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2025-08-31-accounts

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

ASHOKA UK

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 AUGUST 2025

Charity registration number: 1113246 Company registration number: 04903565

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Contents

Contents
Page
Charity Reference and Administrative Details 3
Who we are 4-7
Foreword 8-9
Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) 10-22
Legal and Financial Reports 23-26
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 27
Independent Auditor’s Report 28-31
Statement of Financial Activities (Including Income and Expenditure Account) 32
Balance Sheet 33
Statement of Cash Flows 34
Notes to the Financial Statements 35-49

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Charity Reference and Administrative Details

Charity registration number 1113246 Company registration 04903565 number Trustees of the Charity : The Trustees of the Charity are also the Directors for the purposes of company law. The Trustees who have served during the year and since the year end were as follows: Bill Carter Christopher Underhill Lucy Perkins Yashveer Singh Senior Management Team Kelly Davies – UK Country Director Karen Mitchell – Director of Finance & Operations Carolina Moreno Lopez – HR and Operations Lead Registered office Ashoka UK 33 Bruton Street Mayfair London W1J 6QU Auditor PKF Littlejohn LLP 30 Churchill Place London E14 5RE Solicitor Latham & Watkins (London) LLP 99 Bishopsgate London EC2M 3XF Bankers Lloyds Bank 399 Oxford Circus London W1C 2BU

The objects for which the Charity is established, as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association, are to support and promote such one or more exclusively charitable purposes anywhere in the world as the Charity shall determine. “Charitable” shall have the meaning assigned to it by the law for the time being in force in England and Wales. “Charitable purposes” shall mean such purposes (whether effected or to be effected) as shall for the time being be exclusively charitable purposes.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Our Vision

‘Everyone A Changemaker’

Ashoka envisions a world where everyone can embrace their agency, live with dignity, and has the mindset and capabilities to solve problems and create solutions for the good of all.

We believe that to build a resilient, regenerative, and equitable society. everyone must feel invited and capable of playing a role – because everyone has the power to lead change.

That's why we are mobilising a movement where everyone is a changemaker – working together to solve systemic challenges at every level of society.

Who We Are

Ashoka is the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs .

For over 43 years, we’ve identified and supported the individuals behind some of the most transformative innovations across sectors like healthcare, education, climate, technology, business, migration and sport .

Ashoka Fellows receive financial and strategic support for life , becoming part of a global Fellowship active in over 98 countries .

Some names are well known—like:

Others have led equally powerful yet lesser-known innovations—like training rats to detect landmines or working with blind women whose sense of touch can detect early-stage breast cancer. What unites all Ashoka Fellows is an entrepreneurial mindset, ethical fibre and the ambition to change systems for the good of all.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

“Ashoka is a living encyclopedia of social innovation in every field around the world." - Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia, Ashoka Fellow

The Evolution of Ashoka

Ashoka was founded by Bill Drayton , who coined the term social entrepreneurship.

But over the past decade, we’ve recognised that it is no longer enough to rely solely on extraordinary individuals to solve the world’s problems—nor can we depend solely on governments or charities.

We are at a historical turning point in time.

To address the complexity and scale of today’s challenges, t he New Reality is that everyone must be a changemaker .

Whether solving problems in a school, a business, or a community, people everywhere need the confidence and skills to lead change—however big or small.

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The urgency of now

From public health to education, from the environment to the economy, recent years have exposed the fragility of our systems and the interconnectedness of global challenges.

The solutions must be collective, systemic, and intergenerational .

Ashoka is bringing together a powerful alliance of:

Together, we are working to build inclusive, future-ready systems across the UK, Europe, and beyond.

The Next Generation of Changemakers

To ensure long-term societal transformation, we must prepare young people to thrive in a changing world .

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

This means equipping them with:

So, they can confidently lead change—at school, in their communities, and throughout their lives. The message is clear: from headteachers to CEOs, we need changemakers in every system.

How we accelerate impact

Ashoka in the UK & Ireland

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Foreword

Foreword | Looking Back at 2024, Stepping into 2025

2024 was a year of consolidation, learning, and resolve.

Across Ashoka UK & Ireland, we deepened our understanding of what it truly takes to shift systems in a world marked by volatility, stretched institutions, and growing inequality. We invested time and care in strengthening our foundations: clarifying our strategic direction, supporting our people, and sharpening our focus on where Ashoka can add the greatest value.

That work has mattered.

As we move into 2025, we do so with greater clarity, confidence, and intentionality. The past year reinforced a fundamental truth at the heart of Ashoka’s mission: systems do not change through activity alone, but through sustained relationships, shared ownership, and courageous long-term thinking.

In 2024, we prioritised depth over breadth. We strengthened our intergenerational community of Fellows, young changemakers, partners, and supporters. We embedded wellbeing and trust within our team. We tested, learned, and adapted — particularly in response to a challenging funding environment — while remaining firmly anchored in our vision of a world where everyone is a changemaker.

2025 is the year we build forward from that base.

Our focus now is on activation and scale — not through growth for its own sake, but through deliberate, place-based and thematic strategies that allow changemaking to take root and endure. Across cities and regions in Wales, Scotland, Manchester and London; across sectors such as education, sport, climate, and business; we are increasingly seeing what becomes possible when systems leaders, young people, and social entrepreneurs work side by side.

We enter this year with a clearer sense of where to place our energy:

None of this happens without partnership. We are deeply grateful to our Fellows, staff team, trustees, supporters, and collaborators who continue to show up with generosity, integrity, and belief — especially in uncertain times. Your commitment makes it possible for Ashoka to hold the long view while responding with care to the realities of the present.

As we look ahead through 2025, we do so with optimism grounded in action.

The challenges facing our societies are profound — but so too is the capacity of people, when trusted and connected, to lead change.

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Our task now is clear: to keep creating the conditions where changemaking is not exceptional, but expected — and where everyone can play a part in shaping a fairer, more resilient future for the good of all.

Bill Carter, Chair of the Board of Trustees

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report)

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements of Ashoka UK (‘the Charity’) for the year ended 31 August 2025.

The report and financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in notes to the accounts and comply with the Charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities”. The Trustees confirm that they have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on charities and public benefit.

Objectives and activities

Ashoka’s vision is to build a world where Everyone is a Changemaker —a society in which every person is equipped with the empathy, agency, mindset and capabilities to create positive change for the good of all. This vision is rooted in over four decades of pioneering social entrepreneurship, and today, Ashoka continues to serve as the largest global network of social innovators dedicated to solving systemic challenges through community, creativity, and collaboration.

In 2024/25 Ashoka UK & Ireland focused on deepening its strategic pillars—supporting highimpact social entrepreneurs, mobilising young people as changemakers, and enabling institutions and communities to embrace systems-changing approaches. Across these priorities, our work has been shaped by a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and by the belief that lasting change is both systemic and collective.

Our strategic priorities

  1. Searching, selecting and supporting UK & Ireland’s leading social entrepreneurs: We find and elevate social entrepreneurs whose systems changing innovations solve deep-rooted social problems. For those elected as Fellows, Ashoka provides tailored lifetime support to scale their solutions’ impact.

  2. Activating all young people to be changemakers and Transforming Education Our mission is to trigger a shift in mindsets across the learning ecosystem in the UK and Ireland so that the experience of education empowers every young person to be a changemaker. Our approach to achieving this is to find, connect and organise diverse people and communities to lead initiatives which eventually tip ecosystems toward this future.

  3. Enabling our society to embrace social innovation and changemaking: When businesses and governments engage and collaborate with systemic social entrepreneurs, the full potential of social innovation is unlocked. At Ashoka, we work with forward thinking businesses, foundations, major change institutions, and change leaders to design innovative partnerships to accelerate changemaking, both within and outside of their organisations – cultivating changemaker cities and regions across the UK.

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  1. Partnering with various organisations on national and global storytelling campaigns to shift mindsets and catalyse transformative societal behavioral change.

Our work & impact

I. Searching, selecting and supporting leading social entrepreneurs

Ashoka’s Fellowship remains the cornerstone of our work and our most powerful lever for systems change. With over 40 years of experience globally, Ashoka has developed one of the most rigorous and values-led processes for identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs whose ideas have the potential to transform entire fields.

Through a robust, multi-stage due diligence process, Ashoka elects approximately 1% of nominated changemakers as Ashoka Fellows. This selectivity reflects our commitment to backing only those innovations that demonstrate genuine systems-changing potential, strong ethical foundations, and the capacity to influence norms, policies, and power structures at scale.

Commitment to equity and representation

Ashoka UK & Ireland is committed to sourcing at least 30% of new Fellows from underrepresented communities through sustained Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. While individual cohorts may vary year to year, this target reflects a long-term commitment to shifting who is seen, supported, and selected as a social innovator — and to ensuring the Fellowship reflects the diversity of lived experience required to change systems fairly and effectively.

As Ashoka Fellow Luciana Delle Donne , Founder of Made in Carcere , reflects:

“Ashoka’s selection as a Fellow has given more dignity to our role, and the process made us realise that we could generate systemic change — at that point we made a qualitative leap in our vision.”

The Fellow selection process

The selection criteria

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Alongside rigour, Ashoka increasingly emphasises care — recognising the personal, reputational, and sometimes physical risks faced by social entrepreneurs working at the frontier of change.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Fellows elected and supported

Building on a strong and increasingly diverse selection process over 2023–2025 , Ashoka UK & Ireland has elected and supported an exceptional cohort of new Fellows whose work spans wealth justice, democracy, climate, human rights, civic systems, and culture. Together, these social entrepreneurs exemplify Ashoka’s commitment to identifying ideas that shift systems and redefine what is possible.

Newly elected Fellows over this period include:

  1. STEPHANIE BROBBEY Founder of the Good Ancestor Movement, which exists to disrupt the mainstream wealth advisory industry by challenging traditional ideas around the economy, excessive wealth accumulation, tax minimisation, and the redistribution of resources and power in society.

  2. EYAL WEIZMAN Founder of Forensic Architecture and Forensis, which uses the modeling tools of architecture and new evidence collection methods to build new cases for combatting human rights violations globally.

3. AGAMEMNON OTERO Founder of Energy Garden, which utilises London rail infrastructure to build community co-op owned solar arrays in unused land and uses the returns to fund community gardens and programmed around the city.

  1. LISA WESTCOTT WILKINS Founder of Dig Ventures, which makes archaeology open to communities, offering training in digs and online archaeology and using crowd-funded digs and lay archaeologists utilizing new mapping tools to help combat climate change.

  2. INDY JOHAR Founder of Dark Matters Lab, which is working to create institutions, instruments and infrastructures for a more equitable, caring and sustainable future.

  3. Eliot Higgins , founder of Bellingcat, whose work has advanced citizen-led investigations through open-source intelligence, transforming how digital evidence and publicly available data can support journalism, accountability, and human rights efforts.

  4. Jeremy Nicholls , founder of Social Value International, who has helped shape new approaches to social value, wellbeing economics, and impact measurement—supporting organisations and decision-makers to better understand and act on what matters beyond financial growth.

  5. Eyal Weizman , founder of Forensic Architecture, and Professor of Spatial and Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, who pioneers the use of spatial analysis, media and open-source intelligence in human rights investigations, exploring how environments, technologies and power intersect.

  6. Indy Johar , co-founder of Dark Matter Labs, whose work focuses on reimagining civic, economic, and environmental systems—bridging design, policy and innovation to help build more just and regenerative futures.

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Ashoka UK & Ireland commits to sourcing at least 30% of new Fellows from underrepresented communities through our DEI initiatives. While individual cohorts may vary, this target reflects a sustained, long-term commitment to shifting who is seen, supported, and selected as a social innovator.

Supporting Fellows: beyond stipends, toward ecosystems

Support for Fellows extends far beyond election. Through the Ashoka Europe Fellowship Programme and UK & Ireland initiatives, we:

Key Fellowship initiatives this year included:

A global community of support

Our Fellowship is powered by a vibrant global community. The Ashoka Support Network (ASN) includes over 30 members across the UK & Ireland and more than 300 globally , contributing time, insight, mentorship, advocacy, and financial support.

This year, Fellows and teams benefited from vital pro-bono support from:

Additional strategic partnerships strengthened Fellowship support, including:

The Lucille Foundation , renewing its commitment to support eight new Fellows globally , with a focus on community-empowerment models that enable locally rooted, systems-level change.

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II. Activating all young people to be changemakers

Ashoka believes that building a world where everyone is a changemaker must begin with young people. To achieve lasting systems change, young people need more than knowledge acquisition; they need empathy, agency, collaboration, and the confidence to act . Our work focuses on tipping whole education and youth ecosystems so that changemaking becomes the norm, not the exception.

Deepening youth-led systems change

Over the past year, our Youth Years work has continued to mature from programme delivery into ecosystem-level influence , embedding youth leadership across education, skills, sport, and civic life in the UK & Ireland. This work is anchored in two complementary pathways: the Youth Changemaker Network (YCN) and Generation Changemaker (GenC) .

Youth Changemaker Network (YCN)

Our Youth Changemaker Network (YCN) harnesses the lived experience, creativity, and wisdom of young people to drive meaningful and systemic change across sectors. We envision a world in which every young person in the UK and Ireland feels enabled, supported, and hopeful about their future as a changemaker.

Through collaboration with government, civil society, education, media, business, and grassroots communities, we are building a movement where youth voices actively shape decisions and reimagine the systems that influence their lives. Guided by the values of empathy, co-creation, respect, and equity , the YCN provides a trusted platform for young changemakers aged 19–26 to connect, learn, and lead together.

Our members are already driving change locally and nationally—turning ideas into action, influencing institutions, and shaping a shared narrative rooted in agency, possibility, and collective hope .

Young Changemaker Network members include:

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Generation Changemaker (GenC)

Ashoka’s Generation Changemaker (GenC) programme supports young changemakers aged 13– 18 who are already leading initiatives to create positive social change. The programme is rooted in the belief that young people are not only tomorrow’s leaders, but changemakers today .

GenC members are selected through a rigorous, equity-focused process that looks for empathy, creativity, commitment, and collaborative action. Young changemakers receive a one-time unrestricted grant , access to capacity-building and storytelling opportunities, peer support, and connection to Ashoka’s global community.

2025 Generation Changemakers include:

GenC members are supported to connect, build skills, and amplify their voices through tailored storytelling, community events, and opportunities to influence broader conversations about young people’s roles in society

Time for Change: embedding changemaking in education systems

Time for Change is Ashoka UK & Ireland’s flagship education initiative, designed to embed changemaking mindsets, skills, and behaviours into the everyday experience of schooling. While YCN and GenC centre young people as leaders, Time for Change focuses on shifting the systems around them — particularly education — so that youth agency can be sustained and scaled.

Developed in partnership with Teach First and First Book , Time for Change provides practical resources, storytelling tools, and convening spaces that support educators to move beyond examled models toward learning cultures rooted in empathy, collaboration, belonging, and action .

Over the past year, Time for Change has increasingly functioned as a systems bridge between youth leadership and institutional reform. Youth-led storytelling — including films created with students at Derby High School and changemakers Rosheen and Eleeza — has unlocked national and international opportunities, influencing educator practice, shaping partnerships with organisations such as the Careers and Enterprise Company , and contributing to wider systems engagement through platforms such as UEFA and SDG Vision.

Time for Change is now being embedded within Initial Teacher Education pathways , educator professional development, and national dissemination channels, reaching thousands of educators and up to millions of students .

Together with GenC and YCN, it forms a coherent, end-to-end youth strategy — ensuring that young people are not only supported to lead change, but are surrounded by systems that recognise, enable, and value their changemaking capacity.

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Enabling our society to embrace social innovation and changemaking

In 2024/25, Ashoka UK & Ireland deepened its commitment to building an enabling environment for changemaking. We worked across business, government, universities, communities, and public-opinion shapers — including content creators and cultural influencers — to embed changemaking into how institutions think, act, and relate to society.

Our approach centred on place-based and thematic collaboration, recognising that lasting change emerges where local context, lived experience, and systems leadership intersect. By strengthening mindsets, capabilities, and cross-sector relationships, we are helping to normalise changemaking as a core societal function — rather than a marginal or exceptional activity.

Changemaker Cities & Regions

The concept of a Changemaker City or Region envisions a community where everyone feels empowered to contribute to solving social and environmental challenges — and where those most affected by problems are actively involved in designing the solutions.

Our commitment to grassroots empowerment extends across the UK & Ireland, with strategic focal points over the next five years including Manchester, Cardiff, London, Edinburgh and Dublin. Through strategic co-leadership and targeted stakeholder engagement, we are advancing the ethos of changemaking at the local, place-based level.

The immediate priority for the coming years is an intensified focus on Cardiff, Manchester and London, where solid foundations have already been laid.

Our place-based strategy recognises that durable systems change happens when:

work together within defined geographies, aligned around shared purpose.

Key developments this year included:

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Together, these initiatives demonstrate how changemaking can be embedded at city and regional level — linking policy, lived experience, institutional leadership and entrepreneurial innovation.

Changemaker Companies

Transformative change for the good of all requires not only individuals, but organisations of every kind — corporations, foundations, citizen-sector organisations and public institutions — to embrace their changemaking potential.

Through the Changemaker Companies programme and related partnerships, we work with visionary corporations and institutions to cultivate internal cultures of transformation and changemaking. This is achieved through integrated engagement with Ashoka Fellows — enabling companies to act not merely as sponsors, but as co-leaders in building a stronger ecosystem for social innovation.

Changemaker Companies is a global Ashoka initiative that brings the Everyone A Changemaker (EACH) vision into the corporate world through sustained, values-aligned partnerships. The UK represents a high-potential region for developing these transformative collaborations — supporting and amplifying Fellow organisations while modelling what an EACH world looks like in practice.

Partnership highlights

TMF Group

TMF Group, operating in over 80 countries, aligns closely with Ashoka’s own global footprint. Through a customised learning journey, TMF employees are introduced to social innovation and the realities facing social entrepreneurs. The partnership also provides valuable pro bono support, strengthening Ashoka’s operational capacity while fostering an internal changemaking culture within the company.

Sage Foundation

Now in its fourth year, the partnership with the Sage Foundation supports Fellows delivering technology-driven solutions. At the same time, Sage employees engage directly with social entrepreneurs through structured learning and practical problem-solving sessions — deepening mutual understanding and embedding changemaking competencies across the organisation.

Chanel

The renewed Changemaker Companies partnership with Chanel (UK and France) focuses on medium- to long-term engagement with social entrepreneurs aligned to Chanel’s social commitment pillars: education, employability and inclusion. Alongside this, Ashoka has developed tailored learning journeys for senior decision-makers, nurturing an internal cohort of changemaking champions and exploring opportunities to extend the partnership into additional global markets.

Business as a Changemaker: From Sponsorship to Systems Partnership

This year marked a further evolution of our corporate engagement model.

Rather than transactional sponsorship, we prioritised long-term, values-aligned partnerships designed to embed changemaking within corporate culture and leadership development.

Highlights included:

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These convenings serve not only as fundraising platforms, but as culture-shifting spaces — reframing how business leaders understand power, responsibility and long-term impact.

III. Partnering with various organisations on national and global storytelling campaigns to shift mindsets and catalyse transformative societal behavioral change.

Transformative systems change requires narrative change.

Policies shift when public understanding shifts.

Institutions evolve when cultural norms evolve. For changemaking to become expected rather than exceptional, society must see agency, empathy and collaborative leadership as the new default.

In 2024/25, Ashoka UK & Ireland strengthened its role as a narrative architect — partnering with media platforms, cultural institutions, education networks, global convening spaces, and corporate allies to amplify stories that reframe how change happens and who leads it.

Our storytelling work serves three interconnected purposes:

Youth-Led Narrative Platforms

Through Generation Changemaker (GenC) and the Youth Changemaker Network, we amplified young voices across national and global platforms — including documentary storytelling, live convenings, policy engagement spaces and educator networks.

Youth-led films and storytelling initiatives have helped reposition young people not as beneficiaries of systems, but as co-designers of them. These narratives are now being embedded across education partnerships, civic engagement platforms and international forums.

By elevating youth leadership in visible, credible spaces, we are contributing to a long-term cultural shift in how society perceives young agency.

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Sport as a Narrative Lever

Through the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 Legacy Programme, we demonstrated how sport can function as a powerful cultural vehicle for empathy, gender equity and collective wellbeing.

By integrating storytelling into major sporting moments — including hackathons, campaigns, and blueprint launches — we are helping shift narratives around women’s sport from participation to leadership, and from visibility to systems impact.

Global Convening & Influence

Ashoka UK & Ireland contributed to storytelling and influence spaces including:

Across these platforms, we curate stories that bridge sectors — connecting corporate leaders, policymakers, educators and entrepreneurs through shared narratives of possibility.

From Visibility to Cultural Shift

Our communications cadence stabilised this year, with increased digital reach and stronger authored thought leadership. But our aim extends beyond visibility.

We measure success not only by impressions or engagement, but by evidence that narratives are influencing decisions — new partnerships forming, institutions adopting changemaking frameworks, funders shifting strategy, and young people stepping into leadership.

By embedding changemaking stories within trusted institutions and high-credibility platforms, we are contributing to a broader societal shift:

Looking ahead

As we move into 2025/26, Ashoka UK & Ireland does so with clarity of purpose and sharpened strategic focus.

The external environment remains volatile. The funding landscape continues to evolve, and public institutions are operating under increasing strain. Yet these conditions only reinforce the urgency of our mission: to build a society where changemaking is embedded across sectors, generations, and geographies.

Our priorities for the year ahead are grounded in three strategic commitments.

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1. Deepen and Embed Place-Based Ecosystems

We will intensify our focus on Cardiff, Manchester and London — strengthening metro-area ecosystems where Fellows, young changemakers, institutions and business leaders collaborate in defined geographies.

The aim is not programme proliferation, but durable systems infrastructure — ensuring changemaking becomes embedded in local leadership cultures, civic institutions and economic decision-making.

2. Strengthen Financial Resilience and Partnership Quality

In response to sector-wide funding volatility, we will continue to diversify income streams, strengthen partnership due diligence, and prioritise long-term, values-aligned relationships.

Our team-of-teams fundraising model will further mature, with clear alignment between strategic priorities, stipend coverage, and core cost recovery. Building unrestricted reserves remains a priority, ensuring the organisation is positioned to act with confidence and stability.

3. Back the Next Generation and Leading System Entrepreneurs

We will continue to:

The long-term objective is structural embedding — ensuring that young changemakers are not a parallel initiative, but an intergenerational pillar of the Ashoka community.

4. Advance Narrative and Cultural Influence

We will strengthen our framechange and storytelling work — positioning Ashoka UK & Ireland as a trusted voice on empathy-driven systems change.

Our ambition is to influence not only funding flows, but public imagination.

A Steady Commitment

The challenges facing society are complex and deeply interconnected. But Ashoka’s core belief remains unchanged: when individuals and institutions embrace their changemaking potential, systems can shift.

Looking ahead, our task is disciplined and deliberate:

With the continued commitment of our Fellows, young changemakers, staff, trustees, partners and supporters, we remain confident in Ashoka UK & Ireland’s capacity to navigate uncertainty while advancing long-term societal transformation for the good of all.

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Legal and financial reports

Structure, governance and management

Ashoka UK is a Charity (registered number 1113246) and a Company limited by guarantee with no share capital (registered number 04903565). The governing document is the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Company was incorporated in 2003 and commenced activity in March 2006.

Under the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Charity has the power to invest the monies of the Company not immediately required for its purpose in such investments as its board of Trustees (who are also the Company’s directors) consider appropriate, subject to any conditions or consents imposed by law.

The Trustees are required to monitor the affairs and the general business of the Charity and meet as required. Trustees are selected for their expertise in areas relevant to the work of the Charity. New trustees are inducted with a history of the Charity and its aims and relevant financial and administrative information.

Remuneration for key management personnel is set in accordance with our internal level and salary framework, which provides salary brackets for each of the internal levels. This framework was developed by an external party and benchmarked against the UK charity sector.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Trustees, together with the management team, maintain a comprehensive risk register which is reviewed and updated at least annually. The register currently identifies 44 principal risks across four key categories: financial, reputational, operational, and compliance. For each risk, mitigating actions are identified and actively monitored.

At present, the Trustees consider that a small number of risks have the potential for higher impact and/or likelihood, particularly in relation to financial sustainability, reputation, and operational delivery.

Financial risks relate primarily to the continued deterioration of the funding environment, both in the UK and across the wider charity sector. Fundraising has become increasingly competitive, affecting individual giving, corporate partnerships, and foundation funding alike. In addition, uncertainty in the timing or conversion of committed income (for example, donor delays or pipeline slippage) presents a risk to delivery continuity and strategic momentum. These pressures reflect broader global conditions, including ongoing wars and geopolitical tensions, wider conflicts impacting global stability, market volatility, and economic uncertainty. Collectively, these factors have contributed to a sustained increase in the cost of living, reducing disposable income and affecting donor capacity and confidence. In response, Ashoka UK has taken proactive steps to strengthen resilience, including close collaboration with Ashoka Europe and Ashoka Global, and deeper integration across the global Ashoka network to maximise opportunities and impact.

Reputational risks are principally associated with securing sufficient funding to support stipends for newly elected Ashoka Fellows. Fellows are central to the Charity’s mission, and many rely on

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Operational risks relate to delivery capacity and the operating model. Delivery capacity is operating under sustained pressure, increasing the importance of a clearly defined and consistently applied distributed delivery model to avoid fragmentation. Progress across priority programmes, including place based work and Youth Years, is reliant on effective partner coordination, and any delays or misalignment may adversely affect delivery timelines and impact.

Despite operating in an uncertain and volatile external environment, the Trustees have strong confidence in the Charity’s ability to adapt and respond to emerging challenges. Having reviewed financial forecasts for the next 12 months and beyond, the Trustees have concluded that Ashoka UK remains a going concern for 12 months and will meet additional fiscal challenges from 12 months onwards due to pipeline drag, this will be continually assessed. The uncertainties outlined above are not material to the Charity’s ability to continue its operations.

Financial Review

During the financial year 2025, £2,171,814 was received by the Charity in donations (£1,252,570 of this funding being unrestricted funding and £919,244 being restricted funding), £86,004 earned income, £2,292 other income £366 of interest income, totalling £2,260,477. The total expenditure for financial year 2025 was £3,133,347. The Charity ended the year with a deficit of £872,870 owing to planned expenditure of restricted funds.

During the year, the Charity received a significant grant from Ashoka Global totalling £4,069,601; as the related performance conditions have not yet been met, this amount has been deferred and is recognised as a liability on the balance sheet to be released to income in future periods.

The funding sources for financial year 2025 are typical of the Charity’s annual income mix. The principal funding sources fall into three categories:

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In financial year 2025 individual donations decreased by 53% (£26,946) compared to financial year 2024). Fundraising income from foundations and trusts has decreased by 73% (£479,725) and corporations has decreased by 59% (£384,533). Engagement with other Ashoka Office has increased by 20% (£242,219). Whilst there is a general decline in individual giving, there was an increase in donations from individuals who had moved overseas and pledged through our Ashoka Offices.

Fundraising Statement

In the financial year ending August 31, 2025, our charity engaged in various fundraising activities to support our vision. Committed to transparency and accountability, our staff team oversees all fundraising efforts, including income from individual donors, the Ashoka Support Network, new supporter recruitment, bids to trusts and foundations, and corporate partnerships. No external professional fundraisers are employed.

Our fundraising activities include direct mail campaigns, networking at community events, learning journeys, and engagement with strategically aligned partners. We also seek fundraising opportunities through other Ashoka offices. These activities align with our strategic priorities, with clear 'asks' presented to potential donors and funders, which are regularly monitored and integrated into financial planning and risk management.

Our core fundraising costs are primarily staff salaries, with no significant additional expenses, keeping costs at 6% of total funds raised. We maintain high ethical standards, ensuring our fundraising is open, honest, and respectful. These standards are central to all our activities and are upheld through regular monitoring, team meetings, CRM analysis, and donor accountability partners’ feedback. Safeguarding, DEI, and due diligence policies are applied to all fundraising activities. We received no complaints about our fundraising activities this year.

Grant & Donations

Our Charity grants and donates under four key areas: stipends to Ashoka Fellows, awards to Fellow organizations, awards to other individuals or organizations, and affiliated Ashoka offices.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

developing our One Community across Europe, and contributing to a healthy organisation for the whole.

Due diligence ensures compliance with safeguarding, and written agreements outline roles, monitoring, and reporting. Unconditional grants, donations, stipend or awards are only granted when satisfied that the individual or organisation' work is fully aligned with our purpose. We promote 'challenge awards' via websites, social media, community postings, other Ashoka offices, and networks to reach potential beneficiaries. We engage grantees post award, in our community programmes, to further support their changemaking journey and social benefit impact.

Reserves Policy

The Reserves Policy is set out to ensure that Ashoka UK maintains a level of easily accessible funds (“reserves”) so that it can continue its core activities during a period of unforeseen financial difficulties.

The Reserves Policy is set to determine the reserves level needed to pay for the Charity’s core operational expenditures over a minimum of three months, should no funding be available. The Charity’s Target Unrestricted Reserves as at 31 August 2025 was approximately £250,000; and the Charity held unrestricted funds of £193,792 as at 31 August 2025.

The Charity has not met its unrestricted reserve target, however, there is an increase of £48,424 from financial year 2024. There continues to be a decline in unrestricted funds raised and increase in restricted funds raised; core operational expenditures are increasingly covered by restricted funds (providing multi-year security for approx. 50% FTE of staff costs). There is a strategic fundraising plan in place to address the changing funding landscape and with increased fundraising resources the Charity is working to address the target reserves deficit. In addition, there are robust risk management and financial management systems in place to manage potential losses.

Disclosure of information to the auditors

We, the Directors of the Company who held office at the date of approval of these Financial Statements, as set out above each confirm, so far as we are aware, that:

In approving the Trustees' Annual Report, we also approve the Strategic Report included therein, in our capacity as Company Directors.

On behalf of the Board,

Bill Carter Chair of the Board of Trustees

26 May 2026

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity during the year and of its financial position at the end of the year.

In preparing these Financial Statements the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Independent Auditor’s Report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Ashoka UK (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 August 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the trustees’ annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and section 151 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with those Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

funders, discussion of recoverability with management, and review of agreements with the ultimate parent.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or noncompliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members and trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone, other than the charitable company, the charitable company's members as a body and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Alastair Duke (Senior Statutory Auditor) 15 Westferry Circus For and on behalf of PKF Littlejohn LLP Canary Wharf Statutory auditor London E14 4HD Date: 26 May 2026

PKF Littlejohn LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Statement of financial activities (Incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)

Note
Income from:
Donations and grants
2
Earned income
Other income
Interest Income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Charitable activities
3
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure)
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds
10
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward
10
Total funds carried forward
10		 2025
Unrestricted
funds
£
1,252,570
86,004
2,293
729
1,341,596
136,131
1,157,041
1,293,172
48,424
-
48,424
145,368
193,792		 2025
Restricted
funds
£
919,244
-
-
(363)
918,881
-
1,840,175
1,840,175
(921,294)
-
(921,294)
1,430,522
509,228		 2025
Total
£
2,171,814
86,004
2,293
366
2,260,477
136,131
2,997,216
3,133,347
(872,870)
-
(872,870)
1,575,890
703,020		 2024
Total
£
2,952,599
83,855
882
-
3,037,336
120,484
2,775,891
2,896,375
140,961
-
140,961
1,434,929
1,575,890

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

The notes on pages 35 - 49 form part of these financial statements.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Balance sheet

Balance sheet
Note
Current assets
Debtors
8
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
9
Net current assets
Net assets
Charity Funds
Restricted funds
10
Unrestricted funds
10
Total charity funds
10		 2025
£
773,870
4,375,064
5,148,934
4,445,914
703,020
703,020
509,228
193,792
703,020		 2024
£
1,189,846
819,411
2,009,257
433,367
1,575,890
1,575,890
1,430,522
145,368
1,575,890

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 26 May 2026.

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees:

Bill Carter Chair of the Board of Trustees

The notes on pages 35 - 49 form part of these financial statements.

Company registration number: 04903565

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Statement of cash flows

Note
Cash flow from operating activities
12
Net cash flow provided by operating activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 September
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 August
Cash and cash equivalents consists of:
Cash at bank and in hand
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 August		 2025
£
3,555,653
3,555,653
3,555,653
819,411
4,375,064
4,375,064
4,375,064		 2024
£
(429,212)
(429,212)
(429,212)
1,248,623
819,411
819,411
819,411

The notes on pages 35-49 form part of these financial statements.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Notes to the Financial Statements

1 Summary of significant accounting policies

a) General information and basis of preparation Ashoka UK is a Charity (registered number 1113246) and a Company limited by guarantee with no share capital (registered number 04903565) in the United Kingdom. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £10 per member of the charity. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 3 of these financial statements.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees have considered their forecasts including in relation to the potential impact of the more challenging funding environment and consider that Ashoka UK is a going concern without material uncertainty for a minimum of 12 months from the date of signing. Therefore, the financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

b) Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

c) Income recognition

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income, after any performance conditions have been met, when the amount can be measured reliably and when it is probable that the income will be received.

Income from donations is recognised on receipt, unless there are conditions attached to the donation that require a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained. In this case income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Income recognition (continued)

Donated facilities and donated professional services are recognised in income at their fair value when their economic benefit is probable, it can be measured reliably and the charity has control over the item. Fair value is determined on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity, for example the amount the charity would be willing to pay in the open market for such facilities and services. A corresponding amount is recognised in expenditure.

Income from grants are recognised at fair value when the charity has entitlement after any performance conditions have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. If entitlement is not met then these amounts are deferred. Interest income is recognised when it is receivable.

d) Expenditure recognition

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as an expense against the activity for which expenditure arose.

Grants payable to third parties are included in expenditure on charitable activities. Where unconditional grants are made, these amounts are recognised when a constructive obligation is created, typically when the recipient is notified that a grant will be made to them. Where grants are conditional on performance, then the grant is only recognised once any unfulfilled conditions are outside of the control of the charity.

e) Support costs allocation

Support costs are those that assist the work of the charity but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office costs, governance costs, and project management costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity. Where support costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources, being pro-rata against the level of direct costs incurred in each area of activity.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities. The analysis of these costs is included in note 4.

f) Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

g) Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the charity has an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount can be reliably estimated.

h) Foreign currency Foreign currency transactions are initially recognised by applying to the foreign currency amount the spot exchange rate between the functional currency and the foreign currency at the date of the transaction.

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Foreign currency (continued)

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in a foreign currency at the balance sheet date are translated using the closing rate.

i) Tax The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010. It therefore meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

j) Leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

2 Income from donations and grants

Individual donations from the
Ashoka Support Network
Gift aid
Trusts and family foundations
donations
Corporate donations
Donated services
Other Ashoka Offices		 2025
Unrestricted
£
24,084
5,630
20,000
107,600
236,448
858,808
1,252,570		 2025
Restricted
£
-
-
154,250
155,953
-
609,041
919,244		 2025
Total
£
24,084
5,630
174,250
263,553
236,448
1,467,849
2,171,814		 2024
Total
£
51,030
13,763
653,975
648,086
360,115
1,225,630
2,952,599

3 Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

Social Entrepreneurs
Changemaker Education
Changemaker Ecosystem Building		 Direct
Activities
2025
Support
costs
2025
Total
2025
£
£
£
891,040
311,492
1,202,532
294,667
86,813
381,480
932,377
480,827
1,413,204
2,118,084
879,132
2,997,216

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Social Entrepreneurs
Changemaker Education
Changemaker Ecosystem Building		 Direct
Activities
2024
Support
costs
2024
Total
2024
£
£
£
930,824
589,921
1,520,745
253,790
115,898
369,688
460,319
425,139
885,458
1,644,933
1,130,958
2,775,891

£1,840,175 (2024: £1,506,758) of the above costs were attributable to restricted funds. £1,157,041 (2024: £1,269,133) of the above costs were attributable to unrestricted funds.

Included within the above costs is £18,936 (2024: £44,000) for stipends to Ashoka Fellows and £171,832 (2024: £3,712) for grant awards. Grant awards include £Nil (2024: £Nil) to Fellow organisations, £13,187 (2024: £284) to individuals and £158,645 (2024: £3,428) to other organisations aligned with our charitable purpose.

The above costs also include grants and donation contributions to affiliated Ashoka offices of £1,142,777 (2024: £1,098,047).

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

4 Allocation of support costs

Support cost
Governance
Finance
Human resources
Office costs
Media and
communications
Total		 Raising funds
2025
Social
Entrepreneur
2025
Changemaker
Education
2025
Changemaker
Ecosystem
2025
Total
2025
£
£
£
£
£
14,206
54,919
14,590
91,626
175,341
24,320
97,990
26,396
160,000
308,706
10,973
38,220
9,768
67,448
126,409
19,022
118,285
35,527
158,100
330,934
593
2,078
532
3,653
6,856
69,114
311,492
86,813
480,827
948,246
Support cost
Governance
Finance
Human resources
Office costs
Media and
communications
Total		 Raising funds
2024
Social
Entrepreneur
2024
Changemaker
Education
2024
Changemaker
Ecosystem
2024
Total
2024
£
£
£
£
£
3,392
47,119
11,923
26,044
88,478
17,440
169,809
35,800
115,138
338,187
9,285
75,677
13,875
57,485
156,322
36,025
292,752
53,528
222,813
605,118
607
4,564
772
3,659
9,602
66,749
589,921
115,898
425,139
1,197,707

Support costs have been allocated pro-rata to the level of direct costs on each activity.

5 Auditor’s remuneration

Fees payable to the charity’s auditor for the audit of the charity’s
annual accounts:
Fees payable to the charity’s auditor for other services:		 2025
£
12,720
5,070
17,790		 2024
£
12,360
7,962
20,322

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

6 Trustees' and key management personnel remuneration and expenses

The Trustees did not receive remuneration for their role as Trustees (2024: £Nil).

The total amount of employee benefits received by key management personnel during the year was £287,569 (2024: £407,948).

One Trustee had travel expenses reimbursed or paid directly on their behalf during the year of £57 (2024: £Nil).

7 Staff costs and employee benefits

The average monthly headcount was 17.6 staff (2024: 17.8 staff) and the average monthly number of full-time equivalent employees (FTE) during the year was as follows:

Raising funds
Charitable activities
Support services
The total staff costs and employee benefits were as follows:
Wages and salaries
Social security
Defined contribution pension costs		 2025
FTE
0.7
9.0
4.2
13.9
2025
£
1,198,174
148,403
28,908
1,375,485		 2024
FTE
0.7
9.8
4.7
15.2
2024
£
1,053,024
125,174
27,668
1,205,866

The total redundancy costs recognised in the year amounted to £47,961 (2024: Nil). At the year end, £47,961 remained outstanding and payable.

The number of employees who received total employee benefits (excluding pension contributions and employers’ national insurance contributions) of more than £60,000 in the year is as follows:

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

2025 2024
£ £
£60,000 - £70,000 0 1
£70,001 - £80,000 3 3
£80,001 - £90,000 1 1
£90,001 - £100,000 2 -
£100,001 - £110,000 1 2
£110,001 - £120,000 1 1
8
Debtors
Trade debtors
Amounts owed by other Ashoka entities
Prepayments		 2025
£
293,771
475,046
5,053
773,870		 2024
£
253,768
933,307
2,771
1,189,846

9 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Amounts owed to other Ashoka entities
Stipend Payable
Accruals and deferred income
Other creditors
Deferred Income
At 1 September 2024
Additions during the period
Amounts released to income
At 31 August 2025		 2025
£
104,450
20,570
4,266,601
54,293
4,445,914
2025
£
52,500
4,189,600
(52,500)
4,189,600		 2024
£
260,907
59,338
86,538
26,584
433,367

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

10 Fund reconciliation

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted
Unrestricted		 Balance at
1 Sept 2024
£
145,368
145,368
Balance at
1 Sept 2023
£
91,782
91,782		 Income
Expenditure
Transfers
between
funds
£
£
£
1,341,596
(1,293,172)
-
1,341,596
(1,293,172)
-
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
between
funds
£
£
£
1,443,205
(1,389,616)
-
1,443,205
(1,389,617)
-		 Balance at
31 Aug 2025
£
193,792
193,792
Balance at
31 Aug 2024
£
145,368
145,368

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Restricted funds

Restricted funds
Balance at
Balance at 31 Aug
1 Sept 2024 Income **Expenditure ** Transfers 2025
£ £ £ £ £
University Hamburg 9,666 - - - 9,666
Lucille Foundation 27,519 - (27,519) - -
Porticus - - - - -
MAVA Foundation 1,232 - (1,232) - -
Inkey List 382 - (381) - 1
TMF Group (1) - - - (1)
Sage Foundation - 336 (336) - -
Beiersdorf 2,669 - (2,656) - 13
Porticus 68,972 - - - 68,972
Johnson & Johnson 107,533 - (6,507) - 101,026
Zalando – Hello Europe 9,941 - - - 9,941
Allan & Gill Gray Foundation 29,443 - (21,430) - 8,013
TMF Group (Year 2) 26,848 (10,353) (11,916) - 4,579
HSBC Green Changemaker 210,392 - (210,392) - -
Steelcase (FY23) 65 - (65) - -
Lucille Foundation (FY23) 126,150 82,500 (189,434) - 19,216
First Book - 17,293 (17,293) - -
First Book R2 (13) 122,359 (122,346) - -
Steelcase (FY24) 9,192 - (334) - 8,858
Anglo American Foundation 74,143 - (59,407) - 14,736
Moderna Charitable - 94,861 (94,861) - -
Foundation
De Hoge Dennen (FY24) - 12,800 (12,800) - -
HSBC Future Possibilities 450,741 - (450,741) - -
The Ellis Campbell Foundation 275,102 - (128,299) - 146,803
Edge Foundation (FY24) 546 - (546) - -
Mackenzie Scott - 215,052 (215,052) - -
Ashoka LLC - 2,798 (2,798) - -
Impact Study EU - 22,026 (22,026) - -
Steelcase FY25 - 33,453 (16,665) - 16,788
Moderna Charitable - 129,806 (104,771) - 25,035
Foundation FY25
Puig Beauty & Fashion Spain - 1,700 (1,743) - (43)
Collective365 - 11,055 (9,736) - 1,319
The Inkey List FY25 - 30,000 (18,644) - 11,356
EURO 2025 Partner Sport - 80,000 (48,238) - 31,762
Fund

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Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Play Verto
Anglo American Foundation
FY25		 -
-
1,430,522		 12,500
(5,223)
60,695
(36,784)		 -
7,277
-
23,911
-
509,228
918,881
(1,840,175)

10 Fund reconciliation (continued)

Balance at
Balance at 31 Aug
1 Sept 2023 Income **Expenditure ** Transfers 2024
£ £ £ £ £
University Hamburg 9,666 - - - 9,666
Lucille Foundation 127,603 - (100,084) - 27,519
Porticus 76,677 - (76,677) - -
MAVA Foundation 8,416 - (7,184) - 1,232
Zolando 2,135 - (2,135) - -
Inkey List 5,012 - (4,631) - 381
TMF Group (3,416) - 3,415 - (1)
Sage Foundation - 7,847 (7,847) - -
Beiersdorf 76,113 - (73,442) - 2,671
Porticus 85,835 - (16,863) - 68,972
Johnson & Johnson 316,825 - (209,292) - 107,533
Zalando – Hello Europe (725) 10,881 (215) - 9,941
Hello Europe Refugee 4,246 - (4,246) - -
Fund
Allan & Gill Gray 194,729 - (165,286) - 29,443
Foundation
Edge Foundation (3,939) - 3,939 - -
Inkey List (Year 2) 36 - (36) - -
TMF Group (Year 2) 29,226 10,353 (12,731) - 26,848
HSBC Green 254,007 - (43,614) - 210,393
Changemaker
Steelcase - - 65 - 65
Lucille Foundation 9,051 143,850 (26,751) - 126,150
(Year 3)
Inkey List (Year 3) 151,652 - (151,652) - -
First Book - 60,318 (60,318) - -
De Hoge Dennen (FY23) - 12,676 (12,676) - -
Skoll Foundation - 3,543 (3,542) - -
Boehringer Ingelheim - 7,586 (7,586) - -

44

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Environmental Fund -
Diehl
First Book R2
Cynthia and George
Mitchell Foundation
Steelcase (FY24)
Trinity Wall Street II
Anglo American
Foundation
General Motors
Modern Charitable
Foundation
De Hoge Dennen (FY24)
HSBC Future Possibilities
The Ellis Campbell
Foundation
Edge Foundation		 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,343,149		 29,860
(29,860)
2
(15)
46,246
(46,246)
35,426
(26,234)
81
(81)
155,125
(80,982)
328
(328)
135,299
(135,299)
17,050
(17,050)
587,660
(136,919)
320,000
(44,898)
10,000
(9,456)		 -
-
-
(13)
-
-
-
9,192
-
-
-
74,143
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
450,741
-
275,102
-
544
-
1,430,522
1,594,131
(1,506,758)

Fund descriptions

a) Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

b) Restricted funds

The funds listed in the “Restricted Funds” table above are restricted to the following purposes & activities:

University Hamburg: Participatory Memory Practices (POEM) funding for a full-time 3-year PhD research involving European Ashoka Changemaker schools. Part of a broader EU research project which aims to develop a new framework for inclusive future-oriented memory practices to facilitate social cohesion in Europe. The project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 764859.

Lucille Foundation 2022: Supporting the search & selection costs, plus stipend for Ashoka Fellows working using community empowerment approaches, primarily in East Africa and India.

MAVA, Fondation pour la Nature: To undertake the project ‘Igniting collective impact around Europe’s most pressing challenges: environmental protection and biodiversity conservation’. Mapping out Ashoka Fellows and stakeholders, driving bottom-up and system changing social innovations for environmental protection in Europe. Empowering European change leaders to foster collective impact and collaboration within the field.

45

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Zalando: A major contribution of Zalando to Ashoka Europe’s Covid19 response, aiming to alleviate the negative consequences of the Covid19 crisis by finding, connecting, supporting and scaling innovative entrepreneurs that address the mid- to long term consequences of the crisis.

TMF Group B.V.: Funding to co-design and implement a learning journey call the Ashoka Changemaker Company ‘Learning Journey’, a transformative engagement with employees, connecting their expertise to the needs of social entrepreneurs aiming to increase the impact of the social entrepreneur.

Sage Foundation: The partnership and funding is designed to support Ashoka Fellows with technology driven solutions, and also to support Sage employees to understand social entrepreneurship and engage in practical problem-solving sessions.

Beiersdorf: Mapping of the European systems changers’ ecosystem, interviewing 30 of them, and from March 2022, bringing 10 social entrepreneurs together for a collective journey. The analysis, case studies, and insights from the group conversations gathered in a report: “Manifesto for a new gender narrative”.

Porticus: Creating the space to capture, exchange and develop the skills, methods, and mindsets for change leadership in Europe. Key stakeholders are empowered to create enabling environments for social entrepreneurship and changemaking in Europe.

Johnson & Johnson: Launching the “Reimagining Community Health Challenge” to identify pioneers in community health across Europe, helping them grow their impact and build a community that creates systemic change across Europe.

Zalando – Hello Europe: Mapping over 130 organizations from 23 countries, interviewing 33 of them and identifying 16 leaders from business, policy, research, and social innovation sectors as well as key leaders from the most impacted communities across Europe. An innovative 10-month Ecosystem Accelerator process facilitated with a core group of 17 participants.

Hello Europe Refugee Fund: To inject key funding, training, capacity building, connections and insights to actors doing powerful and important work in countries receiving refugees, both from Ukraine in recent times, as well as from other locations over the years.

Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies: Supporting 4 Fellow’s search, selection and stipends; and, strengthening the integration of Europe, by providing seed funding to new emerging Teams, such as One Community Europe, Europe Operations, Framework Change, to reinforce their structures and strategic planning.

EDGE Foundation& 2024: Ashoka UK and the Edge Foundation, supported by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Careers and Enterprise company, collaborated to deliver the 'New Capabilities for a New World' programme. A year long leadership and strategic development journey for Headteachers and Principals in the Greater Manchester region, concluding in December 2022.

Steelcase 2023,2024 & 2025: Funding to unlocking the potential of social entrepreneurs and change leaders to drive social change and contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This is being done by bringing leading social innovators from across Europe together and supporting them with proven changemaking skills, crucial methodologies and solid knowledge for making a difference.

46

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

HSBC Green Changemaker: Ashoka is running a global entrepreneurship challenge (across 54 countries) to find the best social innovation ideas in the field of Green Skills. 5 winners will receive a share from the prize fund of $225,000 and will participate in Ashoka’s online system change course and mentored by Ashoka. The grant will also support the election and stipend of 1 Ashoka Fellow working in the field of Planet & Climate.

Lucille Foundation 2023: Supporting the search & selection costs, plus stipend for Ashoka Fellows working using community empowerment approaches, primarily in the Global South.

General Motors 2024: Ashoka Global have granted funds to Ashoka UK from their General Motors grant, to further the reimagining of Youth Venture in the UK and beyond.

De Hoge Dennen & 2024: T he De Hoge Dennen grant supports the Bioregional Weaving Labs initiative, focusing on biodiversity protection and the formation of Weaving Teams across Europe

Skoll Foundation: The Skoll Foundation grant is dedicated to recognizing and supporting social innovators through the Skoll Awards for Social Innovation.

Boehringer Ingelheim: The Boehringer Ingelheim grant, known as Making More Health, funds initiatives addressing health equity, sustainable medicines, and environmental management.

Environment Fund – Diehl: The Environment Fund – Diehl grant supports climate-related projects, including the allocation of funds for environmental education and protection.

Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation: The Cynthia & George Mitchell Foundation grant focuses on global initiatives, providing significant funding for projects aimed at promoting public health and scientific innovation.

Trinity Wall Street III: The Trinity Wall Street III grant supports the Spiritual Changemakers Initiative, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among faith-inspired leaders.

Anglo American Foundation: The Anglo-American Foundation grant funds youth leadership and climate action projects in Southern Africa, promoting economic opportunities and community engagement.

Moderna Charitable Foundation & Moderna Charitable Foundation FY24 & FY25 : The Moderna Charitable Foundation grant supports public health and scientific education initiatives, including a bespoke learning journey for selected Moderna x Ashoka Fellows and general One Community work across Europe.

HSBC Future Possibilities: The HSBC Future Possibilities grant funds the Together Towards Tomorrow Challenge, aimed at empowering young individuals to shape alternative futures as lifelong changemakers.

The Ellis Campbell Foundation: The Ellis Campbell Foundation grant supports the Ashoka Young Changemakers program in the UK, providing multi-year funding to launch and develop youth leadership initiatives.

Brand Evangelists for Beauty Limited: The parent company of Inkey List, the partnership and funding is designed to: support Inkey employees to ignite the changemaker potential in themselves and others; build awareness of changemaking through strategic storytelling;

47

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

create a changemakers education framework that educators and parents can use to help students discover their power to create change; and, implement and refine the changemaker education framework. It also supports the delivery of a grant-giving impact fund developed and led by young people.

Audemar Piguet: Changemaking equity across First Book Network: A U.S.-based nonprofit social enterprise building a path out of poverty through educational equity. Its purpose is as bold as it is urgent: To create systemic change. To ensure equal access to quality education. To empower and equip every educator serving children in need. Ashoka Global have granted funds to Ashoka UK to form this grant to further the Youth Changemaker awards program in the UK and beyond.

Mackenzie Scott: Strategic grant to support search, selection, election and lifelong support of Ashoka Fellows and all programs.

Ashoka LLC: To support the legal frameworks of Ashoka UK.

Impact Study EU: To support Ashoka’s impact work in the UK and beyond.

Puig Beauty & Fashion Spain: Funding for a Invisible Beauty Makers program, mapping and search and selection of Makers.

Collective365: Part of the Olympism365 Innovation Hub, led by Beyond Sport and partners, and supports Ashoka’s role in the Reimagining Youth Sport collective by funding collaborative innovation, learning, and systems-change work in youth sport. It focuses on collective action, knowledge exchange, and testing scalable solutions with cross-sector partners.

EURO 2025 Partner Sport Fund: To support Ashoka UK’s approved project linked to UEFA Women’s EURO 2025, focused on promoting gender equity, participation, and legacy outcomes in women’s sport.

Play Verto: A grant to fund the Sport for Changemaking – Go! London Innovation Challenge. The Go! London Innovation Challenge is part of Go! London, a £22.5m, multi-year partnership led by the Mayor of London, London Marathon Foundation, and Sport England to improve access to sport and physical activity for underserved children and young people aged 4–24.

11 Analysis of net assets between funds

At 31 August 2025
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors in less than one year
Total at 31 August 2025		 Unrestricted
funds
£
332,204
(596,900)
478,488
193,792		 Restricted
funds
£
441,666
4,971,964
(4,924,402)
509,228		 Total
£
773,870
4,375,064
(4,445,914)
703,020

48

Ashoka UK Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year Ended 31 August 2025

Analysis of net assets between funds (at 31 August 2024)

Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors in less than one year
Total at 31 August 2024		 Unrestricted
funds
£
835,763
(480,896)
(209,499)
145,368		 Restricted
funds
£
354,083
1,300,307
(223,868)
1,430,522		 Total
£
1,189,846
819,411
(433,367)
1,575,890

12 Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

Net income for year
Decrease / (Increase) in debtors
Increase / (Decrease) in creditors
Net cash flow from operating activities		 2025
£
(872,870)
415,976
4,012,547
3,555,653		 2024
£
140,961
(149,891)
(420,282)
(429,212)

13 Related party transactions and ex gratia payments

One Trustee had travel expenses reimbursed or paid directly on their behalf during the year of £57 (2024: £Nil).

During the year, Ashoka UK recognised income of £80,000 from Sport for Changemaking Collective. Kelly Davies, the UK Country Director, is also a director at Sport for Changemaking Collective. At the year end, this £80,000 remained receivable from the company. This has been received in full after the year end.

The exemption from disclosure of transactions with other group entities has been taken

under FRS 102 section 33.1A.

14 Ultimate parent undertaking

Ashoka UK is a subsidiary of Ashoka, a global organisation of leading social entrepreneurs with headquarters in the US organisation with 501 (c) status and registered address of 1000 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1900, Arlington, VA 22209, USA, USA.

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Join us in building an Everyone a changemaker world.

www.ashoka.org infouk@ashoka.org

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