VSO

Charity Number: 313757
Charity reporting is up to date (on time)

Charity overview

Activities - how the charity spends its money

VSO IS THE WORLD'S LEADING INDEPENDENT INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY WORKING FOR CHANGE THROUGH VOLUNTEERS. VSO BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER TO SHARE SKILLS, CREATIVITY AND LEARNING TO BUILD A FAIRER WORLD. VSO HAS PROGRAMMES IN OVER TWENTY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES FOCUSING ON DELIVERING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE IN THREE THEMATIC AREAS: EDUCATION, HEALTH AND SECURE LIVELIHOODS.

Income and expenditure

Data for financial year ending 31 March 2024

Total income:
£32,059,000

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Donations and legacies £22.54m
Charitable activities £9.00m
Other trading activities £226.00k
Investments £290.00k
Other £0

Total expenditure:
£34,522,000

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Raising funds £5.13m
Charitable activities £29.39m
Other £0

£0 investments gains (losses)

Total income includes £9,079,000 from 2 government grant(s)

Charitable expenditure

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.

Text alternative for this canvas graphic is in the data table below.
Raising funds and other expenditure £5.13m
Charitable expenditure £29.39m

People

473 Employee(s)

10 Trustee(s)

23 Volunteer(s)

Employees with total benefits over £60,000

Number of employees
£60k to £70k 11
£70k to £80k 12
£80k to £90k 3
£90k to £100k 1
£100k to £110k 3
£110k to £120k 3
£140k to £150k 1

Fundraising

No information available

Trading

This charity has one or more trading subsidiaries.

Trustee payments

No trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity.

What, who, how, where

What the charity does:
  • The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty
Who the charity helps:
  • Children/young People
  • Elderly/old People
  • People With Disabilities
  • Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
  • Other Defined Groups
How the charity helps:
  • Provides Human Resources
  • Other Charitable Activities
Where the charity operates:
  • Bangladesh
  • Burma
  • Cambodia
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Kenya
  • Malawi
  • Mozambique
  • Nepal
  • Netherlands
  • Nigeria
  • Pakistan
  • Philippines
  • Rwanda
  • Sierra Leone
  • South Africa
  • Tanzania
  • Thailand
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

Governance

Registration history:
  • 14 February 1962: Standard registration
  • 24 May 2016: Funds received from 268094 BRITISH EXECUTIVE SERVICE OVERSEAS
  • 14 May 2021: Funds received from 1003538 THE RAYMOND COLMAN CHARITABLE TRUST
Organisation type:
Charitable company
Other names:
  • VSO (Working name)
  • VOLUNTARY SERVICE OVERSEAS (Previous name)
Company number:
00703509 Open in new window
Gift aid:
Recognised by HMRC for gift aid
Other regulators:
No information available
Policies:
  • 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
Land and property:
This charity owns and/or leases land or property

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

10 Trustee(s)

Name Role Date of appointment Other trusteeships Reporting status of other trusteeships
Mashaer Bashir-Ali Trustee 23 July 2024
None on record
Vincent Mohau Motholo Trustee 13 June 2024
None on record
Belay Addise Cheffik Trustee 13 June 2024
None on record
Monalisa Sibongile Zwambila Trustee 27 February 2024
None on record
Maryam Abisola Adefarati Trustee 27 February 2024
None on record
Janet Marie Muir Trustee 01 February 2023
SUSTAINABLE NITROGEN FOUNDATION
Received: On time
Geoffrey Skingsley Trustee 01 November 2020
None on record
Julia Lalla-Maharajh Trustee 14 July 2020
None on record
Susan Laura Hickey Trustee 14 July 2020
None on record
CHRISTOPHER MUWANGUZI Trustee 19 September 2019
NAVA FOUNDATION
Recently registered

Financial history

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Financial period end date

Income / Expenditure 31/03/2020 31/03/2021 31/03/2022 31/03/2023 31/03/2024
Total gross income £60.19m £49.43m £33.31m £40.40m £32.06m
Total expenditure £61.95m £46.95m £38.81m £39.18m £34.52m
Income from government contracts £15.81m £5.99m £67.00k N/A N/A
Income from government grants £30.60m £18.56m £15.66m £12.97m £9.08m
Income - Donations and legacies £25.81m £32.01m £24.08m £30.97m £22.54m
Income - Other trading activities £1.95m £265.00k £276.00k £295.00k £226.00k
Income - Charitable activities £31.37m £17.15m £8.93m £9.00m £9.00m
Income - Endowments £0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Income - Investment £118.00k £9.00k £30.00k £136.00k £290.00k
Income - Other £941.00k £0 £0 £0 £0
Income - Legacies £836.00k £1.53m £510.00k £399.00k £317.00k
Expenditure - Charitable activities £55.99m £41.82m £34.23m £34.09m £29.39m
Expenditure - Raising funds £5.92m £5.07m £4.57m £5.09m £5.13m
Expenditure - Governance £783.00k £817.00k £680.00k £663.00k £829.00k
Expenditure - Grants institution £9.22m £6.76m £3.72m £3.63m £2.57m
Expenditure - Investment management £0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Expenditure - Other £45.00k £62.00k £13.00k £0 £0

Assets and liabilities

Definitions for assets and liabilities
Own use assets

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 Investments

Investments 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.

Other assets

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 liability

This is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.

Total liabilities

These 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.

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Asset / Liability 31/03/2020 31/03/2021 31/03/2022 31/03/2023 31/03/2024
Own use assets £556.00k £361.00k £231.00k £58.00k £259.00k
Long-term investments £0 £0 £0 £0 £0
Other assets £36.15m £29.06m £22.13m £22.44m £18.48m
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability -£2.71m -£2.29m -£567.00k -£361.00k -£169.00k
Total liabilities £14.77m £5.50m £4.50m £3.63m £2.52m

Accounts and annual returns

This table shows the charity's record of submitting annual returns, accounts and trustees' annual report (TAR) for the last five financial periods.
Title Reporting year Date received Received Download
Annual return 31 March 2024 29 January 2025 On Time
Accounts and TAR 31 March 2024 29 January 2025 On Time Download Open in new window
Annual return 31 March 2023 31 January 2024 On Time
Accounts and TAR 31 March 2023 31 January 2024 On Time Download Open in new window
Annual return 31 March 2022 15 December 2022 On Time
Accounts and TAR 31 March 2022 15 December 2022 On Time Download Open in new window
Annual return 31 March 2021 28 January 2022 On Time
Accounts and TAR 31 March 2021 28 January 2022 On Time Download Open in new window
Annual return 31 March 2020 13 January 2021 On Time
Accounts and TAR 31 March 2020 13 January 2021 On Time Download Open in new window
Submit annual return Open in new window

Governing document

Details of the type of governing document the charity has and when it was established.
It is not the full text of the charity's governing document.

MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 18/09/1961 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 30/04/1985 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 14/04/1989 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 27/04/1993 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 26/10/1994 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 14/05/1996 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 13/05/1999 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 06/10/2005 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 30/10/2007 NOW ARTICLES ADOPTED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION DATED 25/11/2011 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 29/11/2012 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 09/07/2015 as amended on 30 Oct 2023 as amended on 20 Nov 2024

Charitable objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE CHARITY IS ESTABLISHED ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO: ADVANCE EDUCATION AND TO AID IN THE RELIEF OF POVERTY IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD; PROVIDE HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD; PROMOTE THE EFFECTIVE USE OF RESOURCES FOR THE PURPOSES OF ADVANCING EDUCATION OR RELIEVING POVERTY IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD; AND PROMOTE THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR; AND FOR THOSE PURPOSES ONLY: TO SEND VOLUNTEERS TO OTHER COUNTRIES TO SHARE AND DEVELOP THEIR SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING AND TO SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH OTHERS ON RETURN; TO UNDERTAKE OR ASSIST IN WORKS AND PROJECTS OF ALL KINDS; AND TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC CONCERNING THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND EFFECTS OF POVERTY AND THE VALUE OF VOLUNTEERING; TO CONDUCT AND PURSUE RESEARCH CONCERNING THESE MATTERS AND TO PUBLISH OR OTHERWISE MAKE THE RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC.

Area of benefit

The area the charity can operate in, as set out in its governing document.

IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD

Contact information

Address:
RUSSELL COOKE SOLICITORS
2 PUTNEY HILL
LONDON
SW15 6AB
Phone:
02087807500
Email:
company.secretary@vsoint.org
Website:

www.vsointernational.org Open in new window