Our Vision

Most of the donations we get are unrestricted. This means they’re not tied to any one project or part of the UK. This flexibility is really important – it means we can provide support in the areas of greatest need. We work all over the UK, through 512 services in communities, in schools and online.

Action for Children is a not-for-profit organisation. Any profit we make goes straight back into services that help children and families. It doesn’t go to shareholders or investors.

As a charity, we have to keep some funds in reserve. This protects the families we support, as well as our staff and volunteers. It means there’s a pool of money we can call on in an emergency.

Action for Children gets some money from government, local authorities and businesses. But this kind of funding isn’t guaranteed long-term. It’s often restricted, so we can only use it for specific projects.

We rely on individual donations to provide much of the support we give to children and young people. Any size of donation makes a difference. If you’re able to give a regular gift, this provides long-term, stable support to children and young people. It helps run vital community services that local authorities can’t fund.

You’ll always be able to see exactly how much we spend on wages and other running costs in our annual report.

* Figure based on audited 2019/20 charity accounts that exclude subsidiary companies like commercial nurseries

** In the unlikely event that we raise more money than can be reasonably spent, we use surplus funds for our general charitable purposes to help us respond to other crises.

We sometimes also get questions about the practical process of donating. Here are some of the most common ones.