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2020-09-30-accounts

TRUSTEE REPORT AND 1. TRUSTEE REPORT AND ANNUAL ANNUAL ACCOUNTS ACCOUNTS 2019/20 2019/20

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 0

TRUSTEE REPORT AND ANNUAL ACCOUNTS

20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

1. INTRODUCING SOS-UK

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) is an educational charity created by students and staff at NUS in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis. We support students to learn, act and lead for sustainability. You can read more about our work at www.sos-uk.org.

2. CHARITABLE PURPOSE

The charitable object of SOS-UK is “ to promote sustainable development for the benefit of the public by the advancement of education of the public in the principles and practice of sustainable development, social responsibility and the protection of the natural environment through the prudent use of natural and human-made resources ”.

3. OUR BACKGROUND

SOS-UK was created by students and staff at NUS in 2019 in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis. Being small and nimble allows us to go much further and faster with our crucial student-led sustainability work, which we started within NUS. SOS-UK has separate governance from NUS and is financially independent, although we are proud to remain part of the NUS family, alongside Endsleigh Insurance and OneVoice Digital. The NUS President is also the SOS-UK President, which is an honorary role.

4. HOW WE WORK

SOS-UK exists to support students to be the change that society urgently needs to get us out of the climate emergency and ecological crisis, and to deliver climate justice. All the campaigns and programmes we run have been instigated, led or supported by students, enabled and mentored by the core staff team at SOS-UK. We are the support crew, doing whatever we can to help the students ensure their projects and campaigns are impactful.

5. OUR NICHE

We think SOS-UK is different from other similar charities because:

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6. WHAT WE WANT TO CHANGE

We feel education should be a central mechanism for transitioning society onto a sustainable footing, and that our work is absolutely critical to making this happen.

However, at present, much of what is taught reinforces unsustainable and unjust thinking and values. Typically, at best it teaches young people that the climate emergency and ecological crisis is something for geographers and scientists alone.

Through our work we directly provide students, including adults through life-long learning, with the opportunity to develop the capabilities (knowledge, skills, experience and opportunities) that will help them, and society, to become more just and sustainable.

We are also working at pace to deliver systemic change in the way education providers and educators frame and teach sustainability, in both pre-16 and post-16 education. We want to see young people being taught about sustainability in an integrated, relevant and solutions-based way, with them being supported to apply their knowledge in real life, not just reciting it in exams. We want to see universities judged by how much good their graduates do for the world around them, not just how much they earn. Consequently, our work focuses on how all parts of the formal education system can re-orient themselves around the urgent need to resolve the climate emergency and avoid ecological breakdown in a way that leads to better and fairer lives for all people.

Our ultimate outcome is to break the cycle of ‘highly-educated’ people making bad decisions for the planet, and to transform the fixation with self-interest and short-term financial gain into collaborative endeavours aimed at securing long-term prosperity for all life on earth.

7. OUR OBJECTIVES

All our work contributes to our three organisational objectives:

1. Getting more students leading on, and learning for, sustainability. When students lead on sustainability they develop the knowledge, values, skills, and competencies required to make them great sustainability leaders. We don’t just want organisations to do sustainability for students, it should be done by, with, and through students.

2. Repurposing the education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis. Sustainability should be woven through every subject like a golden thread. Every student should be a sustainability student, and every subject a sustainability subject. The education system should serve as a force for good in response to the challenges that society faces.

3. Making sustainability more inclusive, so it is for everyone. Our 2018 NUS research showed that the sustainability sector is massively underrepresented in racial diversity. The negative impacts of sustainability inaction disproportionately affect BAME people and women, both globally and here in the UK. The sector must represent these voices.

8. OUR WORKSTREAMS

Our four workstreams are: i) engagement programmes; ii) systems-change campaigns; iii) a training programme; iv) a research programme. We deliver all four workstream across all four nations of the UK and cover all forms of formal education.

9. OUR ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES

Our sustainability engagement programmes reach a broad range of students and staff, including those who may not typically be engaged in such activities. We often see people we engage progress on a pathway through our, or their own, campaigns and programmes, and we see our work as nurturing and developing talent for the wider environmental movement. Nearly all of our

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engagement programmes were developed by a student or a local group of students. A big part of our work is finding and supporting students with good ideas, helping them develop their ideas and supporting them in finding funding so they can extend their reach. Very often these students work for us for a period of time and then leave their projects for us to manage and develop, as has been the case for Green Impact, Student Switch Off, Student Eats, Responsible Futures, and For Good. We are proud that all of our sustainability engagement programmes are led or supported locally by students, in keeping with our aim of getting more students leading on, and learning for, sustainability. Through our programmes we create change here and now, whilst our campaigns aim to shift the education system as a whole.

Alcohol Impact – Our accreditation mark and change programme to promote responsible alcohol consumption and implement projects and policies to improve university culture around responsible drinking. We have run Alcohol Impact since 2014 (as NUS prior to it transferring to SOS-UK), when it was funded as a pilot by the Home Office. To date we have worked with 31 university and students’ union partnerships on the programme. This year we developed a new programme to incorporate drugs harm reduction, Drug and Alcohol Impact, to be launched in September 2020. 29 partnerships have expressed an interest in the programme.

Fairtrade Universities and Colleges – Our joint accreditation is run in partnership with the Fairtrade Foundation, engaging students and staff to embed trade justice principles in policies and campaigns, as well as to improve the provision of Fairtrade products on university and college campuses (funded by universities and colleges). In 2019/20 a total of twelve institutions took part, all achieving Fairtrade status.

For Good – Our online platform which supports students to make their coursework, projects and dissertations more than just an academic exercise. We match charities and small businesses with students, so their research delivers community and sustainability benefit (funded by the local charities and businesses). We have run Dissertations for Good since 2016 (initially through NUS), since then it has grown to include placement and project opportunities. In 2019-20 we held a pilot initiative for Placements for Good, which included a full-day training event for c30 students and staff from University of Bristol, University of Wales Trinity St David’s, Solent University and University Centre South Devon. Three students went on to complete paid placements that contributed towards sustainability (with Egni Solar Cooperative and The Bay Trust). SOS-UK has also hosted five student placements as a direct result of interest from students through the For Good platform.

Global Goals Teach-in - Our campaign to put the Global Goals for Sustainable Development at the heart of education and catalyse the change needed to make this happen. It calls upon educators across all stages of education to pledge to include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within their teaching, learning, and assessment on their course(s) and/or in their classrooms during two weeks of February each year. In 2019/20, the campaign saw over 300 educators reach 25,000 students in discussion around the SDGs and their relevance to their subject.

Green Impact – Our UNESCO award-winning sustainability accreditation scheme for staff to improve the sustainability of their workplaces bottom-up, supported by trained students. This year we have trained 900 students (funded by participating workplaces) and over 6,000 students since the programme began. We have run Green Impact since 2008 (initially via NUS) and have worked with over 1,100 organisations in further and higher education, private and public sector, local and county councils, museums and healthcare. Our delivery partners, SOS-International and Australian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS), deliver Green Impact to universities across Europe and Australasia. This year we engaged 53 students’ unions to achieve an award and continually support SU’s to improve sustainability practices whilst embedding inclusivity, equality and diversity into their operations and student engagement. Our work in healthcare has also grown with Green Impact now having supported 12 NHS Trusts, as well as over 740 GP surgeries through our successful Green Impact for Health programme. In 2019 we launched our Green Impact in Dentistry pilot, and 53 dental practices now actively participate in the programme. In 2019, we were awarded with IEMA’s Consultancy and Collaboration award at their Sustainability Impact Awards, for our partnership with the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce and Isle of Wight County Council to engage businesses across the island through Green Impact.

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My World My Home – Our joint five-year project, with Friends of the Earth, working with students in 15 further education colleges, training them as community organisers and supporting them to identify, develop and run their own environmental campaigns (funded by the National Lottery Community Fund). Since the start of the project over 300 young people have taken part in the project, including 65 in the last year. A key focus of My World My Home is widening participation in the environmental movement; over 50% of the young people we have supported are black or minority ethnic, and many of the colleges targeted by the programme are in low-income areas. In reflecting on their experiences of the programme, young people identified the changes the project has influenced in terms of confidence and self-esteem, and changes in feelings of agency were also described by some young people. We have secured funding from Friends of the Earth to extend our participation in the project for an additional year.

Responsible Futures – Our accreditation framework for embedding the teaching of sustainability through a whole-institution approach. This embeds sustainability learning through the formal, informal, and subliminal curriculum. To date, 30 universities and colleges have participated. In partnership with their students’ union, representing over 500,000 students (funded by participating universities and colleges). We have run Responsible Futures since 2014. In 2019-20 we launched a host-partnership initiative as part of the programme, celebrating accredited partnerships to share their learning and approaches with the national cohort, in 2019-20 University of West England and Anglia Ruskin successfully took this on and hosted a national support day each.

Student Eats – Our sustainable food programme that works with students and staff to create a more equitable food system by putting healthy and sustainable food and food growing at the heart of university and college campuses across the UK. We have supported over 70 food growing sites and as part of the Our Bright Future programme, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, we have also supported the establishment of over 60 student-led food-based social enterprises. To 30 Sept 2020 the enterprises sold over £145,000 worth of sustainable food, created or improved 58 food growing sites, enabled over 2,800 young people to improve their employability skills, and over 34,000 hours have been volunteered. We have run Student Eats since 2014, initially through NUS.

Student Switch Off – Our inter-dormitory competition that gets students engaged in sustainability through friendly competition. This year we are running it in 97,000 student rooms across seven European countries (funded by universities, plus an EU Horizon 2020 grant, through NUS). We have run Student Switch Off in UK universities since 2007, previously through NUS, and with the EU funding it now forms part of the pan-European SAVES 2 project since 2017. In 2019/20 the campaign resulted in a 2,902,807 kWh energy saving (equivalent to 867 tonnes CO2) within university dormitories. Nearly 25,000 students have actively pledged their support for the campaign, with more than 400 students volunteering as Ambassadors for their residence.

Students for Trees – Our joint project, with the Woodland Trust, supporting students to run projects planting and conserving trees locally as part of the nationwide Charter for Trees campaign (funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund via NUS).

10. OUR SYSTEMS-CHANGE CAMPAIGNS

Whilst our engagement programmes work to engage students and staff in making immediate positive changes, our systems-change campaigns work with strategic partner organisations to instigate wider and longer-lasting shifts across the education system. We work with small numbers of students to develop these national campaigns centrally, and then support large numbers of student officers and campaigners across the country to enact them locally.

Carbon Targets – Our campaign to get all UK university and colleges to commit to and deliver 2030 net-zero carbon reduction commitments to tackle the climate emergency. We have created an online resource detailing institutional carbon reduction targets allowing students to easily see and compare targets across the sector. The campaign is supported by NUS, People and Planet and the University and College Union, and implements a central part of the ‘ Declaring a climate emergency ’ policy, passed at NUS conference in April 2020.

Farming for Carbon and Nature – Our new campaign will enable farmers on university and college owned land to utilise tightly-defined carbon offsetting payments to adopt more nature friendly

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farming practices that store carbon, improve soil health, increase wildlife, and provide more opportunities for students to access, and engage with, nature. Many UK universities are declaring challenging net-zero carbon reduction targets, but they will continue attracting international students and conducting overseas research, so will need to offset these unavoidable scope 3 emissions. We are developing a fiscal model that will repurpose these funds to tenant farmers through a programme that will be owned and managed by the tertiary education sector and externally verified by a leading offsetting organisation.

Invest for Change – Our campaign builds on People & Planet and NUS’s successful Divest-Invest work to support universities to radically reform how they invest their money. Working with students’ unions and staff and student campaigners, as well as directly with universities themselves, we’re calling on universities to invest in environmental and social justice solutions, engage with investments to influence wider corporation change and adopt radical responsible investment policies that support a sustainable future.

Mock COP26 - In August 2020 students involved in Teach the Future decided to run Mock COP26 in place of the postponed COP26, filling the void with progressive action and showing world leaders how to deliver a truly ambitious, inclusive and low-carbon COP. The event will be run in November 2020.

Teach the Future – Our joint campaign with UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) to repurpose the English education system around the climate emergency and ecological crisis. We are supporting school pupils to run the campaign and we ran a successful parliamentary reception in February 2020. The students have drafted a parliamentary bill and calculated some detailed costings for making all educational buildings in England net-zero by 2030. The campaign has received significant press coverage and has the support of the two main teaching unions and nearly all of the major environmental charities. As education is devolved, we have developed two branches of the campaign (England and Scotland), with each working to positively shape domestic education policy. We now have 60 active volunteer students working on the campaign. In England, over the summer we lobbied for investment into the retrofitting of education buildings and subsequently, the Chancellor announced a £1bn public buildings decarbonisation scheme. In Scotland, the students have had meetings with the government, including the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney. The campaign is run by eight student staff, supported by three SOS-UK core staff. We are soon to launch a third branch in Wales, where we will be recruiting a further three members of student staff to lead the campaign in the nation. We hope to add Northern Ireland next year as well.

11. OUR TRAINING PROGRAMME

We prepared for the launch our Learning Academy, which will ensure that students and staff can get the knowledge, skills and understanding to lead successful sustainability initiatives. Much of the Learning Academy training will take place in 2020/21, and thereafter, but our first sessions were held in September 2020, ahead of the start of the new academic year. Our ‘Officer Sustainability Bootcamp’ is a training event designed especially for elected officers to ensure they are equipped with the knowledge, skills and networks to hit the ground running with sustainability campaigns. It was attended by 11 student officers in September 2020. Our ‘Alcohol Awareness Training’ equips students’ unions and universities with the knowledge to deliver alcohol awareness training to students and to run successful alcohol awareness interventions. That training was attended by 22 people in September 2020. We have developed content for other Learning Academy sessions as both centralised sessions open nationally and bespoke workshops for individual institutions.

In addition to the Learning Academy, we have supported a number of educational institutions in the development and delivery of their courses. An example of this is the work we have done for the University of Bristol Medical School, in partnership with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare. We ran a Student Choice Placement module on Quality Improvement for Sustainable Healthcare. This year eight students participated in the three-week module and were trained by SOS-UK and

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the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, then partnered with GP practices to implement impactful sustainability projects.

12. OUR RESEARCH PROGRAMME

Our sustainability programmes and campaigns are supported by an evidence base of research, with our findings demonstrating the strong student demand for sustainability and helping us to find the most effective ways of driving positive change on sustainability. This research has been integral in developing our work across the education sector with our library of reports available online. Research added to our library in 2019/20 included:

10[th] year of the Sustainability Skills survey: Our annual survey for higher and further education students, initiated in 2010 as NUS, which asks students about their attitudes towards and experiences of learning for sustainable development. Over 9,000 students completed the survey in October 2019.

Lifting the Lid 2019: Commissioned by SUEZ UK, this research focused on students in higher education, aiming to continue to improve our understanding of student attitudes and behaviours to waste and recycling; what motivates them and what barriers they are facing when trying to recycle; and their experiences of recycling whilst at university and how these elements relate to the current student population.

Schools Sustainability Survey (unpublished): Following up from the first year of research in 2018/19, this survey is focused on primary and secondary pupils, with the aim of expanding the dataset gathered in higher and further education through the Sustainability Skills Survey.

Students and Alcohol Survey: An annual survey designed to support delivery of the Alcohol Impact programme through tracking student attitudes and experiences related to alcohol consumption, in particular the alcohol culture at their higher education institution.

Students, sustainability and education: An international survey of students in Higher Education (unpublished): Open from April to October 2020, this survey (delivered in partnership with SOS International) expands the scope of the Sustainability Skills Survey to an international student audience with the aim of supporting student organisations around the world with evidence to be able to lobby for improvements in sustainability education in their institution or country.

Sustainable food on campus: Funding was received from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to conduct research investigating student attitudes towards sustainable food, and how this translates to their experiences of food on campus. Initially planned for delivery in 2019/20, the development work was completed but delivery postponed to 2020/21 in light of the pandemic.

13. COVID-19 IMPACT ON DELIVERY

Between 13 March 2020, until 30 September 2020, SOS-UK delivered its work entirely remotely, to protect our staff and students against the virus, to help that national effort of preventing transmission of the virus, and to comply with Government lockdown restrictions. We have been updating our Covid-19 statement, which can be read on our website, on a regular basis. The following working practices were adopted in March 2020:

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14. PLANS FOR 2020/21

2019/20 was SOS-UK’s inaugural year and much of the year was taken up with organisational establishment and developing our two new systems-change campaigns, Teach the Future and Mock COP26. In 2020/21 we intend to continue to build both those campaigns, progressing education policy by influencing the May 2021 national and local elections, and raising the youth voice and action in support of strong educational and climate outcomes at COP26 in November 2021. Through phase two of Mock COP26 we will additionally work to get the Mock COP26 Treaty implemented, in part, by 30 countries or states.

SOS-UK was created to be small and nimble, so it could quickly react to opportunities to create transformational change and respond to the calls of youth movements. We will continue to respond to, and amplify, to the youth and student voice on sustainability, through our own research insights, development in youth social movements and policy asks through forums like NUS Conference. During the 2020/21 year the Board will establish two new advisory groups, one for students and one for academics, so that the Board can seek additional strategic input and advice. We are also developing an affiliate scheme for student-run campaigns.

Over 2020/21 we will ramp up our Carbon Targets campaign and support students to engage their institutions in the campaign. We will build on our ethical finance work, continuing to deliver Invest for Change, and will add a new campaign on ethical banking and pensions, funded by Sunrise.

We will greatly progress our work on diversity and inclusion though the two Kickstart schemes we are developing, one for the environmental sector, and one for the educational sector. We are planning to bring the Green 2.0 diversity scorecards here from the US and also hope to repeat the 2017 NUS research that quantified the lack of diversity in sustainability.

We will continue to innovate and grow Green Impact into new and exciting sectors, with positive developments with the veterinary sector and research campuses, whilst supporting our delivery partners in Europe and Australasia to grow their reach.

We will continue to look for funding for our Farming for Carbon and Nature programme, as well as developing a new Rewilding Campuses programme.

We will build on the student and drugs survey work we did in 2019 and pilot the new Drugs and Alcohol Impact programme, alongside Alcohol Impact.

We will continue to forge new allegiances and partnerships with students around the world, through Mock COP26 phase two, our participation in SOS International, and the two new EU-funded programmes we are a part of, Green Erasmus and RED WoLF.

We will continue to carry out, and publish, strategically important research, and will pilot digital badges linked the outcomes framework we use for assessing the success of our programmes and campaigns.

We will continue to offer new training and development opportunities to students and staff through our Learning Academy, including carbon literacy training, and we will again run the national Student Sustainability Summit and Students and Alcohol Conference.

We will continue to adapt our programmes and campaigns, so they are relevant to, and can be delivered in, the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020/21 we are likely to see a small net drop in participation in Green Impact (circa five institutions), and a slightly larger drop for Student Switch Off (circa ten institutions) as a result of the ongoing lockdown restrictions and closures of campuses and student accommodation. In the second half of 2019/20 we mitigated the impact of the lockdown on our programmes by adapting them to remote, online delivery, and we think this will reduce any reduction in 2020/21. We will closely monitor income from programmes in 2020/21 and make any further delivery adjustments, of mitigations, if required. This process will be closely

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monitored by the Board. SOS-UK made a limited use of the Job Retention Scheme in 2019/20, specifically where certain areas of work had to be pushed back due to knock on effect of staff at partner organisations going on furlough. We will look to selectively use the scheme in this way in 2020/21, assuming it continues.

15. FINANCIAL REVIEW

The year-end position for our inaugural year was a surplus of £162,208, of which £125,172 was unrestricted and £37,036 restricted. The trustees are pleased with this outcome given the charity was established less than a year before the Covid-19 pandemic started.

The pandemic did have a negative effect on the income of the charity, reducing programmatic income by an c10%, equivalent to a c£60k reduction in income. This loss was mitigated by £25k lower than budgeted travel costs and £45,796 of furlough income through the Jobs Retention Scheme. The Board is forecasting for a 20% reduction in programmatic income in 2020/21 linked to reduced budget for sustainability by the institutions we work with, which would be mitigated by reduced costs and alternative sources of replacement income.

We also have a number of multi-year grants finishing in 2020/21 so are supporting the staff to find replacement grant income for the programmes and campaigns outlined in the previous section.

Our reserves policy is three months of unrestricted expenditure which, based on the 2019/20 year, equates to £199,446. At the 2019/20 year-end we had the equivalent of 8.2 weeks of operating costs through our unrestricted reserves. Despite the forecast downturn in programmatic income, and expiration of a number of grants, we will work towards building the unrestricted surplus through 2020/21 so that we have met the target by the end of the 2020/21 financial year.

16. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

SOS-UK is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by a constitution. The members of SOS-UK are the three trustees. The Board, comprising the three trustees, meets quarterly and it is chaired by Richard Dunne. The trustees have read and understood the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and are confident that all of SOS-UK’s programmes and campaigns deliver our charitable objects, progress the issues we want to see changed and deliver public benefit. The trustees actively manage the strategy. They also monitor and manage risk and ensure the charity is well managed and impactful. The trustees delegate operational issues and decisions to the Executive Director.

Pay and remuneration remains based on the NUS pay scale, which was established in 2014, and was initially set on the National Joint Council (NJC). Since that time there have been similar annual increments. The NUS pay framework and job evaluation scheme forms a part of all SOS-UK staff terms and conditions of employment. As part of the framework there is an agreement as to how cost of living rises are agreed and implemented.

The trustees have been monitoring the gender and ethnicity pay gaps, and these are reported in the audited accounts for transparent reasons. The trustees are pleased that the average salary of female / non-binary staff is higher than that of male staff but are resolved to tackle the ethnicity pay gap as a priority.

SOS-UK has separate governance and is financially independent from NUS, although we work closely in partnership the NUS Charity. This link is maintained by the NUS President serving as one of the three trustees, and NUS providing SOS-UK with operational support and facilities. The relationship with NUS is governed by a detailed memorandum of understanding. SOS-UK remains part of the NUS family (alongside Endsleigh Insurance and OneVoice Digital) but is not a part of the

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NUS Group, and SOS-UK remains independent in terms of governance, with an independent Chairperson.

17. CONFIRMATION OF DETAILS

Students Organising for Sustainability is Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) that was registered by the Charity Commission in England and Wales (charity number 1184011) on 20 June 2019. The charity became ‘live’ on 01 October 2019 when staff from NUS’s Department for Sustainability were TUPE’d into SOS-UK. The charity was dormant between 20 June 2019 and 20 September 2019. This is our first annual report with audited accounts and this document covers the full period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020 (15.3 months). Future annual reports will be from 01 October to 30 September each year (12 months). Our registered address is SOS-UK, c/o NUS Services, Snape Road, Macclesfield, SK10 2NZ. We proudly bank with The Cooperative Bank. Our auditors are DLA Accountants of New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire. SOS-UK has a wholly-owned subsidiary, Students Organising for Sustainability (Trading) Limited (Company number 12191429). Students Organising for Sustainability (Trading) Limited remained dormant for the period of this report.

The SOS-UK trustees are:

The senior management team is:

18. MESSAGE OF THANKS

The trustees thank the staff, student volunteers, partners, supporters, funders and NUS for their support during SOS-UK’s first year. With your continued support, we look forward to helping more students deliver transformational sustainability initiatives in 2020/21.

Zamzam Ibrahim

Sara Parkin

Richard Dunne

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REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: CE017928 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1184011

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements for the period

20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

for Students Organising for Sustainability

Report of the Trustees for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

The trustees (who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of company law), present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and the relevant version of the 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 (FRS 102).

1. INCORPORATION

The Charitable Incorporated Organisation was incorporated on 20 June 2019.

2. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation number:

CE017928 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number:

1184011

Registered office:

c/o NUS Services, Snape Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 2NZ

Trustees:

S Lamb Parkin

Z Ibrahim

R Dunne

Auditors:

DLA Chartered Accountants, Statutory Auditors, 36A Market Street, New Mills, High Peak, SK22 4AA

3. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a memorandum, and constitutes a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), registered at Companies House (England and Wales).

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Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

4. STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of the charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

5. AUDITORS

The auditors, DLA Chartered Accountants, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. Report of the trustees, incorporating a strategic report, approved by order of the board of trustees, as the company directors, on 12 February 2021 and signed on the board's behalf by:

Richard Dunne Chair of Trustees

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Members of

Students Organising for Sustainability

1. Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Students Organising for Sustainability (the ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’') for the period ended 30 September 2020 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

2. 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 Auditors 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.

3. Conclusions relating to going concern

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the ISAs (UK) require us to report to you where:

4. Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we

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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.

5. Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

6. Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees Responsibilities, set out on page 2, the trustees (who are also the directors of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the 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 Incorporated Organisation’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 Incorporated Organisation or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

7. Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act 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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

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 Report of the Independent Auditors.

8. Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity’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 charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

24/02/2021

DLA, Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors, 36A Market Street, New Mills, High Peak, SK22 4AA

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 13

Students Organising for Sustainability Statement of Financial Activities for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
INCOMING RESOURCES
Voluntary income
2
134,080
Programme income
3
688,835
Other incoming resources
100,042
Total incoming resources
922,957
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Cost of programme delivery
4
457,062
Charitable activities
5
General
340,723
Total resources expended
797,785
NET INCOMING RESOURCES
125,172
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
125,172
Restricted
funds
£
-
-
320,912
320,912
283,876
-
283,876
37,036
37,036
Total funds
£
134,080
688,835
420,954
1,243,869
740,938
340,723
1,081,661
162,208
162,208

CONTINUING OPERATIONS

All incoming resources and resources expended arise from continuing activities.

The notes form part of these financial statements

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 14

Balance Sheet At 30 September 2020

Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds funds
Notes £ £ £
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 9 1,083 - 1,083
Investments 10 100 ___- 100
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors 11 227,721 3,500 231,221
Cash at bank 282,673 107,620 390,293
510,394 111,120 621,514
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year 12 (386,405) (74,084) (460,489)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 123,989 37,036 161,025
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 125,172 37,036 162,208
NET ASSETS 125,172 37,036 162,208
FUNDS 13
Unrestricted funds 125,172
Restricted funds 37,036
TOTAL FUNDS 162,208

The notes form part of these financial statements The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 12 February 2021 and were signed on its behalf by:

Richard Dunne Chair of Trustees

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 15

A. Cash Flow Statement, for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

Notes
Net cash inflow from operating activities
1
Capital expenditure and financial investment
2
Increase in cash in the period
£
391,693
(1,400)
390,293
Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in
net debt
3
Increase in cash in the period
Change in net debt resulting from cash flows
Movement in net debt in the period
Net debt at 20 June
Cash (Net debt) at 30 September
390,293
390,293
390,293
-
390,293

B. Notes to the Cash Flow Statement for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

1. RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOMING RESOURCES TO NET CASH INFLOW RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOMING RESOURCES TO NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING FROM OPERATING
ACTIVITIES
£
Net incoming resources 162,208
Depreciation charges 217
Increase in debtors and prepayments (231,221)
Increase in creditors and deferred income 460,489
Net cash inflow from operating activities 391,693
2. ANALYSIS OF CASH FLOWS FOR HEADINGS NETTED IN THE CASH FLOW STATEMENT
£
Capital expenditure and financial investment
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (1,300)
Purchase of fixed asset investments (100)
Net cash outflow for capital expenditure and financial investment (1,400)
3. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS
At 20.6.19 Cash flow At 30.9.20
£ £ £
Net cash
Cash at bank - 390,293 390,293
Total - 390,293 390,293

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 16

C. Notes to the Financial Statements for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the relevant version of the 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 (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair’ view. This departure has involved following the relevant version of the 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 (FRS 102) rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.

Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included on the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.

Resources expended

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year-end date are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure.

Allocation and apportionment of costs

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Computer equipment - 20% on cost

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charitable company's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

2. VOLUNTARY INCOME

Gifts
Donations
‘Donations’ includes £100,000 in-kind support and administration services from NUS.
£
2,442
131,638
134,080

3. PROGRAMME INCOME

Programme delivery income
Delegate income
£
671,221
17,614
688,835

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 17

4. COST OF PROGRAMME DELIVERY

Programme costs
Venue costs
Wages and salaries
Employers National Insurance
Pension costs
Recharged staff costs
£
155,008
12,994
347,616
24,151
24,313
176,856
740,938

5. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

General
SUPPORT COSTS
Management
(See note 8
‘Support staff
costs’)
£
General
101,123
Support costs
(See note 6)
£
340,723
Finance
Information
technology
Other
£
£
£
177
12,658
226,765
Totals
£
340,723
Totals
£
340,723

6. SUPPORT COSTS

Auditors remuneration during the period ended 30 September 2020 was £4,000.

‘Other’ costs of £226,765 includes the cost value of £100,000 in-kind support and administration services provided by the NUS. NUS supply these in-kind services in exchange for programme delivery provided by SOS. The donation value of these services is £100,000 and is included in Note 2 ‘Voluntary income’, within ‘Donations’ of £131,638.

7. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period ended 30 September 2020.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the period ended 30 September 2020.

8. STAFF COSTS

Support staff costs
Wages and salaries
Employers National Insurance
Pension costs
Total staff costs (including support staff)
Wages and salaries
Employers National Insurance
Pension costs
The average monthly number of employees during the period was as follows:
Directors and staff
£
86,944
8,939
5,240
101,123
£
434,560
33,090
29,553
497,203
19

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 18

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

The charity averaged 18.9 full time earnings (FTE) staff over the year. The lowest paid basic salary was £19,565 (student staff) and the highest paid basic salary was £53,742. The median basic salary was £30,970. The CEO pay ratio was 2.5-to-1. The gender pay gap was -8.3% (meaning female / non-binary staff are paid, on average, 8.3% more than males) and the ethnicity pay gap was 18.9%. Pay gaps are based on mean rather than median values.

Charity pay bands are as follows:

Band Salary, FTE (£) I 47,749 - 53,742 H 41,143 - 45,008 G 35,473 - 39,273 F 30,119 - 33,366 E 25,640 - 29,257 Student staff 19,565

9. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Computer
equipment
£
COST
Additions 1,300
DEPRECIATION
At 20 June 2019 and 30 September 2020 217
NET BOOK VALUE
At 30 September 2020 1,083

10. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS
Shares in
group
undertakings
£
MARKET VALUE
Additions 100
NET BOOK VALUE
At 30 September 2020 100

There are no investment assets outside the UK

The company’s investments at the balance sheet date in the share capital of companies include the following:

Students Organising for Sustainability (Trading) Limited Nature of business: Dormant

%
Class of share:
holding
Ordinary
100
Aggregate capital and reserves
30.9.20
£
100

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 19

11. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Trade creditors
National insurance and other taxes
VAT
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Accrued expenses
£
224,789
180
6,252
231,221
£
29,190
10,805
84,828
126
335,540
-
460,489

12. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

13. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net movement
in funds At 30.9.20
£ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 125,172 125,172
Restricted funds
General fund 37,036 37,036
TOTAL FUNDS 162,208 162,208

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
General fund
TOTAL FUNDS
Incoming
resources
£
922,957
320,912
1,243,869
Resources
expended
Movement in
funds
£
£
(797,785)
125,172
(283,876)
37,036
(1,081,661)
162,208
Resources
expended
Movement in
funds
£
£
(797,785)
125,172
(283,876)
37,036
(1,081,661)
162,208
162,208

14. RELATED PARTY

The Charity uses the services of the National Union of Students (NUS) for certain of its administrative and finance functions and maintains close ties with the NUS in terms of its charitable activities. There is a formal operating agreement between the NUS and Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS). This agreement provides for SOS to supply charitable activities, such as delivery of programmes of equal value to those provided to it by the NUS, in line with the operating agreement.

The value of these reciprocal services during the period ended 30.9.2020 is valued and grossed up and included in the accounts at £100,000; there are no end of year balances in connection with these services and there were no in-year write-offs. In relation to support provided by the NUS, £100,000 is included in Note 2, under ‘Voluntary Income’ (within ‘Donations’ of £131,638), and the corresponding £100,000 expenditure is included in Note 6, under ‘Support Costs’; ‘Other’ £226,765).

In addition to these in-kind services, specific staff wages are recharged on a monthly basis from the NUS to SOS. The total recharged payroll costs for the period is £176,856, shown at Note 4 under ‘Cost of programme delivery’ as ‘Recharged staff costs’.

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 20

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Period 20 June 2019 to 30 September 2020 (not part of the statutory financial statements)

£
INCOMING RESOURCES
Voluntary income
Gifts 2,442
Donations 131,638
134,080
Programme income
Programme delivery income 671,221
Delegate income 17,614
688,835
Other incoming resources
Grant income 320,912
Other income 100,042
420,954
Total incoming resources 1,243,869
RESOURCES EXPENDED
Cost of programme delivery
Programme costs 155,008
Venue costs 12,994
Wages and salaries 347,616
Employers National Insurance 24,151
Pension costs 24,313
Recharged staff costs 176,856
740,938
Support costs
Management
Wages and salaries 86,944
Employers National Insurance 8,939
Pension costs 5,240
101,123
Finance
Bank charges 177
Information technology
Computer costs 12,658
Other
Insurance 3,419
Postage and stationery 4,233
Telephone 1,618
Sundries 809
Support and administration services - NUS 100,000
Advertising 24,555
Travel and subsistence 41,548
Entertainment 69
Recruitment expenses 620
Carried forward 189,706

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 21

£
Other
Brought forward 189,706
Death in service 2,856
Volunteer payments 3,114
Training 1,061
Legal & professional fees 7,482
Subscriptions 6,385
Unreconciled visa accounts 2,150
Repairs and renewals 224
Accountancy & legal 3,800
HR Support 1,808
Consultancy 20,797
Depreciation of computer equipment 217
239,600
Total resources expended 1,081,661
Net income 162,208

####

Trustees report and annual accounts 2019/20. Page 22