TEACH FIRST
Registered charity 1098294 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
Teach First is a charity working for equality of education throughout England and Wales. In order to work towards this the charity is building a movement of leaders who are changing lives within classrooms, schools and across society.
Causes: Education/training · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity returned to an underlying operating surplus in 2024/25 after restructuring costs, though a total deficit was reported due to non-recurring expenses. Per the trustees' report, free reserves of £5.8m are currently below the stated policy target range of £9.4m to £14.1m, but the Board is confident in the charity's ability to continue operating effectively into the foreseeable future.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Trading subsidiary: Teach First Trading Limited
“Teach First has one subsidiary company, Teach First Trading Limited.” — page 22
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Grant Thornton UK LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Teach First (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- James Toop — CEO (source)
- Maurice Helfgott — Chair (source)
- Emily Commander — Executive Director of People & Governance (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.
Public-sector contracts awarded
From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.
UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)
Property (HM Land Registry)
4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold); recorded price paid £864k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Trustpilot: Teach First scores 2.5/5 from 5 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (31,056 likes) · instagram (17K followers)
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£1.8m
Reported reserves equal ~1.3 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (90% 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: 3.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is TEACH FIRST financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity returned to an underlying operating surplus in 2024/25 after restructuring costs, though a total deficit was reported due to non-recurring expenses. Per the trustees' report, free reserves of £5.8m are currently below the stated policy target range of £9.4m to £14.1m, but the Board is confident in the charity's ability to continue operating effectively into the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Grant Thornton UK LLP.
Who funds TEACH FIRST?
Funders whose own accounts filings name TEACH FIRST as a grant recipient include AKO FOUNDATION, HUO FAMILY FOUNDATION (UK) LIMITED, THE JORDAN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION, MISSION44.
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 TEACH2TEACH INTERNATIONAL.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.