graduated from university. Our graduates are working for top Mongolian companies and one of them is currently studying at Freiberg University in Germany with a scholarship from the German government.
Scholarship programmes are vital to successful education in Mongolia. As of 2013, there were 99 public and private universities with a total of 175,591 students. Yet unemployment rates reached 9.3% during the first quarter of 2013. Six different scholarship programmes were announced during the 2013 academic year, mainly by business organisations and they involved a relatively high number of students. However, no activities are foreseen that further develop these students to prepare them for the labour market.
Evaluation and Research Go Help recognises the need to demonstrate the results and effectiveness of its work and has started the process of developing a monitoring and evaluation strategy that is being developed in conjunction with Go Help’s Mongolia office.
Great strides in communication have been made during the course of the last year, particularly with the development of the Go Help website in Mongolia that can be administered by local staff to the benefit of our partners on the ground.
Already equipped with local knowledge and contacts, the charity’s staff in Mongolia is being trained to research, collect and communicate information and results to help further the effective development of our projects.
Go Help opened an office in Tajikistan in 2013 and is working in conjunction with other charities already established there. A grant from a charitable trust enabled Go Help to undertake a research trip to Tajikistan, laying the foundations for future donations to develop the Ambulance Project in Tajikistan.
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OUR CHARITY PARTNERS Throughout our projects, and in close collaboration with our team in Mongolia, we have built strong relationships with many associations, NGOs and government authorities. These bodies and the relationships we work so hard to maintain are very important to us. To date, in Mongolia, we work with:
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OUR ADDED VALUE
Since being established in 2007, Go Help’s fundraising arm, Charity Rallies, has strived to make all its adventure fundraising events as good as they can be. We have spent years building strong relationships, both at home in the UK and on the ground in Mongolia. Our dedicated office in Mongolia’s ancient capital of Ulaanbaatar is manned by a small but impressive team of locals who have the contacts, the know-how and the enthusiasm to help us and lead our partner projects. Our efforts to give the Mongolian people what they want and need has earned us a positive reputation with the Mongolian authorities and customs, with whom we have regular contact and work closely with, to ensure that our endeavours always remain an asset and never become a hindrance. This reputation extends to our partnerships with established associations such as the London Ambulance Service and Save the Children. These relationships are important to us and we work hard to maintain them. Our personal attention to our teams, to our cause and to our fundraising projects is what sets us apart from others. Keeping our rallies small, we ensure a friendly aproach and an ability to respond in a timely fashion and interact personally with the teams. Our volunteers have experience, drive, charisma, and have all completed at least one of our rally events themselves. We can thus all give advice from experience. We understand what teams are going through as well as the complexities of taking part in an event such as this, and can therefore help in the best way possible. Go Help is always there to assist both the participating teams and the volunteers who work so hard to keep Charity Rallies a growing success.
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OUR SUCCESS This table shows the number of teams per rally, per year, who finished the rally and raised funds for Go Help:
Year
Teams for MCR
Money raised
Teams for ROTW
Money Raised
Total teams
Total Money raised
2008
67
£214,764.36
/
/
67
£214,764.36
2009
27
£48,933.26
7
£5,002.93
34
£53,936.19
2010
34
£55,472.55
10
£8,311.56
44
£63,784.11
2011
34
£32,372.27
5
£9,072.93
39
£41,445.20
2012
33
£38,637.51
4
£6,240.43
37
£44,877.94
2013
31
£53,331.00
7
£7,816.00
38
£61,147.00
2014
27
£35,789.19
11
£7,944.00
38
£43,733.19
TOTALS
253
£479,300.14
44
£44,387.85
297
£523,687.99
Since 2008, Go Help’s Charity Rallies have helped 290 teams raise money for third world countries. That means 290+ vehicles, carrying 1,000+ people, have driven a total of more than three million miles, over the course of six years, raising an incredible £520,000 and counting, through Go Help. We’ve worked on more than 10 different projects with 20+ partners, and seen teams sponsored by hundreds of companies. We have conquered new continents and grown from one to three rally events since 2008.
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ACHIEVING OUR GOALS How we did with last year’s aims
Last Year
• We expanded our network beyond the UK, welcoming teams not only from across Europe, but also from the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. • We increased our social media networks, our fans and followers, and delved into the world of Whatsapp, creating new ways to communicate with rally teams. • We have started the development of our new Charity Rallies website which will be ready in time for the launch of Charity Rallies 2016. • We have taken on a permanent part-time member of staff who works from London managing volunteers and running the rallies as Rally Commander.
Next Year
LOOKING AHEAD Our main aims for the coming year • Finalise the new Charity Rallies website and new sign-up process.
• Increase our social media footprint and develop new ways of communicating with teams. • Establish a US charity organisation to run the MesoAmerica Charity Rally.
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GO HELP FUNDING SOURCES
Go Help’s mission is to work with local communities to improve their access to education and healthcare services.
Go Help derives its principal funding from the following sources: (A) Go Help operates an internal fundraising platform under the Charity Rallies brand. Charity Rallies organizes innovative fundraising events such as the Mongolia Charity Rally, an annual 10,000 mile pan-continental drive from London, UK to Ulanbaatar, Mongolia. Go Help derives income from its Charity Rallies events as follows: (1) entry fees: participants in the events pay an entry to Go Help to take part in the events; (2) mandatory fundraising: Go Help’s fundraising events typically set a minimum fundraising amount that participants must fundraise before being able to participate in the events; and (3) donations of vehicles: participants in Go Help’s events typically donate the vehicle that they use to participate in the event to Go Help. Go Help will then either: (a) use the vehicle in its existing charity projects; (b) donate the vehicle to other governmental or non-governmental organizations that are deemed by Go Help to be appropriate beneficiaries; or (c) sell the vehicle, with proceeds being used to support Go Help’s charitable mission. (B) Go Help is the beneficiary of grant funding from external organizations which funds, among other things, charity projects and staff costs.
Go Help maintains a principal objective of maintaining low overheads and administrative costs by relying to the greatest extent possible on volunteer support to carry out its aims and objectives. Further to this aim, Go Help seeks to fund its overhead and administrative costs primarily from proceeds of entry fees to its events, and specific grants from external organizations. Go Help seeks to ensure that 100% of the funds raised for Go Help by participants in its events are passed through to charity projects. Funding for Go Help’s charity projects comes primarily from funds raised by participants in Go Help’s events. Go Help’s principal charity projects are currently located in Mongolia, and are operated by Go Help staff in Mongolia. Prior to any funds being disbursed to fund its charity projects, Go Help’s board requires staff managing its charity projects to provide a budget for the charity project, which is then reviewed, negotiated, and either approved or rejected. Following the approval of a charity project budget, Go Help’s board will then authorise the disbursement of charity funds to fund its charity projects.
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STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Outside of these quarterly meetings, the day-to-day business of Go Help is handled by the trustees and executive staff of Go Help.
Reference and administrative information set out in Appendix A hereto forms part of this report. The financial statements, Appendix B, comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities (issued in March 2005).
Related Parties
There are no subsidiaries, organisations or charities controlled by the same trustees.
Legal Structure
Risk Statement
Go Help is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 17 September 2007 and its objects and powers are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association. Go Help was registered at the Charity Commission on 20 April 2009.
The trustees have considered the major risks faced by the charity and have put in place systems and controls to mitigate them. A risk register has been established and is updated at least annually. Risks are continuously monitored, and reviewed at each trustee meeting.
Details of Memorandum
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the Charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable safeguards against fraud and error.
The Memorandum is the governing document of Go Help and prohibits any distribution of funds to the trustees of Go Help, other than for the proper reimbursement of costs incurred on the charity’s operations.
The greatest potential risk to Go Help in the shortterm is a fall in funding from the international fundraising events we organise as this is where the vast proportion (over 90%) of Go Help’s charity and project funding originates from. The charity has to date managed to generate all its own unrestricted funds from one major event but relying on this one form of income from this event has limited the charity’s growth and made it vulnerable to external shocks.
Methods of Recruiting and Appointing New Trustees The trustees have appointed a Chair and membership is open to other individuals: trustees may appoint additional individuals who can bring specific skills to the charity.
Trustees Induction and Training
Most trustees are already familiar with the practical work of Go Help, having taken part in its existing fundraising events, where sources of fundraising, and Go Help’s supported charity projects, are observed. Training for any new trustees is provided as required, and trustees are regularly made aware of training courses that are available to them.
Go Help is looking to lower the risk to the charity with a two-pronged approach; by developing other events in different geographical locations and embarking on the process of diversifying our income streams via trusts and foundation funding. It is hoped that by bringing in other funders we will bring external support to our charity projects, add some stability to the charity’s funds and allow further expansion and development. We will be applying to a range of donors for funding as well as developing the charity’s website to keep funders and supporters better informed about the development of projects and news. The implementation of this strategy should improve our financial sustainability.
Organisational Structure and Decision Making
The trustees hold regular meetings, and meet at least quarterly, to discuss the strategic direction of Go Help, to ensure its core aims and objects are being met in the most efficient way, to take account of any risks that Go Help undertakes, and to ensure that all legal obligations are satisfied.
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Ensuring Go Help’s Work Delivers our Aims
Our Principal Activities in Achieving our Aims
We review our aims, objectives and activities each year. Our 2012 review analysed our achievements and the outcome of our work in the previous 12 months, and in particular the success of each key activity and the benefits they have brought to those groups of people that we are set up to assist. The review also helps us ensure our aims, objectives and activities remained focused on our stated guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aim and objectives and in planning our future objectives.
Partnerships: we prefer to work with small grassroots organisations that have a greater understanding of local needs and who have cost effective and useful projects benefiting the community. Go Help has worked with a range of partners and we use our resources to develop projects that are in difficulty to become more sustainable and to meet funding gaps. Research and Learning: our staff in Mongolia are heavily involved in research which helps to inform the feasibility and development of our projects. The Ambulance Project is grounded in research to enable the optimum benefit gained from our ambulance donations and placements. The research we undertook in Tajikistan this year was essential for enabling the development of the Ambulance Project as there is no published details of ambulance data for the country.
How Go Help’s Activities Deliver Public Benefit
The trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing Go Help’s aims and objectives, and when planning its future activities. This report contains an explanation of the significant activities undertaken during the year in order to carry out the charity’s aims for the public benefit and also the achievements measured against the objectives set by the trustees.
All of Go Help’s projects are continuously monitored, either by our own staff or through partner charities.
FINANCIAL REVIEW Reserves Policy
Main Sources of Funding
The trustees’ reserve policy ensures that Go Help maintains sufficient general fund reserves to be able to meet our essential charity commitments before facing an orderly curtailment of activities over three months if necessary.
Go Help receives funds principally from its fundraising events, the Mongolia Charity Rally, the Roof of the World Charity Rally and the MesoAmerica Charity Rally, which are longdistance adventure driving events. These funds are split between entry fees, which cover Go Help’s administrative costs, if any, and donations, which form part of the grants that Go Help makes to charity projects.
Go Help’s reserve policy looks at the scenario of Go Help’s fundraising events being unable to run for one year and the totality of Go Help’s income being lost. This could happen under a number of scenarios such as a change in government policy or international unrest and it is a major risk identified by our risk management strategy.
Go Help has started to apply to charitable trusts and foundations and was fortunate to receive one grant of £5,000 for the Tajikistan Ambulance Project research and a small grant from the Lottery Awards for All funding stream which allowed us to invest in equipment and training for volunteers at the charity. All grant application fundraising was undertaken by a volunteer and there were no associated costs to the charity.
Go Help’s reserves policy enables Go Help to have enough funds to continue the student scholarship placements as this is the only Go Help project that requires ongoing funding. In addition, Go Help has placed reserve status on what would be called wind-up costs, or three months local office funding, to allow staff and projects to make any transitions necessary. These combined costs equate to total reserves of £7,200. The policy is reviewed annually.
For further information on Go Help’s funding sources, please refer to the Go Help Funding Sources section herein.
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Investment Policy
• state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
Aside from retaining a prudent amount in reserves each year, most of Go Help’s funds are to be spent in the short term so there are few funds for long term investment. Having considered the options available, the trustees have decided to retain the small amount that it has available in an interestbearing deposit account. While the overall return on long term investments and deposits are not ideal, given current circumstances in credit markets, the trustees consider this to be the most prudent of its options, and will review it on a regular basis to ensure that the decision continues to be the best one for Go Help.
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that Go Help will continue in operation. The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of Go Help and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of Go Help and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
How Go Help’s Expenditure Supports its Charitable Objectives The income of Go Help is applied solely towards the fulfilment of its charitable objects. Due to Go Help’s low administrative costs, 100% of funds received as donations will be passed on as grants to charity projects that Go Help supports.
The trustees confirm that to the best of their knowledge there is no information relevant to their financial statements of which their Independent Examiner is unaware.The trustees also confirm that they have taken all necessary steps to ensure that they themselves are aware of all relevant financial information and that this information has been communicated to the Independent Examiner.
Go Help’s Future Plans
Go Help aims to continue to fulfil its charitable objects in the most effective, efficient and sustainable manner. Go Help plans continuing the activities outlined above in the forthcoming years subject to satisfactory funding arrangements. Plans are also being developed to work on a number of new fundraising events which it is hoped will lead to an increase in the amount of funds available for Go Help to grant to new and existing charity projects.
Members of Go Help guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of Go Help in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 30 September 2014 was six. The trustees are members of Go Help but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in Go Help.
Statement of Responsibilities of the Trustees
Approved by the trustees on 23 June 2015 and signed on their behalf by:
The trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial period, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of Go Help and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the net income or expenditure, of Go Help for the period. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:
David Griffiths Chairman of the Board of Trustees
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; • make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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OUR ANALYSIS Unrestricted funds increased by 5.1% to £104,689 in 2014 from £99,629 in 2013. This increase was due primarily to an increase in Cash at bank in our Current Assets segment.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the Balance Sheet on page 4 and the Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 30 September 2014, page 8 to the Report of the Trustees and Unaudited Financial Statements for the Year Ended 30 September 2014 for Go Help.
Restricted Funds decreased to zero in 2014 from £495 in 2013. This decrease reflects us deploying grant funding as noted in the Grants in our Voluntary income segment.
Balance Sheet
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 30 September 2014
TOTAL FUNDS increased by 4.6% to £104,689 in 2014 from £100,124 in 2013. This increase was due primarily to a small increase in Cash at bank in our Current Assets segment, and a small decrease in Amounts falling due within one year in our Creditors segment. Total Funds is equivalent to Net Assets and Total Assets Less Current Liabilities.
NET INCOME is the result of deducting Go Help’s Resources Expended from Incoming Resources. The Charity’s Net Income decreased by 89.4% to £4,565 in 2014 from £43,025 in 2013. This difference was principally driven by an increase in expenditure on Go Help charity projects in our Charitable activities segment.
Net Current Assets is comprised of Current Assets less Creditors. Net Current Assets increased by 5.3% to £103,684 in 2014 from £98,440 in 2013. This increase was driven by a small increase in Cash at bank in our Current Assets segment and a small decrease of amounts falling due within one year in our Creditors segment.
TOTAL INCOMING RESOURCES increased by 16% to £91,039 in 2014 from £78,512 in 2013. Incoming Resources is made up of Voluntary income, Activities for generating funds and Investment income. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in Event donations and Other donations in our Voluntary income segment.
Fixed Assets is comprised of Tangible assets. Tangible assets comprise computers and other equipment purchased by the Charity, and an inflatable arch purchased for Charity Rallies launch events. Tangible assets decreased by 40.3% to £1,005 in 2014 from £1,684 in 2013. This is due to the depreciation charge in the year.
Voluntary income increased by 18.7% to £74,953 in 2014 from £63,150 in 2013. Voluntary income is made up of Event donations, Other donations and Grants. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in Event donations and Other Donations and a decrease in Grants.
Current Assets is comprised of Cash at bank.
Event donations increased by 12% to £65,609 from £58,589 in 2013. Event donations are made up of voluntary donations by teams taking part in events organised by our Charity Rallies platform. The number of teams taking part in Charity Rallies events decreased by 16.4% to 61 teams, from 73 teams in 2013. Despite a decrease in the number of teams, the fundraising from each team increased year over year to drive an increase in Event donations.
Cash at bank increased by 2.3% to £115,992 in 2014 from £113,382 in 2013. The increase is due to an increase in Incoming Resources and a decrease in Resources Expended. Creditors is made up of Amounts falling due within one year. Amounts falling due within one year is made up of deposits returnable to participants in Charity
Other donations increased by 416.0% to £10,732 in 2014 from £1,811 in 2013. Other donations in 2014 and 2013 reflect an annual donation that Go Help receives from a charity event in Brussels, Belgium run by the Brussels press corps, as well as deposits from Charity Rallies teams that have been donated or forfeited.
Rallies events and other liabilities at the year end. This line item decreased by 17.6% to £12,308 in 2014 from £14,942 in 2013. This decrease was primarily driven by faster vehicle deposit repayment to Charity Rallies teams. Funds is comprised of Unrestricted funds and Restricted funds.
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drivers to the increase is reflected below in the cost to the Charity of hiring freelancers to assist the Charity Rallies team, after our Rally Commander, Sophie Willingale, transitioned to a volunteer role. As the number of Charity Rallies teams has increased, this has put a strain on volunteer resources and required the Charity to hire freelancers to assist in growing the capacity of the Charity Rallies team, and to ensure high quality Charity Rallies events.
Grants decreased to £0 in 2014 from £2,750 in 2013. During 2014, Go Help expended its remaining Vodafone World of Difference programme grant from 2012. The change in our grants income reflects Go Help not receiving any grants in 2014. Go Help relies on voluntary fundraisers for its grant applications, and in 2014 Go Help was without a trust and foundations fundraiser. It is an area of development for Go Help as diversifying our sources of income and bringing in support for the charity’s projects is needed as part of our sustainable development and growth.
Event costs increased by 16.0% to £6,403 in 2014 from £5,519 in 2013. Charity Rallies events launched from Leeds Castle in 2014 and from Horse Guards Parade in London in 2013. This increase is attributable to increased costs of purchasing promotional items for teams for launch, such as t-shirts.
Activities for generating funds is made up of Event entry fees. Event entry fees increased by 4.7% to £15,989 in 2014 from £15,271 in 2013. We receive entry fees for teams participating in our Charity Rallies events. We typically charge lower entry fees for teams who sign up to our Charity Rallies events at the start of the sign-up process, and higher entry fees to teams who sign up later, to encourage early signup and to ensure both that teams have sufficient time to prepare for their expeditions, while ensuring that the Charity Rallies team can forecast the capacity required of its volunteers to assist in organising the Charity Rallies events. The range of our sign-up fees is £199 to £499. Despite the number of teams decreasing in 2014 from 2013, the average entry fee per team increased. The average entry fee per team increased by 25.3% from £262 in 2014 from £209 in 2013.
Insurance increased by 1.3% to £479 in 2014 from £473 in 2012. Insurance in 2013 amounted to £53. The Charity has made no changes to its existing insurance policies, and these differences only reflect the timing of payments made on Go Help’s insurance policy. Freelancers doubled to £14,788 from £7,115 in 2013. This primarily reflects the Charity contracting Joanna Meade to assist with the operation of Charity Rallies events, at a cost of €20/hour. Telephone costs decreased by 77.4% to £37 in 2014 from £164 in 2013 due to an increase in the use of Skype to call Charity Rallies teams.
Investment income is made up of deposit account interest.
Postage and stationery costs decreased by 29.1% to £705 in 2014 from £995 in 2013. This decrease is driven in part by the decrease in the number of Charity Rallies teams. The Charity targets the distribution of promotional items only at the Charity Rallies launch event, thereby increasing the cost of postage to teams who did not or could not attend the launch event. Our postage costs are likely to increase as the number of international teams continues to rise.
Deposit account interest remained flat, increasing by 6.6% to £97 in 2014 from £91 in 2013, reflecting higher cash balances. TOTAL RESOURCES EXPENDED increased by 143.7% to £86,474 in 2014 from £35,487 in 2013. Resources expended is made up of costs of generating voluntary income, charitable activities and governance costs. This increase was primarily driven by an increase in disbursements to Go Help charity projects in our Charitable activities segment.
Publicity and advertising increased by 12.8% to £5,057 in 2014 from £4,485 in 2013. This cost was due in large part to a concerted effort by the Charity to promote its Charity Rallies events more online, and these costs are made up in large part of Facebook and Google advertising costs. The Charity Rallies platform also subscribes to online services such as MailChimp (for email distribution), Issuu (for event guide display), and Pagemodo (for Facebook tabs), which also comprise this increase in advertising cost.
Costs of generating voluntary income are the costs of promoting and running the Charity Rallies events, which generate the majority of the Charity’s voluntary income. Costs of generating voluntary income increased by 41.8% to £34,768 in 2014 from £24,511 in 2013 and the breakdown of these costs are detailed in the categories below. The principal
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and when needed, following funding requests from its affiliates. Two funding requests were approved for Mongolia during the 2014 financial year.
Travel and subsistence increased by 90.9% to £3,385 in 2014 from £1,773 in 2013. This increase was due to Joanna Meade visiting and auditing our operations in Mongolia.
Grants to institutions decreased to £0 in 2014 from £2,078 in 2013. Go Help made no Grants to institutions in 2014, and Grants to institutions in 2013 were principally made up of a £1,255 grant to Sworde Teppa (one of the Charity’s partners in Tajikistan).
Website costs decreased by 65.2% to £490 in 2014 from £1,407 in 2013. This decrease is due to a decision by the Board of Trustees of the Charity to migrate to a new website for Charity Rallies events to be developed in 2015. The anticipated cost of this development is £6,500, an amount that will be reflected in the Charity’s 2015 accounts.
Governance costs are costs associated with the general running of the charity and meeting statutory requirements. Governance costs are comprised of Wages, Training and books, Accountancy, Subscription and memberships, Professional fees, Sundries, Bookkeeping and Administration.
Bank charges increased by 42% to £1,468 in 2014 from £1,034 in 2013. Bank charges is principally made up of costs we incur using PayPal to receive Event entry fees, and bank transfer fees incurred in repaying vehicle deposits to Charity Rallies teams and in transferring funds to our overseas operations. The increase in Bank charges is primarily due to our primary contractor, Joanna Meade, relocating to Brussels, Belgium, and the attendant cost of bank transfers as a result. The Charity regularly researches alternative funding platforms to decrease Bank charges.
Governance costs decreased by 50.8% to £1,580 in 2014 from £3,212 in 2013. There were no trustees’ remuneration or other benefits in 2014, nor for 2013. There were no trustees’ expenses paid for 2014, nor for 2013. Wages related to governance costs decreased to £0 in 2014 from £833 in 2013. There were no wages related to governance costs in 2012. The Charity incurs costs from time to time in meeting, among other things, its statutory reporting requirements.
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets remained flat at £1,956 in 2014, compared to £1,966 in 2013. This depreciation is attributable to Go Help owning tangible fixed assets, principally its inflatable archway and awning for Charity Rallies launch events.
Training and books decreased to £0 in 2014 from £789 in 2013. The Charity will seek to increase spending on training going forward.
Charitable activity costs increased substantially to £50,126 in 2014 from £7,764 in 2013. Charitable activity costs increased by 16.7% to £50,126 in 2014 from £42,960 in 2012. Charitable activity costs are made up of wages, payments to Go Help charity projects and grants to institutions, and the increase compared to 2013 reflects large disbursements to fund Go Help charity projects in Mongolia.
Accountancy reflects the costs of preparing our financial statements. These costs decreased by 4.6% to £477 in 2014 from £500 in 2013. The Charity is focused on developing internal controls and reporting to ensure the efficient financial management of the organization. The continued decrease in accountancy costs reflects the success of the Charity’s move to standardise financial reporting.
Wages decreased by 42.7% to £3,230 in 2014 from £5,634 in 2013. This decrease was due to the discontinuance of the Vodafone World of Difference program and the transition of our Rally Commander, Sophie Willingale, to a freelancer. Wages are primarily paid to our Tajikistan project coordinator.
Sundries increased by 53.8% to £695 in 2014 from £452 in 2013. Sundries reflects costs associated with governing the charity that are not otherwise categorised, such as Companies House filing fees. Bookkeeping provided by Mandy Withers of Cloud Bookkeeping remained flat at £408 in both 2014 and 2013.
Go Help charity projects reflects transfers from Go Help to its affiliates in Mongolia and Tajikistan to support Go Help’s charity projects in those countries. This amount increased substantially to £46,896 in 2014, compared to £52 in 2013 and £25,535 in 2012 (an increase of 83.7% between 2014 and 2012). Go Help funds projects in Mongolia and Tajikistan as
Administration costs decreased to zero in 2014 from £230 in 2013. No administration costs were incurred in 2012. Administration reflects administrative costs incurred in connection with governing the Charity.
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APPENDIX A Reference and Administrative Information Reference and Administrative Information Charity Name:
Go Help
Charity Registration No.:
1129226
Company Registration No.:
06373076
Registered Office and Operational Address: 14 The Drive, Loughton, ESSEX, IG10 1HB, United Kingdom
Board of Trustees
Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the period and up to the date of this report were as follows: David Griffiths - Chair William Dodsworth Dulguun Batkhishig Charlie Hogg Ryan Walker David Treanor
Secretary
David Griffiths
Senior Management Team Joanna Meade Sophie Willingale
Charity Rallies Commander Roof of the World Project Manager
Bankers
HSBC, 100 Old Broad Street, London, EC2N 1BG, UK
Independent Examiner
Monahans, Chartered Accountants, 38-42 Newport Street, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN1 3DR, UK
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APPENDIX B Annual Accounts for Go Help for the Year Ended 30 September 2014
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