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| Malaika Kids UK held its Annual General Meeting on May 9th, attended by 23 trustees and members (in person or by Zoom), as well as MK Netherlands Chair, Ton Willemsen. Copies of the Annual Report and Accounts were distributed in advance – you can view a PDF copy on our website. |
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| During the meeting, the following key message was discussed.
For more than a decade, the story of Malaika Kids has been one of steady progress. In Tanzania, we have slowly and consistently been helping more and more desperate disadvantaged children every year. |
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Village/Reception Home |
Relatives Support Programme |
'Temporary' |
Total |
| End 2014 |
78 |
63 |
19 |
160 |
| End 2022 |
105 |
103 |
36 |
244 |
| Increase |
27 |
40 |
17 |
84 |
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| The Tanzanian management team has been stable and become more expert in what they do. |
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| Najma holding a staff meeting with the mamas in the village kitchen |
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| We have been learning the best places to school our children, and where to send them on college or apprenticeship courses. |
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| The Don Bosco College trains some of our children in technical skills |
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| Outside Tanzania, we have collectively been able to gradually increase the annual income of the organisation. We have raised income faster than expenditure for a number of years and managed to build a robust “rainy day” fund.
BUT... We cannot be complacent.
First of all, we have to continue to recognise that we have multi-year commitments. Every child we take on represents years of support on our part. Boys and girls often come to us when they are very young and may stay until they finish a course aged 18, 19 or 20. This long-term commitment is different from other charities that may, for example, dig wells or build schools – they can slow down their projects and nobody dies. |
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| The children gather in the main hall for events such as saying good-bye to visitors |
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We currently have reserves in the UK, Netherlands and Tanzania that can barely cover three years expenditure at current spending rates of £330,000 a year. That’s good, but not really a very comfortable position.
Our second challenge is that costs have been rising swiftly due to local inflation, an exchange rate movement against us (so the cost is more in pounds sterling), ever higher numbers of children and finally an older group whose annual education cost is greater than before.
Finally, and this is the key strategic issue we need to understand and face up to, we have major fundraising risks ahead. MK Netherlands (MKNL) has been highly reliant on a small number of fundraisers and their contribution may well diminish in future years.
If MKNL’s income were to reduce to zero over time, MKUK revenue would broadly need to double in size to avoid draining the reserves. In 2022, MKNL raised £160,000 and MKUK £164,000 compared with £330,000 spending planned in 2023. (The US and Tanzania also make contributions).
Fundraising in the UK also depends upon a trustee body that is largely retired.
So we collectively need to do a number of things.
- We have to be cautious with spending in Tanzania, and we need to look after our reserves, so they last over a number of years.
- We need to expand our efforts in the UK, bringing more and younger supporters into the Malaika Kids family so that the organisation stays as vibrant as possible.
So, a great first step would be for you, <<First Name>>, to forward this newsletter to some friends, asking if we can put them on the mailing list. There is a very good chance that they will, after a while, want to get behind our efforts and may think about supporting the Christmas Appeal when it comes around.
Malaika Kids is in great shape today, but its future depends on you! |
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