WORLD VILLAGES FOR CHILDREN

Registered charity 1058973 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To relieve poverty suffered by children thoughout the world by providing them with food, clothing, shelter and education, including vocational training, so that they can break free from a life of poverty and despair. Educate the public concerning children and adults living in poverty and promote the advancement of religion in the charitable works undertaken.

Objects

THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ARE RESTRICTED SPECIFICALLY TO THE FOLLOWING, IN SUPPORT OF THE WORK OF THE SISTERS OF MARY IN CHILDREN?S VILLAGES, CHILD WELFARE PROGRAMMES, SCHOOLS, HEALTH CARE FACILITIES OR OTHERWISE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD, FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT: 1. THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, HARDSHIP AND DISTRESS SUFFERED BY CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD THROUGH THE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF CHILDREN'S VILLAGES FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE WITHOUT PARENTS OR GUARDIANS OR WHO AS A RESULT OF SEVERE POVERTY ARE IN NEED OF FOOD, ACCOMMODATION AND CARE; 2. THE EDUCATION AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING OF CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD; 3. THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, HARDSHIP AND DISTRESS SUFFERED BY ADULTS AND CHILDREN THROUGHOUT THE WORLD BY THE PROVISION OF MEDICAL AND WELFARE SERVICES AND THE PROVISION OF SHELTER FOR THE HOMELESS; 4. THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC CONCERNING THE WELFARE OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS LIVING IN POVERTY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF RELIGION IN ALL OR ANY OF THE CHARITABLE WORKS UNDERTAKEN; AND 5. THE PROMOTION OF SUCH CHARITABLE OBJECTS CONCERNED WITH THE WELFARE OF CHILDREN AND ADULTS SUFFERING FROM POVERTY, HARDSHIP, SICKNESS AND DISTRESS AS THE DIRECTORS SHALL, IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION, DETERMINE.

Area of benefit: WORLDWIDE

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Westminster, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated total income of £2,157,008 and incurred expenditure of £1,911,082, resulting in a net surplus for the year. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £946,404, which significantly exceeds its stated policy target of approximately £305,500, representing six months of core expenditure. The trustees confirmed that the charity is in a strong financial position with no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Kreston Reeves Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• 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

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03267479

What the charity says about itself (2024)

From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — World Villages for Children (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Sister Elena Belarmino — Chair (source)
• Sister Maria Cho — Chair (source)
• John Graham — Trustee (source)
• Nicola Lawson — Trustee (source)
• Sister Margarita Campos Abeja — Trustee (source)
• Clare Bamberger — Trustee (source)
• Father Fretch Ballesteros — Trustee (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• The Big Give — “In 2025, you helped to raise funds through the Big Give Christmas Challenge to purchase new science textbooks for the girls of Brasilia Girl…” (source page)

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• BALLESTEROS, Fretch, Father — director, appointed 07/08/2023not on trustee list
• ABEJA, Margarita Campos, Sister — director, appointed 06/07/2023on trustee list
• BAMBERGER, Clare Jessica — director, appointed 11/07/2019on trustee list
• GRAHAM, John Martin — director, appointed 18/04/2019on trustee list
• BELARMINO, Elena, Sister — director, appointed 08/07/2016on trustee list
• CHO, Duk Lim — director, appointed 08/07/2016on trustee list
• LAWSON, Nicola Jane — director, appointed 08/07/2016on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.7 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 15.9% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (04/11/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Clare Jessica Bamberger
• Duk Lim Cho
• Elena Grengia Belarmino
• Father Fretch Ballesteros SDV
• JOHN MARTIN GRAHAM · trustee of 1 other charity
• Nicola Lawson
• Sister Margarita Campos Abeja

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

Operates in: Brazil · Guatemala · Honduras · Mexico · Philippines · Tanzania

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE WORLD CHILDREN'S FUND.

• THE WORLD CHILDREN'S FUND income £927k
• NETWORK FOR A BETTER WORLD income £42k
• GIVING WORLD income £212k
• WORLD WIDE WELFARE (WWW) income £111k
• GIVE. HELP. SHARE. income £243k
• WORLD RESTORATION MINISTRIES income £391k

Side by side with its peers

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