THE BRILLIANT CLUB

Registered charity 1147771 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q24995277 · Wikipedia · also registered in Scotland as SC048774 (OSCR)

The Brilliant Club exists to increase the number of pupils from under-represented backgrounds progressing to highly selective universities. We do this by mobilising the PhD community to share its academic expertise with state schools.

Objects

The objects of the charity are, for the benefit of the public:2.1. to promote the advancement of education, in particular by seeking to widen university access amongst high performing pupils from low participation communities; and2.2. to pursue any other purpose that is charitable under English law.Throughout these Articles ?charitable? means charitable in accordance with the law of England and Wales provided that it will not include any purpose which is not charitable in accordance with section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. For the avoidance of doubt, the system of law governing the Articles of the Charity is the law of England and Wales.

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

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity incurred a planned deficit of £320,653 for the year, utilizing designated strategic funds to support new initiatives. Per the trustees' report, general reserves of £1,398,960 remain within the stated policy target of three to four months of core costs, providing a safeguard against rising costs and financial risks.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. 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
• 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

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).

• Hailsham Academy Students attend university graduation event after completing The Brilliant Club Scholars Programme sussexexpress.co.uk · 15/05/2026
• Movers and shakers: Ofsted, DRET, The Brilliant Club schoolsweek.co.uk · 31/03/2026
• Wigan students celebrate Brilliant Club graduation wigantoday.net · 23/02/2026
• Havant Academy partners with The Brilliant Club to inspire future university students portsmouth.co.uk · 18/09/2025
• Hear from fellow PGRs about their experience with the Brilliant Club! qmul.ac.uk · 25/03/2025
• Local students celebrate graduation from The Brilliant Club! wigantoday.net · 20/03/2025
• The Brilliant Club 2024 imperial.ac.uk · 14/08/2024
• King's College London and The Brilliant Club awarded UKRI funding to evaluate a parent-focused community organising initiative kcl.ac.uk · 24/07/2024

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 07986971

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Brilliant Club (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Dr Josephine Valentine OBE — Chair (source)
• Leanne Adamson — Chief Operating Officer (source)
• Sabrina Luisi — Chief Engagement Officer (source)
• Jimmy Pickering — Director of Communities (source)
• Steina Adolfsdottir — Director of Philanthropy (source)
• Zoë Morgan — Director of School Partnerships and Communications (source)
• Anna Aleksandrowicz — HR Director (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.

• KEIL, Jonathan Richard — director, appointed 14/10/2024on trustee list
• KEARNS, Paul — director, appointed 14/10/2024on trustee list
• CARPENTER, Robert John — director, appointed 14/10/2024on trustee list
• CHUDASAMA, Rita — director, appointed 14/10/2024on trustee list
• FERGUSON, Jonathon James — director, appointed 12/09/2023on trustee list
• CINNAMON, Cara — director, appointed 12/09/2023on trustee list
• CREWE, Ivor Martin, Sir — director, appointed 12/09/2023on trustee list
• DHIR, Pawan — director, appointed 09/03/2021on trustee list
• CHUKWU, Hannah Nenna — director, appointed 09/03/2021on trustee list
• SELAGE, Adriana — director, appointed 09/03/2021on trustee list
• HERRINGTON, Dominic James — director, appointed 02/09/2020on trustee list
• STRETCH, Josephine Anne, Dr — director, appointed 12/03/2019on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (79% 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: 6.7% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Josephine Anne Stretchchair
• Adriana Selage
• Cara Cinnamon
• Dominic James Herrington
• Hannah Nenna Chukwu
• Jonathan Keil
• Jonathon James Ferguson
• Paul Kearns
• Pawan Dhir · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rita Chudasama
• Robert Carpenter
• Sir Ivor Martin Crewe

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

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.

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 SUCCESS CLUB CIO.

• SUCCESS CLUB CIO income £345k
• THE 93 PERCENT CLUB FOUNDATION income £1.1m
• THE PIONEER YOUTH CLUB income £161k
• BRIGHTON TABLE TENNIS CLUB income £970k
• THE PRIMARY CLUB income £209k
• Amazing Kids Club Ltd income £874k

Side by side with its peers

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