Common questions about Niab's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is Niab a good charity? +
Niab scores 40 out of 100 (2 stars — Poor) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 79% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are late. 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 Niab a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists Niab as a registered charity (charity number 1064230). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1064230&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 Niab's charity number? +
Niab's charity number is 1064230. 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 Niab's charity rating? +
Niab scores 40 out of 100 on CharityCompare (2 stars — Poor). 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 Niab have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Niab. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (2 red flags on this profile: late accounts filing; poor filing history). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches Niab? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 79% of Niab's total spending went to charitable activities (3-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 Niab's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 11% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 11% of expenditure (2022–2024, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at Niab. Niab's annual return for the year ending 28 September 2025 reports 127 employees paid more than £60,000, including 24 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £250,001–£300,000 (1 employee). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does Niab receive? +
Niab reported £33m total income in its 2024 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are Niab's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: late. CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is Niab based? +
Niab's registered contact address is in Cambridge (CB24 9AT). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, with a focus on environment.
How much is Niab's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. Niab's annual return for the year ending 28 September 2025 reports 127 employees paid more than £60,000, including 24 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £250,001–£300,000 (1 employee). Charities normally disclose the chief executive's pay, or the pay of their highest-paid staff, in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report and accounts.
Where does Niab's money come from? +
Niab reported £60m total income for the year ending 28 September 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £35m (58%), trading and fundraising events £12m (20%), other income £12m (20%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to Niab? +
The register does not record Niab as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid. Ask the charity before assuming a donation can be Gift Aided.
Are Niab's trustees paid? +
Niab's annual return for the year ending 28 September 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for acting as a trustee). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.
What was Niab previously called? +
The register lists these previous names for Niab: National Institute of Agricultural Botany; Niab Charitable Corporation Limited.
When was Niab registered as a charity? +
Niab was entered on the register on 4 September 1997. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 03395389).
How does CharityCompare score Niab? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Niab'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 Niab'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.