The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.
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 company's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)".
The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities and providing help in the form of grants or scholarships or any combination of these.
The Foundation has been established for general charitable purposes and operates as a grant making Charity, supporting charitable projects, organisations and individuals. A particular emphasis is the promotion of writing in Africa.
The Trustees may use the income and the capital of the Foundation in promoting the objectives.
Grant Making Policy
The Trustees’ grant making policy has been to generally consider making donations by way of direct funding to individuals and also by way of grants to charitable organisations in the UK and Overseas.
The Trustees pay due care and attention to ensure that the work considered for funding delivers public benefit as per the Charity Commission’s guidance.
Fundraising
The Trustees have referred to the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 (“the Act”) and the Guidance on Charities and Fundraising issued by the Charity Commission (“CC20”). They confirm that the CC20 have no impact on the Charity as it does not engage in any public fundraising activities.
Charitable Activities totalled £226,942 (2024 - £384,285) and include charitable grants made, scholarship awards, support costs and governance costs. During the year, the trustees awarded 4 scholarships together with 2 donations to various individuals and organisations (2024 – 4 scholarships and 9 donations) totalling £91,489 (2024 - £183,000). A full list of grants made during the year to 31 March 2025 is shown in the notes to the accounts.
Support costs incurred during the year related to charitable activities and totalled £127,133 (2024 - £193,495). Support costs include management and administration costs that deal with the day to day running of the Foundation, scholarships and the scholarship events. All grants were paid in line with the policies set out in the section of this report, Objectives and Activities for the public benefit.
Grant commitments of £58,500 (2024 - £69,000) have been provided for within the financial statements. Further details are set out in note 8.
The accounting treatment in respect of grants is in line with that set out in the Charities SORP FRS102, paragraph 7.
Governance costs are included within Charitable Activities and totalled £5,820 (2024 - £7,790).
Incoming resources totalled £234,711 (2024 - £505,474). The Charity’s income was received from voluntary donations, associated Gift Aid reclaims and interest.
It is the policy of the company that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to between three and six month’s expenditure. The trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the company’s current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. This level of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.
The Trustees do not propose to deviate from the current objectives and activities of the Charity.
The company is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 24 August 2012 and is registered with the Charity Commission.
The Trustees meet regularly in person or by email to discuss and develop the Charity’s goals and strategy and to review grant requests and proposals.
The management of the Charity is conducted solely by the Trustees.
The Trustees’ investment powers are unrestricted.
The number of Trustees shall be a minimum of three at any one time and new Trustees may be appointed for a renewable term of three years by Mr Miles Morland.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
Induction and Training
As part of their training, Trustees are given an information pack which includes the Foundation's Memorandum and Articles of Association and Charity Commission guidance on Trustees' Responsibilities. All Trustees are aware of their duties and obligations towards the maintenance of the charity and the protection of its assets.
Related Parties
None of the Trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the Foundation. Any transactions between the Foundation and the related parties must be approved by the trustees.
Transactions with related parties are disclosed in note 16 to the financial statements.
Pay policy for senior staff
The Directors, who are the Foundation’s Trustees, and senior management team comprise the key management personnel of the Charity in charge of directing and controlling, running and operating the Foundation on a day to day basis.
All Directors give their time freely and no Director received remuneration in the year. Details of director’s expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in note 16 to the accounts. The pay of the senior staff reflects the level of responsibilities and skill set required. The pay is reviewed annually.
Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement
The Trustees (who are also Directors for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Annual Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charitable Company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the Charitable Company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS102);
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;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Charitable Company will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company 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 charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Internal Controls
The Trustees have overall responsibility for ensuring that the Charity has appropriate systems of internal controls. They are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements follow best practice and all applicable law, regulation and guidance.
The Trustees are also responsible for the Charity safeguarding its assets and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The system of internal controls is designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss.
Risk Management
A risk assessment has been undertaken which comprises:
An annual review of the risks the Charity may face
The establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks; and
The implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the Charity should those risks materialise.
This continuing process will identify risk areas to which the Charity is vulnerable and highlight any necessary safeguards that will need to be put in place. No major risks were identified at the date of these financial statements.
The Trustees have signed fit and proper declarations in line with HMRC guidance
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of The Miles Morland Foundation (the company) for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the company’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act 2011.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the company as required by section 386 of the Companies Act 2006.
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the Companies Act 2006 other than any requirement that the financial statements give a true and fair view, which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The Miles Morland Foundation (“the Foundation” or “the Charity” or “Charitable Company”) is a registered charity (charity number 1150755 and company number 08190269) limited by guarantee, whose principal object is to support charitable purposes in whatever manner the Trustees, in their absolute discretion, think fit.
The Trustees’ overriding aim is to support entities and individuals in the UK and overseas which allow Africans to get their voices better heard.
The policy of the Charitable Company is to seek sufficient finance to continue its charitable activities.
In the event of the Charitable Company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charitable Company. The address of the registered office is given on page 1 of these financial statements.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the company's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)". The company is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The company has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a statement of cash flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The Foundation’s expenditure requirements which are within control of the Trustees. The Trustees consider the adoption of the going concern basis in preparing these financial statements continues to be appropriate.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors 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.
Voluntary donations include donations under Gift Aid with the associated tax credits included when receivable. Interest from deposit accounts are included when receivable. All incoming resources are included in the SOFA when the Foundation is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.
All expenditure is included on an accruals basis and is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Trustees to the expenditure.
Support costs are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objectives of the Foundation.
Governance costs relate to the general running of the Foundation, as opposed to the management functions inherent in generating funds and are included in Charitable Activities.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resources expended for which it was incurred.
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.
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 only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are recognised at transaction value.
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 company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Provisions
Provisions are recognised when the Charity has an obligation at the Balance Sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that an outflow of economic benefit will be required in settlement and the amount can be reliably estimated.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the trustees 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.
The key management personal of the Foundation, comprise the trustees, who are also the directors of the charitable company and receive no remuneration, and the Foundation’s Administrator. In the prior year's accounts, and therefore the comparative figures in these accounts, included within Management and administration costs were total employee benefits of the Foundation Administrator totalling £93,638. For the year to 31 March 2025 employee benefits were paid personally by Mr Miles Morland as explained in Note 16.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The Foundation is not subject to any taxes on its charitable activities.
The Foundation is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.
Tangible assets are depreciated over a five year period using the straight line method. As at 31 March 2025 the asset has fully depreciated but continues to be held by the Charity.
During the year to 31 March 2025 the Trustees awarded grants totalling £75,000 (2024 - £78,000) to four scholars.
As at 31 March 2025 there was an outstanding balance of £58,500 (2024 - £69,000) due to be funded in respect of Scholarship commitments due within one year. The outstanding balance is included in other creditors above.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
Miles Morland donated £100,000 (2024 – £225,000) to the Charity in the year on which Gift Aid relief has been claimed.
In addition Miles Morland privately paid for a management salary and associated costs totalling £91,098 for the year. This donation and cost is not recognised in the accounts otherwise than disclosed in this note. The equivalent cost in the prior year was paid as recharges to Development Partners International LLP and amounted to £93,638, and which was included as a cost in the prior year accounts.
Miles Morland, a Trustee of the Foundation, is a person with significant influence in Development Partners International LLP.
No compensations were received by any Trustees during the year.