The Sainsbury Laboratory

Analysis

The Sainsbury Laboratory is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Norwich. It was registered in November 1997, 29 years ago. Its declared purposes cover education/training, which this site groups under education and training. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 03346853). It says it sponsors or undertakes research.

In the financial year ending March 2025, The Sainsbury Laboratory reported income of £14.2m and spending of £12.3m, spending 87% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from March 2021 to March 2025, income grew from £10.1m to £14.2m (+41%), an average of +9.0% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to March 2024, when income rose by 18%. Over the whole period it spent 90% of the income it received.

Among 21,402 England and Wales charities whose main cause is education and training and that reported income, The Sainsbury Laboratory sits at the 99th percentile: it is larger than about 98% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 99th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Durham Cathedral Schools Foundation (£14.1m), The College of the Lady Frances Sidney Sussex in the University of Cambridge (£14.2m) and The President and Fellows of Wolfson College in the University of Cambridge (£14.1m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 86% and investments 2.9%. Charitable activities took 98% of spending and raising funds 0.0%. Reserves of £3.4m would cover about 3 months of spending at that rate. It employed 85 people.