Overall Score: 7 based on 18 data points
Finance: 3
Governance: -1
Support: 5
Low unrestricted reserves: -2, Strong growth: +2, Fundraising costs low: +3,
only 4 Trustees: -1,
Supporters: +5

THE HUMAN MILK FOUNDATION 

Overview

The Human Milk Foundation support the provision of equitable access to screened donor milk in hospital neonatal units across the UK. They also provide much needed donor milk to disadvantaged families in communities, and conduct scientific studies to progress research in the area.

Founders, Dr Natalie Shenker and Gillian Weaver have been successful in raising awareness of donor milk necessity and their collaboration with partners is propelling advancements. Donor milk demand has increased significantly in recent years, which they have responded to well by consistently delivering more milk annually and expanding locations to supply.

Source: Giving is Great

Mission:

To support parents to feed their babies with human milk, supply information, education and training across the field, and fund groundbreaking scientific research projects
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • The charity has received backing from several prominent grant makers recently
  • There has been strong growth in spending over the last 5 years
  • There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
  • Fundraising costs are unusually low relative to funds raised

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • There are only 4 trustees
  • Over half the Board have joined recently

Financial issues to consider:

  • Unrestricted reserves appear to be dangerously low at the latest year end

How you can help

Established: 7 years

http://humanmilkfoundation.org

info@humanmilkfoundation.org

07732019040

Charity Commission for England and WalesTwitterFacebook
This Charity did not raise funds from the public in its latest financial period
UN SDGs
?


miles

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k		 Spending
£k		 Surplus/
Deficit		 Fundraising
Cost £k		 Total
Funds £k		 Unrestricted
Funds £k		 Mths
Rsrvs		 Staff Volun-
teers
31/03/23£522£555£-33£5£197£1292.81224
31/03/22£469£448£21n/an/an/an/an/a24
31/03/21£410£286£124n/an/an/an/an/a34
31/03/20£235£180£56n/an/an/an/an/a12
31/03/19£57£32£25n/an/an/an/an/a2
31/03/18£4£1£3n/an/an/an/an/a0
Show more rows -->

Download accounts
Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 0.9%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 0.9%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 14%
Highest pay band: £60,000-£70,000
Liabilities/Assets: 6%
Liabilities/Income: 2%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 66%
Reserves/Spending: 2.8 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 3 months
Quick Ratio: 6.1
Asset Split ?
Comment: All income from sales relates to the sale of donated breast milk to NHS Hospitals accounted for on an accruals basis. Such sales are not subject to VAT and account for just over 50% of income

Source: Giving is Great

What it does
  • Education/Training
  • General Charitable Purposes
  • Human Rights/Religious Or Racial Harmony/Equality Or Diversity
  • The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
The Human Milk Foundation provides screened donor milk to babies in hospital or the community, where breastfeeding is impossible or taking time to establish. The HMF also makes grants available for research and educational purposes, and develops programmes of education related to disseminating the science of human milk.
Who works here?
  • 12 employees
  • 24 volunteers
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • The General Public/Mankind
How it operates
  • Makes Grants to Organisations
  • Provides advocacy/advice/information
  • Provides buildings/facilities/open space
  • Provides other finance
  • Sponsors or undertakes research
Where it operates
  • Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Throughout England And Wales,

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
DCMS£51,100
The EQ Foundation£10,000
The Funding Network£8,466
The Childhood Trust£2,500
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months		 To be used for
Masonic Charitable Foundation
£1,000 11/08/2021
Unrestricted matched funding in partnership with the local masonic province
The Childhood Trust
£2,500 22/06/2021
Much like donated blood, donor human milk is life-saving for premature babies. The Human Milk Foundation supplies donor milk to hospital neonatal intensive care units and to mums at home with cancer ....more
The EQ Foundation
£10,000 15/06/2021
Unrestricted via TFN
DCMS
£51,100 27/11/2020
"The fund aims to:1) To reduce closures of essential charities that provide essential services to vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 crisis by ensuring they have the financial resources to ....more
The Funding Network
£8,466 05/12/2019
We currently turn down milk donations due to a lack of resources. This project would enable us to screen more of the women who want to donate their milk.

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How do they operate?

Hearts Milk Bank

Objectives: To provide screened donor milk to hospital neonatal units across the UK and facilitate new research

Location: Across the UK

Description: The Hearts Milk Bank is the UK’s first independent, non-profit human milk bank founded by Dr Natalie Shenker and Gillian Weaver of The Human Milk Foundation. Having both worked in the NHS for many years, they aim to bring a new approach to the provision of milk bank services that can break the cycle of disinvestment and rationing. The charity offers equity of access to assured supplies of screened donor human milk to hospitals and community-based clinicians for babies. As a centre of research, they work on wide-ranging new programmes of studies into milk banking and human milk

Education, Training and Resources

Objectives: To supply information, education and training across the fields of human milk

Location: Across the UK

Description: The Human Milk Foundation develops resources with partners that are freely available through their website. They also provide training to medical education groups in medical school programmes and to practising doctors, and their education resources are represented on the Unicef UK Baby Friendly Initiative Working Group for Medical Learning Outcomes

Research Programme

Objectives: To fund groundbreaking projects in human milk science

Location: Across the UK

Description: The Human Milk Foundation supports innovative research in the under-resourced area of public health. They were a partner in a successful bid to UKRI for research funding in the form of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship awarded to HMF cofounder Dr Natalie Shenker. Funds enabled the creation of a human milk biorepository for research into milk composition, with the HMB acting as the recruitment and co-ordination centre

Grants Programme

Objectives: To support research groups with grant funding who are working in key areas of the charity’s strategy

Location: Across the UK

Description: The Human Milk Foundation accept grant applications from research groups in the UK working in key areas of their charity’s research strategy. Grants are up to £12,000 and projects are peer reviewed then formally selected by their Research Committee. These include investigating the evidence for the use of donor milk and how that impacts on infant health, maternal physical and mental health, and breastfeeding rates; understanding the composition and variability of human milk within and across individuals and populations, and how donor milk may be used as a therapeutic tool; understanding the health economic, psychosocial

....more
How effective are they?
Main mission: To support parents to feed their babies with human milk, supply information, education and training across the field, and fund groundbreaking scientific research projects
Outputs
Outcomes
Y/EHospitals supported by the Heart Milk Bank to access donor milkMilk donors recruitedFamilies in the community supported with donor milkLitres of milk collected and heat-treated
31/03/2021383701712,977
31/03/202026300631,500
See what you could achieve with a donation of: £

Who works here?

  • DR NATALIE SHENKER
    Co-Founder and Director
Natalie is an Oxford-trained doctor and researcher, with interests in developmental biology and cancer risk. She cofounded the Hearts Milk Bank in 2016. In 2019 she was awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship at Imperial College London
  • GILLIAN WEAVER
    Co-Founder
Gillian has worked in milk banking and dietetics for over 30 years. She acts as a consultant for NGOs and governments globally, and is past President of the European Milk Bank Association
  • FLIC WEBSTER
    Director of Communications
Flic has over 13 years' experience in digital marketing. With a psychology degree, and having previously worked in the NHS, she has a particular passion for campaigns that make a positive difference to people’s lives and is producing creative for the HMF to change conversations about human milk
  • JO WATT
    Director of Lactation Services
Jo is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who leads the charity’s support services and works closely with all of the families who receive donor milk. She joined the charity after leaving the NHS where she worked for many years as a midwife and Infant Feeding Lead
  • NAOMI JOFFE
    Director of Technical Services
Naomi has been with the Hearts Milk Bank since the beginning and now manages the lab team which processes, pasteurises and packs all the donated milk. She previously worked in hospital pharmacy, and is a breastfeeding counsellor and post-natal doula
  • AMANDA GREEN
    Director of Implementation
Amanda is responsible for the day to day running of the milk bank, including coordinating our donor milk hubs and the logistics of donor milk coming into the milk bank and being distributed to hospitals and recipients. She also takes a keen interest in the science behind milk banking, having studied biochemistry and worked in science

How is it governed?

Trustees (4)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Gemma has lived experience of of HMF work having been a milk donor following the birth of her son. She is a Consultant Obstetrician with a special interest in maternal medicine at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, providing holistic care for women with diabetes and other medical conditions in pregnancy and beyond.....more
After spending 9 years as a primary school teacher and Deputy Head in inner London, Emma became a mother and realised how desperately breastfeeding support was needed by so many. She qualified as a Breastfeeding Counsellor with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers in 2007 and started volunteering on the Department of Health’s National....more
Tina is co-founder and director of TCR UK Solutions, implementing scalable systems and processes for life science companies. She has 25 years’ life science business experience and is an experienced charity trustee
Legal constitution
  • Charity registered in England & Wales on 11/04/2017, number: 1172522
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Conflicting interests
  • Financial reserves policy and procedures
  • Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
  • Internal risk management policy and procedures
  • Investment
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
  • Volunteer management
Main office

ROTHAMSTED RESEARCH
WEST COMMON
HARPENDEN
AL5 2JQ

Objectives

THE OBJECT[S] OF THE CIO ARE:(1) THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH OF MOTHERS AND INFANTS IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY THE PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND ADVICE IN ALL AREAS OF HUMAN MILK BANKING.(2) TO ADVANCE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN THE FIELD OF HEALTH IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN MILK WITH THE DISSEMINATION OF THE USEFUL RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH.

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase

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