NEKTON FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1162666 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Nekton Foundation is a new marine research organisation dedicated to exploring the deep ocean, the most unknown frontier on our planet. By understanding how the oceans are changing due to human impacts and promoting awareness of marine science through communications and education, we seek to increase ocean protection and stewardship.

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

Latest income

£3.2m

Latest spending

£5.4m

Registered

2015

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity incurred a deficit of £2,319k for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total incoming resources of £3,200k against expenditure of £5,443k. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves held were £378k, which exceeds the stated target requirement of £243k for unforeseen events and closure costs.

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

What the accounts disclose

Employees paid over £60,000: 4

“Four employees earned more than £60,000 during the year (2024: 2).” — page 34

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: £243k (held: £378k)

“A total of £243k of unrestricted reserves therefore is the target requirement for unforeseen events and closure costs for the coming year. This would be covered by the unrestricted reserves of £378k held at 31 March 2025.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Rob McCallum, CEO of EYOS (a funder for Yachts for Science), is a Nekton Foundation Trustee.

“EYOS is a funder for the Yachts for Science programme. The CEO of EYOS, Rob McCallum is a Nekton Foundation Trustee.” — page 18

“Nekton’s Chief Executive Oliver Steeds co-founded Digital Explorer (renamed in 2019 as Encounter EDU). He is not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation and has never received remuneration from it.” — page 18

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Oliver Steeds (CEO) co-founded Encounter EDU but receives no remuneration.

“EYOS is a funder for the Yachts for Science programme. The CEO of EYOS, Rob McCallum is a Nekton Foundation Trustee.” — page 18

“Nekton’s Chief Executive Oliver Steeds co-founded Digital Explorer (renamed in 2019 as Encounter EDU). He is not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation and has never received remuneration from it.” — page 18

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Intercompany balances with wholly-owned subsidiaries.

“EYOS is a funder for the Yachts for Science programme. The CEO of EYOS, Rob McCallum is a Nekton Foundation Trustee.” — page 18

“Nekton’s Chief Executive Oliver Steeds co-founded Digital Explorer (renamed in 2019 as Encounter EDU). He is not involved in the day-to-day running of the organisation and has never received remuneration from it.” — page 18

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: Nekton Enterprises Limited, Ocean Census Limited

“Nekton Foundation has two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Nekton Enterprises Limited (NEL) and Ocean Census Limited. NEL was incorporated on 25th April 2016 and has been established to undertake commercial activities such as sponsorship which generate income for the benefit of Nekton Foundation. OCL was incorporated on 10 May 2023 and has been established to undertake the Ocean Census programme.” — page 18

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

Employees paid over £60,000: 2 (FY2024) → 4 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Oliver Steeds OBE — Chief Executive (source)
Rupert Grey — Chair (source)
Nick Hardman-Mountford — Director (source)
Lisa Hynes — Director (source)
Katherin Pertsinidis — Chief Operating Officer (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.

Funders the charity credits

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

The Nippon Foundation — “The Ocean Census The largest programme in history to discover ocean life, with The Nippon Foundation” (source page)
Omega — “First Descent To explore and protect the Indian Ocean, with Omega and Kensington” (source page)
Kensington — “First Descent To explore and protect the Indian Ocean, with Omega and Kensington” (source page)
Schmidt Ocean Institute — “Ocean Rising Connecting culture and the ocean, with Schmidt Ocean Institute” (source page)

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

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

Total income

£3.2m

Total spending

£5.4m

Cost of raising funds

£3k

Reserves (reported)

£378k

Employees

14

Reported reserves equal ~0.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (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: 0.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Captain Paul Anthony Crowther
Christopher Cunliffe · trustee of 1 other charity
Emily Victoria Penn
JULIET CATHARINE BURNETT
Professor Callum Michael Roberts
RUPERT GREY · trustee of 1 other charity
Robert Dougall McCallum
William Duff Goodlad

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

Operates in: Maldives · Seychelles · South Africa · Throughout London

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£3.2m	£5.4m
31/03/2024	£7.4m	£4.1m
31/12/2022	£3.2m	£3.3m
31/12/2021	£438k	£797k
31/12/2020	£2.0m	£2.7m

Common questions

Is NEKTON FOUNDATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity incurred a deficit of £2,319k for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total incoming resources of £3,200k against expenditure of £5,443k. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves held were £378k, which exceeds the stated target requirement of £243k for unforeseen events and closure costs. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Sayer Vincent LLP.

Who funds NEKTON FOUNDATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name NEKTON FOUNDATION as a grant recipient include OCEAN FAMILY FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
OCEAN FAMILY FOUNDATION	FY2025	£30k

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
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION	2	£499k
CHAPMAN CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£6k
The Global Returns Project Limited	1	£403k
PETER DUBENS FAMILY FOUNDATION	1	£373k
FRIENDS PROVIDENT CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£266k
THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION	1	£242k
THE CONSTANCE TRAVIS CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£180k
EAST HEAD IMPACT	1	£169k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON FOUNDATION UK.

CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON FOUNDATION UK income £569k
OCEAN FAMILY FOUNDATION income £329k
BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION income £13.0m
SEA WATCH FOUNDATION, THE CETACEAN MONITORING UNIT income £472k
THE NEUROKINEX CHARITABLE TRUST income £310k
NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION income £5.0m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
NEKTON FOUNDATION	£3.2m	—	4	above	—	no doubt
CAPTAIN PAUL WATSON FOUNDATION UK FY2025	£569k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
OCEAN FAMILY FOUNDATION FY2025	£329k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION FY2025	£13.0m	£100,001 - £110,000	—	below	—	no doubt
SEA WATCH FOUNDATION, THE CETACEAN MONITORING UNIT FY2025	£472k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE NEUROKINEX CHARITABLE TRUST FY2024	£310k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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