THE SHM FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1126568 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The SHM Foundation works globally to bring about positive social change through projects in the areas of learning and citizenship, health, education and the arts with the aim to provide communities and individuals with the practical tools they need to develop innovative solutions. It uses knowledge from the humanities and social sciences to understand human motivation to address social challenges.

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

Latest income

£1.0m

Latest spending

£986k

Registered

2008

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £581,514, which the trustees consider sufficient to cover 10-12 months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The charity reported a net deficit of £8,128 for the year, with total income of £908,509 and total expenditure of £916,637. The balance sheet shows net current assets of £972,695, indicating adequate liquidity to meet short-term liabilities.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: SHM Productions Limited (50% of income)

“We received donations of £422,807.25 from SHM Productions Limited.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £582k; policy: approximately 10-12 months of unrestricted charitable expenditure)

“There is £259,742.44 in the Savings account. The Trustees have decided to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds in the Savings account at a level which equates to approximately 10-12 months of unrestricted charitable expenditure.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "above" (FY2023) to "below" (FY2024).

Comparing this charity’s FY2023 and FY2024 accounts as analysed by this site.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Total income

£1.0m

Total spending

£986k

Reserves (reported)

£357k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~4.4 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (100% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Professor Henrietta Moore DBEchair · trustee of 1 other charity
Maurice Biriotti · trustee of 1 other charity
Sarah Fidler

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

Operates in: City Of London · Coventry City · East Sussex · Ecuador · Guatemala · Hampshire · Indonesia · Kent · Kenya · Mexico · Pakistan · Sierra Leone

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/08/2025	£1.0m	£986k
31/08/2024	£909k	£917k
31/08/2023	£991k	£847k
31/08/2022	£739k	£739k
31/08/2021	£741k	£578k

Common questions

Is THE SHM FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £581,514, which the trustees consider sufficient to cover 10-12 months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The charity reported a net deficit of £8,128 for the year, with total income of £908,509 and total expenditure of £916,637. The balance sheet shows net current assets of £972,695, indicating adequate liquidity to meet short-term liabilities. Its FY2024 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds THE SHM FOUNDATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SHM FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include TELLES FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
TELLES FOUNDATION	FY2023	£60k	Improvement of education and employment opportunities for young people

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
ONE FOOTSTEP	1	£25k
BONAMY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£7k
The Ethos Foundation	1	£5k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with SUMERIAN FOUNDATION.

SUMERIAN FOUNDATION income £417k
SMS FOUNDATION income £229k
THE FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS income £6.4m
THE SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION income £1.1m
THE SHANTA FOUNDATION income £736k
SHAHCIRCLE FOUNDATION income £242k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE SHM FOUNDATION	£1.0m	—	0	below	—	no doubt
SUMERIAN FOUNDATION FY2024	£417k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
SMS FOUNDATION FY2025	£229k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS FY2025	£6.4m	£139,818	—	within	—	no doubt
THE SOCIAL MARKET FOUNDATION FY2025	£1.1m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SHANTA FOUNDATION FY2025	£736k	—	0	unclear	—	noted

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