How we’re funded

We couldn’t do what we do without you – the amazing people who trust us with your money to help women and girls living in poverty change their lives, for good.

From child sponsors and marathon runners to trusts and corporate sponsors, find out how we received funding in 2018 to run our life-changing projects.

Our income year on year

The pie chart below shows you who gave us how much.

The largest percentage of our funding comes from individual committed giving: this fantastic support is the best guarantee of our independence as a charity.

To see this in more detail, you can download our annual reports or go to the International Aid Transparency Initiative website.

Our supporters

We’d like to say a huge thank you for the generous donations of all our supporters, from our community fundraisers through to our child sponsors, who provided over 80% of our income in 2018.

Our income in 2018

Income (£m)	2018	2017	2016
Committed giving This includes income from Child Sponsorship, The Next Step, Basics, Causes of Poverty, LottoAid, and our Country Programme General Fund and any Gift Aid collected from these amounts.	29.4	30.6	32.0
Appeals, individuals and legacies This includes income from legacies (e.g. Will Aid), emergency appeals (e.g. the 2018 Indonesia tsunami), regular appeals, AidMatch appeals, Gifts in Action, general donations, payroll giving, events, JustGiving.com, and any Gift Aid collected from these amounts.	8.5	7.0	5.8
Government and EU This includes income in the form of grants from governments (e.g. the Department for International Development (DFID), the Dutch foreign ministry and EU agencies including ECHO and EuropeAid).	6.3	9.8	19.9
Trading income This is income from the People’s Postcode Lottery, the rental of some of our London office space and the sales of education packs.	3.1	2.7	0
DEC This is income from the Disasters Emergency Committee.	1.3	2.6	0.2
NGOs, Trusts and companies This includes income from other NGOs and trusts such as Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund, and also from companies. These can take the form of donations or grants.	1.0	2.3	2.3

Women and girls in Kilifi County, Kenya, are supported to learn life skills like sewing

Sheldon Moultrie/ActionAid

More than 18,000 new supporters in the UK signed up to give a committed gift

Your incredible commitment helps us run projects around the world that help end violence against women and girls and change lives, for good.

In Kilifi County, Kenya, we’re supporting women who have dropped out of school due to early marriage or pregnancy.

Due to stigma, girls are often reluctant to return to school, but our work helps girls return to formal schooling or learn life skills like dressmaking, so they can become economically independent.

Thank you to all our supporters for making projects like this possible.

ActionAid volunteers build a classroom block in Rwanda

ActionAid

Volunteers got stuck in building a classroom block in Rwanda

In 2018, 45 volunteers travelled to northern Rwanda to help build a classroom block and improve access to education for children living in Shingiro.

Not only did they raise money to fund the construction of the building, but they also got physically involved working hand in hand with local builders to lay bricks and dig foundations. The memories made along the way will last a lifetime!

Find out about first hand experiences

Team ActionAid cheer on runners at the London Marathon 2018

ActionAid

A team of 29 runners took on the London Marathon for ActionAid in 2018

Together, team ActionAid laced up their trainers and raised over £77,000 to help change the lives of women and girls in poverty.

Thank you for your incredible efforts!

Our institutional donors

We’re also really grateful to the many NGOs, trusts, companies and government or EU funders who combined gave us over 17% of our income in 2018. Thank you!