CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Registered charity 1136855 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q1035745 · Wikipedia

The University provides Higher Education to the general public which will also include numerous research activities. For more detail see the Public Benefit Statement within the Annual Financial Statements.

Objects

1. THE OBJECTS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SHALL BE:(1) TO ADVANCE KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION BY TEACHING AND RESEARCH AND BY THE EXAMPLE AND INFLUENCE OF ITS CORPORATE LIFE;(2) TO PROVIDE INSTRUCTION AND COURSES OF STUDY FOR PERSONS SEEKING TO QUALIFY FORDEGREES AND OTHER AWARDS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WALES, OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY, AND OFOTHER UNIVERSITIES AND FOR OTHER PERSONS;(3) TO PROMOTE AND MAKE PROVISION FOR RESEARCH AND FOR SUCH METHODS OF ADVANCING, DISSEMINATING, PRESERVING AND APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AS MAY BE DECIDED UPON FROM TIME TO TIME BY CARDIFF UNIVERSITY;(4) TO DEVELOP THE CHARACTER OF THE STUDENTS BY VIRTUE OF ITS CORPORATE LIFE;(5) TO PROMOTE, ITSELF OR JOINTLY WITH OTHERS, HEALTH AND WELFARE WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEEDS OF WALES;(6) TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF WALES AND THE UNITED KINGDOM.2. CARDIFF UNIVERSITY SHALL BE A TEACHING, RESEARCH, EXAMINING AND DEGREE-AWARDING BODY AND SHALL HAVE POWER TO DO ALL LAWFUL ACTS INCLUDING (BUT WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING) POWER:(1) TO TAKE OVER ALL PROPERTY, RIGHTS, BENEFITS AND LIABILITIES OF, INCLUDING PROPERTYPREVIOUSLY HELD ON TRUST BY, UNIVERSITY OF WALES COLLEGE OF MEDICINE OR ANY OTHERPERSON OR BODY WHOSE OBJECTS ARE NOT INCONSISTENT WITH THIS OUR CHARTER; (2) TO MAKE AWARDS AND CONFER DEGREES AND OTHER DISTINCTIONS OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY AND FOR GOOD CAUSE TO DEPRIVE A PERSON OF AN AWARD, DISTINCTION OR DEGREE OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY.

Area of benefit: CARDIFF

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

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that Cardiff University recorded an underlying operating deficit of £33.4 million for the year ended 31 July 2025, worsening from the previous year's £31.2 million deficit. Despite this, the University maintains a strong balance sheet with consolidated net assets of £821 million and free reserves of £478 million, which are above the stated policy target of £100 million. The trustees affirm that the University has sufficient liquidity and resources to continue as a going concern for at least 12 months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by KPMG LLP. Discloses 4 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 handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures

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.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Cardiff University (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Professor Wendy Larner — Vice-Chancellor (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.

Public-sector contracts awarded

From the official Contracts Finder and Find a Tender notices (supplier matched by exact registered name). Contract income is distinct from grants.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

• Epigenetic responses to dietary change across organismal lifespan —
• Cardiff University and Champion Manufacturing Group Limited KTP 25_26 R1 —
• Cardiff University and Edwards Vacuum KTP 21_22 R5 —
• Cardiff University and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust KTP 24_25 R4 —
• Cardiff University and Down to Earth Project KTP 23_24 R5 —
• How changes in nutrient availability are sensed and shape metabolism and growth —
• Cardiff University and Compound Semiconductor Centre KTP 25_26 R1 —
• Cardiff University and Centregreat Rail Limited KTP 21_22 R1 —
• Gravitational Waves PROJECT COORDINATION —
• Regulation of superoxide formation —

Property (HM Land Registry)

52 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (30 freehold); recorded price paid £19.1m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Trustpilot: Cardiff University scores 2.0/5 from 11 reviews (source) — reviews usually concern the charity’s shops or services, not its charitable performance.

Advertised salaries (public job ads)

Roles this charity has advertised on CharityJob, matched on the exact employer name. A different source from the statutory pay bands above: these are asking salaries for vacancies, not what anyone was paid.

• Research Assistant · Hybrid work in Cardiff CF24 4HQ
• Research Associate · Cardiff CF10
• Research Associate in Bioimaging · Cardiff CF10 3AX
• Research Associate - Microstructural MRI · Cardiff CF10
• Senior Research Fellow, Wales Centre for Public Policy · Cardiff CF10
• Senior Research Fellow, Wales Centre for Public Policy · Cardiff CF10
• Lecturer in Politics - Teaching and Research · Cardiff CF10
• Deputy Law Clinic Manager /Commercial Law Clinic Practitioner · Cardiff CF10 3AX

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~13.3 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (84% 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: 0.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (18/11/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Ana Rodrigues Sarmento Guedes de Oliveira
• Andrew David Twyman
• Craig Alyn Watkins
• Dr ANDREW RODNEY Glanfield
• Dr Robert Wilton Weaver
• Dr Wayne Nicolas Nishio
• Elizabeth Louise McKenzie · trustee of 1 other charity
• Elizabeth Peggy Button
• JOHN SHAKESHAFT
• Jennifer Wood
• Jonathan Peter Marlow
• Joshua Lloyd Tandy
• Mario Pietro Gualano
• Patrick Younge · trustee of 1 other charity
• Professor Damian Walford Davies
• Professor Gavin Shaddick
• Professor Luke Samuel Sloan · trustee of 1 other charity
• Professor Wendy Joan Larner
• Sean Peter Strong · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sian Rees
• Stephen Andrew Joseph Mann

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

Operates in: Cardiff

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 CARDIFF METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY.

• CARDIFF METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY income £148.6m
• CARDIFF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' UNION income £14.0m
• CARDIFF MET STUDENTS' UNION income £1.7m
• UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER income £154.2m
• CARDIFF UNITED SYNAGOGUE income £189k
• CANTERBURY CHRIST CHURCH UNIVERSITY income £353.8m

Side by side with its peers

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