Our finances

In the face of challenging economic times, we’re extremely grateful to all our supporters for their continued generosity. We’re committed to making sure our income is used efficiently, effectively and responsibly so that we make every pound count.

Our total income in 2020 was £289 million and our total spend was £283 million, a reduction of £18 million and £26 million respectively on the previous year.

EXPENDITURE

Our total spend in 2020 was £283 million.

Of this, our charitable expenditure was £252 million, including the costs of running our programmes in the UK and internationally (£210 million) and our advocacy and campaigns (£9 million). Also included are the support costs (see expenditure graphic) related to our programming, advocacy and awareness work (£33 million).

In 2020 we invested £29 million raising funds, including the direct costs of running our diverse fundraising channels and activities (£21 million) and the cost of our retail shops (£8 million).

Find out more about our financial performance, including the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on our income and expenditure.

117 countries: that's how big our movement to protect children is.

In 2020, Save the Children UK supported the movement in 53 of these countries with technical expertise, funding, strategic and governance support, advocacy and policy influencing, programme management and humanitarian response. We also supported staff, partners and the wider sector with capacity building programmes. To find out more about our global response this year, including our response to the COVID-19 crisis, see pages 12–32 of our 2020 Annual Report.

Save the Children UK spent £210 million on programme work across the world in 2020. The map below shows where those programmes were and highlights the ten countries where we spent the most.

* Around £63 million of global programming spending is multi-country.

Since 2012 we have voluntarily published details of our programme spend through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). The IATI standard provides a common and open format for sharing aid information, making it easier to find, use and compare. In accordance with the IATI standard, we publish timely, detailed and comparable information on our spending, which is accessible to all our donors and supporters. Publishing this information to the IATI standard makes us more effective and accountable as an organisation.

Page last updated January 2022