CAMBRIDGE ACORN PROJECT

Registered charity 1175019 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

We undertake therapeutic and structural (justice-focused) work with children and families and we work closely with other agencies, including statutory and voluntary services and schools. We are also developing a model of therapeutic community work and we offer training, advice, advocacy and supervision. We work across Cambridgeshire.

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

Latest income

£752k

Latest spending

£750k

Registered

2017

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves grew from £38,479 to £95,108 during the year, while total income increased to £752,423. The trustees report that the charity ended the year in a 'more robust financial place' following improvements to financial systems.

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

What the accounts disclose

Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Cambridge Acorn Project (matched by registered charity number).

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

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

Total income

£752k

Total spending

£750k

Cost of raising funds

£3k

Reserves (reported)

£95k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~1.5 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Dr Dave Riddick
Edmund Boggis
FIONA MARGARET NOLAN
Lisa Radcliffe
Polly Ingham-Watts
Rosie Lindsay

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

Operates in: Cambridgeshire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/08/2025	£752k	£750k
31/08/2024	£657k	£658k
31/08/2023	£438k	£435k
31/08/2022	£399k	£309k
31/08/2021	£266k	£282k

Common questions

Is CAMBRIDGE ACORN PROJECT financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves grew from £38,479 to £95,108 during the year, while total income increased to £752,423. The trustees report that the charity ended the year in a 'more robust financial place' following improvements to financial systems.

Who funds CAMBRIDGE ACORN PROJECT?

Funders whose own accounts filings name CAMBRIDGE ACORN PROJECT as a grant recipient include The Leathersellers' Foundation, THE EVELYN TRUST, HFC Help For Children UK LTD, THE BROOK TRUST, MILLS AND REEVE CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
The Leathersellers' Foundation	FY2024	£200k	ACE Charity Main Grants
THE EVELYN TRUST	FY2025	£131k	Creating and Connecting Therapeutic and Enrichment Networks across a whole school
HFC Help For Children UK LTD	FY2024	£30k
HFC Help For Children UK LTD	FY2023	£28k
THE BROOK TRUST	FY2024	£25k
MILLS AND REEVE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£11k
THE MRS SMITH AND MOUNT TRUST	FY2022	£10k	The Mount Fund - Mental Health
THE SIR BERNARD & LADY SCHREIER FOUNDATION	FY2025	£3k
THE MRS SMITH AND MOUNT TRUST	FY2023	£3k	Mount Fund - Mental Health
THE SIR BERNARD & LADY SCHREIER FOUNDATION	FY2024	£3k
THE STRANGWARD TRUST	FY2025	£2k
THE SIR BERNARD & LADY SCHREIER FOUNDATION	FY2023	£1k
THE BROOK TRUST	FY2025	£0

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	31/10/2024	£19k	Amplifying Therapeutic Community Work - Cambridgeshire
The National Lottery Community Fund	20/01/2023	£423k	Empathetic Communities Extension: Street Level Trauma Response System (SLTRS)
Sport England	28/04/2022	£9k	Jubilee Fund Enrichment Inclusion Project
Postcode Lottery	26/02/2022	£22k	Community Therapy Project
The National Lottery Community Fund	09/07/2021	£10k	Inequalities in Mental Health - COVID-19 Response
UK government	28/02/2020	£10k	UK Youth Fund YAF
The National Lottery Community Fund	19/12/2018	£341k	Empathetic Communities

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
THE BRITFORD BRIDGE TRUST	1	£36k
CRH CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£10k
THE TALISMAN CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£6k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF BRAMSHOTT AND LIPHOOK	1	£6k
THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED	1	£5k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST PAULS, CAMBERLEY	1	£3k
THE NINEVEH CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£3k
THE COLE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with ACORN PRE-SCHOOL CIO.

ACORN PRE-SCHOOL CIO income £127k
ACORN RECOVERY PROJECTS income £5.8m
CAMBRIDGESHIRE ACRE income £936k
PINPOINT CAMBRIDGESHIRE income £191k
ACORN CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION income £113k
CAMBRIDGE CYRENIANS LIMITED income £1.7m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
CAMBRIDGE ACORN PROJECT	£752k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ACORN PRE-SCHOOL CIO FY2025	£127k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
ACORN RECOVERY PROJECTS FY2025	£5.8m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
CAMBRIDGESHIRE ACRE FY2025	£936k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
PINPOINT CAMBRIDGESHIRE FY2025	£191k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ACORN CHRISTIAN FOUNDATION FY2025	£113k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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