Ark (charity)

Absolute Return for Kids (branded as Ark) is an international children's educational charity based in London, UK.

Ark is a registered charity under English law. In its reporting year 2017–18, excluding its few subsidiaries, it saw gross income of £14.66 million and had 42 employees.

Ark is the parent organisation of Ark Schools, a separate legal entity that is a multi-academy trust in the English education system, with 39 schools (as of 14 October 2022) and nearly 30,000 pupils.

Ark was founded in 2002 by a group of hedge fund financiers including Paul Marshall and Ian Wace of Marshall Wace – and Arpad Busson of EIM Group, founding chairman of the charity's board of trustees.

Its aim is to invest by philanthropy to improve the life chances of children. Since 2014, the charity has been known as Ark or ARK.

Its charitable objects are: "to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. ark incubates, launches and scales ventures that share our mission and values."

Ark operates in the UK, South Africa, Zimbabwe and India. In the US, it is affiliated to Absolute Return for Kids US, Inc. (Ark US), a US philanthropic organisation which shares Ark's mission, and which supports the work of Ark through grants.

Ark works in education, health and child protection.