THE BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY

Registered charity 253894 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

THE BIOCHEMICAL SOCIETY EXISTS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOSCIENCES, BOTH AS AN ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE AND TO PROMOTE ITS IMPACT ON AREAS OF SCIENCE INCLUDING BIOTECHNOLOGY, AGRICULTURE, AND MEDICINE.WE ACHIEVE OUR MISSION THOUGH OUR PUBLICATIONS AND JOURNALS, SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS, EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, POLICY WORK, AWARDS AND GRANTS TO SCIENTISTS AND STUDENTS.

Objects

TO PROMOTE THE SCIENCE OF BIOCHEMISTRY AND THE CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR LIFE SCIENCES IN GENERAL

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Group made a net surplus of £293,000 for the year, with closing unrestricted reserves of £11.7 million. The Trustees consider these reserves to exceed their stated policy target of £5 million to £6 million and intend to reduce them over time. The going concern assessment confirms adequate resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 4 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
• 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
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

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.

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

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Professor Richard Reece — Society President / Chair of Council of Trustees (source)
• Professor Gurdyal Besra — Vice President (source)
• Professor Sonia Rocha — Honorary Treasurer (source)
• Professor Nicholas Morton — Honorary Meetings Secretary (source)
• Professor Nigel Hooper — Chair, Portland Press Limited Board (source)
• Dr Susan Campbell — Local Ambassador Representative Trustee (source)
• Dr Hannah Britt — Early Career Representative Trustee (source)
• Professor David Smith — Chair, Education, Training and Public Engagement Committee (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).

• Portland Press — “These activities are supported by funding from our publisher Portland Press.” (source page)

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

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

Reported reserves equal ~34.4 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (90% 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: 0.6% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (05/09/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Elizabeth Shaw
• Dr Hannah Mary Chisholm-Britt
• Dr Michael James Bonne
• Dr Susan Gerarda Campbell
• Professor David Paul Smith · trustee of 1 other charity
• Professor Gurdyal Singh Besra
• Professor Nicholas Michael Morton
• Professor Nigel Mark Hooper
• Professor Richard Jonathan Reece
• Professor Sonia Maria Campos Soares da Rocha

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

Operates in: Albania · Argentina · Australia · Austria · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Barbados · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia And Herzegovina · Botswana · Brazil

Income and spending

Common questions

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.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with MICROBIOLOGY SOCIETY.

• MICROBIOLOGY SOCIETY income £4.2m
• BRITISH SOCIETY FOR ANTIMICROBIAL CHEMOTHERAPY income £2.7m
• BRITISH SOCIETY FOR CELL BIOLOGY income £138k
• SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY income £4.5m
• THE COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS income £8.4m
• SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY income £33k

Side by side with its peers

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