THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION

Registered charity 268369 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5074455 · Wikipedia · also known as CAF, GAYE, GIVE AS YOU EARN

The Charities Aid Foundation exists to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all. We work at the centre of the giving world, to drive greater and more impactful giving through tailored, innovative and strategic services for individual and corporate donors, and to help social purpose organisations to build their resilience and do more of their life-changing work

Objects

TO BENEFIT ANY CHARITABLE INSTITUTION, TO USE ITS FUNDS FOR ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSES WHERESOEVER IN THE WORLD.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL AND OVERSEAS

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Tonbridge and Malling, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£1390.6m

Latest spending

£1231.3m

Registered

1974

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the group reported total income of £1.39 billion and net income after tax of £162.8 million for the year ended 30 April 2025. The trustees confirm that the group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least twelve months from the date of signing, with no material uncertainties identified regarding going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: Reserves and Capital Policy (held: £115.2m)

“CAF defines capital risk as the risk that the group (or its entities) does not have the amount and/or quality of reserves or capital needed to meet the requirement of the relevant Reserves and Capital Policy”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: CAF paid £1.6m to NCVO for representation of charity interests.

“Donations payable to charities includes £1.6m payable to NCVO for the period 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025 as part of our ongoing commitment, which is payable in support of their representation of the interests of charities.” — page 63

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Financial Conduct Authority. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2025

Volunteers: 30
Employees paid over £60,000: 193 (£60,001–£70,000: 67; £70,001–£80,000: 31; £80,001–£90,000: 32; £90,001–£100,000: 14; £100,001–£110,000: 12; £110,001–£120,000: 11; £120,001–£130,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 3; £140,001–£150,000: 4; £150,001–£200,000: 9; £200,001–£250,000: 2; £250,001–£300,000: 4; £300,001–£350,000: 2)
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2024

Volunteers: 30
Government income: £233,000 — grants £233,000 (1); under 1% of the £1,194,823,000 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 134 (£60,001–£70,000: 43; £70,001–£80,000: 31; £80,001–£90,000: 16; £90,001–£100,000: 11; £100,001–£110,000: 10; £110,001–£120,000: 2; £120,001–£130,000: 2; £130,001–£140,000: 2; £140,001–£150,000: 2; £150,001–£200,000: 9; £200,001–£250,000: 3; £250,001–£300,000: 1; £300,001–£350,000: 1; £350,001–£400,000: 1)
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2023

Volunteers: 30
Government income: £75,000 — grants £75,000 (1); under 1% of the £1,147,196,000 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 108 (£60,001–£70,000: 46; £70,001–£80,000: 19; £80,001–£90,000: 9; £90,001–£100,000: 8; £100,001–£110,000: 6; £110,001–£120,000: 1; £120,001–£130,000: 3; £130,001–£140,000: 2; £140,001–£150,000: 2; £150,001–£200,000: 7; £200,001–£250,000: 3; £250,001–£300,000: 1; £400,001–£450,000: 1)
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — GlastHOMEbury 2020 (matched by registered charity number).

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (15,695 likes) · instagram (6,096 followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/04/2025)

Total income

£1390.6m

Total spending

£1231.3m

Reserves (reported)

£115.2m

Employees

768

Reported reserves equal ~1.1 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (05/06/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (27/04/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (14/07/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (13/06/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (25/04/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (17/09/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Jackie Leiper
MEREDITH NILES · trustee of 5 other charities
Michael St John Ashley · trustee of 1 other charity
Nicholas Caplan
Owen Pringle
Robert Vogtle
Sabine Everaet
Sir Edward Charles Braham

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

Operates in: Canada · Throughout England And Wales · United States

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/04/2025	£1390.6m	£1231.3m
30/04/2024	£1194.8m	£1160.6m
30/04/2023	£1147.2m	£1048.7m
30/04/2022	£1044.3m	£920.5m
30/04/2021	£1008.5m	£931.1m

Common questions

Is THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the group reported total income of £1.39 billion and net income after tax of £162.8 million for the year ended 30 April 2025. The trustees confirm that the group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least twelve months from the date of signing, with no material uncertainties identified regarding going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Who funds THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include SOUTHAMPTON ROW TRUST LIMITED, UBS UK Donor-Advised Foundation, THE MASTER CHARITABLE TRUST, CHK Foundation, THE MAURICE AND HILDA LAING CHARITABLE TRUST.

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

MEREDITH NILES — trustee here and at SOUTHAMPTON ROW TRUST LIMITED

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
SOUTHAMPTON ROW TRUST LIMITED	FY2025	£2.7m	General purposes
UBS UK Donor-Advised Foundation	FY2021	£2.6m
THE MASTER CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£1.8m
SOUTHAMPTON ROW TRUST LIMITED	FY2025	£456k	Credit of similar donor advised funds held by CAF
CHK Foundation	FY2022	£225k	Grants to charitable institutions
CHK Foundation	FY2023	£180k
THE MAURICE AND HILDA LAING CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£138k	Distribution of 34 grants (25 of £1,000 to churches for Warm Spaces)
THE ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION	FY2023	£126k
THE MAURICE AND HILDA LAING CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£125k	Miscellaneous
THE MAURICE AND HILDA LAING CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£80k	Miscellaneous
THE KIRBY LAING FOUNDATION	FY2023	£45k	Miscellaneous
THE CHRISTOPHER LAING FOUNDATION	FY2024	£35k
CHK Foundation	FY2024	£30k
THE KIRBY LAING FOUNDATION	FY2022	£25k	Miscellaneous
THE ECONOMIST CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£22k	Staff matching
THE MARTIN LAING FOUNDATION	FY2022	£20k	Social Welfare
CHK Foundation	FY2023	£11k
BARNSBURY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£5k	Grant
BARNSBURY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£5k
THE CADBURY FOUNDATION	FY2021	£5k	Colleague Passions
THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN VOLUNTARY ACTION	FY2025	£5k
THE ALLEN OVERY SHEARMAN STERLING FOUNDATION	FY2024	£5k
BARNSBURY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£2k
SUE HAMMERSON CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£900	Healthcare and Relief of Poverty
WHITE DESERT FOUNDATION	FY2026	£378	Grant funding of activities
CARE FOR UGANDA	FY2021	£125	Specified support projects
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF SAINT MARY'S, SUNBURY-ON-THAMES	FY2025	£100
SUE HAMMERSON CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	amount not stated	Healthcare and Relief of Poverty
THE MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	FY2022	amount not stated	Charities Aid foundation
BARNSBURY CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	amount not stated

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
UK government	28/09/2020	£10.0m	CMC - Charities Aid Foundation (1)
UK government	28/09/2020	£10.0m	CMC - Charities Aid Foundation (2)
The National Lottery Community Fund	08/01/2019	£50k	Laying the Groundwork for Local Civil Society Sustainability

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
Founders Pledge Ltd	1	£6.5m
EFFECTIVE VENTURES FOUNDATION	1	£1.0m
PAUL HAMLYN FOUNDATION	1	£200k
THE EDGAR E LAWLEY FOUNDATION	1	£2k
THE COMMUNITY OF THE RESURRECTION	1	£1k

Charities like this

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

CHARITY TAX GROUP income £250k
HUMAN AID FOUNDATION income £344k
GLOBAL AID CARE income £396k
MY FOUNDATION income £430k
MENTAL AID LTD income £57k
CHRISTIAN AID income £71.4m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE CHARITIES AID FOUNDATION	£1390.6m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
CHARITY TAX GROUP FY2025	£250k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
HUMAN AID FOUNDATION FY2025	£344k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
GLOBAL AID CARE FY2025	£396k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
MY FOUNDATION FY2025	£430k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
MENTAL AID LTD FY2025	£57k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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