BALLOON VENTURES FOUNDATION LTD

Registered charity 1141552 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as KENYA WORKS

BVF and its wholly owned subsidiary Balloon Ventures ltd are dedicated to the relief of poverty and hardship in developing countries initially focusing on Kenya and Uganda. We provide support, training and loan finance to small businesses to help them grow and create good jobs. In Kenya we also support an orphanage in Busia.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Economic/community Development/employment · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · Get email alerts

Latest income

£2.3m

Latest spending

£1.0m

Registered

2011

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total funds increased to £4,124,409, with unrestricted reserves at £188,054. The charity operates a trading subsidiary, Balloon Ventures Limited, which generated £1,525,023 in income. The trustees confirmed the group is a going concern with adequate resources for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: such reserves as the trustees consider necessary (held: £188k)

“The charity retains such reserves as the trustees consider necessary in order to sustain its ongoing charitable activities, having regard to the level of donations and grants received.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Distribution from subsidiary

“During the year the charity received distributions of £519,380 (2024: £nil) from Balloon Ventures Limited, its wholly owned subsidiary.” — page 6

“The outstanding balance owed by Balloon Ventures Limited to the charity at the end of the year was £1,349,634 (2024: £343,810).” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Outstanding balance owed by subsidiary

“During the year the charity received distributions of £519,380 (2024: £nil) from Balloon Ventures Limited, its wholly owned subsidiary.” — page 6

“The outstanding balance owed by Balloon Ventures Limited to the charity at the end of the year was £1,349,634 (2024: £343,810).” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Kreston Reeves Audit LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — BALLOON VENTURES FOUNDATION LTD (matched by registered charity number).

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income

£2.3m

Total spending

£1.0m

Reserves (reported)

£4.1m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~47.5 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (67% 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

MELINDA PHILLIPS
PRABHAY JOSHI
William smith

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

Operates in: Chile · Kenya · Scotland · Uganda

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£2.3m	£1.0m
31/03/2024	£2.1m	£1.1m
31/03/2023	£1.4m	£707k
31/03/2022	£641k	£527k
31/03/2021	£686k	£542k

Common questions

Is BALLOON VENTURES FOUNDATION LTD financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total funds increased to £4,124,409, with unrestricted reserves at £188,054. The charity operates a trading subsidiary, Balloon Ventures Limited, which generated £1,525,023 in income. The trustees confirmed the group is a going concern with adequate resources for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Kreston Reeves 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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
ALLAN AND NESTA FERGUSON CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	2	£30k
BLISS FAMILY CHARITY	1	£82k
THE IAN AND CLARE MATTIOLI CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£68k
THE PA FOUNDATION	1	£57k
THE HEADLEY TRUST	1	£57k
HALCROW FOUNDATION	1	£57k
THE PERMIRA FOUNDATION	1	£53k
THE VIRGIN MONEY FOUNDATION	1	£30k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with COMMUNITY VENTURES (MIDDLESBROUGH) LTD.

COMMUNITY VENTURES (MIDDLESBROUGH) LTD income £949k
THE POINT FOUNDATION income £102k
AFRICAN ADVENTURES FOUNDATION income £331k
THE LANCASHIRE FOUNDATION income £956k
MICROLOAN FOUNDATION income £5.6m
THE VENTURE (WREXHAM) LIMITED income £670k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
BALLOON VENTURES FOUNDATION LTD	£2.3m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
COMMUNITY VENTURES (MIDDLESBROUGH) LTD FY2025	£949k	—	0	above	—	noted
THE POINT FOUNDATION FY2025	£102k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
AFRICAN ADVENTURES FOUNDATION FY2025	£331k	—	0	within	—	no doubt
THE LANCASHIRE FOUNDATION FY2024	£956k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
MICROLOAN FOUNDATION FY2024	£5.6m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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