THE SYNCONA FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1149202 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE BACIT FOUNDATION

The Syncona Foundation ("Foundation") receives an annual donation from Syncona Limited. The Foundation grants those funds to charities selected by its Trustees in furtherance of the Foundation's charitable objects.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£4.0m

Latest spending

£4.2m

Registered

2012

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity holds unrestricted reserves of £3,908,210, which the Trustees consider sufficient for its size and nature. The charity relies entirely on annual donations from Syncona, which are subject to termination on six months' written notice, creating a dependency on this single funding source. The charity has no employees and incurs minimal governance costs, resulting in a net expenditure for the year.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: sufficient funds to cover the Foundation’s running costs (excluding the costs of the administrative support provided by Syncona) (held: £3.9m)

“The Foundation’s policy is to disburse substantially all funds received from Syncona, retaining only sufficient funds to cover the Foundation’s running costs (excluding the costs of the administrative support provided by Syncona) which are represented by the Governance costs in note 6.” — page 9

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Couch Bright King & Co. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

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

Total income

£4.0m

Total spending

£4.2m

Reserves (reported)

£3.9m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~11.1 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (100% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

THOMAS ALEXANDER GAVIN HENDERSONchair
James Maltin · trustee of 1 other charity
Lucie Annabel Kitchener · trustee of 2 other charities
NIGEL KEEN · trustee of 1 other charity
Rupert Christian Rigbye Adams

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£4.0m	£4.2m
31/03/2024	£4.4m	£4.4m
31/03/2023	£4.7m	£2.5m
31/03/2022	£2.5m	£2.9m
31/03/2021	£2.8m	£498k

Common questions

Is THE SYNCONA FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity holds unrestricted reserves of £3,908,210, which the Trustees consider sufficient for its size and nature. The charity relies entirely on annual donations from Syncona, which are subject to termination on six months' written notice, creating a dependency on this single funding source. The charity has no employees and incurs minimal governance costs, resulting in a net expenditure for the year. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Couch Bright King & Co.

Who funds THE SYNCONA FOUNDATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SYNCONA FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include CURE LEUKAEMIA.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
CURE LEUKAEMIA	FY2024	£150k
CURE LEUKAEMIA	FY2022	£100k

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
ONE FOOTSTEP	1	£25k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with BACON FOUNDATION LTD.

BACON FOUNDATION LTD income £2.0m
THE SAUNDERSON FOUNDATION income £442k
THE CYNARA FOUNDATION income £153k
The Connolly Foundation (UK) Limited income £14.0m
THE REED FOUNDATION income £2.3m
PONOSI FOUNDATION income £144k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE SYNCONA FOUNDATION	£4.0m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
BACON FOUNDATION LTD FY2025	£2.0m	—	0	below	—	noted
THE SAUNDERSON FOUNDATION FY2025	£442k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE CYNARA FOUNDATION FY2026	£153k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
The Connolly Foundation (UK) Limited FY2025	£14.0m	£170,001 - £180,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE REED FOUNDATION FY2024	£2.3m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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