FAQs
General
CBM transforms the lives of people with disability, their families and communities in the poorest places of the world. Working with local partners, we prevent disability and enable men, women and children to access healthcare and education, build sustainable livelihoods and play an active role in their community.
People living in poverty with disability are the world’s poorest people, so if we’re going to end poverty, we can’t ignore disability. Disability is very common in developing countries and 15% of the world’s entire population, or 1 billion people, live with a disability.
As part of the CBM Global Federation, CBM UK supports work in over 29 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
CBM stands for Christian Blind Mission. In 2007, we changed our name from 'Christian Blind Mission' to 'CBM' to reflect the fact that we work to change the lives of people with all kinds of disability, including deafness, clubfoot, cerebral palsy, cleft lip & palate and mental health not just blindness. Our Christian values remain at the heart of everything that we do.
No, CBM’s work is focussed on improving the quality of life of people with and at risk of disabilities across the world's poorest communities.
Yes, CBM was founded on Christian values and we keep Christ’s teachings at the heart of everything that we do. Valuing and accepting each person as Jesus values and accepts them, CBM seeks to change attitudes, practices and policies that lead to marginalisation, exclusion and poverty because of disability, and to strive for justice and equality for everyone.
Yes. The CBM family globally serves all people with or at risk of disabilities across the world’s poorest countries, regardless of race, age, gender or religion.
CBM is a Christian organisation. However, our purpose is not to evangelise but to provide practical solutions to issues faced by people with disabilities in the poorest places of the world. CBM’s vision is to show Christ’s love in action - we often work in partnership with churches and other Christian organisations local to our overseas projects to achieve this.
CBM was founded in 1908, by German pastor Ernst Christoffel with the opening of a home in Turkey for children who were blind and orphaned. From these small beginnings, CBM is now the world’s leading Christian organisation tackling disability across the world's poorest places. Read more about our history.
While we try and reach as many people as possible through our programmes the number of people we work with will always be small compared to the number of people affected by the issues we work on. By engaging in policy and advocacy work we aim to change the way governments and other organisations work and to support them to be more inclusive of people with disabilities. This way, we can have a much bigger impact than if we only work through our local programmes. Read more about out policy and research work.
Donations
There are a number of ways to donate to CBM UK:
- By telephone: 01223 484700 Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
- Through our website.
- By post: CBM, Munro House, 20 Mercers Row, Cambridge CB5 8HY
Our credit and debit card payments are processed by Stripe or Paypal and use PCI (Payment Card Industry) security standards. If you’d like to find out more about card security please read our privacy policy.
For every £1 we receive, 82p goes towards transforming the lives of people with disability, their families and communities in the poorest places of the world, with 0.1p spent on essential governance and 18p helps grow awareness and funds.
We employ staff with specialist skills to most effectively improve the lives of some of the most forgotten people in the world. Our Chief Executive’s salary is less than that of CEO’s salaries at other similar sized charitable organisations in the UK. Our staff receive a salary far below what they would earn in the private sector because they are committed to improving the lives of people living with disabilities across the world's poorest places.
Everyone who contributes to our work, whether through prayer, donations, volunteering, fundraising or in other ways, has a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities in some of the world’s poorest communities. Read more about how to get involved.
Yes; we are currently running a telephone campaign to contact people who have supported our services and/or opted-in to receive a call about our work and how they can get involved.
We will ask people to help by providing financial support, so we can help more people in the world’s poorest places.
We are working with Unity4 to help us do this. Unity4 is a professional telemarketing company. The telephone agents will call from 01746 866 628, and at the start of the call, you will always be told that you are being contacted on CBM UK's behalf.
We also work with Unity4 to ensure your communication preferences are up to date. The telephone agents will call from 01952 454 679. These calls are closely monitored by CBM UK staff.
If you want to donate or set up a regular donation, but prefer not to give details over the phone, you can do so on our donate page.
If you would like to speak to someone directly from CBM UK, you can contact our Supporter Relations Team by emailing info@cbmuk.org.uk, or you can call us directly on 0800 567 7000.
Get involved with CBM
You can support CBM in a number of ways:
- Pray for our work and the people we help
- Donate today to help fund our life-changing work
- Consider leaving a gift in your will
- Volunteer or fundraise for CBM
To find out more about new initiatives, sign up to receive our e-mails. Whichever way you choose to support CBM UK today you will be making a positive impact on the lives of people with disabilities.
Yes, volunteering is an integral part of our life-changing work, and we especially appreciate your time and enthusiasm to help the world’s poorest people. Please contact our Supporter Relations Team, using our online form, or by telephone 01223 484700 to find out how can you get involved.
We are always happy to provide an interesting and informative talk to any group interested in CBM’s work. Please contact our Supporter Relations Team by using our online form or by telephone 01223 484700, to find out more.
Whether you would like to hold your own coffee morning or climb a mountain, CBM would love to hear from you. Visit our fundraising page to find out more.
CBM UK occasionally has internship opportunities at our Head Office in Cambridge in a variety of departments but we do not carry out internships for field assignments. Visit our Work with us page to see details of current opportunities.
Communications
- By telephone: 01223 484700 Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
- By post: CBM, Munro House, 20 Mercers Row, Cambridge CB5 8HY
- By email
We are a registered charity with The Charity Commission for England and Wales 1058162. We are a registered charity with The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator SC041101.
More information about our registration can be found at the Charities Commission and OSCR website
We love to talk about our inspiring work! You can read our Annual Report here.
You can change your contact details either by phoning our UK-based Supporter Relations Team on 01223 484700 or by emailing us.
You can be removed from our mailing lists either by phoning our UK-based Supporter Relations Team on 01223 484700 or by emailing us.
You can change how we contact you either by phoning our UK-based Supporter Relations Team on 01223 484700 or by emailing us.
We always want to keep you up to date by sending you the number of mailings you require each year. Please contact us either by phoning our UK-based Supporter Relations Team on 01223 484700 or by emailing us to reduce or increase your mailings.