Common questions about Virunga Foundation's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Virunga Foundation a good charity? +
Virunga Foundation scores 66 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 64% 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 Virunga Foundation a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Virunga Foundation as a registered charity (charity number 1111806). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1111806&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 Virunga Foundation's charity number? +
Virunga Foundation's charity number is 1111806. 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 Virunga Foundation's charity rating? +
Virunga Foundation scores 66 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 Virunga Foundation have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Virunga 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 Virunga Foundation? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 64% of Virunga 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 Virunga Foundation's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 36% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 37% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Virunga Foundation. Virunga 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 £120,001–£130,000 (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 Virunga Foundation receive? +
Virunga Foundation reported £43m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Virunga 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 Virunga Foundation based? +
Virunga Foundation's registered contact address is in London (WC2A 1JF). It tells the regulator it operates in Congo (Democratic Republic), with a focus on animals.
How much is Virunga Foundation's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Virunga 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 £120,001–£130,000 (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 Virunga Foundation's money come from? +
Virunga Foundation reported £43m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £29m (67%), trading and fundraising events £14m (32%), investments £386k (1%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Virunga Foundation? +
The register records Virunga 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 Virunga Foundation's trustees paid? +
Virunga 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 Virunga Foundation previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Virunga Foundation: Africa Conservation Fund (UK).
When was Virunga Foundation registered as a charity? +
Virunga Foundation was entered on the register on 25 October 2005. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 05598718).
How does CharityCompare score Virunga Foundation? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Virunga 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 Virunga 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.