Colchester Arts Centre

Analysis

Colchester Arts Centre is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Colchester. It was registered in February 1984, 42 years ago. Its declared purposes cover arts/culture/heritage/science and environment/conservation/heritage, which this site groups under arts, culture, heritage and science. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 01782715). It says it provides human resources, provides buildings/facilities/open space and acts as an umbrella or resource body.

In the financial year ending March 2025, Colchester Arts Centre reported income of £1.0m and spending of £1.1m, spending 106% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from March 2021 to March 2025, income grew from £626k to £1.0m (+62%), an average of +13% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to March 2024, when income rose by 50%. Over the whole period it spent 82% of the income it received.

Among 17,634 England and Wales charities whose main cause is arts, culture, heritage and science and that reported income, Colchester Arts Centre sits at the 95th percentile: it is larger than about 95% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 94th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Science Museum Foundation (£1.0m), Freshwater Biological Association (£1.0m) and The Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society (£1.0m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 62%, donations and legacies 32% and investments 3.6%. Gifts in wills alone brought in £1,027. Charitable activities took 100% of spending and raising funds 0.0%. Reserves of £274k would cover about 3 months of spending at that rate. It employed 36 people.