How we raise and spend our money

The King's Fund is a registered charity (no. 1126980) that works to be the most influential, independent source of health care policy ideas and analysis in England, a centre of innovative leadership development and a leading force in the application of ideas that achieve measurable improvements in health care.

  • How we are funded
  • How we spend our money
  • Our endowment
  • Venue services
  • How we are funded

    Total income for 2010 amounted to £14.1 million (£13.8 million in 2009), of which £9.4 million (£9.1 million) was generated from charitable activities and £4.7 million (£4.7 million) was derived from the investment portfolio, other activites and other incoming resources.

    We fund our work through three main sources:

    • Income from charitable activities: This includes fees paid for leadership programmes and events, plus grants and commissions from a variety of organisations for particular policy or development projects.
    • Income from generated funds: This includes the returns earned on our investments, income from venue services and rent received from other organisations who share our headquarters building.

    The King's Fund is also pleased to receive monies through donations and legacies. Find out more about leaving a lasting legacy for tomorrow’s health care.

    How we spend our money

    Total expenditure of the Fund was £17.3million in 2010 (£17.6 million). We used our income to support four key objectives in 2010. These are set out below with some examples of how we achieved them:

    To be the most influential, independent source of health care policy ideas and analysis in England

    Net expenditure after fees and grants was £2.3 million (£2.2 million)

    To be the most reliable source of independent health care policy information, insight and support for the key audiences of the Fund

    Net expenditure after fees and grants was £0.9 million (£0.6 million) 

    • We produced more blogs, audio and video content and writing specifically for a web audience
    • We held 19 paid for events, attracting more than 2,000 delegates
    • Our positive parliamentary mentions increased by 40% on 2009.

    To be a centre of innovative, high-impact development interventions, supporting the changing nature of leadership in health care

    Net expenditure after fees and grants £0.3 million (£1.1 million)

    To be a leading force in the application of ideas and interventions for frontline staff that achieve measurable improvements in health care

    Net expenditure after fees and grants £1.5 million (£1.3 million)

    Our endowment

    The King’s Fund was formed in 1897 as an initiative of the then Prince of Wales to support London’s voluntary hospitals. Donations in the first year totalled £227,000 – worth more than £20 million today – and high levels of donations continued to be made for the next 50 years or so.

    After the NHS was established in 1948, The King’s Fund changed its focus to respond to the new needs of a predominantly tax-funded health service, and our major funding sources changed accordingly. In the early years donations were distributed as grants and when this declined, after 1948, the funds remaining (the ‘endowment’) were invested to provide both regular income and capital growth to support future initiatives. Find out more about our history and past work.

    Our endowment is the guarantor of our independence and so we invest and draw down from it carefully. The amount we use each year to support our activities is designed to ensure that our activities will be sustainable in the long term.

    Find out more about our financial strategy and how our endowment is calculated in our Trustees' Report and Financial Statements 2010 (291 kb) [pdf]

    Venue services

    KEHF Limited, a company registered in England, no. 2754697, is wholly owned by The King’s Fund and provides venue services to external hirers of the conference facilities at Cavendish Square.

    Further information 

    For more information about our income sources and investments please see our Trustees' Report and Financial Statements 2010 (291 kb) [pdf] or contact Stephen Park, Interim Director of Finance and ICT, s.park@kingsfund.org.uk, tel: 020 7307 2499.