OXFORD HOUSE ANNUAL REVIEW: 2011-12
About us .............. 4
INtRoDuCtIoN ..... 6
ouR yeAR
1. Community Hub ...........................8 2. Volunteering and Internships ....... 10 3. Creative Arts ................................ 12 4. Strenghtening the core ................ 14 5. Legacy and all that ....................... 16
ouR fINANCes ...... 18
thANks to ............ 20
CoNtACt us .......... 22
ADmIN ..................... 22
CONTENTS
4
ABOUT US
Founded by Keble College, Oxford University in 1884 as part of the 19th Century Settlement movement Oxford House in Bethnal Green (but known simply as Oxford House) is now a thriving, independent, multi-purpose community and arts centre.
Oxford House was established in 1884 as one of the first “settlement houses” where students and graduates from its founding body (Keble College, Oxford University), undertook a period of residential volunteering to learn first-hand about the problems of disadvantaged areas while providing practical support to the local community to ease the effects of urban deprivation.
The charitable objects as set out in the current governing document are:
(b) to undertake and carry on religious, charitable, social and educational work in London and elsewhere.
(a) to provide a centre of religious, charitable, social and educational work among the poor of East London;
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While there has been no formal change in the charity objects, Oxford House has interpreted its purposes through a more contemporary mission statement:
To be the place where community & voluntary sector groups, arts organisations, and social businesses come together to work, learn, explore, create and celebrate.
Today Oxford House meets this mission through three main areas of work:
1. providing a community hub and managing a variety of office and venue space for the local community, charities and social enterprises
2. providing a volunteering and internship programme to tackle youth employability
3. providing an Arts Centre and programme of activities using a theatre, dance studio and art gallery
Oxford House is governed by company directors (also known as trustees) within the meaning of charity law. Fergus Early is the current Chair of the board. John Ryan has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since June 2008 and leads the staff team.
stRuCtuRe, GoVeRNANCe AND mANAGemeNt
Oxford House believes it is important that our trustees reflect the diversity of the local community but also have the skills and expertise to govern the charity. A review of governance took place during the year. New trustees were recruited in Spring 2012, adding vital skills and experience to the board.
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INTRODUCTION
1. messAGe fRom the ChAIR
2011- 12 has been a tremendous year for Oxford House.
It has been a year where we continued to develop our three strands of work: (1) as a community hub; (2) offering a programme of youth volunteering and internships opportunities and (3) providing a centre for the creative arts in East London. We have also continued to improve our financial position; finishing the year with a surplus despite the challenges of a difficult social and economic climate.
Oxford House has again shown that there is a need for enterprising and imaginative organisations that help support community life.
I should like to thank the staff, trustees, volunteers, funders and many partners who have contributed to making this a great year.
Fergus Early OBEChair
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2. oNwARD AND upwARDs
Wow! What a year.
It is so difficult to summarise our year however three events symbolise this for me:
1. Developing a great partnership that led to the creation of our resident youth theatre: Y & T Rep Company. This successful partnership between Oxford House and Young & Talented Theatre School with funding from Esmee Fairbairn and the talents of some great young actors and technicians resulted in The Killing Class; a brand new play being showcased and the start of a new youth theatre. A panto is already planned for Christmas 2012. Oh yes it is!
2. Gaining external accreditation for being good at what we do. We are really pleased to have achieved the Charities Evaluation Service PQASSO quality mark in 2012.
3. Being enterprising and resourceful. We have managed to generate over 90% of our income from the building. Now, that’s what I call a social enterprise.
Needless to say we are looking forward to 2013 and the challenges that await. The biggest of these will be investing in our infrastructure, especially in a wonderful but creaking Victorian building. Watch out for more news on this in 2013.
In the meantime why don’t you pop in and visit us in the near future and see for yourself?
John RyanChief Executive
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£10,000
over
of v
enue
hire
£10,000
over
of v
enue
hire
50,000vi
sitor
saf
ford
able
Offered accessible space for many different community uses and opened 51 weeks of the year and 7 days a week
mon - sun
Ensured that over 90% of room hire was at an affordable rate to community groups, charities and social enterprises
Saw an 8% increase in event bookings (2011/12 2,400 events, 2010/11 2,200 events)
Provided over £10,000 worth of venue hire so that new and emerging groups without funds were able to run their events at Oxford House
Welcomed Unity Kitchen- social enterprise arm of the Camden Society - as the new operator of our café
Welcomed over 50,000 visitors during the year
events
OUR YEARThe transition from being grant dependent continued with the charity generating over 90% of income for the building through imaginative community use. Other significant achievements during the year included:
1. CommuNIty hub:
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Increased the diversity of events and activities held at OH
Organisations hiring Oxford House included corporate ‘away day’ (Adidas, BBC, Film London and Tower HamletsHomes) and training days for national and local charities (National Childbirth Trust, Operation Black Vote, East London Business Place and Complete Works)
Hosted visits to Oxford House from guests as far afield as New York University Settlement, New Zealand social action centres and the Oxford Student Hub
Offered a range of events & classes that met a variety of needs including performing arts, education and learning, advocacy, campaigning and religious groups
Hosted Civitas’ Sanaton Saturday School for primary and secondary pupils.
ab c
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2. VoluNteeRING AND INteRNshIps:
Provided approximately 12,300 hours of volunteering & work experience for young people (16 – 26) at an estimated value of £71,800
Secured funding from LB Tower Hamlets to develop the youth volunteering project
Rekindled a relationship with Goldsmith’s College Youth & Community work course and hosted a work placement student
Continued to develop partnerships with other training providers and offered work experience opportunities to City Gateway and the Tower Project
Appointed a new Youth Volunteer Project worker, Refeia Begum
£71,800
12,300ho
urs
OUR YEAR
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Created a work experience project with London Painting Company and their painting and decorating apprentices who are engaged in a major redecoration of Oxford House where OH buys the materials and apprentices are trained and supervised
Provided much needed free space to young people from somewhereto_ (an Olympic legacy project). Highlights included a showcase by young people in March 2012 in the theatre and gallery.
Continued to develop our work with the Student Hubs movement and offered a summer internship to a current undergraduate
Attended Keble College, Oxford, Internship Fayre to promote volunteering at OH
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peRfoRmING ARts:
> OH developed an exciting partnership with Suzann MacLean, from Young & Talented Theatre School to encourage performing arts at OH Theatre.
> OH secured funding from Esmee Fairbairn to develop the Young and Talented Rep Co (a theatre company for young people between 14 - 19) that produced their first stage show in August 2012.
> Resident dance company, Green Candle, ran a week long intergenerational dance project, “Threads”, based on Bethnal Green’s rich history.
> Welcomed new theatre companies including Graeae Theatre Company, Bangla Brigade, Outside Edge Theatre Company, East End Shed and Complete Works Theatre Company.
> Hosted the annual East London Pride event and the ever popular Somali Arts Week.
3. CReAtIVe ARts:
OUR YEAR
During the year we continued to develop Oxford House as a creative arts hub. Approximately half of our tenants are arts organisations working in different areas of the arts as diverse as dance, performance, combined arts, Somali arts and arts PR.
We offered a portfolio of work using our mixed arts spaces – studio theatre, gallery and dance studio. Our programme of work included our first Open Show, hosting a range of visiting companies and providing rehearsal space for emerging artists. Significant progress was also made developing creative partnerships with resident arts companies.
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VIsuAl ARts:
Curated a range of visual arts programmes in the gallery space throughout the year that included:
> The first ‘Oxford House Open Show’ that proved very popular with over 70 people exhibiting.
> Contribution towards the Open Show from the Cooperative Community Fund.
> Photo Month double show with the Control collective and 4 Amigos.
> New Hanbury Project’s show of work created by clients.
> Kerry Simons Welcome to Dreamland & A life without leisure! Oh what to do?.
> Intersection – a joint photography show by Jon Spencer and Oliver Woods.
> Secured a grant from Awards for All for an intergenerational photography project that exhibited during August 2012.
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@
Secured the PQASSO level accreditation in March 2012
Secured a 2 year grant from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation towards core costs
Developed and improved our marketing and communications:
Refreshed the Oxford House website
Created a monthly E-newsletter
Created Oxford HouseFacebook page, Twitter,Flickr & Pinterest presence
Increased spending on building maintenance and completed repairs to boilers
4. stReNGtheNING the CoRe :
OUR YEAR
As well as developing our three strands of work wealso concentrated on strengthening the core of theorganisation. This has been a crucial step towards ourfuture sustainability. We have made excellent progress.In particular:
££
£
££
£2 y
ear
gran
t
pQAssoaccreditationquality mark
15
909296
Introduced a new satisfaction survey for users that showed very high levels of satisfaction including specific comments that:
Developed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) relationships with:
96% would recommend OH to others
92% rated their overall venue/booking experience as very good /good
90% were very satisfied /satisfied that OH provided value for money
Sandaire donated much needed office furniture for our Admin Office
Allen & Overy provided pro bono legal property advice and donated IT equipment University of Oxford and
Keble College
96 92 90
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2012 onwards will be seen as sparking years of legacy for East London following the London 2012 Olympic Games. Oxford House is an example of how legacy works in practice and provides insights into how sustainable development might work. A clear vision, great governance and management and support from the local community will be essential to this.
As Oxford House approaches its 130th anniversary in 2014 the challenge of being relevant to community life focuses our efforts. Our work from 2012 onwards will centre on developing the three strands of our work – providing a community hub, offering solutions to youth employability and being a hub for the creative arts.
To help us achieve this we are refreshing our business plan and developing our ideas to build the capacity of Oxford House. Part of this will be the identification and securing of resources to invest in the building and staff/volunteers. We will complete our first Impact Report to help us assess how well we are doing in meeting our objectives.
5. ImpACt AND All thAt...
OUR YEAR
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providing a
CommuNIty hub
refresh our
busINess plAN
develop our ideas to
buIlD the CApACIty of oh
will complete our first
to help us asses how well we are doing in meeting our objectives
ImpACt RepoRt
developing three strands of our work
to help us achieve this
youth employAbIlIty
offering solutions to
being a hub for the
CReAtIVe ARts
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INC
om
e2
01
1
£399,505total:
20
12
£41,204
gran
ts£25,0
20
dona
tions
£316,830
rent
al in
com
e
£41,204
rest
ricte
d
£341,850
unre
stric
ted
£383,054total:
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
OUR FINANCES
Oxford House generated income for the year to 31 March 2012 of £383,054 (2011: £399,505). Expenditure decreased from £404,959 in 2011 to £354,726 in the year ended 31 March 2012. Overall the net surplus of income over expenditure for the year ended 31 March 2012 amounted to £28,328 (2011: £5,454 deficit). Underlying this figure is an unrestricted surplus of £45,648.
-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
20
12
20
11
£28,328
deficit£5,454
su
Rp
lu
s
19
eX
pe
ND
Itu
Re
20
11
£404,959total:
20
12
£5,150
gove
rnan
ce co
sts
£210,780
prov
ision
of c
omm
unity
faci
litie
s and
serv
ices
£81,785
rent
al e
xpen
ditu
re
£57,011
rest
ricte
d
£297,715
unre
stric
ted
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
£354,726total:
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THANKS TO
Helen HughesFergus EarlyLinda KaurHafiz JafferjiPaul O’ Brien
Mark NewtonRebecca ClarksonBeverley VaraSaffron WoodcraftJosh Spero
Deborah CrowLiane HartleyLouise AlexanderMichael JudgeCllr. Sirajal Islam
oh tRustees
Evelyn MaisonJean PhillipsRefeia Begum
John RyanBaz BrowneAnisa KhanomEnus Ali
Christine LeeLee RichefondAnnie Gao
oh stAff
Tom PowterMatthew StaceyGiovanni RasoJessica JockischBecky ShawLouise MossBansi RupareliaMichelle KaluMajeda BegumTessa MoOctavian StarrMalaika Clements
Judd RyanRachel IrwinZoe MichelleShannon WalshRima BegumBruno FalabellaRebecca RosingtonSaidul IslamSayeed IslamEva CarmonaKatie HendricksMuhammed Hammam Khan
Rifa BegumAfjal HussainLim SiongMurshed AhmedSakib HussainMusa AlamAngela WangNazmin AktherNazmin RafiqueEma Khatun
oh VoluNteeRs
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Esmee Fairbairn Foundation LB. Tower Hamlets Capacity BuildersBig Lottery Fund – Awards for All Co-operative Community Fund
fuNDeRs
Green Candle Dance Young & Talented Somewhereto_ London Painting CompanyCity Gateway Keble College
pARtNeRs
teNANts bAseD At oXfoRD house
Language of Dance Centre Monsoon Press Kazzum Stand not Amazed The Basque Society Silsila ProductionsKayd Somali Arts dANTE OR dIE Theatre Tower Hamlets CollegeGreen Candle Dance Company Shared Assets The Camden SocietyPhoenix Community Housing Co-operative Positive Care LinkEast London Asian Family Counselling Hestia Housing & Support Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement Mpensi People’s ProjectBritish Union of Spiritist Societies Zimbabwe Association Asylum Support Appeals Project Pearl Advertising UKPlay Association Tower Hamlets Charles Harrison Associates
This Annual Review was designed by Maite Otondo, a Graphic Design Intern at Oxford House. [email protected]
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CONTACT US
bANkeRsNatWest Bank Plc, East London Business Centre, Gredley House, 1/11 Broadway, Stratford, London, E15 4BQCharity Bank Limited, 194 High Street, Tonbridge TN9 1BE
ADmIN
CEO John Ryan
PhOnE 0207 739 9001
Email [email protected]
addrEss Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, London, E2 6HG
WEbsitE www.oxfordhouse.org.uk
FaCEbOOk https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oxford-House/205629787434
tWittEr https://twitter.com/oxhse
FliCkr http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordhousebg/
PintErEst http://pinterest.com/oxfordhouse/
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AuDItoRshaysmacintyre Fairfax House, 15 Fulwood Place, London WC1V 6AY
solICItoRs Russell-Cooke LLP, 8 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4BX
Oxford House in Bethnal GreenOxford House | Derbyshire Street | London E2 6HGCompany N˚: 59858 Charity N˚: 208582 VAT N˚: 752 0306 67