President's Annual Report 2003-2004

This year has been a successful and engaging year for Friends of Bolivia. It has been a period for brainstorming, learning, and changing and hopefully of finding the balance between the old and new ways of doing things. We started the year by presenting our Work Plan for 2003-2006 to the General Committee and outlined our strategic goals for Friends of Bolivia for this period.

Our strategic goals over the next three years are to diversify our sources of funds and to increase our financial contribution to projects. An important component of our strategy is to attract new members, in particular to the Management and General Committees.

As you will see from the Income & Expenditure report, this year's results reflect our positive achievements towards our financial goals. In addition, our membership count has increased, and we have succeeded in attracting new young persons to our General Committee. We have also created a Marketing Director posting, headed by Eunice Brain, to co-ordinate and promote our fund-raising events. In addition we have formed leadership groups to manage various fund-raising activities in the pipeline: parties, concert, fashion show, marathon, lottery, etc. the response so far has been very reassuring.

A new strategy for projects was presented to the Management Committee. Our short-term goal is to continue to sponsor projects on a long-term basis so as to ensure our financial support makes a difference. Our medium-term goal is to provide the means by which some of our sponsored projects are able to generate their own funds and therefore become financially self-sufficient. At present Friends of Bolivia sponsors nine projects throughout the country. We are very pleased to announce that one of these projects, Amigos de Ninos Excepcionales de Tarija (ANET), has been the first in our portfolio to benefit from this strategy by receiving a donation of £8,251.75 (US$14,780) this year.

Income & Expenditure

Attached to this report is the Income & Expenditure Report for the year ended 30 April 2004 prepared by Waldo Terrazas, our Treasurer who has done an excellent job keeping us profitable.

Income: hard work, great rewards

In 2003-2004 our total income grew by 8% from £16,598 in 2002-2003 to £18,008.60. This increase is attributed to a significant raise in subscriptions (memberships paid), from £338 in 2002-2003 to £1,421.50 in 2003-2004, and it is the direct result of our membership's secretaries, Ron & Grace Harris, excellent job. Sources of income for 2003-2004 have shifted. Fund raising activities represented 39% and donations 48% of income, compared to 96% of income achieved in 2002-2003 through fund raising events.

Fund raising activities: Our Parties

We raise our funds by holding charitable events year-round. Our fund-raising activities include: parties, concerts, festivals and exhibitions organised by members of our institution on a volunteer basis only. This year we raised £6,947.50 with the following events:

Bolivian Summer Lunch - Sunday 22 June 2003

This lunch was held at the Holy Apostle Church Hall in Pimlico and it was a very successful event. We raised £1,374.38 net.

River Boat Dinner Dance aboard the cruiser "The Royal Princess" on the Thames

This party took place on Saturday 20 September 2003. The music and dancing contributed to the happy atmosphere and success of this party. Everyone agreed that the food was delicious, and the organisation of the party was impeccable. This event brought in £2,341.11 net.

ALAF Christmas Fair - Saturday 22 November 2003

The ALAF Christmas Fair was held at the Kensington Town Hall (Hornton St-W8). This year Friends of Bolivia had a record-breaking year in terms of sales and profits. Our food sold exceptionally well, particularly the quinoa dishes inspired by Annie Copponex's kitchen and Silverio's delicious saltenas. Our new stock of handicraft from Arte Campo and Mantas de Chola were a major attraction in the stand. We raised £1,285.50 net.

Carnival Party - Saturday 13 March 2004

This party took place at the Sacred Hall Church, Edge Hill in Wimbledon and is now a yearly event and one of our most awaited. This year children's parade and activities were very successful and so was the party. We raised £1,890.05 net.

Income from donations: Contributions from our Friends

Many of our supporters and friends have work very hard for us this year. For the 2003-2004 period, £8,733.50 or 48% of our income was generated through donations and special events organised by persons and other charities on behalf of Friends of Bolivia, including:

Gran Disco Latino Party - Saturday 13 September 2003

This fund raising event was organised by Mrs. Sumiko Ocampo and our Friends of Bolivia in Reading. The party was held at the University of Reading and raised £710 net for our charity.

II Latin American Film Festival - 28 November - 3 December 2003

This festival was organised by Discovering Latin America a group of young altruistic Latin American professionals living in London. The aim of the group is to promote an appreciation of Latin America, its culture and its achievements. All the proceeds of the II Latin American Film Festival were donated to Friends of Bolivia for the benefit of Amigos de Ninos Excepcionales de Tarija (ANET). The festival raised £7,251.71 net, this sum includes a generous matching sum of £3,600 from BP (British Petroleum).

Bolivian Supper Evening - Thursday 7 March 2004

Dinner organised by Maribe House of the Inner Wheel in New Malden to raise funds for our charity. Delicious food, drinks and desserts were prepared and donated by our host, Maribe House and by Rosa Maria Antonelli of Friends of Bolivia. This dinner raised £460 net.

Concert in Aid of Friends of Bolivia - Friday 30 April 2004

This concert organised by the Zephyr Ensemble for the benefit of Friends of Bolivia was held at the London Oratory School Theatre. Susana Hunter and friends organised this lovely concert. The event raised £311.70 net.

Children's Clothes

Annie Copponex has been running this successful project for many years now. In 2002-2003 alone she managed to collect and send twelve suitcases, equivalent to about 300 kilos, of used, but nearly new, children's clothes to our projects in Sucre, El Alto and Santa Cruz. If you wish to make a donation please contact Annie at 020 8994 8027.

Expenditure: Money for our Projects

In 2003-2004 our total expenditure decreased by a modest 3% from £18,163 in 2002-2003 to £17,572.50 in 2003-2004. For this same period administrative costs & fund raising cost increased by £362.50 vis-à-vis 2002-2003. Inventories for this period were £746.49 and include items bought in advance for ALAF Christmas Fair. Therefore, the total direct charitable expenditure or money available to send to projects for this period was £16,191 and represented 92% of expenditure.

Direct Charitable Expenditure: Where has the money gone to...

At present, we sponsor nine projects throughout Bolivia. These projects have been "adopted" by our charity, which means that Friends of Bolivia gives a donation to each of these projects every year. Our commitment means that many of our projects can rely on a secure source of income allowing them to plan and grow accordingly. Whenever viable, we try to provide the means by which some of our sponsored projects are able to generate their own funds and therefore become financially self-sufficient. We are gradually achieving this not only by maximising our financial contribution to projects but also by working with institutions on a plan for attaining financial independence. For this period Friends of Bolivia managed to donate £16,191 or nearly US$30,000 to projects, as follows:

Amigos de Ninhos Excepcionales de Tarija (ANET) - Centre for Disabled Children & Young Adults - Tarija - £8,251.75 (US$14,800) in total

Donation of £1,000 in 2003

Financed surgical interventions, for mentally and physically disabled children of this Centre. A small portion of our donation has been used to purchase equipment to improve the living conditions in some of the Institutes.

Donation of £7,251.75 in 2004

The proceeds from the II Latin American Film Festival organised by Discovering Latin America were raised in their entirety for the benefit of ANET's Centre for Special Education Bartolome Attard; "El Refugio" Centre for homeless children and young people; and for financing seven micro-enterprises initiatives, nutri-kiosks to be managed by disabled persons. The objective of these projects is to help some of ANET's physically and mentally disabled persons to develop skills that will be useful in the job market and in society, and that it will enable them to improve their socio-economic conditions. A detailed project report is available upon request.

Educational Centre Maria Immaculate, El Alto - £1,650 plus children's clothes

Financial support for food and medical care to assist approximately 400 children in four day-care centres administered by religious Sisters. In addition, two suitcases containing nearly new children's cloths were sent through Annie Copponex's programme.

Hogar de Ancianos Desamparados "La Sagrada Familia", Oruro - £1,000

Provided funds to purchase medicines and food for elderly people. This home for elderly people is run by religious Sisters.

Centre for Adults Training & Education " CEAMCOS ", Potosi - £971.33

Training offered to a group of female peasants in rural areas of Potosi. Friends of Bolivia paid the annual salary of a vocational teacher.

Instituto Ciudad Joven "San Juan de Dios", Sucre - £1,000

Children and teenagers in rehabilitation from drug addiction, mental deficiencies and psychological problems. Friends of Bolivia provided financial assistance to pay for medicines for 186 patients.

Comedor Infantil de Cala-Cala, Cochabamba - £1,000

The program provides 270 poor children, age 4-12 years, with one balanced meal a day. Friends of Bolivia's contribution paid for some of the expenses of running this program.

Project Social Cardinal Mauer, Sucre - £318.33 plus children's clothes

Purchase of milk for the consumption of children and patients in three hospitals and thirty health centres in rural areas in the Department of Sucre. In addition, nine suitcases containing nearly new children's clothes were sent through Annie Copponex's programme.

Hogar de Ancianos de Trinidad, Beni - £1,000

Provided funds to purchase medicines for elderly people and for making some repairs in the home (an outside wall collapsed). Religious Sisters and volunteers run the home.

Plan 3000 Escuelita de Valores Humanos, Santa Cruz - £1,000 plus children's clothes

Financial support for providing 60 children with one balanced meal per day. A portion of the donation was used for repairing the school's infrastructure. In addition, one suitcase containing nearly new children's clothes was sent through Annie Copponex's programme.

A Special Thanks to our Donors

Our donors have made a great difference to our results in 2002-2003. Many individual donations have increased through Gift Aid. Many special thanks to:

The Discovering Latin America team which organised the II Latin American Film Festival in November 2003, particularly to Mauricio Davila and Marta Puig.

Mrs. Sumiko Ocampo and our Friends of Bolivia in Reading for organising a Grand Disco Latino Party in September 2003 to raise funds on our behalf.

Mrs. Maribe House & Rosa Maria Antonelli for organising the Bolivian Supper Evening presentation to the Inner Wheel of New Malden in March 2004.

Our thanks to all our members and friends who donated children's: Mariana Arce, Zoe Crawshaw, Anahi Copponex, Fox School, Marta Sperti, Eunice Brain, Maria Luisa Lewis, and Nicky Kempton-Jones. Also, many thanks to those members who very kindly volunteer to take suitcases of clothing to Bolivia: Mariana & Nestor Paz, Zoe Crawshaw and Silvia Kirwan. Congratulations to Annie Copponex who has been running this project successfully year after year.

Our special thanks to Mr. Michael Balfour, our Honorary Auditor, who kindly audits our accounts for presentation to the Charity Commission.

Many Thanks to leaving Members of the Executive Committee

Many thanks to Susana Hunter, Nancy Alarcon and Zoe Crawshaw. Susana served as Vice President during this term and organised our parties so nicely. Nancy Alarcon served as Minutes Secretary and Zoe Crawshaw served as Secretary. Thank you very much for your dedication and hard work.

Welcome to the New Bolivian Ambassador & his Wife

We would like to give the new Ambassador, Mr. Gonzalo Montegro, his wife Ana Maria and their daughter Camila, a warm welcome. Mrs. Montenegro is Friends of Bolivia's Honorary President and we are delighted to renew efforts with the Embassy to promote Bolivia's culture in the United Kingdom. We thank them in advance for their support in our work and wish their family a productive an enjoyable stay in London.

Future Events 2004-2005

Marathon "Flora Light Women's Challenge", Sunday 5 September 2004, Hyde Park

Friends of Bolivia will join 22,000 women that meet each year to walk for the charity of their choice. This is our first year participating in the marathon, and we are very pleased to announce that twenty Friends of Bolivia will walk for our charity. Silvia Kirwan is the event's leader and has done a wonderful job in recruiting people for the marathon. We hope you can join us next year!

ALAF Christmas Fair, Saturday 20 November 2004-Kensington Town Hall (Hornton St.)

Once again we will join other Latin American countries in this fair. This is event is to sample and sell the food and handicrafts of Latin American countries. In 2003 Friends of Bolivia had a record-breaking year and we hope to continue this trend. We are looking for volunteers to help us organise the event, decorate the stands, sell the goods and market this year's event. Please contact the event's organisers: Annie Copponex at 020 8994 8027 or Teresa Terrazas at 020 8404 3122.

Christmas Concert, Friday 26 November 2004 - St. James's Piccadilly

The "Amaryllis Consort" will perform a concert of Villancitos: Baroque Christmas Music of Bolivia. At present we are looking for individual donations and sponsorships. Please contact Juan Enrique Montes at 020 8543 1797 or Zary Feeney at 07770 645 760 if you have any suggestions for sponsors or wish to make a donation.

Latin American Fashion Week, Scheduled for November 2005

We have joined efforts with two other London-based charities: Discovering Latin America and Friends of Colombia to present the first Latin American Fashion Week in London. This event will be a showcase of the best Latin American designers and the most innovative new talent. Our aim is to promote and expose Latin America culture in the UK and to raise money for our institutions. Please contact Marcela Montes at 020 8947 1957 or Zary Feeney at 07770 645 760 if you wish to join us in this exciting event.

We need your help!

We need more volunteers to join our efforts, without your help we will not be able to continue growing for our projects. As you have read in this report, we have many activities and areas of work, we hope one of them would interest you. We are looking for two persons to join the Management Committee, as the posts for Vice President and Minutes Secretary have become vacant. We also need professionals specialising in development to work with us and help us plan strategies for our projects.

Our work for the first year has now concluded and we look forward to the year ahead with optimism. The achievements attained during this year could not have been possible without the leadership, commitment, hard work and generosity of the members of Management and General Committees. Thank you all very much for your generosity and support.

Zary Feeney
President
London, 29 June 2004

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