Common questions about Gatsby Africa's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Gatsby Africa a good charity? +
Gatsby Africa scores 86 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 100% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are up to date. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.
Is Gatsby Africa a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Gatsby Africa as a registered charity (charity number 1168223). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1168223&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.
What is Gatsby Africa's charity number? +
Gatsby Africa's charity number is 1168223. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.
What is Gatsby Africa's charity rating? +
Gatsby Africa scores 86 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.
Does Gatsby Africa have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Gatsby Africa. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (none flagged on this profile). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches Gatsby Africa? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 100% of Gatsby Africa's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.
What are Gatsby Africa's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 0% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 0% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Gatsby Africa. Gatsby Africa's annual return for the year ending 5 April 2025 reports 42 employees paid more than £60,000, including 18 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £200,001–£250,000 (2 employees). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does Gatsby Africa receive? +
Gatsby Africa reported £22m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: stable.
Are Gatsby Africa's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-02-03). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Gatsby Africa based? +
Gatsby Africa's registered contact address is in London (SW1V 1AP). It tells the regulator it operates in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, with a focus on poverty relief.
How much is Gatsby Africa's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Gatsby Africa's annual return for the year ending 5 April 2025 reports 42 employees paid more than £60,000, including 18 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £200,001–£250,000 (2 employees). Charities normally disclose the chief executive's pay, or the pay of their highest-paid staff, in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report and accounts.
Where does Gatsby Africa's money come from? +
Gatsby Africa reported £22m total income for the year ending 5 April 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £22m (98%), other income £490k (2%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Gatsby Africa? +
The register does not record Gatsby Africa as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid. Ask the charity before assuming a donation can be Gift Aided.
Are Gatsby Africa's trustees paid? +
Gatsby Africa's annual return for the year ending 5 April 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
When was Gatsby Africa registered as a charity? +
Gatsby Africa was entered on the register on 14 July 2016. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 09360833).
How does CharityCompare score Gatsby Africa? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Gatsby Africa's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.
How often is this page updated? +
This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Gatsby Africa's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.