HAY FESTIVAL FOUNDATION LTD

Registered charity 1070073 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as FESTIVALS OF LITERATURE CHARITABLE TRUST LIMITED, HAY FESTIVAL FOUNDATION, THE LONDON FESTIVAL OF LITERATURE CHARITABLE TRUST LIMITED

To further the education and learning of both the Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the other countries around the world in the art or science of literature and poetry, in particular by promoting public festivals. shows, readings and fairs in both the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and such other countries as the Board of Trustees may decide from time to time

Objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE COMPANY IS ESTABLISHED ARE:-(A) TO FURTHER THE EDUCATION AND LEARNING OF THE PEOPLE OF BOTH THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD IN THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LITERATURE, POETRY AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION, IN PARTICULAR BY PROMOTING PUBLIC FESTIVALS, SHOWS, READINGS AND FAIRS;(B) TO PROMOTE STUDY AND RESEARCH IN LITERATURE AND POETRY AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD PROVIDED THE RESULTS OF SUCH RESEARCH SHALL BE PUBLISHED;(C) TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN LITERATURE AND POETRY AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD AND IN PARTICULAR (BUT WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE GENERALITY OF THE ABOVE) TO AWARD MEDALS AND/OR PRIZES IN FURTHERANCE OF THIS OBJECT;(D) TO PROMOTE OR DEVELOP FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE OF BOTH THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD THE ART OR SCIENCE OF LITERATURE, POETRY AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IN ALL ITS BRANCHES AND LIKEWISE TO PROMOTE AND DEVELOP THE IMPROVEMENT OF LITERATURE, POETRY AND ALL OTHER FORMS OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND AND OTHER COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.

Area of benefit: GREAT BRITAIN

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Powys, Wales (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an unrestricted surplus of £421,196 and total funds carried forward of £1,675,313 for the year ended 31 December 2025. Per the trustees' report, free reserves of £736,719 are below the stated optimum policy target of £1,105,000, though the trustees consider current levels sufficient for short-term support. The auditors confirmed no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Hazlewoods LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03490480

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Hay Festival Foundation Ltd (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jay Hunt — Chair (source)
• Stephen Fry — Festival President (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• CROSBIE, Mark John — director, appointed 11/03/2026on trustee list
• BUNT, Philip Alan — director, appointed 29/08/2025on trustee list
• HUNT, Jacqueline — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• CLOSS STEPHENS, Elan, Dame — director, appointed 26/10/2024not on trustee list
• STEWART, Shakia Asha — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• BUTLER, Nicholas Jones — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• FOLLOWELL, Anthony Paul — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• ALBERT, Corisande Charlotte — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• KHAN, Suhair Fariha — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• OLUSOGA, David Adetayo — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• SHEDD, Edward John — director, appointed 01/02/2024on trustee list
• BEJARANO DE LA TORRE, Victoria Eugenia — director, appointed 01/11/2023not on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.6 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (93% 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: 2.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anthony Paul Followell · trustee of 1 other charity
• Corisande Albert · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dame Elan Closs Stephens
• Edward Shedd
• Jacqueline Hunt
• Mark Crosbie
• Nicholas Jones Butler · trustee of 1 other charity
• Philip Bunt · trustee of 2 other charities
• Professor David Adetayo Olusoga · trustee of 1 other charity
• Shakia Asha Stewart
• Suhair Fariha Khan
• Victoria Bejarano De la Torre

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

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.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with STRATFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL.

• STRATFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL income £307k
• THE HENLEY FESTIVAL TRUST income £4.6m
• CAMBRIDGE LITERARY FESTIVAL income £485k
• BEWDLEY FESTIVAL LIMITED income £86k
• HARVEY'S FOUNDRY TRUST income £888k
• HASLEMERE FESTIVAL income £91k

Side by side with its peers

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