Our finances

At Book Aid International all the income we receive is from voluntary donations – we receive no government grants.

We are supported by thousands of individuals, companies and trusts, which donate the funds that we need to reach readers around the world.

Below is a summary of our 2024 income and expenditure. You can view our full audited 2024 accounts here.

Total income

In 2024 our total income was £22,104,261, of which £2,796,559 was cash and £19,307,702 was the value of the books donated to us by UK publishers.

Of the 2024 cash income, £2,461,553 was unrestricted. This is a significant increase from £1,758,426 in 2023, reflecting generous legacy donations totalling £230,730 and a change in how we account for a major grant from the People’s Postcode Lottery of £700,000, which with effect from 2024 we now treat as unrestricted funds.

We received restricted income of £335,006 in 2024, compared to £1,567,456 in 2023. Of the 2023 total, £500,000 was a one-off donation to support the relocation of our distribution operations.

Total expenditure

Our total expenditure in 2024 was £20,875,744, including £2,652,423 of cash expenditure (compared to £2,457,936 in 2023) and £18,223,321 which represents the value of books distributed worldwide. The rise in cash expenditure is primarily due to additional consultancy and resource costs related to the sale of our warehouse and costs related to the acquisition of a new distribution centre.

Our unrestricted expenditure in 2024 was £2,300,287, a significant increase from the £1,316,343 in unrestricted expenditure in 2023. The increase is largely due to a change in treatment of the £700,000 grant from the People’s Postcode lottery, which was all classified as unrestricted expenditure in 2024.

Conversely, restricted expenditure in 2024 amounted to £352,136, a decrease of £789,457 from £1,141,593 in 2023, reflecting the reallocation of the People’s Postcode Lottery grant, as noted above.

The value of donated books

In 2024, the books that publishers donated to us had a discounted value of £19,307,702, which was similar to 2023’s values.

We value our books based on Nielsen Bookscan prices and we apply an overall 30% discount from the full Recommended Retail Price to allow for the estimated market discount for third party commercial buyers.

Because publishers donate books to us free of charge, and it costs us around £2 to receive, store, select and send a book worth an average of £13.38. That average is calculated using the value of books received over the past five years, as in the table below.

How we control our costs

Our costs are closely managed by our Board of Trustees, to whom we submit financial reports every quarter. We also have two Board committees who take responsibility for our finances.  The Finance and Audit Committee is responsible for ensuring our finances are legally compliant and in line with the policies set by the Board. The Remuneration Committee is responsible for salary setting and other HR matters. You can find out more about our Board of Trustees and how it governs our activities here.

We aim to be as financially efficient as possible in all our activities. We have no overseas offices and we work through partnerships to deliver our work. We have a committed team of volunteers whose contribution we estimate as equivalent to two full-time members of staff.

Our Reserves Policy

We maintain sufficient unrestricted cash reserves to ensure that we can deliver our planned commitments in the event of unforeseen financial challenges. The minimum level of reserves we must hold is agreed by our Board of Trustees and monitored regularly.

In 2024, the minimum level of free reserves was set at £500k by the Board. We ended 2024 with £593,940 in free reserves, with better than anticipated funding results in 2024 due in part to increased legacy receipts and pledges.

Our supporter promise

We couldn’t do the work we do without the support of all our generous donors. We appreciate their support and we promise to use their money responsibly and in accordance with our charitable objectives. That is why we have published our Supporter Promise.