Starfish Greathearts Foundation

Registered charity 1093862 · since 2002starfish-greathearts.org·South Africa·Updated 31 October 2026

At a glance

£226k

Annual giving, year to 31 March 2025

From filed accounts

Invitation only

Unsolicited applications are not accepted

This funder does not accept unsolicited applications. Don't spend time on an approach; the similar funders below support the same kind of work.

Key takeaways

This funder does not accept unsolicited requests.
Funding requests must come from Starfish South Africa or one of its partner community-based organisations, so if your charity is not already in that network, the realistic first step is to ask Starfish South Africa whether your work could fit, not to send a cold application.
Its themes are nutrition, education, healthcare, social welfare and child protection for orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa, and it does not fund children outside South Africa, so a project must serve children there to be considered.
Any partner must have adequate auditing and reporting compliance, and the UK trustees judge requests against their programme objectives and funding criteria.
The grant range is not stated, so avoid building your request around an assumed size.

Overview

Starfish Greathearts Foundation is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1093862).

Starfish Greathearts Foundation is a charity registered in England and Wales (charity number 1093862) that exists to change the lives of orphaned or vulnerable children in communities affected by HIV and/or poverty in South Africa. It works in partnership with community-based organisations, strengthening their capacity to provide quality care with a focus on health, wellbeing, education and child protection. All available funds raised in the UK are remitted to Starfish South Africa or directly to partner community-based organisations, and its annual giving is £225,798 according to the annual report.

What they fund

Priority Areas

Starfish Greathearts Foundation supports orphaned and vulnerable children in South African communities affected by HIV and/or poverty. It works in partnership with community-based organisations, strengthening their capacity to provide quality care with a holistic focus on health, wellbeing, education and child protection. Its public description groups this work into nutrition, education, healthcare and social welfare, including early childhood development, mobile primary health services, meals and social-work support. Funding raised in the UK is remitted to Starfish South Africa or directly to partner CBOs. Trustees consider requests against programme objectives and funding criteria, with partner compliance in auditing and reporting also relevant. Starfish South Africa mainly identifies, manages, monitors and evaluates supported projects.

Themes

Nutrition
Education
Healthcare
Social welfare
Child protection

Geographic Focus

South Africa.

What they don't fund

Children outside South Africa

How to apply

Funding requests come from Starfish South Africa or a partner CBO. The UK trustees approve requests against set funding criteria and take the project partner’s auditing and reporting compliance into account.

Who can apply:

A request must come from Starfish SA or a partner CBO.
The project partner must have adequate auditing and reporting compliance.

Application success factors

What the charity says:

The trustees determine grants in line with the organisation’s key programme objectives.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

South Africa

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Starfish Greathearts Foundation.

The Donald Gordon Third FoundationNo public processGave £8.5M Surfers Not Street ChildrenNo public processGave £171k Make A Difference Leadership FoundationNo public processGave £210k The FACET FoundationNo public processGave £1.1M The Donald Gordon Second FoundationRollingGave £1.6M Friends of BaphumeleleFixed deadlinesGave £252k This DayInvitation onlyGave £24.8M Impact TrustNo public processGave £73,932 The Sterry Family FoundationRollingGave £90,000 GC FoundationInvitation onlyGave £37,065

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 March 2021	£229,282	£206,276	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2021
year to 31 March 2022	£328,271	£201,707	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2022
year to 31 March 2023	£282,253	£212,119	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2023
year to 31 March 2024	£336,191	£253,781	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2024
year to 31 March 2025	£347,259	£322,230	£225,798	Accounts for year to 31 March 2025

Grants paid, year to 31 March 2025: the accounts do not say whether this is grants awarded or paid.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.