Common questions about Lumos Foundation's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Lumos Foundation a good charity? +
Lumos Foundation scores 74 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 78% 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 Lumos Foundation a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Lumos Foundation as a registered charity (charity number 1112575). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1112575&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 Lumos Foundation's charity number? +
Lumos Foundation's charity number is 1112575. 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 Lumos Foundation's charity rating? +
Lumos Foundation scores 74 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 Lumos Foundation have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Lumos Foundation. 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 Lumos Foundation? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 78% of Lumos Foundation'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 Lumos Foundation's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 22% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 24% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Lumos Foundation. Lumos Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 8 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £110,001–£120,000 (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 Lumos Foundation receive? +
Lumos Foundation reported £5.7m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: stable.
Are Lumos Foundation's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-10-15). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Lumos Foundation based? +
Lumos Foundation's registered contact address is in London (EC4Y 0DA). It tells the regulator it operates in England, Colombia, Moldova, Ukraine, Kenya, United States, with a focus on international aid.
How much is Lumos Foundation's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Lumos Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 8 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £110,001–£120,000 (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 Lumos Foundation's money come from? +
Lumos Foundation reported £5.7m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £2.8m (49%), other income £2.8m (49%), investments £55k (1%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Lumos Foundation? +
The register records Lumos Foundation 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 Lumos Foundation's trustees paid? +
Lumos Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was Lumos Foundation previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Lumos Foundation: Children's High Level Group.
When was Lumos Foundation registered as a charity? +
Lumos Foundation was entered on the register on 21 December 2005. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 05611912).
How does CharityCompare score Lumos Foundation? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Lumos Foundation'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 Lumos Foundation's most recent accounts cover 2024. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.