THE GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND ASSOCIATION
Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
The Association provides guide dogs, mobility and other rehabilitation services to people who are blind and partially sighted. In accordance with its constitution, it provides "additional services and facilities for the relief of blind persons as the Association shall from time to time deem fit".
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 December 2023
Total income:
£144,698,875
| Donations and legacies | £134.44m | |
| Charitable activities | £1.49m | |
| Other trading activities | £7.27m | |
| Investments | £1.50m | |
| Other | £4.64k |
Total expenditure:
£144,963,519
| Raising funds | £36.71m | |
| Charitable activities | £108.25m | |
| Other | £0 |
£3,458,392 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £815,254 from 69 government contract(s) and £80,826 from 5 government grant(s)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
| Raising funds and other expenditure | £36.71m | |
| Charitable expenditure | £108.25m |
People
1894 Employee(s)
13 Trustee(s)
15500 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
| Number of employees | |
|---|---|
| £60k to £70k | 29 |
| £70k to £80k | 13 |
| £80k to £90k | 6 |
| £90k to £100k | 4 |
| £100k to £110k | 1 |
| £110k to £120k | 2 |
| £150k to £200k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Disability
- People With Disabilities
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Sponsors Or Undertakes Research
- Throughout England And Wales
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
Governance
- 08 November 1962: Standard registration
- 16 July 2015: Funds received from 222632 PROPERTY HELD IN CONNECTION WITH THE COLNE BLIND P...
- 25 November 2015: Funds received from 506403 STOKE-ON-TRENT, NEWCASTLE AND DISTRICT TALKING NEW...
- 25 May 2016: Funds received from 1078181 THE MONDAY CLUB FOR THE BLIND
- 18 July 2018: Funds received from 1040914 THE BURTON BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED CLUB
- 18 July 2018: Funds received from 1040914 THE BURTON BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED CLUB
- 14 November 2018: Funds received from 216119 LINCOLN VEGA CLUB FOR THE BLIND
- 15 May 2019: Funds received from 505111 OGWR DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION
- 15 May 2019: Funds received from 505111 OGWR DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION
- 12 September 2019: Funds received from 1119972 DISABLED HOLIDAY INFORMATION
- 13 December 2019: Funds received from 277073 HERTFORD AND DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER
- 22 July 2020: Funds received from 327829 THE JUNE STEVENS FOUNDATION
- 29 March 2022: Funds received from 505111 OGWR DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION
- 03 May 2022: Funds received from 1056289 INTO AFRICA TRUST
- 24 June 2022: Funds received from 1106188 SOUTH MONTGOMERYSHIRE VOLUNTEER BUREAU LIMITED
- 23 August 2022: Funds received from 274730 SELKIRK NO 2 TRUST
- 01 September 2022: Funds received from 267055 THE JOAN TANNER CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT
- 08 December 2022: Funds received from 1059196 NORTH NORFOLK SOCIAL CENTRE FOR THE BLIND
- 12 December 2022: Funds received from 517229 RHUDDLAN BOROUGH TALKING NEWSPAPER
- 21 February 2023: Funds received from 1168009 EYE WISH ACCESS CIO
- 02 March 2023: Funds received from 512862 THE NEWARK AND DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER
- 02 March 2023: Funds received from 502953 WILMAR TRUST
- 01 August 2023: Funds received from 513973 SLEAFORD AND DISTRICT TALKING NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATIO...
- 02 January 2024: Funds received from 213990 THE LONSDALE TRUST WALLASEY
- 23 January 2024: Funds received from 1120227 SWADLINCOTE & DISTRICT FRIENDS OF THE BLIND
- 12 March 2024: Funds received from 1113233 LIZ AND JO FULLWOOD TRUST FOR THE ELDERLY BLIND
- 06 June 2024: Funds received from 1124597 THE BEATRICE ROBEY WILL TRUST
- 14 November 2024: Funds received from 280843 FROME TALKING NEWSPAPER
- 13 February 2025: Funds received from 213583 ASSOCIATION OF VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHARTERED PHYSIOT...
- GDBA (Working name)
- GUIDE DOGS (Working name)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
- 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
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- 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
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
13 Trustee(s)
| Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||||||||||
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| Isabel Hudson | Chair | 04 July 2024 |
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| Helen Farrow | Trustee | 18 April 2023 |
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| Christiane Antje Birgit Elsenbach | Trustee | 18 April 2023 |
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| Patrick Anthony Moran | Trustee | 18 April 2023 |
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| Kerry Small | Trustee | 18 April 2023 |
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| Michael John Wroe | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Lynne Victoria Hill | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Emma Jane West | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Mark Alexander Talbot Johnstone | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Jennelle Lisa Tilling | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Paul William Baker | Trustee | 15 September 2020 |
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| Kate Crofts | Trustee | 06 June 2018 |
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| RANJIT SONDHI | Trustee | 06 June 2018 |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
| Income / Expenditure | 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2020 | 31/12/2021 | 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | ||
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Total gross income | £122.20m | £125.90m | £153.00m | £142.04m | £144.70m | |
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Total expenditure | £113.40m | £111.90m | £116.00m | £128.28m | £144.96m | |
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Income from government contracts | £1.00m | £423.63k | £803.72k | £815.25k | £815.25k | |
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Income from government grants | £415.00k | £4.30m | £100.00k | £80.83k | £80.83k | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £108.20m | £107.90m | £141.90m | £131.09m | £134.44m | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £10.70m | £11.80m | £9.00m | £8.40m | £7.27m | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £1.40m | £800.00k | £1.00m | £1.33m | £1.49m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £1.00m | £900.00k | £700.00k | £876.46k | £1.50m | |
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Income - Other | £900.00k | £4.50m | £400.00k | £332.34k | £4.64k | |
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Income - Legacies | £48.10m | £48.30m | £77.70m | £66.23m | £67.92m | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £75.70m | £76.00m | £81.60m | £95.67m | £108.25m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £37.70m | £35.90m | £34.40m | £32.61m | £36.71m | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £200.00k | £200.00k | £200.00k | £200.00k | £200.00k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £400.00k | £200.00k | £200.00k | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
| Asset / Liability | 31/12/2019 | 31/12/2020 | 31/12/2021 | 31/12/2022 | 31/12/2023 | ||
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Own use assets | £34.40m | £36.20m | £38.70m | £45.81m | £52.72m | |
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Long-term investments | £63.30m | £66.70m | £78.30m | £83.70m | £65.26m | |
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Other assets | £47.60m | £59.80m | £89.00m | £80.76m | £99.09m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Total liabilities | £9.20m | £9.30m | £9.60m | £11.47m | £15.11m |
Accounts and annual returns
| Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual return | 31 December 2023 | 29 October 2024 | On Time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2023 | 30 October 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 December 2022 | 26 October 2023 | On Time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2022 | 26 October 2023 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 December 2021 | 03 October 2022 | On Time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2021 | 03 October 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 December 2020 | 06 October 2021 | On Time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2020 | 17 September 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 December 2019 | 30 September 2020 | On Time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 December 2019 | 30 September 2020 | On Time | Download Open in new window |