THE BORN FREE FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1070906 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BORN FREE, THE BORN FREE FOUNDATION LIMITED

Animal welfare and wildlife conservation and related education

Causes: Education/training · Animals · Environment/conservation/heritage · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity achieved a total income of £7.7 million and generated an operating surplus of £0.4 million for the year ended 31 March 2025. Free reserves stood at £4.881 million, which is slightly above the trustees' stated target range of £4.6 million to £4.8 million, providing financial security for future plans.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Saffery LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Born Free Foundation (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Will Travers OBE — Executive President (source)
• Karen Botha — Managing Director (source)
• Sharon Martin — Chief Finance Officer (source)
• Katie Arber — Director of Fundraising (source)
• Helen Bushell — Director of Programmes (source)
• Virginia McKenna — Co-Founder and 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).

• Animal Friends — “Animal Friends supports Born Free’s core work, including protecting wild animals, funding vital conservation projects in Africa, championing…” (source page)
• LIVE.TEAM — “LIVE.TEAM supports Born Free’s human-wildlife conflict mitigation initiatives, including beehive fencing to protect elephants and boost far…” (source page)
• British Airways Holidays — “British Airways Holidays supported the rehoming of Tsar and Jamil from Ukraine to South Africa and funded their first three years of care at…” (source page)
• Vintage Roots — “Vintage Roots supports Born Free’s core work, including wildlife conservation projects, the rescue and care of animals in need including Kin…” (source page)
• Juice — “Juice donate a percentage of profits from their Animals range to support Born Free’s global mission, contributing to wildlife conservation, …” (source page)
• Deerfoot Recruitment — “Deerfoot Recruitment has committed to donating £1 to Born Free each time they send a candidate’s CV to a recruiting client. Through this in…” (source page)
• Nuchu — “Nuchu donates €1 from every jar of their health gummies sold to fund veterinary care and lifelong support for animals at Born Free sanctuari…” (source page)
• Altamura Distilleries — “Altamura Distilleries is a global partner of Born Free, united by the shared symbolism of the lion. Through corporate donations, fundraising…” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 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 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~8.2 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 27.2% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (16/12/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Michael John Reynerchair · trustee of 3 other charities
• Andrew Mura Muiruri
• Arabella Lack
• JENNY SEAGROVE · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jessica Montgomery-Ruben
• MICHAEL DRAKE
• Navindu Katugampola · trustee of 3 other charities
• Nicky Whitehead
• Sean Daniel Cassidy
• Sharon Peake
• Tracey Greaves

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

Operates in: Australia · Belgium · Burkina Faso · Cambodia · Cameroon · Canada · Central African Republic · Congo (Democratic Republic) · Ethiopia · France · Greece · Guinea

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 WILDLIFE AID FOUNDATION.

• THE WILDLIFE AID FOUNDATION income £2.0m
• THE WILDLIFE HOSPITAL FOUNDATION income £2.9m
• LABORATORY ANIMALS LIMITED income £250k
• NATURE'S SAFE income £181k
• ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BURY OLDHAM AND DISTRICT BRANCH income £1.0m
• Carla Lane Animals In Need income £1.2m

Side by side with its peers

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