THE BUSOGA TRUST

Registered charity 288388 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Busoga Trust is a UK based, Christian charity which has as its principal aims the raising of money for water development projects in the rural areas of Uganda with a major emphasis on sanitation and health education.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Overseas Aid/famine Relief · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£737k

Latest spending

£733k

Registered

1983

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £3,862 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in total unrestricted reserves of £57,412. The trustees consider reserves in the range of £100,000 - £150,000 to be appropriate, indicating that current reserves are below the stated policy target. The going concern assessment confirms adequate resources for the foreseeable future with no material uncertainties.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: £100,000 - £150,000 (held: £57k)

“the trustees consider that reserves in the range of £100,000 - £150,000 are appropriate which would represent 2-3 months of operating expenditure.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: Rev Andrew Pearson received £26,250 for fundraising services.

“Included within staff costs is £26,250 (2024: £25,000) for salary paid to Rev Andrew Pearson, in respect of services rendered for fundraising work undertaken.” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Donations from trustees

“During the year the group received aggregate donations of £8,720 (2024: £1,820) from trustees.” — page 36

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: The Busoga Trust

“The charity, by virtue of common trustees, controls The Busoga Trust, a non-governmental organisation (registration number S5914/3078) in Uganda.” — page 8

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

Icelandic Embassy — “Partners: Icelandic Embassy” (source page)

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

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

Total income

£677k

Total spending

£733k

Cost of raising funds

£26k

Reserves (reported)

£57k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~0.9 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 (96% 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: 3.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Anthony Sharp
Dr Jennifer Margaret Freeman
Jonathan Franklin · trustee of 1 other charity
Rev ANDREW GEORGE CAMPBELL PEARSON · trustee of 1 other charity
Rob Smith

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

Operates in: Uganda

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£737k	£733k
31/03/2024	£773k	£832k
31/03/2023	£1.1m	£1.1m
31/03/2022	£996k	£1.1m
31/03/2021	£1.0m	£950k

Common questions

Is THE BUSOGA TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net surplus of £3,862 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in total unrestricted reserves of £57,412. The trustees consider reserves in the range of £100,000 - £150,000 to be appropriate, indicating that current reserves are below the stated policy target. The going concern assessment confirms adequate resources for the foreseeable future with no material uncertainties. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds THE BUSOGA TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE BUSOGA TRUST as a grant recipient include THE RIVER FARM FOUNDATION, THE HEADLEY TRUST, THE DULVERTON TRUST, ALLAN AND NESTA FERGUSON CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT, THE ROGER & DOUGLAS TURNER CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE RIVER FARM FOUNDATION	FY2025	£440k	Community development
THE RIVER FARM FOUNDATION	FY2024	£400k	Community development
THE HEADLEY TRUST	FY2025	£75k	Towards the rehabilitation of water sources and community sanitation in rural districts in eastern Uganda.
THE RIVER FARM FOUNDATION	FY2023	£72k
THE DULVERTON TRUST	FY2023	£30k	Borehole Rehabilitation
ALLAN AND NESTA FERGUSON CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	FY2024	£15k	Overseas education
THE ROGER & DOUGLAS TURNER CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£5k
THE BEATRICE LAING TRUST	FY2025	£5k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST MATTHEW AND ST NATHANAEL, BRISTOL	FY2022	£2k	Overseas mission
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST MATTHEW AND ST NATHANAEL, BRISTOL	FY2023	£2k	Overseas mission
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST MATTHEW AND ST NATHANAEL, BRISTOL	FY2025	£2k	Overseas mission
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST MATTHEW AND ST NATHANAEL, BRISTOL	FY2024	£2k	Overseas mission

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
GILCHRIST EDUCATIONAL TRUST	2	£2k
THE NORTHWICK TRUST	1	£10k
THE CARMELA & RONNIE PIGNATELLI FOUNDATION	1	£5k
THE REED FOUNDATION	1	£5k
THE MELETE FOUNDATION	1	£4k
W F SOUTHALL TRUST	1	£3k
THE PRIORY FOUNDATION	1	£2k
THE ROGER RAYMOND CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CARE FOR UGANDA.

CARE FOR UGANDA income £101k
THE JINJA EDUCATIONAL TRUST income £243k
UGANDA HUMANIST SCHOOLS TRUST (UK) income £230k
THE UGANDA SCHOOL PROJECT income £104k
THE KISUMU CHILDREN TRUST income £225k
HELPING UGANDA SCHOOLS (HUGS) income £266k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE BUSOGA TRUST	£737k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
CARE FOR UGANDA FY2025	£101k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE JINJA EDUCATIONAL TRUST FY2024	£243k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
UGANDA HUMANIST SCHOOLS TRUST (UK) FY2024	£230k	—	below	—	no doubt
THE UGANDA SCHOOL PROJECT FY2024	£104k	—	above	—	no doubt
THE KISUMU CHILDREN TRUST FY2024	£225k	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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