The Michael Varah Memorial Fund

Analysis

The Michael Varah Memorial Fund is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Surrey. It was registered in September 2007, 19 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, education/training, the prevention or relief of poverty and accommodation/housing, which this site groups under poverty relief. Legally it is a charitable trust. It says it makes grants to individuals, makes grants to organisations and provides advocacy/advice/information.

In the financial year ending March 2025, The Michael Varah Memorial Fund reported income of £24k and spending of £26k, spending 108% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from March 2021 to March 2025, income grew from £17k to £24k (+40%), an average of +8.7% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to March 2022, when income rose by 47%. Over the whole period it spent 121% of the income it received.

Among 15,276 England and Wales charities whose main cause is poverty relief and that reported income, The Michael Varah Memorial Fund sits at the 45th percentile: it is larger than about 45% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 48th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include The Bengali Education Centre (£24k), Himalayan Literacy and Education Support Fund (£24k) and The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Testimony Assembly, Birmingham (£24k).

Data notes from the register: Spending has exceeded income in each of the last three reported years, so the charity has been drawing on reserves or other funds.