THE MASTER AND FELLOWS OF DARWIN COLLEGE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Registered charity 1141105 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as DARWIN COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Darwin College is a higher-education institution incorporated by Royal Charter within the University of Cambridge. Its purpose as a charitable institution is to advance education, learning, and research in the University, and to provide for members a Collegewhere they may work for postgraduate Degrees or carry out postgraduate or other special studies.

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the College's net assets increased to £90,445,612, with unrestricted reserves rising to £54,927,774. The College reports a surplus on unrestricted activities of £1,012,173 and maintains free reserves of £12,536,112, which the trustees note approximate or exceed one year's expenditure. The auditors confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by PEM Audit Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Funders the charity credits

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

• Trinity — “Darwin College was founded in 1964 through generous donations from our three founding Colleges: Trinity, St John’s and Gonville & Caius.” (source page)
• St John’s — “Darwin College was founded in 1964 through generous donations from our three founding Colleges: Trinity, St John’s and Gonville & Caius.” (source page)
• Gonville & Caius — “Darwin College was founded in 1964 through generous donations from our three founding Colleges: Trinity, St John’s and Gonville & Caius.” (source page)
• Rayne Foundation — “The College was also enhanced over a number of years by major gifts from the Rayne Foundation.” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

34 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (22 freehold); recorded price paid £25.8m. 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 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~80.6 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Aylwyn Olav Scally
• Dr Diana Arseni
• Dr Duncan James Needham
• JOHN TANNATT DIX
• Mary Skuodas
• Oisin O'Keeffe
• PROFESSOR NIGEL PEAKE
• Professor Angela Mary Wood
• Professor Christopher Guy Sandbrook
• Professor John Harold Nilsson Williamson-Wright
• Professor Maha Abdelrahman

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

Operates in: Cambridgeshire

Income and spending

Common questions

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 FITZWILLIAM COLLEGE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE.

• FITZWILLIAM COLLEGE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE income £20.3m
• CHURCHILL COLLEGE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE income £28.6m
• HUGHES HALL IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE income £16.7m
• THE MASTER AND FELLOWS OF THE COLLEGE OR HALL OF SAINT CATHARINE THE VIRGIN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE income £19.9m
• CLARE COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE income £16.0m
• SELWYN COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE income £15.1m

Side by side with its peers

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