Common questions about Orphans in Need's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Orphans in Need a good charity? +
Orphans in Need scores 93 out of 100 (5 stars — Exceptional) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 90% 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 Orphans in Need a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Orphans in Need as a registered charity (charity number 1144812). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1144812&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 Orphans in Need's charity number? +
Orphans in Need's charity number is 1144812. 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 Orphans in Need's charity rating? +
Orphans in Need scores 93 out of 100 on CharityCompare (5 stars — Exceptional). 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 Orphans in Need have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Orphans in Need. 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 Orphans in Need? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 90% of Orphans in Need'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 Orphans in Need's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 10% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 10% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Orphans in Need. Orphans in Need's annual return for the year ending 31 January 2025 reports no employees paid more than £60,000. Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does Orphans in Need receive? +
Orphans in Need reported £23m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Orphans in Need's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-10-31). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Orphans in Need based? +
Orphans in Need's registered contact address is in Bradford (BD5 0QH). It tells the regulator it operates in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, The Gambia, India, Mali, Nepal, with a focus on international aid.
How much is Orphans in Need's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Orphans in Need's annual return for the year ending 31 January 2025 reports no employees paid more than £60,000. 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 Orphans in Need's money come from? +
Orphans in Need reported £23m total income for the year ending 31 January 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £23m (99%), investments £337k (1%), other income £1,102 (0%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Orphans in Need? +
The register records Orphans in Need 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 Orphans in Need's trustees paid? +
Orphans in Need's annual return for the year ending 31 January 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
When was Orphans in Need registered as a charity? +
Orphans in Need was entered on the register on 25 November 2011. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 07797095).
How does CharityCompare score Orphans in Need? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Orphans in Need'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 Orphans in Need'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.