Charity Accounts Intelreading the accounts so you don’t have to

THE SOCIETY OF DYERS AND COLOURISTS

Registered charity 212331 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SDC

Promote the advancement of technology both in the theory and in the practice of the creation and use of colour and colouring matter. Full details are available in the Objects contained in the SDC Royal Charter available via our website at www.sdc.org.uk

Objects

TO PROMOTE BY ANY OR ALL AVAILABLE MEANS THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE SCIENCE OF COLOUR AND IN PARTICULAR BUT WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING IN FURTHERANCE THEREOF TO DO ALL OR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: SEE ROYAL CHARTER 8 MAY 1963 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

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 · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Bradford, Yorkshire and The Humber, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income
£7.6m
Latest spending
£7.4m
Registered
1962
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity's free reserves stood at 11.3 months of expenditure, which is slightly below its stated policy target of 12 to 15 months. Per the trustees' report, the charity achieved a net downward movement of funds of £112,490, a significant improvement from the prior year, driven by a £198,399 reduction in expenditure. The group reported total funds of £10,608,138, supported by healthy profits from its trading subsidiaries which provided £630,000 in Gift Aid.

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

What the accounts disclose

Employees paid over £60,000: 3
“There were 3 employees of the group with employment benefits in excess of £60,000 (2024 - 3).” — page 57
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: between 12 and 15 months of budgeted total costs (held: £55k)
“The SDC aims to hold between 12 and 15 months of budgeted total costs in its free Reserves.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Purchases from Wilkinson & Scott Limited
“and purchases of £48,086 (2024 - £Nil) from Wilkinson & Scott Limited, companies in which one of the trustees of the Charity, I Lewis, is a director.” — page 68
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Thomas Coombs. Discloses 5 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.

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 31/12/2025

  • Volunteers: 80
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 2 (£60,001–£70,000: 1; £100,001–£110,000: 1)
  • Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024

  • Volunteers: 80
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 2 (£60,001–£70,000: 1; £110,001–£120,000: 1)
  • Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity
  • Has a trading subsidiary

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023

  • Volunteers: 91
  • Employees paid over £60,000: 2 (£60,001–£70,000: 1; £90,001–£100,000: 1)
  • Has a trading subsidiary

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

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/12/2021 (received 21/12/2022, 51 days after the 31/10/2022 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

In the news

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

Leadership, per the charity’s website

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.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Total income
£7.6m
Total spending
£7.4m
Cost of raising funds
£6.4m
Reserves (reported)
£10.7m
Employees
9

Reported reserves equal ~17.3 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (97% 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: 84.0% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Australia · Austria · Bangladesh · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Canada · China · Cyprus · Denmark · Egypt · France

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/12/2025£7.6m£7.4m
31/12/2024£7.4m£7.1m
31/12/2023£6.5m£6.1m
31/12/2022£6.5m£5.5m
31/12/2021£6.0m£5.0m

Common questions

Is THE SOCIETY OF DYERS AND COLOURISTS financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity's free reserves stood at 11.3 months of expenditure, which is slightly below its stated policy target of 12 to 15 months. Per the trustees' report, the charity achieved a net downward movement of funds of £112,490, a significant improvement from the prior year, driven by a £198,399 reduction in expenditure. The group reported total funds of £10,608,138, supported by healthy profits from its trading subsidiaries which provided £630,000 in Gift Aid. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Thomas Coombs.

Who funds THE SOCIETY OF DYERS AND COLOURISTS?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SOCIETY OF DYERS AND COLOURISTS as a grant recipient include THE DYERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUST, THE COTTON INDUSTRY WAR MEMORIAL TRUST.

Known funders

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

FunderYearAmountPurpose (as stated by the funder)
THE DYERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2021£16kThe Dyeing Industry
THE COTTON INDUSTRY WAR MEMORIAL TRUSTFY2024£10khosting several workshops in 2024
THE DYERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2024£8kThe Dyeing Industry
THE DYERS' COMPANY CHARITABLE TRUSTFY2023£5kThe Dyeing Industry

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.

FunderSimilar charities fundedAmount to them
THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE BENEVOLENT FUND1£199k
EQUITY CHARITABLE TRUST1£195k
THE MACKINTOSH FOUNDATION1£47k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST1£40k
ACTING FOR OTHERS1£30k
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST1£20k
MARIA BJORNSON MEMORIAL FUND1£10k
CHK Foundation1£10k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE SOCIETY OF DESIGNER-CRAFTSMEN.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
THE SOCIETY OF DYERS AND COLOURISTS£7.6m—3unclear—no doubt
THE SOCIETY OF DESIGNER-CRAFTSMEN FY2025£71k—0unclear—no doubt
THE DESIGN RESEARCH SOCIETY FY2025£60k—0unclear—no doubt
SOCIETY OF WOMEN ARTISTS LIMITED FY2025£87k—0unclear—no doubt
DESIGNERMAKERS CIO FY2026£29k—0unclear—no doubt
THE CHARTERED SOCIETY OF DESIGNERS FY2025£199k£60,000 to £69,9991unclear—no doubt

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