The Nuffield Trust is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales as company number 382452. It is registered with the Charity Commission as charity number 209169.
We are funded primarily from income generated from the Nuffield Trust’s own endowment – this guarantees the independence of our research and wider activities.
The endowment was given to the Nuffield Trust in 1940 by Viscount Nuffield and the capital value is currently about £60 million. We use our investment income to fund in-house research, support our infrastructure, and allow us to commission external research.
The Trustees have a total return strategy for the investment assets whereby income and capital returns are treated alike. Operational funds available for charitable activities are drawn down from the capital value of the portfolio at the rate of four per cent of the capital value of the investment assets averaged over a three year period. Hence in any one year, resources expended on charitable activities may exceed incoming resources.
This income generated from the endowment therefore continues to remain the most important source of income for the Trust, and ensures we are not dependent on any other source of income to carry out our charitable purpose (see chart below).
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In addition, we undertake a small number of research projects funded by other research organisations and bodies – these are primarily in the public sector and include organisations such as the Department of Health and the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation programme (see chart below).
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We also generate sponsorship income from a range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations, to support our events programme (particularly our annual UK Health Policy Summit and Euro Summit). This accounts for around two per cent of our income (see first chart above).
In deciding whether to accept funding for projects or sponsorship income, we consider whether the work is in accordance with our primary charitable purpose and whether it sits within our strategic work streams. Our ethical collaboration policy explores this in more detail.
As the chart below shows, we spend the majority of our income on our staff, infrastructure costs, and delivering our research and other projects.
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Further information on financial matters and our governance structure is set out in our audited Report and Financial Statements.
