Despite being a relatively small charity, with an average annual income of £40,000, the Red Rubber Ball Foundation takes governance very seriously.
In broad terms this means that we are transparent, accountable and comply with the law.
We are a company limited by guarantee under UK Companies House which means we comply with government mandated reporting requirements and our accounts are freely available. You can also get a copy of these accounts from us direct, at no cost to you.
It also means that our accounts undergo an annual Independent Examination, so they are verified by a licenced accountancy firm. I’m delighted to say that our accounts have always been assessed as ‘true and fair’ and the accountants have not had cause for concern.
And we are also registered with the UK Charity Commission. They too review our accounts and other filed information and will investigate any charity that is reported to them. Every week we receive an update from the Charity Commission, listing organisations that are under investigation and this serves as a useful tool to highlight areas that we must comply with, like the way we use donated funds, avoiding conflicts of interest, policies or procedures.
So how do we ensure that your money is safe and only used for the purpose intended?
Our biggest expense is in the annual school fees for children receiving a scholarship. In 2025 that amounted to £31,059, providing schooling to 110 children. These funds are only paid out to the schools directly, to their bank account set out on the official school fee letter, and in keeping with the Kenyan Ministry of Education guidelines of fees to be charged.
This means that we know the funds go to the right place.
Since we began, we have provided around 1,400 years of schooling, meaning that we have sent over 1,000 separate payments. We’ve never had one go astray. Occasionally a school will send a child home, claiming that the school fees were not received. However, we’ve always been able to ask the local bank to check, and the funds have always been in the school account all along. Sometimes they just don’t look closely enough!
And we then ask each student to send in their school report each term. This helps us know how well they are doing and allows us to update their sponsor. And it also confirms that the child is actually in school.
Some sponsors pay monthly, some pay annually, and some choose to pay the whole three or four years in one lump sum. In these cases, the funds that relate to future years are transferred to a savings account and placed in ‘restricted funds’. This means that we can’t use this money for any other reason – it is there safely for the future when it’s needed to pay the school fees.
Responsibility
Choice and responsibility is central to what RRBF stands for – take responsibility for yourself and your actions. It’s something we teach our sponsored students at the periodic workshops. Not only does this maintain good governance in the charity – but it is a healthy attitude for everyone.
Its part of our Anything is Possible mantra. If things are going well – recognise your achievement, be grateful for what you have. And if things are not going the way you want – do something about it. Take action. Don’t blame others. Don’t bemoan your bad luck. Do something to improve your chances.
We have a UK Board of four people who have diverse backgrounds in charity, business, finance and marketing. Our responsibility is to ensure that the charity is clear about what we are trying to achieve (our purpose and strategy), how we will do it (plans, policies and working practices), and then make sure we do what we say we are going to do (reporting and Board meetings). None of our Trustees receive any financial benefit from the charity, but contribute a significant amount of time and commitment.
And we chose to set up a Kenya Board (called RRB Kenya, which is a company limited by guarantee in Kenya) which provides advice to the RRBF Board. This is partly to ensure that we are doing the right things and in keeping with Kenyan culture and laws, and to help us continue to support those who have left school.
Just because a student has completed their scholarship and finished their time at secondary school, they are still part of the RRB Family.
We are not responsible for their lives (they have a responsibility for what they want and what they achieve), but we can look out for them and maybe help connect them with other people that we know.
Change and focus
Over the years we have changed tack slightly, for example, we supported a football project for a while in the early days. But we ended that support, as we did with our community farm, in order to focus our efforts on education programmes – and mainly our secondary school scholarships.
And we listen to our sponsored students. We are often asked if we provide funds for university or college. We don’t. This is simply because we have limited funds and our students themselves have always said that secondary school is the most important period of their life. If they complete secondary school, they are better placed in life (even if they can’t go on to university or college). But without completing secondary school, they will really struggle. We can’t do everything for everyone. So that’s our focus.
We set aside a small budget each year to support students once they have completed school, and we have set up three cycling clubs which enhance the curriculum in these schools. Cycling clubs are funded exclusively from cycling related fundraising, like the sale of cycling clothing and our bike rides in Kenya.
Benefit
Perhaps the most important thing is ensuring that what we are doing is actually benefiting the children we are seeking to help. So far 300 children have completed secondary school thanks to a RRBF scholarship, something they were unlikely to have done otherwise. And with 104 sponsored children in school this year, that’s 404 children who have benefited directly.
Of those who have completed school already, 80% have gone on to university or college to further their education.
And we remain in contact with as many students as possible after they leave school. Since the start of 2025, we have been in contact with 75% of these, tracking their progress into work, setting up businesses, starting families. All will be invited to our first Alumni Conference in December 2026 where we will continue to support their learning.
When a child is given a RRBF scholarship, we do not set targets or expectations. The one thing we ask is that the ‘Pay it Forward’. That way the benefit they receive from our scholarship will be passed on to others in their community. We have already seen many, many examples of this, so know that the impact of a scholarship goes well beyond the young child who receives it.
We’re sure that your money is being well spent.
Thank you.