Aspen Institute UK

Registered charity 1186896 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as ASPEN INITIATIVE UK

Aspen UK carries out its mission through seminars, conferences and leadership programmes. It offers a safe environment for people to debate political and social issues and confront different perspectives. Sessions are led by expert moderators and are held in small groups to promote an exchange of ideas and perspectives.

Objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE CHARITY IS ESTABLISHED (THE 'OBJECTS') ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION INCLUDING BY (BUT NOT LIMITED TO):5.1 PROMOTING OPEN-MINDED, NON-PARTISAN, STRUCTURED DIALOGUE AND DISCUSSION BETWEEN A WIDE RANGE OF GROUPS, USING THE ASPEN METHOD OF TEXT-BASED AND PROFESSIONALLY GUIDED CONVERSATIONS, TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS AND PERSPECTIVES IN ORDER TO IMPROVE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF A RANGE OF CONTEMPORARY ISSUES;5.2 DEVELOPING AND FOSTERING THE LEADERSHIP SKILLS, COMPETENCIES, CAPABILITIES AND UNDERSTANDINGS OF INDIVIDUALS BY PROVIDING MODERATED AND STRUCTURED SEMINARS ON CHALLENGING TOPICS IN POLITICS, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE AND BY PROVIDING ACCESS TO SEMINARS, CONFERENCES, LEADERSHIP PROGRAMMES AND FELLOWSHIP; 5.3 PUBLISHING AND SHARING WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS ON A WIDE RANGE OF SUBJECTS RELEVANT TO CONTEMPORARY ISSUES, INCLUDING THE RECOMMENDATIONS, LEARNINGS AND/OR INSIGHTS ARISING FROM DIALOGUE AND DISCUSSION FACILITATED BY THE CHARITY;5.4 UNDERTAKING SUCH OTHER ACTIVITIES AS DETERMINED BY THE DIRECTORS FROM TIME TO TIME THAT ADVANCE EDUCATION.

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: North Hertfordshire, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £63,332, which the trustees consider sufficient to meet their policy target of three to six months of operating expenditure. The charity reported a net income surplus of £43,282 for the year, reversing a significant deficit from the previous period, and confirmed there are no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Top pay band moved from Over £60,000 (FY2024) to more than £60,000 (FY2025).
• Employees paid over £60,000: 3 (FY2024) → 1 (FY2025).
• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "below" (FY2024) to "within" (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
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Safeguarding 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.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/10/2023)

Reported reserves equal ~6.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 7.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (83% 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 (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Ed Williams
• PENNY RICHARDS · trustee of 1 other charity
• Pierre Mercier

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

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 ACUMEN ACADEMY UK.

• ACUMEN ACADEMY UK income £419k
• ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES income £589k
• INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC POLICY RESEARCH income £6.2m
• ALPORT UK income £179k
• THE PDA SOCIETY income £412k
• THE UK ACADEMY FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS income £41k

Side by side with its peers

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