The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust

Analysis

The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in January 1965, 61 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, which this site groups under grant-making and general purposes. Legally it is a charitable trust. It says it makes grants to organisations, provides buildings/facilities/open space and sponsors or undertakes research.

In the financial year ending April 2025, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust reported income of £3.5m and spending of £6.1m, spending 174% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from April 2021 to April 2025, income fell from £5.9m to £3.5m (-41%), an average of -12% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to April 2022, when income rose by 303%. Over the whole period it spent 56% of the income it received.

Among 5,976 England and Wales charities whose main cause is grant-making and general purposes and that reported income, The Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust sits at the 98th percentile: it is larger than about 98% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 97th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include John Ellerman Foundation (£3.4m), David Tannen Charitable Trust (£3.5m) and The Crucible Foundation (£3.4m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 79% and investments 21%. Charitable activities took 99% of spending and raising funds 0.7%. Grants to other organisations totalled £5.9m.

Data notes from the register: The latest annual return was received after its deadline.