ERIC

What ERIC does

ERIC (Education & Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) is the UK's only national charity dedicated to children's bowel and bladder health, founded in 1991 and registered in England and Wales as a company limited by guarantee (Company No. 2580579, Charity No. 1002424). The charity, headquartered in Bristol, addresses a sizeable unmet need — up to 1 in 3 UK children struggle with constipation, 1 in 4 start school not toilet trained, and nearly 1 in 4 are afraid to use school toilets — by serving three primary audiences: families (parents/carers and young people), healthcare professionals (GPs, continence nurses, paediatricians, health visitors), and education professionals (early years practitioners, teachers, SENCos). Its core offerings include a telephone and email helpline, free family webinars, a peer-support community hosted on HealthUnlocked, PIF TICK-certified information sheets and downloadable resources (Poo Diary, Poo Checker, Toileting Reward Chart, ERIC's Guide to Oral Medications for Childhood Constipation), and an ERIC Young Champions youth ambassador programme.

The technology underpinning ERIC's delivery is intentionally lightweight and content-led rather than platform-led. Proprietary knowledge artefacts include the Children's Continence Pathway, the Bladder/Bowel Assessment tools, and the Toilet Readiness Assessment, developed and refined over 35 years. Operational infrastructure is built on standard SaaS: a Shopify e-commerce shop (shop.eric.org.uk) with Stripe, PayPal, and Apple Pay; Mailchimp newsletters; Salesforce CRM; SurveyMonkey; Eventbrite; Fundraise Up for donations; and Zoom for both free family webinars and paid professional training. Training for healthcare and education professionals — Healthy Bladders & Bowels (£130), Nocturnal Enuresis (£65), Toilet Training inc. Additional Needs (£65), Toilet-Related Anxiety (£50), Complex Bladders & Bowels, and Advanced Healthy Bladders & Bowels (£65) — is delivered via Zoom with prerequisite-linked progression, and the annual ERIC Conference anchors in-person professional engagement.

ERIC's revenue model is that of a UK charity: a mix of individual and corporate donations, trust and foundation grants, legacy gifts, training course fees, and e-commerce product sales. Funding partners include Essity, Ontex (iD), Ferring Pharmaceuticals, DryNites, Clinisupplies, Malem Medical, Pjama, SC Nutra, Boots Charitable Trust, John James Bristol Foundation, Alturix, Slater and Gordon, and Irwin Mitchell. The charity is regulated by the Fundraising Regulator, accredited under the Helplines Standard (2025-2028), certified by PIF TICK, and accredited as a Living Wage Employer. Strategic partnerships — with NHS England, Evelina Children's Hospital, the International Children Continence Society (ICCS), the Paediatric Continence Forum, Kindred Squared, Bladder Health UK, and Bladder & Bowel UK — embed ERIC into both clinical practice and early-years education.

Name

ERIC

Legal name

ERIC (Education & Resources for Improving Childhood Continence)

Website

https://eric.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1991

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ERIC is the UK's only national charity dedicated to children's bowel and bladder health, serving families, healthcare professionals, and educators through a helpline, training courses, webinars, clinical resources, and an online shop. Founded 1991, Bristol-headquartered, it operates across England and Wales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bristol

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Training Courses: ERIC offers paid training courses for healthcare professionals and education professionals via Zoom webinar. Courses include Healthy Bladders & Bowels (£130), Toilet Training inc. Additional Needs (£65), Nocturnal Enuresis (£65), Toilet-Related Anxiety (£50), and Advanced Healthy Bladders & Bowels (£65).
2. E-commerce Shop: ERIC operates an online shop selling products such as bedwetting alarms, vibrating reminder watches, books (Poo Go Home & Sneaky Poo, Sue from class two has a problem with poo, Stool withholding), clothing (pants for soiling), and other continence-related aids. Purchases are processed through Stripe, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
3. Donations and Fundraising: ERIC relies on donations from the public, corporate partners, trusts and foundations, and legacy gifts. Online donations are processed through Fundraise Up. The charity is regulated by the Fundraising Regulator and subscribes to the Fundraising Regulator's Fundraising Promise.
4. Family Webinars: Free webinars for parents and carers on topics including bedwetting, potty training, toileting with additional needs, disimpaction, and preparing for school. These are provided at no cost to families.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ERIC is the UK's only national charity dedicated to children's bowel and bladder health. It provides a telephone helpline, free family webinars, paid professional training courses for healthcare and education professionals, an online shop selling continence products (bedwetting alarms, books, pants), and an annual conference. The charity also produces podcasts, downloadable clinical resources, and operates the ERIC At Home prescription service.

Product overview

ERIC is a UK-based national charity dedicated to improving children's bowel and bladder health. The organization operates as a single integrated charity model offering information, support services, professional training, and retail products. Core services include a helpline staffed by trained advisors, family webinars covering topics like bedwetting and potty training, and the ERIC At Home prescription service. For healthcare and education professionals, ERIC provides training courses (Healthy Bladders & Bowels, Nocturnal Enuresis, Toilet Training for Additional Needs) and hosts an annual conference. The organization also maintains educational content through podcasts and videos, provides downloadable clinical resources including the Children's Continence Pathway, toileting reward charts, poo diaries, and medication guides, and operates an online shop selling continence products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ERIC Helpline Telephone and email helpline staffed by trained advisors providing support and guidance on children's bowel and bladder health issues for families across the UK.
• Family Webinars Free online webinar sessions for parents and carers covering topics such as bedwetting, potty training, toileting with additional needs, disimpaction, and preparing for school.
• Training for Health Professionals Paid Zoom-delivered professional training courses for healthcare professionals including Healthy Bladders & Bowels (£130), Nocturnal Enuresis (£65), Toilet Training for Additional Needs (£65), Interoception and Sensory Challenges, Complex Bladders & Bowels, and Toilet-Related Anxiety (£50).
• Training for Education Professionals Training courses for early years practitioners, teachers, SENCos, and education professionals on managing bowel and bladder issues in educational settings.
• ERIC Conference Annual in-person conference for healthcare professionals focused on paediatric bowel and bladder health, featuring presentations, workshops, and networking opportunities.
• ERIC Shop Online retail store selling continence products including bedwetting alarms, vibrating reminder watches, books (Poo Go Home & Sneaky Poo, Stool Withholding, Sue from class two has a problem with poo), pants for soiling, and other helpful continence products. Powered by Shopify with payment processing via Stripe, PayPal, and Apple Pay.
• ERIC At Home Prescription Service Prescription delivery service providing continence products directly to families at home.
• Let's Go Potty Programme Evidence-based 3-step potty training approach involving preparation, practising potty skills, and stopping nappy use as children gain confidence.
• Children's Continence Pathway Generic Children's Continence Pathway developed by ERIC as a model of best practice for assessing and managing childhood continence, used by healthcare professionals across the UK.
• ERIC Healthcare Professionals Podcast Podcast series providing information for healthcare professionals on childhood continence issues, including constipation assessment and treatment.
• ERIC Helpline Podcast Podcast series for parents and carers discussing childhood bowel and bladder health topics including constipation, disimpaction, laxatives, and specific conditions.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• BABCON - Bladder and Bowel CONfidenceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership focused on bladder and bowel confidence initiatives.
• Bladder Health UKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharity partner supporting people with bladder and bowel problems.
• Bladder & Bowel UKminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of Disabled Living, supporting people with bladder and bowel problems.
• DSUK (Down Syndrome UK)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership supporting families of children with Down syndrome facing continence challenges.
• International Children Continence Society (ICCS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational society focused on children's continence, collaborating with ERIC on best practices and guidelines.
• Paediatric Continence ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUK forum bringing together stakeholders to improve paediatric continence care and policy.
• Positive About Down SyndromeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership providing support and resources for families of children with Down syndrome.
• The Sleep CharityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership recognizing the connection between continence issues (particularly bedwetting) and sleep.
• Kindred SquaredcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly years experts who collaborated with ERIC to produce a new Potty Training Guide as part of a coalition of Early Years organizations.
• Participation PeopleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOrganization facilitating youth participation, working with ERIC on the Young Champions programme.
• Children of the 90sminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term health study providing research data relevant to childhood development and continence.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Bladder & Bowel UK: Bladder & Bowel UK, part of Disabled Living, is the closest UK charity peer addressing bladder and bowel continence issues. While primarily adult-focused, it competes for the same NHS commissioning, professional training, and public awareness landscape as ERIC and could expand pediatric services.
• Bladder Health UK: Bladder Health UK is a UK charity supporting people with bladder and bowel conditions, operating in overlapping clinical and awareness territory with ERIC. It is an ERIC strategic partner but also a potential competitor for donor attention and NHS-aligned training contracts.

Emerging players

• BABCON (Bladder and Bowel CONfidence): BABCON is a smaller, emerging UK initiative focused on bladder and bowel confidence, directly addressing the same condition categories as ERIC. As a mutual ERIC partner, it represents a potential co-marketing channel but also a possible disruptor targeting overlapping audiences with newer messaging.

Others

• International Children's Continence Society (ICCS): ICCS is the international professional society for children's continence that ERIC explicitly partners with. While not a commercial competitor, ICCS sets the global clinical standards and guidelines ERIC aligns to, and its international footprint exceeds ERIC's UK-only focus.

Broad incumbents

• Crohn's & Colitis UK: Crohn's & Colitis UK is a much larger UK charity addressing inflammatory bowel disease in overlapping pediatric populations. It is a broad incumbent in the children's GI health charity space with significantly greater fundraising scale, brand awareness, and NHS commissioning relationships than ERIC.
• Wellchild: Wellchild is a leading UK charity for seriously ill children, providing information, support, and training for families of children with complex health needs. It operates in adjacent children's health territory with substantially larger scale and a broader condition scope than ERIC.
• Contact (for families with disabled children): Contact is a major UK charity supporting families of disabled children, directly relevant because ERIC's 'children with additional needs' segment and Down syndrome/DSUK partnerships place ERIC inside Contact's overlapping remit. Contact is significantly larger with broader service offerings.
• Together for Short Lives: Together for Short Lives is the UK charity for children with life-limiting conditions and their families, with established NHS and clinical training infrastructure. While focused on palliative rather than continence care, it represents a comparable scale of children's-specialist charity operating in the UK clinical and family-support space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzyX8Nkg-dWXe98FmNd1JNA/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/ERIC.UK1
• Instagraminstagram.com/eric_charity
• Xx.com/ERIC_UK

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ERIC