Our Annual Report

We want to say a huge thank you to our supporters, donors and partners who made this possible. We couldn’t have done this without you.

Almost one in three children (4.5 million) in the UK are living in poverty based on the latest official figures (UK Government, 2025). That’s three times the population of Birmingham.

We supported children in families struggling to afford the basics and spoke up alongside children and young people to help drive positive change for them.

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We are so grateful to everyone who raises money and donates to us. Your support allows us to invest in our vital work changing children’s lives for the better, thank you.

This year, we raised £58.1m through fundraising, donations and gifts in Wills. £12.8m was donated directly by our supporters, and £15.7m was gifted to us by supporters in their Wills. The remaining £29.6m comes from trusts, foundations and philanthropists as well as amazing individuals, organisations and businesses who fundraise for us.

We are always impressed by the energy and commitment of people across the UK who choose to support us through undertaking runs, hikes, treks, abseils, parachute jumps and other wonderfully imaginative ways of raising money to help change childhoods. At the London Marathon we had our largest ever team with 203 people running for us. They raised over £325,000 and we’re so grateful for the time and effort they put into raising this amazing amount of money.

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In 2024-25, we focused on developing new and innovative responses to a challenging retail environment. Our retail and trading operations have always been an important source of income for the charity, and like many other charity retailers, we know we need to adapt to stay fit for the future.

June 2024 saw the official opening of our Re-Fashion Hub, our first-ever upcycling workshop located within our Bradford Superstore. The Hub enables volunteers to give donations that would usually be sent to our recycling merchants a new lease of life. These items can then be resold, significantly reducing the items we send for recycling, but also generates additional income.

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As well as people giving us financial support, we are incredibly grateful for the time people donate to us. Our volunteers continue to bring a rich variety of skills and experiences to Barnardo’s. Last year the number of people volunteering for Barnardo’s grew, with 18,520 people giving over 1.9 million hours of their time across the charity to help change childhoods and change lives. We can’t thank you enough for making what we do possible.

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In 2024-25 we spent £221.9m on charitable activities.  We spent £104.7m on raising these funds including £92m on retail costs, and £11.3m generating more funds for the charity.

Excluding retail costs, this means that out of every £1 we spent approximately:

• 94p went on providing vital services and driving change for the children and young people who need our help the most.
• Less than 1p on investment management costs.
• The remaining amount - just over 5p - on raising the next £1.

If you want to know more about our activities and finances in recent years you can view previously published annual reports and accounts.