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MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL

Registered charity 1066806 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as MSC

The MSC is a global non-profit organisation that recognises and rewards efforts to protect oceans and safeguard seafood supplies for the future. The MSC certification program contributes to the health of the oceans by rewarding sustainable fishing practices, influencing the choices people make when buying seafood, and working with partners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis.

Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£33.7m
Latest spending
£34.8m
Registered
1997
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with unrestricted reserves of £39.55 million, which equates to 12.15 months of the Board approved unrestricted expenditure budget, exceeding its stated policy target of 9 to 12 months. Per the trustees' report, the charity incurred an overall deficit of £0.7 million, resulting in a decrease in total reserves, but maintains a sound financial position with significant cash balances and investment assets.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: Charitable activities (94% of income)
“Income from charitable activities (that is, largely logo licensing royalty and annual fee revenue) amounted to 93.6% of total income” — page 13
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: 9 to 12 months of the following year’s budgeted expenditure (held: £39.5m)
“The Board has quantified the makeup of reserves against each of the above-named risks and concluded, in total, the unrestricted “free” reserve should be set between a minimum of 9 months and a maximum of 12 months of the following year’s budgeted expenditure.” — page 15
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Payments to trustees: Giles Bolton received £25,000 for professional services. Kevin Stokes received £37,493 for consultancy services. Darian McBain received £6,750 for consultancy services.
“The chair of the charitable company, Giles Bolton, who is also a Trustee under Charity law, received or was entitled to receive emoluments of £25,000 during the year for professional services rendered (2023/24: £4,167). Kevin Stokes, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £37,493 during the year (2023/24: £8,068). Darian McBain, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £6,750 during the year (2023/24: £0).” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: MSC charged MSCI 15% of its office, premises and HR costs, 50% of its IT costs, and an allocation of salary of the MSC's Finance Director and Governance Secretary totalling £1,766,908. Allocations of key management salaries totalled £311,212. Gift aid payable amounted to £17,308,184 and royalty payable by MSCI to MSC amounted to £8,475,612.
“During the financial year MSC charged MSCI 15% of its office, premises and HR costs, 50% of its IT costs, and an allocation of salary of the MSC's Finance Director and Governance Secretary totalling £1,766,908 (2024: £1,831,228). Allocations of key management salaries totalled £311,212 (2024: £299,247). Gift aid payable for the year amounted to £17,308,184 (2024: £16,721,390) and the royalty payable by MSCI to MSC for the right to exploit MSC’s ecolabel amounted to £8,475,612 (2024: £8,202,635). At 31st March 2025, MSCI owed £11,982,622 in total to the parent charity (2024: £8,202,635). This amount includes the amount payable by MSCI to MSC as royalty for the right to exploit the Charities intellectual property (i.e. the MSC ecolabel) and the gift aid due to the Charity of MSCI’s accounting surplus for the year.” — page 39
“The chair of the charitable company, Giles Bolton, who is also a Trustee under Charity law, received or was entitled to receive emoluments of £25,000 during the year for professional services rendered (2023/24: £4,167). Kevin Stokes, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £37,493 during the year (2023/24: £8,068). Darian McBain, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £6,750 during the year (2023/24: £0).” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Giles Bolton received £25,000 for professional services. Kevin Stokes provided consultancy services amounting to £37,493. Darian McBain provided consultancy services amounting to £6,750.
“During the financial year MSC charged MSCI 15% of its office, premises and HR costs, 50% of its IT costs, and an allocation of salary of the MSC's Finance Director and Governance Secretary totalling £1,766,908 (2024: £1,831,228). Allocations of key management salaries totalled £311,212 (2024: £299,247). Gift aid payable for the year amounted to £17,308,184 (2024: £16,721,390) and the royalty payable by MSCI to MSC for the right to exploit MSC’s ecolabel amounted to £8,475,612 (2024: £8,202,635). At 31st March 2025, MSCI owed £11,982,622 in total to the parent charity (2024: £8,202,635). This amount includes the amount payable by MSCI to MSC as royalty for the right to exploit the Charities intellectual property (i.e. the MSC ecolabel) and the gift aid due to the Charity of MSCI’s accounting surplus for the year.” — page 39
“The chair of the charitable company, Giles Bolton, who is also a Trustee under Charity law, received or was entitled to receive emoluments of £25,000 during the year for professional services rendered (2023/24: £4,167). Kevin Stokes, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £37,493 during the year (2023/24: £8,068). Darian McBain, a board member of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), provided consultancy services amounting to £6,750 during the year (2023/24: £0).” — page 31
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (38,304 followers) · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Total income
£33.7m
Total spending
£34.8m
Cost of raising funds
£796k
Reserves (reported)
£39.6m
Employees
267

Reported reserves equal ~13.6 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (94% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Australia · Belgium · Canada · Chile · China · City Of London · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Hong Kong · Iceland

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£33.7m£34.8m
31/03/2024£33.1m£31.4m
31/03/2023£32.7m£30.6m
31/03/2022£29.8m£28.7m
31/03/2021£30.1m£27.2m

Common questions

Is MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity ended the year with unrestricted reserves of £39.55 million, which equates to 12.15 months of the Board approved unrestricted expenditure budget, exceeding its stated policy target of 9 to 12 months. Per the trustees' report, the charity incurred an overall deficit of £0.7 million, resulting in a decrease in total reserves, but maintains a sound financial position with significant cash balances and investment assets. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Crowe U.K. LLP.

Who funds MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL?

Funders whose own accounts filings name MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL as a grant recipient include CECIL PILKINGTON CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
CECIL PILKINGTON CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2022£10k

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION2£549k
THE CONSTANCE TRAVIS CHARITABLE TRUST2£340k
RUTH SMART FOUNDATION2£35k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST2£11k
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST2£8k
Evelyn Partners Charitable Trust2£1k
THE REED FOUNDATION1—
The Global Returns Project Limited1£403k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with MARINE CONSERVATION SOCIETY.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
MARINE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL£33.7m——above—no doubt
MARINE CONSERVATION SOCIETY FY2025£5.3m£80,001 - £90,000—within20.0%no doubt
AQUACULTURE STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL FY2024£13.5m——within—no doubt
THE FISHMONGERS' COMPANY'S FISHERIES CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025£2.0m—1above—no doubt
BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION FY2025£13.0m£100,001 - £110,000—below—no doubt
SEA LIFE TRUST LIMITED FY2024£6.8m—0above—no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.