Charity Accounts Intelreading the accounts so you don’t have to

SHELL FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1080999 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Shell Foundation mission is to apply business thinking to major social and environmental issues linked to the energy sector - and seek to relieve poverty and hardship and protect the environment, for the public benefit, through the promotion and development of business-based solutions and supportive market environments, to target large scale impact.

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income
£29.3m
Latest spending
£32.6m
Registered
2000
Accounts read
FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the Foundation holds an unrestricted endowment valued at $607 million, with total reserves of $672 million, which is sufficient to meet commitments and cover 20 years of planned expenditure at the current withdrawal rate. The Trustees confirm that the endowment is well placed to fund anticipated spending needs even in the event of significant market volatility, and no material uncertainties affecting going concern were identified by the auditors.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: sufficient to meet the commitments and ambitions of the Foundation now and in the future (held: £672.2m)
“SF’s endowment constitutes unrestricted reserves and is sufficient to meet the commitments and ambitions of the Foundation now and in the future. Commitments are met by liquidating endowment assets as and when required. The reserve policy is set by the Investment Committee, reviewed regularly by the Audit and Risk Committee, and approved by the Board of Trustees.”
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Payments to Shell Asset Management Company (SAMCo) for investment management costs.
“During the year the Foundation made payments of $787,267 (2023: $973,072) in respect of investment management costs on normal business terms with SAMCo. This is inclusive of $227,056 paid for 2023 invoices.” — page 48
“Of the Foundation’s current or former Trustees listed on page 4, the following are or were directors or officers of certain Shell Group companies: Ms Sinead Lynch, Mr Huibert Vigeveno, Mr Grzegorz Gut and Mr Parminder Kohli.” — page 48
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Trustees who are also directors/officers of Shell Group companies.
“During the year the Foundation made payments of $787,267 (2023: $973,072) in respect of investment management costs on normal business terms with SAMCo. This is inclusive of $227,056 paid for 2023 invoices.” — page 48
“Of the Foundation’s current or former Trustees listed on page 4, the following are or were directors or officers of certain Shell Group companies: Ms Sinead Lynch, Mr Huibert Vigeveno, Mr Grzegorz Gut and Mr Parminder Kohli.” — page 48
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Reimbursement of trustee travel expenses.
“During the year the Foundation made payments of $787,267 (2023: $973,072) in respect of investment management costs on normal business terms with SAMCo. This is inclusive of $227,056 paid for 2023 invoices.” — page 48
“Of the Foundation’s current or former Trustees listed on page 4, the following are or were directors or officers of certain Shell Group companies: Ms Sinead Lynch, Mr Huibert Vigeveno, Mr Grzegorz Gut and Mr Parminder Kohli.” — page 48
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Chair's honorarium for services.
“During the year the Foundation made payments of $787,267 (2023: $973,072) in respect of investment management costs on normal business terms with SAMCo. This is inclusive of $227,056 paid for 2023 invoices.” — page 48
“Of the Foundation’s current or former Trustees listed on page 4, the following are or were directors or officers of certain Shell Group companies: Ms Sinead Lynch, Mr Huibert Vigeveno, Mr Grzegorz Gut and Mr Parminder Kohli.” — page 48
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: SF Investment Management Limited
“The Foundation has a single subsidiary, SF Investment Management Limited, (company number 09425215), which was incorporated in 2015 to manage a restricted programme with USAID to generate employment in Iraq through investment in small and growing businesses.”
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Ernst & Young LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In the news

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

Corporate structure

SF INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LIMITED — per its own Companies House accounts
  • Profit before tax: £-3.2m

Leadership, per the charity’s website

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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

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.

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Total income
£29.3m
Total spending
£32.6m
Cost of raising funds
£697k
Reserves (reported)
£12.7m
Employees
36

Reported reserves equal ~4.7 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (72% 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: Brazil · China · Colombia · Egypt · Ghana · Haiti · India · Iraq · Jordan · Kenya · Nigeria · Oman

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2024£29.3m£32.6m
31/12/2023£23.0m£30.2m
31/12/2022£26.5m£24.6m
31/12/2021£18.7m£21.4m
31/12/2020£24.3m£34.5m

Common questions

Is SHELL FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the Foundation holds an unrestricted endowment valued at $607 million, with total reserves of $672 million, which is sufficient to meet commitments and cover 20 years of planned expenditure at the current withdrawal rate. The Trustees confirm that the endowment is well placed to fund anticipated spending needs even in the event of significant market volatility, and no material uncertainties affecting going concern were identified by the auditors. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Ernst & Young LLP.

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
CHURCH REVITALISATION TRUST1£117k
NORFOLK COMMUNITY FOUNDATION1£67k
TELLES FOUNDATION1£60k
TACKLE AFRICA1£45k
ONE FOOTSTEP1£25k
THE ELLERDALE TRUST1£10k
THE PWC FOUNDATION1£10k
THE PAUL BASSHAM CHARITABLE TRUST1£5k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ENERGY SAVING TRUST FOUNDATION.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
SHELL FOUNDATION£29.3m——above—no doubt
THE ENERGY SAVING TRUST FOUNDATION FY2026£211k£60,001 - £70,000—no_policy—no doubt
THE FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS FY2025£6.4m£139,818—within—no doubt
SOUL FOUNDATION FY2024£264k—0within—no doubt
THE SHANTA FOUNDATION FY2025£736k—0unclear—noted
THE BADUR FOUNDATION FY2025£2.6mmore than £60,0001above—no doubt

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