Common questions about International Alert's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is International Alert a good charity? +
International Alert scores 69 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 99% 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 International Alert a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists International Alert as a registered charity (charity number 327553). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=327553&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 International Alert's charity number? +
International Alert's charity number is 327553. 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 International Alert's charity rating? +
International Alert scores 69 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). 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 International Alert have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for International Alert. 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 International Alert? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 99% of International Alert'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 International Alert's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 1% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 2% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at International Alert. International Alert's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2025 reports 9 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (1 employee). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does International Alert receive? +
International Alert reported £16m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: declining.
Are International Alert's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-07-01). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is International Alert based? +
International Alert's registered contact address is in London (SE1 7HB). It tells the regulator it operates in Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Georgia, Kenya, with a focus on international aid.
How much is International Alert's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. International Alert's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2025 reports 9 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (1 employee). 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 International Alert's money come from? +
International Alert reported £16m total income for the year ending 31 December 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £15m (100%), donations and legacies £35k (0%), investments £26k (0%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £7,701.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to International Alert? +
The register records International Alert as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.
Are International Alert's trustees paid? +
International Alert's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was International Alert previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for International Alert: Standing International Forum on Ethnic Conflict Genocide & Human Rights - International Alert.
When was International Alert registered as a charity? +
International Alert was entered on the register on 24 September 1987. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 02153193).
How does CharityCompare score International Alert? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in International Alert'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 International Alert'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.