INTERNATIONAL P.E.N.

Registered charity 1117088 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q206811 · Wikipedia · also known as PEN INTERNATIONAL, THE INTERNATIONAL P.E.N., THE INTERNATIONAL P.E.N. FOUNDATION

Promotion of cooperation amongst writers everywhere in the world. Promotion of freedom of expression and defence of those whose freedom of expression is suppressed whether by imprisonment or otherwise.

Objects

3. THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE:3.1 TO PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS (AS SET OUT IN THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ("UDHR") AND SUBSEQUENT UNITED NATIONS CONVENTIONS AND DECLARATIONS AND IN REGIONAL CODES OF HUMAN RIGHTS WHICH INCORPORATE THE RIGHTS CONTAINED IN THE UDHR AND THOSE SUBSEQUENT CONVENTIONS AND DECLARATIONS) THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY ALL OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING MEANS:- (A) MONITORING ABUSES OF HUMAN RIGHTS;(B) OBTAINING REDRESS FOR THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE;(C) RELIEVING NEED AMONG THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE;(D) RESEARCH INTO HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES;(E) EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS;(F) PROVIDING TECHNICAL ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AND OTHERS ON HUMAN RIGHTS MATTERS;(G) CONTRIBUTING TO THE SOUND ADMINISTRATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS LAW;(H) COMMENTING ON PROPOSED HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATION;(I) RAISING AWARENESS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES;(J) PROMOTING PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS;(K) PROMOTING RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AMONG INDIVIDUALS AND CORPORATIONS;(L) INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY OF HUMAN RIGHTS; AND (M) ELIMINATING INFRINGEMENTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS.3.2 TO ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING, APPRECIATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CREATIVE ART OF WRITING.

Area of benefit: THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

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 · Economic/community Development/employment · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity maintained a healthy operating surplus of £235k for the year ended 31 December 2025, resulting in total funds increasing to £771k. Per the trustees' report, undesignated reserves stood at £323k, which exceeds the stated policy target of three months' grants receipts and expenditure. The trustees confirmed the financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis, citing stable cash positions and multi-year funding agreements.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by HW Fisher Audit. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "below" (FY2024) to "above" (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

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
• 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
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• 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).

• Ukrainian libraries to receive a further 15,000 books from Book Aid International through PEN Ukraine’s Unbreakable Libraries project — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide pen-international.org · 13/03/2024
• Ukrainian libraries to receive 25,000 books from Book Aid International, in collaboration with PEN Ukraine, English PEN and PEN International — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide pen-international.org · 08/08/2023
• Ukrainian libraries to receive 25,000 books from Book Aid International, in collaboration with PEN Ukraine, English PEN and PEN International - News & Events englishpen.org · 08/08/2023

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 05683997

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Arne Svingen — International Secretary (source)
• Tanja Tuma — Vice Chair of the Board (source)
• Eric Lax — Treasurer (source)
• Romana Cacchioli — Executive Director (source)
• Emmanuel Asamoah — Finance, HR and Admin Director and Company Secretary (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

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

• Charlotte Aitken Trust — “Charlotte Aitken Trust” (source page)
• Kursbuch Kulturstiftung — “Kursbuch Kulturstiftung” (source page)
• Evan Cornish Foundation — “Evan Cornish Foundation” (source page)
• Hawthornden Foundation — “Hawthornden Foundation” (source page)
• Fondazione Feltrinelli — “Fondazione Feltrinelli” (source page)
• Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs — “Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs” (source page)
• Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs — “Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs” (source page)

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.

• ELF, Mads Julius — director, appointed 05/09/2025on trustee list
• SVINGEN, Arne — director, appointed 01/10/2024on trustee list
• ECHLIN, Kimberley Ann, Dr — director, appointed 01/10/2024on trustee list
• DUNDAR, Ege — director, appointed 22/11/2023on trustee list
• TUMA, Tanja — director, appointed 07/10/2022not on trustee list
• LAMWAKA, Beatrice — director, appointed 07/10/2022on trustee list
• SEISDEDOS, Jose Gabriel — director, appointed 01/10/2021on trustee list
• TRIPATHI, Salil Jaysukh — director, appointed 01/10/2021on trustee list
• LAX, Eric Martin Arthur — director, appointed 19/08/2019on trustee list
• SONMEZ, Burhan — director, appointed 27/09/2018on trustee list
• CACCHIOLI, Romana Angela — secretary, appointed 16/04/2025
• ASAMOAH, Emmanuel — secretary, appointed 01/01/2020

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.3 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (76% 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: 0.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Arne Svingen
• Beatrice Lamwaka
• Burhan Sonmez
• Dr Kimberley Ann Echlin
• Ege Dundar
• Jacob Sondergaard
• Jennifer Boylan
• Jose Gabriel Seisdedos
• Salil Tripathi
• Tanya Tuma

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

Operates in: Southwark

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

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 MEDIA LEGAL DEFENCE INITIATIVE.

• MEDIA LEGAL DEFENCE INITIATIVE income £3.4m
• ENGLISH PEN income £663k
• RELEASE INTERNATIONAL income £3.7m
• PERSONAL BEST FOUNDATION income £135k
• INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS GUILD income £1.1m
• AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL UK SECTION CHARITABLE TRUST income £22.5m

Side by side with its peers

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