THE GROCERS' CHARITY

Registered charity 255230 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Grocers' Charity is the charitable arm of the Grocers' Company, a City of London Livery Company. The Charity is a grant-awarding body to UK registered charities working in designated areas of need that encompasses education, the Church, the relief of poverty, support for the arts, heritage, young people, medicine, environment and those with disabilities.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£868k

Latest spending

£1.8m

Registered

1968

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that net assets increased by 2.4% to £38,609,903, with unrestricted reserves standing at £392,952. The trustees report that the charity has sufficient assets to continue fulfilling its obligations for the long term, noting no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: no requirement for reserves in the normal sense (held: £393k)

“As a grant-making body that provides neither services nor materials and has no long-term grant commitments to which it is legally bound, the Charity has no requirement for reserves in the normal sense.” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: The Charity awarded a total of £475,000 in the financial year (2024: £175,000) to Oundle School. This comprised £175,000 to support the Schoool’s bursary programme, and a £300,000 donation to the Oundle School Development Fund. The Grocers’ Company has been supporting the School since its foundation. Oundle’s Governing Body consists of seventeen members, including eight Governors nominated by the Court of the Grocers’ Company.

“The Charity awarded a total of £475,000 in the financial year (2024: £175,000) to Oundle School. This comprised £175,000 to support the Schoool’s bursary programme, and a £300,000 donation to the Oundle School Development Fund. The Grocers’ Company has been supporting the School since its foundation. Oundle’s Governing Body consists of seventeen members, including eight Governors nominated by the Court of the Grocers’ Company.” — page 28

“The Charity awarded £42,800 in the financial year (2024: £42,800) to the Mossbourne Charitable Trust. The Grocers’ Charity has been supporting schools within the Mossbourne Federation since the foundation of the Mossbourne Community Academy in 2004. Across the four Mossbourne schools, there are eleven Grocer Governors, including four of the eight Directors of the Mossbourne Federation. The Mossbourne Federation nominates all Governors across the four schools and the Directors of the Federation.” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: The Charity awarded £42,800 in the financial year (2024: £42,800) to the Mossbourne Charitable Trust. The Grocers’ Charity has been supporting schools within the Mossbourne Federation since the foundation of the Mossbourne Community Academy in 2004. Across the four Mossbourne schools, there are eleven Grocer Governors, including four of the eight Directors of the Mossbourne Federation. The Mossbourne Federation nominates all Governors across the four schools and the Directors of the Federation.

“The Charity awarded a total of £475,000 in the financial year (2024: £175,000) to Oundle School. This comprised £175,000 to support the Schoool’s bursary programme, and a £300,000 donation to the Oundle School Development Fund. The Grocers’ Company has been supporting the School since its foundation. Oundle’s Governing Body consists of seventeen members, including eight Governors nominated by the Court of the Grocers’ Company.” — page 28

“The Charity awarded £42,800 in the financial year (2024: £42,800) to the Mossbourne Charitable Trust. The Grocers’ Charity has been supporting schools within the Mossbourne Federation since the foundation of the Mossbourne Community Academy in 2004. Across the four Mossbourne schools, there are eleven Grocer Governors, including four of the eight Directors of the Mossbourne Federation. The Mossbourne Federation nominates all Governors across the four schools and the Directors of the Federation.” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: The Grocers’ Company made a restricted donation to the Grocers’ Charity Fundraising Dinner of £30,000 (2024: £35,000). It made further restricted donations of £2,000 for the Snow Camp Charity and £3,000 to the Coldstream Guards’ Charity.

“The Charity awarded a total of £475,000 in the financial year (2024: £175,000) to Oundle School. This comprised £175,000 to support the Schoool’s bursary programme, and a £300,000 donation to the Oundle School Development Fund. The Grocers’ Company has been supporting the School since its foundation. Oundle’s Governing Body consists of seventeen members, including eight Governors nominated by the Court of the Grocers’ Company.” — page 28

“The Charity awarded £42,800 in the financial year (2024: £42,800) to the Mossbourne Charitable Trust. The Grocers’ Charity has been supporting schools within the Mossbourne Federation since the foundation of the Mossbourne Community Academy in 2004. Across the four Mossbourne schools, there are eleven Grocer Governors, including four of the eight Directors of the Mossbourne Federation. The Mossbourne Federation nominates all Governors across the four schools and the Directors of the Federation.” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

In the news

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

Small grants of up to £5k available via The Grocers' Charity - Wired-Gov wired-gov.net · 01/06/2026

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Grocers' Charity (matched by registered charity number).

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income

£868k

Total spending

£1.8m

Cost of raising funds

£143k

Reserves (reported)

£904k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~6.0 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Investments (67% 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: 16.4% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

GROCERS' TRUST COMPANY LIMITED (THE)

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£868k	£1.8m
31/07/2024	£1.1m	£1.4m
31/07/2023	£1.3m	£1.4m
31/07/2022	£1.0m	£1.2m
31/07/2021	£6.8m	£967k

Common questions

Is THE GROCERS' CHARITY financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that net assets increased by 2.4% to £38,609,903, with unrestricted reserves standing at £392,952. The trustees report that the charity has sufficient assets to continue fulfilling its obligations for the long term, noting no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP.

Who funds THE GROCERS' CHARITY?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE GROCERS' CHARITY as a grant recipient include JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION LIMITED, THE CHRISTOPHER AND HENRY OLDFIELD TRUST, THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF WIGAN WEST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
JUVENILE DIABETES RESEARCH FOUNDATION LIMITED	FY2025	£12k	Support and awareness
THE CHRISTOPHER AND HENRY OLDFIELD TRUST	FY2024	£5k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF WIGAN WEST	FY2025	£2k	Grant
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF WIGAN WEST	FY2024	£2k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF WIGAN WEST	FY2023	—

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
LEVERHULME TRADE CHARITIES TRUST	1	£5.9m
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£150k
THE ANTHONY AND ELIZABETH MELLOWS CHARITABLE SETTLEMENT	1	£50k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with NATIONAL GROCERS BENEVOLENT FUND.

NATIONAL GROCERS BENEVOLENT FUND income £27.3m
THE COOKS CHARITY income £274k
LEVERHULME TRADE CHARITIES TRUST income £3.1m
THE WORSHIPFUL SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES GENERAL CHARITY LIMITED income £241k
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF PLAISTERERS CHARITABLE TRUST income £143k
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF CUTLERS GENERAL CHARITABLE FUND income £175k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE GROCERS' CHARITY	£868k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
NATIONAL GROCERS BENEVOLENT FUND FY2025	£27.3m	—	10	unclear	—	no doubt
THE COOKS CHARITY FY2025	£274k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
LEVERHULME TRADE CHARITIES TRUST FY2025	£3.1m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE WORSHIPFUL SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES GENERAL CHARITY LIMITED FY2025	£241k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF PLAISTERERS CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025	£143k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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