Common questions about The Smith Foundation's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is The Smith Foundation a good charity? +
The Smith Foundation scores 80 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 97% 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 Smith Foundation a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists The Smith Foundation as a registered charity (charity number 529132). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=529132&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 Smith Foundation's charity number? +
The Smith Foundation's charity number is 529132. 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 Smith Foundation's charity rating? +
The Smith Foundation scores 80 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 Smith Foundation have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Smith 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: insufficient trustee oversight). 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 Smith Foundation? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 97% of The Smith 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 Smith Foundation's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 0% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 1% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Smith Foundation. The Smith Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 9 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 The Smith Foundation receive? +
The Smith Foundation reported £13m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are The Smith Foundation's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-01-13). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is The Smith Foundation based? +
The Smith Foundation's registered contact address is in Huddersfield (HD6 3JW). It tells the regulator it operates in England, with a focus on education.
How much is The Smith Foundation's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The Smith Foundation's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 9 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 The Smith Foundation's money come from? +
The Smith Foundation reported £13m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £13m (100%), investments £26k (0%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Smith Foundation? +
The register does not record The Smith Foundation as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid. Ask the charity before assuming a donation can be Gift Aided.
Are The Smith Foundation's trustees paid? +
The Smith 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.
When was The Smith Foundation registered as a charity? +
The Smith Foundation was entered on the register on 28 January 1974.
How does CharityCompare score The Smith Foundation? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Smith 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 Smith 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.