THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST

Registered charity 292559 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as T D T

The principal activity of the charity is to promote and advance the dramatic and other performing arts for the benefit of the public through supporting the work of various charitable foundations together with the provision of grants to people in the arts.

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

Latest income

£1.0m

Latest spending

£1.3m

Registered

1985

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £4,011,294, which is above the stated policy target of £2.6m. The charity holds significant fixed asset investments valued at £15,837,978 but carries current liabilities of £11,939,809, primarily due to a loan from the Society of London Theatre. The trustees confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern despite the loan being repayable on demand.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: 15% of the carrying value of the fixed asset investment plus 3 months of projected annual grant payments (held: £4.0m)

“The target for free reserves based on this policy is £2.6m.” — page 7

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Grants of £130,000 paid to Theatre Investment Fund Limited (Stage One), a charity where Trustees Eleanor Lloyd and Kenneth Wax served.

“Eleanor Lloyd and Kenneth Wax who were Trustees of the charity in the year were also, for at least part of the year, Trustees of Theatre Investment Fund Limited (Stage One), a registered charity, to which grants were paid of £130,000” — page 23

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 01928541

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

BAKER, Tristan Michael Douglas — director, appointed 03/07/2024on trustee list
WAX, Kenneth Howard — director, appointed 03/07/2024on trustee list
RAWLINSON, Andrew — director, appointed 03/07/2024on trustee list
BOURNE, Griselda Rose — director, appointed 14/06/2023on trustee list
WILLIAMS, Anna Elizabeth — director, appointed 28/04/2023on trustee list
BIRD, Thomas William — director, appointed 28/04/2023on trustee list
COLLIER, Andrew James Neville — director, appointed 28/04/2023on trustee list
FINCH, Henrietta Lucy Anne — director, appointed 23/11/2022on trustee list
FINCH, Alan Arthur — director, appointed 23/11/2022not on trustee list
BENNETT, Kathryn Ruth — director, appointed 04/11/2020on trustee list
GAVIN, Alexander Rupert, Sir — director, appointed 21/06/2018on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Total income

£1.0m

Total spending

£1.3m

Cost of raising funds

£398k

Reserves (reported)

£4.0m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~35.7 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (59% 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: 38.9% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Kathryn Ruth Bennettchair · trustee of 1 other charity
Alan Arthur Finch CBE · trustee of 1 other charity
Andrew Collier · trustee of 1 other charity
Andrew Rawlinson · trustee of 1 other charity
Anna Elizabeth Williams · trustee of 1 other charity
Griselda Bourne
HENRIETTA FINCH
Kenneth Howard Wax
MARK GABRIEL RUBINSTEIN
Sir Alexander Rupert Gavin
Thomas William Bird
Tristan Michael Douglas Baker

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
31/12/2024	£1.0m	£1.3m
31/12/2023	£690k	£1.3m
31/12/2022	£1.5m	£2.7m
31/12/2021	£5.0m	£3.9m
31/12/2020	£5.1m	£5.0m

Common questions

Is THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £4,011,294, which is above the stated policy target of £2.6m. The charity holds significant fixed asset investments valued at £15,837,978 but carries current liabilities of £11,939,809, primarily due to a loan from the Society of London Theatre. The trustees confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern despite the loan being repayable on demand. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP.

Who funds THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST as a grant recipient include THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, MOONDANCE FOUNDATION, BACKSTAGE TRUST, HUO FAMILY FOUNDATION (UK) LIMITED, THE JOHN COATES CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE GATSBY CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	FY2022	£1.3m	Towards providing hardship support to artists and theatre workers adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
MOONDANCE FOUNDATION	FY2023	£750k
BACKSTAGE TRUST	FY2023	£387k	Creative Workforce Pilot Programme
BACKSTAGE TRUST	FY2023	£387k
BACKSTAGE TRUST	FY2025	£317k	Final stages of Creative Workforce Pilot Programme
BACKSTAGE TRUST	FY2022	£250k	Additional grant to Theatre Artists Fund for emergency support for theatre workers
BACKSTAGE TRUST	FY2022	£250k
HUO FAMILY FOUNDATION (UK) LIMITED	FY2021	£138k	Support for freelancers (Theatre Artists Fund)
HUO FAMILY FOUNDATION (UK) LIMITED	FY2022	£66k
THE JOHN COATES CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£10k
CATKIN PUSSYWILLOW CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£6k
THE JOHN COATES CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£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 RANDAL CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£300k
THE HEADLEY TRUST	1	£33k
GENESIS AMERICA (UK) LIMITED	1	£10k
THE AUSTIN AND HOPE PILKINGTON TRUST	1	£5k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE THEATRES TRUST CHARITABLE FUND.

THE THEATRES TRUST CHARITABLE FUND income £1.4m
LEICESTER THEATRE TRUST LIMITED income £18.5m
CHADS THEATRE COMPANY income £105k
UNITY THEATRE TRUST income £228k
THEATRE INVESTMENT FUND LIMITED income £1.3m
SCARBOROUGH THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST income £489k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THEATRE DEVELOPMENT TRUST	£1.0m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE THEATRES TRUST CHARITABLE FUND FY2025	£1.4m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
LEICESTER THEATRE TRUST LIMITED FY2025	£18.5m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
CHADS THEATRE COMPANY FY2025	£105k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
UNITY THEATRE TRUST FY2025	£228k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THEATRE INVESTMENT FUND LIMITED FY2025	£1.3m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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