Our finances

Our total income in 2023 was £296 million and our total spend was £295 million, an  increase of £2 million and £9 million respectively on the previous year. 

Our charitable expenditure includes £211 million directly on programmes internationally and in the UK; £10 million directly on advocacy and awareness; and £35 million on support costs for our programme, advocacy and campaigning work. 

Our spend on raising funds has increased in 2023 as we invest in future sustainable growth. We stepped up investment in a programme to replace our aging customer relationship management system and we scaled up our face-to-face fundraising activity. We spent £23 million (£21 million in 2022) on the direct costs of running our diverse fundraising channels and activities.

The diagram below shows our charitable expenditure broken down by thematic areas.

Find out more about our expenditure.

At a total level, our 2023 income was broadly flat compared to 2022. However, in the last two years we have seen extraordinarily high levels of emergency appeal income, through our own fundraising and funds raised through the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). (Total emergency appeal income 2023: £40 million and 2022: £57 million) Excluding emergency appeal income, our underlying financial performance in 2023 has seen growth mainly through our institutional donors as we continue to grow and diversify our income streams.

The diagram below shows our income broken down by thematic areas.

Find out more about our income.

In 2023, the Save the Children global movement directly supported 47.4 million children in 94 countries around the world.

In 2023, Save the Children UK supported the global movement in 44 countries. We provided technical expertise, funding, strategic and governance support, advocacy, programme management and humanitarian response work. We also supported staff, partners and the wider humanitarian sector with capacity-strengthening programmes.

We strive for the highest level of transparency in our reporting so our supporters can hold us to account.

Since 2012, we have voluntarily published timely, detailed and comparable information on our programme spend through the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which is accessible to all our donors and supporters.

Page last updated June 2024