WELLCOME TRUST

Registered charity 210183 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q326276 · Wikipedia · also known as WILL CHARITIES OF SIR HENRY S WELLCOME (THE MUSEUM AND LIBRARY CHARITY)

Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive.We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation.

Objects

(1) TO PROTECT, PRESERVE AND ADVANCE ALL OR ANY ASPECTS OF THE HEALTH AND WELFARE OF HUMANKIND AND TO ADVANCE AND PROMOTE KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION BY ENGAGING IN, ENCOURAGING AND SUPPORTING: (A) RESEARCH INTO ANY OF THE BIOSCIENCES; AND (B) THE DISCOVERY, INVENTION, IMPROVEMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF TREATMENTS, CURES, DIAGNOSTICS AND OTHER MEDICINAL AGENTS, METHODS AND PROCESSES THAT MAY IN ANY WAY RELIEVE ILLNESS, DISEASE, DISABILITY OR DISORDERS OF WHATEVER NATURE IN HUMAN BEINGS OR ANIMAL OR PLANT LIFE; AND (2) TO ADVANCE AND PROMOTE KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATION BY ENGAGING IN, ENCOURAGING AND SUPPORTING: (A) RESEARCH INTO THE HISTORY OF ANY OF THE BIOSCIENCES; AND (B) THE STUDY AND UNDERSTANDING OF ANY OF THE BIOSCIENCES OR THE HISTORY OF ANY OF THE BIOSCIENCES.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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 · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Camden, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£589.5m

Latest spending

£2051.2m

Registered

1962

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £35,719.5 million, providing a substantial buffer against investment volatility. The charity reported a total charitable expenditure of £1,916.4 million, funded by investment returns that generated a net gain of £3,239.8 million. The trustees confirmed adequate resources to continue operating for at least 12 months, with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: Investment returns (100% of income)

“Dividend income, including any recoverable tax, is recognised from the ex-dividend date when it becomes receivable.” — page 169

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: John-Arne Røttingen, CEO, has an appointment at the Francis Crick Institute which was awarded grants in the year.

“John-Arne Røttingen, a member of key management personnel, has an appointment at the Francis Crick Institute which was awarded grants in the year.” — page 185

“Included in other charitable income for the Trust are Gift Aid donations received from subsidiary undertakings totalling £16.5 (2024: £126.2 million)” — page 179

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Gift Aid donations from subsidiary undertakings.

“John-Arne Røttingen, a member of key management personnel, has an appointment at the Francis Crick Institute which was awarded grants in the year.” — page 185

“Included in other charitable income for the Trust are Gift Aid donations received from subsidiary undertakings totalling £16.5 (2024: £126.2 million)” — page 179

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Deloitte LLP. Discloses 3 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
Campaigns and political activity 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
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Investment
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media 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.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2025

Government income: £2,015,983 — grants £2,015,983 (16); under 1% of the £589,458,608 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 887 (£60,001–£70,000: 297; £70,001–£80,000: 161; £80,001–£90,000: 117; £90,001–£100,000: 101; £100,001–£110,000: 55; £110,001–£120,000: 32; £120,001–£130,000: 24; £130,001–£140,000: 15; £140,001–£150,000: 7; £150,001–£200,000: 37; £200,001–£250,000: 15; £250,001–£300,000: 12; £300,001–£350,000: 7; £350,001–£400,000: 1; £400,001–£450,000: 2; £450,001–£500,000: 2; over £500,000: 2)
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for acting as trustee
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2024

Government income: £1,666,214 — grants £1,666,214 (15); under 1% of the £569,497,051 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 848 (£60,001–£70,000: 273; £70,001–£80,000: 174; £80,001–£90,000: 120; £90,001–£100,000: 76; £100,001–£110,000: 41; £110,001–£120,000: 31; £120,001–£130,000: 18; £130,001–£140,000: 17; £140,001–£150,000: 15; £150,001–£200,000: 27; £200,001–£250,000: 15; £250,001–£300,000: 8; £300,001–£350,000: 2; £350,001–£400,000: 2; £400,001–£450,000: 2; £450,001–£500,000: 4; over £500,000: 23)
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for acting as trustee
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2023

Government income: £21,732,222 — contracts £20,666,557 (1), grants £1,065,665 (24); 4% of the £541,832,807 total gross income on the same return
Employees paid over £60,000: 675 (£60,001–£70,000: 227; £70,001–£80,000: 141; £80,001–£90,000: 86; £90,001–£100,000: 60; £100,001–£110,000: 30; £110,001–£120,000: 21; £120,001–£130,000: 12; £130,001–£140,000: 15; £140,001–£150,000: 5; £150,001–£200,000: 33; £200,001–£250,000: 11; £250,001–£300,000: 9; £300,001–£350,000: 2; £350,001–£400,000: 3; £400,001–£450,000: 1; £450,001–£500,000: 1; over £500,000: 18)
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for acting as trustee
Has a trading subsidiary
Grant-making is its main activity

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

UK research funding (UKRI Gateway to Research)

Property (HM Land Registry)

109 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (74 freehold); recorded price paid £47.7m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£589.5m

Total spending

£2051.2m

Cost of raising funds

£99.1m

Reserves (reported)

£35719.5m

Employees

2,358

Reported reserves equal ~209.0 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 2.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Investments (91% 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: 16.8% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

THE WELLCOME TRUST LIMITED

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

Operates in: Australia · Bangladesh · Botswana · Brazil · Burkina Faso · Cameroon · Canada · China · Colombia · Costa Rica · Cyprus · Denmark

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£589.5m	£2051.2m
30/09/2024	£569.5m	£1626.6m
30/09/2023	£541.8m	£1660.8m
30/09/2022	£502.3m	£1488.8m
30/09/2021	£410.3m	£1365.4m

Common questions

Is WELLCOME TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £35,719.5 million, providing a substantial buffer against investment volatility. The charity reported a total charitable expenditure of £1,916.4 million, funded by investment returns that generated a net gain of £3,239.8 million. The trustees confirmed adequate resources to continue operating for at least 12 months, with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Deloitte LLP.

Who funds WELLCOME TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name WELLCOME TRUST as a grant recipient include ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH UK, GUY'S AND ST THOMAS' FOUNDATION, BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
ALZHEIMER'S RESEARCH UK	FY2021	£2.7m	Grant paid to institution
GUY'S AND ST THOMAS' FOUNDATION	FY2021	£1.5m	Co-funding partnership for health research engagement
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE	FY2024	£846k	Wellcome Trust grants

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
UK government	01/04/2017	£196k	UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR) Phase 3 - UKCDR Secretariat and Strategic Coherence of ODA-Research (SCOR) Board
UK government	01/04/2016	£5.4m	Research on Disease Outbreaks, to inform more effective preparedness and response, in partnership with Wellcome
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	12/11/2001	£904k	"Francis Crick Papers"

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 ELTON JOHN AIDS FOUNDATION	1	£481k
SIR HALLEY STEWART TRUST	1	£42k
MAUDSLEY CHARITY	1	£15k

Charities like this

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

WILLIAMSON TRUST income £727k
WELLBEING FOUNDATION income £39k
THE WOOSNAM FOUNDATION income £587k
CAMPAIGNS IN GLOBAL HEALTH income £954k
THE WELL CENTRE income £112k
WISDOM HOSPICE SUPPORT income £672k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
WELLCOME TRUST	£589.5m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
WILLIAMSON TRUST FY2025	£727k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
WELLBEING FOUNDATION FY2025	£39k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE WOOSNAM FOUNDATION FY2025	£587k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
CAMPAIGNS IN GLOBAL HEALTH FY2025	£954k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE WELL CENTRE FY2025	£112k	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt

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