Common questions about Microloan Foundation's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Microloan Foundation a good charity? +
Microloan Foundation scores 71 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 93% 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 Microloan Foundation a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Microloan Foundation as a registered charity (charity number 1104287). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1104287&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 Microloan Foundation's charity number? +
Microloan Foundation's charity number is 1104287. 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 Microloan Foundation's charity rating? +
Microloan Foundation scores 71 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 Microloan Foundation have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Microloan 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 Microloan Foundation? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 93% of Microloan 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 Microloan Foundation's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 7% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 7% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Microloan Foundation. Microloan Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 3 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (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 Microloan Foundation receive? +
Microloan Foundation reported £5.6m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Microloan Foundation's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-10-10). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Microloan Foundation based? +
Microloan Foundation's registered contact address is in London (SE1 8ND). It tells the regulator it operates in Malawi, United States, Zambia, South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe, with a focus on poverty relief.
How much is Microloan Foundation's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Microloan Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports 3 employees paid more than £60,000, including 1 employee paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (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 Microloan Foundation's money come from? +
Microloan Foundation reported £5.6m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were charitable activities £4.4m (78%), donations and legacies £1.1m (20%), investments £107k (2%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £263k.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Microloan Foundation? +
The register records Microloan 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 Microloan Foundation's trustees paid? +
Microloan 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 Microloan Foundation previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Microloan Foundation: Micro Loan Foundation.
When was Microloan Foundation registered as a charity? +
Microloan Foundation was entered on the register on 11 June 2004. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 04828558).
How does CharityCompare score Microloan Foundation? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Microloan 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 Microloan 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.