Skip to content
Governance Register
Sign inFind yourself
Find yourselfSign in
Search How it works For organisations For professionals

Edition

United Kingdom (current)IrelandUnited StatesNew ZealandCanadaAustraliaScotlandNorthern Ireland

Registered charity · London

Nesta

Nesta is a registered charity (number 1144091) based in London, governed by 9 trustees. Latest income £55m (2025). Source: Charity Commission register, updated 25th October 2026.

  • 9 trustees
  • Income £55m (2025)
How am I connected?
More
View network map Report an issue

The people who lead this organisation are listed below. Create a free account to save it, get alerts and check how you are connected.

Official record Charity Commission · updated 25th October 2026 · Sources · Free, no card or password

Network

The large node is Nesta. Red nodes are organisations, white nodes are people. Dashed links are historical or inferred. Click any node to explore.

Who leads it

Current trustees as listed by the Charity Commission, which does not publish previous trustees.

Do you help lead this organisation? Set up its network · How it works

People on this board also govern

Similar charities near London

See more like Nesta

Similar charities are matched by type of organisation or purpose and listed by latest income; shared trustees are formal board links. Neither is proof the organisations work together.

About

What it does
General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty and 4 more
Where
Scotland
Website
www.nesta.org.uk (opens in a new tab)
Linked company
Nesta
Registered
2011

Income and spending

  • YearIncomeSpending
  • 2025£55m£74m
  • 2024£52m£66m
  • 2023£46m£61m
Earlier years
  • 2022£22m£42m
  • 2021£30m£37m

Income trend, 2021 to 2025.

Income source mix, 2025: Government contracts 27% · Government grants under 1%. From the charity's annual return.

Charitable objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT:2.1 TO ADVANCE EDUCATION, AND IN PARTICULAR THE STUDY OF INNOVATION, BY THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH AND THE PUBLICATION OF THE USEFUL RESULTS THEREOF, IN:2.1.1 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY;2.1.2 THE ARTS;2.1.3 THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC SERVICES;2.1.4 THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE; AND2.1.5 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE.2.2 TO ADVANCE:2.2.1 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY2.2.2 THE ARTS2.2.3 THE EFFICIENCY OF PUBLIC SERVICES2.2.4 THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR2.2.5 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE WHICH(A) RELIEVES POVERTY(B) RELIEVES UNEMPLOYMENT(C) ADVANCES HEALTH(D) ADVANCES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OR IMPROVEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT(E) ADVANCES CITIZENSHIP OR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTTHROUGH OR BY ENCOURAGING AND SUPPORTING INNOVATION.THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR MEANS CHARITIES AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS. CHARITIES ARE ORGANISATIONS, WHICH ARE ESTABLISHED FOR EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE PURPOSES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES.VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS ARE INDEPENDENT ORGANISATIONS, WHICH ARE ESTABLISHED FOR PURPOSES THAT ADD VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE, OR A SIGNIFICANT SECTION OF THE COMMUNITY, AND WHICH ARE NOT PERMITTED BY THEIR CONSTITUTION TO MAKE A PROFIT FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS DO NOT INCLUDE LOCAL GOVERNMENT OR OTHER STATUTORY AUTHORITIES. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MEANS DEVELOPMENT THAT MEETS THE NEEDS OF THE PRESENT WITHOUT COMPROMISING THE ABILITY OF FUTURE GENERATIONS TO MEET THEIR OWN NEEDS.2.3 TO ADVANCE ANY OTHER PURPOSE WHICH IS RECOGNISED AS EXCLUSIVELY CHARITABLE UNDER THE LAWS OF ENGLAND AND WALES AND SCOTLAND.2.4 THROUGHOUT THESE ARTICLES A CHARITABLE PURPOSE IS A PURPOSE THAT IS REGARDED AS CHARITABLE ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES PROVIDED THAT IT WILL NOT INCLUDE ANY PURPOSE WHICH IS NOT CHARITABLE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 7 OF THE CHARITIES AND TRUSTEE INVESTMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 2005. FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF DOUBT, THE SYSTEM OF LAW GOVERNING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHARITY IS THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

Grants received

28 grants · £23,045,508 total

360Giving data, published by funders. Coverage only includes funders who publish their grants to 360Giving, so these figures are a floor, not a complete picture.

Top funders

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy · £6,865,632 (6 grants)
  • The National Lottery Community Fund · £6,635,974 (5 grants)
  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport · £3,812,893 (8 grants)
  • Department for Education · £3,126,607
  • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology · £1,309,552

Most recent

  • Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, UK Branch £60,0002024-01-30
  • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology £1,309,5522023-07-12
  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy £29,5252022-04-01
  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy £30,2942022-04-01
  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy £-82022-04-01

Grants given

1,637 grants · total

360Giving data, published by funders. Coverage only includes funders who publish their grants to 360Giving, so these figures are a floor, not a complete picture.

Top recipients

Most recent

Board analysis

Board DNA

How this board is put together, from Charity Commission trustee records and Companies House - deterministic, no AI.iBoard compositionCounted from the dated Charity Commission trustee register: the current board only, past trustees excluded.

9 trustees on the board

1.8y median 2y
average tenure
4y
longest tenure
0
trustees past 6 years
11y
average years in governance

First-time vs portfolio trustees

First-time (6)

Portfolio (3)

7
company-linked trustees

Sector coverage iSector coverageThe charitable fields this board's trustees govern in elsewhere, by Charity Commission classification. Excludes this charity.

Education/training 9The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives 8General Charitable Purposes 7Arts/culture/heritage/science 2Economic/community Development/employment 1

Commercial experience iCommercial experienceThe industries this board's members are company directors in, by Companies House SIC code. Excludes this organisation's own company.

Professional services 20Finance 9Education 7

Succession forecast iSuccession forecastThe number of board seats likely to open in the next twelve months - summed across the board from each dated trustee’s tenure - and the profile worth recruiting next. From the filed record, deterministic.

🔒 Succession forecast is a Pro feature - the board seats likely to open in the next year and the ideal next trustee. Explore Pro →

Health of the organisation facts side by side - the conclusion is yours

Income v spending, filed accountsiIncome v spendingTotal gross income and expenditure from filed annual returns, Charity Commission, last 5 years.
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
incomespending£55.3m latest income · spending exceeded income in 2024 and 2025
ReservesiReserves12 x free reserves / annual expenditure, from the Part B annual return. The sector median is computed across all Part B filers in the same income band.

5.9 months of spending held in free reserves · median for charities its size: 3.5 months · was 7.1 in 2021

512 from 277 in 2021
EmployeesiEmployeesHeadcount as filed in Part B annual returns, per financial year. Shown exactly as filed; year-on-year figures may be filed on different bases, so a comparison is only shown when the filings are plausibly comparable.
28%
Income from governmentiIncome from governmentGovernment contracts plus government grants as a share of total gross income, latest Part A annual return.

Sources

Official record from the Charity Commission register for England and Wales. Governance Register calculates the connections.

Record details
Registered charity number
1144091
Status
Registered
Governing document
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 15/07/2011AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 26/07/2011AS AMENDED BY CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION ON CHANGE OF NAME DATED 22/07/2013NOW ARTICLES ADOPTED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION DATED 23/01/2014NOW ARTICLES ADOPTED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION DATED 30/11/2015
Companies House
Company number 07706036 · Active
Contact on the register
02074382500 · information@nesta.org.uk
Edition
Register edition compiled 25th October 2026
Labels
Official record from the register · Calculated derived by Governance Register. Anything added by an organisation or person is labelled as provided by them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Report an issue · How we handle data