Skip to content

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)

75 /100

Clarity score

Good

Charity accounts, evidence & financial rating

75/100 Clarity Score · 4 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score

Register checked 4 October 2026 · latest accounts 2024

Official regulator data Give with confidence
Compare this charity View accounts

Work at Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)? Claim this profile free to add your charity’s description. Claiming never changes the score.

Quick answer

Is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) a good charity?

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) scores 75/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2024 (£95m total income, 86% cause spend, 3-yr avg). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown.

Income

£95m

Accounts 2024-12-31

Spending

£90m

Accounts 2024-12-31

Charitable activities

86%

3-yr avg · share of spending

Accounts filing

On time

Charity Commission

On this pageJump to a section
London · UK-wide · E1 8PR Reg 1026588 Registered charity Official website Charity Commission register

What does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) do?

To relieve and promote the relief of sickness and to provide medical aid to the injured and to protect and preserve good health by the provision of medical supplies, personnel and procedures calculated to overcome disease, injury or malnutrition in any part of the world in accordance with the principles espoused by the International Council of Medecins Sans Frontieres in October 1990.

Activities reported by the charity on the official register · extract . This is separate from the accounts data used for its rating.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) hasn't added a description directly to CharityCompare yet. Work here? Add it free →

How much does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) raise and spend?

Accounts period 2024-01-01 to 2024-12-31 · Source: Charity Commission filings

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) revenue and expenses for 2024
Category Amount % of spend
Total income £95m —
Total expenditure £90m —
Charitable activities £76m 84%
Fundraising £14m 16%
Reported governance £205k 0%

Governance can already be allocated within other expenditure categories. It is not a separate measure of all administration costs; do not add these rows without checking the accounts notes.

What changed in Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)’s latest accounts?

Reported totals for 2024 compared with 2023. Changes can reflect the accounting period, restricted grants or restructuring as well as the charity’s work.

Income change
+11.8%
£85m → £95m
Spending change
+6.8%
£84m → £90m
Charitable activities share
−1.0 pp
86% → 84% · percentage points

These are annual figures. The Clarity Score may use averages across several disclosed years. Source: official accounts.

84%On charitable activities

Where does the money go?

Latest accounts (2024) · £90m spent

  • Charitable activities84%
  • Fundraising16%

Charities usually allocate governance costs across their other spending categories, and these reported figures add up to more than total spending, so governance is not drawn as a separate slice. The accounts table shows it separately.

From the annual return

What does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) pay its staff, and where does its money come from?

Answers Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) gave in its annual return to the Charity Commission for the year ending 31 December 2024, plus its register entry. These are the charity's own disclosures, not part of the Clarity Score.

How much are Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s highest-paid staff paid?

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 32 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (2 employees).

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) employees paid over £60,000, by salary band
Salary bandEmployees
£100,001–£110,000 2
£90,001–£100,000 1
£80,001–£90,000 4
£70,001–£80,000 8
£60,001–£70,000 17

The register reports headcounts in salary bands, not names. The chief executive's pay is normally disclosed in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report.

Where does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s money come from?

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) reported £95m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £88m (92%), charitable activities £6.7m (7%), investments £365k (0%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £27m.

  • Donations and legacies £88m · 92%
  • Charitable activities (fees and contracts) £6.7m · 7%
  • Investments £365k · 0%
  • Trading and fundraising events £73k · 0%
  • Other income £33k · 0%

Cash at year end: £8.4m · unrestricted funds: £18m · restricted funds: £18k. Restricted funds can only be spent on purposes set by the donor.

Can I claim Gift Aid, and are the trustees paid?

The register records Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) 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. Work out your Gift Aid

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for acting as a trustee). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

Registration details

Registered as a charity
Company number
02853011 (Companies House)
Also known as
M S F U K; Msf (UK)
Where it says it operates
Afghanistan · Bangladesh · Chad · Ethiopia · Guinea · Haiti · India · Iraq

Source: Charity Commission register and annual return data, Open Government Licence v3.0. A blank answer in the return is shown as not reported, never as “no”.

How have Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s finances changed over five years?

Income rose 31% from £73m in 2020 to £95m in 2024; spending was £90m in 2024.

£0 £50m £100m £150m £200m 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Income 2020: £73m Spending 2020: £69m Cause spend 2020: £61m Income 2021: £68m Spending 2021: £72m Cause spend 2021: £62m Income 2022: £77m Spending 2022: £77m Cause spend 2022: £67m Income 2023: £85m Spending 2023: £84m Cause spend 2023: £72m Income 2024: £95m Spending 2024: £90m Cause spend 2024: £76m
  • Income
  • Spending
  • Cause spend
Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) income and spending by accounts year
Year Income Spending Charitable activities
2024 £95m £90m £76m
2023 £85m £84m £72m
2022 £77m £77m £67m
2021 £68m £72m £62m
2020 £73m £69m £61m

Cause spend is plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission filings

Financial context

How do its finances compare with similar charities?

Compare Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) with 39 other international aid charities in our detailed dataset: the same regulator, £10m+ income band and accounts ending in 2024. Each period covers 50–54 weeks. These are reference points, not targets or a ranking of impact.

Swipe across the table to see the peer median and coverage.

Latest annual figures, accounts ending 2024-12-31. Peer medians exclude this charity; the median is the middle value.
MeasureThis charityPeer medianPeer coverage
Annual income £95m £24m 39 of 39
Annual spending £90m £24m 39 of 39
Charitable activities share 84.5% 93.9% 39 of 39

The annual spending share can differ from the multi-year average shown elsewhere. Missing disclosures are excluded, never counted as zero. We show a median only with at least ten peer disclosures. Different year-end months, restricted funding and delivery models can still limit comparisons.

How does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) compare?

The share of each group scoring at or below Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK), including tied scores. A group matched on cause, income band and accounts year appears when at least ten records qualify. Broader groups below may mix reporting periods and operating models. Groups include this charity; percentiles measure our financial rating, not impact.

Same cause, income band and accounts year (2024) 53rdpercentile

Scores at or above 53% of 40 charities with the same primary cause, income band and latest accounts year · 75/100 vs 73 peer average.

Income band (£10m+) 41stpercentile

Scores at or above 41% of 930 charities in its income band · 75/100 vs 77 peer average.

International aid charities 55thpercentile

Scores at or above 55% of 614 charities in this cause · 75/100 vs 73 peer average.

Where Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) sits

The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.

Similar international aid charities

Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score

Evidence and interpretation

What the evidence says about Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)

In 2024, reported income was £95,336,332 and expenditure was £89,770,308. Income exceeded expenditure by £5,566,024. This annual balance is not the charity’s available cash or unrestricted reserves.

More financial context

Income rose 11.8% compared with 2023. Read the accounts notes for restricted grants, legacies and one-off receipts before treating the movement as a trend.

Calculated from our dated accounts dataset, refreshed 2026-09-06. This is not an audit or a manual review of every filing. Original register and accounts · How calculations work.

Find the right support

Who it supports and how to access its work

Reported beneficiaries: The General Public/mankind.

How it works: Makes Grants To Individuals; Makes Grants To Organisations; Provides Human Resources; Provides Services; Provides Advocacy/advice/information; Sponsors Or Undertakes Research.

Use the official contact details to check eligibility, referrals, waiting lists and current service coverage. Broad register classifications and a contact address do not confirm that a particular service is available to you.

Explore source-checked support routes

Classifications supplied to the register; extract 2026-10-04. Register contact and activity details · Website listed for this charity

Look beyond the score

Results and impact evidence

We have not added a source-checked programme outcome for this charity. That is a gap in this profile, not evidence that the charity has no impact. Its annual report may contain results that have not been assessed here.

Reported grants to institutions: £56,647,586 (2024-12-31). This is spending reported in the annual return, not a measure of beneficiary outcomes or an open grant opportunity. It may already be included in charitable expenditure. Check the source accounts.

What these results can tell you

Counts of services delivered describe activity. They do not by themselves establish lasting change, what would have happened without the programme, or cost-effectiveness. Results with different definitions, populations or years should not be ranked against each other.

How to judge charity impact evidence

What is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s Beacon report?

Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report.

Accountability & Transparency

Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.

100/100

Accountability & Transparency metrics for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)
Metric Score Value
Filing history (5 years)

No recorded lateness in available history = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more or unknown status = 0 pts. Missing data is not proof of late filing.

100% 15/15 pts
Trustee oversight

Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three).

100% 14 trustees · 15/15 pts
Declared policies

Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return.

100% 10/10 pts

Financial Health

Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.

57/100

Financial Health metrics for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)
Metric Score Value
Reserves (months of expenditure)

3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years = 0 pts. Reserves are not necessarily cash; needs vary by operating model.

33% 1 month · 5/15 pts
Income stability / growth

+20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between.

100% 10/10 pts · 3-year average
Liabilities to assets

0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt.

40% 31% · 2/5 pts

Financial Efficiency

How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.

90/100

Financial Efficiency metrics for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)
Metric Score Value
Program expense ratio

90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below.

90% 86% · 9/10 pts (3-year average)
Fundraising efficiency

≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income).

90% 14p per £1 income · 9/10 pts (3-year average, disclosed years)

Community Support

Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.

0/100

Community Support metrics for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)
Metric Score Value
Volunteer-to-staff ratio

Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between.

0% 17 volunteers / 225 staff · 0/10 pts

How we calculate beacon scores →

What trust indicators does Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) have?

Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported.

  • Accounts filed on time

    up to date · last filing

  • Trustee board size (3–12)

    14 trustees on the Charity Commission register

  • Workforce on register

    225 employees · 17 volunteers (0:1 volunteer-to-staff)

Fundraising Regulator

Status not yet checked

Separate from our financial scores. Registration records a commitment to the Code of Fundraising Practice; it does not certify every fundraising activity.

Check Fundraising Regulator →

Official register

Reg 1026588

Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.

View on Charity Commission →

Trustees & officers

  • Dr Rachael Mary Craven since 2020
  • Dr Innocent Muleya since 2022
  • Emery Pacifique Igiraneza since 2022
  • Iesha Singh since 2023
  • Timothy Douglas Symington since 2023
  • Dr Caroline Bwango since 2024
  • Edward James Mortimer Monk since 2024
  • Prof Bertrand Olivier Taithe since 2024
  • Sabrina Liang Ai Das since 2024
  • Dr Peter John Garrett since 2025
  • Kathleen Poole since 2025
  • Julie Ann Weston since 2025

How reliable is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s data?

Source
Charity Commission (England & Wales)
Accounts year
2024
Filing date
Data refreshed

High confidence — complete filing data

Scores reflect the accounts in our dated data extract. The live register may contain newer filings. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact.

Check the current register entry · Report a data correction

Financial source extract: 2026-09-06. Organisation identifier: 1026588. Method version: 1.1. View method changes.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Open Government Licence v3.0 .

Your donation decision

What should you check before donating to Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)?

  1. 1. Match the name and charity number

    Check 1026588 on the official register. A real charity number alone does not prove that a fundraiser or appeal is authentic.

    Verify the registration →
  2. 2. Read the accounts in context

    Our latest accounts data covers 2024. Compare the accounts period, spending and reserves. An administration cost ratio alone cannot tell you how effective a charity is.

    Explore the financial evidence →
  3. 3. Look for evidence of results

    Read the trustees’ annual report for activities, outcomes and limitations. The Clarity Score measures public reporting; it does not establish the impact of a donation.

    How to read charity accounts →
  4. 4. Compare charities serving your cause

    Compare up to four charities, check the dates behind their figures, and decide which work you want to support. Complete your donation through a verified charity channel.

    Start a comparison with Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) →
How we score charities +

The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.

Full methodology →

Accountability & Transparency

Scored from filings

40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).

Financial Health

Scored from filings

30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).

Financial Efficiency

Scored from filings

20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).

Community Support

Scored from filings

10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.

Overall score

Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.

How can you share Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s rating?

Share: XLinkedInFacebookBluesky

Opens a printer-friendly view of this profile for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK).

For this charity

How do you add Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s rating to your site?

Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our methodology.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.

Is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) a good charity? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) scores 75 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 86% 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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) a legitimate charity? +

The register data used for this profile lists Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) as a registered charity (charity number 1026588). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1026588&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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s charity number? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s charity number is 1026588. 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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s charity rating? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) scores 75 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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) have reviews and complaints? +

CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK). 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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 86% of Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s overheads? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 14% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 15% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK). Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 32 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) receive? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) reported £95m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.

Are Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s accounts up to date? +

Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-08-07). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.

Where is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) based? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s registered contact address is in London (E1 8PR). It tells the regulator it operates in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, with a focus on international aid.

How much is Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s chief executive paid? +

The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 32 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £100,001–£110,000 (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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s money come from? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) reported £95m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £88m (92%), charitable activities £6.7m (7%), investments £365k (0%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £27m.

Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)? +

The register records Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) 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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s trustees paid? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'s annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for acting as a trustee). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

When was Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) registered as a charity? +

Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK) was entered on the register on 29 September 1993. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 02853011).

How does CharityCompare score Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)? +

We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'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 Medecins Sans Frontieres (UK)'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.