PILOTLIGHT
Registered charity 1059660 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as PILOT LIGHT · also registered in Scotland as SC038844 (OSCR)
Pilotlight manages teams of senior business people to coach charities through the process of building measureably more sustainable efficient organisations.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts
The accounts state that the charity concluded the year with a positive out-turn, reporting total income of £1,708,797 against costs of £1,705,129. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves increased to £803,565, which the charity considers to be in line with its policy target of six months of running costs. The auditors confirmed that the financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified.
Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Charitable activities (86% of income)
“In 2024 grants make up around 28% of our total income with member donations and corporate income being our primary source of income. Our total income was £1,708,797.” — page 8
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: around 6 months of running costs (held: £804k)
“The Reserves Policy sets out that the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets (‘the free reserves’) held by the charity should as a target be around 6 months of running costs.” — page 10
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Hartley Fowler LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Pilotlight (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Iana Petkova — Interim CEO (source)
- Alison Forrestal — Chair of Trustees (source)
- Mei Li Powell — Vice Chair of Trustees (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).
- Barclays — “We've partnered with Barclays for more than 15 years, developing programmes that enhance staff skills while helping charities tackle strateg…” (source page)
- Morgan Stanley — “For more than 10 years Morgan Stanley has partnered with Pilotlight to develop pro bono support programmes for their employees across London…” (source page)
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)
Cost of raising funds
£36k
Reported reserves equal ~5.7 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (86% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- Alison Mary FORRESTALchair
- Amanda Louise Rothwell
- Anna Moulton · trustee of 1 other charity
- David Wilkinson
- Finia Kuhlmann
- Gareth Simpson · trustee of 1 other charity
- Kate Cramer
- Katherine Theresa Stewart Mathieson
- Mei Li Powell
- Nicola Loraine Pye
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is PILOTLIGHT financially healthy?
Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity concluded the year with a positive out-turn, reporting total income of £1,708,797 against costs of £1,705,129. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves increased to £803,565, which the charity considers to be in line with its policy target of six months of running costs. The auditors confirmed that the financial statements were prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Hartley Fowler LLP.
Who funds PILOTLIGHT?
Funders whose own accounts filings name PILOTLIGHT as a grant recipient include GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION, MIVA FOUNDATION, SODEXO STOP HUNGER FOUNDATION.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
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 LANTERN OF LIGHT.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.