THE IDEAS FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1090451 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The advancement of education of young people in the creative arts and the promotion of creative industry for the public benefit

Objects

10 THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION IN PARTICULAR, BUT WITHOUT PREDIJUCE TO THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION OF YOUNG PERSONS IN THE CREATIVE ARTS; AND 2) THE PROMOTION OF INDUSTRY FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total funds decreased from £115,593 to £99,295 due to a net expenditure of £181,164 against income of £356,556. The trustees report that the current situation is unsustainable in the long run and are considering options including mergers, emergency fundraising, or planned closure. Despite these challenges, unrestricted reserves of £65,897 remain above the stated policy target of £50,000.

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 5 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
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• The Amos Bursary Trust — “The Amos Bursary Trust for helping us give creative opportunities to young men from Afro-Caribbean backgrounds” (source page)
• The Comino Foundation — “The Comino Foundation for being a major funder of our work in the North West” (source page)
• The Garfield Weston Foundation — “The Garfield Weston Foundation for supporting our work with Ladder students” (source page)
• The Creative Floor — “The Creative Floor for supporting our work on healthcare briefs” (source page)
• The School of Communication Arts — “The School of Communication Arts who often give bursaries to our most gifted students” (source page)
• Festival Bridge — “Festival Bridge for funding our work in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire” (source page)
• Collaborative Outreach Networks — “Collaborative Outreach Networks for funding our work in ‘cool spot’ areas where students are even less likely to have come across creative e…” (source page)
• Make Happen — “Make Happen for funding our work in the Southend area” (source page)
• The University of the Arts London — “The University of the Arts London , University of East London and City University for supporting our summer programmes” (source page)
• University of East London — “The University of the Arts London , University of East London and City University for supporting our summer programmes” (source page)
• City University — “The University of the Arts London , University of East London and City University for supporting our summer programmes” (source page)
• The Careers and Enterprise Company — “The Careers and Enterprise Company for supporting our work with Burberry Foundation in the North Yorkshire area and with the Creative Ladder…” (source page)
• Queen Mary University of London — “Queen Mary University of London for supporting us with a range of curriculum innovation partnerships over the years” (source page)
• D&AD — “D&AD for giving our students awesome experiences” (source page)
• Cambridge University — “Cambridge University for developing our media space projects, helping us focus on creative, digital and tech briefs” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2023)

Reported reserves equal ~1.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 7.1 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (77% 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: 1.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.0%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Charles Mawer
• Edward Michael Richard Smith
• JENNY WILKINS · trustee of 1 other charity
• Naomi Desalegene
• Simeon Quarrie
• Will Worsdell · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Throughout England

Income and spending

Common questions

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 INSTITUTE OF IMAGINATION.

• INSTITUTE OF IMAGINATION income £512k
• ARTIS FOUNDATION income £1.0m
• THE FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATION, ARTS AND CULTURE income £133k
• THE ELYSIUM FOUNDATION LIMITED income £107k
• The Framlingham Foundation Trust T/A The Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation income £895k
• THE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ARTS AND CULTURE income £104k

Side by side with its peers

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