Despite persistent economic headwinds impacting the charity sector, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) recorded its highest-ever income from legacies and fundraising in the financial year ending 31 March 2025.  

The charity generated £108.4m from legacies, while its other fundraising efforts raised £58.2m, a 22% increase on the previous year.  

The BHF credits “significant efforts in enhancing” its brand and marketing strategy with driving this growth.  

Acknowledging the difficult trading environment, store turnover declined by 2% to £233.2m, while like-for-like sales dropped 2% overall. However, the charity’s online sales grew 15% to £17m.  

Total income was £181m, while the charity spent £197.5m across research, health and support, and generating funds.

Key marketing priorities this year included continuing to grow its ‘This is Science’ brand activity and develop more content to help people better understand the charity’s mission.  

British Heart Foundation has been on a push to encourage more people to train in CPR and making defibrillators more accessible. More than 311,000 people completed its free RevivR training by 31 March.  

The charity’s partnerships have helped drive growth, including a national campaign with the Daily Express. BHF’s tie-up on the Omaze Million Pound House Draw raised £4.6m in funds, which will power The Circuit – the charity’s defibrillator network – for two years. 

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Meanwhile, content on British Heart Foundation’s website recorded 37 million views, a 15% jump on last year. The charity’s Heart Helpline offering grew “significantly”, reaching 30,000 people – a 20% increase. This was supported by targeted marketing, as well as new tools like its chatbot.  

February marked the charity’s dedicated ‘Heart Month’. Partners, including Sky Bet, AJ Bell Futures Foundation and Admiral Slots, helped BHF generate £1m across fundraising and retail, train 32,700 people in CPR during the month and garnered more than a 1,000 pieces of media coverage.  

One standout campaign last year was the charity’s ‘Stream of (un)consciousness’ work, which saw the charity partner with 14 popular Twitch gamers to encourage Gen Z to take part in its CPR training.  

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The campaign reached 714,620 viewers, with a subsequent survey finding 84% of viewers were ‘very likely’ to learn CPR through the RevivR training as a result.   

The campaign made it to the final two in Marketing Week’s 2024 Campaign of the Year, voted by readers.  

“In a world where volatility and uncertainty prevail, we are always humbled by the steadfast commitment of our researchers, supporters, volunteers and partners who power lifesaving progress every single day,” said Karen Frank, chair of the board of trustees, and CEO Dr Charmaine Griffiths.  

“We are clear about the scale of our task to give everyone a healthier heart for longer. But our BHF family has never been more determined to save and improve even more lives than it is today.”