MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION UK

Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
Make-A-Wish grants magical wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses. Our wishes are truly magical. Whether a wish is to be a princess for the day, own the latest computer equipment, meet a favourite celebrity, or enjoy some special time away from home with their family, a wish come true brings so much to a child's life and provides memories that last a lifetime.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 August 2023
Total income:
£11,414,830
Donations and legacies | £10.46m | |
Charitable activities | £0 | |
Other trading activities | £942.33k | |
Investments | £10.06k | |
Other | £0 |
Total expenditure:
£12,237,390
Raising funds | £4.86m | |
Charitable activities | £7.37m | |
Other | £0 |
£54,220 investments gains (losses)
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 | £4.86m | |
Charitable expenditure | £7.37m |
People

79 Employee(s)
8 Trustee(s)
315 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees | |
---|---|
£60k to £70k | 2 |
£70k to £80k | 1 |
£80k to £90k | 2 |
£90k to £100k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- Children/young People
- Provides Services
- Throughout England And Wales
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
Governance
- MAKE-A-WISH (Working name)
- MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION (Working name)
- Bullying and harassment 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
8 Trustee(s)
Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Emma Johnson | Trustee | 07 May 2024 |
|
|
||||
Nicolas Robert Pratap | Trustee | 01 January 2024 |
|
|
||||
Sarah Margaret Keeble | Trustee | 01 January 2024 |
|
|
||||
Nina Saffuri | Trustee | 03 May 2022 |
|
|
||||
Usman Chaudry | Trustee | 03 May 2022 |
|
|
||||
George Gabriel | Trustee | 01 February 2022 |
|
|
||||
Lin Hinnigan | Trustee | 03 August 2020 |
|
|
||||
Helen Braidwood Spice | Trustee | 02 December 2019 |
|
|
Financial history
Financial period end date
Income / Expenditure | 31/08/2019 | 31/08/2020 | 31/08/2021 | 31/08/2022 | 31/08/2023 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total gross income | £8.23m | £8.41m | £5.08m | £10.67m | £11.41m | |
|
Total expenditure | £8.96m | £8.42m | £5.22m | £11.16m | £12.24m | |
|
Income from government contracts | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
|
Income from government grants | N/A | £282.82k | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
|
Income - Donations and legacies | £4.46m | £5.91m | £3.00m | £5.31m | £10.46m | |
|
Income - Other trading activities | £3.68m | £2.45m | £2.07m | £3.91m | £942.33k | |
|
Income - Charitable activities | £24.82k | £10.22k | £960 | £1.46m | £0 | |
|
Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Income - Investment | £11.58k | £2.05k | £684 | £0 | £10.06k | |
|
Income - Other | £700.12k | £47.27k | £200 | £2.20k | £0 | |
|
Income - Legacies | £47.07k | £1.39m | £905.43k | £980.37k | £625.78k | |
|
Expenditure - Charitable activities | £5.29m | £5.05m | £2.84m | £6.36m | £7.37m | |
|
Expenditure - Raising funds | £3.67m | £3.36m | £2.39m | £3.90m | £4.86m | |
|
Expenditure - Governance | £15.11k | £16.61k | £19.14k | £10.98k | £32.02k | |
|
Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Expenditure - Investment management | £7.45k | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £903.05k | £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 | 31/08/2019 | 31/08/2020 | 31/08/2021 | 31/08/2022 | 31/08/2023 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Own use assets | £751.72k | £521.95k | £297.98k | £172.08k | £140.26k | |
|
Long-term investments | £4.14m | £3.66m | £4.07m | £3.90m | £3.95m | |
|
Other assets | £3.08m | £3.29m | £4.70m | £4.59m | £2.91m | |
|
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
|
Total liabilities | £2.19m | £1.75m | £2.83m | £3.09m | £2.20m |
Accounts and annual returns
Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
---|---|---|---|---|
Annual return | 31 August 2023 | 30 June 2024 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 August 2023 | 30 June 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 August 2022 | 21 March 2023 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 August 2022 | 21 March 2023 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 August 2021 | 15 June 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 August 2021 | 15 June 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 August 2020 | 24 June 2021 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 August 2020 | 24 June 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 August 2019 | 29 June 2020 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 August 2019 | 29 June 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 OF ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED 26TH JUNE 1986 AS AMENDED 13 DECEMBER 1999
Charitable objects
TO PROMOTE AND FURTHER THE CARE AND RELIEF OF CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN WHO HAVE A TERMINAL ILLNESS OR WHO ARE SUFFERING FROM A MEDICAL CONDITION SUFFICIENTLY LIFE THREATENING TO CREATE A PROBABILITY THAT THE CHILD WILL NOT SURVIVE BEYOND THEIR EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY, AND IN PARTICULAR BY GRANTING FEASIBLE WISHES OF SUCH CHILDREN.
Area of benefit
NOT DEFINED
Contact information
- Address:
-
Thames Tower (7th Floor)
Station Road
READING
BERKSHIRE
RG1 1LX
- Phone:
- 01276405060
- Email:
- info@make-a-wish.org.uk
Tell us whether you accept cookies
We use cookies to collect information about how you use your Charity Commission Account, such as pages you visit.
We use this information to better understand how you use our website so that we can improve your user experience and present more relevant content.
Thank you for your feedback. Do you have 5 minutes to tell us what you think of this service?Open in new window