ACHING ARMS

Registered charity 1153296 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Aching Arms provides comfort teddy bears to parents whose baby has died during pregnancy, birth or infancy. They gift bears to parents via maternity health professionals and befriending groups in the UK. The bears are used to discuss support available to parents. The charity also leads awareness training for health professionals and hosts a telephone befriending service for bereaved parents.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with a deficit of £94,906, causing expenses to outweigh income for the first time. Despite this, the trustees report that reserves remain at six months of core costs, which is in line with their stated policy and Charity Commission guidance. The charity maintains adequate resources to continue in operational existence on a going concern basis.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

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

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (97% 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: 4.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (09/09/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Donna Dunnchair
• Andrew Morris
• Melissa Barclay
• Rachel Williams
• Steve Perry
• Sundeep Kaur

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).