THE CHANCERY LANE PROJECT

Registered charity 1204664 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Chancery Lane Project (TCLP) is the largest global network of lawyers and business leaders using the power of climate contracting to deliver fast and fair decarbonisation.We work with legal and sustainability professionals to introduce climate contracting principles to their client agreements and ensure they deliver decarbonisation targets using their contracts.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.5m

Latest spending

£1.9m

Registered

2023

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £451,383 for the year ended 31 December 2024, resulting from expenditure exceeding incoming resources. However, the trustees note that this deficit was covered by brought-forward reserves, leaving total unrestricted reserves at £1,233,552 and cash holdings at £1,860,416. The trustees consider the going concern basis appropriate, citing the current level of unrestricted reserves, although they acknowledge financial vulnerability due to dependence on short- or medium-term grants.

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

What the accounts disclose

Related-party transaction: Lisa Jordan is an employee of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, who provide funding to the charity. As part of their support to grantees they request that they have a seat on the board. They agreed a grant with The Chancery Lane Project within The Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action to the value of $300k USD starting in November 2022. The grant was transferred to the Charity in November 2023. A total of £77,894 was recognised in relation to this grant in the reporting period.

“Lisa Jordan is an employee of the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, who provide funding to the charity. As part of their support to grantees they request that they have a seat on the board. They agreed a grant with The Chancery Lane Project within The Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action to the value of $300k USD starting in November 2022. The grant was transferred to the Charity in November 2023. A total of £77,894 was recognised in relation to this grant in the reporting period.” — page 25

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Godfrey Wilson Limited. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

In the news

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

The Chancery Lane Project and WRAP update clause to fight corporate food waste foodmanufacture.co.uk · 12/05/2026

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Matthew Gingell — Chair (source)
Ben Metz — Executive Director (source)
Samantha Leahy-Harland — Chief Operating Officer (source)
Felix Cohen — Director (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.

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

Total income

£3.0m

Total spending

£1.9m

Cost of raising funds

£97k

Reserves (reported)

£1.2m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~7.6 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (50% 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: 3.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Matthew Owen Gingellchair
Jonathan Hakim
Jonathan Samuel Saverimuttu · trustee of 1 other charity
Sarah Alice Oliver Scemla
Stephen Thomas
YASMIN WALJEE · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£1.5m	£1.9m
31/12/2023	£2.3m	£9k

Common questions

Is THE CHANCERY LANE PROJECT financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £451,383 for the year ended 31 December 2024, resulting from expenditure exceeding incoming resources. However, the trustees note that this deficit was covered by brought-forward reserves, leaving total unrestricted reserves at £1,233,552 and cash holdings at £1,860,416. The trustees consider the going concern basis appropriate, citing the current level of unrestricted reserves, although they acknowledge financial vulnerability due to dependence on short- or medium-term grants. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Godfrey Wilson Limited.

Who funds THE CHANCERY LANE PROJECT?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE CHANCERY LANE PROJECT as a grant recipient include THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN VOLUNTARY ACTION.

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

Jonathan Samuel Saverimuttu — trustee here and at THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN VOLUNTARY ACTION

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN VOLUNTARY ACTION	FY2023	£765k	Discontinued activity: TCLP project costs before independence
THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION IN VOLUNTARY ACTION	FY2024	£0

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
THE JOSEPH ROWNTREE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£150k
THE NATIONWIDE FOUNDATION	1	£137k
THE COMPASS GROUP FOUNDATION	1	£30k
MONTPELIER FOUNDATION LIMITED	1	£30k
THE INDIGO TRUST	1	£30k
JOFFE CHARITABLE TRUST CIO	1	£22k
POLDEN PUCKHAM CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£20k
THE COLYER-FERGUSSON CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£20k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE CARBON LITERACY TRUST.

THE CARBON LITERACY TRUST income £1.3m
SOCIETY FOR COMPUTERS AND LAW income £414k
The Global Returns Project Limited income £1.9m
NATIONAL COMMUNITY LAND TRUST NETWORK income £459k
CLC INTERNATIONAL OFFICE income £650k
INTERNATIONAL LAWYERS PROJECT income £508k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE CHANCERY LANE PROJECT	£1.5m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
THE CARBON LITERACY TRUST FY2025	£1.3m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
SOCIETY FOR COMPUTERS AND LAW FY2025	£414k	—	—	below	—	no doubt
The Global Returns Project Limited FY2026	£1.9m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
NATIONAL COMMUNITY LAND TRUST NETWORK FY2025	£459k	£60,001 - £70,000	1	above	—	noted
CLC INTERNATIONAL OFFICE FY2025	£650k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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