As a charity inspired by Buddhist values, we place great importance on showing our true fundraising costs and exactly how precious funds are used.

Individual supporters contributed £1,914,049 from the UK and £72,505 from Germany.

In the face of continuing COVID-19 restrictions, our supporter recruitment team introduced innovative ways to fundraise. This included a 6-week door-to-door fundraising campaign where our volunteer fundraisers received virtual training online. The 6 volunteers then fundraised door-to-door in their immediate localities.

Our Regional Fundraisers also continued door-to-door fundraising whenever COVID-19 restrictions permitted. We also ran three virtual telephone appeals, where our volunteer fundraisers called supporters from their own homes. The appeals maintained a focus on our Coronavirus Campaign, as a second wave of COVID-19 hit India and Nepal in April 2021.

We received £89,402 in legacy gifts. We appreciate deeply that Karuna is considered for gifts left in wills, no matter how small; they make a significant impact on our work.

Income from grant giving trusts and institutions was £796,174. We are very grateful to our trust and institutional partners, with whom we work closely, for their ongoing support of our work in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

We committed £2,028,199 in programme delivery, an increase of £259,130 year-on-year. Of this, direct grants to partners in India, Nepal and Bangladesh totalled £1,619,727 for the year.

We invested £395,417 in direct fundraising and a further £268,248 in administrative support costs (including IT, financial processing and communications). Our direct fundraising costs this year were 14% and administrative support costs were 10% of expenditure respectively. This was a tremendous achievement in what continues to be a challenging and unpredictable period.

Governance costs for the year were £86,265, an increase year-on-year due mainly to legal expenditure related to the founding of Karuna USA. These were one-off costs.

We added £124,411 to our combined reserves, a crucial resource that enables us to respond quickly and effectively to the needs of our beneficiaries.