Help the Orphans

The middleman problem

When you give to a big charity, where does your pound actually go?

Not all of it reaches the cause. It can't — because the machine has to be paid first. None of this is fraud. It's just how large-scale charity works. We built the opposite.

£1 in £4

spent before a project sees it

In the year to July 2024, Comic Relief spent £46.2m — and £11.5m of that went on raising funds, not the cause. The charities it then grants to take their own running costs on top.

Source: Charity Commission register (Charity Projects, 326568)

£136

paid per street sign-up

A BBC investigation found charities pay agencies £100+ for each direct debit signed on the street. British Heart Foundation confirmed £136; Cancer Research UK around £112 per donor.

Source: BBC Newsnight investigation

Year 1

often goes to the agency

For many street and doorstep sign-ups, your entire first year of donations covers the fundraiser's fee — before a penny of yours reaches the people it was meant for.

Source: BBC Newsnight investigation

Salaries. Offices. Marketing. Management. Fundraisers on commission. For a big charity, all of it is necessary — and all of it is paid before the cause sees the money. We took every one of those costs out.

The model

The shortest possible distance between your pound and a fed child.

There's no organisation to fund. Just you, a man who takes nothing for it, and a home full of children who need feeding.

You give

Monthly or one-off, straight through Stripe. Cancel any time.

→

Martin passes it on

No wage, no expenses. He administers it personally and takes nothing.

→

The home receives it

Food, rent and bills — paid directly to the orphanage on the ground.

The usual charity

Directors on a salary
A management team and offices
Fundraisers paid per sign-up
A committee deciding who's "worthy"
Your pound, minus everyone's cut

Nobody drawing a wage
A domain and a Stripe account
A direct line to people feeding children
No gatekeepers — homes that need it, get it
Your pound, almost all of it, straight there

Where every pound goes

Honest about the few pence we can't avoid.

We won't insult you by claiming a clean 100% — that's never quite true for anyone. There's tax, and small statutory costs like company accounts and Companies House fees. Everything else — every other pound — goes straight to the homes. No salaries hidden in there. No "administration" line covering someone's car.

Children and caregivers holding a sign: thank you Mr Martin for your support at our orphanage — rent, bills, food and other needs — The home's own words — what your money covers.

Straight to the homes~97p

Tax & statutory admin (accounts, Companies House)~3p

Salaries, board, fundraisers, offices0p

Illustrative split of every £1. Exact figures published openly on the Transparency page.

Who you're feeding

A war chest for children — starting with Orient Children's Home, Uganda.

We support Orient Children's Home directly today — paying rent, bills and food. But we're not married to one place. As support grows, so does the reach: homes like Orient, wherever children need feeding.

▶ Turn the sound on — the children at Orient Home, in their own words. This is what your support pays for.

A caregiver and a large group of children at Orient Children's Home holding a thank-you sign — Orient Children's Home, Uganda

Children at the home with sacks of maize flour and beans delivered as food — Food delivered — maize, beans, sugar

Young children at the home sitting with a sack of food — Every delivery, photographed

Why I started this — Martin Howard

I thought it was a scam. I'm glad I was wrong.

A few years back, a stranger messaged me out of the blue asking for money for an orphanage in Uganda. Every instinct I had said the same word: scam. You don't wire money to someone you've never met on the strength of a message. I nearly ignored it completely.

But he didn't go away. He kept messaging — patient, never pushy — and he kept sending things. Photos. Names. The home itself. Eventually I thought, right, let's test it. I sent £100, fully expecting that to be the last I'd ever hear of him.

Instead I got back a flood of photos and videos: children with actual food in front of them, singing, dancing, holding up handmade signs. Not a slick charity package — real kids, genuinely better off because of a hundred quid. I'd been talking to a decent, genuine man doing real good, and I'd very nearly written him off on a lazy assumption.

So I gave again. And again. And the proof came back every single time.

Children at the home with food, holding a thank-you sign during lockdown — One of the first sets of photos that came back — the children, fed, during lockdown.

That's the whole reason this exists. I got proof with every pound — so I built a way for other people to give exactly like that, with the same proof, and without the overhead that normally sits between a donor and a child.

Who's actually asking for your money

Martin Howard
I administer every pound of this personally — and take nothing for it.

Fair question — and a more important one when this isn't a registered charity. So, plainly: I'm Martin Howard, a UK property developer. I built a property group worth around £13.7m starting from nothing — a council estate, a redundancy and a spell packing cheese in a Somerset factory are all in my past. I'm not anonymous, I'm not hard to find, and I have a reputation I'm not about to torch over someone's tenner.

I administer every pound of this personally and take nothing — no salary, no expenses. And it's kept completely separate from my business: no products here, no pitches, no investment talk. If you want to know exactly who I am, my track record is public.

£13.7mProperty portfolio built from zero

£0Ever taken from this

Since 2021Quietly backing Orient Home

See Martin's professional background on LinkedIn

Give

Build the war chest. £10 a month keeps a child fed.

Monthly is what changes things — it lets the home plan, not just survive the week. Pick a level, or give once. Every pound is tracked and shown back to you.

£10/mo

A week of meals for a child, every month.

Give £10/month

Most impact

£25/mo

Food on the table for several children, month after month.

Give £25/month

£50/mo

Helps keep the rent and bills paid so the home stays open.

Give £50/month

Not ready to commit monthly?

Do exactly what Martin did the first time: give once, watch the proof come back, decide later. Any amount.

Make a one-off gift

From the Ground

See where it goes — before you give a penny.

Get the exact thing that won Martin over: photos, videos and short notes straight from the homes. No spam, no pestering — just proof, every time food lands. Hand over an email, watch for a while, and give when you're ready.

Your pound. Straight to the children. Nothing skimmed on the way.