Trustees’ Annual Report and Financial Statements **For the year ended 31 December 2025** 




## Table of Contents 

## 3-4 

## **CHAIR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT** 

## 5-31 

## **TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT** 

INCLUDING THE STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT 

## 32 

## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION** 

## 33-37 

## **INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT** 

TO THE TRUSTEES AND MEMBERS OF MARY’S MEALS INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION 

## 38-73 

## **FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** 

## **AN IMPORTANT NOTE ON ORGANISATION NAMES** 

“Mary’s Meals International Organisation” is the legal name for the entity which co-ordinates and leads the global network of Mary’s Meals organisations. In practice, this is often referred to simply as Mary’s Meals International or MMI. 

“Mary’s Meals” is the legal name for the entity which raises awareness and funds for the network’s programmes in the United Kingdom. 

Since the term “Mary’s Meals” is reasonably used in practice to refer to the work of the entire Mary’s Meals movement around the world, we will – for the purposes of clarity – refer to the UK-focused organisation, in this document, as Mary’s Meals UK or MM UK. 

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Childr
with their blue mugs. Malawi, 2025

## Chair and Chief Executive’s Report 

The year 2025 marked a new milestone for the Mary’s Meals Family and for the communities we support. Over 3 million children are now receiving a nutritious meal in school in more than 6,500 schools in 16 countries. The impact is powerful and immediate: reduced levels of hunger; increased focus in the classroom and improved school attendance. 

The provision of a meal for millions of children reflects the joint effort of very many people around the world, including tens of thousands of volunteers who prepare the food and serve the meals; our generous volunteers who raise awareness and enable others to provide the necessary resources to buy the food; countless supporters and donors who respond to our call and without whose generosity we could do so little; and our committed and professional staff who help to make it all possible. On behalf of the children, we want to express gratitude and appreciation to all those who contribute in many different ways to providing that daily meal. 

The past year saw the largest ever expansion of our programmes, with an additional 650,000 children receiving a meal each school day, so that at the end of 2025, our total school enrolment reached 3,151,977 children. The year also saw Mary’s Meals continuing to hand on some programmes to local authorities who will continue the work. Sustained focus on careful stewardship, and the opening of new programmes in lower cost areas, meant that we were able to maintain our commitment to providing the meals at an average cost below £19.15 per child per year. 

Our ability to respond to the ever-increasing call for Mary’s Meals is only possible through the continued generosity of our donors. We have active fundraising groups in 21 countries. Mary’s Meals Brazil was founded this year – our first formal fundraising affiliate in Latin America. Globally we received £55 million in donations in 2025. This record level of income reflects significant, very generous donations from individual long-term supporters, together with sustained contributions from our grass-roots network. We continue to seek to diversify our sources of income and to engage with new supporters. 

Sadly, for all our progress, there remain many millions of children who go to school hungry every day, or who miss school altogether as they search for food for themselves and their families. Our strategic goals will see us seeking to provide meals for a further one million children in the near future, while maintaining our promise to those children whom we currently serve. To achieve this, we will broaden the awareness of our work across high and medium income countries as we seek to bring additional resources to bear and will also look to work with others to find new ways to meet the growing need. 

Ankarinomby Primary School, Madagascar, 2025 

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As we write these words of introduction to the 2025 Report, we are conscious of the growing geopolitical uncertainties which cloud the horizon. The conflict in Ukraine saw a surge in food prices and the war in the Middle East is likely to see yet further inflation in the costs of food and commodities, which will impact all our programmes, not to mention the cost pressures on our supporters and donors in an inflationary world. We remain determined in our efforts to provide a meal for the next hungry child but are ever conscious of the need to balance that determination with our promise to remain faithful to those already in our programmes. Successful engagement across and beyond our current supporter base will be crucial to realising these objectives in response to the growing need. 

The year 2025 marked the retirement of David Clayton from his position as Chair of the Board of Mary’s Meals International. David had served in this role since the formal foundation of MMI in 2014 and we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude for his commitment and leadership over eleven years as he carefully guided Mary’s Meals from the early beginnings to the current delivery of a daily meal for 3 million children. David, thank you. 

Notwithstanding the doubts and uncertainties which cloud the horizon, we enter 2026 with clear goals for the year ahead. The record funding from 2025 will allow us to continue to expand the programmes and provide meals for more children in the first half of the year. A re-focussed fundraising strategy will enable us to further support National Affiliates as they broaden their engagement with supporters and potential supporters in many countries. 

As ever, our efforts will be guided by the values which motivate us and underpin our work: our respect for the dignity of every person, our confidence in the innate goodness of people and our commitment to the careful stewardship of the resources, and responsibilities, entrusted to us. 

The work of Mary’s Meals is an investment in Hope for the Future as we encourage and sustain the children in their education with the goal to improve their opportunities in life. Thanks to the hard work of our people across the Mary’s Meals Family, and to the amazing generosity of many donors and supporters, we have been able to expand the programmes in many countries. We remain hopeful that we will be able to continue that trend. The world is an uncertain place at the moment, but the strength of Mary’s Meals, founded on our People and our Values, will continue to bring Hope to millions of children around the world. 

As CEO and Chair, our sincere appreciation goes out to donors, volunteers, friends and colleagues for your tremendous support for the work of Mary’s Meals during 2025. 


MAGNUS MACFARLANE-BARROW **Chief Executive** 



JOHN C DARLEY **Chair** 

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Children playing football, Zimbabwe, 2025 

## TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

**INCLUDING THE STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT** 

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## Trustees’ Annual Report 

The trustees, who are also directors of the charitable company, present the annual report and consolidated financial statements of Mary’s Meals International Organisation (MMI) for the year ended 31 December 2025. 

This report reflects the work and results of MMI, which acts as the international organisation of the Mary’s Meals network and for which it provides a focus of unity, stability and continuity. Our school feeding programmes were delivered directly in 2025 through Programme Affiliates in Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Zambia and through partner organisations in other countries. 

These financial statements incorporate the full costs to carry out, monitor and support the delivery of these school feeding programmes. Income is generated by National Affiliates who raise awareness of the work of Mary’s Meals and are entirely independent legal entities. As such, the results of these entities are not incorporated into this report. More detail on the group structure is set out on page 21. 

Below: A child enjoying their meal, Zimbabwe, 2025 


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All organisations across the Mary’s Meals network share the following vision, mission and values: 

## **OUR VISION** 

## **OUR MISSION** 

Our vision is that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all those who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things. 

## **OUR VALUES** 

We believe that the way we do our work is as important as the end results. It is vital, therefore, that through our values, we create a consistent and deeply held understanding of ‘the Mary’s Meals way’ in order to help all of us to live it better. Our values underpin our work and are shared by all those involved in carrying out our mission from those involved in fundraising right through to volunteers living and working in the communities we partner with. 

Our key values are that: 

Mary’s Meals is a global movement supported by people from many walks of life and different backgrounds. Our mission is to enable people to offer their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer, and through this involvement, provide the most effective help to those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities. We welcome all into the Mary’s Meals family and we believe everyone has something important to contribute to the realisation of our vision. 

## **OUR STRATEGIC AIMS** 

We work towards the above charitable objectives by focusing our efforts on three core strategic aims: 

   - To feed more children in a place of education and help those suffering the effects of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest communities. 

- We have confidence in the innate goodness of people. 

- We respect the dignity of every human being and family life. 

- We believe in good stewardship of resources entrusted to us. 

Our values help us understand the principles on which our decision-making and organisational culture are built. Our values have always proclaimed that this mission belongs to people of all faiths and none. That has been the reality of Mary’s Meals since our inception and will continue to be, always. People belonging to one particular faith or denomination will never be more welcome in this mission than any other. The only qualification required to join this movement is a desire to see the hungry child fed and set free from poverty. While we may not share the same beliefs, we certainly share a love of the children we serve. 

- To grow the global movement and enable more people to offer their money, goods, time, or prayer to advance the work of Mary’s Meals. 

- To strengthen the organisation and Mary’s Meals global network in the furtherance of the vision, mission and values. 

We firmly believe that the children receiving Mary’s Meals today can one day grow up, well-nourished and welleducated, to become the men and women who will lift their communities out of poverty. 

## **OUR CHARITABLE OBJECTIVES** 

MMI has a specific role in the Mary’s Meals movement to deliver on the vision and mission through the following charitable objectives: 

- **a.** To provide a daily meal, in a place of education, for children in the world’s poorest communities; 

- **b.** To provide relief for those suffering, in any part of the world, as a result of humanitarian crises or poverty, to help people escape poverty and to provide care for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children and to work for the prevention thereof; 

- **c.** To raise awareness worldwide of poverty issues through education and; 

- **d.** To assist and support the work of other organisations, financially or otherwise, in particular members of the Mary’s Meals network throughout the world, the objectives of which would be considered to be charitable purposes and similar in nature to these objectives. 

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TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

## Our Global Impact 

## **FEEDING MORE CHILDREN** 

Since 2002, Mary’s Meals has provided children with nutritious meals in areas of great need, breaking down barriers to education and offering a potential pathway out of poverty. Our simple yet transformative approach provides daily meals within places of education, encouraging children into the classroom and giving them energy to learn. 

Today, we are humbled to be among the largest nongovernmental organisation providers of school meals globally, delivering locally procured meals at scale to those children who are most vulnerable, while working alongside communities, governments, and partners to create lasting change. 

Food insecurity, child hunger, and malnutrition continue to be persistent and critical global challenges, particularly in areas where we work. Of the 118 million children experiencing hunger in 2025, it is estimated that more than half were in this situation because of conflict rather than environmental issues or economic pressures. 

Extreme weather events deepened food insecurity across Africa and beyond, exacerbating challenges for children and communities already living in poverty and vulnerable to hunger. Mary’s Meals school feeding programmes provides a vital lifeline and social safety net for children and their families, reaching some of those communities worst affected by acute food insecurity, drought, flooding, and rising food prices. 

## **SCHOOL FEEDING OVERVIEW** 

During 2025, we achieved the significant milestone of reaching more than 3 million children in over 6,500 schools across 16 countries every school day. In every school, we focused on delivering consistent, nutritious meals to keep our promise to children and communities. 

Despite working in challenging contexts, and through the generous support of our donors, the commitment of our staff and partners, and dedication of a huge network of volunteers in schools, in 2025 we had: 

91% 

**CONSISTENCY OF DELIVERY** 

We provided meals on 91% of school days. 

400M+ **MEALS SERVED** 

We served over 400,883,000 meals. 

50:50 **GENDER PARITY** 

Just over half (50.6%) of our meals were served to girls. 

## **THE IMPACT OF A DAILY MEAL IN OUR PROGRAMMES** 

The most powerful testament to our work is the impact it has on children and communities. In respect of the programmatic expansions we carried out in 2025: 

- Hunger levels nearly halved, decreasing from 88% before receiving the meal to 48% after eating the meal. 

- Before the meal, 40% of children reported that they can concentrate well in school. This increased to 94% after we started school feeding. 

- Before the meal, teachers reported that only 12% of children were focused in the classroom. After the meal, this increased to 97%. 

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## **REACHING MORE CHILDREN** 

While working toward the 3 million children milestone in 2025, we successfully implemented ambitious expansion plans and had the largest single year of programme growth in our history. Throughout the year, we expanded to reach more than 650,000 additional children in over 1,300 schools across Ethiopia, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, South Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

## **SPOTLIGHT ON EXPANSION IN A FRAGILE AND CONFLICT-AFFECTED SETTING: TIGRAY, ETHIOPIA** 

In Tigray, Ethiopia, our school meals are playing a critical role in the rebuilding of the education system after years of brutal regional conflict. In this fragile context, the return to school has been slow, making school meals an especially important incentive for families to re-enrol their children. 

In October 2025, our local partner Daughters of Charity – already serving more than 200,000 children across Tigray with nutritious meals every school day – expanded its programme to reach 11,500 additional children in over 35 schools. 

Parents shared that  school feeding motivated them to send their children to school, and teachers noted that school meals contributed to a more peaceful classroom environment. The assurance of a daily meal made school more appealing for children, improving attendance and reducing absenteeism. 

In addition: 

- Before school feeding began, 72% of children felt hungry at school but once the children started receiving meals, this dropped to 0%. 

- Before meals were introduced, 68% of children reported leaving school early at least once per month because they were hungry, but after we started serving, this dropped to 0%. 

Children shared that the school feeding programme enabled them to shift from days shaped by hunger and irregular attendance to having consistent routines that support consistent learning, participation, and overall development. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Lebanon<br>900+ Syria<br>5,000+<br>South Sudan<br>India<br>85,000+<br>50,000+<br>Benin<br>Haiti<br>3,500+ Yemen<br>196,000+<br>10,000+<br>Ethiopia<br>Liberia 245,000+<br>Ecuador 95,000+ Kenya<br>350+<br>24,000+<br>Zambia Malawi<br>605,000+ 1,315,000+<br>Madagascar<br>Zimbabwe 97,800+<br>179,000+ Mozambique<br>5,000+<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


**CHILDREN FED BY COUNTRY** 

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## **TRANSITIONING PROGRAMME OWNERSHIP** 

We believe government and communities are the rightful owners of school feeding, and our model empowers longer-term transition. In 2025, we conducted a post-exit study in schools where we noted high community capacity to take on implementation to understand, identify, and learn how the Mary’s Meals model enables continuation of school feeding post-exit. Our research highlighted that our approach helped enable continuation of school meals via: 

- Knowledge transfer: We found that schools continued to rely on the same volunteers, School Feeding Committee model, and volunteer contributions towards the running of the programme. 

- Infrastructure: the infrastructure (such as cooking equipment) established by Mary’s Meals continued to be used to support the school-led programme following our exit. 

- Social capital: in some schools, parents agreed to contribute towards a school-led feeding programme, which allowed the feeding to be maintained by school stakeholders. 

- Generating and mobilising resources: schools shared how they developed a ‘cost per child’ budget after our exit, with some schools mobilising donations from international networks to provide food for all children. 

## **CHANGE IN IMPLEMENTATION IN TURKANA, KENYA** 

With the Kenyan national government taking on the commitment to school feeding in primary schools in Turkana County, and an increased involvement of the Turkana County government in feeding in Early Childhood Education Centres, we undertook a review of our approach to implementation in Kenya. In line with our aim to maximise local capacity and community empowerment, we ended our direct implementation of school feeding in Turkana including closure of office and redundancy of staff, redirecting resources to invest in our existing local partner as the sole implementer of Mary’s Meals in schools of high need across the county. This change localises delivery of our programme, while encouraging our partner to build capacity in reaching children of highest need. 

## **THE POWER OF SCHOOL MEALS** 

We see our school feeding programmes as doing more than simply providing food. We believe locally procured school meals delivered at scale provide an integrated approach to improving outcomes for children, their families, and communities. School meal programmes are recognised as one of the most cost-effective interventions available, addressing immediate hunger while strengthening educational outcomes, improving health, and contributing to broader social equity and long-term economic development through strong partnerships. At a global level, our work seeks to contribute to more than half of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Every school day, beyond the cups and bowls that we fill, by reliably serving a daily meal in a place of education, our programmes directly benefit children’s education and wellbeing; provide a social safety net for families and households; and support community social cohesion and system strengthening. 

Our school feeding programme contributes directly to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). By addressing children’s hunger through the provision of daily school meals, we help to break down barriers to accessing education as well as improving attendance, participation, and learning outcomes (SDG 4). Our meals help to boost children’s health and happiness (SDG 3) and encourage girls to engage in education (SDG 5). 

We also contribute indirectly to SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Research shows that our daily meals can reduce financial pressure on families by enabling households to redirect resources, which can potentially ease the effects of poverty (SDG 1). Our school feeding programme creates jobs and invests in local economies (SDG 8), while helping to reduce inequalities by reaching the most vulnerable children (SDG 10). 

How we do this work is also important. Our unique approach is powered by strong collaboration with governments, partners, and the communities we serve – partnerships that make our work possible and reflect our commitment to SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Through our collaborative model, we support the positive development of local food systems, advancing SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). 

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Namuar, Kenya. 2025

## Education 

Mary’s Meals improves children’s access to quality education and learning by reducing hunger-related barriers to participation and supporting attendance, concentration, and learning outcomes. 

From our research with children and their teachers in 2025, we strengthened our evidence that school meals improve children’s educational outcomes by increasing their readiness to learn, through reducing worry about hunger and lowering hunger levels in the classroom. 

In addition, we found that school meals contribute to improved academic achievement by supporting higher pass rates, decreasing dropouts, and improving progression to higher educational levels. 

Together, these benefits robustly demonstrate the impact of Mary’s Meals’ consistent school feeding programmes on children’s educational outcomes. 

A reliable school meal supports daily attendance and reduces early departures caused by hunger, making it more likely that children will remain in the class for the full school day. Improved concentration, energy, and classroom participation further enhance learning and engagement. 

## 22% 

## **DECREASE** 

in children reporting that they left school early because of hunger after the introduction of the school feeding programme. 

## 8% 

## **INCREASE** 

The average pass rate across schools where children now receive our meals in Malawi increased from 72% before the school feeding programme to 80% after its introduction. 

## 44% 

## **INCREASE** 

reported by teachers in energy levels of children in class after they started receiving our meals. 

## 2X 

## **INCREASE** 

In Madagascar, children are more than double as likely to drop out of school when there is no school feeding programme in place. 

## **10 YEARS OF IMPACT ON EDUCATION OUTCOMES IN ZAMBIA** 

We have been providing reliable school meals in Zambia’s Eastern Province for just over a decade and, during this time, there has been a transformation in the educational outcomes of children in the region. Since the launch of our school feeding programme in Zambia, there has been a 22% increase in the percentage of children progressing from primary to secondary school. 

While this shift cannot be solely attributed to our meals, government officials, school administrators, and community members all note that Mary’s Meals has played a vital role in this improvement. 

“Mary’s Meals and the Ministry of Education have a very good relationship and fantastic partnership. [In places of education] where we introduce school feeding, dropout rates reduce, and enrolment levels increase. Mary’s Meals is predominantly [serving children] in Eastern Province, and Eastern Province for a long time has been doing very well in terms of examination results. So, we are very, very grateful and happy with the support that we’ve been getting through the Mary’s Meals programme.” 

## **GOVERNMENT OF ZAMBIA’S MINISTER FOR SCHOOL HEALTH AND NUTRITION** 

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## Health & Wellbeing 

Mary’s Meals enhances children’s health and wellbeing by ensuring reliable access to nutritious food that supports growth, energy, and overall development. 

School feeding significantly improves children’s health by providing a consistent daily meal that reduces hunger, boosts energy, and reduces illness. Children across our programmes report increased happiness and better ability to learn and play. 

Parents and teachers observe children being healthier, more energetic, and less likely to miss school because of sickness. These improvements reduce household stress, as parents worry less about hunger, malnutrition, and fluctuating food availability, leading to greater wellbeing and some relief from financial and emotional pressure. 

## **REDUCED ILLNESS** 

In Zambia, parents reported a reduction in children having common illnesses like colds and coughs during the school year. 

## **IMPROVED HAPPINESS** 

92% of children reported being happy, with the school meal and the opportunity to learn identified as the main contributors to their happiness. 

## **BETTER HEALTH** 

In Ethiopia, parents shared that the school feeding programme improves health and wellbeing by ensuring children receive nutritious meals, reducing stress and intra-household conflict. 

## **REDUCED WORRY** 

Children reporting that they worry about hunger at school dropped by 66% once they started receiving meals. 

Below: Adiyam, Ethiopia, 2025 


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## Safety Net 

Mary’s Meals provides a vital social safety net, protecting vulnerable children and families from food insecurity and economic shocks through the stability offered by a daily meal. During our 2025 studies in Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Zambia, Liberia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe, parents consistently reported that children return home less hungry, lowering food consumption and easing household expenditure. 

## **ETHIOPIA** 

In Ethiopia, families shared that the school feeding programme improves household efficiency by reducing meal preparation, allowing parents to focus on work and childcare. 

## **MALAWI & ZAMBIA** 

Parents in Malawi and Zambia note reduced food needs at home and the ability to reallocate money to other essentials such as school supplies, soap, and healthcare. 

## **LIBERIA** 

In Liberia, parents describe cooking fewer cups of rice because children return home from school less hungry. 

## **YEMEN** 

In Yemen, the meal is viewed as a nutritional safety net and remains critical amid economic hardship and prolonged educational disruption. 

## **ZIMBABWE** 

In Zimbabwe, children shared that the school meal is crucial in supplementing their diet. It often serves as the most reliable or nutritious meal of the day, easing some of the burden on foodinsecure households. 

## **HAITI** 

In Haiti, prior to the school feeding programme 61% of children reported not having enough food to eat at home in the past week, this fell to 50%, highlighting the need for our continued support. 

Although savings remain modest, especially during inflation, parents shared that the programme acts as a buffer from economic instability, climate shocks, and temporary periods of food insecurity. 



Top: A boy eating his Mary’s Meals, Liberia, 2025 Bottom: Volunteers preparing food, Haiti, 2025 

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## Social Cohesion 

Mary’s Meals strengthens social cohesion by fostering trust, collaboration, and shared responsibility within schools and communities engaged in delivering the programme. 

Our research across Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Yemen, and Zambia in 2025 expanded our understanding that our school feeding programme strengthens social cohesion both within the classroom, between peers, and at community level, between school staff and households. 

The programme helps to expand social networks, with meetings and volunteer activities creating opportunities for parents and teachers to work together and collaborate on decision-making. Parents further reported stronger peer connections brought about by teamwork and shared responsibility, enhancing social cohesion through joint activities. 

Improved communication between families and schools helped build trust and encouraged collective supportive for education. Additionally, teachers and children shared that there was an increase in children interacting. Meals bring children together regardless of background, ethnicity, religion, or socio-economic status. By eating the same meal together, social barriers are reduced and children feel an increased sense of belonging. 

Overall, Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme deepens social bonds and reinforces community commitment to children’s education and wellbeing. 

## **MALAWI** 

In Malawi, parents shared that, because of the 

school feeding programme, there were stronger ties, improved communication, and joint participation in cooking and community meetings. 

## **ZAMBIA** 

In Zambia, parents reported increased participation, greater interest in school affairs, and more frequent interaction at school because of parents’ involvement in the programme. 

## **LIBERIA** 

In Liberia, parents and caregivers confirmed that community motivation for schooling increased because of spending more time at the school in delivering the school meals. 

## **YEMEN** 

In Yemen, the meal was viewed as a social anchor as shared meals strengthened peer relationships, contributing to calmer, more peaceful classrooms. 

## **ETHIOPIA** 

In Ethiopia, before the school feeding programme, only 12% of students played with friends at school every day. After meals were introduced, this increased to 58%. 


Above: Children enoying their meals, Malawi, 2025 

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Above: Taratra Primary School, Madagascar, 2025 

## System Strengthening 

Mary’s Meals contributes to system strengthening by building sustainable, multi-sectoral capacity across education, agriculture, health, and social protection systems to facilitate long-term development. In 2025, as part of our commitment to strengthening local food systems, we delivered over 28,600 metric tons of locally procured food for our school meals globally. 

By sourcing maize and soya beans for our school meals from cooperatives practising conservation farming, the Zambia programme boosts local production capacity, farmer incomes, and gender-inclusive leadership. COMACO’s traceability systems and continuous farmer training further enhance supply-chain reliability and sustainable agriculture in Zambia. 

One example of this is our commitment to supporting small-scale farmers in Zambia through our partnership with COMACO. Mary’s Meals in Zambia has a long-standing partnership with COMACO, a supplier that supports conservation and works with cooperatives made up of smallholder farmers in Zambia. 

Together, this reinforces Mary’s Meals’ contribution to sustainable, multi-sectoral development across agriculture and education, enhancing livelihoods and community resilience. 

## **GENDER INCLUSIVITY** 

The ingredients used for the meal served in Mary’s Meals’ Zambia programme were supplied by over 22,000 smallholder farmers, and more than half of them were women. These smallholder farmers belonged to 16 cooperatives, 9 of which were headed by females. 

## **INVESTING IN THE LOCAL ECONOMY** 

During the six-month period that our study focused on, Mary’s Meals procured a total of 1,155 MT of maize and 418 MT of soya beans, generating income for local smallholder farmers in Zambia. 

## **BUILDING LOCAL CAPACITY** 

As part of the partnership, all the smallholder farmers that contributed to our school meals received training in conservation farming, including soil fertility improvement, land preparation and post-harvest handling, as well as cooperative governance and leadership development training. 

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## TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

## Looking Forward 

In 2026, Mary’s Meals will focus on deepening the quality, reach, and influence of its school feeding work in line with the newly revised Strategic Plan. 

Our aim is to strengthen the consistency and impact of the meals we deliver each day, while expanding responsibly to reach the most vulnerable children, and sharing our expertise more widely to support sustainable governmentled school feeding systems. 

## **KEEPING OUR PROMISE** 

We will strengthen programme quality and sustainability to ensure every child we serve receives a high-quality daily meal. Enhanced needs assessments, monitoring, and evaluation will support data-driven decisions and continuous improvement. 

We will continue to test and scale proven innovations and continue our commitment to reduce environmental impact and support safer meal preparation. 

## **REACHING THE NEXT CHILD** 

With so much need globally, we are committed to ensuring we are reaching children in contexts of greatest need, where we can deliver high-quality implementation. Rolling needs assessments will inform targeting and maintain readiness to scale. 

At the same time, we will support structured transitions and exits where our role is no longer required, applying learning from recent approaches to ensure positive impacts and gains are sustained. We will remain agile and prepared for emergency response, rapid scale-up or responsible contraction when needed through contingency planning. 

## **BROADENING OUR REACH** 

We will refine and strengthen government engagement to support policy uptake, institutionalisation of school feeding and long-term sustainability. This includes clearer objectives, tailored strategies and stronger partnership mechanisms at national and sub-national levels. 

We will engage more deliberately in global forums and collaborate with civil society to share learning, influence system-level change and expand our indirect impact. 

Localisation and community ownership will remain central, with increased focus on strengthening community leadership, participation, and accountability. 



Top: Children with blue mug cutout, Zimbabwe, 2025 Bottom: Efigênia eating her school meal, Mozambique, 2025 

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## TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

## Growing The Global Movement 

2025 was a year of restructure, refocus and re-energising across our Growth teams, ending the year on a positive note in terms of income growth, increased engagement and raised profile. Growth was driven centrally by strong marketing campaigns for the Emergency in Southern Africa appeal, 3 Million Smiles (celebrating reaching our milestone of reaching 3 million children with daily school meals) and Give Hope this Christmas, all of which had good global take-up. One element of this was the delivery of our digital investment pilot, resulting in enhanced online income and new supporters, and a model to build on for future growth. 

Technical innovations across the year included delivering a major Content Management System upgrade – making significant efficiencies across the year – as well as launching a centralised digital warehouse and strengthened global data segmentation through Digital Platform. The successful launch of the new ‘Feed A School’ product was warmly welcomed by National Affiliates and was a great achievement in terms of crossfunctional collaboration and technical innovation. This has launched in Switzerland and the UK and will be rolled out across affiliates in 2026.National Affiliate support was strengthened over the year, with clearer focus for some and greater autonomy for others. We launched a National Affiliate Hub to make it easier for our affiliate colleagues to access essential resources, and to see and share examples of best practice and strategies. Affiliates across the family celebrated significant milestones: Slovakia surpassed €1 million for the first time, Portugal more than doubled its income thanks to an extraordinary gift, while Croatia achieved 26% grassroots growth. Ireland marked its 20th anniversary with nearly 20% income growth and Switzerland celebrated its 10th anniversary. 

Canada recorded its strongest year ever with 30% growth and Australia grew more than 60% in its first year with just one staff member. Hong Kong advanced an important book translation and several fundraising initiatives, while Spain delivered vibrant public events that built strong momentum and potential partnerships. Our footprint with major donors continues to grow. An inspiring twoday Leadership Gathering was delivered in October in Medjugorje with 70 participants from National Affiliates, Programme Affiliates, Programme Partners, and MMI including board representatives. 

The packed programme facilitated information sharing, idea generation and the opportunity to learn from each other and we are grateful for the donation which helped to support this event. Early in the year, our profile was raised significantly by Magnus’ invitation to the World Leaders’ Summit on Children’s Rights, hosted at the Vatican by Pope Francis. 

In what turned out to be one of Pope Francis’ last major events, Magnus was able to tell the story of Mary’s Meals – and present the case for universal school feeding – to a highly influential audience of global leaders. We conducted more than 40 media interviews across the two days in Rome. We continued this momentum with major network exposure across the year in Europe and North America, including visits by journalists to our programmes in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. This strategy is fuelled by stronger and more relatable storytelling across the movement, supported by strong video and photographic elements that are easily accessible by National Affiliates following major revisions to our Digital Content Library. Young people are essential to the future health of Mary’s Meals and in 2025 we focused on growing, facilitating and enabling this exciting part of our grassroots base. Part of this was the launch of the pilot Mary’s Meals Schools Award in the UK, Ireland and Czechia, which we hope and expect to roll out elsewhere, taking on board any learnings. 

Our Youth Ambassador programme also gained traction with involvement in the Catholic Year of Jubilee themed ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ including presenting Mary’s Meals in Rome in front of hundreds of thousands of young people. This was followed up by a successful stage presence at the Rimini Meeting in August, an event with 300,000 international visitors attracted by a vision that invites participants to build together, with gratitude and freedom, for an authentic and shared future. We were proud to be there, sharing the Mary’s Meals vision and impact. 

18 



TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

## Financial Review 

For the year to 31 December 2025, MMI recorded an overall surplus of £0.5m (2024: surplus £3.9m) which is inclusive of currency gains of £0.8m (2024: gains of £0.3m). At 31 December 2025, net assets have increased to £21.9m (2024: £21.4m). 

## **INCOME** 

Total group income was £55.7m (2024: £49.5m); a yearon-year growth rate of 12.5% and another record year continuing our trend of positive income growth that we have seen dating back to before the Covid pandemic. Income growth was driven primarily by the receipt of several large and unusual receipts although we have also seen some modest underlying income growth. It is this growth which has allowed us to expand and reach more children across our Programmes. 

Virtually all of this income was generated by the many Mary’s Meals National Affiliates across the world, with 62% (2024: 65%) of total cash income coming from the National Affiliates in the UK and in the US. The remaining funds are generated by other National Affiliates, international fundraising groups and individuals all around the world. Income is increasingly diversified, so it is pleasing to see that there are 7 National Affiliates who have raised around £2m or more in the year. We are immensely proud and grateful for the continued generosity of our supporters, especially during times of economic uncertainty. 

We note the following significant year-on-year income increases: MM Czech Republic £1.7m, USA £1.4m, and MM UK £1.4m. The increase recorded by MM Czech Republic was driven by the receipt of a grant which was not received in 2024. MM USA was driven by an unexpected donation late in the year which helped offset non-recurring donations from 2024. MM UK’s growth was driven by a major legacy early in the year and a major donation which helped offset challenges in sustaining grassroots income. 

Achieving sustainable underlying growth remains a significant area of focus across the National Affiliate network and this growth will be key to growing our income in a sustainable way and allowing us to keep the promise to the children we have added to our programmes in recent years. More detail is given on the significant contributions of all affiliates in note 6 to the accounts. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE 2020-2025<br>INCOME EXPENDITURE<br>55.7 56.0<br>49.5<br>48.7 47.8 47.9<br>41.1<br>36.9<br>33.7 33.7<br>29.0<br>27.2<br>2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025<br>19<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




## **EXPENDITURE** 

Total expenditure for the year was £56.0m (2024: £45.9m) which represents an increase of 22% (2024: 4% decrease versus 2023) year on year. This increase is primarily due to the significant level of expansions in 2025 where we reached an additional 600k children, as well as the full year impact of expansions that we undertook in the second half of 2024. Despite this, the level of expenditure incurred was lower than planned due to significant interruptions in feeding in a number of our programmes during 2025, most notably conflict in Haiti, and a significant currency devaluation in Ethiopia which makes it cheaper to deliver our programme in GBP terms.  We are continuing to see prices rise across the countries we work in where inflationary pressures and climatic conditions have put pressure on the costs of food and fuel, although strengthening GBP has partly mitigated the impact of this. With global uncertainty expected to continue in these areas, food and fuel prices will remain a challenge in 2026 and beyond. 

As outlined in note 8 to the financial statements, it cost £50.4m (2024: £40.5m) to deliver our school feeding programme. We use core KPIs on number of children enrolled, charitable spend and cost per child to accurately assess and demonstrate the significant progress that has been achieved in the reporting period as we look to feed more children as efficiently as possible. The cost per child incorporates the total cost of delivering the school feeding programmes each year, inclusive of support costs. The actual average cost of feeding a child for our financial year 2025 was £16.36 (2024: £17.47) against our public commitment of £19.15 (2024: £19.15), evidencing our strong commitment to keeping costs under control and achieving value for money against a challenging backdrop of inflation and wider economic challenges. The average cost is lower than the prior year due to expanding our school feeding in locations where the costs of running the programmes are lower than our global average. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
KPI 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025<br>Number of children enrolled 2,279,941 2,538,918 2,379,374 2,594,868 3,151,977<br>Cost per child (£) 14.56 15.47 17.26 17.47 16.36<br>Charitable spend (%) (*) 99 99 99 99 99<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


(*) Direct fundraising is carried out on our behalf by independent National Affiliates, whose financial results are not included in these financial statements. 

Note 9 shows the full cost of our charitable activities. The year-on-year increase in support cost spend reflects a continued investment by MMI in the Growth pillar of the organisation as we look to better support our National Affiliates delivering the levels of growth needed to continue meeting our promise. We continue to significantly exceed our long-term commitment to spend at least 93p of every £1 on our charitable activities. The results of our subsidiaries are summarised in note 24. 

## **GOING CONCERN STATEMENT AND OUTLOOK** 

As required by the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (FRS 102), we assess whether there are any uncertainties that may cast doubt over our ability to continue as a going concern. For this purpose, we focus on a period of 12 months following the signing of these accounts, which covers the period to at least the end of June 2027. 

Our annual budget and plan, approved by the Board in December 2025, represents management and the Board’s best forecast of income and expenditure for the year ending 31 December 2026. This budget forms the base case for our going concern assessment. In addition, we have undertaken scenario modelling to understand the impact of material income variations and cost pressures on our future expenditure, and we update the Board on a quarterly basis. 

Despite the challenges of price increases and the continuing cost-of-living crisis, 2025 was our most successful year to date, in terms of the numbers of children receiving a meal, and the funds raised to achieve this. We are grateful to those supporters who continued to respond positively and give generously of their money, goods, skills, time, or prayer. In 2026, MMI hopes to build on the more active and direct role we take in raising funds by continuing to use connections to engage with existing and new major donors and by further assisting our National Affiliates to enhance grassroots engagement. 

Owing to the nature of our work, food prices remain a significant risk to our overall future financial position and continue to be monitored carefully. Agility in tendering for food pricing in key locations remains key for us and in addition, we are working to ensure that alternative menu options are available should prices of our agreed menus become unsustainable. 

Combining these factors, the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The trustees continue to believe this is reasonable, in view of our reserves position, our controllable costs, and the diversity of our income base and our plans to grow. 

20 



## TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT 

## How We Operate 

## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** 

MMI is a company limited by guarantee governed by its memorandum and articles of association dated 3 October 2014. It is registered as a charity with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator. There are 12 founder members, and the trustees are obliged to appoint, subject to certain conditions being satisfied, representatives from National Affiliates, each of whom agrees to contribute £1 in the event of the charity winding up. As at 31 December 2025, there were 36 members of MMI. 

Scottish International Relief Malawi, Mary’s Meals Zambia, Mary’s Meals Liberia and Mary’s Meals Kenya are subsidiary entities whose main function is to implement Mary’s Meals’ projects in those countries. MMI is represented on the boards of these organisations.  For the purposes of this annual report, and on the basis of control, these entities have been consolidated as subsidiaries. 

Mary’s Meals International and Bosnia-Herzegovina (which is a branch of MMI) make up the charity results as presented in this report and the group results include the consolidated subsidiaries, Malawi, Zambia, Liberia and Kenya. Mary’s Meals fundraising National Affiliates are entirely independent entities and therefore not included in these financial statements. 

The Board operates two sub committees who have delegated authority to consider issues within their remit. These are: The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee (FRAC) who meet quarterly and the Nominations and Remunerations Committee (NRC) who meet at least once a year. 

As set out in the articles of association, the minimum number of trustees is three. There is no maximum number, unless determined by ordinary resolution. New trustees are appointed by the charity by ordinary resolution and are thoroughly vetted prior to appointment. They are briefed on their legal responsibilities and supplied with copies of the governing documents through the resource hubs available to MMI trustees. They commit to a code of conduct, including upholding the aims and values of the charity. A list of the trustees who served during the financial period is included on page 32 of this report. 

During the financial period to 31 December 2025, the day-to-day running of the charity was delegated to the Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Magnus MacFarlaneBarrow, reporting to the board of Trustees, and supported by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) which includes the Chief Operations Officer, Chief Growth Officer,Chief Programmes Officer and Chief Officer – People and Governance. 

## **VOLUNTEERS** 

While the bulk of our work is delivered directly through Programme Affiliates (in Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Zambia), we also have significant partnerships with other organisations who implement our programmes in other countries. By working with these partner organisations, we are able to extend the work of Mary’s Meals to reach hungry children in some particularly challenging environments. 

The charity is governed by the board of trustees, as listed on page 32, which meets on a quarterly basis. The composition of the board is monitored on a regular basis to ensure that the trustees have the necessary skills and expertise required to govern the charity. A budget is set annually in advance and submitted to the trustees for approval. 

Consistent with previous years, Mary’s Meals continues to benefit enormously from the contribution of many volunteers who have willingly given their time and talents to help realise our vision. Across the global movement, volunteers are engaged every day in delivering our feeding programmes, fundraising activities and promoting awareness of the Mary’s Meals vision. While the financial impact cannot be quantified, the selfless contribution of so many volunteers has a huge impact on the success of Mary’s Meals, and we will continue to rely on volunteers being an essential part of our global movement in the future. 

21 




Above: Semhal, Ethiopia, 2025 

## **APPROACH TO REMUNERATION** 

Our Global Pay Philosophy ensures that the following principles are maintained when making decisions that impact on pay and reward at MMI: 

- People in all locations are paid a fair salary that is proportionate to the complexity of their role. 

- Reward policies will be free from bias and discrimination, and decisions are made transparently. 

- To ensure internal equity, roles will be evaluated and compared to ensure that all roles are paid fairly in relation to other comparable roles. 

- Our pay policies will ensure that the highest paid employee is not paid significantly more than the lowest paid employee in any given location. Appropriate ratios will be used to ensure that this principle is maintained. 

## **COMMITMENT TO INCLUSION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY** 

Due to the global nature of the organisation, we have a diverse workforce both in terms of gender and ethnicity. MMI continues to take an equal opportunity approach in all that we do. Mary’s Meals is a global movement supported by people from many walks of life and different backgrounds. We welcome all into the Mary’s Meals family and we believe everyone has something important to contribute to the realisation of our vision. 

MMI’s equal opportunities policy means that all candidates are considered on merit. Full and fair consideration of applications for employment made by disabled persons, having regard to their particular aptitudes and abilities. 

- We will use reliable and relevant salary benchmarking data to make decisions that affect pay and benefits. 

- We work extremely hard to keep our running costs low as possible. Salaries and benefits will represent good stewardship of the resources entrusted to us. We therefore aim to pay no higher than the median of any labour market. 

MMI has a salary scale in place which is benchmarked externally periodically. In addition, we review salary scales annually and adjust where necessary to recognise the impact of inflation and the cost of living. 

22 



Children playing football. Madagascar 2025

## **SAFEGUARDING** 

Safeguarding is a core priority for Mary’s Meals and is fundamental to our values, culture and ways of working. We are committed to ensuring that everyone who comes into contact with our work – particularly children and vulnerable adults – is protected from all forms of harm, including physical, emotional or sexual abuse or exploitation. 

Across our global network, we operate a robust Global Safeguarding Policy that is informed by international best practice and relevant legal frameworks and that applies to all employees, trustees, volunteers, partners, contractors and visitors, in every location where we work. 

Our safeguarding approach was comprehensively reviewed in 2025 and is underpinned by six new global standards which focus on safe conduct, awareness and training, safe communications, safe recruitment, survivor-centred responses and strong governance. All representatives of Mary’s Meals are required to adhere to a Personal Conduct Policy and to report any safeguarding concerns through our established reporting channels, which are accessible, confidential and available in multiple languages. Reports can be made anonymously and retaliation against those who raise concerns is not tolerated. 

We take all safeguarding concerns extremely seriously and respond using a survivor-centred and trauma-informed approach. This means prioritising safety, dignity, respect, choice and confidentiality, while ensuring appropriate action is taken and, where necessary, concerns are referred to relevant authorities. 

Safeguarding oversight and accountability are embedded at all levels of our organisation. Boards and senior leaders across the Mary’s Meals network are responsible for ensuring safeguarding risks are identified, managed and regularly reviewed. In 2025 we strengthened our safeguarding capacity through the appointment of a Head of Safeguarding to provide strategic leadership and oversight and expanded local capacity through full-time Safeguarding Advisors in our Programme Affiliates. 

Progress against our safeguarding commitments is monitored throughout the year and reported to the Mary’s Meals International Board, with the policy reviewed annually to ensure it remains effective and responsive. Through these measures, we aim to foster a strong safeguarding culture rooted in openness, accountability and continuous improvement, ensuring that Mary’s Meals is a safe organisation for all those we serve and all those who represent us. 

## **TRUSTEES’ INSURANCE AND INDEMNITIES** 

The trustees, who are also the directors, have the benefit of the indemnity provisions contained in the company’s articles of association (“articles”), and the company has maintained throughout the year directors’ and officers’ liability insurance for the benefit of the company, the directors and its officers. The company has entered into qualifying third-party indemnity arrangements for the benefit of all its directors in a form and scope which comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and which were in place throughout the year and remain in force. 

## **RESERVES AND RESERVES POLICY** 

The Reserves Policy exists to secure the ongoing viability of the organisation for the immediate future and to ensure that we are in a strong position to deliver our charitable objectives over the longer term. The required level of reserves is based on a balance of supporting current MMI activities and enabling our future growth aspirations, while at the same time acknowledging our responsibility to spend donors’ money on our mission now, rather than reserving for uncertain future plans. In this context, the Reserves Policy is subject to annual review, to consider whether it remains fully applicable to and appropriate for the prevailing circumstances of the organisation. 

We ended the year with total group reserves of £21.9m (2024: £21.4m) with restricted funds of £1.3m (2024: £2.5m) and unrestricted funds of £20.6m (2024: £18.9m).  Of the unrestricted funds, our reserves policy was to retain sufficient funds required to meet three months of central running costs and 1.5 months of committed programme expenditure, along with an amount to cover the net book value of forecasted group tangible and intangible fixed assets. On this basis, we would expect to hold £10.1m (2024: £8.8m), as a minimum. 

Designated funds are part of unrestricted funds but earmarked for a particular purpose and therefore designated as a separate fund. It should be noted that this designation does not legally restrict the trustees. The value of such designated funds are determined by the Board. Funds have been designated in the year to cover planned deficits over the coming years (2026-2028), reflecting our intention to keep the promise to the children already in our programmes and our hope to reach more children over this period. This amounts to £6.7m at the end of 2024 (2024: £8.9m). 

The remaining unrestricted free funds held over year end will be utilised to maintain our commitment to reach the children we currently feed during this continued period of high prices globally. 

24 



## **INVESTMENT POLICY** 

## **DEVELOPING OUR SYSTEMS** 

In accordance with the articles of association, the charity has the power to invest as it sees fit. Surplus funds are held in a combination of current and investment accounts in a mixture of currencies to minimise bank charges, to optimise interest earned and accessibility and to minimise risk. Accordingly, our investment policy is to hold cash or invest in short-term liquid deposit accounts only at those banks with a high credit rating. We don’t invest in stocks and shares. 

## **STRATEGIC PLANNING** 

In 2025, we adopted a more agile, annually refreshed strategic planning process which replaced our rigid threeyear planning cycle. Reviewing our context and priorities yearly enables us to undertake continuous prioritisation and learning, ensuring we stay focused and effective on the most important activities given the uncertain contexts we work in. Throughout 2025, we worked on executing activities in the 2025-2027 Strategic Plan and reviewed our priorities and impact during the year to develop our 20262028 Strategic Plan titled “Our Simple Solution”. 

Throughout 2025, we strengthened the digital systems that help Mary’s Meals connect with supporters, share our story and operate effectively across our work. We progressed development of our Data Strategy and the first phase of our new Data Warehouse was delivered. These foundations will strengthen insight, decision-making and our future use of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence. 

Cybersecurity remained a priority as we expanded our protective measures and strengthened our organisation-wide readiness to respond quickly and effectively to critical incidents. We improved access to information and support across our global network through our online hubs and service desks. 

The 2026-2028 plan expresses an even greater urgency in seeing the realisation of our vision – that every child receives one daily meal in their place of education and that all who have more than they need, share with those who lack even the most basic things. It focusses on our strategic pillars of Feeding More Children, Growing the Movement and Strengthening the Organisation to elevate our current work to radically increase the number of children we reach. 

Below: Mbilire, Dija and Lax, Malawi, 2025 


25 



Kajal, India. 2025

## **SECTION 172 STATEMENT** 

The Board of trustees consider, both individually and collectively, that they have acted in the way they consider, for the benefit of its members as a whole (having regard to the stakeholders and matters set out in s172(1)(a-f) of the Companies Act 2006) in the decisions taken in the year ended 31 December 2025 and summarise those actions in the table below. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
SECTION 172 INTEREST ACTIONS IN THE PERIOD<br>a.  Likely consequences  The trustees consider all decisions on the basis of reports made to them by the ELT.<br>of any decision in the  Supporting papers setting out the relevant facts are provided and set out the background<br>long term and reasons for any proposals and associated costs, benefits, risks and impacts on our<br>stakeholders. All decisions are taken with the long-term interest of our stakeholders in<br>mind and with reference to our three-year strategy.<br>Key decisions made / actions taken during the year include:<br>•  Regular review of financial information during the year showing progress against the<br>additional income assumptions made for the 2024 budget.<br>•  Approval of the 2026 budget containing assumptions on income growth requirement.<br>•  Approval of the closure of the directly implemented programme in Kenya.<br>b.  Interest of employees The trustees recognises that team members are central to delivering Mary’s Meals mission.<br>Communications on organisational strategy, operations and performance are regularly<br>shared through various channels to the staff and wider family. New team members go<br>through a formal onboarding process to instil the organisation’s vision and values.<br>c.  Foster business  •  The success of MMI is dependent upon the strong relationships it builds with its<br>relationships with  supporters, regulatory authorities, suppliers and internally with employees.<br>suppliers, customers<br>and others •  Where possible, we seek to build long-term partnerships with key suppliers and delivery<br>partners, recognising the long-term nature of the school feeding programmes that we<br>are delivering.<br>d.  Impact of our  •  Our approach relies on community volunteers to serve meals each day – this commitment<br>operations on the  is vital for a long-term, sustainable school feeding programme.<br>community and the<br>environment •  We are mindful of what we do in respect of our impact on the environment and have a<br>statement on our website that sets out our programmatic environmental commitment.<br>e.  Maintaining a  •  We always strive to conduct ourselves to the highest ethical and<br>reputation for high  professional standards.<br>standards of business<br>conduct<br>f.  Act fairly as     •  The continued success of MMI is dependent on the continued collaboration of all parts of<br>between members     the Mary’s Meals family.<br>of the company<br>•  Membership of MMI (the company) has continued to grow, with a significant majority of<br>Members now representing our Programme Affiliates and National Affiliates. This reflects<br>an intentional process for the membership to evolve away from the original Founding<br>Members of MMI.<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


27 



## **ENERGY AND CARBON REPORTING** 

Mary’s Meals International has measured the carbon emissions of our UK operations since 2021. This section includes our mandatory reporting of energy and greenhouse gas emissions for the year ended 31 December 2025 pursuant to the Companies (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018, implementing the UK Government’s Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) policy. 

Our methodology to calculate our greenhouse gas emissions is based on the ‘Environmental Reporting Guidelines: Including streamlined energy and carbon reporting guidance (March 2019)’ issued by DEFRA. We report using a financial control approach to define our organisational boundary. We have reported all material emission sources required by the regulations for which we deem ourselves to be responsible and have maintained records of all source data and calculations. 

The table below includes energy consumption (reported as kWh for gas and electricity consumption in our office and thousands of miles for travel) and greenhouse gas emissions for the sources required by the legislation, along with our intensity ratio. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2025 2024<br>UK ENERGY USE – SCOPE 2<br>Electricity (‘000 kWh) 26 19<br>Gas (‘000 kWh) 112 83<br>Transport (‘000 miles) 694 616<br>ASSOCIATED GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS (GHG) – SCOPE 2<br>Electricity (tonnes of CO2e) 4.7 4.5<br>Gas (tonnes of CO2e) 21.5 15.2<br>Transport (tonnes of CO2e) 324 288<br>INTENSITY RATIO<br>Tonnes of CO2e per UK-based MMI employee 3.54 3.07<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The increase in transport use and related emissions reflects the increased travel to monitor school feeding programmes and raising awareness of our work reflecting the increased number of children we are feeding at the end of 2025. 

During the reporting period, our UK-based staff continued to be primarily located remotely which minimises the amount of travel to and from offices through the continued and enhanced use of technology to facilitate team and staff interaction. 

28 



## TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT Risk Review 

Risk management is crucial to safeguarding the delivery of our vision through timely action to manage known threats. The trustees have overall responsibility for identifying and assessing the charity’s strategic risks. 

The strategic risk register is subject to periodic review by both trustees and the ELT to confirm the risks identified continue to be relevant. We then design and implement suitable mitigating strategies to manage each risk, either through preventing the risk or minimising its impact on the charity should it occur. The trustees delegate responsibility for delivering the mitigating strategies to ELT. 

Risk registers are in place for each pillar of the organisation to support delivery of the mitigating strategies at an operational level and to better inform our assessment of our strategic risk profile. The pillar registers mirror our strategic register, and each pillar risk is linked to an overarching strategic risk. 

Mary’s Meals aims to have a risk aware rather than risk averse culture and accepts that the avoidance of risk at all costs is unrealistic; to take opportunities such as setting up new feeding programmes, comes with a certain level of risk. These risks however need to be managed within a framework that includes the articulation of acceptable risk. 

As such the organisation has a detailed risk appetite statement in place, acknowledging the challenging environments we sometimes work in and with specific parameters for each pillar. 

During the year extensive work has been undertaken to review and if necessary, improve risk management systems and controls. This includes however is not limited to rerunning risk management training across the organisation, revisiting existing risk registers and considering the controls environment. This work will continue in 2026. 

Risk registers are also in place to manage risks to our programme affiliates, with escalation from those registers to our pillar and strategic risk registers taking place as appropriate. 

We regularly monitor risk performance through our risk governance structure. ELT receive a quarterly report on our strategic risks, which highlights movements in our risk profile and provides details of new and existing mitigating strategies being deployed to manage critical risks. Quarterly reporting is also provided to our trustees through the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee and the Board. 

29 



The strategic risks for MMI are as follows: 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
NO. STRATEGIC RISK KEY MITIGATION STRATEGIES<br>1 Programmes: We fail to deliver  •  Comprehensive standards, policies, procedures and tools in place to<br>feeding programmes that are  ensure high-quality delivery including School Feeding Approach, SOPs<br>high-quality safe, efficient,  and Partner Agreements.<br>resilient and scalable.<br>•  Targeted training and capacity building provided to Programme<br>Affiliates and Partners.<br>•  Digital systems used to monitor programme quality, safety<br>and efficiency.<br>•  Quality Assurance and Internal Audit processes in place.<br>2 Funding: Insufficient funding  •  Strengthen forecasting<br>To keep the promise and to grow<br>the programme in line with our  •  Fundraising strategies in place<br>ambitions and the scale of t<br>He need. •  Regular programme of new, high-quality campaigns and products to<br>reach broader audiences and to encourage engagement<br>•  Regular engagement and support provided to National<br>Affiliates on graphics, campaign implementation, content use and<br>capacity building<br>•  Enhanced donor journeys via the Integrated Digital Platform<br>3 Safeguarding: Risk of harm •  Global safeguarding framework, policies, training and reporting<br>Caused to staff, volunteers and  mechanisms and incident response processes in place<br>people we work with by<br>Mary’s meals. •  Introduction of new Safeguarding Advisors in place in<br>Programme Affiliates<br>4 Health, safety and security:  •  Global security framework, policies, and reporting<br>Risk of harm caused to staff,  mechanisms in place<br>volunteers and people we<br>work with. •  Comprehensive insurance policies in place<br>5 People, culture and values: Risk  •  People and Culture Strategy<br>that our culture, values, people<br>management, leadership, and  •  Values-based recruitment and onboarding processes<br>succession planning processes<br>are not optimised to deliver our  •  Leadership Development Strategy<br>strategic aspirations, manage<br>risks and ensure sustainability  •  Global Culture Survey<br>and resilience.<br>•  Wellbeing initiative and support in place<br>•  Succession planning processes in place<br>•  Continuous efforts to upskill staff and streamline processes<br>•  Regular salary benchmarking<br>6 Cyber and digital security: We do  •  Policies and procedures in place to support good IT security and safe<br>not adequately prevent threats to  practices including regular training, security controls and software to<br>our cyber security. prevent cyber threats<br>•  Annual re-certification obtained of Cyber Essentials<br>•  Insurance in place<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


30 



## Statement of trustees’ responsibilities 

The trustees (who are also directors of Mary’s Meals International Organisation for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”. 

## **STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE TO AUDITOR** 

In so far as the trustees are aware: 

- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and 

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company and the group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to: 

- the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information. 

The trustees approve the trustees’ annual report (including the strategic report and directors’ report) in their capacity as trustees. 

On behalf of the Board 

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; 

## JOHN C DARLEY 

- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; 

- make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; 

Authorised and signed on 24th June 2026 

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed; and 

- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business 

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence 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 corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

31 



## Legal and Administrative Information 

## **CHARITY NUMBER** 

SC045223 

## **SECRETARY** 

Michael Ferguson (resigned 31 January 2025) Rhian Cooke (appointed 1 February 2025) 

## **COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER** 

SC488380 

## **BUSINESS ADDRESS** 

Craig Lodge Dalmally Argyll Scotland PA33 1AR 

## **REGISTERED OFFICE** 

Craig Lodge Dalmally Argyll Scotland PA33 1AR 

## **TRUSTEES** 

Jacob Allen (ii) Sebastian Bailey (i) Dr Cornelius Chipoma (i) (resigned 31 December 2025) David Clayton (i) (resigned 2 October 2025) Anthony Colella (ii) John C Darley, Chair of the Board of Trustees Ana Luisa Diez de Rivera-Laffont Marie Da Silva (ii) Michael George (i), Chair of the Finance, Risk and Assurance Committee Bishop John Keenan (ii), Chair of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee Dr Željka Markić Karel Necesal (i) Graham Paterson 

## **CHIEF EXECUTIVE** 

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow 

## **EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM (ELT)** 

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow Michael Ferguson (resigned 31 January 2025) Graeme Little Rhian Cooke Cheryl McGechie Erin Pratley (appointed 11 August 2025) 

## **INDEPENDENT AUDITOR** 

RSM UK Audit LLP Third Floor 2 Semple Street Edinburgh EH3 8BL 

## **BANKERS** 

Royal Bank of Scotland plc 88 Main Street Rutherglen Glasgow G73 2JA 

Investec Bank plc 30 Gresham Street London EC2V 7QP 

(i) Finance, Risk and Assurance Committee member 

> (ii) Nominations and Remuneration Committee member 

32 



Antanetibe Primary School, Madagascar, 2025 

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT 

**TO THE TRUSTEES AND MEMBERS OF MARY’S MEALS INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION** 

33 



## **OPINION** 

We have audited the financial statements of Mary’s Meals International Organisation (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the consolidated group statement of financial activities, charity statement of financial activities, the consolidated group and charity balance sheets, the consolidated group and charity cash flow statements and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 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: 

- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2025; and of the groups and the parent charitable company’s incoming resources and application of resources, including their income and expenditure, for the year then ended; 

- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and 

- have been prepared in accordance with the    Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 

## **BASIS FOR OPINION** 

We have been appointed auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts. 

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 group and parent charitable company 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. 

## **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. 

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 group’s or parent charitable company’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. 

## **OTHER INFORMATION** 

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. 

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 course of 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves.  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. 

34 



## **OPINIONS ON OTHER MATTERS PRESCRIBED BY THE COMPANIES ACT 2006** 

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit: 

- the information given in the directors’ report and the strategic report, prepared for the purposes of company law and included within the trustees’ annual report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial  statements; and 

- the directors’ report and the strategic report, included within the trustees’ annual report, have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements. 

## **MATTERS ON WHICH WE ARE REQUIRED TO REPORT BY EXCEPTION** 

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report or the strategic report, included within the trustees’ annual report. 

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion: 

- sufficient, adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or 

## **RESPONSIBILITIES OF TRUSTEES** 

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities on page 31 the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 group’s and parent charitable company’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 liquidate the group or parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. 

## **AUDITOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS** 

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. 

- the parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

- certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or 

- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit. 

35 



## **THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE AUDIT WAS CONSIDERED CAPABLE OF DETECTING IRREGULARITIES, INCLUDING FRAUD** 

Irregularities are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit. 

In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit. 

However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud. 

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the group audit engagement team and component auditors: 

- obtained an understanding of the nature of the sector, including the legal and regulatory frameworks that the group and parent charitable company operates in and how the group and parent charitable company are complying with the legal and regulatory frameworks; 

- inquired of management, and those charged with governance, about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, including any known actual, suspected or alleged instances of fraud; 

As a result of these procedures, we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), regulation 8 of the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, the Charities SORP (FRS 102) and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliances which may have a material impact on the financial statements which included reviewing financial statement disclosures. 

The most significant laws and regulations that have an indirect impact on the financial statements are The Children Act 2004, the Scottish Adult Support and Protection Act 2007, data protection regulations, and employment legislation. We have performed audit procedures to inquire of management and those charged with governance whether the Group is in compliance with these law and regulations and inspected correspondence with licensing or regulatory authorities and relevant policies management have implemented. 

The group audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls as the areas where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to, testing journal entries and other adjustments and evaluating the business rationale in relation to any significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside the normal course of business. 

All relevant laws and regulations identified at a Group level and areas susceptible to fraud that could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements were communicated to component auditors. Any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations identified and communicated by a component auditor were considered in our group audit approach. 

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at **www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities** . This description forms part of our auditor’s report. 

- discussed matters about non-compliance with laws and regulations and how fraud might occur including assessment of how and where the financial statements may be susceptible to fraud. 

36 



## **USE OF OUR REPORT** 

This report is made exclusively to the members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). 

KELLY ADAMS CA MA (Hons) Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of RSM UK Audit LLP, Statutory Auditor 

Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the members and the charitable company’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s 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 charitable company, its members as a body, and its trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

Chartered Accountants Third Floor 2 Semple Street Edinburgh EH3 8BL 

Date: 8th July 2026 

RSM UK Audit LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006. 

Below: Child recieving meal, Zambia, 2025 


37 



Mary. Zambia. 2025
J),))) .
FINANCIAL
STATEMENTS
38

CThldren enjoying the ou
ors, Zimbab
e, 2025

## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Consolidated Group Statement of Financial Activities 

**Including consolidated income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 December 2025** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2025 2024<br>FUNDS FUNDS TOTAL TOTAL<br>£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br>NOTE<br>INCOME FROM<br>Donations 6 44,417 10,587 55,004 48,605<br>Investments 613 - 613 764<br>Other 68 - 68 90<br>TOTAL INCOME 45,098 10,587 55,685 49,459<br>EXPENDITURE ON:<br>Raising funds 7 559 - 559 302<br>Charitable activities 8, 9 43,671 11,771 55,442 45,554<br>TOTAL EXPENDITURE 44,230 11,771 56,001 45,856<br>NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)<br>11 868 (1,184) (316) 3,603<br>FOR THE YEAR<br>OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS<br>Currency gains 797 - 797 267<br>NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 1,665 (1,184) 481 3,870<br>RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS<br>Total funds brought forward 18,889 2,501 21,390 17,520<br>Net movement in funds for the year 1,665 (1,184) 481 3,870<br>TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 20-22 20,554 1,317 21,871 21,390<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


All amounts relate to continuing operations. There is no material difference between the surplus on ordinary activities and the surplus for the financial year stated above and their historical costs equivalents. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the statement of financial activities. The notes on pages 40-73 form an integral part of these financial statements. See note 4 for comparative consolidated statement of financial activities analysed by funds. 

40 



## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Charity Statement of Financial Activities 

**Including income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 December 2025** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2025 2024<br>FUNDS FUNDS TOTAL TOTAL<br>£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br>NOTE<br>INCOME FROM:<br>Donations 6 44,115 10,587 54,702 48,356<br>Investments 608 - 608 761<br>Other 47 - 47 31<br>TOTAL INCOME 44,770 10,587 55,357 49,148<br>EXPENDITURE ON<br>Raising funds 7 559 - 559 302<br>Charitable activities 8, 9 44,470 11,771 56,241 43,873<br>TOTAL EXPENDITURE 45,029 11,771 56,800 44,175<br>NET (EXPENDITURE)/INCOME<br>11 (259) (1,184) (1,443) 4,973<br>FOR THE YEAR<br>OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS<br>-<br>Currency gains (148) (148) (375)<br>NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS (407) (1,184) (1,591) 4,598<br>RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS<br>Total funds brought forward 18,801 2,501 21,302 16,704<br>Net movement in funds for the year (407) (1,184) (1,591) 4,598<br>TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 20-22 18,394 1,317 19,711 21,302<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


All amounts relate to continuing operations. There is no material difference between the surplus on ordinary activities and the surplus for the financial year stated above and their historical costs equivalents. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the statement of financial activities. The notes on pages 47-73 form an integral part of these financial statements. See note 5 for comparative charity statement of financial activities analysed by funds. 

41 



Volunteers on stage at Mladifest, Medjugorje, 2025 



Montfort, Mal
i, 2025

## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Consolidated Group and Charity Balance Sheets **As at 31 December 2025** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>2025 2024 2025 2024<br>£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br>NOTE<br>FIXED ASSETS<br>Intangible assets 14 808 1,120 808 1,120<br>Tangible assets 15 953 621 63 52<br>TOTAL FIXED ASSETS 1,761 1,741 871 1,172<br>CURRENT ASSETS<br>Stocks 16 440 658 - -<br>Debtors 17 2,111 2,083 2,021 1,846<br>Cash at bank and in hand 19,422 19,157 17,653 18,889<br>TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 21,973 21,898 19,674 20,735<br>LIABILITIES<br>Creditors: amounts falling due<br>18 1,863 2,249 834 605<br>within one year<br>NET CURRENT ASSETS 20,110 19,649 18,840 20,130<br>NET ASSETS 21,871 21,390 19,711 21,302<br>FUNDS<br>Unrestricted funds 20,21 20,554 18,889 18,394 18,801<br>Restricted funds 20,22 1,317 2,501 1,317 2,501<br>TOTAL FUNDS 21,871 21,390 19,711 21,302<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


These financial statements of Mary’s Meals International Organisation on pages 41-73 were approved by the Board of Trustees, authorised for issue and signed on its behalf on 24th June 2026 by: 

## JOHN C DARLEY **Chair** 

44 



## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Consolidated Group and Charity Cash Flow Statements 

## **For the year ended 31 December 2025** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>2025 2024 2025 2024<br>£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br>NET CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (520) 3,281 (1,666) 5,277<br>CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES<br>Interest income 613 754 608 752<br>Purchase of fixed assets (671) (277) (28) (18)<br>9 78 - -<br>Proceeds from disposal of fixed assets<br>NET CASH CHANGE IN INVESTING ACTIVITIES (49) 555 580 734<br>CHANGE IN CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS (569) 3,836 (1,086) 6,011<br>CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS<br>Cash and cash equivalents brought forward 19,157 15,060 18,889 13,252<br>Change in cash and cash equivalents due to<br>834 261 (150) (374)<br>exchange rate movements<br>CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS CARRIED FORWARD 19,422 19,157 17,653 18,889<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Cash and cash equivalents are represented by cash at bank and in hand. 

45 



## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Note to The Consolidated Group and Charity Cash Flow Statements 

## **Reconciliation of net cash flows from operating activities** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>2025 2024 2025 2024<br>£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000<br>Net income (316) 3,603 (1,443) 4,973<br>Bank interest (613) (754) (608) (751)<br>Depreciation and amortisation charge 614 599 331 361<br>(Gain) on disposal of fixed assets 9 (69) - -<br>Decrease in stocks 218 218 - -<br>Decrease in debtors (28) 1,104 (175) 1,261<br>(Decrease)/increase in creditors/accruals (386) (1,420) 229 (567)<br>NET CASH PROVIDED BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES (520) 3,281 (1,666) 5,277<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Below: National volunteer conference, Czech Republic, 2025 


46 



## FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

## Notes to The Financial Statements 

## **For the year ended 31 December 2025** 

## **1. GENERAL INFORMATION** 

## **3.2 BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION** 

MMI is a charity incorporated in Scotland and a company limited by guarantee. The registered address is detailed on page 32. 

MMI meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. 

## **2. STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE** 

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - Charities SORP (FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Companies Act 2006, the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. 

## **3. ACCOUNTING POLICIES** 

The principal accounting policies are summarised below. The accounting policies have been applied consistently throughout the year. 

## **3.1 BASIS OF PREPARATION** 

The financial statements have been prepared on the going concern assumption and accruals concept. 

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £’000. 

The financial statements consolidate the results of the organisation on a line-by-line basis using the acquisition method. All intra-group transactions, balances and unrealised gains on transactions between group companies are eliminated on consolidation. 

The charity consists of MMI, a UK registered company, plus its branch in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The group comprises the charity plus its subsidiaries Mary’s Meals Liberia, Scottish International Relief Malawi, Mary’s Meals Zambia and Mary’s Meals Kenya. 

Mary’s Meals Kenya, Mary’s Meals Liberia, Scottish International Relief Malawi and Mary’s Meals Zambia: these entities are controlled by MMI and implement its projects in Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Zambia respectively. In accordance with accounting standards, the financial statements of Mary’s Meals Kenya, Mary’s Meals Liberia, Scottish International Relief Malawi and Mary’s Meals Zambia have been consolidated in the group financial statements. This is based on the guidelines in the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities that, where there is dominant influence due to control, the financial statements should be consolidated. Specifically, MMI appoints senior staff, sets budget and longer-term financial strategy, defines strategic objectives, provides the framework (school feeding model) within which they operate and transfers cash to enable their operations. 

None of the Mary’s Meals National Affiliates are controlled or consolidated by MMI. 

## **3.3 GOING CONCERN** 

The organisation’s activities and future plans are set out in the trustees’ annual report. The organisation has considerable financial resources and a wide and stable fundraising base in place across the Mary’s Meals network. The trustees have considered the appropriateness of the going concern basis of preparation and are satisfied that the charity is well placed for at least the next twelve months from the date of approving this annual report based on the budget and forecasts prepared and strong cash reserves. The going concern basis of accounting continues to be adopted in preparing the annual financial statements. 

47 



## **3.4 INCOME** 

All income is included in the statement of financial activities (SoFA) when the charity is entitled to the income, it is probable the income will be received, and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income: 

Donations are included in full in the SoFA when receivable. Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included. 

Income from grants is recognised when the Group has entitlement to the funds, performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and can be measured reliably. 

Income that the Group is entitled to but has not yet received is included as accrued income. 

Bank interest is included in the year in which it is receivable. 

## **3.5 EXPENDITURE** 

All expenditure is included on an accruals basis and is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to pay. Any costs directly attributable to specific categories have been included in those cost categories in the SoFA. Other costs, which are attributable to more than one activity, are apportioned across categories on the basis of an estimate of the proportion attributable. 

Costs are allocated on a transactional basis and are assigned on an activity or role basis, with each activity allocated to a particular function. General office expenditure, such as property costs and office services are split on the basis of headcount. Governance costs are apportioned over each core activity on a proportionate expenditure basis. 

Costs of raising funds include the apportioned costs associated with attracting donations and legacies. 

Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management. 

Governance costs are those incurred directly in connection with compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements, together with a proportion of salary costs relating solely to the strategic management of the charity. 

## **3.6 TAXATION** 

The charity’s activities fall within the exemptions afforded by the provisions of the Corporation Tax Act 2010. The subsidiaries that form part of the group also fall within exemptions provided for in the relevant taxation laws in each country. Accordingly, there is no taxation charge in these financial statements. 

## **3.7 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS AND DEPRECIATION** 

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. 

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life. Depreciation rates are as follows: 

Plant and machinery 15% - 33% straight-line 

Fixtures, fittings and equipment 5% - 33% straight-line 

Motor vehicles 25% - 33% straight-line 

Computer equipment 25% - 33% straight-line 

## **3.8 INTANGIBLE ASSETS AND AMORTISATION** 

Intangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated amortisation. 

Amortisation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less residual value of each asset over its expected useful life. Amortisation rates are as follows: 

Software development costs 14% straight-line 

This rate reflects a common approach to technology assets of this type and has been confirmed by the MMI project team as appropriate for our particular circumstances. 

Software development costs are capitalised only after the technical and financial feasibility of the asset for use is established. Internal staff time is capitalised after an appropriate assessment of time spent on developing each asset. 

48 



## **3.9 STOCKS** 

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost or net realisable value. 

## **3.10 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS** 

The group has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments. 

Financial instruments are recognised when the group becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. 

Financial assets and liabilities are offset and the net amounts presented in the financial statements when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously. 

## **BASIC FINANCIAL ASSETS** 

Basic financial assets, which include trade and other debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the financial asset is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Cash and cash equivalents include amounts held on short term deposits of up to 95 days. 

## **IMPAIRMENT OF FINANCIAL ASSETS** 

Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through profit and loss, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting end date. 

## **3.10 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS** 

Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected. If an asset is impaired, the impairment loss is the difference between the carrying amount and the present value of the estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. The impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss. 

## **DERECOGNITION OF FINANCIAL ASSETS** 

Financial assets are derecognised only when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled, or when the group transfers the financial asset and substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to another entity, or if some significant risks and rewards of ownership are retained but control of the asset has transferred to another party that is able to sell the asset in its entirety to an unrelated third party. 

## **CLASSIFICATION OF FINANCIAL LIABILITIES** 

Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the group after deducting all of its liabilities. 

## **BASIC FINANCIAL LIABILITIES** 

Basic financial liabilities, including trade and other creditors, bank loans and loans from fellow group companies, are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. 

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method. 

## **DERECOGNITION OF FINANCIAL LIABILITIES** 

Financial liabilities are derecognised when, and only when, the group’s contractual obligations are discharged, cancelled, or they expire. 

## **3.11 LEASES** 

Leases are classified as finance leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the leased asset to the group. All other leases are classified as operating leases. 

Rentals payable under operating leases are taken to the SoFA on a straight-line basis over the lease term. 

If there is a decrease in the impairment loss arising from an event occurring after the impairment was recognised, the impairment is reversed. The reversal is such that the current carrying amount does not exceed what the carrying amount would have been, had the impairment not previously been recognised. The impairment reversal is recognised in profit or loss. 

49 



kji
Irarimaso Primary School, Madagascar, 2025

## **3.12 DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PENSION SCHEMES** 

The charity has in place a group pension scheme to make available pension provision to all eligible employees in the UK who have been continuously employed for 3 months. Contributions in respect of the company’s defined contribution pension scheme are charged to the income and expenditure account for the year in which they are payable to the scheme. Differences between contributions payable and contributions actually paid in the year are shown as either accruals or prepayments at the year end. Contributions are allocated across activities based on a percentage split of an employee’s contribution to said activities. 

## **3.13 FOREIGN CURRENCIES** 

Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at an appropriate forecasted rate on the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the spot rate prevailing at the balance sheet date. Foreign branches and subsidiaries are consolidated by converting income and expenditure at an average rate for the year, with assets and liabilities being converted at the spot rate prevailing at the balance sheet date. All differences are taken to the SoFA. 

## **3.14 VALUE OF DONATED GOODS** 

All goods donated to the group are evaluated to establish how it can maximise the value of the gift, except where appeals are made specifically for items to send overseas i.e. school backpacks. 

A wide variety of goods is donated to the charity and sent overseas. In placing a value on these items, the following factors are taken into account: 

- the purchase price or market value for new/unused items; 

- the price of an equivalent substitute in the recipient area; 

- the income which could be generated if the goods were sold; and 

## **3.15 TRANSFERS BETWEEN FUNDS AND RESERVES** 

Transfers from unrestricted to restricted funds enable MMI to continue to fund projects furthering its charitable activities, in different countries, using donations to the general fund. Restricted funds are held for each country where MMI performs its charitable activities. 

A designated retranslation reserve was held to account for currency gains and losses realised on consolidated reserves. We have stopped showing this separately within unrestricted funds from 2025. 

Designated funds are part of unrestricted funds but earmarked for a particular purpose and therefore designated as a separate fund. It should be noted that this designation does not legally restrict the trustees. The value of such designated funds are determined by the Board. 

Further detail is shown in note 21. 

## **3.16 CRITICAL ACCOUNTING JUDGEMENTS AND KEY SOURCES OF ESTIMATION UNCERTAINTY** 

In the application of MMI’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates. 

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects both current and future periods. 

The trustees do not consider there are any critical judgements or sources of estimation uncertainty requiring disclosure. 

- the depreciation of second-hand goods, or value added through reconditioning or checking by volunteers 

51 



## **4. COMPARATIVE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED  UNRESTRICTED<br>FUNDS FUNDS  FUNDS<br>£’000 £’000 £’000<br>NOTE funds<br>INCOME FROM:<br>Donations 6 12,630 48,605 48,605<br>Investments 764 764 764<br>Other 90 90 90<br>TOTAL INCOME 36,829 12,630 49,459<br>EXPENDITURE ON:<br>Raising funds 7 302 - 302<br>Charitable activities 8, 9 33,313 12,241 45,554<br>TOTAL EXPENDITURE 495 - 495<br>NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR 11 3,214 389 3,603<br>OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS:<br>Currency gains 267 - 267<br>NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 3,481 389 3,870<br>RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS<br>Total funds brought forward 15,408 2,112 17,520<br>Net movement in funds for the year 3,481 389 3,870<br>TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 20-22 18,889 2,501 21,390<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


52 



## **5. COMPARATIVE CHARITY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED  UNRESTRICTED<br>FUNDS FUNDS  FUNDS<br>£’000 £’000 £’000<br>NOTE funds<br>INCOME FROM<br>Donations 6 35,726 12,630 48,356<br>Investments 761 - 761<br>Other 31 - 31<br>TOTAL INCOME 36,518 12,630 49,148<br>EXPENDITURE ON<br>Raising funds 7 302 - 302<br>Charitable activities 8, 9 31,632 12,241 43,873<br>TOTAL EXPENDITURE 31,934 12,241 44,175<br>NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR 11 4,584 389 4,973<br>OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS<br>-<br>Currency (losses) (375) (375)<br>NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS 4,209 389 4,598<br>RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS<br>Total funds brought forward 14,592 2,112 16,704<br>Net movement in funds for the year 4,209 389 4,598<br>TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 20-22 18,801 2,501 21,302<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


53 



JAI+I'
41
Volunteer cooks, Mozambique. 2025

## **6. DONATIONS: SUMMARY FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2025 UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2024<br>DONATIONS FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL   FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Benin - 74 74 - 75 75<br>Ecuador - 6 6 - 7 7<br>- -<br>Ethiopia 1,366 1,366 3,139 3,139<br>Haiti - 175 175 - 189 189<br>India - 238 238 - 217 217<br>Kenya - 407 407 - 716 716<br>Lebanon - 18 18 - 3 3<br>Liberia - 162 162 - 1,975 1,975<br>Madagascar - 202 202 - 295 295<br>Malawi - 4,348 4,348 - 3,745 3,745<br>- -<br>Global Feeding 44,115 44,115 35,726 35,726<br>Mozambique - 128 128 - 84 84<br>Romania<br>- - - - 13 13<br>Houses<br>South Sudan - 257 257 - 362 362<br>Syria - 6 6 - 22 22<br>Yemen - 2 2 - 42 42<br>Zambia - 2,577 2,577 - 1,692 1,692<br>Zimbabwe - - - - 54 54<br>Southern Africa<br>- 621 621 - - -<br>Appeal<br>TOTAL<br>44,115 10,587 54,702 35,726 12,630 48,356<br>CHARITY<br>Global Feeding 32 - 32 28 - 28<br>Value Of<br>270 - 270 221 - 221<br>Donated Aid<br>TOTAL GROUP 44,417 10,587 55,004 35,975 12,630 48,605<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


55 



## **6. DONATIONS (CONTINUED): ANALYSIS OF DONATIONS (EXCLUDING GRANTS AND DONATED AID) BY GEOGRAPHY OF DONOR** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>DONATIONS 2025   2024   2025   2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Australia 102 62 102 62<br>Austria 2,197 1,957 2,197 1,957<br>Belgium 66 73 66 73<br>Bosnia-Herzegovina 366 281 366 281<br>Canada 1,518 1,169 1,518 1,169<br>Croatia 2,661 2,113 2,661 2,113<br>Czech Republic 3,727 2,026 3,727 2,026<br>France 400 408 400 408<br>Germany 3,895 3,892 3,895 3,892<br>Hungary 24 26 24 26<br>Ireland 2,285 1,934 2,285 1,934<br>Italy 252 327 252 327<br>Netherlands 155 24 155 24<br>Poland 9 88 9 88<br>Portugal 167 83 167 83<br>Slovakia 927 834 927 834<br>Slovenia 79 79 79 79<br>Spain 516 576 516 576<br>Switzerland 522 439 522 439<br>UK 18,301 16,867 18,301 16,867<br>USA 16,006 14,645 16,006 14,645<br>Other 559 481 527 453<br>TOTAL 54,734 48,384 54,702 48,356<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


56 



r*
•7VW. V
I rij￿1&11￿,
25

## **7. COSTS OF RAISING FUNDS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2025 2024<br>GROUP AND CHARITY TOTAL   TOTAL<br>£'000 £'000<br>Employee Costs 213 199<br>76 70<br>Office Services<br>Transport and Travel 10 13<br>Depreciation and Amortisation 23 20<br>Direct Digital Marketing  237 -<br>TOTAL 559 302<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Costs of raising funds include the apportioned costs associated with attracting donations. The independent National Affiliates who donate to the group are responsible for their own fundraising. 

## **8. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES – BY FUND TYPE** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2025 UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2024<br>GROUP FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL   FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Mary’s Meals<br>38,619 11,771 50,390 28,251 12,227 40,478<br>Feeding<br>Romania Houses - - - 72 13 85<br>Oscar Romero<br>195 - 195 620 - 620<br>School<br>Raising Awareness 1,052 - 1,052 955 - 955<br>Network Support 3,583 - 3,583 3,270 1 3,271<br>Backpacks and  222 - 222 145 - 145<br>Shipped Aid<br>TOTAL 43,671 11,771 55,442 33,313 12,241 45,554<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2025 UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED 2024<br>CHARITY FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL   FUNDS   FUNDS   TOTAL<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding 39,640 11,771 51,411 26,715 12,227 38,942<br>Romania Houses - - - 72 13 85<br>Oscar Romero School 195 - 195 620 - 620<br>Raising Awareness 1,052 - 1,052 955 - 955<br>Network Support 3,583 - 3,583 3,270 1 3,271<br>TOTAL 44,470 11,771 56,241 31,632 12,241 43,873<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


58 



## **9. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES – BY ACTIVITY** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
ACTIVITIES  ACTIVITIES<br>ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES<br>THROUGH  SUPPORT 2025 THROUGH  SUPPORT 2024<br>UNDERTAKEN UNDERTAKEN<br>GROUP DIRECTLY  PARTNERS &  COSTS TOTAL   DIRECTLY  PARTNERS &  COSTS TOTAL<br>AFFILIATES £’000 £'000 AFFILIATES £’000 £'000<br>£'000 £'000<br>£’000 £’000<br>Mary’s Meals<br>30,954 16,199 3,237 50,390 23,975 13,689 2,814 40,478<br>Feeding<br>Romania<br>- - - - - 85 - 85<br>Houses<br>Oscar Romero<br>- 195 - 195 491 129 - 620<br>School<br>Raising<br>98 196 758 1,052 88 192 675 955<br>Awareness<br>Network<br>- 10 3,573 3,583 - - 3,271 3,271<br>Support<br>Backpacks and  222 - - 222 145 - - 145<br>Shipped Aid<br>TOTAL 31,274 16,600 7,568 55,442 24,699 14,095 6,760 45,554<br>ACTIVITIES  ACTIVITIES<br>ACTIVITIES ACTIVITIES<br>THROUGH  SUPPORT 2025 THROUGH  SUPPORT 2024<br>UNDERTAKEN UNDERTAKEN<br>CHARITY DIRECTLY  PARTNERS &  COSTS TOTAL   DIRECTLY  PARTNERS &  COSTS TOTAL<br>AFFILIATES £’000 £'000 AFFILIATES £’000 £'000<br>£'000 £'000<br>£’000 £’000<br>Mary’s Meals<br>32,010 16,199 3,202 51,411 22,468 13,689 2,785 38,942<br>Feeding<br>Romania<br>- - - - - 85 - 85<br>Houses<br>Oscar Romero<br>- 195 - 195 491 129 - 620<br>School<br>Raising<br>98 196 758 1,052 88 192 675 955<br>Awareness<br>Network<br>- 10 3,573 3,583 - - 3,271 3,271<br>Support<br>TOTAL 32,108 16,600 7,533 56,241 23,047 14,095 6,731 43,873<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Support costs are allocated to the core mission of the group – running of the Mary’s Meals school feeding programmes, raising awareness of poverty and supporting the global network. Note 10 details the basis of allocation. 

Network support as presented here and in note 8 reflects the costs incurred in furthering charitable objectives as detailed on page 7. 

59 



LangelThle, Zimbabwe. 2025

## **10. ANALYSIS OF SUPPORT COSTS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP AND CHARITY EMPLOYEE COSTS£'000 PROPERTY COSTS£’000 OTHER COSTSADMIN AND £’000 AND TRAVELTRANSPORT £’000 AMORTISATIONDEPRECIATION £’000AND GOVERNANCE£’000 SOFTWARE LICENSING£’000 SUPPORT COSTSEXTERNAL £’000 TOTAL  £'0002025<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding 2,607 56 105 36 62 133 160 43 3,202<br>Raising Awareness 517 - 37 32 - 32 1 139 758<br>Network Support 2,374 55 146 71 242 129 326 230 3,573<br>TOTAL CHARITY 5,498 111 288 139 304 294 487 412 7,533<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding - - - - - 35 - - 35<br>TOTAL GROUP 5,498 111 288 139 304 329 488 6410 7,568<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP AND CHARITY EMPLOYEE COSTS£'000 PROPERTY COSTS£’000 OTHER COSTSADMIN AND £’000 AND TRAVELTRANSPORT £’000 AMORTISATIONDEPRECIATION £’000AND GOVERNANCE£’000 SOFTWARE LICENSING£’000 SUPPORT COSTSEXTERNAL £’000 TOTAL  £'0002024<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding 2,112 57 92 30 95 127 215 57 2,785<br>Raising Awareness 448 - 43 68 - 34 1 81 675<br>Network Support 2,197 57 95 108 243 133 261 177 3,271<br>TOTAL CHARITY 4,757 114 230 206 338 294 477 315 6,731<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding - - - - - 29 - - 29<br>TOTAL GROUP 4,757 114 230 206 338 323 477 315 6,760<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Costs are allocated on a transactional basis and are assigned on an activity or role basis, with each activity allocated to a particular function. General office expenditure, such as property costs and office services, are split on the basis of headcount. Governance costs are apportioned over each core activity on a proportionate expenditure basis. 

61 



## **11. NET (INCOME)/EXPENDITURE FOR THE YEAR IS STATED AFTER CHARGING:** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>2025  2024  2025  2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Depreciation and Other Amounts Written Off<br>302 264 19 27<br>Tangible Fixed Assets<br>Amortisation of Intangible Fixed Assets 312 335 312 335<br>Gain/(Loss) On Disposal of Fixed Assets 9 69 - -<br>Auditor Remuneration – UK  57 65 57 65<br>Auditor Remuneration – Subsidiaries  35 28 - -<br>Operating Lease Charges 130 153 68 82<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Below: Volunteer with a Mary’s Meals flag at Mladifest, Medjugorje, 2025 


62 



## **12. EMPLOYEES** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>EMPLOYMENT COSTS 2025  2024   2025  2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Wages and Salaries  9,396 8,402 5,587 5,052<br>Social Security Costs 742 560 621 471<br>Pension Costs 506 441 337 308<br>TOTAL 10,644 9,403 6,545 5,831<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP GROUP CHARITY CHARITY<br>NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES<br>2025  2024  2025  2024<br> Monthly Average Number Number Number Number<br>Mary’s Meals Feeding 486 464 61 54<br>Raising Funds 4 4 4 4<br>Raising Awareness  18 16 18 16<br>Network Support 48 48 48 48<br>Governance  3 3 3 3<br>TOTAL 559 535 134 125<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The tables above represent employed and contracted staff. They do not include the thousands of volunteers who give their time throughout the network. Their roles vary from spreading the word of the Mary’s Meals mission in the UK and fundraising affiliate countries to cooking and serving meals to children in programme countries. 

The number of group employees whose emoluments, excluding pension contributions and employers’ national insurance, but including benefits in kind, were in excess of £60k was: 

|£60k was:|||
|---|---|---|
||**2025**<br>**NUMBER**|**2024**<br>**NUMBER**|
|£60k - £70k|6|3|
|£70k - £80k|4|4|



## **KEY MANAGEMENT COMPENSATION** 

The key management personnel of the charity and group comprise the 6 (2024: 5) individuals who were part of the ELT over the course of the year. The total remuneration (including pension contributions and employers’ national insurance) of key management personnel totalled £406k (2024: £464k). 

No trustees received remuneration for services from the charity or group in the year ended 31 December 2025 (2024: £Nil). The charity met <£1k (2024: £5k) worth of travel and accommodation expenses on behalf of trustees. 

Included in the above employee costs are redundancy and termination costs of £465k. The majority relates to the closure of the Mary’s Meals Kenya programme late in 2025 as referred to on page 10. 

63 



## **13. PENSION COSTS** 

The organisation operates a defined contribution pension scheme in respect of staff. The scheme and its assets are held by independent managers. MMI contributes 8% of employees’ salary. Employers are required under the Act to remit aggregated contributions to any of the licensed Pension Administrators. The pension charge represents contributions due from the company and amounted to £337k (2024: £308k). At 31 December 2025, £Nil (2024: £Nil) was accrued in the financial statements. 

Scottish International Relief Malawi contributes to a mandatory and defined contribution Pension scheme on behalf of its local employees prescribed by the Government of Malawi under the Pension Act of 2010 which came into effect on 1 June 2011. 

Mary’s Meals Zambia contributes to NAPSA for its eligible employees as provided for by law. Membership is compulsory and monthly contributions by both employer and employees are made. The employer’s contribution is charged to the income statement in the period in which it arises. 

Mary’s Meals Liberia contributes to NASSCORP for its eligible employees as required by law. Monthly contributions are made by both employer and employees. The employer’s contribution is charged to the income statement in the period in which it arises. 

Mary’s Meals Kenya made contributions to an accredited pension fund for its eligible employee as required by law until the closure of the programme in December 2025. Monthly contributions are made by both employer and employees. The employer’s contribution is charged to the income statement in the period in which it arises. 

## **14. INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
SOFTWARE<br>GROUP AND CHARITY DEVELOPMENT COSTS<br>£’000<br>COST<br>At 1 January 2025 2,345<br>Additions -<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 2,345<br>ACCUMULATED AMORTISATION<br>At 1 January 2025 1,225<br>Charge for the year 312<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 1,537<br>NET BOOK VALUE<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 808<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2024 1,120<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The software development costs above consist of capitalised development time on our CRM system, our SFDM system and our Integrated Digital Platform. No costs have been capitalised during the year as, in the view of the Trustees, the asset is substantially complete and has been rolled out to the majority of the intended National Affiliate users. 

64 



e,n c
Ranomafana Primary Scffiool, Madagascar, 2025

## **15. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
FIXTURES,<br>PLANT AND FITTINGS  MOTOR COMPUTER<br>TOTAL<br>GROUP MACHINERY   AND VEHICLES   EQUIPMENT<br>£'000<br>£'000 EQUIPMENT   £'000 £'000<br>£'000<br>COST<br>At 1 January 2025 53 177 1,622 247 2,099<br>Exchange variance (2) (6) (112) (8) (128)<br>Additions - 26 547 97 671<br>- -<br>Disposals (6) (12) (18)<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 45 197 2,057 325 2,624<br>ACCUMULATED DEPRECIATION<br>At 1 January 2025 30 114 1,146 188 1,478<br>Exchange variance (1) (5) (79) (6) (91)<br>Charge for the year 3 16 239 44 302<br>- -<br>Released on disposals (6) (12) (18)<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 26 125 1,306 214 1,671<br>NET BOOK VALUE<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 19 72 751 111 953<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2024 23 63 476 59 621<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
FIXTURES,<br>PLANT AND FITTINGS  MOTOR COMPUTER<br>TOTAL<br>CHARITY MACHINERY   AND VEHICLES   EQUIPMENT<br>£'000<br>£'000 EQUIPMENT   £'000 £'000<br>£'000<br>COST<br>At 1 January 2025 18 49 10 121 198<br>Exchange variance - 3 - - 3<br>Additions - 1 - 28 28<br>- -<br>Disposals (6) (10) (17)<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 11 52 10 139 212<br>ACCUMULATED DEPRECIATION<br>At 1 January 2025 18 17 10 101 146<br>Exchange variance - 1 - - 1<br>Charge for the year - 4 - 15 19<br>- -<br>Released on disposals (6) (10) (17)<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 11 22 10 106 149<br>NET BOOK VALUE<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 - 30 - 33 63<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2024 - 32 - 20 52<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


66 



## **16. STOCK** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>2025  2024 2025  2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Food 263 547 - -<br>Non-food items 177 111 - -<br>TOTAL 440 658 - -<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **17. DEBTORS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>2025 2024  2025  2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Prepayments 490 347 400 269<br>Other debtors - 194 - 35<br>Accrued income 1,621 1,542 1,621 1,542<br>TOTAL 2,111 2,083 2,021 1,846<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **18. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>2025  2024  2025  2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Trade creditors 1,440 1,043 563 328<br>Other creditors 43 5 43 5<br>Accruals 131 1,010 65 139<br>Taxation and social security 249 191 163 133<br>TOTAL 1,863 2,249 834 605<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **19. OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS** 

The group and charity have the following future minimum lease payment commitments under non-cancellable operating leases: 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>2025  2024  2025 2024<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Within one year 129 101 56 40<br>387 222 200 16<br>Between one and five years<br>- 50 - -<br>In more than five years<br>TOTAL 516 373 256 56<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


67 



## **20. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>UNRESTRICTED  RESTRICTED TOTAL UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL<br>FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Fixed assets 1,761 - 1,761 871 - 871<br>Current assets 20,656 1,317 21,973 18,357 1,317 19,674<br>Current liabilities (1,863) - (1,863 (834) - (834)<br>AT 31 DECEMBER 2025 20,554 1,317 21,871 18,394 1,317 19,711<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
GROUP CHARITY<br>UNRESTRICTED  RESTRICTED TOTAL UNRESTRICTED RESTRICTED TOTAL<br>FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS   FUNDS<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000<br>Fixed assets 1,741 - 1,741 1,172 - 1,172<br>Current assets 19,397 2,501 21,898 18,234 2,501 20,735<br>Current liabilities (2,249) - (2,249) (605) - (605)<br>At 31 December 2024 18,889 2,501 21,390 18,801 2,501 21,302<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Below: Linda, Madagacascar, 2025 


68 



## **21. UNRESTRICTED AND RESTRICTED FUNDS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
CURRENCY<br>AT 31 DEC<br>AT 1 JAN 2025  INCOME   EXPENDITURE   GAINS/ TRANSFER<br>2025<br>£'000 £'000 £'000 (LOSSES) £’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:<br>General 9,901 44,770 (45,029) (148) 2,200 11,694<br>- - -<br>Designated Funds 8,900 (2,200) 6,700<br>Unrestricted funds total 18,801 44,770 (45,029) (148) - 18,394<br>Restricted funds  2,501 10,587 (11,771) - - 1,317<br>TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 21,302 55,357 (56,800) (148) - 19,711<br>UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:<br>General - 328 799 945 88 2,160<br>Retranslation reserve 88 - - - (88) -<br>Unrestricted funds total 88 328 799 945 - 2,160<br>TOTAL GROUP FUNDS 21,390 55,685 (56,001) 797 - 21,871<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
CURRENCY<br>AT 31 DEC<br>AT 1 JAN 2024  INCOME   EXPENDITURE  GAINS/ TRANSFER<br>2024<br>£'000 £'000 £' 000 (LOSSES) £’000<br>£’000<br>£’000<br>UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:<br>General 14,399 36,517 (31,934) (181) (8,900) 9,901<br>Retranslation reserve 193 - - (193) - -<br>- - - -<br>Designated Funds 8,900 8,900<br>Unrestricted funds total 14,592 36,517 (31,934) (374) - 18,801<br>Restricted funds  2,112 12,630 (12,241) - - 2,501<br>TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 16,704 49,147 (44,175) (374) - 21,302<br>UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:<br>General 130 312 (1,681) 641 598 -<br>Retranslation reserve 686 - - - (598) 88<br>Unrestricted funds total 816 312 (1,681) 641 - 88<br>TOTAL GROUP FUNDS 17,520 49,459 (45,856) 267 - 21,390<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The Board approved designated fund represents funds earmarked for a particular purpose – future expansion related activity. The net transfer out of the designated fund within unrestricted funds reflects the movement in the year of funds held for future expansion activity, taking into consideration funds received in 2025 which are committed for future expansion activity. Funds set aside reflect our estimate of the planned deficits over the coming years as a result of this expansion activity. 

69 



Rakotobe Primaiy School, Madaga
25

**22. RESTRICTED FUNDS** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
AT AT 31<br>1 JANUARY INCOME  TRANSFER EXPENDITURE  DECEMBER<br>GROUP AND CHARITY<br>2025  £'000 £’000 £'000 2025<br>£'000 £'000<br>Benin - 74 - (74) -<br>Ecuador - 6 - (6) -<br>Ethiopia 980 1,366 - (2,346) -<br>Haiti - 175 - (175) -<br>India - 238 - (238) -<br>Kenya - 407 - (407) -<br>Lebanon - 18 - (18) -<br>Liberia - 162 - (162) -<br>Madagascar - 202 - (202) -<br>Malawi - 4,348 316 (4,664) -<br>Mozambique - 128 4 (132) -<br>South Sudan - 257 - (257) -<br>Syria 521 6 - (125) 402<br>Yemen - 2 - (2) -<br>Zambia - 2,577 240 (2,817) -<br>Zimbabwe - - 61 (61) -<br>Pilot Projects 1,000 - - (85) 915<br>Southern Africa Appeal  - 621 (621) - -<br>TOTAL 2,501 10,587 (11,771) 1,317<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The restricted funds above represent the geographical locations and purpose to which funds are restricted, based on donors’ wishes. Restricted funds are used at the earliest opportunity. 

71 



## **22. RESTRICTED FUNDS (CONTINUED)** 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
AT<br>AT 31 DECEMBER<br>1 JANUARY INCOME  EXPENDITURE<br>GROUP AND CHARITY 2024<br>2024  £'000 £'000<br>£'000<br>£'000<br>Benin - 75 (75) -<br>Ecuador - 7 (7) -<br>Ethiopia 384 3,139 (2,543) 980<br>Haiti - 189 (189) -<br>India - 217 (217) -<br>Kenya - 716 (716) -<br>Lebanon - 3 (3) -<br>Liberia - 1,975 (1,975) -<br>Madagascar - 295 (295) -<br>Malawi - 3,745 (3,745) -<br>Mozambique - 84 (84) -<br>Romania Houses - 13 (13) -<br>South Sudan - 362 (362) -<br>Syria 538 22 (39) 521<br>Yemen - 42 (42) -<br>Zambia - 1,692 (1,692) -<br>Zimbabwe - 54 (54) -<br>-<br>Pilot Projects 1,190 (190) 1,000<br>TOTAL 2,112 12,630 (12,241) 2,501<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **23. CONTINGENT LIABILITY** 

In the ordinary course of its operations, the group and charity are subject to a small number of legal claims in respect of operational and employment matters in the countries we operate in. The impact of resolving these claims cannot be reliably quantified, but the trustees are of the opinion that it would be unlikely to have a material impact on the group and charity’s financial position. 

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## **24. GROUP STRUCTURE** 

The charity consists of MMI, a UK-registered charitable company, including its branch in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The group comprises the charity plus its charitable subsidiaries Scottish International Relief Malawi, Mary’s Meals Zambia, Mary’s Meals Liberia and Mary’s Meals Kenya. 

Details of the subsidiaries are included below. 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
SCOTTISH<br>MARY’S MEALS  MARY’S MEALS MARY’S MEALS<br>INTERNATIONAL<br>KENYA LIBERIA ZAMBIA<br>RELIEF MALAWI<br>Company number OP.218/051/15-<br>051499549 122443<br>082/12376<br>Charity registration number NGO/R/07/18<br>Registered office Blantyre East<br>Mary’s Meals  169 Salim Armour<br>Nawoitorong  Liberia Road Ginnery  Base Office Park<br>Road, Nawoi  Plot 35184<br>Tubmanburg Corner<br>Court, Lodwar,  Alick Nkhata Avenue<br>Bomi County Blantyre, Malawi<br>Turkana County,  PO Box 50794<br>Liberia PO Box E386 Post<br>Kenya Lusaka, Zambia<br>Dot Net<br>Assets £25k £622k £2,062k £482k<br>Liabilities £15k £274k £636k £105k<br>Net assets £10k £348k £1,426k £377k<br>Income for the year £2,338k £4,325k £14,974k £10,756k<br>Expenditure for the year £2,252k £4,513k £13,426k £10,723k<br>Surplus/(deficit) for the year £86k (£188k) £1,548k £33k<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## **25. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS** 

During the year, MMI transferred Scottish International Relief Malawi £14,167k (2024: £8,232k) to enable their operations. Scottish International Relief Malawi is a subsidiary of MMI. 

During the year MMI transferred Mary’s Meals Zambia £10,759k (2024: £7,591k) to enable their operations. Mary’s Meals Zambia is a subsidiary of MMI. 

During the year MMI transferred Mary’s Meals Liberia £4,226k (2024: £5,190k) to enable their operations. Mary’s Meals Liberia is a subsidiary of MMI. 

During the year MMI transferred Mary’s Meals Kenya £2,401k (2024: £1,436k) to enable their operations. Mary’s Meals Kenya is a subsidiary of MMI. 

## **26. COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE** 

MMI is a company limited by guarantee and accordingly does not have any share capital. 

All 36 members of the company have undertaken to contribute such amount as may be required not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of its being wound up while he or she is a member, or within one year after he or she ceases to be a member. 

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Namingweie Primary School, Malawi. 2025

**Mary’s Meals International Organisation** Craig lodge, Dalmally, Argyll, Scotland, PA33 1AR Charity number: SC045223 Company number: SC488380