SAVE THE ELEPHANTS
Registered charity 1118804 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The principal objectives of the charity are best expressed by its mission statement to secure a future for elephants and to sustain the beauty and integrity of the places where they live: to promote man's delight in their intelligence and diversity of their world and to develop a tolerant relationship between the two species.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Animals · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a total surplus of £267,383 for the year ended 31 December 2024, with total income increasing to £4,255,257. Per the trustees' report, free reserves of £4,461,200 exceeded the stated policy target of £2,474,535, and the trustees consider the charity to be in a strong position to continue its activities.
Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Fundraising cost ratio: 6.5% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“£276,631 (6% of total expenditure) was spent on fundraising (2023: £244,069)” — page 35
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: six months of operating costs (held: £4.5m)
“the trustees have placed a target that STE should maintain a capital reserve fund to cover the operating costs of the charity for a period of 6 months (£2,474,535 on the basis of 2025’s budget)” — page 36
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Donation to subsidiary
“During the year the charity donated US$3,003,064 equivalent to £2,349,772 (2023: £2,048,853) to its subsidiary, Save the Elephants Company Limited, a company incorporated in Kenya. No other related party transactions occurred in the year under review. At December 31, 2024, no amounts were owed to or from the subsidiary.” — page 51
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Save the Elephants Company Limited
“Save the Elephants Company Limited, a non-profit making company registered and based in Kenya, is funded by the charity.” — page 38
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Gerald Edelman LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Corporate structure
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Save the Elephants (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton — Founder (source)
- Dr Iain Douglas-Hamilton — Founder & President (source)
- Dr Lucy King — Head of Human-Elephant Coexistence program (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.
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.
- WITTEMYER III, George — director, appointed 01/05/2025not on trustee list
- AWORI, Patricia Wangalwa — director, appointed 19/02/2022on trustee list
- CAREY, Ambrose — director, appointed 05/06/2014on trustee list
- MCCAY, Marlene — director, appointed 05/03/2007on trustee list
- VOLLRATH, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Paul, Dr — director, appointed 05/03/2007not on trustee list
Official officers record.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£313k
Reported reserves equal ~13.9 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 5.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (23/08/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (17/02/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Ambrose Carey
- GEORGE WITTEMYER
- MARLENE MCCAY
- PATRICIA AWORI
- PROFESSOR FRITZ VOLLRATH
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: City Of London · Kenya · Mali · South Africa
Income and spending
Common questions
Is SAVE THE ELEPHANTS financially healthy?
Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a total surplus of £267,383 for the year ended 31 December 2024, with total income increasing to £4,255,257. Per the trustees' report, free reserves of £4,461,200 exceeded the stated policy target of £2,474,535, and the trustees consider the charity to be in a strong position to continue its activities. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Gerald Edelman LLP.
Who funds SAVE THE ELEPHANTS?
Funders whose own accounts filings name SAVE THE ELEPHANTS as a grant recipient include TOBY AND REGINA WYLES CHARITABLE TRUST, THE ROTHES CHARITABLE TRUST, TUSK TRUST LIMITED, SPEARS-STUTZ CHARITABLE TRUST, CHASE AFRICA (COMMUNITY HEALTH AND SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT).
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 THE ELEPHANT PROTECTION INITIATIVE FOUNDATION.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.