2008 income (left) and where this money was spent (right)

How Merlin spends its money

On average, 96 pence of every £1 Merlin spends goes towards our programmes work. The remaining four pence is spent on generating more income and supporting governance costs.

In 2008, we spent £38.9 million on activities in 16 countries throughout the world. The largest amounts were in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Myanmar and Afghanistan.

More details can be found in our latest annual report.

How Merlin is funded

Merlin's funding is three-fold:

The majority of funding comes from institutional donors. For Merlin, these include the UK's Department for International Development, the United States Agency for International Development and the European Commission.

A small but increasing percentage is voluntary income - donations from members of the public and private grant-making trusts and foundations.

As a member of the Disasters and Emergency Committee, which coordinates fundraising appeals for major disasters overseas, we receive an allocation of the total amounts raised.

In 2009 and beyond, Merlin hopes to raise more funds from members of the public, trusts, foundations and corporate partners.

This will provide greater stability and freedom to increase our reach and effectiveness and to direct our funds to where the needs are greatest.

 See what a difference your donation can make

There is a small chance we may exceed our fundraising target for a project. In this case your donation will be used wherever the need is greatest.