Charity Accounts Intelreading the accounts so you don’t have to

SENTEBALE

Registered charity 1113544 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The principal activity of the charity is to raise funds and awareness, and to distribute money for the specific charitable purposes of supporting orphaned and vulnerable children in Lesotho and elsewhere.

Causes: 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

Latest income
£3.3m
Latest spending
£5.0m
Registered
2006
Accounts read
FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that free unrestricted reserves were £232,000 at the year-end, which is below the previous policy target of £225,000 but reflects a significant decrease from the prior year's £929,000. The charity reported a deficit of £1.632 million for the 16-month period, driven by reduced event income and high fundraising costs, though it notes that institutional funding remains strong. The trustees confirm the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, projecting cash in excess of £300,000 by December 2026.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: one quarter of forecast unrestricted expenditure (held: £232k)
“Under the previous policy, which was to hold free reserves equal to one quarter of forecast unrestricted expenditure, the target level of free reserves for 2025 would have been set at £225k.” — page 46
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Payments to trustees: An amount is payable to one current Trustees for past services to the charity prior to his appointment as a trustee of the charity of £66,000.
“An amount is payable to one current Trustees for past services to the charity prior to his appointment as a trustee of £66,000 (2023: £0).” — page 62
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Nandi Life Sciences LLC: Donations received via AFoS (amount not explicitly separated in table but listed under AFoS total or implied in text as donor via AFoS).
“Nandi Life Sciences LLC was a donor via AFoS to the benefit of Sentebale during the reporting period” — page 67
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Governance: Regulator engagement: UK Charity Commission compliance review concluded August 2025.
“This year, Sentebale has emerged stronger from thorough engagement with the UK Charity Commission, welcoming the August 2025 conclusion of its compliance review” — page 5
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Sentebale (matched by registered charity number).

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Total income
£3.3m
Total spending
£5.0m
Cost of raising funds
£554k
Reserves (reported)
£232k
Employees
125

Reported reserves equal ~0.6 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (51% 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: 16.6% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Botswana · Lesotho

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2024£3.3m£5.0m
31/08/2023£3.4m£3.8m
31/08/2022£4.5m£3.6m
31/08/2021£3.1m£3.0m
31/08/2020£2.4m£2.8m

Common questions

Is SENTEBALE financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that free unrestricted reserves were £232,000 at the year-end, which is below the previous policy target of £225,000 but reflects a significant decrease from the prior year's £929,000. The charity reported a deficit of £1.632 million for the 16-month period, driven by reduced event income and high fundraising costs, though it notes that institutional funding remains strong. The trustees confirm the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, projecting cash in excess of £300,000 by December 2026. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP.

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
THE PA FOUNDATION1£57k
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATION1£53k
ENFIELD BAPTIST CHURCH1£22k
BUSH HILL PARK UNITED REFORMED CHURCH1£80

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with S.E.N.T.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
SENTEBALE£3.3m——unclear—no doubt
S.E.N.T FY2025£271k—0below—no doubt
SADEH FY2025£210k—0above—no doubt
THE SAM AND BELLA SEBBA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION FY2025£1.4m£90,001 - £100,0001unclear—no doubt
SELLATA LIMITED FY2026£158k—0above—no doubt
SABEEL FOUNDATION FY2025£378k—0unclear—no doubt

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