BRITISH HUMANIST ASSOCIATION

Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
The British Humanist Association (Humanists UK) promotes Humanism and supports and represents people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs. Humanists UK provides educational resources on Humanism and humanist funerals and other ceremonies, and campaigns against religious privilege and discrimination on grounds of religion or belief.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 December 2023
Total income:
£3,379,251
Donations and legacies | £1.88m | |
Charitable activities | £1.47m | |
Other trading activities | £0 | |
Investments | £28.01k | |
Other | £0 |
Total expenditure:
£3,180,895
Raising funds | £222.65k | |
Charitable activities | £2.96m | |
Other | £0 |
£61,561 investments gains (losses)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
Raising funds and other expenditure | £222.65k | |
Charitable expenditure | £2.96m | |
Retained for future use | £198.36k |
Raising funds and other expenditure | £222.65k | |
Charitable expenditure | £2.96m | |
Retained for future use | £259.92k |
People

39 Employee(s)
15 Trustee(s)
322 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees | |
---|---|
£60k to £70k | 6 |
£110k to £120k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity
- Other Charitable Purposes
- The General Public/mankind
- Provides Human Resources
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Other Charitable Activities
- Throughout England And Wales
- Guernsey
- Isle Of Man
- Jersey
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
Governance
- 17 January 1983: Standard registration
- 18 October 2023: Funds received from 1041361 SOUTH LONDON HUMANISTS
- HUMANISTS UK (Working name)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management policy and procedures
- Investing charity funds policy and procedures
- Investment
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Social media policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Trustee expenses policy and procedures
- Volunteer management
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
15 Trustee(s)
Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Neil Grant Hawkins | Chair | 09 July 2022 |
|
|||||||
Professor Clive Coen | Trustee | 31 January 2025 |
|
|
||||||
Tamar Ghosh | Trustee | 16 June 2024 |
|
|
||||||
Amy Walden | Trustee | 16 June 2024 |
|
|
||||||
Roland Arthur Davis | Trustee | 11 June 2023 |
|
|
||||||
Dr John Olusegun Adenitire | Trustee | 11 June 2023 |
|
|
||||||
Kate West | Trustee | 11 June 2023 |
|
|
||||||
Andrew Russell | Trustee | 26 June 2022 |
|
|
||||||
Professor Simon Walker-Samuel | Trustee | 26 June 2022 |
|
|
||||||
Charley Jarrett | Trustee | 26 June 2022 |
|
|||||||
David Iain Deboys | Trustee | 11 July 2020 |
|
|
||||||
Neil McKain | Trustee | 11 July 2020 |
|
|
||||||
Ruth Anne KAUFMAN OBE | Trustee | 23 June 2019 |
|
|||||||
Emma Shepherd | Trustee | 23 June 2019 |
|
|
||||||
Ann O'Connell | Trustee | 25 June 2018 |
|
|
Financial history
Financial period end date
Income / Expenditure | 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2020 | 31/12/2021 | 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total gross income | £2.67m | £3.20m | £2.69m | £2.61m | £3.38m | |
|
Total expenditure | £2.64m | £2.21m | £2.32m | £2.69m | £3.18m | |
|
Income from government contracts | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
|
Income from government grants | N/A | N/A | £14.32k | N/A | N/A | |
|
Income - Donations and legacies | £1.40m | £1.99m | £1.37m | £1.30m | £1.88m | |
|
Income - Other trading activities | £14.89k | £240 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Income - Charitable activities | £1.25m | £1.21m | £1.30m | £1.30m | £1.47m | |
|
Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Income - Investment | £4.31k | £2.41k | £8.54k | £8.43k | £28.01k | |
|
Income - Other | £0 | £0 | £14.32k | £0 | £0 | |
|
Income - Legacies | £602.87k | £893.95k | £542.99k | £302.69k | £810.02k | |
|
Expenditure - Charitable activities | £2.44m | £2.03m | £2.14m | £2.48m | £2.96m | |
|
Expenditure - Raising funds | £195.13k | £173.56k | £183.02k | £217.07k | £222.65k | |
|
Expenditure - Governance | £15.05k | £11.13k | £10.27k | £13.33k | £12.78k | |
|
Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Expenditure - Investment management | £5.13k | £2.24k | £3.27k | £3.89k | £3.81k | |
|
Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
Asset / Liability | 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2020 | 31/12/2021 | 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Own use assets | £31.22k | £19.57k | £8.90k | £1.81k | £6.77k | |
|
Long-term investments | £725.36k | £1.65m | £2.07m | £2.02m | £2.10m | |
|
Other assets | £1.09m | £1.10m | £1.05m | £990.13k | £1.23m | |
|
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Total liabilities | £178.32k | £104.63k | £83.75k | £103.81k | £173.27k |
Accounts and annual returns
Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Annual return | 31 December 2023 | 01 August 2024 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2023 | 01 August 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 December 2022 | 10 October 2023 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2022 | 10 October 2023 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 December 2021 | 03 August 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2021 | 03 August 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 December 2020 | 16 September 2021 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2020 | 16 September 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 December 2019 | 12 August 2020 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2019 | 12 August 2020 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Governing document
It is not the full text of the charity's governing document.
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 14/03/1928 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 23/10/1982 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 12/07/1997 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 23/07/2011 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 14/07/2012 AS REGISTERED AT COMPANIES HOUSE ON 10/12/2012 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 08 JUL 2017
Charitable objects
4.1.1. THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUMANISM, NAMELY A NON-RELIGIOUS ETHICAL LIFESTANCE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF WHICH ARE A COMMITMENT TO HUMAN WELLBEING AND A RELIANCE ON REASON, EXPERIENCE AND A NATURALISTIC VIEW OF THE WORLD; 4.1.2. THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND IN PARTICULAR THE STUDY OF AND THE DISSEMINATION OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HUMANISM AND ABOUT THE ARTS AND SCIENCE AS THEY RELATE TO HUMANISM; 4.1.3. THE PROMOTION OF EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION AND THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AS DEFINED IN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENTS TO WHICH THE UNITED KINGDOM IS PARTY, IN EACH CASE IN PARTICULAR AS RELATES TO RELIGION AND BELIEF; 4.1.4. THE PROMOTION OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN PEOPLE HOLDING RELIGIOUS AND NON-RELIGIOUS BELIEFS SO AS TO ADVANCE HARMONIOUS COOPERATION IN SOCIETY. 4.2. TO DO ALL SUCH OTHER LAWFUL THINGS AS ARE CONDUCIVE OR INCIDENTAL TO FURTHERING OR ADVANCING ANY OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED OBJECTS
Area of benefit
NOT DEFINED
Contact information
- Address:
-
HUMANISTS UK
39 MORELAND STREET
LONDON
EC1V 8BB
- Phone:
- 02073243066
- Email:
- andrew@humanism.org.uk
Tell us whether you accept cookies
We use cookies to collect information about how you use your Charity Commission Account, such as pages you visit.
We use this information to better understand how you use our website so that we can improve your user experience and present more relevant content.
Thank you for your feedback. Do you have 5 minutes to tell us what you think of this service?Open in new window