Common questions about World Cancer Research Fund's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is World Cancer Research Fund a good charity? +
World Cancer Research Fund scores 66 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 75% 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 World Cancer Research Fund a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists World Cancer Research Fund as a registered charity (charity number 1000739). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=1000739&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 World Cancer Research Fund's charity number? +
World Cancer Research Fund's charity number is 1000739. 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 World Cancer Research Fund's charity rating? +
World Cancer Research Fund scores 66 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 World Cancer Research Fund have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for World Cancer Research Fund. 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; high fundraising costs). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.
How much of my donation reaches World Cancer Research Fund? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 75% of World Cancer Research Fund'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 World Cancer Research Fund's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 25% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 26% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at World Cancer Research Fund. World Cancer Research Fund's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports 6 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (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 World Cancer Research Fund receive? +
World Cancer Research Fund reported £12m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: stable.
Are World Cancer Research Fund's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: late (last filing 2026-06-22). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is World Cancer Research Fund based? +
World Cancer Research Fund's registered contact address is in London (N1 9FW). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, with a focus on cancer.
How much is World Cancer Research Fund's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. World Cancer Research Fund's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports 6 employees paid more than £60,000, including 2 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £140,001–£150,000 (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 World Cancer Research Fund's money come from? +
World Cancer Research Fund reported £12m total income for the year ending 30 September 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £12m (98%), investments £194k (2%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £2.4m.
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to World Cancer Research Fund? +
The register records World Cancer Research Fund 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 World Cancer Research Fund's trustees paid? +
World Cancer Research Fund's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
When was World Cancer Research Fund registered as a charity? +
World Cancer Research Fund was entered on the register on 30 October 1990. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 02536180).
How does CharityCompare score World Cancer Research Fund? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in World Cancer Research Fund'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 World Cancer Research Fund's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.