--- title: "Tearfund vs World Vision UK: Key Differences & Ratings" description: "Tearfund vs World Vision UK compared: two Christian relief and development charities, one working through local churches and one through its partnership." source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare/tearfund-vs-world-vision-uk retrieved: 2026-10-23T13:05:40.332Z date_note: "Retrieval time is not the filing, register-extract or editorial-review date; cite those dates from the content." license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0" --- [TE](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/tearfund) [TEARFUND](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/tearfund) 81/100 4★ Reg. 265464 compared with [WV](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/world-vision-uk) [WORLD VISION UK](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/world-vision-uk) 73/100 3★ Reg. 285908 # Tearfund vs World Vision UK **In short:** Tearfund works through local churches and Christian partners that agree with its Statement of Faith, and runs some crisis programmes directly. World Vision UK funds child-focused programmes and sponsorship that World Vision Partnership offices deliver. Last reviewed 23 October 2026 by CharityCompare editorial. Both are Christian charities that report reaching 3.3 million people directly, but the matching headline comes from different years and definitions. Tearfund’s figure is for the year to March 2025 and comes with no stated definition; World Vision UK’s is for the year to September 2025 and includes 1.8 million children. The bigger difference is who delivers the work: local churches or World Vision offices. ## Tearfund vs World Vision UK: key differences | What to compare | TEARFUND | WORLD VISION UK | | --- | --- | --- | | Registered work and operating model | Christian relief and development with local churches and Christian partners, plus some directly run programmes in protracted crises. | Christian child-focused development, emergency response and advocacy, implemented by World Vision Partnership members. | | What to consider | It worked with 243 partners across 46 countries in 2024/25, and its report gives different counts of churches on different pages. Partners must agree with its Statement of Faith; the people it helps need not. | It is autonomous but follows partnership-wide policies under a Covenant of Partnership, and it does not employ staff to implement programmes. Keep its own reach separate from World Vision Partnership totals. | | Access and practical checks | Check the named appeal and country. It is a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee and the World Evangelical Alliance, and is registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. | Child sponsorship is its committed-giving scheme; the 47,032 year-end figure is labelled as sponsors and as sponsored children in different places, so ask what a gift funds. | | Sourced result or evidence gap | 3.3 million: People reached directly through its projects. Year to 31 March 2025, against 2.9 million in 2023/24. A charity-reported output without a stated definition; 2.28 million people were reached in humanitarian responses it funded. | Over 3.3 million: People reached directly, 1.8 million of them children. Year to 30 September 2025, 184 projects in 35 countries. A charity-reported output; the report notes many people benefited from more than one kind of help. | ## What the latest filings show Figures from the accounts held in our dated dataset; the live register may contain newer filings. Ratios can span multiple years, as labelled. Clarity scores use our [methodology](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology). Cost to raise £1 of donations is not part of the score; legacies make it lumpy, and it is withheld where trading costs would distort it ([how it works](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology#cost-to-raise)). | Metric | TEARFUND | WORLD VISION UK | | --- | --- | --- | | Latest accounts year in our snapshot | 2025 | 2025 | | Financial snapshot refreshed | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-06 | | Ratio reporting window | 3-yr avg | 3-yr avg | | Overall score | 81/100 (4★) | 73/100 (3★) | | Accountability & Finance | 100/100 | 100/100 | | Spend on charitable activities | 84% of expenditure | 82% of expenditure | | Fundraising efficiency | £6.3 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | £5.4 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | | Cost to raise £1 of donations | 14p per £1 (2025) · 16p over 2023–2025 | 33p per £1 (2025) · 31p over 2023–2025 | | Latest income | £80m | £66m | | Fundraising spend | 16% of expenditure | 18% of expenditure | | Reserves | 2 months | 2 months | | Accounts filing | On time | On time | | Data confidence | high | high | | Charity number | 265464 | 285908 | [TEARFUND on the register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=265464&subId=0) · [WORLD VISION UK on the register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=285908&subId=0) ## Considering Tearfund - You want to support relief and development delivered with local churches. - You want a charity that also runs programmes directly in protracted crises where partners are scarce. [Full profile →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/tearfund) ## Considering World Vision UK - You want to fund child-focused programmes through a Christian partnership of national offices. - You would like to sponsor a child. [Full profile →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/world-vision-uk) ## Tearfund vs World Vision UK: questions answered ### Tearfund or World Vision UK: which should I support? There is no universal winner. Tearfund works through local churches and Christian partners; World Vision UK funds child-focused programmes delivered by the World Vision Partnership. Both say they help people regardless of faith. Choose the delivery approach you prefer, then check the appeal and accounts period. A financial rating is not an impact assessment. ### Do Tearfund and World Vision UK only help Christians? No. Tearfund says it and its partners work with people in the greatest need regardless of race, religion and other characteristics, and World Vision UK says it works alongside children of all faiths and none. Tearfund requires its partner organisations to agree with its Statement of Faith. ### Both report 3.3 million people reached. Are the figures comparable? Not directly. Tearfund’s 3.3 million is for the year to 31 March 2025 and its report gives no definition of reached directly. World Vision UK’s figure is for the year to 30 September 2025 and covers projects it funded in 35 countries. Matching totals do not mean matching results. 100 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 →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/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. [Compare these charities side-by-side](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities?ids=tearfund,world-vision-uk) [Back to compare](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities) **Information only** — not donation advice. We do not tell you where to give. Sources: [Tearfund: Registered activities, identity and accounts](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=265464&subId=0), [Tearfund: Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024/25 (filed with the Charity Commission)](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/265464/accounts-and-annual-returns), [World Vision UK: Registered activities, identity and accounts](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=285908&subId=0), [World Vision UK: Trustees’ report and accounts (year to 30 September 2025)](https://www.worldvision.org.uk/media/wq1dirl1/annual-report_25_10.pdf). See also [how we score](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities#how-we-score).