SOAS STUDENTS' UNION

Registered charity 1150717 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SOAS SU

SOAS Students' Union is the representative organisation for the UK Higher Education Institution The School of Oriental And African Studies, University of London. The Union's aims are to improve the education of students within SOAS, by liaising with the institution, offering advice, running extra-curricular sport and societies, and operating other social and pastoral services.

Causes: Education/training · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · Environment/conservation/heritage · Recreation · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.3m

Latest spending

£1.3m

Registered

2013

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a net loss of £43,018 and unrestricted funds of £15,055. The trustees note that liquidity and cashflow management remain a significant strategic risk, although the financial risk profile improved from 'critical' to 'high' during the year. The charity remains dependent on the University's support, which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: School grant (53% of income)

“SOAS SU has continued to benefit from the recognition and support of the University, who are our principal funders, and this year the Block Grant was £676,569 in total” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Fundraising cost ratio: 0.0% of fundraised income, as disclosed

“The Union transacts with the University of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) their relationship is defined in the Report of the Trustees. A grant was received by the Union from SOAS as detailed in the notes to the accounts, Note 2.” — page 25

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: Trustees were remunerated in respect of their roles as sabbatical officers. See note 18.

“None of the trustees were remunerated or paid expenses in respect of the performance of their duties as trustees. Trustees were remunerated in respect of their roles as sabbatical officers. See note 18.” — page 20

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Knox Cropper LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Samson Onwe — Co-President (source)
Claudia Nader — Co-President (source)
Sana Irfan — Co-President (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.

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

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

Total income

£1.3m

Total spending

£1.3m

Reserves (reported)

£0

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (54% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Ashoka Phillips
Aysh Ahmed Chaudhry
Claudia Nader
Prajwal Trivedi · trustee of 1 other charity
Samson Onwe · trustee of 1 other charity
Sana Irfan · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Camden · Islington

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£1.3m	£1.3m
31/07/2024	£1.2m	£1.4m
31/07/2023	£1.3m	£1.4m
31/07/2022	£1.0m	£1.1m
31/07/2021	£641k	£642k

Common questions

Is SOAS STUDENTS' UNION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a net loss of £43,018 and unrestricted funds of £15,055. The trustees note that liquidity and cashflow management remain a significant strategic risk, although the financial risk profile improved from 'critical' to 'high' during the year. The charity remains dependent on the University's support, which is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Knox Cropper LLP.

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
QUINTIN HOGG TRUST	1	£540k
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES SPORT LIMITED	1	£296

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD.

GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD income £4.4m
UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER STUDENTS' UNION income £4.8m
NUS STUDENTS' UNION CHARITABLE SERVICES income £3.9m
ASTON STUDENTS' UNION income £3.7m
UNION OF UEA STUDENTS LIMITED income £6.9m
THE STUDENTS' UNION AT BU LTD income £4.2m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
SOAS STUDENTS' UNION	£1.3m	—	0	unclear	0.0%	no doubt
GREENWICH STUDENTS UNION LTD FY2025	£4.4m	£70,001 - £80,000	2	below	—	no doubt
UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£4.8m	£90,001 - £100,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
NUS STUDENTS' UNION CHARITABLE SERVICES FY2025	£3.9m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
ASTON STUDENTS' UNION FY2025	£3.7m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
UNION OF UEA STUDENTS LIMITED FY2025	£6.9m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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