A NEW WAY TO SPONSOR CHILDREN

"Child sponsorship" used to be a dirty word because it helped a single child - and not, crucially, its local community. But Plan is aware of this and its child-sponsorship schemes are designed to get whole villages to be self-supporting within 12 years - while maintaining the idea of sponsorship to keep donors happy. The annual report is suitably professional and shows a rare commitment to accountability and transparency.

Read the charity's reply [0]

QUALITY OF REPORTING What is this?	84%
How much info does the charity want to share? This score, taken from our search for 43 key points in the annual report, gives the answer. Top mark is 100%. Anything over 70% is a good effort.
SIZE OF CHARITY... What is this?	Large
We only profile the largest charities in England & Wales, and our sizes are relative to the largest and smallest among them. So where we describe a charity as 'Small', it is still much larger than the national average.
HIGHEST SALARY What is this?	£80k to £99k
Taken from the vague bandings given in annual reports; note that 'Under £60k' could be £9k or £59k. Nonetheless the number of bars should roughly correlate with the 'Size of charity' bars.
RESERVES WOULD LAST... What is this?	0 months
If income dried up, how long could work continue? 3-12 months is normal. Less may be precarious. 12+ months may be over-cautious (or if very high, may represent the value of the charity's property).
ETHICAL INVESTMENT POLICY What is this?	Unknown
We asked the charity if it has an ethical investment policy. If yes, it gets an angel. Those with no policy but which don't invest in tobacco/arms get a halo. Those without investments, or who didn't respond, appear neutral. Those with stakes in arms/tobacco get a fallen angel.

But don't take our word for it...

• The charity's website [1]
• GuideStar summary [2]
• Charity Commission link to annual report [3]

Plan UK's policy, reviewed annually by the Trustees, is to maintain working capital sufficient to cover its anticipated needs - currently we consider two months prudent. As a Child Sponsorship agency we are able to predict a large proportion of total monthly income with a high degree of confidence and greater reserves are considered unnecessary. We rely on our sponsors and do not want to hold on to their money any longer than we have to - it is important to get their contributions to the field, where they are needed, as soon as possible.