The trustees, who are also the company directors of Islamic Relief Worldwide, are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report. This includes the group strategic report and the financial statements, preparing these in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). Company law requires our trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. They must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group, and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period.
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 Charity Commission Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP).
make judgments and accounting 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 group will continue in operation.
Trustees must keep adequate accounting records that are sufficient to:
show and explain the charitable company and the group’s transactions.
disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable group.
enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the provisions of the trust deed.
Statement on disclosure of information to the auditors
Under Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006 the trustees’ report must contain statements to the effect that, in the case of each of the persons who are trustees at the time, the report is approved:
As far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which our auditors are unaware.
They have taken all the steps that they should have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information, and to establish that our auditors are aware of that information.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Public benefit
We develop strategic plans to make certain that we deliver maximum public benefit and achieve our strategic objectives, which fall under purposes defined by the Charities Act 2011. The trustees have carefully considered the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit in setting our objectives and planning our activities.
Employees
The organisation recognises that it is only as good as the staff that it employs. Accordingly Islamic Relief Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and we are proud to recruit and promote staff based on aptitude and ability, without discrimination. The steps we take include ensuring ‘blind-shortlisting’ when recruiting to new roles, so applicants cannot be identified when we make decide who to shortlist for interview. As set out in our Recruitment and Selection Policy, we make all reasonable adjustments necessary for candidates who tell us they have a disability and give full and fair consideration to all applications. Determined to do more, we are working to create and embed an Equal Opportunities Policy and to ensure our learning and development opportunities are accessible to all colleagues. We support our employees and actively develop their skills. We encourage all our colleagues to engage with our organisational strategy and objectives and to give their suggestions and views in the development of these. In 2021 we undertook a global staff survey which identified areas to explore but also areas to celebrate. Going forward this data will help to shape our People and Culture Strategy.
We offer our employees management and leadership development through our Aspiring Managers and Management and Leadership Development programmes in order to enable them to forge career paths within the organisation.
In 2021 we continued to take part in the Government Furlough Scheme and topped this up in order to continue to pay employees their full salaries. During the pandemic each staff member in the UK was allocated a mental health first aider to be their contact point to support them. We also trained several mental health first aiders on bereavement training to support staff who unfortunately lost family/friends during the pandemic.
Working from home helped people navigate personal and professional challenges during the pandemic. We continue to provide greater flexibility to allow staff to achieve a better work life balance and continue to restrict the total number of staff attending the workplace at any given time to ensure staff feel safe and secure within the workplace while the pandemic persists. To facilitate a smooth return to the working environment we began trialling a hybrid working model to allow staff to continuing working from home for up to 80 per cent of the week whilst developing a functional return to work premises to enhance cohesion and collaboration and boost morale.
We strive to promote a healthy workplace and continue to develop and train our staff in mental health, which included training 66 managers on mental health awareness and training an additional 10 mental health first aiders. In total we now have over 30 mental health first aiders. Throughout the year we ran various wellbeing initiatives which included staff quizzes, coffee mornings and nutritional advice sessions.
Volunteers
During the Covid-19 pandemic, with due regard to safety and wellbeing, we adopted a cautious approach to recruiting volunteers. However, the commitment and passion of the network of volunteers continues to contribute greatly to the success of Islamic Relief Worldwide. These dedicated volunteers have been instrumental in supporting the charity in every aspect of operation; across our shops, administration, fundraising and campaigning activities. Our active management of volunteers enables us to deploy them in the most effective way and enhances their experience.
During lockdowns we kept in touch with our volunteers, sending them reminders about the importance of their mental as well as physical health. We are very proud of the 18 volunteers who completed an accredited year-long Volunteer Leadership Programme – much of it online due to the pandemic.
Auditors
A resolution to reappoint Grant Thornton LLP as auditors will be put to the members at the Annual General Meeting.
Fundraising structure
Islamic Relief Worldwide raises funds through various channels including online platforms and through our International Fundraising and Partner Development departments, which help new member offices establish themselves and grow, as well as strengthen links with institutional donors around the world. In the UK, we engage donors and fundraise through our strategic business unit, Islamic Relief UK. The overall objectives are agreed with the Board and disseminated to Islamic Relief UK. The Board and Islamic Relief UK then plan accordingly, setting key performance indicators for their teams and delivering in accordance with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising, to which the charity adheres. Management regularly monitors the performance of the fundraising teams and reports are issued to the Board periodically.
Fundraising approaches
The charity adheres to all relevant statutory regulations including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Charities Act 2011. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and strive for best practice in fundraising by adhering to the Code of Fundraising Practice and are committed to their Fundraising Promise. Islamic Relief is also a member of the Institute of Fundraising. Our fundraising utilises several different approaches, which include the following:
Major-donor giving
Corporate giving
Community fundraising
Digital peer to peer fundraising
Charity shops
Sponsored challenges
Live TV appeals
Live radio appeals
Volunteer activities
Direct mail
Social media fundraising
Influencer fundraising
Digital fundraising
In response to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we maintained our focus on digital fundraising methods. Most of our activities were carried out by our own staff and volunteers. Islamic Relief Worldwide occasionally engaged third-party organisations to fundraise on our behalf, subject to contractual agreements and requirements to meet the same standards observed by Islamic Relief Worldwide in our fundraising practices.
Charity Week
The year saw the return of offline events for our mass participation campaign, Charity Week. A student volunteer led campaign, Charity Week engaged thousands of volunteers across the globe and saw 394 educational institutions sign up to the event. The project was run by 474 core volunteers who worked very closely with our fundraising teams. They received formal training and support to deliver an effective campaign which raised a total of £1.8 million, a record for the campaign to date.
Code of Fundraising Practice
During the year, we performed ongoing reviews of our compliance with the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice. We carried out an extensive internal audit of our fundraising practices to further identify areas for improvement and ensure that we are constantly aiming for excellence in our work as well as adherence to the Code.
Protecting vulnerable people
Islamic Relief Worldwide abides by the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice and ensures our colleagues and volunteers are fully briefed about the protection of vulnerable people. We brief staff and volunteers about best practice before they undertake any fundraising, making them aware of the need to identify, respect, support and protect vulnerable people.
Complaints handling
We pride ourselves in having an open-door policy; providing stakeholders with transparency and an opportunity to give feedback to us about their experience. However, there may be times when we do not meet the high standards we set ourselves; for such instances we have a Fundraising Regulator approved complaints policy in place. We try to make it easy for concerns and complaints to be raised via our website and our complaints policy can be found there. Complaints are captured centrally, dealt with in accordance with the process laid down in the policy and reported to the Fundraising Regulator through the annual return. In 2021 we received 141 complaints; each of which was dealt with in accordance with our complaints policy.
Qualifying third party indemnity provisions
Trustees’ indemnity insurance, indemnifying each trustee against liability to third parties, has been in place throughout the year ended 31 December 2021 and up to the date of approval of this report.