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Registered charity · Caughall Road

The North of England Zoological Society

The North of England Zoological Society is a registered charity (number 306077) based in Caughall Road, governed by 16 trustees and chaired by Malcolm Ardron since 2013. Latest income £63m (2024). Source: Charity Commission register, updated 25th October 2026.

Also known as ACT for Wildlife, Chester Zoo (Charity Commission)

  • 16 trustees
  • Income £63m (2024)
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Official record Charity Commission · updated 25th October 2026 · Sources · Free, no card or password

Network

The large node is The North of England Zoological Society. 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.

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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
Education/training, Animals, Environment/conservation/heritage
Where
Cheshire West & Chester
Website
www.chesterzoo.org (opens in a new tab)
Linked company
The North of England Zoological Society
Registered
1967

Income and spending

  • YearIncomeSpending
  • 2024£63m£61m
  • 2023£57m£58m
  • 2022£51m£49m
Earlier years
  • 2021£45m£44m
  • 2020£36m£36m

Income trend, 2020 to 2024.

Income source mix, 2024: Government grants under 1%. From the charity's annual return.

Charitable objects

THE SOCIETY'S OBJECTS ARE: (A) TO PROMOTE THE CONSERVATION OF THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT BY PROMOTING BIODIVERSITY; AND (B) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC ON THE CONSERVATION OF THE PHYSICAL AND NATURAL WORLD AND THE PROMOTION OF BIODIVERSITY; IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE PROVISION OF EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND THE MAINTENANCE OF ENDANGERED ANIMALS, PLANTS AND HABITATS IN BOTH PROTECTIVE AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS

Grants received

22 grants · £7,004,693 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

  • The National Lottery Heritage Fund · £4,780,495 (4 grants)
  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport · £681,123 (2 grants)
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs · £584,899 (12 grants)
  • Westminster Foundation · £532,179
  • Department for Culture, Media & Sport · £251,714

Most recent

  • The National Archives £19,7492024-10-01
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs £50,0832024-04-01
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs £12,3992024-04-01
  • Westminster Foundation £532,1792023-05-16
  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs £191,7712023-04-01
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.

16 trustees on the board

4.3y median 3y
average tenure
13y
longest tenure

Trustees past 6 years

10.3y
average years in governance

First-time vs portfolio trustees

First-time (11)

Portfolio (5)

15
company-linked trustees

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

Animals 16Education/training 16Environment/conservation/heritage 15Religious Activities 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.

Arts and leisure 17Professional services 13Finance 6

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.
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
incomespending£63.1m latest income
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.

0.9 months of spending held in free reserves · median for charities its size: 3.5 months

664 from 502 in 2020
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.

Sources

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

Record details
Registered charity number
306077
Status
Registered
Governing document
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 09/05/1934AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 01/07/1950AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 21/05/1955AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 04/05/1957AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 13/06/1966AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 16/10/1985AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 13/05/1995AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 22/05/1999AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 22/05/2007AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 07/06/2013AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 21 JUN 2016 as amended on 27 May 2021 as amended on 09 Jun 2022 as amended on 20 Jun 2024
Companies House
Company number 00287902 · Active
Contact on the register
01244650201 · t.owen@chesterzoo.org
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.

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