About The Charity
Destiny Children, established in November 2009, helps the children at Destiny Garden School, Mombasa, to receive an education they would otherwise not have in this poverty stricken area. It achieves this through the sponsorship programme which covers the basic running costs of the school. The charity also holds fund raising events to supplement this income and help with the school’s development.
All the expenses and administrative costs of running the charity are met by the committee members enabling 100% of sponsors’ and donors’ funds, together with the Gift Aid, to go to Destiny Garden School.
Supporters of Destiny Children
Our Destiny Garden School sponsors, who contribute a monthly donation, provide the day to day funds needed to keep the school running and provide the poorest of children in this area with an education.
Our generous donors provide funds to cover the shortfall in the running costs of the school and ensure all the children receive a nutritious lunch. Donations also enable us to improve the facilities at the school and purchase much needed items such as text books and stationery.
Many keen supporters have provided extra voluntary help including:
Kathy James – Committee member for 6 years; recruiting many new sponsors and donors
Gail Delaney – developing both the DGS and DC websites
David Ward – examining the charity’s accounts since they were first produced in 2010
Audrey Galloway – developing and maintaining the charity’s accounting system
Elizabeth Wright – former Trustee who now organises the Christmas Black Tie Dinner Dances, and other events
Martin Sutcliffe – helps organise the charity’s fundraising event
Imojen Jean – works on our Social Media and marketing plans and introduced a new Facebook page
Anyone who feels a strong empathy with our cause would be very welcome to join us; we need more enthusiastic people to support the charity and help the disadvantaged children at Destiny Garden School. For more information please contact us
The Charity’s Objectives
Destiny Children’ was formally established on 23rd November 2009 by the Trustees, when the constitution was drawn up and signed, and a UK Charity Bank Account opened.
The charity’s objective is –
“The advancement of education of children in Kenya, in particular but not exclusively pupils of Destiny Garden School, Mombasa, by providing and assisting in the provision of educational facilities and materials and the provision of grants.”
To carry out this objective ’Destiny Children’ is aiming to obtain sponsors for all the children at Destiny Garden School. Sponsors can choose either to support the whole school, from £10 per month, or to to sponsor a named child, at £15 per month. Our aim is to cover the school’s running costs and to ensure its future development.
The charity also holds fund raising events to supplement this income and to help with the school’s development.
100% of sponsors’ and donors’ funds, together with the Gift Aid, go to Destiny Garden School. The committee members meet all the expenses and administrative costs involved in running the charity.
UK Charity Status
Destiny Children is registered by the UK Charities Commission under registration number: 1137680.
It is also registered with HMRC (Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) as a charity for tax purposes and is eligible for Gift Aid; the HMRC reference number is XT21940.
Destiny Children’s Annual General Meeting
Please see this link for the presentation for the Annual General Meeting on 18th June 2024
DCC AGM and Election of Committee
Summary of the 2024 Annual General Meeting
- It has been a busy and challenging year – the Destiny Children and DGS teams have achieved a lot.
- Thanks go to the trustees, committee members, sponsors, donors and supporters for all their help, donations and fundraising activities during the reporting year.
- Thanks also go to the staff and students of Destiny Garden School for all they have put in place during the reporting year.
- The trustees have approved the Charity Commission’s Trustees’ Annual Report, (TAR), the Account’s CC16a; these will be submitted to the Charity Commission, together with the Independent Examiner’s report (IE) which has been signed as all present and correct.
- A big welcome to our new team of Trustees and committee members – we wish them all the best in the forthcoming year.
Sponsorship Programme
As a charity, we now have sponsors to pay for the education of two thirds of the children at Destiny Garden School. We need to increase this to ensure that the school has sufficient funds for all its running costs.
Currently the school is kept afloat by the charity’s fund raising events, donations and Gift Aid. We need, however, to arrive at the position where the ongoing costs are covered and any funds from donors or fund raising events can be used to purchase text books, educational equipment etc, and to help the school to develop.
100% of the sponsors’ payments received by the charity are given to Destiny Garden School with all the administration costs and expenses being absorbed by the committee.
The sponsors’ funds are transferred to Mombasa in one lump sum at the end of each month and are sent to the School’s charity account which is a registered Kenyan Charity subject to audits etc – just like the UK Charities. We get a full breakdown each month of the School’s running costs and how our funds have been distributed, so we are confident that everything is being well spent.
For more details about sponsoring Destiny Garden School and providing an education for children who would otherwise not go to school, please click on sponsor
Charity’s Activities
The school currently relies almost totally on Destiny Children for funding. The charity covers the school’s basic running costs, paying the salaries of the teachers and support staff and providing the children with a nutritious school lunch and safe drinking water. Destiny Children achieves this by:
- the sponsorship programme whereby sponsors pay £15 per month to help educate a child.
- organising fundraising events to help cover any shortfall in the running costs of the school; to provide educational materials; and to help with the development of the school.
- encouraging the charity’s supporters to raise funds for Destiny Garden School.
- using other initiatives such as ‘Gifts That Make A Difference’, ‘easyfundraising’, and ‘Book Sales’ to raise further funds.
- applying for funding from trust funds and other organisations or individuals to support the on-going development of the school, or for special projects agreed by the committee.
Funds are sent to Destiny Garden School, Mombasa, at the end of each month and a breakdown of monies received and how it is spent is provided by the school. 100% of sponsors’ and donors’ payments, together with the Gift Aid, are sent to Destiny Garden School. The committee members cover all the administrative costs and expenses incurred by the charity.
The charity provides regular feedback on the school’s progress to those who sponsor a child and to those who make donations.
Members of the Committee regularly liaise with the founder of Destiny Garden School and the School Manager to monitor how the charity’s donations are spent. They also help advise on the planning and development of the school and assess its immediate, medium and long term requirements.
From time to time, members or representatives of the charity visit Destiny Garden School, at their own expense, to assess and monitor the performance of the school.
Ultimately the charity aims to provide Destiny Garden School with all their running costs, plus all their educational materials, and to improve the school’s facilities. In time and when appropriate the above activities could apply to other schools when the charity’s work to help improve the education and wellbeing of disadvantaged children in Kenya expands.
All the Trustees of Destiny Children abide by the UK Charity Commission’s guidelines and have completed their statutory declaration to this effect.
How Destiny Children Started
The founder of Destiny Children, Judy Roper, visited Destiny Garden School, Mombasa, Kenya, in September 2009, to meet her Australian sister, Jacky Price. Jacky had volunteered to help set up Destiny Garden School in May 2009.
Both Judy and Jacky were born in Kenya and lived there for the first 14 years of their lives. They attended Hospital Hill School, the first multi-racial school in British Commonwealth Africa in the 1950s, at a time when Kenyan society was informally racially segregated. Although as a child Judy was not fully aware of her parents’ brave and controversial action, she was aware that the school was very special and she recognises how she benefited from the education she received and the life-long friendships made. Resulting from this, both sisters felt that they owed something back to Kenya, hence their involvement with Destiny Garden School.
Jacky decided to do voluntary work in Africa instead of having a 6 month luxury cruise and was pleased to be involved in setting up a new school in a very poor suburb of Mombasa. She was impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the founder Jacob and his wife, Brenda, along with the early team they had gathered. However, she could see the enormous task that lay ahead without a regular source of income for the school. With some help from friends back home, Jacky purchased chairs, desks and uniforms for the children and taught the school’s administrator, Masikah, basic book keeping whilst setting up the school accounts for Brenda to control.
Judy joined her sister in September 2009 with the main aim of building a school website and setting up a pupil sponsorship programme. This entailed gathering information, taking photos, and writing a profile on all the children. Judy was so impressed with what Jacob was trying to do in Mombasa and the enthusiasm of the children at Destiny Garden School that she felt she had to do something to keep this school going. With the help of some of her very good friends, Judy set up the charity ‘Destiny Children’ through which the sponsorship programme and fund raising for the school operates.