Common questions about Colchester Zoological Society's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Colchester Zoological Society a good charity? +
Colchester Zoological Society scores 69 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 100% of its spending goes to charitable activities (2-yr avg) and its accounts are up to date. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.
Is Colchester Zoological Society a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Colchester Zoological Society as a registered charity (charity number 1105621). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1105621&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.
What is Colchester Zoological Society's charity number? +
Colchester Zoological Society's charity number is 1105621. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.
What is Colchester Zoological Society's charity rating? +
Colchester Zoological Society scores 69 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.
Does Colchester Zoological Society have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Colchester Zoological Society. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (one red flag on this profile: very high reserves). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches Colchester Zoological Society? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 100% of Colchester Zoological Society's total spending went to charitable activities (2-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.
What are Colchester Zoological Society's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 0% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 9% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Colchester Zoological Society. The register does not show individual salaries; senior pay is disclosed in the trustees' annual report and accounts.
How much income does Colchester Zoological Society receive? +
Colchester Zoological Society reported £4.4m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: check comparability.
Are Colchester Zoological Society's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2025-10-23). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Colchester Zoological Society based? +
Colchester Zoological Society's registered contact address is in Colchester (CO3 0SL). It tells the regulator it operates in Essex, Laos, Madagascar, Nepal, South Africa, Indonesia, with a focus on animals.
Where does Colchester Zoological Society's money come from? +
Colchester Zoological Society reported £4.4m total income for the year ending 31 December 2024. The largest sources were donations and legacies £4.4m (99%), investments £65k (1%), trading and fundraising events £1,210 (0%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £2,552.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Colchester Zoological Society? +
The register records Colchester Zoological Society as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.
Are Colchester Zoological Society's trustees paid? +
Colchester Zoological Society's annual return for the year ending 31 December 2024 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was Colchester Zoological Society previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for Colchester Zoological Society: Colchester Zoo Action for the Wild.
When was Colchester Zoological Society registered as a charity? +
Colchester Zoological Society was entered on the register on 25 August 2004. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 05150424).
How does CharityCompare score Colchester Zoological Society? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Colchester Zoological Society's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.
How often is this page updated? +
This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Colchester Zoological Society's most recent accounts cover 2024. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.