# Educational Opportunity Foundation
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 31 December 2025
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025
Educational Opportunity Foundation Established 1808 – Incorporated by Royal Charter 1906 The two hundred and nineteenth report
## Educational Opportunity Foundation
The Council of Educational Opportunity Foundation presents its report along with the financial statements of Educational Opportunity Foundation and the other charitable trusts for which the Foundation is responsible, for the year ended 31 December 2025.
## **PRESIDENT**
The Rt Hon the Baroness Morris of Yardley
## **VICE-PRESIDENT**
Emeritus Professor John Furlong OBE
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the Notes to the Financial Statements below and comply with Educational Opportunity Foundation’s Charter and applicable law.
## **COUNCILLORS**
## **Chair of Council**
Jane Creasy
## **Vice-Chair of Council**
**Website:** educationalopportunity.org.uk
Charlotte Cashman
## **Registered charity no:** 314286
## **Treasurer**
Robert Spencer
Suela Aksoy (until December 2025)
Anood Al-Samerai Jeanette Brady David Crowther Kerry Dinnie (from May 2025) Davinder Dosanjh (until August 2025) Alex McDonald (until December 2025) Janice Miller Saurav Tamang (from May 2025) Nicholas Tesseyman
## **VOLUNTEER INVESTMENT ADVISER**
Ian Richley
## Contents
|Message|from ourChair|5|
|---|---|---|
|1.|Introduction:Finding the balance|6|
|2.|Progressing ourstrategy|10|
|3.|Sharedlearning|16|
|4.|Ourgrant giving|18|
|5.|Ourimpact|23|
|6.|Structure, governance and management|30|
|7.|Financial review|33|
|8.|Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees||
||of Educational Opportunity Foundation|38|
||Statement of fnancial activities|42|
||Balance sheet|44|
||Cash fow statement|45|
||Notes to the fnancial statements|46|
||Members of the Grants Committee|60|
||Members of the Finance and||
||Investments Committee|60|
||Delegates of Restricted Funds|60|
||Trustees of the Old British School|60|
||Representatives serving on outside bodies|61|
||Professional Advisors|61|
## **DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL OFFICE ADDRESS:**
Joanne Knight Canopi, 82 Tanner Street, London SE1 3GN
Cover photo courtesy of Fields of Life: excited learners at primary school in east Africa
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## Message from our Chair
Photo courtesy of Fields of Life: pupil using his new computer skills
Welcome to our latest Annual Report. I hope you will find it interesting, particularly in the way it reflects the work of our Grant Partners and the impact that projects are having.
project highlights the value of encouraging and supporting positive relationships for care experienced young people.
As always, I would like to express my respect and gratitude to our Trustees, who bring so much to the work and direction of the Foundation. I would also like to thank our exceptional staff team, led by Director, Joanne Knight, for such high standards of work, for their commitment to making lives better through education, and for the difference they have made. We are very lucky to have them.
Although we inevitably report on challenges, you will also find some uplifting things in this report. One notable example is the work on producing a comprehensive history of our foundation, formerly known as the British and Foreign Schools Society (BFSS). Our Vice-President, Professor John Furlong, Trustee David Crowther, and our Communications Manager, Sara Gaines, worked with great enthusiasm on gathering together information about the history and work of the Society, and the result is an inspiring and uplifting story.
Most of all, I would like to applaud our Grant Partners, who do so much to transform lives. We learn so much from them when we see them at the Grants Workshop and their work inspires us.
You will also be able to read about our progress on our Strategic Plan. One focus within the plan is our approach to UK funding and I am pleased that the publication of our online report, What works well in educational projects to support care experienced young people, has helped us with this and will inform our development of a framework of outcomes to assist Grant Partners in the coming year. We retain our commitment to environmental responsibility and this report contains information about the actions we are taking for ourselves and with Grant Partners.
## Jane Creasy
Chair of Educational Opportunity Foundation
Perhaps the most uplifting part of this report is on the impact of a small selection of our projects. One project in Uganda illustrates the vital role of focusing on girls’ education in some parts of the world; a project in Jordan/Lebanon and now Gaza shows that, even in the most adverse circumstances, play can transform educational Jane Creasy experiences for children; and a UK-based
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## Finding the balance reflection on the future of Educational Opportunity Foundation. 1
As we reached the midpoint of our current strategic plan, 2025 was a year for deep reflection on the future of Educational Opportunity Foundation.
Throughout the year, it often felt as though the global landscape had shifted dramatically, with volatile geopolitics, a heightened threat of international conflict, and frequent devastating climate events. Closer to home, the UK contended with ongoing political and cost of living challenges. This is compounded with the uncertain potential of AI and the daunting question of how society can adapt to such rapid change. Such collective turmoil directly impacts young people worldwide. And as budgets are further constrained, charities dedicated to protecting the next generation must fight harder than ever simply to continue this important work.
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Educational Opportunity Foundation
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Our Grant Partners have come through a series of crises already and have not only recovered but in some cases emerged stronger. Digital approaches to providing educational support are constantly evolving, enabling us to fund ongoing educational opportunities for girls in Afghanistan and children in Gaza.
However, in such a challenging year, we felt compelled to ask ourselves a difficult question: should we focus on providing more support sooner, or continue with our aim of supporting current youth while ensuring we are still able to support future generations. In resolving this debate, we reaffirmed our commitment to bridge the original intent of our founders to enhance lives through education, and to maintain the real value of our investments in order to meet the needs of tomorrow. We believe our role is to remain a constant amidst the chaos, a resolute, dependable and supportive partner for the organisations we fund and for the young people whose lives they transform.
## To the left:
Photo courtesy of Signpost International: outdoor learning in Uganda
## To the right:
Photo courtesy of Consortium for Street Children: training in street work
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Our year
in numbers
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Shared learning
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Photo courtesy of Afrikids: improving access, retention and education for children in Ghana
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Members
177
Grant giving
190 Online Forumparticipants
Project grants
(from unrestricted funds)
63 Delegates attendedour Grants Workshop
£759,792
awarded to
13 projects
Newsletters shared
3 with Members
33,520 9,000
Young people Displaced young
supported people supported
942 200
Educational Girls supported
professionals in projects Members
supported exclusively for girls 37 attended AGM
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## Progressing 2 our strategy 2.1 Highlights of 2025
Our performance against strategic objectives for 2023 to 2027.
## Objective 1
To award grants aimed at **enabling children and young people to improve their own educational outcomes and life chances** in the UK and Internationally.
## Highlights in 2025:
**£759,792 awarded to 13 new multi-year main fund projects** , some to be paid over two to three years, and £33,000 awarded to six new projects through our subsidiary funds. Overall, in 2025 £835,006 was paid out to new and ongoing grants from restricted and unrestricted funds.
**Awarded our first Development Grant of £59,362 to Mobile Education Partnerships** to develop a replicable, financially sustainable model by partnering and training other agencies to create an innovative team of specialist trainers to support transient migrant communities on the Thailand/Myanmar border.
**Only awarded grants to charities that are committed to minimising their impact on the environment** , and projects where climate change adaptation or mitigation has been given strong consideration.
To the left: Photo courtesy of Afrikids: parents are also engaged in education projects
Above:
Our history (Objective 3): the first schoolhouse built by the Free School Society in New York, 1809
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Photo courtesy of STEP UK: a student receives education support at a drop-in centre in Iraq
## Objective 3
To **support broader social aims** which have an impact on inclusive education and stay true to our heritage.
## Highlights in 2025:
## Objective 2
To support our Grant Partners and Members to **build their own capacity and knowledge** .
## Objective 4
As part of our commitment to openness, we **published our grant data with 360 Giving** which provides open access to UK-wide grant funding data enabling decision-makers, fundraising charities and grant funders to be more effective.
**Increased lived experience on the Trustee board** with the appointment of two care experienced Trustees in the 2025 elections.
**We launched an online version of our inspiring history** , detailing our role in spreading mass education around the world, to inform our work today and in the future.
To **continually improve our adherence to good practice** in all aspects of our grant giving and governance.
## Highlights in 2025:
Put in place our **first environmental policy.**
## Highlights in 2025:
**Published an online report based on our UK grant giving** , What works well in educational projects to support care experienced young people, to share learning amongst our current and future UK Grant Partners.
**Changed the format of our Grants Workshop** to focus on practical tools to strengthen charities, which received excellent feedback and will be an impactful format for future years.
Objective 5
To **effectively** use our resources.
## Highlights in 2025:
**Debated and agreed upon our future financial plan** , resolving that our annual grant spend should increase with inflation, while we ensure our investments maintain their real value.
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## 2.2 Our vision
## 2.5 Priorities for 2026
Educational opportunity for all.
## 2.3 Our mission
We seek to achieve our vision by providing funding and support to UK-based charities for educational projects in the UK and throughout the world.
## 2.4 Our values
We believe in the right of children and young people to be able to access high-quality education as a driver for personal development, wellbeing, and equality of opportunity. Building on the heritage of the British and Foreign School Society, we value effective teaching and learning, and the sharing of good practice. We are committed to inclusivity, integrity, environmental responsibility, and to valuing and respecting others in everything we do.
To introduce a framework of educational outcomes for our UK grant giving to add clarity to future applicants on the types of projects we fund to provide maximum impact for care experienced young people.
To develop more opportunities for our Members to enhance our capacity to deliver our vision.
Further the understanding of our heritage by establishing a collaboration between the British Schools Museum, the British and Foreign School Society Archive and ourselves.
Photo courtesy of Fields of Life: nursery class in east Africa
With the increase in demand for funding, we will review how to restrict our international grant criteria to ensure future success rates for applicants adhere to good practice.
Implement our future financial plan to increase our annual grant spend with inflation, while ensuring our investments maintain their real value.
## Charitable objects
Our charitable objects are: **“To advance education for the benefit of the public in particular by providing educational opportunity for children and young people in the UK and overseas.”** We adhere to these objects and achieve public benefit through our grant giving activities to support the education of young people from low-income and marginalised communities worldwide. The Council has referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when developing its vision, mission, values and objectives. We review these each year, and make sure they inform our decisions.
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## 2.6 Environmental responsibility
We are committed to environmental responsibility in our work and supporting our Grant Partners on this, due to mounting evidence that climate change is severely impacting the education and prospects of millions of young people. While every project we fund must support the education or learning of young people, from 2025 we have only awarded grants to charities that are committed to minimising their impact on the environment, and projects
## Shared learning 3
We regularly review different elements of our grant giving and in 2025 we published an online report based on our UK grant giving, What works well in educational projects to support care experienced young people. It outlined programmes which have transformed practice in some areas. Good impact came from projects providing one-to-one support, non-formal learning environments, tutoring, bringing service providers together, and prioritising young people in their design and delivery. Challenges included school commitment, and understanding the needs of target cohorts. While there is no formula to ensure good outcomes, with this report we aim to add to knowledge in the sector.
Our 2025 Grants Workshop focused on practical tools to strengthen charities, with sessions on sustainable exit strategies; artificial intelligence; monitoring and evaluation; creating a theory of change; risk management; and narratives. Grant Partners from six charities ran training workshops, with time for questions and discussion to ensure that attendees could gain
where climate change adaptation or mitigation has been given strong consideration.
We are also committed to sharing good practice by our Grant Partners and have added case studies to a new Environmental responsibility section on our website. In 2025 we transferred our investments to new fund managers and began assessing the Foundation’s carbon footprint.
sufficient insight and information to replicate excellent practice.
The Online Forum continues to be a space where Members can post reports, share resources or ask questions. This year there was a good discussion initiated by Tea Leaf Trust around whether becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation could affect the ability to apply for funding; Sabre shared how it worked with the government and other NGOs in Ghana to embed early years programmes; and Disability and Development Partners shared a report on its project with a partner, Ethiopian NGO Berhan Lehetsanat, to give inclusive support to displaced children. We also continued our CEO Network on WhatsApp, where new or experienced CEOs can post questions or discuss their work.
To the right: Photo by Educational Opportunity Foundation: Grants Workshop session, 2025
## 3.1 Our history and Archives
We launched an online version of our inspiring history, detailing our role in spreading mass education around the world. Our predecessors pioneered a system of education that provided a basic education for children, with few teachers and for little public cost. The history shows how the system worked and rapidly spread, helping to lay the foundations for state education in the UK, Americas and many countries around the world.
Manager Sara Gaines in the year-long project to research the history of the British and Foreign School Society (our former name). We believe that understanding our 200-year history, and the changes we have made to retain a focus on educational opportunity for all, is helpful to inform our work today and in the future. The history research was greatly assisted by the expertise of staff at Brunel University, which maintains our Archives. The BFSS Archive is probably the most important collection in the world on 19th-century elementary education and teacher training.
Professor John Furlong, Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Oxford, joined Trustee David Crowther and Communications
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## Our grant 4giving
Our core activity and means of delivering public benefit is giving grants to support projects which maximise educational opportunity for children and young people in the UK and internationally. We adopt a grant funding approach that favours small-to-medium charities.
## 4.1 Main Fund
We are pleased to have funded 13 new projects, awarding a total of £759,792 to a broad range of organisations. 2025 also saw a significant increase in the number of high-quality applications, so in late summer we took the difficult decision to close for further applications for a few months, reopening later in the year.
Among the excellent applications were
many for UK projects this year, and we were pleased to award a total of £263,297 across four projects working with care experienced young people. This included forest schools for children in residential homes (Scotswood); and a supplementary school for 200 care experienced young people from ethnic minority backgrounds, which included mentoring support, IT skills and employability training (Afghanistan and Central Asian Association). We funded a learning readiness project for displaced young people living in supported homes, to enable them to transition successfully into mainstream colleges (Baca Charity); and a project which provides 70 young people with mental health
and confidence-building activities while they work towards qualifications (Wigan Athletic Community Trust).
Once again, the international projects that we have funded in 2025 have been thematically broad, including projects which focus on trauma awareness and interventions in slum schools in Nairobi (Kids Alive); building a new school for children with physical and learning disabilities in India (Reaching the Unreached); and improving foundation maths in 30 schools in Uganda through teacher training, girls’ maths clubs and connecting female students with mentors in STEM (Redearth).
Work in complex settings remained an element of projects which we funded. We were able to partner once again with several trusted partners in this respect: in Gaza, we supported a project to ensure more than 5,000 displaced children could receive play-based learning (Seenaryo); and in Afghanistan we supported a home schooling project to teach 200 girls through low-key, community based study groups (HealthProm).
We were also pleased to award our first grant under our Development Funding strand, which aims to support existing, high-impact funded projects that have the potential either to significantly scale-up at district or national level or to develop a model for other organisations or institutions to replicate. Mobile Education Partnerships built on its existing grant to create an innovative team of specialist trainers on the Thailand/Myanmar border, who can meet the educational needs of transient migrant communities. It has begun to develop a replicable model, partnering and training other agencies, and working to establish long-term financial sustainability.
## Aims and priorities of our grants
## International
## UK
## Aim
## Aim
To reduce the disadvantage of care experienced young people, including unaccompanied young refugees, up to the age of 25 through education and training.
To support the education of young people up to the age of 25 within international marginalised and deprived communities.
## Priorities
## Priorities
- Improve attendance, engagement and achievement in school, alternative education or further education.
- Improve access to education.
- Improve the quality of education.
Improve the sustainability of education projects.
Access and successfully complete higher education.
Improve employability through training outside of the formal education system.
Whilst every project we fund must support the education or learning of young people, from 2025 we will only fund charities that are committed to minimising their impact on the environment, and projects where climate change adaptation and/or mitigation has been given strong consideration.
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Afghanistan
7% 1 project:
Where our new £55,200
grants went in 2025
13 projects in 8 countries
Africa 23%
Southern Asia 20%
Middle East 15%
South East Asia 8%
United Kingdom 35%
United Kingdom
- England
35% 4 projects:
£263,297
Jordan
8% 1 project:
Early childhood development £60,000
8% 1 International
project:
£60,000
Care experienced
India
Young people with young people
additional needs 27% 3 UK projects: 12% 2 projects:
4% 1 International £203,297 £90,000
project:
£30,000
Who our
new grants
supported in
2025
Displaced
Uganda
young people
16% 2 International Girls’ education 15% 2 projects: Thailand
exclusively
projects: £116,933 8% 1 project:
7% 1 International Kenya
£119,362 £59,362
project: 7% 1 project:
Other vulnerable £55,200
£55,000
young people Nepal
38% 5 projects 8% 1 project:
(4 International, 1 UK): £60,000
£291,933
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## 4.2 Subsidiary trusts
In addition to the grants awarded from our unrestricted income Educational Opportunity Foundation is responsible for several smaller subsidiary trusts which provide restricted funds for educational activities in specific locations and for particular purposes. In 2025, £33,000 was awarded through six grants (2024: £40,071) from restricted income. Our approach is to work with partners with the experience and local knowledge to make sure grant giving is effective and meets the individual requirements of each fund. We are currently working with the following:
The British School Charity in Saffron Walden has an active local committee, and supports schools and community organisations working with young people in the area.
To support the work of the Berridge Trust we work with The Food Teachers Centre which provides training to food technology teachers.
## The South Church Educational Fund
contributes to an after-school club run by the Auckland Youth and Community Centre.
The Old British School Charity is restricted to Bratton and the surrounding area in Wiltshire. The Community Foundation for Wiltshire distributes the funds to individuals with special educational needs and disabilities in their pursuit of learning. This work is also supported by the Alfred Bourne Trust which is designed to support individuals with their learning.
## Our impact 5
The projects we fund improve educational opportunity for young people in some of the most marginalised or low-income communities, transforming their life chances, as the following reports show.
## Case study: empowering food teachers
The Food Teachers Centre launched the Empowering Food Teachers programme offering a two-day training session and mentoring for two terms. 375 food teachers participated in the 2025 programme, and the Berridge Trust grant (£2,400) enabled 100 new secondary food teachers to access the training for just £20, removing financial barriers.
**88% of participants** committed to implementing new strategies in their classrooms, enriching the curriculum for Key Stage 3 students.
"Highly effective... introducing alternative viewpoints and enriching cultural understanding."
– Participant
To the left: Photo courtesy of Food Teachers Centre: practical training On this page:
Photo courtesy of Consortium for Street Children: street-connected and community children attending mainstream school
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## Impact
Photo Courtesy of Fields of Life: teenage girls enjoying safer school environments
## Improving girls’ schooling benefits all
More parents support girls to attend school regularly. More girls attend school and stay in school longer. Child protection has improved, and cases of child abuse have
decreased. At Aluka Secondary School, construction of a girls' dormitory created a safe place to board at school, boosting enrolment, retention and performance. The project strongly improved education in five schools and led to increased attendance:
Fields of Life was awarded £60,000 for a three-year project to improve outcomes for girls in five schools in Uganda, by challenging attitudes towards girls’ education, reducing gender-based violence and providing IT equipment and training. Its success led us to award further funding in 2025, to extend the project to 10 more schools.
Pupil enrolment increased by 9.5% (178 pupils). In one school, the increase was 32%
One project school, Aluka Secondary, became the best performing school in Zombo district, with ICT its highest performing subject. Another, Abura Primary, became the best performing school in its district and attracted additional government support as a reward.
In the initial project, training for 71 teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy and child protection helped to create a safer, inclusive learning environment. ICT labs were established in five schools and 65 PCs provided, along with training. Solar power was installed in three rural schools, previously without power, to support computer use, enable teachers to conduct evening lessons or work after school, provide light for boarding pupils to do homework, and improve safety and security at night.
By project end, of pupils 98% regularly attended school, against a target of 80%
## And 95%
of candidates passed national exams with acceptable grades.
"Our school now qualifies as being among the best in the area with power running throughout. We can even charge our cellphones at school, which has improved communication between the school and communities,"
## – School Management Committee member, Abura Primary
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## Learning through play in conflict-affected communities
Seenaryo creates theatre, trains teachers and brings play to classrooms to help children learn. We awarded a grant of £60,000 for a two-year project for refugees, in Lebanon and Jordan, to learn through play. The charity trained teachers and shared online resources to reach thousands of students.
The war in Lebanon led to school closures and disruption but Seenaryo was able to adapt by
running emergency cycles in Mount Lebanon, where many people sought shelter. It provided targeted activities for children aged three to eight years, focusing on their mental health, emotional wellbeing, and offering play and singing sessions to help distract from the distressing situation. 312 teachers were trained in play-based education and to use the Playkit app resource bank; teachers discussed the challenges they faced and collaborated to find solutions; some were observed in class and received coaching.
Since this project ended, the charity has begun work supporting conflict-affected communities in Gaza, which we agreed to fund from 2025. Seenaryo is using its Playkit app to support early years and primary education for 5,400 displaced children through music, story and play.
"Children are carrying a lot of new responsibilities, and we want them to focus and engage with us in a playful way.”
– Teacher in Gaza
Photo courtesy of Seenaryo: work during emergency in Lebanon
## Impact
In Jordan and Lebanon the completed project has been a great success:
97% of teachers reported that the **Playkit resources helped improve their childcentred teaching practice** . One teacher from Bekaa, Lebanon, said play-based education had a significant positive impact on students' emotional wellbeing and overall development.
1,926 students (including **1,024 girls** ) were **reached in Lebanon** and students 2,726 ( **1,534 girls** ) **in Jordan** .
In Gaza it is early days, but teacher communities connected during training, with a new WhatsApp group proving to be a lively forum for exchanging videos, feedback, and encouragement. Despite challenges, the sessions are providing a much-needed space for children to connect, learn, and begin to process their experiences.
"Close the [class] door, I don't cry anymore!"
– Three-year-old girl in Lebanon, during the war
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## Power of relationships transforms lives
The Why Not? Trust for Care Experienced Young People believes in the power of meaningful relationships which evidence shows can make a crucial difference in education. We awarded the Trust £88,603 over three years to help care experienced young people re-establish relationships with important people in their lives, such as past foster carers.
The project connects young people in colleges or universities and in the first two years supported 89 young people to reconnect with trusted adults or develop new trusted relationships. The charity also provided one-to-one support to students, including help accessing foodbanks.
After student feedback, the Trust shifted to developing new peer relationships. It established a private Facebook group in which 56 students support one another; with a further 18 in a WhatsApp group. Members ask for help with forms and support finishing courses, discuss holiday plans and job searches, and even share recipes – which led to the creation of a recipe book. The Trust hosts themed drop-in sessions including on wellbeing and crafts.
It also supplied information to the Scottish Government, to support policy-making; and has produced reports to share learning, including The importance of friendships for young people transitioning from care: a scoping review of the literature.
## Impact
Photo courtesy of Nicola, Creative Commons: peer support
The Trust also works with students and colleges to improve support and from 2023-25 was involved in 47 targeted interventions at key high-risk times in the academic year for care experienced students. College/university staff understanding of what is effective has also improved, through sharing of learning.
## 56%
of care experienced students reported feeling better supported.
## 41
students reported improved engagement in studies due to positive relationships. 48% reported increased feelings of wellbeing.
“People shared stories with me, told me they understood and helped me regain some confidence. I was going to give up and they helped me.”
## – Student WhatsApp group participant
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## Structure, governance 6 and management
## 6.1 Membership
or experience can apply to be a Trustee, we usually openly advertise the Trustee vacancies to widen the skills and diversity of both the Membership and Council.
Educational Opportunity Foundation is a membership organisation. Membership is open to individuals passionate about furthering equality of opportunity through education and learning for young people from marginalised communities. The statutory role of Members is to elect the President, Vice-President, and the Councillors, who act as Trustees of the charity. We are however actively looking at how to enlist Members’ support in order to increase capacity as we work towards our vision. During the year to early 2026, 21 new Members joined bringing the total number to 177 on 1 February 2026, when our Trustee election process for 2026 started. An Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held online on 13 May 2025.
There is an induction procedure for new Trustees. They are provided with relevant information on their role and responsibilities and are briefed by the Chair and Director. All Trustees are kept informed of the impact of our work by receiving updates on funded projects, attending our own Grants Workshop and events hosted by our Grant Partners. Trustees are encouraged to attend training events relevant to their role. The Council regularly reviews the work of individual Trustees and its sub-committees.
The Director’s remuneration is set by benchmarking against comparable roles, with reference to the annual Association of Charitable Foundation Salary and Operation Bench Marking Report. The Remuneration Committee reviews the salary before making a recommendation for approval to the Council.
## 6.2 Governance and structure
The Foundation has a President and VicePresident, who are elected for a term of three years. Their role is to chair the Annual General Meeting or Special General Meetings. They also bring their experience and networks, provide advice to Council and help promote our work.
In 2025, Council Meetings were held in March, June and November, with the annual strategy meeting in December. The Grants Committee met four times, and the Finance and Investments Committee met twice during the year and both report to the Council.
The Foundation is governed by a Council of Trustees drawn from and elected by Members. At the end of 2025 the Council had 10 members, and the aim is to increase it to 11 or 12 during the 2026 election. The minimum number is six. Every year a skills audit is undertaken to prioritise skills being sought in the forthcoming Trustee election process. Whilst any Member with relevant skills
To the right:
Photo by Educational Opportunity Foundation: Grants Workshop, 2025
The Foundation has a risk register, scheme of delegation and a series of policies and terms of reference, which are subject to a regular review schedule to ensure they are up to date and fit for purpose. The conflicts of interest policy was strengthened in 2025 with respect to managing any conflict relevant to our grant giving.
The Grants Manager conducts an initial assessment of all stage one grant applications and invites the project proposals which meet the published criteria and are of the highest quality to submit a stage two application. After a detailed review of stage two applications, the Grants Manager and Chair of the Grants Committee shortlist applications for review by the Grants Committee with an individual Trustee taking the lead on each application.
## 6.3 Robust and effective grant giving
The Grants Committee collectively makes decisions according to the criteria set out in the Grant Giving and Management policy. At all stages of the application process the number of applications progressing to the next stage is proportional to the budget available. In 2025, 39% (2024: 40%) of the stage two applications received were funded.
As described in section 4, the Foundation awards grants in accordance with its Charter and within the financial limits set by Council each year. Our core grant giving activity from unrestricted funds offers response mode (bottom up) funding via an open call for project proposals from charities registered in the UK. The criteria for grant giving and success rates of previous applicants are available on our website. We operate an online grant application system; for our main fund grants this involves a two-stage application process to minimise the time applicants spend preparing their initial proposals.
We have a structured process to ensure rigorous evaluation of the impact of our grants and hold Grant Partners accountable for delivering the outputs and outcomes to which they have committed. Every grant application is required
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to specify three or four main outcomes, and every project must have a well-defined plan for monitoring and evaluation. The reporting schedule is linked to the release of funds. This allows us to monitor the progress of the grants and work with Grant Partners where necessary and, if issues arise, to ensure satisfactory progress towards outcomes. Conscious of the need to minimise the burden on Grant Partners whilst still ensuring robust monitoring is undertaken, we require Grant Partners to submit a brief progress report annually for grants up to £15,000 per year and six-monthly for larger grants, in addition to the end of project report. However, trusted Grant Partners who have successfully completed a project with us within the past three years, are only required to submit annual reports for grants.
Each progress report is reviewed by the Director or Grants Manager before further funding is released. When a project is not delivering to plan, a triage system is in place to determine
whether the Director or Grants Manager, Chair of the Grants Committee or the Grants Committee should decide on the future of the grant.
We place great emphasis on ensuring that improved educational outcomes for young people are clearly identified. Construction projects are required to provide an additional report one year after the formal completion of the construction project, to give time for educational impacts to emerge.
The subsidiary trusts that the Foundation is responsible for provide small grants to individuals and to organisations. Given the size of these grants (usually less than £5,000) the application process is deliberately kept quite simple with a one-stage application form which is reviewed by the Director, or by a local committee in the case of the British School Charity. These trusts are detailed in Note 12 to the Financial Statements.
Photo by Educational Opportunity Foundation: Council meeting at British Schools Museum, 2025
## Financial review 7
## 7.1 Reserves policy and funds
The entire General Reserve (£25,882,013) at 31 December 2025, (2024: £25,176,674) is an unrestricted fund and the main source of income. It would also be available to meet unexpected costs of the Foundation. The Trustees do not therefore feel it appropriate to specify a minimum level for free reserves.
At 31 December 2025 the Foundation had restricted funds of £697,584 (2024: £750,126). At 31 December 2025, the total funds of Educational Opportunity Foundation stood at £26,579,597 (2024: £26,376,800).
## 7.2 Risk Management Policy
Educational Opportunity Foundation maintains an active risk register which encompasses all areas of our activities. This risk register is reviewed, together with risk mitigation decisions and actions, on an ongoing basis by the Council. Principal risks identified by Trustees are those associated with ensuring robust succession planning, preventing cyber-attacks, ensuring policies are up to date and compliant with relevant regulations, particularly with regard to safeguarding, and ensuring that our investment policy continues to maximise income to support the delivery of our objects in a time of increasing demand for our grant giving.
## 7.3 Pension Policy
Educational Opportunity Foundation continues to operate a pension scheme for its employees, providing an employer’s contribution of 8% on qualifying earnings.
## 7.4 Financial results
The net movement in funds in the year was a surplus of £202,797, which is a drop compared to the surplus of £920,811 in 2024. This was considered a fair result, bearing in mind 2025 was a challenging year for investments with extreme volatility and structural shifts that stemmed from changing trade policies, persistent inflation, and unclear impacts of emerging technologies.
## 7.5 Expenditure
During 2025, £835,585 (2024: £1,408,844) was spent on grants and shared learning, which included the Grants Workshop direct costs. Payments of £835,006 (2024: £1,4 **20,304)** were made for new grants and multi-year grants awarded in previous years. (The majority of the grants awarded from the unrestricted fund are for multi-year projects and are therefore paid over multiple years.) This is a considerable decrease on the previous year as the additional multi-year grants awarded through the Displacement Education Fund in 2022 and 2023 all came to an end in 2025 with only one final grant payment of £11,678 being made. Whereas in 2024, £464,413 of payments were made to Displacement Education Fund grants in addition to the regular grants.
The expenditure on support and governance costs during the year was £186,308 (2024: £213,801). Despite a successful effort to reduce the support and governance costs these still amounted to 18% (2024: 13.0%) of total expenditure including grants and charitable activities due to the significant drop in grant expenditure as explained above. Four parttime staff, equivalent to 2.2 full-time staff were employed for the full year.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 32
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 33
## 7.6 Income
Educational Opportunity Foundation’s main source of income is its investment portfolio. Following a robust tender process undertaken in late 2024, the portfolio was moved in February 2025 from Rathbones and split between Cazenove Capital and Navera Investment Management in February 2025. We believe this change will ensure our funds are always working to protect the environment while generating maximum financial support for our work in the long term.
The investment policy for the portfolio, which consists principally of equities and fixed interest stocks, is managed on a total return basis to produce a regular income stream while maintaining its capital value in real terms. The performance target for the combined portfolio across Cazenove Capital and Navera Investment
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Photo courtesy of
Money for Madagascar:
ready to learn in class
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is a real return of at least 3.5% on a rolling fiveyear basis (after taking account of headline CPI or zero, whichever is greater, and deducting investment management fees). In order to continuously improve how the investments are aligned with the Foundation’s values, the Investment Managers are requested to consider the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Our intention is for our funds to create overall positive outcomes for people and the planet. The Investment Managers are to achieve this by avoiding harm through Environmental, Sustainable and Governance (ESG) integration and exclusions, benefiting society through responsible business activities and contributing to solutions in areas of environmental and social need.
Currently the investment policy does not permit investment directly in companies that: are involved in controversial weaponry, generate more than 10% of their revenue from armaments, tobacco, gambling, fossil fuels, predatory lending activities or generate more than 3% of their revenue from pornography. In respect to armaments, investment in companies involved in armaments and related industries will only be allowed if the investment managers, as responsible investors, can justify inclusion on general ESG grounds.
At the end of December 2025, the value of the investment portfolio was £26,430,421 (2024: £25,804,465), which represented an actual total return after fees for the year of 4.5%, which equates to a gain in the real term value of 1.1% after taking into account CPI for 2025 of 3.4%.
During the year £987,369 (2024: £1,450,000) was withdrawn to support our charitable activities and running costs. This amounted to approximately 3.9% of the value of the portfolio
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Photo courtesy of
Money for Madagascar:
parents enjoying a
literacy class
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fundraising agent. No complaints were received with regards to fundraising, and Educational Opportunity Foundation is not subject to an undertaking to be bound by any voluntary scheme for regulating fundraising, or any voluntary standard of fundraising.
on 31 December 2025. Total income amounted to £639,491, in comparison to £625,565 in the previous year, of which £584,466 (2024: £483,066) was from investments. There was a net gain on investments of £604,811 which is a significant drop on the previous year which had a gain of £1,730,336. The performance of the Investment Managers will be closely monitored over the next year. Educational Opportunity Foundation Investment Policy states that we will normally draw between £1 million and £1.25 million each year, there is therefore an expectation that expenditure will be partly funded by investment income and partly by investment capital gains. Educational Opportunity Foundation receives income from its investments and does not engage in public fundraising activities. As a result, we do not employ or monitor a fundraiser or a
## 7.7 Property
Due to the increasing administrative and anticipated financial burden of being a landlord, the George Dent Nursery School property in Darlington was put up for sale on the open market in late 2024, with the sale completing in June 2025 for £460,000. The property tenant, Darlington Borough Council, has a protected tenancy so the nursery school can legally remain in situ for as long as required.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 34
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 35
## 7.8 Responsibilities of the Council in relation to the financial statements
The Council is responsible for preparing the Trustees’ annual report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom awccounting standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently.
- Observe the methods and principles in the applicable Charities SORP.
- Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
- State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures that must be disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
- Prepare the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations, and the provisions of the Charter.
They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.
Each of the Trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditor is aware of such information.
Jane Creasy Chair of Educational Opportunity Foundation
Dated: 20 March 2026
To the right: Photo courtesy of Seenaryo: work during emergency in Lebanon
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Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025
Page 37
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Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 36
## Independent Auditor’s Report 8 to the Trustees of Educational Opportunity Foundation
## 8.2 Basis for opinion
## 8.1 Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of the Educational Opportunity Foundation (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet and the notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion, the financial statements:
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
- Give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended.
## 8.3 Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
- Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.
- Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when
the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## 8.4 Other information
The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## 8.5 Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- The information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees' report.
- Sufficient accounting records have not been kept.
- The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records.
- We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## 8.6 Responsibilities of Trustees
As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## 8.7 Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 38
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025
Page 39
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
## 8.8 Extent to which the audit
## was capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
- Agreement of the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation to assess compliance with those laws and regulations having an impact on the financial statements and disclosure requirements. In particular, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice.
- Enquiries and confirmation of management and the Trustees as to their identification of any non-compliance with laws or regulations, or any actual or potential claims.
- Review of minutes of Board meetings throughout the period.
- Incorporating unpredictability into the nature, timing and/or extent of testing.
- In relation to the risk of management override of internal controls, by undertaking procedures to review journal entries and evaluating whether there was evidence of bias that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud.
- We assessed the susceptibility of the charity’s financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur by considering the key risks impacting the financial statements.
Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed noncompliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: http://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities.
This description forms part of our auditor's report.
## 8.9 Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s Trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Begbies 9 Bonhill Street Chartered Accountants London Statutory Auditors EC2A 4DJ
April 2026
Begbies is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
Photo courtesy of Code Brave Foundation: coding class
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 40
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 41
**STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024**
|||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total Funds**|Total Funds|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Funds**|**Funds**|**2025**|2024|
||Note|**£**|**£**|**£**|£|
|**INCOME**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||534|27,600|**28,134**|60,752|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Rents receivable|5a|8,762|-|**8,762**|17,500|
|Investment income|7b|569,486|14,980|**584,466**|483,066|
|Interest receivable||17,736|393|**18,129**|64,247|
|**Total income**||**596,518**|**42,973**|**639,491**|**625,565**|
|**EXPENDITURE**||||||
|**Expenditure on raising funds**||||||
|Investment managers fees|7a|18,682|491|**19,173**|92,225|
|Property expenditure||-|-|**-**|3,332|
|**Expenditure on charitable activities**||||||
|Grants, shared learning and costs|3|916,143|105,750|**1,021,893**|1,614,532|
|**Total expenditure**||**934,825**|**106,241**|**1,041,066**|1,710,089|
|**Net expenditure and net movement**||||||
|**in funds before net gains/(losses) on investments**||**(338,307)**|**(63,268)**|**(401,575)**|(1,084,524)|
|**Gross transfers between funds**||||||
|Management charges to restricted funds|11|4,776|(4,776)|**-**|-|
|**Net income/(expenditure) before**||||||
|**other recognised gains and losses**||**(333,531)**|**(68,044)**|**(401,575)**|(1,084,524)|
|**Other recognised gains and losses**||||||
|Net loss on investment property sale||(439)|-|**(439)**|-|
|Revaluation surplus re investment property|_5_|-|-|**-**|275,000|
|Net gains/(losses) on investments|7a|589,309|15,502|**604,811**|1,730,336|
|**Net movement in funds**||**255,339**|**(52,542)**|**202,797**|920,811|
|**Reconciliation of funds**||||||
|Total funds brought forward||25,626,674|750,126|**26,376,800**|25,455,989|
|**Total funds carried forward**||**25,882,013**|**697,584**|**26,579,597**|26,376,800|
The notes numbered 1 to 13 form part of these financial statements. All amounts relate to continuing activities.
|||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Endowment**|**Total Funds**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Funds**|**Funds**|**Funds**|**2024**|
||Note|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**INCOME**||||||
|**Donations and legacies**||752|60,000|-|**60,752**|
|**Investment income**||||||
|Rents receivable|5a|17,500|-|-|**17,500**|
|Investment income|7b|467,032|11,793|4,241|**483,066**|
|Interest receivable||62,463|1,412|372|**64,247**|
|Permanent endowment transfer to income|11,12|-|19,688|(19,688)|**-**|
|**Total income**||**547,746**|**92,893**|**(15,075)**|**625,565**|
|**EXPENDITURE**||||||
|**Expenditure on raising funds**||||||
|Investment managers fees|7a|89,043|1,635|1,547|**92,225**|
|Property expenditure||3,332|-|-|**3,332**|
|**Expenditure on charitable activities**|3|||||
|Grants and costs||1,490,732|123,800|-|**1,614,532**|
|**Total expenditure**||**1,583,107**|**125,435**|**1,547**|**1,710,089**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) and net movement**||||||
|**in funds before net losses on investments**||**(1,035,360)**|**(32,542)**|**(16,622)**|**(1,084,524)**|
|**Gross transfers between funds**||||||
|Expendable endowment transfer between funds|11,12|-|8,288|(8,288)|**-**|
|Permanent endowment transfer on resolution||-|574,687|(574,687)|**-**|
|Sarah Walker Spafford transfer for unspent income||380,572|(380,572)|-|**-**|
|Management charges to restricted funds||635|(635)|-|**-**|
|**Net income/(expenditure) before**||||||
|**other recognised gains and losses**||(654,153)|169,226|(599,597)|**(994,102)**|
|**Other recognised gains and losses**||||||
|Revaluation surplus re investment property||275,000|-|-|**275,000**|
|Net losses on investments|7a|1,667,739|28,749|33,847|**1,730,336**|
|**Net movement in funds**||**1,288,586**|**197,975**|**(565,750)**|**920,811**|
|**Reconciliation of funds**||||||
|Total funds brought forward||24,338,088|552,151|565,750|**25,455,989**|
|**Total funds carried forward**||**25,626,674**|**750,126**|-|**26,376,800**|
The notes numbered 1 to 13 form part of these financial statements. All amounts relate to continuing activities.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 42
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 43
**BALANCE SHEET AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
|Note
**FIXED ASSETS**
Tangible fxed assets
5
Investment properties
5
Investment assets
6,7
**CURRENT ASSETS**
Debtors and prepayments
8
Cash at bank and in hand
**LIABILITIES**
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
9
**NET CURRENT ASSETS**
**NET ASSETS**
**REPRESENTED BY:**
**CAPITAL ACCOUNT**
Unrestricted funds
General reserve
Revaluation reserve
Restricted funds
11
Endowment funds
12
**TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS**|**2025**
2024
**£**
**£**
£
£
**477**
1,461
**-**
450,000
**26,430,421**
25,804,465
**26,430,898**
26,255,926
**5,147**
5,250
**161,442**
202,300
**166,589**
207,550
**(17,890)**
(86,676)
**148,699**
120,874
**26,579,597**
26,376,800
**25,882,013**
25,176,674
**-**
450,000
**25,882,013**
25,626,674
**697,584**
750,126
**-**
-
**26,579,597**
26,376,800|**2025**
2024
**£**
**£**
£
£
**477**
1,461
**-**
450,000
**26,430,421**
25,804,465
**26,430,898**
26,255,926
**5,147**
5,250
**161,442**
202,300
**166,589**
207,550
**(17,890)**
(86,676)
**148,699**
120,874
**26,579,597**
26,376,800
**25,882,013**
25,176,674
**-**
450,000
**25,882,013**
25,626,674
**697,584**
750,126
**-**
-
**26,579,597**
26,376,800|
|---|---|---|
||||
|||26,376,800|
|||25,176,674
450,000|
|||25,626,674
750,126
-|
|||26,376,800|
The notes numbered 1 to 13 form part of these financial statements.
Approved by the Council and authorised for issue on 20 March 2026 and signed on its behalf by
_Jane Creasy - Chair_
_Robert Spencer - Treasurer_
||||
|---|---|---|
|**CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES**
**Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities**
**Cash fows from investing activities:**
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Sale of investment property
Proceeds from sale of investments
Purchase of investments
**Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities**
**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period**
**Cash and cash equivalents at the**
**beginning of the reporting period**
**Cash and cash equivalents at the**
**end of the reporting period**
**NOTE 1: Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure)**
**to net cash fow from operating activities**
**Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period**
**(as per the statement of fnancial activities)**
**Adjustments for:**
Depreciation charges
Revaluation Surplus on Investment Property
Unrealised (gains)/losses on investments
Realised (gains)/losses on investments
Realised (gains)/losses on property sale
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Non-cash investment income
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
**Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities**
**NOTE 2: Analysis of cash and cash equivalents**
Cash in hand
Un-invested cash
**Total cash and cash equivalents**
**NOTE 3: Reconciliation of net debt**
At the beginning of the reporting period
Cashfows
At the end of the reporting period|**See Note**
**Below**
**1**
**2**|**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**(1,067,289)**
(1,618,072)|
|||611,357
564,813
449,560
-
43,798,889
7,614,252
(43,251,171)
(6,695,946)|
|||**1,608,635**
1,483,119|
|||541,346
(134,953)
348,851
483,804|
|||**890,197**
348,851|
|||**2025**
2024
**£**
£
202,797
920,811
984
984
-
(275,000)
(1,251,204)
(1,668,421)
646,361
(61,436)
439
(611,357)
(564,813)
13,374
(3,829)
103
11,007
(68,786)
22,625|
|||**(1,067,289)**
(1,618,072)|
|||**2025**
2024
**£**
£
161,442
116,853
728,755
146,551|
|||**890,197**
348,851|
|||Cash in hand
Un-invested cash
116,853
146,551
44,589
582,204|
|||**161,442**
**728,755**|
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 44
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 45
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES**
## _a) Basis of preparation_
Educational Opportunity Foundation is an unincorporated charity registered in England and Wales, registered charity number 314286. The registered office is Canopi, 82 Tanner Street, London, SE1 3GN. The objectives and activities are as noted in the Annual Report.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note to these financial statements. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Charities Act 2011. The accounts are prepared in £ being the functional currency of the charity and round to the nearest £.
Educational Opportunity Foundation meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the Foundation’s ability to continue as a going concern because it has over £26m of investments which is more than sufficient to cover at least 12 months of expenditure.
The most significant area of adjustment and key assumption that affects items in the financial statement relates to estimating the fair value of the investment property (see note 1(c) below).
## _b) Fixed assets_
Fixed assets, with the exception of investment properties, are included at cost and are depreciated on a straight line basis over their useful lives at the following rates:
- Furniture and equipment 33%
- Computer equipment 25%
## _c) Investment properties_
Investment properties are included in the financial statements at fair value. A professional valuation was obtained for 2024, and the property has now sold. The historic cost of the property was £1 (2024: £1).
## _h) Rental income_
Rental income is normally credited in the financial statements in the year to which it relates. All rental income is attributable to unrestricted funds.
## _i) Expenditure_
Liabilities are recognised as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. Expenditure is included in the statement of financial activities on an accruals basis and includes irrecoverable VAT.
## _j) Charitable activities_
Charitable activities include grants awarded by Educational Opportunity Foundation and the associated support costs, which include costs for hosting shared learning activities for Members and Grant Partners. Grants are accounted for in the year in which the commitment is given, all relevant conditions having been fulfilled.
## _k) Support and governance costs_
Support costs represent the cost of administering the affairs and managing and maintaining the assets of Educational Opportunity Foundation and of the other trust funds administered by the Foundation.
Governance costs comprise all costs relating to the public accountability of Educational Opportunity Foundation and its compliance with regulation and good practice. These costs include the cost of Council meetings together with statutory audit fees.
## _l) Fund accounting_
Trust funds that are the responsibility of Educational Opportunity Foundation are included in these accounts as restricted and endowment funds and details of the nature and purpose of each fund is set out in notes 11 to 12.
Educational Opportunity Foundation is sole trustee of Old British School (Charity number 309444), the result of which can be seen in note 11. All the assets of the fund have been transferred to Educational Opportunity Foundation.
## _m) Leases_
Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight line basis over the lease term.
## _n) Financial instruments_
## _d) Investment assets_
Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing market price. The Statement of Financial Activities includes the net gains and losses arising on the revaluation and disposals throughout the year. Educational Opportunity Foundation does not acquire put options, derivatives or other complex financial instruments.
## _e) Realised gains and losses_
All gains and losses are taken to the Statement of Financial Activities as they arise. Realised gains and losses on investments are calculated as the difference between sales proceeds and their opening carrying value or their purchase value if acquired subsequently to the first day of the financial year.
Unrealised gains and losses are calculated as the difference between the fair value at the year end and their carrying value. Realised and unrealised investment gains and losses are combined in the Statement of Financial Activities.
Educational Opportunity Foundation only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.
## _o) Debtors_
Debtors are amounts owed to Educational Opportunity Foundation. They are measured on the basis of their recoverable amount.
## _p) Cash and cash equivalents_
Cash at bank is held to meet the day to day running costs of Educational Opportunity Foundation as they fall due. Cash equivalents are short term, highly liquid investments.
## _q) Liabilities_
## _f) Donations and similar incoming resources_
Donations and similar incoming resources are included in the financial statements in the year in which they are receivable.
## _g) Investment income_
Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of the past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably. Liabilities are recognised at the amount that Educational Opportunity Foundation anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.
Investment income and any related income tax recoverable are included in the financial statements in the year in which they are receivable.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 46
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 47
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **2. CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE - GRANTS AND SHARED LEARNING**
||**Unrestricted**|**Restricted**|**Total**|Unrestricted|Restricted|Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Funds**|**Funds**|**2025**|Funds|Funds|2024|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|£|£|£|
|**International projects**|||||||
|A Partner in Education|**-**|**-**|**-**|29,805|-|29,805|
|AbleChildAfrica|**-**|**-**|**-**|59,937|-|59,937|
|Advantage Africa|**4,272**|**-**|**4,272**|32,571|-|32,571|
|African Revival|**-**|**-**|**-**|7,360|-|7,360|
|AfriKids UK|**8,137**|**-**|**8,137**|17,075|-|17,075|
|Amala Education|**18,686**|**-**|**18,686**|27,825|-|27,825|
|Amazon Charitable Trust|**14,351**|**-**|**14,351**|9,568|-|9,568|
|Awamu|**14,783**|**-**|**14,783**|14,783|-|14,783|
|Chamos - In Aid of the Children of Venezuela|**-**|**-**|**-**|12,476||12,476|
|Chance for Childhood|**9,901**|**30,000**|**39,901**|-|30,000|30,000|
|Child Rescue Nepal|**-**|**-**|**-**|29,952|-|29,952|
|Children on the Edge|**30,000**|**-**|**30,000**|30,000|15,000|45,000|
|CodeBrave Foundation|**12,725**|**-**|**12,725**|27,562|-|27,562|
|Consortium for Street Children|**-**|**-**|**-**|30,000|-|30,000|
|Disability and Development Partners|**-**|**-**|**-**|29,000|-|29,000|
|EduKaid|**-**|**-**|**-**|14,742|-|14,742|
|EduSpots|**-**|**-**|**-**|18,003|-|18,003|
|Feed the Minds|**-**|**-**|**-**|28,935|-|28,935|
|Fields of Life|**30,000**|**-**|**30,000**|6,056|-|6,056|
|Foundation for Relief and
Reconciliation in the Middle East|**13,455**|**-**|**13,455**|13,455|-|13,455|
|Good Neighbours|**29,942**|**-**|**29,942**|14,978|-|14,978|
|Hands Up Foundation|**-**|**-**|**-**|30,000|-|30,000|
|Healthprom|**-**|**27,600**|**27,600**|7,140|-|7,140|
|Hello World|**-**|**-**|**-**|29,381|-|29,381|
|International Nepal Fellowship|**21,674**|**-**|**21,674**|11,031|-|11,031|
|Irise International|**-**|**-**|**-**|-|-|-|
|Joshua Orphan and Community Care|**8,475**|**-**|**8,475**|16,569|-|16,569|
|Just a Drop|**28,118**|**-**|**28,118**|14,462|-|14,462|
|Kidasha|**15,000**|**-**|**15,000**|-|-|-|
|Kids Alive International|**16,750**|**-**|**16,750**|-|-|-|
|Kids Club Kampala|**19,802**|**-**|**19,802**|10,580|-|10,580|
|Learning for Life|**24,970**|**-**|**24,970**|-|-|-|
|Made With Hope|**-**|**-**|**-**|16,651|-|16,651|
|Mobile Education Partnerships|**34,074**|**-**|**34,074**|24,118|-|24,118|
|Mondo Foundation|**-**|**-**|**-**|5,671|-|5,671|
|Money for Madagascar|**11,700**|**-**|**11,700**|24,938|-|24,938|
|Prism the Gift Fund:
Refugee Youth Service Collective Fund|**-**|**-**|**-**|6,840|-|6,840|
|Redearth Education|**29,579**|**-**|**29,579**|-|-|-|
|Reaching the Unreached|**15,000**|**-**|**15,000**|-|-|-|
|Safe Child Thailand|**30,000**|**-**|**30,000**|15,000|-|15,000|
|See Beyond Borders|**19,044**|**-**|**19,044**|18,843|-|18,843|
|Seenaryo|**30,000**|**-**|**30,000**|29,179|-|29,179|
|Signpost International|**-**|**15,000**|**15,000**|-|15,000|15,000|
|STEP UK|**-**|**-**|**-**|14,278|-|14,278|
|Sub Saharan Advisory Panel|**-**|**-**|**-**|15,000|-|15,000|
## **NOTE 2 CONTINUED**
|Tea Leaf Trust
Teach A Man To Fish
Team Kenya
Temwa
The Mwezi Foundation
The Tea Leaf Trust
Toybox
Tushinde Children's Trust
Tusome Africa|**-**
**-**
**-**
4,325
-
4,325
**29,993**
**-**
**29,993**
29,983
-
29,983
**-**
**-**
**-**
10,983
-
10,983
**5,442**
**-**
**5,442**
8,213
-
8,213
**-**
**-**
-
13,445
13,445
**13,354**
**-**
**13,354**
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
20,000
-
20,000
**10,003**
**-**
**10,003**
19,442
-
19,442
**8,213**
**-**
**8,213**
9,709
-
9,709|
|---|---|
||**557,443**
**72,600**
**630,043**
864,061
73,445
937,506|
## **UK projects**
|**UK projects**||
|---|---|
|Afghanistan and Central Asian Association
Asylum Welcome
Bradford City of Sanctuary
Carers Trust Hillingdon
Children and Families Across Borders
Connect North Korea
Healthprom
HUB for SUCCESS through
Edinburgh Napier University
Hull FC Rugby Community Sports
& Education Foundation
Opportunity Sports Foundation
Preston North End Community and Education Trust
Refugee Action Kingston
Refugee Education UK
Scotswood Natural Community Garden
Sheffeld Young Carers
STEP UK
The Baca Charity
The Why Not? Trust for Care
Experienced Young People
Voices from Care Cymru
Volunteer Tutors Organisation
We Are Family
Wigan Athletic Community Trust|**29,282**
**-**
**29,282**
25,462
-
25,462
**-**
**-**
**-**
12,453
-
12,453
**-**
**-**
**-**
12,691
-
12,691
**15,000**
**15,000**
30,000
-
30,000
**-**
**-**
**-**
45,000
-
45,000
**-**
**-**
**-**
26,798
-
26,798
**-**
**-**
**-**
23,881
-
23,881
**15,000**
**-**
**15,000**
30,000
-
30,000
**12,720**
**-**
**12,720**
20,960
-
20,960
**-**
**-**
**-**
29,747
-
29,747
**10,070**
**-**
**10,070**
9,720
-
9,720
**-**
**-**
**-**
29,102
-
29,102
**-**
**-**
**-**
24,986
10,434
35,420
**30,000**
**-**
**30,000**
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
14,113
-
14,113
**-**
**-**
**-**
14,277
-
14,277
**10,000**
**-**
**10,000**
-
-
-
**30,000**
**-**
**30,000**
29,194
-
29,194
**-**
**-**
**-**
28,669
-
28,669
**-**
**-**
**-**
14,040
-
14,040
**10,750**
**-**
**10,750**
10,750
-
10,750
**8,991**
**-**
**8,991**
-
-
-|
||**171,813**
**-**
**171,813**
431,843
10,434
442,277|
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 48
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 49
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **NOTE 2 CONTINUED**
|**Grants from restricted funds to organisations**
Ashdon Primary School
Auckland Youth & Community Centre
Enterprise East Group CIC
Food Teachers Centre
Linton Village College
Radwinter C of E Primary School
Saffron Hall Trust
Thaxted Festival Foundation
Wendens Ambo Pre-School
Wiltshire Community Foundation
**Total organisational grants**
**Shared learning**
**Total grants**
Less: Grants returned during the year|**-**
**4,500**
**4,500**
-
5,435
5,435
**-**
**3,000**
**3,000**
-
-
-
**-**
**-**
**-**
-
4,000
4,000
**-**
**2,400**
**2,400**
-
2,000
2,000
**-**
**150**
**150**
-
450
450
**-**
**4,500**
**4,500**
**-**
**2,000**
**2,000**
-
3,000
3,000
**-**
**-**
**-**
-
3,000
3,000
**-**
**-**
**-**
-
4,636
4,636
**-**
**16,600**
**16,600**
-
18,000
18,000|
|---|---|
||**-**
**33,150**
**33,150**
-
40,521
40,521
**729,256**
**105,750**
**835,006**
1,295,904
124,400
1,420,304
**7,463**
**-**
**7,463**
-
-
-|
||**7,463**
**-**
**7,463**
-
-
-|
||**736,719**
**105,750**
**842,469**
1,295,904
124,400
1,420,304|
||**(6,884)**
**-**
**(6,884)**
(18,973)
(600)
(19,573)|
||**729,835**
**105,750**
**835,585**
1,276,931
123,800
1,400,731|
## **NOTE 3 CONTINUED**
|**Grants**(see note 2)
**Support costs**
Salaries and offce costs
Shared learning expenses
Professional fees
**Governance costs**
Audit
Legal and professional costs
Investment review
Trustee training and recruitment
Council and Committee meetings|International
UK
Total
projects
projects
2024
£
£
£
937,506
463,225
1,400,731
111,280
54,984
166,264
5,430
2,683
8,113
6,160
3,044
9,204|
|---|---|
||122,870
60,711
183,581
5,036
2,488
7,524
2,370
1,171
3,541
7,831
3,869
11,700
1,114
551
1,665
3,875
1,915
5,789|
||20,226
9,994
30,220|
||1,080,602
533,929
1,614,532|
Support and governance costs have been allocated in proportion to project location.
## **4. STAFF COSTS & RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS**
## **3. CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE**
|**Grants and shared learning**(see note 2)
**Support costs**
Salaries and offce costs
Shared learning expenses - see grants
Professional fees
**Governance costs**
Audit
Legal and professional costs
Investment review
Trustee training and recruitment
Council and Committee meetings|**International**
**UK**
**Total**
**projects**
**projects**
**2025**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**623,159**
**212,426**
**835,585**
**122,464**
**41,746**
**164,211**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**4,722**
**1,610**
**6,332**
**127,186**
**43,356**
**170,543**
**5,611**
**1,913**
**7,524**
**1,744**
**595**
**2,339**
**298**
**102**
**400**
**220**
**75**
**295**
**3,883**
**1,324**
**5,207**
**11,756**
**4,009**
**15,765**
**762,101**
**259,791**
**1,021,893**|
|---|---|
|**4. STAFF COSTS & RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS**||
|---|---|
|Salaries
Social security costs
Pension contributions
Consultants fees
Accountancy services
The average number of employees during the year was:
Management and administration|**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**123,846**
130,042
**4,231**
7,925
**10,762**
8,117
**2,026**
2,254
**6,332**
6,950|
||**147,197**
155,288|
||**4**
4|
## Management and administration
No staff employee received remuneration amounting to more than £60,000 in the year (2024: None).
## Educational Opportunity Foundation considers its key management personnel to comprise the members
of the Council and the Educational Opportunity Foundation Director. The Society delegates the-day-day running of the charity to its Director. The ultimate responsibility lies with the Trustees. The remuneration of the Director in the year was £59,422 (2024: £58,560) including pension and employers' National Insurance.
Educational Opportunity Foundation bought in accountancy services from Godfrey Wilson which cost £6,678 (2024: £8,160).
Janice Miller, a trustee of Educational Opportunity Foundation, is the CEO of Kidasha. During the year Kidasha was awarded a conditional grant payable over two years of which £15,000 has been paid in 2025.
No remuneration was paid to any member of the Council during 2025 or 2024 and there are no related party
transactions to disclose other than above. Reimbursement of expenses in relation to attendance at meetings amounted to £2,145 paid to twelve Trustees in 2025 (2024: £2,652 paid to nine Trustees).
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 50
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 51
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **6. UNITS HELD IN POOLED INVESTMENT FUND**
|**5. FIXED ASSETS**
**COST & VALUATION**
At 1st January 2025
Additions
Revaluation surplus
Disposals
At 31st December 2025
**DEPRECIATION**
At 1st January 2025
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31st December 2025
**NET BOOK VALUE**
At 31st December 2025
At 31st December 2024|**Freehold land**
**& buildings**
**Furniture &**
**equipment**
**Total**
**£**
**£**
**£**
450,000
10,839
460,839
-
-
-
-
-
(450,000)
-
(450,000)|
|---|---|
||**-**
**10,839**
**10,839**|
||-
9,378
9,378
-
984
984
-
-
-|
||-
**10,362**
**10,362**|
||-
**477**
**477**|
||450,000
1,461
451,461|
|**a)**
**Number of units held**
**RESTRICTED FUNDS**
Alfred Bourne
Berridge Trust
British School Charity
Old British School
South Church Trust
**UNRESTRICTED FUNDS**
Educational Opportunity Foundation|**Units held**
**Units**
**Units held**
**1 Jan 2025**
**transferred**
**31 Dec 2025**
**No.**
**No.**
**No.**
315
-
315
344
-
344
2,917
-
2,917
2,161
-
2,161
389
-
389|
|---|---|
||**6,127**
**-**
**6,127**
232,902
-
232,902|
||**232,902**
**-**
**232,902**|
||**239,028**
**-**
**239,028**|
The Foundation had invested the assets of all its funds into a single investment portfolio with Rathbones. During 2025, the Rathbones portfolio was transferred to Cazenove and Navera and subsequently sold. The Navera portfolio was initially invested in the Protea Fund, and then these investments were sold and the funds directly invested to align with the ethical goals of the Foundation.
The Cazenove holding is invested in the Charity Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund which is a collective investment fund.
During the year the freehold land and buildings were sold and the funds were invested.
In order to allocate the investments to each fund the portfolio is nominally divided into unitised holdings.
## **5a RENTS RECEIVABLE**
## **b) Value of units held**
George Dent Nursery, Darlington
|**2025**|2024|
|---|---|
|**£**|£|
|**8,762**|17,500|
|**Value of units held**||
|---|---|
|**RESTRICTED FUNDS**
Alfred Bourne
Berridge Trust
British School Charity
Old British School
South Church Trust
**UNRESTRICTED FUNDS**
Educational Opportunity Foundation
**_Value per unit_**|**Fund market**
**Funds**
**Increase/**
**Fund market**
**value**
**transferred**
**(decrease)**
**value**
**1 Jan 2025**
**in year**
**in fund value**
**31 Dec 2025**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
34,020
-
825
34,845
37,083
-
901
37,984
314,919
-
7,639
322,558
233,333
-
5,660
238,993
42,011
-
1,019
43,030|
||**661,366**
**-**
**16,044**
**677,410**
25,143,099
-
609,912
25,753,011|
||**25,143,100**
**-**
**609,912**
**25,753,011**|
||**25,804,465**
**-**
**625,956**
**26,430,421**|
||**_107.96_**
**_110.57_**|
_**Value per unit**_
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 52
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 53
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
|**7. POOLED INVESTMENT FUND**
Opening value at 1 January 2025
**FUND MOVEMENTS**
Investments acquired at cost
Proceeds of investments sold
Realised gains on sale of investments during the year
Unrealised gains on investments during the year
Exchange rate differences
Non-cash investment income
Investment income receivable
Interest receivable
Investment management fees paid
Distributions to funds during the year
Investment of property sales proceeds
**NET FUND MOVEMENTS**
**CLOSING VALUE OF FUND AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**Cazenove - on a 'look through' basis**
Equities UK
Equities non-UK
Fixed interest
Alternatives
Cash
**Navera - direct holdings**
Equities
Fixed interest
Gold
Cash
**7a. INVESTMENT RETURN**
Unrealised gains on investments during the year
Exchange rate movements
Realised (losses)/gains on investment during the year
Net gains on investment assets
Investment income receivable (see note 7b))
Investment management fees paid and accrued|**Un-invested**
**Investments**
**cash**
**Total**
**£**
**£**
**£**
25,657,915
146,551
25,804,466
43,251,171
(43,251,171)
-
(43,798,889)
43,798,889
-
(646,361)
(646,361)
1,251,204
1,251,204
(32)
(32)
(13,374)
(13,374)
584,466
584,466
28,711
28,711
(36,991)
(36,991)
(987,369)
(987,369)
445,701
445,701
43,751
582,204
625,955
**25,701,666**
**728,755**
**26,430,421**
**Investments**
**Cash**
**Total**
542,361
542,361
12,410,471
12,410,471
1,655,152
1,655,152
2,240,445
2,240,445
508,416
231,405
739,821
6,887,088
6,887,088
835,543
835,543
273,289
273,289
348,902
497,349
846,251
**25,701,666**
**728,755**
**26,430,421**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**1,251,204**
1,668,421
**(32)**
479
**(646,361)**
61,436
**604,811**
1,730,336
**584,466**
483,066
**(19,173)**
(92,225)
**1,170,104**
2,121,177|
|---|---|
|||
## **7b. INVESTMENT INCOME**
|**7b. INVESTMENT INCOME**
Rathbones portfolio held until February
Navera Protea Fund units February until December
Nevera direct holdings December only
Cazenove Charity Sustainable Multi-Asset Fund from February
Cazenove Charities Property Fund until October
**8. DEBTORS AND PREPAYMENTS**
**Due within one year**
Sundry debtors and prepayments
**9. CREDITORS AND ACCRUALS**
Grants payable
Rent received in advance
Contributions to pension scheme
Other creditors|**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**74,557**
483,066
**46,566**
-
**3,292**
-
**429,233**
-
**30,818**
-|
|---|---|
||**584,466**
483,066|
||**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**5,147**
5,250|
||**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
46,910
**-**
4,375
**2,803**
2,751
**15,087**
32,640|
||**17,890**
86,676|
## **10. FINANCIAL COMMITMENTS**
## _a) Other grants_
At the year end the Educational Opportunity Foundation has the intention to pay grants totalling £691,105 (2024: £763,100) in the future which have not been included in the accounts as they are conditional on the recipients providing satisfactory evidence that they have met the reporting requirements required by Educational Opportunity Foundation and the subsequent approval of payment.
## _b) Leases_
Educational Opportunity Foundation is currently located in shared offices in London with an annual licence fee of £5,073. Service costs are based on usage and charged quarterly in arrears. The licence is terminable at three months notice giving a commitment of £1,530.
## _c) Archive_
By Deed of Covenant and Gift signed on 11 December 2013 a gift of the British and Foreign School Society Archive was made to Brunel University. No further payment to Brunel University in respect of the Archive will therefore be made, nor will any further insurance costs be incurred.
## _d) Capital commitments_
Educational Opportunity Foundation has no capital commitments at 31 December 2025 (2024: £ nil).
The Foundation derives the majority of its income from the above investments. Whilst most of the funds held by the Foundation are available to meet expenditure, the trustees must balance the needs of current beneficiaries against those of the future. For this reason, although not a permanently endowed fund, the Foundation uses a total return basis in order to inform its budgeted expenditure across all funds.
The historic cost of investments held at the year end totalled £25,055,413.
The Trustees report includes further discussion regarding the investment policy of the Foundation.
The investments were transferred from Rathbones at the start of the financial year. The investment management fees do not include any charges incurred directly by the investment units held in the new portfolios.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 54
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 55
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **11. RESTRICTED FUNDS**
## **TRUSTS AND OTHER FUNDS ADMINISTERED BY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION**
|**Incoming resources**
**Donations**
**Investment income**
Pooled investment fund
Bank interest
Permanent endowment transfer
to income
**Total incoming resources**
**Resources expended**
Direct charitable expenditure
Management and administration
- investment management fees
- transfer from main fund
**Total resources expended**
**Net (expenditure)/income**
**before (losses)/gains on investments**
Expendable endowment transfer
Transfers to unrestricted funds
Transfers from permanent endowment
Net gains/(losses) on investments
**Net movement in funds**
Fund balances brought forward
Fund balances carried forward|**Total restricted**
**funds**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**27,600**
60,000
**14,980**
11,793
**393**
1,412
**-**
19,688|**Richard Pain**
**Trust**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**27,600**
60,000
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-|**BFSS Trust**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**-**
2,196
**-**
190
**-**|**Alfred Bourne**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**770**
223
**20**
38
**-**
1,931|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**42,973**
92,893
**105,750**
123,800
**491**
1,635
**4,776**
635|**27,600**
60,000
**72,600**
83,879
**-**
-
**-**
-|**-**
2,386
**-**
-
**-**
474
**-**
-|**790**
2,192
**2,200**
4,000
**25**
30
**246**|
||**111,017**
126,070|**72,600**
83,879|**-**
474|**2,471**
4,030|
||**(68,044)**
(33,177)
**-**
8,288
**-**
(380,572)
**-**
574,687
**15,502**
28,749|**(45,000)**
(23,879)
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-|**-**
1,912
**-**
-
**-**
(208,728)
**-**
-
**-**
10,365|**(1,681)**
(1,838)
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
33,460
**797**
303|
||**(52,542)**
197,975
**750,126**
552,151|**(45,000)**
(23,879)
**46,060**
69,939|**-**
(196,451)
**-**
196,451|**(884)**
31,925
**37,989**
6,064|
||**697,584**
750,126|**1,060**
46,060|**-**
-|**37,105**
37,989|
Restricted funds represent the income of other charitable trusts which are administered by Educational Opportunity Foundation and unavailable for general charitable expenditure or donations which have been received for a specified purpose.
## **Name of Fund**
## **Purpose of Fund**
A restricted fund created by grants from the Richard Pain Trust allocated to specific beneficiaries.
Richard Pain Trust
To provide financial assistance or award scholarships or grants to persons in the London Boroughs of Bermondsey, Bethnal Green, Poplar, Southwark and Stepney in connection with their education. During the year the Charity Commission approved a resolution to transfer the restricted fund to general funds, to enable the distribution of larger and more effective grants.
The British & Foreign School Society Trust (BFSS Trust) (Charity number 312516)
To provide financial assistance to persons undertaking education up to the age of 30.
The Alfred Bourne Trust Fund (subsidiary of Charity number 314286)
## **11. RESTRICTED FUNDS**
## **TRUSTS AND OTHER FUNDS ADMINISTERED BY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION (continued)**
|**Berridge Trust**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**841**
694
**22**
81
**-**
-|**British School**
**Charity**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**7,133**
2,068
**187**
354
**-**
17,757|**South Church**
**Educational Fund**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**951**
786
**25**
92
**-**
-|**Sarah Walker and**
**Spafford Memorial**
**Fund**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**-**
1,457
**-**
145
**-**
-|**Old British School**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**5,285**
4,369
**139**
511
**-**
-|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**863**
775
**2,400**
2,000
**28**
132
**268**
298|**7,320**
20,179
**11,150**
19,921
**234**
281
**2,274**
-|**976**
878
**3,000**
-
**31**
149
**303**
337|**-**
1,602
**-**
-
**-**
361
**-**
-|**5,424**
4,880
**14,400**
14,000
**173**
208
**1,685**
-|
|**2,696**
2,430|**13,658**
20,202|**3,334**
486|**-**
361|**16,258**
14,208|
|**(1,833)**
(1,655)
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**870**
2,486|**(6,338)**
(23)
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
309,859
**7,381**
2,805|**(2,358)**
392
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-
**985**
2,816|**-**
1,241
**-**
-
**-**
(171,844)
**-**
-
**-**
7,896|**(10,834)**
(9,328)
**-**
8,288
**-**
-
**-**
231,368
**5,469**
2,078|
|**(963)**
832
**40,959**
40,127|**1,043**
312,641
**326,756**
14,115|**(1,373)**
3,208
**51,572**
48,364|**-**
(162,707)
**-**
162,707|**(5,365)**
232,406
**246,790**
14,384|
|**39,996**
40,959|**327,799**
326,756|**50,199**
51,572|**-**
-|**241,425**
246,790|
## **Name of Fund**
## **Purpose of Fund**
The Berridge Trust (subsidiary of Charity number 314286)
To promote the training of cookery teachers.
The British School Charity (subsidiary of Charity number 314286)
To promote the education of persons under the age of 25 in the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden.
The Sarah Walker and Spafford Memorial Fund (administered under Charity number 314286)
To provide grants for educational travel for young people. During the year the Charity Commission approved a resolution to transfer the restricted fund to general funds, to enable the distribution of larger and more effective grants.
South Church Educational Fund (subsidiary of Charity number 314286)
To promote education in the area of the District of the Wear Valley
Old British School (Charity number 309444)
To promote the education of persons under the age of 25 who are in need of financial assistance and live within a radius of 20 miles from Bratton, Wiltshire, preference being given to those resident in Bratton.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 56
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025
Page 57
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
**NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **12. ENDOWMENT FUNDS**
## **13. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS**
## **TRUSTS AND OTHER FUNDS ADMINISTERED BY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOUNDATION**
|**Incoming resources**
**Investment income**
Permanent endowment pooled investment fund
Permanent endowment bank interest
Permanent endowment transfer to income
**Total incoming resources**
**Resources expended**
Investment management fees
**Net expenditure**
**before gains/(losses) on investments**
Expendable endowment transfer between funds
Transfer (to)/from restricted funds
Transfers to unrestricted funds
Net gains(losses) on investments
**Net movement in funds**
Endowment fund balances brought forward
Endowment fund balances carried forward|**Total endowment**
**funds**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
4,241
**-**
372
**-**
(19,688)|**Alfred Bourne**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
413
**-**
36
**-**
(1,931)|**British School**
**Charity**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
3,828
**-**
336
**-**
(17,757)|**Old British School**
**2025**
2024
**£**
£
**-**
-
**-**
-
**-**
-|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**-**
(15,075)
**-**
1,547|**-**
(1,482)
**-**
90|**-**
(13,593)
**-**
837|**-**
-
**-**
620|
||**-**
(16,622)
**-**
(8,288)
**-**
(574,687)
**-**
-
**-**
33,847|**-**
(1,572)
**-**
-
**-**
(33,460)
**-**
-
**-**
1,978|**-**
(14,430)
**-**
-
**-**
(309,859)
**-**
-
**-**
18,306|**-**
(620)
**-**
(8,288)
**-**
(231,368)
**-**
-
**-**
13,563|
||**-**
(565,750)
**-**
565,750|**-**
(33,054)
**-**
33,054|**-**
(305,983)
**-**
305,983|**-**
(226,713)
**-**
226,713|
||**-**
-|**-**
-|**-**
-|**-**
-|
Endowment funds represent capital amounts held by the charity for the longer term to generate income for the charity or the other trusts which are administered by Educational Opportunity Foundation. Endowment funds share in the total return from the investment funds. This allows trustees to invest endowment funds to maximise total return and to apply an appropriate proportion of the total return to income for the year and so be available for expenditure.
|**Restricted funds**
Richard Pain Trust
Alfred Bourne
Berridge Trust
British School Charity
South Church Trust
Old British School
**Unrestricted funds**
Educational Opportunity Foundation
**Restricted funds**
Richard Pain Trust
Alfred Bourne
Berridge Trust
British School Charity
South Church Trust
Old British School
**Unrestricted funds**
Educational Opportunity Foundation|**Tangible fxed assets**
**and investment property**
**Pooled funds**
**Net current assets**
**2025**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**-**
**-**
**1,060**
**1,060**
**-**
**34,845**
**2,260**
**37,105**
**-**
**37,984**
**2,012**
**39,996**
**-**
**322,558**
**5,241**
**327,799**
**-**
**43,030**
**7,169**
**50,199**
**-**
**238,993**
**2,432**
**241,425**
**-**
**677,410**
**20,174**
**697,584**
**477**
**25,753,011**
**128,525**
**25,882,013**
**477**
**26,430,421**
**148,699**
**26,579,597**
Tangible fxed assets and
investment property
Pooled funds
Net current assets
Total 2024
£
£
£
£
-
-
46,060
46,060
-
34,020
3,969
37,989
-
37,083
3,876
40,959
-
314,919
11,837
326,756
-
42,011
9,561
51,572
-
233,333
13,457
246,790
-
661,366
88,760
750,126
451,461
25,143,099
32,114
25,626,674
451,461
25,804,465
120,874
26,376,800|
|---|---|
Educational Opportunity Foundation had two types of endowment fund, permanent and expendable endowment funds.
Expendable endowments income could be spent as unrestricted funds, unless the charity was restricted to the areas in which the income and capital could be spent. Where the charity held permanent endowments there was no ability to spend the original capital funds. Having reviewed the needs of the Educational Opportunity Foundation and its beneficiaries, over 2023 and 2024 the endowments funds were transferred to general or restricted funds. The Charity Commission has given approval for the transfers in all cases. At the balance sheet date no endowment funds remained.
## **Name of Fund**
## **Purpose of Fund**
The Alfred Bourne Trust Fund The fund was a permanent endowment. The income of the endowment was restricted as detailed in note (subsidiary of Charity number 11. During the 2024 year the Charity Commission approved a resolution to transfer the endowment to 314286) restricted funds, to enable the distribution of larger and more effective grants.
The British School Charity The charity incorporated a permanent endowment. The income of the endowment was restricted as (subsidiary of Charity number detailed in note 11. During the 2024 year the Charity Commission approved a resolution to transfer the 314286) endowment to restricted funds, to enable the distribution of larger and more effective grants.
Old British School (Charity The Old British School was an expendable endowment. The income of the endowment was restricted as number 309444) detailed in note 11. During the year the prior year the Charity Commission approved a resolution to transfer the endowment to restricted funds, to enable the distribution of larger and more effective grants.
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 58
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 59
## **Educational Opportunity Foundation**
## Members of the Grants Committee
Alex McDonald (until December 2025) Janice Miller Saurav Tamang (from June 2025) Nicholas Tesseyman
Charlotte Cashman (Chair) Jeanette Brady Jane Creasy David Crowther Davinder Dosanjh (until June 2025)
## Representatives serving on outside bodies
## Trustees
Christopher Watt Jenny Hoult
Caroline Lindley’s Educational Foundation, Norwich
Paul Cooke
Great and Little Leighs Educational Charity, Essex
Kevin Patrick
Prior’s Charity, Chesham
Rosemarie O’Hare
Steeple Bumpstead Educational Charity
## Governors
## Members of the Finance and Investments Committee
Robert Spencer (Chair) Jane Creasy
Janice Miller Nicholas Tesseyman
## Delegates of Restricted Funds
Officers of Educational Opportunity Foundation
The Alfred Bourne Trust Fund
Officers of Educational Opportunity Foundation
Berridge Trust
The British School Charity
Claire Cameron Ann Geeves Diana Hoy (until March 2025) Alison Stewart Nicholas Tesseyman
South Church Educational Fund Officers of Educational Opportunity Foundation
## Trustees of the Old British School
Educational Opportunity Foundation Council
Isleworth and Syon School for Boys
## Professional Advisors
## Investment Managers
Cazenove Capital 1 London Wall Place London EC2Y 5AU
Navera Investment Management Riverside House 2a Southwark Bridge Road London SEI 9HA
## Bankers
The Co-operative Bank PO Box250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill, West Mailing Kent ME19 4JQ
Dr Emily Tomlinson (until February 2025) David Grindley Jonathan Haines (from February 2025)
## Independent Auditor
Begbies Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors 9 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4DJ
## Accountant
Godfrey Wilson Ltd 5th Floor, Mariner House 62 Prince Street Bristol BS1 4QD
## Solicitors
Knights Farrer & Co Lakeside House 66 Lincoln's Inn FieldsKingfisher Way London Stockton-On-Tees WC2A 3LH TS18 3NB
Educational Opportunity Foundation Page 60
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Page 61
## Educational Opportunity Foundation
82 Tanner Street London SE1 3GN
**Web:** educationalopportunity.org.uk **Tel:** 07356 007655 **Email:** grants@educationalopportunity.org.uk **LinkedIn:** linkedin.com/company/educational-opportunity
April 2026 Registered Charity no. 314286 © Educational Opportunity Foundation. All rights reserved.