TRUSTEE REPORT AND ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2021-22 STUDENTS OFIGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY UNITEO KINGOOM
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TRUSTEE REPORT AND ANNUAL ACCOUNTS 2021-22
| 1. Introducing SOS-UK......................................................................................... 2 |
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| 2. How we work................................................................................................ 2 |
| 3. Our goals and aims......................................................................................... 2 |
| 4. Our work and impact: 2021-22 in review.............................................................. 4 |
| 4.1 Engagement............................................................................................ 4 |
| 4.2 Education............................................................................................... 8 |
| 4.3 Inclusion and climate justice..................................................................... 10 |
| 5. Looking ahead to 2022-23.............................................................................. 12 |
| 6. Financial review and risk............................................................................... 14 |
| 7. Structure, governance and management............................................................ 14 |
| 8. Confirmation of details.................................................................................. 15 |
| 9. Get in touch............................................................................................... 16 |
| 10. Audited accounts......................................................................................... 16 |
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1. Introducing SOS-UK
Students Organising for Sustainability UK (SOS-UK) is an educational charity created in response to the climate emergency and ecological crisis. We support students to learn, act and lead for sustainability. Our origins are in the student movement, and we've operated as an independent charity since 2019. Our charity number is 1184011.
You can read more about our work on our website.
The charitable objective 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.”
2. 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 staff team at SOS-UK. We are the support crew, doing whatever we can to help the students ensure their projects and campaigns are successful and impactful.
The organisational values we work by are:
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student-centred;
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inclusive and supportive;
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driven by social justice;
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anti-oppression and acting in solidarity;
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responsive, dynamic and flexible;
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reliable and honest;
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transparent and accountable;
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team-focused and collaborative;
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understanding and caring.
3. Our goals and aims
We believe that education in its current format is a central cause of societal unsustainability. It reinforces unsustainable and unjust thinking and values and that is why we need to urgently change it. Our education system, including all its institutions and the opportunities for learning
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they provide, should be the central mechanism for resolving the climate emergency and avoiding ecological breakdown in a way that leads to better and fairer lives for all people.
We are 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 people in education being taught about sustainability in an integrated, relevant and solutions-centred way, with them being supported to apply their knowledge and skills in real life, not just reciting it in exams.
We also know that it’s not just in classrooms and lecture theatres that the knowledge, skills, values and competences needed to drive sustainability across society are developed. We believe that all elements of the education system should be repurposed around achieving sustainability and climate justice.
For this reason, we’re working to change the fabric of the institutions in which learning takes place, including their buildings and estates along with their policies and cultures, so that they exemplify positive sustainable practices. It’s also the motivation behind our programmes and campaigns that directly provide students with ‘real-world’ opportunities to develop the capabilities that will help them, and society, to become more sustainable and just.
Our ultimate outcome is to break the cycle of highly educated people making bad decisions for the planet, and instead re-focus towards people working together to ensure everyone has a good quality of life and we live sustainably. We know that change needs to happen now if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity decline. By refocusing our education system on these goals, we stand to influence the leaders of future generations, but we can also achieve immediate impact as our education system and its institutions are deeply embedded in our society. Siblings, parents, grandparents, friends, teacher and colleagues – everyone has a connection to education in some way.
All our work contributes to our three organisational aims :
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 research has shown that the environmental sector is massively underrepresented in racial diversity. It’s well evidenced that the negative impacts of sustainability inaction disproportionately affect people of colour and we’re building on this to drive forward inclusion work across the intersections of inequalities and underrepresentation in the environment and sustainability movement.
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4. Our work and impact: 2021-22 in review
Our work is organised around our three directorates, which are aligned to our three organisational aims:
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Engagement;
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Education;
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Inclusion and climate justice.
Within each directorate, we work towards achieving our goals through delivering:
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Programmes;
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Campaigns;
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Training and events;
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Research.
We seek out and support students with good ideas. We help them develop their plans and support them to access funding so they can see their ideas turn into a reality - and achieve real impact. A significant number of our programmes and campaigns have been started this way, including longstanding activities such as Green Impact, Student Switch Off, Student Eats, Responsible Futures, and Hedgehog Friendly Campus. These are now all national (or even international) programmes of work, engaging thousands of students and staff in sustainability. We're proud that our work is led or supported locally by students, in keeping with our objective of getting more students leading on, and learning for, sustainability.
Through working towards our goals under each of our directorates, in 2021-22 we...
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Engaged almost 226,000 students
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Supported over 74,500 staff
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Worked with over 800 organisations
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Enabled over 12,000 actions and activities
4.1 Engagement
Our engagement work reaches students and staff through the informal curriculum, focusing on creating opportunities outside the 'classroom'. We recognise that the experiences people have in their everyday lives are hugely valuable in supporting the development of skills, knowledge, values and competences needed to lead on sustainability. Our work addresses the need to take action now and recognises that lifestyle change and system change are deeply connected - both are essential to tackling the climate and biodiversity crises.
Read more about our engagement work:
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Fairtrade Universities and Colleges: Our framework and accreditation for embedding ethical practices throughout campus
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 2021-22, 25 institutions achieved the Fairtrade Award, following an audit completed by 63 students.
Green Impact : Our framework for organisations to be environmentally and socially sustainable
Our UNESCO award-winning sustainability awards and engagement programme for staff to embed sustainability in their workplaces, supported by trained students. We have run the programme since 2008 and in the last year, we trained over 500 students to support and then audit almost 3000 staff participating in Green Impact teams in their workplaces. In 2021-22, these staff completed over 10,000 actions to improve the sustainability of their organisation.
Homes Fit for Study : Alleviating exposure to fuel poverty through audits and energy advice
Through Homes Fit for Study we deliver a programme of work to students across Great Britain, reducing their exposure to energy poverty through audits and energy advice. The work is funded by the Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Scheme, and SOS-UK is working in collaboration with National Energy Action to deliver it. In 2021-22, we trained 26 students as home energy auditors, who went on to complete 102 home audits with their peers. We’ve calculated that the energy efficiency behaviours reported by students who received an audit amounts to almost 300,000kg CO2.
Student Switch Off: Engagement activities for students in residences and purpose-built student accommodation
Our multi-award-winning student sustainability engagement programme, providing a campaign within student accommodation to achieve quantifiable energy, waste and water reduction through improved student sustainability literacy and competition. We have run Student Switch Off in UK universities since 2007. In 2021-22, we encouraged changes in behaviour that have led to carbon savings of 188,000kg CO2. Almost 9000 students actively participated in the campaign, for example through volunteering or participating in behaviour-change focused competitions.
Students for Trees: Young people across the UK championing trees and woodland
Students for Trees is a student led network supporting students across the UK to learn about, and to take action for, woods and trees, to help fight the climate and nature crises. The programme is supported by SOS-UK and The Woodland Trust. In 2021-22 we supported 33 local student branches to take action for trees, including planting over 5000 trees on their campuses and in their communities. The network is overseen by a national council of 12 students, providing a key opportunity for developing sustainability leadership skills.
Learning Academy: Our hub of learning and development
We provide learning opportunities designed for students, student representatives, and institution staff, delivered in a variety of methods including face-to-face and online by our in-house SOS-UK staff. In 2021-22 we continued to offer our array of training and development sessions, working
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with 25 organisations to upskill their students and staff on sustainability. Part of our Learning Academy is our Carbon Literacy offer, which has been adapted to provide organisations with bespoke training on action on climate change.
Carbon Challenge: Engaging students and staff to reduce their carbon footprint
Carbon Challenge engages staff and students in reducing their carbon footprint at home and in the workplace. An online carbon footprinting and reduction tool, hosted by GIKI Zero, provides staff and students with the opportunity to understand their own personal impact on the planet with 120 carbon reduction actions across seven categories. 2021-22 was the pilot year for the programme with 2 organisations participating. Over 1000 actions were completed saving 35,000kg CO2.
Farming for Carbon and Nature: Using university and college farmland to capture carbon and restore nature
Many colleges and universities have large agricultural landholdings and we're setting up an innovative model where we incentivise universities to make payments to farms so they can transition to more nature friendly farming practices to sequester carbon. This work is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF). We’re working closely with farmers, universities, colleges and a range of technical experts to develop and pilot the approach.
How farming can cool the planet: Finding a united voice on food, farming and the climate and nature crises
Through farm visits, speaking at events and creating resources, the project enables students, FLAME members and young farmers with different lived experiences to share their stories with each other, to find common ground, and to ultimately have a united voice so they can tackle the climate crisis through food and farming together. The project is collaboratively delivered by SOSUK, FLAME - the youth branch of the Landworkers' Alliance, and the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs). The project launched in 2021-22 with 7 students taking part in a farm visit.
Sustainable Food and Growing Network: Supporting institutions to embed sustainable food and food growing on their campuses
Our Sustainable Food and Growing support network supports staff and students to collaboratively agree and achieve ambitious targets, link up different food and growing projects on campus, learn and be inspired by other institutions, and provides opportunities share with and learn from other network members. In its inaugural year, 3 universities participated in the network joining regular networking events and meetings to gain insight into good practice related to sustainable food on campus.
Hedgehog Friendly Campus: Turning campuses into places hedgehogs can thrive
Hedgehog Friendly Campus gives awards to universities, FE colleges and primary schools who complete actions from our hedgehog-friendly toolkit. The toolkit is full of hedgehog-friendly actions to protect hedgehogs, enhance their habitat and educate others on how they can help. The programme is funded by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. In 2021-22 we delivered training, assemblies and talks to over 25400 students supporting them to develop the knowledge and skills needed to be agents for change in preventing the decline of hedgehogs in the UK.
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Banking with Who: Supporting students to choose more ethical bank accounts
Banking with Who ran during 2021 engaging college and sixth-form students to consider sustainability when opening their first bank account. It was funded by The Sunrise Project. We engaged over 2600 students through workshops and our social media campaign.
Candidates for Change: Supporting university students to consider their impact through careers
Candidates for Change was a one-off campaign running during 2021. Prospective applicants and newly-employed graduates can help influence employers to do more for sustainability, from investing their pensions more ethically to paying a real living wage to all workers. We engaged students through workshops, guiding them towards positively influencing their future employers. Over 170 students participated in our workshops during the year.
Our achievements in 2021-22 for our engagement work include:
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This year we launched our Homes Fit for Study campaign, and so far we’ve supported thousands of students by providing advice on navigating the household energy sector and guidance on how to save energy in their homes. These two aspects are vital life skills, which have become increasingly important given the dual cost of living and energy crises being experienced across the UK in 2021-22.
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Our 33 Students for Trees branches, which we work collaboratively with The Woodland Trust to support, have contributed to the drive to increase tree cover in the UK by planting over 5,000 trees! A single tree can absorb as much as 22kg of carbon each year, meaning our Students for Trees actions have the potential to absorb around 110,000kg of carbon annually.
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Our engagement programmes and campaigns have continued to contribute carbon savings across the education sector, resulting in over 500,000kg of CO2 saved in 2021-22. This equates to 500 return economy flights, transporting 94,500 people between London and Paris, or boiling the kettle to make 35 million cups of tea!
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Over 4,000 students and staff have completed training opportunities through our programmes and campaigns, enabling the development of the skills, knowledge, values and competences needed to act on climate change.
Things we learnt about our engagement work this year include:
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Students and staff want to do more on the ecological crisis, and we intend to continue to support them to do this. For this reason we brought in the very popular and engaging Hedgehog Friendly Campus into SOS-UK this year, and our Woodland Trust funded Students for Trees work continues to be very well received by students. We hope to continue progressing this work further in 2022-23.
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There is a lot of interest from students in our Homes Fit for Study campaign which can be directly linked to the current energy crisis. Feedback from students on the training we’ve provided for them is that it is ‘extremely helpful’ and ‘close to life changing’. We’ll endeavour to build on this work and supporting students through the energy crisis in 2022-23. Positive habits developed through awareness raising programmes like Homes Fit for Study have the potential to last for years after the programme has stopped – for example through our previous
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energy efficiency programmes, we know that 99% of students continue with their energy habits even after their participation has ended.
- Our evaluation work shows that students enjoy the auditor training opportunities linked to our engagement programmes – it enables them to advance their knowledge on sustainability, but also develop new skills, and gain insight and experience of the ‘behind the scenes’ running of their universities and other organisations in their local communities.
4.2 Education
Our education work focuses on transforming the formal education system, from early years through to adult education, to address the climate and ecological crisis. Through systems-change campaigns and whole-institutional change programmes, we work to ensure all students develop the knowledge, skills, attributes, and values to act for climate and social justices now and in the future.
Find out more about our education programmes and campaigns:
SDG Teach-in: Putting the Sustainable Development Goals at the heart of education
The SDG Teach In is a campaign to put the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and therefore sustainability, at the heart of all stages of education, and across all disciplines. This annual campaign calls upon educators to include the SDGS within their teaching, learning and assessment during the campaign month (and beyond!). 2021-22 saw our biggest 'teach-in' yet - 772 educators from over 134 institutions pledged, reaching over 140,000 students!
For Good: Partnering students and organisations for projects, research and placements
The For Good platform was created to empower students to innovate and progress all aspects of sustainability through meaningful research, projects and placements by partnering with organisations in their communities. In return, organisations benefit from capacity building, bright ideas and creative solutions for progressing sustainability challenges. In 2021-22 we had 20 students take part in For Good.
RED WoLF: Student engagement on maximising renewable energy
We've partnered with universities, housing associations, local authorities and training organisations across North-West Europe to tackle housing emissions, responsible for approximately 300 million tonnes of CO2/yr through the RED WoLF (Rethink Electricity Distribution Without Load Following) project. SOS-UK's role is to facilitate student engagement with the project, providing action-based learning opportunities, as well as awareness raising. In 2021-22 we ran a summer school for 95 students to gain a greater understanding of sustainability in the context of their subject.
Responsible Futures: A framework and accreditation mark for embedding sustainability in learning
Responsible Futures is a whole-institution supported change programme and accreditation mark to embed sustainability across all aspects of student learning. We actively support partnerships between students’ unions and institutions through a structured framework of criteria to encourage action on embedding sustainability, inclusive of climate justice, into formal and informal learning.
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In 2021-22 we had 13 partnerships participating in the programme with 6 partnerships achieving accreditation with 80 students taking part in the audit process.
Mock COP: A global campaign demanding world leaders to show climate ambition
When the COP26 conference would have been running in November 2020, over 330 youth delegates representing over 140 countries gathered online at Mock COP26 showing the ambition and dreams of young people worldwide fighting for a fair, equal and green world. Since the main Mock COP event, the students have continued campaigning on climate education, including developing Teach the Teacher which sees roles reversed between educator and student. Sessions have been delivered in over 45 schools in 21 countries, enabling educators to understand youth perspectives on the climate crises in relation to their education.
Teach the Future: A youth-led campaign for climate education in the UK
The campaign, run by students in secondary and tertiary education and hosted by SOS-UK, has three goals: that all students are taught about climate change, that green skills are included in vocational courses and that educational buildings are climate-friendly. A range of activities lobbying for policy change were delivered in 2021-22 including hustings events for the Scottish parliament elections, a Westminster Hall debate on climate education and achieving a second reading of the campaign's Climate Education Bill in Parliament. We support around 7 paid student staff to convene the campaign, with a wider group of around 60 young people volunteering alongside them.
Alcohol Impact : Fostering productive, healthy and inclusive student cultures surrounding drinking
Since its launch in 2015, Alcohol Impact has supported 31 universities and students’ unions across the UK to create positive change across campuses. From sober raves to alcohol awareness training for sports clubs, Alcohol Impact helps institutions to innovate their approach to tackling issues related to student alcohol use. In 2021-22 2 university and students' union partnerships continued to participate in the programme, with 115 staff and almost 2000 students engaging.
Drug and Alcohol Impact: A holistic approach to creating healthy, inclusive cultures around drugs and alcohol
Our student wellbeing programme embeds social norms of responsible drinking on our campuses, and refocuses the conversation on drugs to be about reducing harm, and building healthier, safer, more productive student communities. 2021-22 saw the successful culmination of our 2-year pilot of the programme, which saw 5 partnerships of universities and their students' unions working to achieve accreditation.
SDG and sustainability curriculum mapping: Student-led mapping of the formal curricula against the UN SDGs
Our support package for mapping the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) teaching and learning approaches across the formal curriculum in universities and colleges through a student-led audit. In 2021-22 we worked with 5 organisations, training over 90 students to assess module content across almost 6000 modules!
SHAPE Sustainability Impact Projects: Demonstrating the importance of SHAPE disciplines in tackling sustainability challenges
Funded by the British Academy, we work with students studying social sciences, humanities and arts to work in groups to identify solutions to challenges facing people, the economy and the
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environment. A suite of training workshops and individual support guides them through the process of delivering their projects. In 2021-22 we supported 13 student groups in 5 universities to develop solutions to local sustainability challenges. 12 groups were supported to progress this work through further funding.
Our achievements in 2021-22 for our education work include:
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We have rapidly advanced our work on education systems change campaigning, extending our work on Teach the Future and developing this further through MockCOP. This has enabled us to support youth campaigners in the UK and globally and laid a strong foundation for advancing climate education policy in the UK.
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Our Education programmes continue to steadily grow, and we consistently receive positive feedback for their transformational impact within institutions. SDG Mapping has developed significantly this year, serving as an important baselining tool for institutions and meaningfully engaging students in curriculum reform.
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The culmination of the Drug and Alcohol Impact pilot demonstrated the impact of our wellbeing work on the sector and leading the conversation on harm reduction approaches to student drug use. This is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to our holistic approach to sustainability and wellbeing.
Things we learnt about our education work this year include:
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We have furthered our understanding of where we are best positioned in the sector to influence change and as a result have lessened our focus on For Good. We will explore next year how we advance the legacy of the platform but not continue to actively invest staff capacity as it does not have a sustainable funding model and we have not managed to secure grant funding for its development.
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Institutions want to do more to understand the current ‘levels’ of sustainability being taught and so the further development and growth of the SDG Mapping support package has been welcomed by the sector.
4.3 Inclusion and climate justice
Our inclusion and climate justice work focuses on ensuring sustainability is inclusive and diverse. We know not everyone is affected by climate change and the ecological crisis equally, and we're working to make sure the organisations at the forefront of tackling the issues are reflective of the communities they represent. We also need to ensure all students wanting to spearhead action through their careers in this sector are not limited by barriers related to their ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity, disability, social or educational background, or any other characteristic or attribute. Our work in this area spans the education sector and the professional pathways connected with addressing climate and ecological issues for progressing positive good in terms of both people and planet.
Read more about our inclusion and climate justice work:
My World My Home: Leadership development through community organising in colleges
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My World My Home is a prestigious leadership development programme for young people aged 1624, in association with Friends of the Earth and SOS-UK. Over the course of a year, students are supported to plan and organise a local community campaign that will positively benefit the local environment. The programme targets students from backgrounds usually underrepresented in environmental campaigning. In 2021-22 we launched new pilots with young people in Northern Ireland and with SEND groups in colleges to reflect this, working with 10 colleges in total.
Green Influencers: Inspiring young people to make a difference in their communities
Green Influencers is helping young people create deep, lasting and meaningful connections with the natural environment. By taking part in ambitious youth-led projects, young people learn and develop new skills that will improve their life chances, open progression routes and help inspire their local communities to take meaningful action too. Green Influencers are ambassadors for the environment, changing the world for the better through youth social action. In 2021-22 we engaged 200 Green Influencers in Southampton and Norfolk, aged 10-14.
Race for Nature's Recovery : A Kickstart scheme covering racial diversity in the environment sector
We've made use of the Government’s Kickstart Scheme to tackle the longstanding lack of racial diversity in the environmental movement. Working with our partners Action for Conservation, Generation Success and Voyage Youth we're supporting young people aged 16-24 on Universal Credit to complete job placements with over 30 environmental organisations across the UK. The scheme came to an end in 2022, and in total supported 125 young people to complete placements and start their careers in the environment sector.
The RACE Report: Campaigning for racial diversity at work in the environmental charity sector
Through increasing transparency on the diversity of our environmental charities and organisations that fund them we're creating an impetus to go further and faster on diversity and inclusion to deliver climate justice, now. The campaign launched in 2022 with 94 organisations submitting data at some level.
Invest for Change: A campaign to radically reform how universities invest their money
We're calling on universities to reform their investment practices to centre environmental and social justice solutions. We're working with students to engage their universities on this, as well as working directly with universities to lead this shift. In 2021-22 we supported student campaigners at 30 universities to explore and advocate for responsible investment. We also engaged 40 university leaders to change the investment practices at their institution.
Breaking the Bank: Campaigning to end banks funding of fossil fuel companies
Banks rely on universities and students for recruitment and reputation: we can use this to put the pressure on for our demand that they stop financing fossil fuels. We're building university campaigns across the country, each one unique to the institution and group of students. The development work for the campaign started in summer 2022 and we're looking forward to getting started with supporting to initiate change in their institutions in the autumn.
Our achievements in 2021-22 for our inclusion and climate justice work include:
- We’ve set the foundations for establishing ourselves as a driving force for addressing issues related to inclusion for delivering on climate justice in the UK education and environmental charity sector. Our partnerships and influence spans the environment, education and youth sectors, positioning us well to bridge the gap between those considering working in the environment sector and the sector itself. This is being demonstrated through our core
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programmes and campaigns summarised above, highlighting our engagement with students and young people currently marginalised in the environment sector, including (but not limited to) those who are racially and ethnically minoritised, and SEND students. Programmes such as Green Influencers, My World My Home and Race for Nature’s Recovery are providing focussed initiatives to support marginalised young people to be change makers for sustainability and begin working in the environment sector.
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2022 was The RACE Report’s inaugural year. 91 organisations submitted their staff data, actively participating in the initiative, proving its potential to have an impact as it grows, and organisation’s commitment to making progress on diversity.
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Our ethical finance campaigns go from strength to strength, as illustrated by Invest for Change, which is seeing increasing engagement from institutions as student campaigners, supported by SOS-UK, successfully influence their investment goals. Successes of this campaign are providing the building blocks for Breaking the Bank, launched in late 2022.
Things we learnt about our inclusion and climate justice work this year include:
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We know The RACE Report has potential to provide impetus to speed up diversity in the environmental charity sector. Our targets for engagement in 2022 were not met, achieving half as many participating organisations as we set out to. Going forward we need to ensure communications of our data gathering and reporting processes are as clear and succinct as possible, to reassure participating organisations that the anonymity of their staff will be retained. In some instances, non-participation has been due to organisations needing to adjust their internal data gathering processes to align with TRR. It is anticipated participation will grow continuously as it continues to gain national media and sectoral attention.
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We also need to establish the inclusion strand of this work in parallel. Addressing the diversity and representation is just one part of the journey for progressing climate justice. We aim to work with the organisations and education institutions currently failing to deliver on diversity to ensure they are inclusive spaces for young people, students and staff from marginalised groups to enter into.
5. Looking ahead to 2022-23
Within our Engagement directorate , for 2022-23 we plan to continue running all the programmes and campaigns running in 2021-22, with the exception of our Carbon Challenge. We intend to build on our impactful biodiversity work. For example, we will develop a pilot scheme enabling universities to pay farmers on university and college-owned farmland to adopt sustainable practices that both sequester atmospheric carbon in the soil and increase biodiversity. Given the high demand for our work on energy poverty through Homes Fit for Study we’ll continue to seek out opportunities that allow us to support students in navigating the cost of living and energy crises. The trustees have also approved investment in our online toolkit software that supports many of our engagement programmes. This investment will enable us to make our platforms for programmes like Green Impact more engaging for our participants; our current software is over 10 years and is no longer fit for purpose.
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In the coming year, the Education directorate will continue to run all projects, programmes, and campaigns apart from For Good which we will begin winding down and planning legacy activities. We project growth in our programmatic work as sector demand for Responsible Futures and SDG Curriculum Mapping is high and we will launch our new programme, ESD Changemakers which will support students and staff to work together on curriculum reform projects within their courses. Teach the Future will focus on advancing the Climate Education Bill through parliament and hosting parliamentary receptions in Scotland and Wales to advance the campaign in those nations. MockCOP will enter its third phase of activity, focusing on scaling up Teach the Teacher around the world after its successful pilot at COP26 and introducing another iteration of the project, Teach the Parent. Through MockCOP we will attend COP27 in Egypt with the aim of influencing the global and national agendas on climate education and platforming youth voice in these spaces.
As our Inclusion and Climate Justice directorate establishes itself, priorities for 2022-23 include developing and growing the breadth of our work in this area, in particular our key initiative, The RACE Report, and prospecting for funding to deliver on the ambitions of the directorate’s work. The directorate will seek funding to launch a new pathways programme, engaging young people and students from marginalised groups, and environmental charities to provide a supportive programme for improving diversity and inclusion in the sector. We will launch a consultancy offering, working with environment, climate and sustainability focussed organisations, and education institutions to progress equity, diversity and inclusion in terms of who is represented as well as through exploration of their work and approaches. The directorate will also look inwardly at SOS-UK to ensure we are holding ourselves accountable to deliver on progressive strategies and approaches, which create an inclusive work culture in which staff, volunteers and the people we work with can thrive.
SOS-International was co-founded in 2018 by NUS-UK/SOS-UK, DSF and USI – the national unions of students for higher education in Denmark and Ireland respectively. In autumn 2022 DSF’s threeyear hosting of SOS-International will come to an end and SOS-UK were voted in as hosts at SOSInternational's General Assembly in May 2022. SOS-UK will work with DSF to ensure a smooth transfer for the staff and operations of SOS-International and we will onboard the staff to SOS-UK, as with any new member of staff. The staff will become employees of SOS-UK and we will work to bring financial processes of SOS-International into SOS-UK for auditing and operational purposes. At time of transfer, SOS-International have three members of staff: Green Office Movement coordinator (based in The Netherlands), Green Impact project manager (based in Belgium), and Green Office Movement administrator (based in The Netherlands).
In 2022-23 we’ll focus significant resource on the development of a strategic framework for the organisation that will guide us in the prioritisation of our work to achieve maximum impact against our aims as we move out of ‘start-up’ mode and become an established national charity. Specific budget has been ringfenced to access external support to guide us through this process, which will ensure that staff at all levels have the opportunity to input into the direction of the charity. This framework will support the development of our impact measurement at an organisational level, to ensure we translate the outcomes of our individual programmes, campaigns and training to our organisation-level goals.
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6. Financial review and risk
We are pleased with the year-end position of a surplus of £370,069. This takes our total funds to £926,944, of which £684,876 are restricted and £242,068 are unrestricted.
Our revenues grew for the third consecutive year, from £1,337,953 in our founding year of 2019/20, to £1,403,862 in 2020/21 and £1,788,129 in 2021/22. In 2020/21 we achieved growth across all our main income streams: 61% of our income came from grants and donations (£1,088,531 compared to £872,414 in 2020/21), 36% from our programmes (£641,720 compared to £505,708 in 2020/21), and 3% from trading (£57,878 compared to £25,740 in 2020/21).
Our reserves policy is three months of unrestricted reserves available at all times. Since our founding we have been steadily building the level of our unrestricted reserves. However, although the amount of our unrestricted reserves increased by a further £26,531 (from £215,537 to £242,068) in 2021/22, the increase in expenditure (from £1,103,279 to £1,418,060) meant that the reserves target increased by £78,696 (from £275,819 to £354,515). This means that, overall, the shortfall between our unrestricted reserves and the reserve policy target actually increased from £59,183 at the end of the 2020/21 year to £112,447 at the end of 2021/22. In terms of the number of days of running costs that we can fund from our reserves at this time, we have enough for 63 days, and are now 29 days of reserves away from our target. Over the year ahead the Board will work with the directors to secure more unrestricted income so we can close this gap and meet our reserves policy.
The trustees maintain a register of risks and review them annually. The main risks facing the charity for the year ahead relate to loss of income, loss of key staff and safeguarding issues. The top twenty risks by rank are divided amongst our director team and the directors work with us to mitigate each risk.
Within the accounts, we have again stated our gender and ethnicity pay gaps. Both the gaps have increased this year, in part due to us hiring seven amazing young Kickstarters through our Race for Nature’s Recovery scheme. These were entry-level roles aimed at bringing in young people from underserved and underrepresented groups, and it is our intention to support these young people to progress within the charity. We anticipate that the gender and ethnicity pay gaps will shrink next year.
7. Structure, governance and management
SOS-UK is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) governed by a constitution. The members of SOS-UK are the eight trustees. The Board, comprising of the trustees, meets quarterly and it is chaired by Richard Dunne. In 2021-22 we to added four new trustees to the Board, through a process of external advertisement and a competitive recruitment process led by the Board. The new trustees who joined us in 2021-22, and any future additions, are fully inducted and trained including an introduction to the organisation and an overview of their legal and
We, the trustees have read and understood the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and are confident that all SOS-UK’s programmes and campaigns deliver our charitable objects, progress the issues we want to see changed and deliver public benefit. The trustee role is to actively offer insight and advice on the strategic direction of the organisation , in addition to
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY UK
15
monitoring and managing risk and ensuring the charity is well managed and impactful. The trustees delegate operational issues and decisions to the team of directors, led by the executive director. In 2022, we commenced work on a strategic framework for the organisation. This more flexible form of the traditional strategic plan will offer us the balance of clarity and cohesion needed to understand, structure and communicate our work with the flexibility required to support our agile, dynamic and flexible way of working.
SOS-UK has separate governance and is financially independent from its founding organisation - the National Union of Students (NUS). SOS-UK is not a part of the NUS Group. Our independent governance is reinforced through our independent chairperson, however our link with NUS is maintained by the current NUS president serving on our trustee board. NUS also provide SOS-UK with operational support and facilities and these arrangements are set out in a detailed memorandum of understanding. Similarly, SOS-UK’s pay and remuneration remains based on the NUS pay scale. This was established in 2014 and was initially set on the National Joint Council (NJC) framework. The NUS pay scale framework and job evaluation scheme forms a part of all SOS-UK staff terms and conditions of employment. The trustee board is supportive of the staff trade union, and have signed working arrangements which outline how the recognition agreement will be delivered.
The trustees have been monitoring our diversity data and are pleased that the charity has become more ethnically diverse over the last year. We are continually looking to further improve our performance in this area, across the full range of diversity characteristics and also recognise that statistics are only part of the picture – we want to ensure all staff members feel included within the organisation no matter their background or identity.
8. 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. This is our third annual report. The audited accounts and this document cover the period 01 October 2021 to 30 September 2022.
Our registered address is SOS-UK, c/o NUS Services, Snape Road, Macclesfield, SK10 2NZ. We bank with The Cooperative Bank and our auditors are Harts Limited of Macclesfield.
Our trustees are:
-
Carole Parkes
-
Ellen Fearon
-
Hannah Thomas
-
Harriet Williams
-
Larissa Kennedy (SOS-UK President)
-
Richard Dunne (SOS-UK Chair). Richard also acts as safeguarding lead for the board of trustees.
-
Serene Esuruoso
-
Zamzam Ibrahim
You can read more about the background of our trustees and their connection with our work on our website www.sos-uk.org.
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY UK
16
SOS-UK is managed on a day-to-day basis by Jamie Agombar, executive director, and the director team of Joanna Romanowicz (director of engagement), Quinn Runkle (director of education), Manu Maunganidze (co-director of inclusion and climate justice and Meg Baker (co-director of inclusion and climate justice)). You can find out more about our chief executive and the directors, along with the whole SOS-UK team on our website.
The trustees, chief executive and directors thank our partners, supporters, funders for their continued support. With your continued support, we look forward to helping more students deliver transformational sustainability initiatives over the year ahead. We are particularly grateful to our incredible team of staff, who consistently work so hard to ensure we are a high-performing and impactful charity that leads by example.
Carole Parkes
Ellen Fearon
Hannah Thomas
Harriet Williams
Larissa Kennedy
Richard Dunne
Serene Esuruoso
Zamzam Ibrahim
9. Get in touch
You can reach us at:
- hello@sos uk.org www.sos-uk.org
10. Audited accounts:
Please see pages 17 to 35.
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY UK
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 30th September 2022.
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).
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation numbe r: CE017928
Registered Charity number: 1184011
Principal office:
c/o NUS Services, Snape Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 2NZ
Trustees:
Z Ibrahim R Dunne E Fearon L Kennedy Harriet Williams (appointed 27 June 2022) Hannah Thomas (appointed 27 June 2022) Serene Esuruoso (appointed 27 June 2022) Carole Parkes (appointed 27 June 2022)
Statutory Auditors:
Harts Limited, Westminster House, 10 Westminster Rd, Cheshire, Macclesfield SK10 1BX
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing document
The charity is controlled by it's governing document, a memorandum, and was registered with the Charity Commission on 20th June 2019 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, governed by the proper law of England and Wales.
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.
STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES RESPONSIBILITIES
The Trustees 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 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 for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
-
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
-
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
-
prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES (continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
The Trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charties (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the Trustees, individually, are aware:
-
There is no relevant audit information of which the charity's auditors is unaware; and
-
The Trustees have taken all steps that ought to have been taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
AUDITORS
Harts Limited were appointed as auditors to the charity in the year.
Richard Dunne Chair of Trustees Date: 19/06/2023
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Students Organising for Sustainability (the ‘Charitable Incorporated Organisation’') for the period ended 30 September 2022 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, including Financial Reporting Standard 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:
-
give a true and fair view of the state of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation’s affairs as at 30 September 2022 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended; and
-
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
-
have been properly prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
Basis for opinion
We have been appointed as auditors under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.
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 charity 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 trustee's use of the going concern basis of accounting in 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 charity'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.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Trustees other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsibile for the other information contained within the Report of the Trustees. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, 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.
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 Act 2011 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
-
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Report of the Trustees; or
-
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
-
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
-
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY (continued)
Responsibilities of trustees
As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees Responsibilities, set out on page 13, the trustees 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 charity'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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
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' 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.
The extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud
Irregularities are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.
In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.
However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity's operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team:
-
obtained an understanding of the nature of the sector, including the legal and regulatory framework, that the charity operate in and how the charity is complying with the legal and regulatory framework;
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inquired of management, and those charged with governance, about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, including any known actual, suspected or alleged instances of fraud;
-
discussed matters about non-compliance with laws and regulations and how fraud might occur including assessment of how and where the financial statements may be susceptible to fraud.
As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, Charities SORP (FRS 102), Charities Act 2011 and the charity's governing document. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliances which may have a material impact on the financial statements which included reviewing the financial statements including the Report of the Trustees and remaining alert to new or unusual transactions which may not be in accordance with the governing documents. The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls as the area where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments, evaluating the business rationale in relation to significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside the normal course of business, challenging judgments and estimates.
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.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY (continued)
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with the Charities Act . 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.
Melissa Bowers FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Harts Limited Statutory Auditors Westminster House, 10 Westminster Rd, Cheshire, Macclesfield SK10 1BX Date:
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
| Notes Income from: Donations 3 Charitable activities Programme income 4 Other trading activities 5 Total income Expenditure on: Charitable activities Cost of programme delivery 6 Advancement of sustainability 6 Donations Total expenditure Net income Transfer between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Net movement in funds Total funds carried forward |
Unrestricted funds £ 118,104 641,720 168,620 |
Restricted funds £ 853,270 - 6,415 |
Total funds 2022 £ 971,374 641,720 175,035 |
Total funds 2021 £ 872,414 505,708 25,740 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 928,444 637,439 250,195 308 |
859,685 - 527,958 2,160 |
1,788,129 637,439 778,153 2,468 |
1,403,862 528,750 570,131 4,398 |
|
| 887,942 | 530,118 | 1,418,060 | 1,103,279 | |
| 40,502 (13,971) |
329,567 13,971 |
370,069 - |
300,583 - |
|
| 26,531 | 343,538 | 370,069 | 300,583 | |
| 215,537 26,531 |
341,338 343,538 |
556,875 370,069 |
256,292 300,583 |
|
| 242,068 | 684,876 | 926,944 | 556,875 |
The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The notes on pages 25 to 33 form part of these financial statements.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY BALANCE SHEET AS AT 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
| Notes Fixed Assets Tangible 10 Current assets Debtors 11 Cash at bank Creditors Amounts falling due within one year 12 Net current assets Total net assets Funds Unrestricted Restricted |
Unrestricted funds £ 24,054 |
Restricted funds £ - |
Total funds 2022 £ 24,054 |
Total funds 2021 £ 450 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,054 220,698 415,957 |
- 103,572 629,827 |
24,054 324,270 1,045,784 |
450 182,019 721,381 |
|
| 636,655 (418,641) |
733,399 (48,523) |
1,370,054 (467,164) |
903,400 (346,975) |
|
| 218,014 | 684,876 | 902,890 | 556,425 | |
| 242,068 | 684,876 | 926,944 | 556,875 | |
| 242,068 684,876 |
215,537 341,338 |
|||
| 926,944 | 556,875 |
The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
………………………………………………………………..
Mr Richard Dunne Date: 19/06/2023
The notes on pages 25 to 33 form part of these financial statements.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
| Net cash inflow from operating activities Net cash generated from operating activities Cash flows from investing activities Purchase of tangible fixed assets Sale of tangible fixed assets Purchase of fixed asset investments Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities Increase in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year (a) Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities Net incoming resources Depreciation charges and non cash profit and loss on disposal of assets Increase in debtors and prepayments Increase in creditors and deferred income Net cash inflow from operating activities (b) Analysis of changes in net funds Net cash Cash at bank Total |
Notes (a) (b) (b) As at 30th September 2021 721,381 |
2022 £ 354,048 (29,645) - |
2021 £ 330,350 (1,562) 2,300 - |
|---|---|---|---|
| (29,645) | 738 | ||
| 324,403 721,381 |
331,088 390,293 |
||
| 1,045,784 | 721,381 | ||
| 2022 £ 370,069 6,041 |
2021 £ 300,583 (5) |
||
| 376,110 (142,251) 120,189 |
300,578 49,202 (19,430) |
||
| 354,048 | 330,350 | ||
| Cash flow 324,403 |
As at 30th September 2022 1,045,784 |
||
| 721,381 | 324,403 | 1,045,784 |
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
1 General information
The Charity is a public benefit entity and a Charitable Incorporated Organisation ("CIO") and is registered with the Charity Charities Commission (Charity Registered Number 1184011) in England and Wales.
In the event of the Charity being wound up, each Member of the Charity is liable to contribute to the assets of the Charity such amount (but not more than £1) as may be required for the payment of debts and liabilities of the Charity contracted before that person ceases to be a Member, for payment of costs, charges and expenses of winding up, and for adjustment of the rights of the continuing Members among themselves.
The address of the registered office is c/o NUS Services, Snape Road, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 2NZ. The nature of the Charity’s operations and principal activities are detailed in the Trustees Report.
2 Accounting policies
2.1 Basis of preparation of financial statements
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) - 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 (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.
Students Organising for Sustainability meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.
The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the Charity and rounded to the nearest pound.
2.2 Going concern
The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the Trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The Trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for at least 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the Charity to be able to continue as a going concern.
2.3 Income
All income is recognised once the Charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.
Donations
Donations are recognised when the Charity has been notified in writing of both the amount and settlement date or on a receipts basis if earlier. In the event that a donation is subject to conditions that require a level of performance before the Charity is entitled to the funds, the income is deferred and not recognised until either those conditions are fully met, or the fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the Charity and it is probable that those conditions will be fulfilled in the reporting period.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
Grants
Grants are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on a receivable basis. The balance of income for a specific purposes but not expended during the period is shown in the relevant funds on the Balance Sheet. Where income is received in advance of entitlement of receipt, it's recognition is deferred and included in creditors as deferred income. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.
Gift of professional services and facilities
If material on receipt, donated professional services and facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the Charity which is the amount it would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
Services
Income from services rendered comprises the fair value of the consideration received or receivable for the sale of goods and provision of services in the ordinary course of the Charity’s activities. Services income is shown net of sales/value added tax, returns, rebates and discounts.
2.4 Expenditure
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Expenditure on charitable activities is incurred on directly undertaking the activities which further the Charity's objectives, as well as any associated support costs.
Expenditure relating to the provision of trading services is exclusive of VAT. All other expenditure is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
2.5 Tangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets costing £250 or more are capitalised and recognised when the future economic benefits are probable and the cost or value of the asset can be measured reliably. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, as follows:
Computer equipment
20% straight line method
2.6 Investment assets
Fixed asset investments are initially recognised at their transaction cost and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date, with changes in fair value recognised in the statement of financial activities. Unlisted investments are held at cost less impairment.
2.7 Financial instruments
The Charity does not have a material holding in complex financial instruments. The Charity only holds basic Financial Instruments. The financial assets and financial liabilities of the Charity are as follows:
Debtors - trade and other debtors (including accrued income) are basic financial instruments and are debt instruments measured at amortised cost. Prepayments are not financial instruments.
Cash at bank - is classified as a basic financial instrument and is measured at face value.
Liabilities - trade creditors, accruals and other creditors will be classified as financial instruments, and are measured at amortised cost. Taxation and social security are not included in the Financial instruments disclosure. Deferred income is not deemed to be a financial liability, as in the cash settlement has already taken place and there is simply an obligation to deliver charitable services rather than cash or another financial instrument.
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
2.8 Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
2.9 Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
2.10 Liabilities and provisions
Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the Balance Sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably.
Liabilities are recognised at the amount that the Charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.
Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation. Where the effect of the time value of money is material, the provision is based on the present value of those amounts, discounted at the pre-tax discount rate that reflects the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of the discount is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities as a finance cost.
2.11 Fund accounting
General funds are unrestricted funds which 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 costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.
2.12 Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgment
The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have been made in the process of applying the above accounting policies that have had the most significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements:
-
Depreciation rates for tangible assets
-
Support cost allocation
2.13 Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits
The Charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the Charity's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.
2.14 Taxation
The charity carries on activities which are exempt from corporation tax and income tax. Irrecoverable Value Added Tax is included with the expenditure to which it relates.
3 Income from donations
| For the year ended 30th September 2022 Donations and gifts Grants |
Unrestricted funds £ 66,878 51,226 |
Restricted funds £ 16,529 836,741 |
Total funds £ 83,407 887,967 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 118,104 | 853,270 | 971,374 |
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
| Income from donations - continued For the year ended 30th September 2021 Donations and gifts Grants 4 Income from charitable activities For the year ended 30th September 2022 Programme delivery income Delegate income For the year ended 30th September 2021 Programme delivery income Delegate income 5 Other trading activities For the year ended 30th September 2022 Training courses, speaking fees and other For the year ended 30th September 2021 Training courses, speaking fees and other |
Unrestricted funds £ 88,395 - |
Restricted funds £ 170,269 613,750 |
Total funds £ 258,664 613,750 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 88,395 | 784,019 | 872,414 | |
| Unrestricted funds £ 639,450 2,270 |
Restricted funds £ - - |
Total funds £ 639,450 2,270 |
|
| 641,720 | - | 641,720 | |
| 468,464 37,244 |
- - |
468,464 37,244 |
|
| 505,708 | - | 505,708 | |
| Unrestricted funds £ 168,620 |
Restricted funds £ 6,415 |
Total funds £ 175,035 |
|
| 168,620 | 6,415 | 175,035 | |
| 25,740 | - | 25,740 | |
| 25,740 | - | 25,740 |
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Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
6 Expenditure on charitable activities
| Expenditure on charitable activities | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| For the year ended 30th September 2022 Cost of programme delivery Programme costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Support costs note 7 Advancement of sustainability Project costs Venue costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Support costs note 7 For the year ended 30th September 2021 Cost of programme delivery Programme costs Venue costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Support costs note 7 Advancement of sustainability Project costs Venue costs Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs Support costs note 7 |
Unrestricted funds £ 26,626 348,884 34,685 19,583 207,661 |
Restricted funds £ - - - - - |
Total funds £ 26,626 348,884 34,685 19,583 207,661 |
| 637,439 61,936 2,240 127,904 12,716 7,179 38,220 |
- 43,577 2,027 219,175 16,828 9,013 237,338 |
637,439 105,513 4,267 347,079 29,544 16,192 275,558 |
|
| 250,195 | 527,958 | 778,153 | |
| 887,634 | 527,958 | 1,415,592 | |
| 53,196 193 253,361 18,779 41,772 161,449 |
- - - - - - |
53,196 193 253,361 18,779 41,772 161,449 |
|
| 528,750 - - - - - - |
- 153,011 10,200 228,876 15,172 20,445 142,427 |
528,750 153,011 10,200 228,876 15,172 20,445 142,427 |
|
| - | 570,131 | 570,131 | |
| 528,750 | 570,131 | 1,098,881 |
29
Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
7 Support costs
| Support costs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds £ Management (see note 8 'Support staff costs') 146,379 Finance costs 413 Information technology costs 14,605 Insurance 4,438 Accounting and legal costs 17,915 Auditors remuneration (Governance costs) 2,895 Office costs 17,929 Human resources 7,418 Other costs 33,889 99,502 245,881 Programme costs 207,661 Project costs 38,220 245,881 Staff costs Unrestricted funds £ Support staff costs Wages 125,987 Social security costs 12,005 Pension costs 8,387 146,379 Total staff costs (including support staff) Wages Social security costs Pension costs The average number of employees, including management, during the period wa |
Unrestricted funds £ 146,379 |
Restricted funds £ 131,061 |
2022 £ 277,440 |
2021 £ 158,974 |
| 413 14,605 4,438 17,915 2,895 17,929 7,418 33,889 |
244 11,078 2,719 6,792 1,705 10,913 4,452 68,374 |
657 25,683 7,157 24,707 4,600 28,842 11,870 102,263 |
1,105 31,856 5,392 15,139 4,000 12,092 13,562 61,757 |
|
| 99,502 | 106,277 | 205,779 | 144,903 | |
| 245,881 | 237,338 | 483,219 | 303,877 | |
| 207,661 38,220 |
- 237,338 |
207,661 275,558 |
161,449 142,427 |
|
| 245,881 | 237,338 | 483,219 | 303,876 | |
| Unrestricted funds £ 125,987 12,005 8,387 |
Restricted funds £ 112,491 10,752 7,818 |
2022 £ 238,478 22,757 16,205 |
2021 £ 135,071 9,465 14,438 |
|
| 146,379 | 131,061 | 277,440 | 158,974 | |
| s: | 934,441 86,956 51,980 |
617,307 43,416 76,655 |
||
| 1,073,377 | 737,378 | |||
| 35 | 32 |
8 Staff costs
The number of employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000 was 1.
30
Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
The charity averaged 35 full time earnings (FTE) staff over the year. Excluding student staff, the lowest paid basic salary was £23,112, and the highest paid basic salary was £63,038. The median basic salary was £28,225. The Executive Director pay ratio to student staff was 2.73-to-1. The gender pay gap was 25.6% and the ethnicity pay gap was 22.8%. Pay gaps are based on mean rather than median values.
| Charity pay bands are as follows: | |
|---|---|
| Band Salary, FTE (£) | |
| J | 63,038 - 73,460 |
| I | 48,942 – 55,086 |
| H | 42,171 – 46,133 |
| G | 36,360 – 40,254 |
| F | 30,872 – 34,200 |
| E | 26,281 – 29,988 |
| D | 23,122 – 25,450 |
| Student staff | 20,111 |
9 Trustees' remuneration and benefits
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the period ended 30 September 2022.
There were no trustees' expenses paid for the period ended 30 September 2022.
10 Tangible fixed assets
| Cost At 30th September 2021 Additions At 30th September 2022 Depreciation At 30th September 2021 Charge for the year At 30th September 2022 Net Book Value At 30th September 2021 At 30th September 2022 11 Debtors Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments |
2022 £ 170,771 5,317 148,182 |
Computer equipment £ 562 29,645 |
|---|---|---|
| 30,207 112 6,041 |
||
| 6,153 450 24,054 |
||
| 2021 £ 176,211 1,028 4,780 |
||
| 324,270 | 182,019 |
31
Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
12 Creditors amounts falling due within one year
| Trade creditors Social security and taxation Other creditors Accruals and deferred income Movement in funds Unrestricted fund General Restricted funds Total restricted funds (note 14) Total funds |
As at 30th September 2021 £ 215,537 341,338 |
Incoming resources £ 928,444 859,685 |
Resources expended £ (887,942) (530,118) |
2022 £ 86,805 52,789 12,724 314,846 |
2021 £ 30,928 48,609 14,243 253,195 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 467,164 | 346,975 | ||||
| Transfers £ (13,971) 13,971 |
As at 30th September 2022 £ 242,068 684,876 |
||||
| 556,875 | 1,788,129 | (1,418,060) | - | 926,944 |
13 Movement in funds
14 Movement in restricted funds
Movements for 2022
| Mock-COP/ 1.5 degrees Students for Trees Banking with Who Teach the Future Red Wolf Project Student Eats Invest for Change My World My Home Farming for Carbon Green Erasmus Green Mentors Race for Nature KM Fund Race report Farming the future Friends Provident Sunrise Hedgehog friendly campus Homes fit for studies Total |
As at 30th September 2021 £ 126,496 - 32,332 29,003 5,016 9,526 16,835 12,898 55,056 14,926 20,337 18,913 - - - - - - - |
Incoming resources £ 70,591 1,150 51,959 9,015 - 697 15,000 132,160 15,158 32,374 81,828 20,000 59,225 55,015 70,048 116,335 74,330 54,800 |
Resources expended £ (85,811) (6,257) (87,965) (15,892) - (18,316) (72,282) (1,561) (43,133) (94,666) - (1,250) (416) (50,072) (25,776) (2,168) (24,553) |
Transfers £ 5,107 7,003 1,861 |
As at 30th September 2022 £ 111,276 - 32,332 - - 9,526 17,532 9,582 114,934 28,523 9,578 6,075 20,000 57,975 54,599 19,976 90,559 72,162 30,247 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 341,338 | 859,685 | (530,118) | 13,971 | 684,876 |
The Trustees report provides further explanation of the activities of these restricted funds.
32
Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22
STUDENTS ORGANISING FOR SUSTAINABILITY NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022
Movement in restricted funds continued
| Movements for 2021 Mock-COP/ 1.5 degrees Students for Trees Banking with Who Teach the Future Red Wolf Project Student Eats Invest for Change My World My Home Farming for Carbon Green Erasmus Green Mentors Race for Nature Total |
As at 30th September 2020 25,000 3,500 65,000 23,969 - 13,651 - - - - - - |
Incoming resources £ 238,238 - - 140,717 15,886 159,886 67,486 20,247 66,080 16,355 36,330 22,794 |
Resources expended £ (136,742) - (32,668) (135,683) (10,870) (164,011) (50,651) (7,349) (11,024) (1,429) (15,993) (3,882) |
Transfers £ (3,500) |
As at 30th September 2021 £ 126,496 - 32,332 29,003 5,016 9,526 16,835 12,898 55,056 14,926 20,337 18,912 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 131,120 | 784,019 | (570,301) | (3,500) | 341,338 |
15 Related party transactions
There were no related party transactions during the year.
16 Volunteers
The charity utilises the services of volunteers whom are an integral part of the operation of the charity. The value in-kind of their free labour cannot be accurately calculated.
33
Trustees report and annual accounts 2021-22