Which Charity Should I Support? Donate to Children on the Edge and Make a Difference

Are you looking to support a charity? Do you want to find a great charity to donate to where your money makes a big difference?

Support Children on the Edge and help children living in some of the toughest situations around the world. 

Children on the Edge is  UK child rights charity based in Chichester, West Sussex. For over 30 years, we have worked hand-in-hand with communities to support some of the world’s most marginalised children, in some of the toughest situations. 

As a small charity, that has a big impact, your money will help to transform lives.

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WHAT WE DO

We currently work with more than 20,000 children in Bangladesh, India, Uganda, Myanmar, and Lebanon. 

This includes providing award winning education for over 17,000 refugee children living in Bangladesh, Lebanon, Myanmar and Uganda.

We also support Community Schools, Preschools and Learning Centres in Bangladesh, India and Uganda, which offer vital education to over 3,000 children living in slum communities. 

Why Support Us Over Another Charity?

Children on the Edge has a unique approach, which we are proud of. We tailor solutions based on the specific needs of each community we work with. This includes creating play and educational opportunities, nurturing  positive parenting and early childhood development, and presenting an array of community transformation initiatives.

Through our work, we enable children to realise their rights and thrive. We ensure that all children can learn, grow and play in safe, colourful spaces; whether that is in preschool classrooms, learning centres, school buildings, or out in the communities where they live. 

Our work transforms communities and ensures that children are able to flourish. Your support can help children grow in confidence and develop hope for the future. ​

Our Story

Together with our CEO Rachel Bentley, the late Dame Anita Roddick sparked the beginnings of Children on the Edge in 1990, in response to the Romanian Orphanage Crisis.  

After witnessing the appalling conditions in Romanian orphanages first hand, Dame Anita Roddick mobilised her company, The Body Shop International, to help. 

Over 30 years later, the “edge” takes us into refugee camps, slums, and warzones where we support Rohingya, Congolese, and Syrian refugee children, and those facing internal displacement, class discrimination, poverty, and exploitation.

The early days in Romania

Our Vision

We envision a world in which every child thrives, regardless of geography, ethnicity, gender or class, and currently work with more than 20,000 children in Bangladesh, India, Uganda, Myanmar, and Lebanon. 

Our mission is to create conditions in which every marginalised child can flourish and thrive no matter where they live and irrespective of the challenging circumstances they face.

We place children at the heart of everything we do by working hand-in-hand with local ​communities ​to restore hope, dignity, and justice; and to actively involve everyone in creating transformation.

Our Work

By working alongside communities, we design award-winning programs tailored to their specific needs and circumstances using our 30 years of experience.

This has enabled us to transform the lives of children facing some of the most challenging circumstances, by co-creating protective, nurturing environments in which they can safely live, play, learn, and grow.

The geography and circumstances may be different tomorrow, but we’re always ready to go — by invitation only— into marginalised communities where children are affected by poverty, displacement, conflict, and persecution. By creating protective environments that generate hope, life, colour and fun, we enable children to realise their rights. 

Our Impact

Through our work, we enable children to realise their rights and thrive. In every place that we work, we ensure that all children can learn, grow and play in safe, colourful spaces; whether that is in preschool classrooms, learning centres, school buildings, or out in the communities where they live. 

Our work transforms communities and ensures that children are able to flourish. We watch children grow in confidence and develop hope for the future. We see parents develop positive and healthy relationships with their children. We watch communities transform, becoming cleaner and safer. We see communities advocate for their rights and work together to support each other. 

Read about our impact in our latest Annual Report >>

Syrian refugee students in their classroom in Lebanon

Our Approach

Our approach is holistic, multi-layered, and guided by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) so that we are able to do the following:

• Place children centre stage by encouraging them to know their worth, understand their rights, and be active agents in shaping their own futures.

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• It is essential to build protection into a child’s surroundings. That’s why we work closely with those who impact children the most: the family, teachers, local community leaders, and the greater society. Building this protective environment throughout each interconnected layer —from the family and classroom, to community and national level—ensures that children are not only physically safer, but have the freedom to develop and thrive.

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• We engage with and actively involve the entire community to jointly create safe spaces full of hope, life, colour, and fun.

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• Most importantly, our decades of experience have taught us that no one size fits all. We tailor solutions based on the specific needs of each community we work with. This includes nurturing positive parenting and early childhood development, creating play and educational opportunities, and presenting an array of community transformation initiatives.​

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• Our programmes receive international recognition, and have been selected for global innovation awards.

• Finally, we stay as long as it takes; until the community feels empowered and equipped enough to go it alone.

Your support makes a huge difference

Children on the Edge rely entirely on donations from our amazing community of supporters to fund our vital work that supports over 20,000 children around the world.  

We’re a small child rights organisation with a big reach and we are so grateful for every penny that we receive.  We are committed to spending it where the need is greatest.  

On average, for every pound that is spent on Children on the Edge, 86p goes towards our programmes, and the rest covers our fundraising costs to bring in a sustainable, steady stream of income to keep them running smoothly, along with all our UK office overheads.  

You can be assured that your donation goes a long way to make a difference.

Your support transforms lives. 

If you'd like to learn more about our work, you can read more about what we do here >>