THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 235703 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To encourage devotion to St Therese of Lisieux and to spread knowledge of her spirituality of love and trust in God our Father. To raise funds to help the missionary work of the Catholic Church overseas especially projects for the poor, sick, deprived and marginalised.

Causes: The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£4.4m

Latest spending

£3.6m

Registered

1964

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total funds increased to £10,852,727, with unrestricted reserves standing at £10,565,759. The trustees report that the charity's activities are dependent on uncertain funding streams, yet they maintain that the going concern basis is appropriate. The charity holds significant liquid assets, including over £6.4 million in current asset investments.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: twelve months of average expenditure (held: £10.6m)

“The charity aims to achieve a level of reserves to approximately a minimum of twelve months of average expenditure.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Going concern: noted by the trustees or auditor

“The charitable activities are entirely dependent on continuing grant aid and voluntary donations as well as trading revenues. As a consequence, the going concern basis is dependent on the future flow of these uncertain funding streams.” — page 21

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by MG Audit Services Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2024) → going-concern doubt noted (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

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

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

Total income

£4.4m

Total spending

£3.6m

Cost of raising funds

£23k

Reserves (reported)

£10.6m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~35.7 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (15/03/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

David Joseph O'Brien
Dennis James Charlick
PETER JOHN BEYNON

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

Operates in: Argentina · Bangladesh · Brazil · Burkina Faso · Burma · Cambodia · Cameroon · Colombia · Congo (Democratic Republic) · Ecuador · Egypt · El Salvador

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/08/2025	£4.4m	£3.6m
31/08/2024	£3.7m	£3.3m
31/08/2023	£3.3m	£3.3m
31/08/2022	£2.2m	£3.6m
31/08/2021	£3.3m	£3.4m

Common questions

Is THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total funds increased to £10,852,727, with unrestricted reserves standing at £10,565,759. The trustees report that the charity's activities are dependent on uncertain funding streams, yet they maintain that the going concern basis is appropriate. The charity holds significant liquid assets, including over £6.4 million in current asset investments. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by MG Audit Services Limited.

Who funds THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION as a grant recipient include SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CIO, THE HOMESTEAD CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CIO	FY2025	£10k	to support their charitable activities
SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CIO	FY2024	£5k	to support their charitable activities
SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CIO	FY2023	£5k	to support their charitable activities
SISTERS OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION CIO	FY2022	£5k	to support their charitable activities
THE HOMESTEAD CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£1k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE LITTLE CHARITY.

THE LITTLE CHARITY income £111k
THE SISTERS OF THE POOR CHILD JESUS income £295k
LITTLE SISTERS OF THE ASSUMPTION CHARITABLE TRUST income £273k
LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY CONGREGATION CIO income £2.6m
LITTLE GIVING income £641k
INSTITUTE OF THE RELIGIOUS OF THE SACRED HEART OF MARY IMMACULATE VIRGIN income £1.3m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE LITTLE WAY ASSOCIATION	£4.4m	—	unclear	—	noted
THE LITTLE CHARITY FY2025	£111k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE SISTERS OF THE POOR CHILD JESUS FY2025	£295k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
LITTLE SISTERS OF THE ASSUMPTION CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025	£273k	—	above	—	no doubt
LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY CONGREGATION CIO FY2025	£2.6m	—	unclear	—	no doubt
LITTLE GIVING FY2024	£641k	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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