The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust

Analysis

The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in East Sussex. It was registered in February 1977, 49 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, education/training, the advancement of health or saving of lives and disability, which this site groups under health and saving lives. Legally it is a charitable trust. It says it makes grants to organisations.

In the financial year ending April 2025, The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust reported income of £954k and spending of £1.2m, spending 121% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from April 2021 to April 2025, income fell from £1.0m to £954k (-5.0%), an average of -1.3% a year. Over the whole period it spent 107% of the income it received.

Among 24,651 England and Wales charities whose main cause is health and saving lives and that reported income, The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust sits at the 89th percentile: it is larger than about 89% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 93rd percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include The British Nutrition Foundation (£954k), The Heathcoat Trust (£954k) and Care All Limited (£954k).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from investments 89% and trading 11%. Charitable activities took 85% of spending and raising funds 14%. Grants to other organisations totalled £918k. Reserves of £31.1m would cover about 320 months of spending at that rate.