The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)".
We communicate the memory of the Holocaust for a contemporary purpose: to grow a community of critical thinkers right across society, able to question the misinformation, stereotypes and conspiracy theories, which drive racist hate.
Through critical thinking about the Holocaust and the 2,000 years of anti-Jewish ‘othering’ at its root, we offer a citizenship skill that is applicable universally. We encourage its use to deconstruct and challenge all types of misinformation-based racism today.
Our context supports our content. Our inspiring founding story, peaceful rural setting, beautiful spaces for reflection and unique 27-year bond with survivors of the Holocaust makes us a safe space for critical thinking and discussion. It puts visitors of all creeds and none at ease.
We do three things to deliver our Purpose:
1. Witness: we collect the personal testimonies and artefacts of a wide range of Holocaust survivors, including a loyal core for whom we have been a home from home for 27 years. We supplement this with artefacts from perpetrator and other Jewish sources.
2. Create: we base exhibitions and learning programmes on these collections. They are experiential not didactic, created to provoke questions about not only victims and survivors but also perpetrators. enabling world class curatorial and academic expertise to bring collections to life through innovative exhibitions, education programmes, storytelling and digital technologies that involve the audience and provoke questions about victims, survivors and perpetrators.
3. Engage: we make these learning experiences accessible through an ecosystem of physical & digital channels and sector partnerships:
a. You can come to us: museum visits for school groups, public and families
b. We can come to you: schools outreach supported by The Journey app and The Forever Project.
Our educators also go to schools in London and Leeds.
c. Learn with us online too: live school webinars, talks, events and in future virtual tours and online
exhibitions.
This three-part model is designed to continually reach new & diverse audiences while re-engaging existing ones, to nurture a community of critical thinkers.
Values
Our organisational values are expressed under the following three headings:
Community
Family warmth
The personal touch and community reconciliation (as inspired by the Smith family)
Curiosity
Intellectual enquiry
Personal growth
No easy answers
Creativity
Emotional impact
Technological innovation
Contemporary relevance
Making a difference
The Centre’s key aims are:
1. To enhance the visitor experience
2. To expand our reach and diversify our audience base
3. To develop wider partnerships and expand networks
4. To drive innovation and manage risk
5. To improve our sustainability and financial well-being
6. To ensure quality and target excellence
7. To become a Learning Organisation
The annual report contains an overview (below) followed by a summary statement for each of the seven aims. Key outcomes achieved in 2022/23 appear under ‘Achievements and Performance’.
Overview
The National Holocaust Centre and Museum (NHCM) is a unique place of learning, founded in 1995 by a Christian family, Marina and Eddie Smith and their two sons, Stephen and James, following a visit to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. Deeply touched by the experience of Jewish people, especially through the Holocaust, they created Beth Shalom (House of Peace), as a dedicated memorial and place of education from a converted farmhouse.
The Centre has an inspiring history which confirms the relevance of the Holocaust to communities of all faiths, and those with none, across the UK. The purpose of the Centre is to understand and learn the lessons from the past, to be better equipped to prevent or address the many challenges faced by communities today.
The NHCM is an Arts Council England accredited museum with collections of national and international significance, which relate to pre–war Jewish life, the Holocaust, refugee experiences and Holocaust survivors’ lives in England. Items within its collection originate from across Europe and include many artefacts from ghettos and concentration camps. The collection’s widespread representation and connection to the UK makes it unique, significant in helping to demonstrate the lead up to the Holocaust and the indoctrination methods that were used by the Third Reich. The National Holocaust Centre and Museum was assigned as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation for the period 2018 – 2023 and 2023 - 2026, which provides vital funding support.
Contribution made by volunteers
The charity is grateful for the support it receives from volunteers who assist the delivery of the education programs and the visitor experience. We applaud the contribution of the dedicated team of Holocaust survivors who undertake the physically and mentally demanding experience of coming to the Museum regularly and sharing their personal experience of the Holocaust with students and other visitors. They have made the National Holocaust Centre and Museum what it is today by their courage, strength and commitment. During the pandemic a large number of survivors replicated their face to face talks using the interactivity of the web to deliver virtually to classrooms across the country. We have welcomed and encouraged a return to onsite speaking with our survivor family. Some continue to speak to students virtually and this has helped reduce the time and travel commitments we ask of our survivors. We have recorded a total of 97 online talks and 67 onsite talks from our survivor family totalling 436.5 hours of time.
Our education activity has been delivered in London supported by a dedicated team of volunteers who deliver our outreach program giving us a combined total of 240 hours time during this period.
Two dedicated curatorial volunteers have worked with us throughout the year supporting the collections works with a total of 180 hours time.
Additionally our day to day operations are supported by a team of front of house volunteers. Their support has totalled 1,100 hours during this period. They are key in greeting visitors and ensuring a positive visitor experience and their time is viewed as key support to the Operations team.
For the period of 2022-23 we have valued our volunteer hour contribution to a total of 1,956.5 hours. We are immensely grateful for the time and commitment given to us by our volunteer team without whom the museum would not run as it does.
The directors have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Fundraising standards information
Beth Shalom relies on fundraising to support its charitable activities. Fundraising activities are carried out by the Development team and the Museum Director Marc Cave. Beth Shalom does not employ other organisations or individuals to carry our fund-raising activities. Whilst the Museum does not have an undertaking to be bound by any schemes or standards for fundraising, all fundraising activities conform to published standards.
The Museum does not carry out any street or telephone fundraising with the public. There have been no complaints about any of the Museums’ fundraising activities.
Aim 1: To enhance the visitor experience
We aim to significantly improve the estate and the visitor experience it provides.
At the heart of our work lies historical truth. The success in communicating this to learners and visitors depends upon the quality of our exhibitions, our collections, our staff and our ability to reflect on and learn from the current visitor experience, using ideas from partners, users and non-users to help improve the service provided and enhance the use of collections.
Most significantly during this period we were working on two large submissions both integral to the future direction of the charity. This year we applied for funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund for site re-development works and to Arts Council England to remain a National Portfolio Organisation. There was considerable work to complete to ready ourselves for the submission deadlines both in May 2022 and to find both our applications were accepted was significant news for us. We now have considerable roadmaps of work to complete over the next three years until 2026. Each submission gives us a crucial focus on delivering activity that will increase our reach to new and existing audiences. There is large amount of recognition and respect that comes with being funded by two organisations with such large national cultural importance. The charity must work hard to satisfy all reporting requirements and deliver all promised aims in the next three years.
National Lottery Heritage Fund
After an extended planning phase granted to us last year, we submitted our application May 2022 and received a decision October 2022. We were awarded a grant of £702,300. This equated to 17% of the eligible project cost of £4,135,910.
We were granted partial permission to start 16th January 2022 and must now work on securing full permission to start. The grant expiry date is January 2026.
The works completed under this project form Stage 1 of our sitewide re-development masterplan. In summary the project’s completion will afford us with several improvements including:
Four new job posts contracted for the duration of the project; Garden Volunteer Manager, Project Digital Curator, Learning Officer – Families and Schools, Schools Outreach Officer. Plus funding for casual welcome hosts and part-time educators.
Extension to The Journey exhibition will expand in space and scope by encompassing our existing meeting room. Updates to The Journey’s interior will be made. Some rooms e.g. school room are expected to remain largely unchanged, but others will be redesigned. New interpretation will feature throughout that will better serve different audiences.
Main building ground floor amendments will provide new spaces for flexible use giving us more space for school groups. The bookshop will be amalgamated into the coffeeshop.
New collections store.
Environmental improvements including rainwater harvesting.
New toilet facilities to be added to the Ronson Learning Centre.
Roofing repairs to staff cottages allowing original buildings to be preserved and used.
Drainage improvements
Activity plan to be followed for the duration of the project.
Under partial permission to start National Lottery Heritage Fund agreed we could begin recruitment for the Schools Outreach Officer role. This role was time sensitive due to the notice period asked of teachers. We successfully recruited for the role in February 2023.
The AV tender documentation was issued to a list of 8 suppliers for the provision of equipment with a closing date of March 14th.
We are working to ensure that any necessary consents and permissions are in place for the delivery of the project. Planning permission is in place and we have worked to satisfy all conditions. Bat surveys (dusk emergence and dawn re-entry) were completed in May 2022. We expect tree surveys to be required next year.
Welcome Path – Scope change to National Lottery Heritage Fund project (NLHF)
Additional funding has been identified which opens t opportunity to reinstate the welcome path as part of the phase one programme of redevelopment works. This is particularly important to the charity as the area is designated to share the story of the Smiths. We will continue to implement the Welcome Path alongside this phase of redevelopment works. Completing these works parallel to one another will minimise onsite disruption as the welcome path plans can be amalgamated into the NLHF works.
Arts Council England – National Portfolio Organisation (NPO)
2022 – 2023 was the final year of our 2018 – 2022 funding period as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. 2022-2023 was an extension year and this funding period will come to a close March 2023 after all end of year reporting requirements are met.
Significant work was done in reapplying for Arts Council England funding for the new period of 2023-2026. Our application was guided by the Art Council’s 10 year ‘Let’s Create’ strategy with particular focus on supporting the Government’s Levelling Up and Priority Place initiatives.
We submitted the application May 2023 and in November received news we had been successful. Our funding agreement is for a total of £400,000 each year (£1.2m total). This is £305,520 of core funding and an additional £94,480 additional funding we requested largely for works to be completed within our local area focusing on Levelling Up areas and Priority Places.
During the last funding period we received £75,000 a quarter, this is now £100,000 making Arts Council England our biggest funder. Their contribution to our core activities is crucial funding in allowing our day-to-day activities with schools and members of the public to continue. Work on this funding period will begin April 2023.
Aim 2: To expand our reach and diversify our audience base.
The Museum is generally ‘undersold’, both locally and nationally. We aim to increase the number, range and diversity of people who engage with the Museum, especially those from communities with a less strong tradition of arts and culture activity. We will achieve this through a combination of extended opening, targeted marketing, website and social media development and the improvements to the estate and facilities described in the previous section.
Current Offer
32,483 students and teachers participated over a total of 564 learning sessions. This is across all age groups and includes both onsite, online, and outreach sessions.
In our age of social media, fake news, and online hate we champion critical thinking. All our education programmes are led by a member of our education team.
Onsite programmes for Key Stages 2 and above (ages 10+) - primary, secondary and university. Standard sessions are usually 4/4.5 hours to work around school timings.
Primary students will have survivor testimony and time within the Journey exhibition. Secondary schools have an introductory session followed by time in the main exhibition and memorial gardens before hearing survivor testimony. University students follow the same pattern, but their day is more in depth and the educator will attune their learnings to the programme the students are studying.
This includes the ability to book extended programmes (students have more time or secondary students visit the Journey exhibition). Primary students may request our ‘Be Inspired to Write’ session; an extended visit with an additional focus on improving writing skills.
We continue to offer bespoke days as designed by request.
Online primary offering includes a workshop on Leo’s journey with live survivor testimony. The extended online offering includes a creative writing workshop.
Secondary online programme is split into 3 sessions:
Who was responsible for the Holocaust?
Live webinar with a Holocaust survivor
Could the Holocaust happen again?
Our outreach work provides learning materials, use of the Journey App, tactile props and teacher support. Delivered to 2,508 pupils across Leeds and London.
We aim to increase engagement from our current audiences while widening our reach to different target audiences.
Educators are prepared to draw parallels with and discuss current events.
Teacher feedback has included: "We had an excellent day visiting the Holocaust Centre - incredibly thought provoking and well organised. Our students were encouraged to reflect on events not only during the Holocaust itself but how it links to current events and lessons we should learn and apply in our own lives. Our students valued the opportunity to stretch their knowledge of this time in history and of course the opportunity to listen to Simon’s testimony." Secondary school teacher, March 2023.
Social media and our digital engagement
It is important that we increase our online presence to increase awareness of our work and boost our relationships with supporters and members of the public.
Our Twitter following rose 2.4% to 21,000 followers. Facebook rose 8.2% to 7,100. Instagram rose 42.5% to 4,309.
We’re pleased with this increase in Instagram followers and have curated our page to focus on our museum collection. The page is designed to be aesthetically pleasing.
Facebook continues to be our best social means of communicating with our local audience. We know that people who visit us in person tend to follow us on Facebook and we consistently use it to market our onsite events.
Our Trip Advisor reviews remain positive and showcase visitor’s satisfaction. We have 324 reviews and 296 of these are 5 stars.
Live webcast series
Online work is a key part of our business model moving forward and we are continuing to build on the foundation we have built during the last couple of years.
This work will be accelerated by our redevelopment plans which include an AV overhaul within the Pears Auditorium. This work will leave us with better inhouse audio and video quality and also livestream capabilities so all of our onsite events can be broadcast to an audience not geographically limited to the museum.
In addition to members of the public our education programs will also benefit. As opportunities to listen to Holocaust survivors sadly decline, we must try and spread access to their testimony as wide as possible. Some survivors have continued to speak online as their travel commitments to speak onsite were significantly time consuming. We will move to a model wherein several schools will listen to a speaker at the same time.
We trialled this for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 wherein we live cast survivor testimony and advertised it to schools with an estimated audience of 15,000 (783 individual views of the live cast. Estimated that this equates to 600 individual schools. One class per school, with average 25 pupils per class.)
Aim 3: To develop wider partnerships and expand networks.
We aim to build strong national partnerships. Our partnership working has developed well over the past 4 years. Over the next 3 years we aim to develop stronger collaboration within the field of Holocaust education and to establish delivery partners for a range of programmes and projects including outreach programmes and museum and testimony projects.
During 2022/23 we have achieved the following:
Partnerships for Hate Crime education with Nottinghamshire County Council:
With the aim to encourage positive attitudinal change in individuals who have exhibited prejudicial behaviour, we have continued to develop our Breaking the Cycle youth and adult programmes, working together with Nottinghamshire Police, PREVENT officers, and experts from Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU) Criminology department.
Breaking the Cycle programmes were run for youth between ages 10-to 17 who have been referred to us by the courts, police, PREVENT, and schools if they are believed to be at risk of committing hate offences, or where there is concern these youth are vulnerable to being drawn into extremism. The programme is increasingly recommended throughout Nottinghamshire by Police to schools, and teachers by word of mouth.
Continued development of the Breaking the Cycle - Adult programme onsite at NHCM. With continued funding of this project work to develop this programme until March 2025, we continue to host sessions onsite of adults referred to us by Nottinghamshire/Nottingham City Police as well as PREVENT. 1:1 or 2:1 engagement with referrals continues to be the preferred model for this programme. A PhD candidate from NTU’s Criminology department is working with us to create follow-up interviews (after six months, and then again after 12 months) with participants for gauging the impact of the programme on attitudinal change.
Case study from an adult participant: in the post-session survey completed by a participant, when asked ‘What one thing have you taken away from today?’ they wrote: ‘Everyone is a human being, no matter what, and have a right to choice. Opinions towards other can be long-term upsetting, treat everyone as you would expect [to be treated]’.
New staff roles focusing on extending national and local reach for schools and members of the public:
Partnership Managers main focus for April 2022 – March 2023 was to develop key links within our local community to offer a wide range of subjects to engage with visitors who may not have thought of visiting a ‘museum’ but may have an interest in a particular topic. Creating new partnerships with local organisations to enable their established footfall to be signposted to NHCM. Key achievements thus far for this period:
Ensuring our inclusion as a point of interest with Liberation Route UK for their Lincolnshire programme. The International Bomber Command Centre at Lincoln is also part of this route.
Improving the infrastructure access to the Museum by ensuring our inclusion as a mapped stop for the new Nottsbus service, North and South routes run by Nottinghamshire County Council.
Establishing a new partnership with Sherwood Forest Trust by way of short promotional video showcasing NHCM alongside six other local historical points of interest. SFT also funded two workshops with Jo Schofield, an environmental artist using recycled materials inspired by POWs and Displaced Persons.
‘Broken Instruments’ a performance montage of music and storytelling to commemorate Roma Sinti HMD. Then an audio exhibition and installation for Kristallnacht.
Running Survivor led art workshops with Holocaust survivor, Ruth Schwiening and subsequent gallery of work, ‘Six Million White Roses’ exhibited in Newark for three weeks with a footfall of 2k visitors and raised £1500 from sales of art and our own merchandise.
Joined Newark Business Club for further Networking opportunities.
Author and Artist events including Mike Levy, Lucy Adlington, AJR joint event launching ‘My Story’ by Ruth Schwiening, Beverley- Jane Stewart in conversation with Charles Landau.
Building relationship with local church networks by exhibiting at both a flower festival and Christmas tree festival at St Paulinus, Ollerton. We had a quote of reflection printed on their annual order of service for Remembrance Sunday which was attended by over 200 residents.
Hosting IWM Digital Installation and subsequent White Roses event. 3 year National Lottery Heritage Funded project called the Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme. IWM partnered with 8 museums across the UK including NHCM. White Roses Event – Holocaust Survivors Simon Winston BEM and Ruth Schwiening onsite to discuss the poetry that their individual testimony has inspired with Nottingham Trent University
Nurturing ongoing partnerships with Newark Book Festival, local doorstep press publications, Inspire Libraries, NSDC Tourism Action Group, N&SCVS, Visit Nottinghamshire.
January – March 2023 Recorded visitor footfall increased by 400 from same period 2022.
We have recruited a number of new roles during the 2022-23 financial year:
Director of Learning joined in September 2022 and focused on revamping the core education programmes, creating new outreach programmes (in school and online) to ensure sustainability in the face of school budget cuts, and refreshing the education team.
Schools’ Relationships Manager joined in November 2022 and focused on engaging new schools and Multi-Academy Trust audiences for our programmes, as well as evaluating the core programmes.
We have recruited two new part-time educators teaching at primary and secondary level.
Collaboration:
Holocaust Memorial Day 2023:
Events held with: (i) councils in Sheffield, Manchester, Camden and Waltham Forest; (ii) South Hampstead Synagogue; (iii) Oxford University. Total attendees: 2507.
Print articles in The Times, Mail on Sunday, Jewish Chronicle and Jewish News.
Eight broadcast interviews, including ITV’s Good Morning Britain and BBC’s Sunday Morning Live.
Live cast testimony from Hedi Argent MBE broadcast to estimated 15,000 pupils in school.
School lessons and pre-recorded assembly video sent to over 3,000 primary and secondary schools.
Aim 4: To drive innovation and manage risk.
The Museum has understood the need to embrace change and to utilise new technologies to better engage audiences and extend our reach.
Our plans are ambitious but realistic and assume that our willingness to drive innovation will continue in the next decade and beyond. Innovation and growth both bring risk. Central to our plans is the identification, mitigation, and monitoring of risk with full involvement of the Trustees.
During 2022/23 we have achieved the following:
The Forever Project
Filmed in February 2022 we were proud to launch our 11th addition to the Forever Project in May 2022 with Dr Agnes Kaposi’s testimony. We were able to expand the question-set with questions surrounding Agnes’s artefacts which are held in our collection and for the first time The Forever Project has included ‘follow-on’ questions to enable a richer exploration of Agnes’ testimony through self-led question-and answer sessions. This testimony is a rich edition to our core Forever Project testimonies.
Aim 5: To improve our sustainability and financial well-being.
We aim for financial stability and sustainable growth.
The Museum like other charitable organisations needs to develop a strong income base in difficult economic times if it is to achieve its ambitions. Whilst growth in activity is planned, there is recognition that this must be achieved within tight financial parameters and prudent expenditure levels.
During 2022/23 we have achieved the following:
Curatorial work
Our curatorial team’s research, translation, digitisation, and collections care is the foundation on which all our work is built.
National Lottery Heritage Fund & Metaphor
Curatorial played a major part in developing the Heritage Lottery Phase 2 funding bid, which was submitted June 2022. As part of this, the team worked closely with exhibition design company 'Metaphor' to develop a detailed plan for the re-design of our 'Journey' exhibition, developing a new concept for how to use museum collection objects, testimonies, and historical props and set designs to create a series of immersive period environments, with a view to meeting changing audience preconceptions, learning styles, and educational priorities. The bid was successful, and since October 2022, curatorial have worked to support the NLHF delivery plan, including the appointment of a new NLHF-funded testimony champion.
Permanent Holocaust exhibition refresh
Our main exhibition is over 25 years old and requires urgent upgrading in light of advances in knowledge about the Holocaust, new pedagogic insights about audiences' understanding and learning behaviours, and the increasing problem of renewed antisemitism. We re-designed sections of the exhibition between April-September 2022, with new objects, display panels, and digital panels about:
the history of antisemitism: this now focuses on English roots (Lincoln Cathedral); on the normalisation of antisemitism in key parts of British culture and the school curriculum (Shakespeare, Dickens etc); and on contemporary examples (digital juxtaposition of historical images and contemporary social media memes);
the popular appeal of National Socialism: to counter the misperception that National Socialism was a purely historical phenomenon, in which people were helpless victims of dictatorial brainwashing, we designed new displays, which include private photo albums from the time, to clarify the seductive offerings of Nazi ideology and their similarities to contemporary forms of populism and antisemitism;
a new section on the long history of violent antisemitism, including pogroms, before the Nazi regime;
an interactive App to explore a large photograph of Auschwitz, inviting audience to become detectives investigating the largest crime scene of the world.
"Break Out of Your Bubble"
We were invited by the Arts Council England to use seed funding to create an interactive online version of the Journey, allowing us to teach about the rising persecution in 1930s Germany in a new way, and to attempt to bring together groups of students with different backgrounds to discuss their learning.
We worked with the University of Nottingham to create the platform and trialled it with 10 schools and groups of university students.
We received extremely useful feedback from an evaluation of the programme by the University of Kent and are now incorporating the platform into future educational and curatorial work.
"On the Other Hand"
The curatorial team has developed the concept, and raised funding for, a new exhibition contrasting insights into Jewish life and culture and antisemitic myths. This is conceived to be touring different sites in the UK in a mobile exhibition vehicle, combining digital and physical displays. It connects the dots between Holocaust education and antisemitism in the UK today. The mobile truck format will engage audiences who are not yet motivated to visit a Holocaust Museum or online learning programme. The exhibition builds on 3 pilots, each co-developed by the University of Nottingham (team lead: Prof Maiken Umbach) and curatorial experts from the National Holocaust Centre and Museum; parts were also co-designed with the Jewish Museum London. It will start touring in December 2023.
"Ordinary Objects, Extraordinary Journeys"
This is an ongoing collaboration with the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) and the Jewish Museum of Greece. Curatorial has worked with partners to develop and improve the microsite, which features seemingly commonplace objects from our collections, which reveal the harrowing journeys and heartbreaking experiences of their owners before, during, and in some instances after, the Second World War. The launch was hosted online in June 2022 with 240 people signed up to watch the launch live.
Survivor Consultation Days
During December 2022 we hosted two survivor consultation days – one onsite and one in London. These were hosted by the Museum Director and invited our survivor family to more closely learn about the work that we have planned for the future and it was an opportunity for us to ask for their opinions. The sessions assured our survivor family that we will always strive to fulfil our promises in sharing their life stories with as many people as possible for generations to come. We also pledged to keep them updated on our redevelopment progress.
Loss of our co-founder Marina Smith MBE
On June 26th 2022 our co-founder Marina Smith MBE passed away. A former schoolteacher, for our first ten years of existence Marina was our Director of Learning her vision and compassion took us to new heights and laid foundations that we sit proudly upon today. Marina was the heart of the museum and her care and compassion is illustrated in the love she gave to Holocaust survivors. Her loss has been sorely felt by many in our community. Her commitment will forever be entwined in the work that we do. Moreover, we hope to be able to work with the Marina H Smith Foundation in the future which supports survivors of the Holocaust and genocide, nurtured peacebuilders and sustains educations. It is vital to our future sustainability that we honour Marina Smith’s memory and ensure we earn and keep the trust of those who knew and respected her as we continue the work she helped begin more than 28 years ago.
Aim 6: To ensure quality and target excellence.
As a nationally styled museum we aim for excellence, and this is evidenced in a systematic approach to evaluation, appraisal and development. We are looking to continuously improve and strengthen our assets and always ensure a quality level of excellence.
During 2022/23 we have achieved the following:
New programmes
We have re-written our core programmes for primary, secondary and post-16 schools/colleges. We are working with survivors, teachers and students to provide feedback on the new programmes before releasing them in October 2023. We are also receiving advice from specialists in Special Educational Needs at primary and secondary level, ensuring that our programmes are accessible to all students in mainstream schools.
We now offer outreach in-school and online for primary and secondary schools.
We have started to create a teacher CPD programme which will be rolled out in 2023/24.
We have delivered to 16% more students in Jan-June 2023 than we did in Jan-June 2022, despite increasing numbers of schools restricting trips because of budget pressures.
We continue to receive positive feedback from teachers and students. For example, 100% of teachers who took part in primary outreach in 2022/3 rated the programme as ‘positive’ or ‘very positive’, and 100% said that they were ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend us to other teachers.
Safeguarding
We have re-written the NHCM Safeguarding Policy, receiving positive feedback from the Nottinghamshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.
New procedures have been instituted on-site and for online education.
All staff have received safeguarding training, and all education staff have undergone additional online training.
Projects
We have undertaken a highly innovative project with Outwood Grange Academies Trust and UCL, identifying links between the existing curriculum and antisemitism. We are currently applying for funding to continue this collaboration.
We have completed a project with the IWM involving eight different museums and creative groups, focusing on lesser-told stories of the Holocaust and Second World War.
We have continued our Breaking the Cycle programme addressing extremist behaviours in adults and young people and have been invited to apply for Prevent funding in Nottinghamshire. Mark Rusling and Karen Becher are currently co-authoring a chapter on hate crime for a forthcoming book by Palgrave.
Audience Finder summary
Each Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation must gather feedback from surveys completed by their visitors. Each organisation is required to collect a minimum of 380 surveys over the course of their funding year in order to form a statistically robust sample size. The data is a crucial tool for allowing us to understand the profile of our visitors, and of those who do not visit us.
During this period we collected 555 usable surveys which gives us the following intelligence about our visitors:
A significant portion of our audiences are older in comparison to the Census Data for England Census data which is more dispersed throughout all age groups. 65% of our visitors are aged 55+. Employment status information shows us that 49% of our visitors are retired.
96% of our visitors are White. We must work to engage people from different ethnic groups and understand what barriers are keeping people from wanting to, or being able to, visit us. We must work to alleviate these barriers.
17% of visitors stated they had a disability which illustrates how crucial good accessibility is for us.
People who are employed part-time and students are good groups for us to look at increasing engagement with as these form very little of our visitor base.
72% of our visitors say their main motivation for visiting us it to learn something. 26% state that they visit to spend time with friends and family – this is a good sign for us to continue trying to increase our family engagement.
When asked how likely it is they would recommend us to a friend or family member 78% of people said that they would be “10/10” Extremely likely to. With such a high number of people stating they are willing to recommend us we can hope for a good level of word of mouth engagement from our visitors
73% of people visited us for the first time. This gives us a good number of people who have returned to us which is encouraging.
Visitor Feedback:
In reflection of the positive feedback given by visiting members of the public as illustrated above we have continued to maintain our 5 star rating on TripAdvisor.
Aim 7: To become a learning organisation.
We aim to foster both personal and organisational development.
A learning organisation is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its thinking and behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights.
We have appointed Professor Maiken Umbach as an Academic Consultant from the University of Nottingham working with us on redevelopment pedagogy and exhibitions and forming new academic and technology partnerships externally. Maiken will be advising us throughout redevelopment and leading professional development within the staff team in support of the Museum Director.
We have focused on enhancing the capability of the education team. All permanent educators have completed the UCL MA module in Holocaust Education, kindly funded by Pears Foundation. We now run termly training days for all educators, including part-time educators. The team have run five training sessions for all NHCM staff and volunteers during the year. All educators now receive a regular formal observation from the Director of Learning, acting as an opportunity for professional dialogue around pedagogy.
Significant Events and Principal Funding
The accounts for the year show that the National Holocaust Centre and Museum showed a deficit (before transfers) of £141,066 for unrestricted fund balances (2022: £205,618), a surplus of £530 for designated funds (2022: £66,693) and a surplus (before transfers) of £924,467 for restricted funds (2022: deficit of £179,578), resulting in an overall surplus for the year of £783,931 (2022: deficit of £318,503).
The level of cash held at the year end is artificially high due to the receipt of redevelopment funds.
The principal funding sources were donations and legacies of £1,855,439 and income from charitable activities of £397,786. Total income was £2,307,213 compared with £1,502,751 in 2022. The increase is largely due to an increase in restricted funding for the redevelopment project.
At the year end the total reserves were £3,839,089. Of this figure, £272,032 relates to a capital reserve on the revaluation of the freehold property, £1,259,376 relates to restricted funds and £103,786 relates to designated funds. This leaves general unrestricted funds of £1,810,175. At the year-end an expendable endowment of £393,720 is also held. Following the year end the Trustees released the designated funds to free reserves.
After allowing for unrestricted funds that are represented by fixed assets, the charity has £182,321 of available funds at the end of the year. The Trustees policy is to build free reserves up to a maximum of 6 months core expenditure (£522,000 based on the current core spend of £1,044,000 per annum) At the last year-end (March 2022) there was a free reserves balance of £200,674. An increase in free reserves of approximately £85K is budgeted during 2023/24 and 2024/25 which by 2026 would bring reserves to the target figure. The trustees also decided following the end of the year to undesignate the legacy fund to increase free reserves. We are aware that with our capital project and inflationary pressures we may need to draw on surpluses.
Income from donations and legacies showed an increase of £687,524 compared with 2022. Income from charitable activities increase by £91,071 compared with 2022. Income from other trading activities and investments has also increased in comparison with 2022.
Donations, grants and legacies above £35,000 included:
Arts Council England (NPO)
Beaverbrook
Bernard Grunberg
Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust
Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
Garfield Weston
National Heritage Lottery Fund
Pears Foundation
Ronson Family Foundation
The Davis Foundation
The Trustees investment powers are governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association, which permits the charity’s funds to be invested in such investments, securities or property as thought fit.
The directors have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
Plans for future periods
We will continue to move forward in our three-pronged approach designed to allow us to maximise our reach wherever possible by delivering activities onsite, online, and via outreach. In 2023 – 2024 we anticipate refreshing our core education programmes.
Encouraging visitors to our site will always remain of fundamental importance however we recognise the dedication that our digital foundation needs so that we can continue to build areas of the business without geographical limitations. Building relationships with our local communities will be key in keeping the museum of current interest to our local audiences. We will continue to collate feedback and act upon it to continuously improve our work and physical site. Collections remain at the core of what we do and now more than ever their work is crucial and strained by the limited time we have left with survivors. Curatorial work will remain at the heart of everything we offer as we continue to keep the memories of Holocaust victims alive. We will support our family of survivors and work to protect their testimonies to safeguard the future of Holocaust education. Their warnings of where prejudice and hate can lead are as relevant today as ever and our education work will be tied together by a golden thread of critical thinking. Furthermore, we will work to record and honour the legacy of the Smith family in establishing Beth Shalom.
Our immediate future is now more clearly defined by our commitments to two major funders Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. These two areas of work require major resources and dedication from the charity in order to be successful. Both projects will allow us to increase our reach and recognition. There are high expectations to meet and in return we hope these two periods of work will help solidify a strong foundation for our future.
National Lottery Heritage Fund
We have partial permission to start site redevelopment and will be working toward full permission to start. There are several conditions for us to satisfy in order for us to be granted full permission to start. This includes finishing the Licensing Requirement Exemption Request and finalising the land charges with our solicitors and bank.
We will need to finish recruitment for all of the jobs we detailed within the application.
The following team members will be reappointed for the delivery stage: Project Manager- Greenwood Projects, Design Team- Dannatt Johnson Architects, Evaluation – Bearwood Associates/Rosie Fraser, Business Planning - Counterculture Partnership LLP.
The following project team roles are yet to be appointed or confirmed: Expanding Access Consultant brief, Landscaping, Quantity Surveyor, Interpretation. Tendering for the Interpretation team will be a priority for us at the start of the 2023 period.
Once a quarter we will be meeting with our National Lottery Heritage Fund Investment Manager to give formal updates on our progress. The Senior Management Team will receive an update from Greenwood Projects once a month.
Following successful tender period in March 2023 we hope to appoint the AV team so this work can be completed over summer 2023 to minimise as much impact of school delivery as possible.
Following completed Interpretation work our focus will move toward the larger physical aspects of the project. The onsite building works will begin before summer 2024 so most of the disruption to the main building occurs over the summer period outside of school activity.
Arts Council England
From 1st April 2023 we will begin our new funding period as an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation. This funding period will run from 2023 to 2026.
Mandatory requirements for the funding include quarterly payment requests wherein our Relationship Manager will oversee our reporting to the Board of Trustees which includes (Agenda, Minutes of previous meeting, financial information, risk register, quarterly progress reports against our ACE Activity plan, investment principles, audience reporting, and discussions on any required mitigation for under achieving areas). Furthermore, at year end in April 2024 we will complete several end of year requirements that will satisfy our funding requirements (including annual survey completion, environmental reporting, audience data reporting, evaluation reporting, data sharing questionnaire and an annual progress review with our relationship manager).
We will be asked to submit our new work plan for 2024-2025 in time for our payment request due 3rd April 2024. This must include a new activity plan and new investment principles plan. We will continue with the quarterly updates and end of year requirements as aforementioned.
Beth Shalom Limited is a company limited by guarantee (company registration no. 1388313) and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association as amended by special resolutions passed on 12 June 1979, 8 June 1981, 14 July 2010 and 17 November 2014. It is registered as a charity (registration no. 509022) with the Charity Commission. Beth Shalom Limited changed its trading name to the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in 2014. Its registered office is the National Holocaust Centre and Museum, Laxton, Nr Newark. Any person can become a member of the company subject to approval by the trustees. Members undertake to contribute up to £1 in the event of a winding up of the charity.
The directors who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Appointment of trustees
Trustees may be appointed by the members by ordinary resolution. Existing trustees may also appoint a member of the company as an additional trustee at any time, but the appointment must be confirmed by the members at the next annual general meeting.
Induction and training of trustees
Potential new Trustees are invariably familiar with the objects and operation of the charity, but steps are taken to ensure they are fully briefed by the Trustees, Museum Director and other key employees on legal obligations, constitutional matters, the past and current financial position and future plans, before their appointment is confirmed. All Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where this will help them to carry out their role more efficiently.
Organisational structure
The Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall organisation under the chairmanship of Mr Henry Grunwald OBE QC.
The Board meets quarterly and includes Richard Kleiner who takes lead responsibility for finance. Copies of minutes from the Finance Sub-Committee Meetings are circulated and discussed at each Trustee Meeting.
Pay policy for senior staff
The Trustees consider the Museum Director (in liaison with the Trustees) to be in charge of controlling, running and operating the charity on a day-to-day basis. The Trustees set the remuneration packages for the Museum Director so that they attract, motivate and retain the right calibre of individual. The Trustees consider the packages of equivalent senior employees in similar organisations when determining the remuneration package.
Risk management
Risk management is considered a key responsibility for both Trustees and senior staff. The Risk Register is regularly updated and formally reviewed annually by Trustees, in its entirety. At each quarterly board meeting the Trustees scrutinise and review any identified red or amber risks and examine in depth a quarter of the content of the risk register. The risk assessment includes actions to be taken to mitigate each identified risk. During the annual review levels of mitigation are approved such that risk runs at an acceptable level.
Related parties
The charity does not have any close relationships with other organisations.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Azets Audit Services be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Directors.
The directors, who also act as trustees for the charitable activities of Beth Shalom Limited, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company Law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Beth Shalom Limited (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the directors are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the directors either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above and on the Financial Reporting Council’s website, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.
We obtain and update our understanding of the entity, its activities, its control environment, and likely future developments, including in relation to the legal and regulatory framework applicable and how the entity is complying with that framework. Based on this understanding, we identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. This includes consideration of the risk of acts by the entity that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, including fraud, we designed procedures which included:
Enquiry of management and those charged with governance around actual and potential litigation and claims as well as actual, suspected and alleged fraud;
Reviewing minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
Assessing the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations considered to have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the entity through enquiry and inspection;
Reviewing financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
Performing audit work over the risk of management bias and override of controls, including testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions outside the normal course of business and reviewing accounting estimates for indicators of potential bias.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Azets Audit Services is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Beth Shalom Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The National Holocaust Centre & Museum, Laxton, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG22 OPA.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the directors have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the directors continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the directors in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Endowment funds are subject to specific conditions by donors that the capital must be maintained by the charity. Income arising from the endowment fund is unrestricted.
All incoming resources are included in the SOFA when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. All income is shown gross.
Gifts in kind have been included at market value of gifts received and in assets acquired. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers, except where restricted income includes a separately identifiable contribution towards volunteers.
Revenue grants are included in the SOFA when receivable, except when the donors specify that they must be used in future accounting periods, in which case they are deferred. Capital grants in relation to specific fixed asset acquisitions are credited to the SOFA when receivable and shown as restricted funds.
Investment income is credited to the SOFA when received. Unrealised and realised gains and losses are included in the SOFA in the period in which the gain or loss is made.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Costs not directly attributed to particular headings have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources. The allocation of these support costs has been made on the basis of full time equivalent staff numbers. Governance costs are those incurred in connection with the charity’s compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
Irrecoverable VAT is treated as a cost and allocated in the manner stated above.
Intangible assets acquired separately from a business are recognised at cost and are subsequently measured at cost less accumulated amortisation and accumulated impairment losses.
Intangible assets acquired on business combinations are recognised separately from goodwill at the acquisition date where it is probable that the expected future economic benefits that are attributable to the asset will flow to the entity and the fair value of the asset can be measured reliably; the intangible asset arises from contractual or other legal rights; and the intangible asset is separable from the entity.
Amortisation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
These comprise the cost of capturing holocaust survivor testimony. No depreciation is charged on these costs as all such data is held in perpetuity for the purpose of education.
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.
An associate is an entity, being neither a subsidiary nor a joint venture, in which the charity holds a long-term interest and where the charity has significant influence. The charity considers that it has significant influence where it has the power to participate in the financial and operating decisions of the associate.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible and intangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Stocks consist of purchased goods for resale, together with library books. Resale stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Items donated for resale are not included in the financial statements until they are sold. Library books were valued in 2004 using insurance valuation methods.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Capital Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the directors are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme income
Admission fees and conferences
Sale of educational material
Non-charitable trading activities
Coffee shop and merchandise
Professional fees
Rent and utility costs
Repairs and maintenance
Printing, postage, stationery and telephone
Travel, training and recruitment
Other costs
Irrecoverable VAT
Travel costs
Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £8,450 (2022 - £8,075) for audit fees.
During the year three trustees (2022: five) were reimbursed for out of pocket expenses totalling £545 (2022: £958).
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. Amounts paid to the Chief Executive Officer are detailed in note 29.
No other trustee was paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxationof Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
These costs represent expenditure incurred in the development of software to facilitate the charity's interactive testimony presentation and virtualisation of the "Journey".
On 10 October 2008 the company’s freehold property was revalued at £1,500,000 by Musson Liggins, an external firm of Chartered Surveyors using current annual market rent, and a discount factor of 8 % in perpetuity. Under the transitional exemptions available under FRS102, the charity has treated the previous GAAP valuation as deemed cost. Included in the cost of freehold property is £200,000 relating to land that is not being depreciated.
The above is made up of the cost of library stocks of £44,718 and costs incurred in capturing testimonies from holocaust survivors in a digital format of £278,675. This data will be used for the education of the general public, including in the charity's interactive testimony presentations.
The library stock and testimony data are held by the charity in perpetuity and the trustees do not consider that they will suffer any impairment in value. Consequently, no depreciation is charged in the accounts.
Other loans comprise an unsecured loan from NESTA Arts Impact LLP at 2.5% interest repayable by instalments by June 2023.
Deferred income is included in the financial statements as follows:
Deferred income relates to deposits made for admission to the Holocaust Museum.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £10,476 (2022 - £10,696).
Endowment funds represent assets which must be held permanently by the charity. Income arising on the endowment funds can be used in accordance with the objects of the charity and is included as unrestricted income. Any capital gains or losses arising on the assets form part of the fund.
The Heritage Lottery Fund - Catalyst Endowments Fund is an expendable endowment fund, subject to permission from The HLF, aimed at fundraising to provide investment capital whose income will be used to finance the running of the Holocaust Centre. Whilst classified as an expendable endowment fund it is anticipated that the capital raised will be invested for a period of 20 years.
Home Office Building a Stronger Britain: Our project Unite was delivered in partnership with Stop Hate UK and worked with schools between Leicester and Leeds, supporting young people to counter extremism in their schools and communities.
The Mighty Creatives: This project trialled and tested the Journey App connecting with teachers and pupils to shape the best way forward for offering the app as a stand-alone resource which teachers download and teachers deliver to students with a comprehensive support package available online.
Eye as Witness Project Fund: This project designed and created our touring Exhibition The Eye as Witness and supported engagement with audiences across the country.
Site Redevelopment Fund: Supporting the planning phase for future redevelopment
Forever on-line/Stand Up: Project creating online versions of The Forever Project and using these as part of an education outreach programme focused on Upstanders. Funded by Genesis Philanthropy Group, Wolfson Jewish Education Fund, Charles Wolfson Foundation and Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Community Safety and Violence Reduction Fund.
ACE and DCMS Culture Recovery Fund: Government’s culture recovery fund supporting us to establish a digital delivery business model in response to the pandemic.
Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme: A project in partnership with the Imperial War Museum led Second World War and Holocaust Partnership Programme.
HET Lessons from Auschwitz Online: A collaboration with the Holocaust Educational Trust to produce and online interactive survivor testimony with Kitty Hart Moxon OBE. This replaced the in person element of the programme that was lost during Covid.
Garfield Weston Foundation: Weston Culture Fund: Funding to support a response to Covid-19 enabling us to recruit new staff, create new content and market our porgrammes.
The Journey - Leo's Story: Funding from The Big Give to support our primary outreach programme using the Journey App.
Nottinghamshire PCC – Breaking the Cycle, adult: Funding from Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner, Making Notts safe thematic fund. Ongoing project working with adult perpetrators of hate crime / incidents.
English Roots of the Holocaust: Funded by the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities.
National Lottery Heritage Fund Redevelopment Fund: Supporting the planning phase for future redevelopment.
Nottinghamshire PCC – Breaking the Cycle, adult: Funding from Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner, Making Notts safe thematic fund. Ongoing project working with adult perpetrators of hate crime / incidents.
Break Out of Your Bubble: Funding from ACE working with University of Nottingham Mixed Reality Lab’s Bubbles platform using survivor testimony.
ACE Capital Investment Programme: Supporting the planning phase for future redevelopment.
Antisemitism on University Campus: Funded by AJA to combat anti-Jewish hate in UK universities.
Commentary on transfers
Transfers from general funds to the various restricted funds represent the contribution to those projects from core funds. Transfers to general funds from restricted funds represent transfers of funds which are no longer deemed to be restricted.
At the reporting end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:
The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows.
During the year the charity entered into the following transactions with related parties:
Services in the amount of £53,677 (2022: £132,611) were procured from In The Room Global Ltd, a company in which certain trustees hold a financial interest.
Services in the amount of £4,200 (2022: £2,400) were procured from Gerald Edelman LLP, a company in which a trustee holds an interest.