PRACTICAL ACTION

Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
Practical Action is a global innovator, inspiring people to discover and adopt ingenious, practical ways to free themselves from poverty and disadvantage
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 March 2024
Total income:
£30,020,557
Donations and legacies | £11.38m | |
Charitable activities | £18.28m | |
Other trading activities | £0 | |
Investments | £51.93k | |
Other | £315.01k |
Total expenditure:
£30,542,960
Raising funds | £2.52m | |
Charitable activities | £28.02m | |
Other | £0 |
£31,366 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £901,000 from 4 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 | £2.52m | |
Charitable expenditure | £28.02m |
People

450 Employee(s)
11 Trustee(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees | |
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£60k to £70k | 6 |
£70k to £80k | 2 |
£80k to £90k | 2 |
£100k to £110k | 3 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
- Overseas Aid/famine Relief
- Environment/conservation/heritage
- Other Charitable Purposes
- The General Public/mankind
- Makes Grants To Organisations
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Bangladesh
- Bolivia
- Burkina Faso
- India
- Kenya
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Nepal
- Peru
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Zimbabwe
Governance
- 26 April 1966: Standard registration
- 14 May 2021: Funds received from 271022 THE GUTHRIE ESSAME CHARITABLE TRUST
- 29 March 2022: Funds received from 1058376 WOOD GREEN MENNONITE CHURCH TRUST
- 12 March 2024: Funds received from 1081761 ADRIAN JOHN HOWARD-BLOOD CHARITABLE TRUST
- 02 August 2024: Funds received from 1152934 MAJI SALAMA
- PRACTICAL ACTION (Working name)
- INTERMEDIATE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT GROUP LTD (Previous name)
- PRACTICAL ACTION LIMITED (Previous name)
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management 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
11 Trustee(s)
Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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Isabel Studer Noguez | Trustee | 10 July 2024 |
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Aki Temiseva | Trustee | 10 July 2024 |
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Jane Louise Sloane | Trustee | 10 July 2024 |
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Claire Ireland | Trustee | 10 July 2024 |
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Sazini Mojapelo | Trustee | 12 April 2024 |
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Mourad Wahba | Trustee | 07 September 2021 |
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Shivani Wadhwa | Trustee | 07 September 2021 |
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William Fu Wei Liao | Trustee | 07 September 2021 |
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Matthew James Haikin | Trustee | 07 September 2021 |
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MARTIN CHARLES TYLER | Trustee | 01 April 2020 |
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Fayezul Haque CHOUDHURY | Trustee | 01 April 2020 |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
Income / Expenditure | 31/03/2020 | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | ||
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Total gross income | £36.07m | £30.44m | £27.87m | £26.95m | £30.02m | |
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Total expenditure | £37.86m | £29.23m | £27.66m | £28.92m | £30.54m | |
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Income from government contracts | £41.90k | £9.00k | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
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Income from government grants | £1.40m | £1.13m | £6.25m | £1.42m | £901.00k | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £11.12m | £13.37m | £12.80m | £11.86m | £11.38m | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £24.56m | £16.76m | £15.07m | £14.73m | £18.28m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £17.00k | £15.00k | £0 | £30.00k | £51.93k | |
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Income - Other | £376.00k | £295.00k | £0 | £329.00k | £315.01k | |
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Income - Legacies | £3.23m | £3.70m | £2.95m | £3.38m | £3.68m | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £35.01m | £26.66m | £25.25m | £26.43m | £28.02m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £2.85m | £2.57m | £2.42m | £2.50m | £2.52m | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £469.00k | £445.00k | £464.00k | £605.00k | £504.28k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £6.89m | £3.41m | £2.06m | £2.16m | £1.55k | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £0 | £0 | £0 | £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 | 31/03/2020 | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | ||
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Own use assets | £2.06m | £4.86m | £5.33m | £3.78m | £976.00k | |
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Long-term investments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £940.00k | |
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Other assets | £17.88m | £15.60m | £13.65m | £16.13m | £14.46m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | -£491.00k | -£243.00k | |
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Total liabilities | £10.69m | £9.99m | £8.32m | £11.23m | £8.18m |
Accounts and annual returns
Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
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Annual return | 31 March 2024 | 31 January 2025 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2024 | 31 January 2025 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2023 | 30 January 2024 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2023 | 30 January 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2022 | 19 December 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2022 | 19 December 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2021 | 10 December 2021 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2021 | 10 December 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2020 | 10 December 2020 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2020 | 10 December 2020 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Governing document
It is not the full text of the charity's governing document.
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 21/02/1966 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 19/10/1995 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 16/10/1997 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 02/10/2008 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 24/09/2009 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 27/09/2012 as amended on 08 Dec 2021
Charitable objects
THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE RELIEF OF POVERTY BY THE PROMOTION AND ADVANCEMENT (IN WAYS THAT ARE CHARITABLE) OF KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, AND FOR OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES BENEFICIAL TO THE COMMUNITY.
Area of benefit
NOT DEFINED
Contact information
- Address:
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Practical Action Ltd
The Robbins Building
25 Albert Street
RUGBY
CV21 2SD
- Phone:
- 01926634412
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