CARDBOARD CITIZENS

Registered charity 1042457 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5038250 · Wikipedia

Our mission is to use theatre combined with information, advice and guidance to inspire and support those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. We act as a catalyst for people to make changes in their lives. We also aim to improve public understanding and awareness by creating and performing works about the experiences of homeless and socially excluded people, with those people.

Objects

TO ADVANCE EDUCATION FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY THE PROMOTION OF THE ARTS, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY THE ART OF DRAMA

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Hackney, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a net expenditure for the year, with total income decreasing by 17% to £858,113 while total expenditure increased by 5% to £934,062. Free reserves stood at £207,511, which the trustees confirmed met their policy target of covering three months of operational expenditure. The accounts were subject to independent examination rather than audit, with the examiner reporting no material matters of concern.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• 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

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Who’s Moving: Winning Scotland, Centrepoint, Cardboard Citizens, and more civilsociety.co.uk · 23/08/2021
• Cardboard Citizens perform Cathy Come Home - 5th July at the Barbican wired-gov.net · 21/03/2017

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 02938531

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Cardboard Citizens (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• WARDEN, Anoushka Gemma — director, appointed 27/01/2026on trustee list
• CASSON, Alexandra Elizabeth — director, appointed 27/01/2026on trustee list
• FEATHERSTONE, Victoria — director, appointed 27/01/2026on trustee list
• ITASAKA, Kikuko — director, appointed 27/01/2026on trustee list
• AKKEMIK, Ali Mete — director, appointed 21/01/2025on trustee list
• WILLIAMS, Anna Elizabeth — director, appointed 21/01/2025on trustee list
• MATTHEWS, Claire Elizabeth Franceen — director, appointed 01/11/2023on trustee list
• JUGNAUTH, Ajeet Kumar — director, appointed 28/02/2023on trustee list
• CASELY-HAYFORD, Awura Afua Ayesha — director, appointed 28/02/2023on trustee list
• BULL, Christopher Brian — director, appointed 25/10/2022on trustee list
• MCNAUGHT, Jenique — director, appointed 07/12/2021on trustee list
• XIA, Matthew — director, appointed 01/06/2018on trustee list
• BRISCOE, Lisa — secretary, appointed 18/01/2012

Official officers record.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~5.8 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (78% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 20.4% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anna Elizabeth Williamschair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Ajeet Kumar Jugnauth
• Alexandra Elizabeth Casson
• Ali Mete Akkemik
• Anoushka Gemma Warden
• Awura-Afua Ayesha Casely-Hayford
• Christopher Bull
• Claire Elizabeth Franceen Matthews
• Jenique McNaught
• Kikuko Itasaka
• MATTHEW XIA · trustee of 1 other charity
• Victoria Featherstone

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout London

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CAMPDEN EDGE.

• CAMPDEN EDGE income £32k
• CAMBRIDGE AID income £135k
• CITIZENS ADVICE IN NORTH & WEST KENT income £2.1m
• Caring for Communities and People income £13.0m
• BECOME CHARITY income £2.0m
• NEW DIORAMA income £1.4m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.