CARAS COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS LTD
Registered charity 1124376 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CARAS (COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS) LTD, KLEVIS KOLA FOUNDATION
CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers) is a community organisation with members from all over London. CARAS works closely with a number of organisations in south London to deliver services for refugees and asylum seekers. Projects include after school and youth clubs, ESOL classes, a women's drop-in and advocacy casework.
Causes: Education/training · Amateur Sport · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that CARAS achieved a net surplus of £76,502 for the year ended 31 August 2025, with total income of £872,276 and total expenditure of £795,774. Per the trustees' report, free reserves stood at £391,918, which exceeds the charity's stated policy target of four months of running costs (circa £270,000).
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Grants and donations (64% of income)
“Principal sources of funding during the year and as in previous periods were grants and donations, which amounted to £844,485 and made 97% of our total income.” — page 8
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Fundraising cost ratio: 9.0% of fundraised income, as disclosed
“The charitable activities expenditure was 91% of total expenditure and fundraising being only 9%.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: four months of running costs circa £270,000 (held: £392k)
“The Trustees maintain a reserves policy that aims to hold free reserves equivalent to four months of running costs circa £270,000.” — page 8
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — CARAS (matched by registered charity number).
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£69k
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: Charitable activities (73% 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: 7.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (14/05/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Received assets from another charity (29/01/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Operates in: Croydon · Lambeth · Merton · Wandsworth
Income and spending
Common questions
Is CARAS COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS LTD financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that CARAS achieved a net surplus of £76,502 for the year ended 31 August 2025, with total income of £872,276 and total expenditure of £795,774. Per the trustees' report, free reserves stood at £391,918, which exceeds the charity's stated policy target of four months of running costs (circa £270,000). Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.
Who funds CARAS COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS LTD?
Funders whose own accounts filings name CARAS COMMUNITY ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS LTD as a grant recipient include ST PAUL'S SCHOOLS FOUNDATION, THE REED FOUNDATION, THE BUZZACOTT STUART DEFRIES MEMORIAL FUND.
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 POSITIVE ACTION FOR REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.