--- title: "Plan International UK vs World Vision UK: Key Differences" description: "Plan International UK vs World Vision UK compared: girls’ rights and child sponsorship vs a Christian child-focused partnership, with 2025 reports and scores." source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare/plan-international-uk-vs-world-vision-uk retrieved: 2026-10-23T14:58:07.047Z date_note: "Retrieval time is not the filing, register-extract or editorial-review date; cite those dates from the content." license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0" --- [PI](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/plan-international-uk) [PLAN INTERNATIONAL UK](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/plan-international-uk) 76/100 4★ Reg. 276035 compared with [WV](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/world-vision-uk) [WORLD VISION UK](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/world-vision-uk) 73/100 3★ Reg. 285908 # Plan International UK vs World Vision UK **In short:** Both raise UK money, including through child sponsorship, for programmes their global families deliver. Plan International UK has no religious affiliation and focuses on children’s rights and equality for girls; World Vision UK is a Christian children’s charity. Last reviewed 23 October 2026 by CharityCompare editorial. Both rely on their wider federations to deliver programmes: Plan International’s Country Offices and World Vision Partnership field offices. Plan International UK states it has no religious affiliation; World Vision UK says Christian faith inspires work with children of all faiths and none. Their reach totals use different scopes, and their financial years end in June and September 2025 respectively. ## Plan International UK vs World Vision UK: key differences | What to compare | PLAN INTERNATIONAL UK | WORLD VISION UK | | --- | --- | --- | | Registered work and operating model | Children’s rights and equality for girls, through programmes run by Plan International Country Offices. | Christian child-focused development, emergency relief and advocacy, through World Vision Partnership field offices. | | What to consider | Its reach figures cover whole projects that it part-funds, so they are not Plan International UK’s attributable share. It has also decided to phase out programmes with and for girls in the UK. | Its report gives both its own reach and much larger World Vision Partnership totals; compare only the World Vision UK figures. It is autonomous but follows partnership-wide policies under a Covenant of Partnership. | | Access and practical checks | Child sponsorship is one way to give: over 54,300 UK sponsors supported nearly 58,000 children in 2024/25. The charity says all children in sponsored communities benefit, whether or not they have a sponsor. | Child sponsorship is its committed-giving scheme. The 2025 report gives 47,032 at year end but calls it sponsors in one place and sponsored children in another, so ask what a monthly gift funds before committing. | | Sourced result or evidence gap | 1.18 million: People directly supported by programmes, 65% of them girls and women. Year to 30 June 2025, 54 projects in 45 countries. A charity-reported output for whole projects that Plan International UK helped fund; other Plan members and partners funded many of them too. | Over 3.3 million: People reached directly, 1.8 million of them children. Year to 30 September 2025, 184 projects in 35 countries. A charity-reported output; the report notes many people benefited from more than one type of help and does not say whether totals are whole-project or attributed to World Vision UK funding. | ## What the latest filings show Figures from the accounts held in our dated dataset; the live register may contain newer filings. Ratios can span multiple years, as labelled. Clarity scores use our [methodology](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/methodology). Cost to raise £1 of donations is not part of the score; legacies make it lumpy, and it is withheld where trading costs would distort it ([how it works](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/methodology#cost-to-raise)). | Metric | PLAN INTERNATIONAL UK | WORLD VISION UK | | --- | --- | --- | | Latest accounts year in our snapshot | 2025 | 2025 | | Financial snapshot refreshed | 2026-09-06 | 2026-09-06 | | Ratio reporting window | 3-yr avg | 3-yr avg | | Overall score | 76/100 (4★) | 73/100 (3★) | | Accountability & Finance | 100/100 | 100/100 | | Spend on charitable activities | 86% of expenditure | 82% of expenditure | | Fundraising efficiency | £7.5 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | £5.4 total income per £1 fundraising (2023–2025, disclosed years) | | Cost to raise £1 of donations | Not shown for 2025: trading income was 24% of donations | 33p per £1 (2025) · 31p over 2023–2025 | | Latest income | £62m | £66m | | Fundraising spend | 13% of expenditure | 18% of expenditure | | Reserves | 3 months | 2 months | | Accounts filing | On time | On time | | Data confidence | high | high | | Charity number | 276035 | 285908 | [PLAN INTERNATIONAL UK on the register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=276035&subId=0) · [WORLD VISION UK on the register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=285908&subId=0) ## Considering Plan International UK - You want to fund children’s rights with a focus on girls and women, through a charity that states no religious, political or government affiliation. - You want to sponsor a child knowing the support is shared across the community. [Full profile →](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/plan-international-uk) ## Considering World Vision UK - You want a Christian charity that funds child-focused development and emergency response for children of all faiths and none. - You are comfortable that World Vision Partnership field offices, not UK staff, implement the programmes. [Full profile →](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/charity/world-vision-uk) ## Plan International UK vs World Vision UK: questions answered ### Plan International UK or World Vision UK: which should I support? There is no universal winner. Both fund overseas programmes run by their wider federations and both offer child sponsorship; Plan International UK centres on children’s rights and equality for girls, without religious affiliation, while World Vision UK is a Christian children’s charity. Check the programme, the accounts period and how reach is counted. A financial rating is not an impact assessment. ### Is World Vision UK a Christian charity, and does it help only Christians? World Vision UK describes itself on the register as an international Christian children’s charity. Its 2025 report says it is inspired by Christian faith and works alongside children of all faiths and none. Plan International UK states it has no religious, political or government affiliation. ### How does child sponsorship compare? Both offer it. Plan International UK reports over 54,300 UK sponsors supporting nearly 58,000 children in the year to June 2025. World Vision UK reports 47,032 at 30 September 2025, labelled as sponsors in one part of its report and as sponsored children in another. Ask each charity what a monthly gift pays for. 100 How we score charities + The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically. [Full methodology →](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/methodology) Accountability & Transparency Scored from filings 40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10). Financial Health Scored from filings 30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises). Financial Efficiency Scored from filings 20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below). Community Support Scored from filings 10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio. Overall score Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated. [Compare these charities side-by-side](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/compare-charities?ids=plan-international-uk,world-vision-uk) [Back to compare](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/compare-charities) **Information only** — not donation advice. We do not tell you where to give. Sources: [Plan International UK: Registered activities, identity and accounts](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=276035&subId=0), [Plan International UK: Trustees’ Annual Report 2025 (year to 30 June 2025)](https://plan-uk.org/sites/default/files/2025-11/Plan%20International%20UK%20TAR%202025.pdf), [World Vision UK: Registered activities, identity and accounts](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=285908&subId=0), [World Vision UK: Trustees’ report and accounts (year to 30 September 2025)](https://www.worldvision.org.uk/media/wq1dirl1/annual-report_25_10.pdf). See also [how we score](https://charitycompare.pages.dev/compare-charities#how-we-score).