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Animals · Reg 1070906

The Born Free Foundation

77 /100

Clarity score

Good

Charity accounts, evidence & financial rating

77/100 Clarity Score · 4 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score

Register checked 4 October 2026 · latest accounts 2025

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Quick answer

Is The Born Free Foundation a good charity?

The Born Free Foundation scores 77/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£7.7m total income, 74% 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

£7.7m

Accounts 2025-03-31

Spending

£7.1m

Accounts 2025-03-31

Charitable activities

74%

3-yr avg · share of spending

Accounts filing

On time

Charity Commission

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Reigate · UK-wide · RH12 1ER Reg 1070906 Registered charity Official website Charity Commission register

What does The Born Free Foundation do?

Animal welfare and wildlife conservation and related education

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

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How much does The Born Free Foundation raise and spend?

Accounts period 2024-04-01 to 2025-03-31 · Source: Charity Commission filings

The Born Free Foundation revenue and expenses for 2025
Category Amount % of spend
Total income £7.7m —
Total expenditure £7.1m —
Charitable activities £5.1m 71%
Fundraising £2.1m 29%
Reported governance £88k 1%

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 The Born Free Foundation’s latest accounts?

Reported totals for 2025 compared with 2024. Changes can reflect the accounting period, restricted grants or restructuring as well as the charity’s work.

Income change
+25.3%
£6.1m → £7.7m
Spending change
+17.7%
£6.1m → £7.1m
Charitable activities share
−3.6 pp
75% → 71% · percentage points

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

71%On charitable activities

Where does the money go?

Latest accounts (2025) · £7.1m spent

  • Charitable activities71%
  • Fundraising29%

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 The Born Free Foundation pay its staff, and where does its money come from?

Answers The Born Free Foundation gave in its annual return to the Charity Commission for the year ending 31 March 2025, plus its register entry. These are the charity's own disclosures, not part of the Clarity Score.

How much are The Born Free Foundation's highest-paid staff paid?

The Born Free Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 4 employees paid more than £60,000. The highest reported pay band is £90,001–£100,000 (1 employee).

The Born Free Foundation employees paid over £60,000, by salary band
Salary bandEmployees
£90,001–£100,000 1
£80,001–£90,000 1
£70,001–£80,000 1
£60,001–£70,000 1

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 The Born Free Foundation's money come from?

The Born Free Foundation reported £7.7m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £7m (91%), trading and fundraising events £538k (7%), investments £85k (1%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £3.7m.

  • Donations and legacies £7m · 91%
  • Trading and fundraising events £538k · 7%
  • Investments £85k · 1%
  • Other income £36k · 0%

Cash at year end: £2m · unrestricted funds: £6.2m · restricted funds: £24k. 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 The Born Free 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. Work out your Gift Aid

The Born Free Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for providing services). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

Registration details

Registered as a charity
Company number
03603432 (Companies House)
Also known as
Born Free
Previous names on the register
The Born Free Foundation Limited
Where it says it operates
Throughout England and Wales · Belgium · Burkina Faso · Cameroon · Canada · Ethiopia · Guinea · India

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 The Born Free Foundation's finances changed over five years?

Income rose 30% from £5.9m in 2021 to £7.7m in 2025; spending was £7.1m in 2025.

£0 £2.0m £4.0m £6.0m £8.0m 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Income 2021: £5.9m Spending 2021: £6.8m Cause spend 2021: £4.6m Income 2022: £6.1m Spending 2022: £5.4m Cause spend 2022: £4.0m Income 2023: £5.7m Spending 2023: £6.3m Cause spend 2023: £4.9m Income 2024: £6.1m Spending 2024: £6.1m Cause spend 2024: £4.5m Income 2025: £7.7m Spending 2025: £7.1m Cause spend 2025: £5.1m
  • Income
  • Spending
  • Cause spend
The Born Free Foundation income and spending by accounts year
Year Income Spending Charitable activities
2025 £7.7m £7.1m £5.1m
2024 £6.1m £6.1m £4.5m
2023 £5.7m £6.3m £4.9m
2022 £6.1m £5.4m £4.0m
2021 £5.9m £6.8m £4.6m

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 The Born Free Foundation with 29 other animals charities in our detailed dataset: the same regulator, £5m–£10m income band and accounts ending in 2025. 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 2025-03-31. Peer medians exclude this charity; the median is the middle value.
MeasureThis charityPeer medianPeer coverage
Annual income £7.7m £7.3m 29 of 29
Annual spending £7.1m £6.6m 29 of 29
Charitable activities share 70.9% 80.7% 29 of 29

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 peers are selected Check this charity’s source accounts Choose between similar charities

How does The Born Free Foundation compare?

The share of each group scoring at or below The Born Free Foundation, 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 (2025) 30thpercentile

Scores at or above 30% of 30 charities with the same primary cause, income band and latest accounts year · 77/100 vs 82 peer average.

Income band (£5m–£10m) 44thpercentile

Scores at or above 44% of 620 charities in its income band · 77/100 vs 77 peer average.

Animals charities 49thpercentile

Scores at or above 49% of 367 charities in this cause · 77/100 vs 75 peer average.

How does The Born Free Foundation compare, and where else can you look?

Compare The Born Free Foundation with others More animals charities How we score charities

Where The Born Free Foundation sits

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

Similar animals charities

Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score

Evidence and interpretation

What the evidence says about The Born Free Foundation

In 2025, reported income was £7,652,000 and expenditure was £7,142,000. Income exceeded expenditure by £510,000. This annual balance is not the charity’s available cash or unrestricted reserves.

More financial context

Income rose 25.3% compared with 2024. 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: Children/young People; Other Defined Groups; The General Public/mankind.

How it works: Makes Grants To Organisations; Provides Human Resources; Provides Services; Provides Advocacy/advice/information; Sponsors Or Undertakes Research; Acts As An Umbrella Or Resource Body.

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: £550,000 (2025-03-31). 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 The Born Free Foundation'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.

93/100

Accountability & Transparency metrics for The Born Free Foundation
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% 11 trustees · 15/15 pts
Declared policies

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

 70% 7/10 pts

Financial Health

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

97/100

Financial Health metrics for The Born Free Foundation
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.

 100% 9 months · 15/15 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.

 80% 8% · 4/5 pts

Financial Efficiency

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

55/100

Financial Efficiency metrics for The Born Free Foundation
Metric Score Value
Program expense ratio

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

 60% 74% · 6/10 pts (3-year average)
Fundraising efficiency

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

 50% 26p per £1 income · 5/10 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 The Born Free Foundation
Metric Score Value
Volunteer-to-staff ratio

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

 0% 11 volunteers / 141 staff · 0/10 pts

How we calculate beacon scores →

What trust indicators does The Born Free Foundation 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)

    11 trustees on the Charity Commission register

  • Workforce on register

    141 employees · 11 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 1070906

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

View on Charity Commission →

Trustees & officers

  • Michael Drake
  • Jenny Seagrove since 2011
  • Sean Daniel Cassidy since 2019
  • Sharon Peake since 2019
  • Jessica Montgomery-Ruben since 2020
  • Navindu Katugampola since 2022
  • Arabella Lack since 2022
  • Michael John Reyner Chair
  • Nicky Whitehead since 2025
  • Tracey Greaves since 2026
  • Andrew Mura Muiruri since 2026

How reliable is The Born Free Foundation's data?

Source
Charity Commission (England & Wales)
Accounts year
2025
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: 3954054. 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 The Born Free Foundation?

  1. 1. Match the name and charity number

    Check 1070906 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 2025. 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 The Born Free Foundation →
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 The Born Free Foundation's rating?

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What red flags does The Born Free Foundation have?

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about The Born Free Foundation's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.

Is The Born Free Foundation a good charity? +

The Born Free Foundation scores 77 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 74% 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 The Born Free Foundation a legitimate charity? +

The register data used for this profile lists The Born Free Foundation as a registered charity (charity number 1070906). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1070906&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 The Born Free Foundation's charity number? +

The Born Free Foundation's charity number is 1070906. 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 The Born Free Foundation's charity rating? +

The Born Free Foundation scores 77 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 The Born Free Foundation have reviews and complaints? +

CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Born Free Foundation. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (one red flag on this profile: high fundraising costs). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.

How much of my donation reaches The Born Free Foundation? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 74% of The Born Free 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 The Born Free Foundation's overheads? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 26% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 27% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Born Free Foundation. The Born Free Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 4 employees paid more than £60,000. The highest reported pay band is £90,001–£100,000 (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 The Born Free Foundation receive? +

The Born Free Foundation reported £7.7m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.

Are The Born Free Foundation's accounts up to date? +

Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-11-05). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.

Where is The Born Free Foundation based? +

The Born Free Foundation's registered contact address is in Reigate (RH12 1ER). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Ethiopia, with a focus on animals.

How much is The Born Free Foundation's chief executive paid? +

The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The Born Free Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 4 employees paid more than £60,000. The highest reported pay band is £90,001–£100,000 (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 The Born Free Foundation's money come from? +

The Born Free Foundation reported £7.7m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £7m (91%), trading and fundraising events £538k (7%), investments £85k (1%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £3.7m.

Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Born Free Foundation? +

The register records The Born Free 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 The Born Free Foundation's trustees paid? +

The Born Free Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for providing services). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

What was The Born Free Foundation previously called? +

The register lists this previous name for The Born Free Foundation: The Born Free Foundation Limited.

When was The Born Free Foundation registered as a charity? +

The Born Free Foundation was entered on the register on 7 August 1998. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 03603432).

How does CharityCompare score The Born Free Foundation? +

We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Born Free 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 The Born Free Foundation'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.