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 2020 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 x% of our income in 2020.

Our income in 2020

Income (£m)	2020	2019	2018
Committed giving This includes income from Child Sponsorship, The Next Step, Basics, and our Country Programme General Fund and any Gift Aid collected from these amounts.	27.9	28.3	29.4
Appeals, individuals, and legacies This includes income from legacies (e.g. Will Aid), emergency appeals (e.g. the 2020 Coronavirus appeal), regular appeals, AidMatch appeals, Gifts in Action, general donations, payroll giving, events, JustGiving.com, and any Gift Aid collected from these amounts.	10.4	8.6	8.5
Government and EU This includes income in the form of grants from governments (e.g. the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Dutch foreign ministry and EU agencies including ECHO and EuropeAid).	6.3	5.4	6.3
Trading income This is income from the People’s Postcode Lottery and the sales of education packs.	2.6	2.9	2.8
DEC This is income from the Disasters Emergency Committee.	1.0	1.7	1.3
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.	1.3	1.8	1.0
Other This includes rental income from subletting parts of our office building.	0.8	0.4	0.3

More than 21,500 new supporters in the UK signed up to give a committed gift

Your incredible commitment helps us run projects around the world that empower women and girls.

In September 2020, we launched a campaign called Stand with Women. The campaign highlighted the hidden pandemic of escalating violence against women and girls, as exposed by the global Covid-19 crisis.

Florence is the Executive Director of the ActionAid-supported Tusitukirewamu Women’s Network in Kampala, Uganda. The network provides invaluable support, vital education, and life-changing training to women surviving violence.

I have a passion for working with women, to see that even the last woman can rise up, have her say and be heard."

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

Find out more about period poverty

Florence is the Executive Director of the ActionAid-supported Tusitukirewamu Women’s Network in Kampala.

Esther Mbabazi/ActionAid

people postcode lottery

ActionAid

Players of People's Postcode Lottery helped to empower young women

In 2020, thanks to the players of People's Postcode Lottery, we supported our work promoting girls' empowerment and promoting the rights of women.

In Ghana, People's Postcode Lottery has funded safe spaces for women to advocate for rights and distribute sanitary pads to over 1,600 members across five regions.

Find out more about People's Postcode Lottery

Our Gifts in Action help strengthen communities

Our supporters helped Shaher, from Afghanistan with the training and equipment needed to start beekeeping. Her new skill has transformed her life.

For the first time, ActionAid offered beekeeping gifts as part of its Gifts in Action range. Gifts in the ‘Beehives to Thrive’ category help women kickstart a new career in beekeeping and earn an independent income.

Before, women in my community didn’t have any opportunity to work except for household and caring activities... now, I spend profits from my beekeeping on my children’s education, buying new clothes for my children and supporting my husband with the household expenses."

Learn more about Gifts in Action