Finance Score: 1

Governance Score: 8

Support Score: 0

Low unrestricted reserves: -2
Accounts filed more than 5 days late: -2 times
Strong growth: +2
Fundraising costs low: +3

12+ Trustees: -1
Good trustee age range: +3
Dynamic board: +3
Gender balanced board: +3

No supporters identified

Overall GiG Score: 9

THE CONVERSATION TRUST (UK) LIMITED

Publisher of an online news analysis and commentary website where all articles are written by academics for a general non-academic audience. Around 100 articles per week are published and all are available for republishing free of charge under a Creative Commons licence.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
Fundraising costs are low relative to funds raised
A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government
The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

There are 14 trustees whereas the Charities Commission recommends a maximum of 12
Over half the Board have joined recently

Financial issues to consider:

Unrestricted reserves appear to be dangerously low at the latest year end
Accounts have been filed late on 2 occasions over the last 5 years and the current period appears to have been extended

Established: 11 years

http://www.theconversation.com/uk

uk-admin@theconversation.com

02031086808

Charity Commission for England and Wales

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Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E		Income £k	Spending £k	Surplus/ Deficit	Fundraising Cost £k	Total Funds £k	Unrestricted Funds £k	Mths Rsrvs	Staff
31/07/23		£2,368	£2,420	£-53	£122	£784	£600	3	37
31/07/22	*	£2,211	£2,016	£195	£0	£837	£709	4.2	33
31/07/21		£1,945	£1,690	£255	£0	£606	£477	3.4	27
31/07/20		£1,552	£1,396	£156	£0	£352	£333	2.9	24
31/07/19	*	£1,401	£1,394	£7	£0	£196	£175	1.5	25
31/07/18		£1,334	£1,268	£66	£0	£189	£151	1.4	22
31/07/17		£1,219	£1,176	£42	£0	£123	£92	0.9	21
31/07/16		£938	£1,046	£-108	£0	£80	£57	0.7	18
31/07/15		£839	£879	£-40	£4	£188	£188	2.6	16
31/07/14		£689	£714	£-25	£5	£228	£223	3.7	15

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Financial Ratios

Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 5.4%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 5.1%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 18%
Highest pay band: £100,000-£110,000
Liabilities/Assets: 46%
Liabilities/Income: 28%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 76%
Reserves/Spending: 3 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 4 months
Quick Ratio: 1.5

Asset Split ?

Listed activities

Arts/Culture/Heritage/Science
Education/Training

How it operates

Provides advocacy/advice/information

Where it operates

Northern Ireland, Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,

Who it helps

The General Public/Mankind

Who works here?

37 employees

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Environmental Finance - Multiple outcome areas
£200,000	31/12/2014	All Groups
Nesta - AR00203
£15,000	21/08/2014	UK Alliance for Useful Evidence programme grant to The Conversation Grant Ref AR00203
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to The Conversation UK
£30,000	17/12/2013	Towards the salaries of the arts and culture editor and education editor, making academic research accessible for mainstream audiences.
Esmee Fairbairn - Social investment The Conversation UK
£25,000	18/06/2013	An investment in an educational platform that brings together journalists and academics to provide expert topical commentary and analysis.

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (14)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Based on 12/14 persons

Age Range of Trustees: 31-70

CAROLINE THOMSON Appointed: 2016, Other trusteeships: THE NATIONAL GALLERY TRUST, TULLIE HOUSE MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY TRUST,

DAVID LEVY Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Senior Research Associate, Other trusteeship: ASYLUM WELCOME,

DIANA BEECH Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Chief Executive

EMILY ANNE BUNTING Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Assistant Director

KATHARINE LOUISE METZLER Appointed: 2020, Occupation: Publishing

KAVITA REDDI Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Entrepreneur

MATTHEW PETER WALSH Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Head Of The School Of Journalism

NICHOLAS JOHN ELDRED Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Solicitor, Other trusteeship: FRIENDS OF THE EARTH CHARITABLE TRUST,

PROFESSOR CEDRIC NISHANTHAN CANAGARAJAH Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Vice Chancellor

PROFESSOR DAVID GORDON SWEENEY Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Professor Of Research Practice

PROFESSOR EINAR THORSEN Appointed: 2024, Occupation: Executive Dean

PROFESSOR JULIE SANDERS Appointed: 2024

RACHEL WALKER Appointed: 2024, Occupation: General Counsel

VIVIENNE MARY HUNT PARRY Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Broadcaster

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 27/03/2013, number: 1151436
Registered at Companies House on 26/07/2012, number: 08158264

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Policies in force

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Filing Record

10 returns made; AR22: 58 days late, AR19: 24 days late,

Main office

Shropshire House (4th Floor)
Capper Street
London
WC1E 6JA

Objectives

THE CHARITYS OBJECTS ARE SPECIFICALLY RESTRICTED TO PROMOTING FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT: THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION INSOFAR AS SO DOING ADVANCES EDUCATION:1) THE PROVISION OF A PLATFORM FOR THE CREATION, AGGREGATION AND COMMUNICATION OF NEWS AND INFORMATION SERVICES RELATING TO THE KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRIES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO RESEARCH, HIGHER EDUCATION, CONSULTING ETC); AND2) THE COMMUNICATION OF ALL ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES AND THEIR BENEFITS AS BROADLY AS POSSIBLE TO ENRICH SOCIETYS FOUNDATIONS OF KNOWLEDGE, EXPERTISE AND SOLUTIONS.

Data Sources