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2024-09-30-accounts

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements Registered Charity No: 1000739 Registered Company No: 2536180 30 September 2024

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Contents

Contents
Reference and administrative information 3
Report of the Trustees 4-21
Statement of Responsibilities of the Trustees 22
Independent auditor's report to the members of World Cancer Research Fund 23-25
Statement of financial activities 26
Balance sheet 27
Statement of cash flows 28
Notes to the financial statements 29-40

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Reference and administrative information

WORLD CANCER RESEARCH FUND

CHARITY NO:

CHARITY NO: 1000739

COMPANY NO: 2536180

REGISTERED OFFICE 140 Pentonville Road London N1 9FW www.wcrf.org

TRUSTEES Mr R Power (Chairman) Ms A Sinclair Prof A Cooper Ms A Hunter Ms S Pepper Mr G Triefus (joined May 2025) Mr F Hill (resigned October 2024)

PRESIDENT Ms Marilyn Gentry

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Ms. Rachael Hutson

SECRETARY Reed Smith Corporate Services Limited

AUDITOR RSM UK Audit LLP Chartered Accountants 25 Farringdon Street London EC4A 4AB

BANKERS Barclays Bank Plc P.O. Box 288 Gloucestershire GL1 2EH NatWest Bank 246 Regent Street London W1B 3PB

SOLICITORS Reed Smith LLP I Blossom Yard London E1 6RS Bates Wells LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Report of the Trustees

for the year ended 30 September 2024

The Trustees, who are also directors of World Cancer Research Fund for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2024. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Charities SORP (FRS 102)) and the Financial Reporting Standard 102 applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019, in preparing the annual report and financial statements for the charity.

This Report of the Trustees incorporates the Strategic report and the Directors’ report required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic report and Directors’ report) Regulations 2013.

WCRF has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, WCRF (Trading) Ltd, which is incorporated in the UK. WCRF (Trading) Ltd ceased operations in 2015. Consolidated accounts are not produced and WCRF (Trading) produces a separate annual report and audited financial statements.

Strategic Report

Who We Are

World Cancer Research Fund examines how diet, weight and physical activity affect your risk of developing and surviving cancer. As part of an international network of charities, we have been funding life-saving research, influencing global public health policy and educating the public since 1982.

To date, we have invested around £160 million (FY23 £154 million) into research across our network. As part of this, we created the Global Cancer Update Programme – the world’s largest and most authoritative source of up-to-date scientific research on cancer prevention.

Every day in the UK, around 1,100 people will hear the words ‘you have cancer’, but we know that 40% of cancers are preventable. That’s why we turn our findings into easy-to-understand advice so everyone can reduce their cancer risk through informed decisions around healthy living.

While society continues searching for a cure, our prevention and survival work is helping people to live longer, happier and healthier lives – free from the devastating effects of cancer.

Public Benefit

It is estimated that one in two people in the UK will develop cancer in their lifetime but around 40% of cancers in the UK could be prevented – that's 158,000 cases every year. Eating a healthy diet, being more active each day and maintaining a healthy weight are, after not smoking, the most important ways to reduce cancer risk.

We think it is vital that all research on cancer prevention is pieced together to give a clear picture on what people can do to help prevent cancer. We are proud to achieve this and provide clear, consistent, science-based messages about what people can do to reduce their cancer risk.

We confirm that we have complied with public benefit guidance from the Charity Commission (in England and Wales). In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives set, and the effect that these will have on our beneficiaries.

The World Cancer Research Fund Network

In a world dominated by funding for cancer treatments and cures, we’ve relentlessly promoted the importance of prevention. For 4 decades, we’ve been dedicated to helping healthcare professionals, policymakers and the academic community understand the role diet, weight and physical activity play in our chances of developing cancer. And to help all of us to understand how the choices we make and the environment we live in can affect our overall risk of developing the disease.

World Cancer Research Fund is a member of a network of cancer prevention charities with a global voice. For over 40 years, the World Cancer Research Fund Network (WCRF Network) has advocated the vital need for cancer prevention measures to be taken through a healthy diet, physical activity and being a healthy weight.

Our message was echoed in February 2014 when the World Health Organisation came out strongly in support of urgent implementation of effective prevention strategies to curb the disease.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Being a member of a network, led and unified by World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International), we achieve much more working together than we can alone. We access and support research around the world, share resources to influence policymaking and reach more people with our cancer prevention health information.

Collaboration means we can fund more research, share evidence, pool expertise and use our resources efficiently so you can be confident you are getting excellent value for the funds you donate to us to help prevent cancer.

We believe that it is possible to reverse the cancer burden, but it will take all of us – governments, health professionals and individuals - pulling together to make this happen.

Charitable Information

World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) is a charitable company limited by guarantee and was established on 3 September 1990 (the charity was registered by the Charity Commission on 30 October 1990). It is governed by up to 10 Trustees in accordance with the Articles of Association.

Governance Information

The Trustees are responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the organisation. They are elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and can hold office until the second AGM following their appointment when they are eligible for reappointment. The Trustee Board meets at least twice a year where decisions are made relating to issues affecting the charity. The Trustee Board delegates responsibility for the operations of the charity to the Executive staff:

Periodically, new Trustees are recruited to ensure the charity has access to a comprehensive range of skills and on the basis of the specific needs of WCRF. New Trustees are invited to attend a board meeting prior to their appointment. New Trustees receive key documents relating to the charity and a complete induction programme. Training needs of the Trustee Board are assessed and met as necessary on an ongoing basis.

Senior Staff Structure

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is responsible for the day-to-day management of the charity and reports to the President of the Network and the Board of Trustees.

WCRF has three key divisions: Communications & Engagement; Fundraising & Health Information; and Finance & Operations and each have a director, who reports to the Chief Executive Officer and manages each team’s staff and activities.

WCRF’s staff works closely with colleagues in WCRF International, and the two organisations share office space. WCRF International provides strategic direction to all members of the global network; it guides and manages the Science and Research programmes on behalf of WCRF, as well as providing support in the following areas: Finance, Human Resources, IT and general operational logistics.

Remuneration is assessed annually in accordance with WCRF’s appraisal process. The appraisal process involves objective setting for each employee and a review of performance against objectives on an annual basis. The performance against objectives is used as a basis for any variable compensation awarded. The individual salary is predominately based on the employee’s professional experience and organisational responsibilities as set out by their job description and terms of employment. Salaries are benchmarked every two to three years using Cronor Rewards and XpertHR salary surveys to ensure competitiveness in the marketplace, with the latest benchmarking project completed in May 2024.

Here is an overview of our main achievements for the year 1 October 2023 to 30 September 2024:

Since inception, the WCRF Network has invested £160 million in research worldwide. As cancer is a complex disease, to understand the bigger picture, every year we invest in a variety of research projects. Some are the more traditional laboratory-based projects, while others, such as the Global Cancer Update Programme, analyse research findings from around the world and translate information into usable advice for the scientific community and our Cancer Prevention Recommendations for the general public.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Our wider Science and Research programmes are delivered by World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF International), funded by and for the benefit of all World Cancer Research Fund Network members, including World Cancer Research Fund in the UK.

Interpreting the latest research and the Global Cancer Update Programme

World Cancer Research Fund’s Global Cancer Update Programme analyses global research on how diet, nutrition and physical activity affect cancer risk and survival.

The Global Cancer Update Programme (CUP Global), our flagship portfolio of research, was originally established as the Continuous Update Project (CUP). The work undertaken within the CUP informed the development of our groundbreaking Second and Third Expert Reports.

Guidance on breast cancer and colorectal cancer

As part of our CUP Global work, we released two new reports (one on breast cancer and the other on colorectal cancer) that synthesise the latest evidence on diet, nutrition, physical activity and body weight and offer guidance for patients, carers, healthcare professionals and recommendations for future research. The reports also discuss the limitations of the existing research and make recommendations for future research to strengthen the evidence base. These are available on the WCRF website (www.wcrf.org).

The CUP Global Secretariat has been working with members of our Cancer Survivors Expert Committee and Panel to develop draft guidance for dietary and lifestyle factors where evidence is not strong enough for formal recommendations. The recommendations and guidance are outlined below.

Breast cancer survivorship

Recommendation

The evidence was less clear on how frequency and amount of physical activity made a difference to quality of life.

Guidance

Colorectal cancer survivorship

Overall, the evidence was less strong and so there were no recommendations put forward by the panel but we were able to develop guidance.

Guidance

CUP Global Research Dissemination

In September 2024, we promoted the reports at the World Cancer Congress (WCC) in Geneva to a global audience, including: researchers; policymakers; cancer survivors; oncology-related healthcare; fundraising and communications professionals.

Promoting CUP Global in Asia

Professor TH Lam, WCRF International Hong Kong Ambassador, presented CUP Global survivorship work at the Chinese Anti-Cancer Conference in Xi’an in November 2024. This was for the epidemiology session and had a talk titled: The Role of Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Body Weight in Cancer Survivorship: New Reports from the World Cancer Research Fund International’s Global Cancer Update Programme. Prof TH Lam disseminated

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physical copies of the report to our network in Asia. He has also given the reports to the Chairperson and CEO of the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society.

Life Course Reviews

We finalised evidence conclusions which were outstanding for review on colorectal cancer and early life anthropometry. Anthropometry ‘body fatness’ focuses on measuring and analysing various physical characteristics of the human body such as shape, size and strength.

We have completed a systematic review on breast cancer and early life anthropometry as epidemiological evidence to formulate the draft evidence conclusions. Draft evidence conclusions were presented to the CUP Global Panel to formulate recommendations for early life anthropometry and later life risk of developing breast cancer in women.

We developed a new process to objectively judge the strength of the mechanistic evidence reviewed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for CUP Global. This has enabled the development of conclusive statements on the strength of the mechanistic evidence. Alongside the epidemiological evidence, the CUP Global Panel will consider the mechanistic evidence when deciding the recommendations for the Life Course work. From our conclusions, we have written an academic paper on colorectal cancer and early life anthropometry which is near completion.

Dietary and lifestyle patterns reviews

Our Cancer Prevention Recommendations are widely used and provide a blueprint for cancer prevention. However, data were previously insufficient for recommendations on whole diet and lifestyle.

We developed globally relevant evidence-based recommendations on dietary and lifestyle patterns for preventing breast cancer and colorectal cancer and cancer overall and to consider the policy implications. This work emphasises the importance of considering the whole diet/lifestyle rather than focusing on individual foods/behaviours.

This work was presented at the World Cancer Congress 2024, at the 4[th] Nutrition and Cancer Conference in Newcastle, in The Netherlands in the Wageningen Nutrition Masterclass and to colleagues at Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF/WCRF Netherlands).

The abstracts were published in the International Journal of Cancer. As part of this we also presented an abstract titled ‘Integrating Food and Nutrition into Oncology Care Through Food is Medicine Interventions’, which highlighted the growing need to integrate food and nutrition into health care.

Dietary and lifestyle patterns have a clear role in the development of breast cancer and colorectal cancer. We have published two academic papers (one on breast cancer and the other on colorectal cancer), and dietary and lifestyle factors. Both are under review. A report is being developed for scientific, policy, civil society, and public audiences. This will summarise the recommendations and evidence, and outline policy implications.

Continuation CUP Global and ICL Work Programme

Our collaborators at Imperial College London (ICL) have completed a data scanning and prioritisation exercise of the literature on modifiable factors affecting cancer. The findings from this, along with consideration of organisational priorities, led to the prioritisation of 6 new topics to be further investigated, with the view of being able to provide robust recommendations for the public. This year we developed a work plan with ICL to investigate these 6 new topics over 2025:

Tea/coffee have historically been subject to biased scientific studies that have led to public misconceptions on their association with cancer. Sedentary behaviour is not mentioned in detail in the Third Expert Report, after completing the work plan, we hope to be able to make specific public health recommendations on this topic. Therefore, there is a need to review the literature on these topics and provide robust evidence judgements.

In March 2025, WCRF and WCRF International began planning their strategy for the next 5 years. Part of this strategic plan is to maximise the impact of research conducted via CUP Global and translate it into public health messages.

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We will seek for the outputs from the workplan to be endorsed by global leaders via our partner organisations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), this will add to our credibility when delivering public health messages.

Other highlights and figures from the year:

Other CUP Global published papers:

Funding new and innovative research

Our Regular Grant Programme, managed by WCRF International and funded by World Cancer Research Fund and our network partner Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF/WCRF Netherlands), provides funding of up to £500,000 per project, enabling us to invest in varied projects worldwide; these can be Investigator Initiated Grants (IIG) or Pilot and Feasibility Grants (PFG).

In September 2024, newly-awarded grants broadened our reach to 3 new countries (Ghana, Mexico and Iceland) and, for the first time for include research into brain cancer.

The Regular Grant Programme 2023-24 cycle in numbers:

Regular Grant Programme 2023-24 newly awarded grants:

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

INSPIRE Research Challenge 2024

Launched in 2023, the INSPIRE Research Challenge prioritises innovative, bold and creative proposals with the potential to catalyse rapid and impactful advances in cancer prevention, treatment and survivorship.

This grant call aimed at early career investigators and runs in parallel with our existing grant programmes and is open to investigators worldwide. These are smaller grants, up to a maximum grant amount of £75,000.

The INSPIRE Research Challenge 2023-24 cycle in numbers:

INSPIRE Research Challenge 2024 newly awarded grants:

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Working with patients and the public to shape our research

In line with our aims from last year, we have strengthened Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in the RGP and introduced PPIE in the IRC grant calls. This included producing detailed PPIE guidelines with the help of our Lay Panel Members and for the 2024-25 grant cycle, amending the IRC application form to include a detailed question about PPIE, and recruiting two new Lay Panel Members, one for the RGP Panel and one for the IRC Panel.

Monitoring of active grants and ensuring strong science communications of grant outputs

We implemented the Impact Framework to assess the impact of all active grants in our portfolio between April 2021 and July 2024. The result of this analysis is compiled in the Grant Impact Overview report, that has been shared internally. The report outlines the impact of the grants in the 5 impact indicator categories:

  1. Inclusivity and reach of our work

  2. Translation of our research into policy, clinical practice and CUP Global

  3. Increasing public awareness, our visibility, value and contribution to the public

  4. Empowering new generations of researchers within the field of nutrition and cancer

  5. Continuity of our work – our funding at the core of big ideas

We have updated our grant record on the Dimensions and International Cancer Research Partnership (ICRP) databases, ensuring accurate and timely reporting of the grants we are funding. We have also made steps to synchronise our publication record between the Grant Tracker system and the Altmetric database, however, this work is still in progress due to technical setbacks.

Funding large, long-term studies outside of our regular funding schemes, aligning with organisational priorities and supporting the establishment of new cohorts that will power future research in cancer survivorship

In May 2024, WCRF approved a five-year project to be carried out at the University of Southampton. The CANDO study is led by Prof Ramsey Cutress and Prof Ellen Copson and investigates how body composition (the amount of muscle and fat) influences how patients respond to cancer treatments and the side-effects they experience. This study will include measures for nutrition and lifestyle for those diagnosed with early or secondary breast cancer and undergoing different types of treatment.

This research will provide a valuable opportunity to establish and share evidence-based recommendations that optimise treatment outcomes and support long-term survivorship in breast cancer patients. Ultimately, this will allow clinicians to provide more bespoke advice and support for people living with breast cancer, improving their response to treatment and their chances of survival.

Supporting Early Career Researchers

Supporting Researchers from Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

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Influencing at the highest level

Our wider Policy and Public Affairs work is delivered by WCRF International, based in the UK and funded by WCRF and the other WCRF Network members. This work includes activities in the UK but also around the world.

Nurturing global relationships

In 2016, World Cancer Research Fund International entered into official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). Official relations is a privileged status granted to civil society organisations who engage with and support WHO following a strict application procedure, so we contribute to and influence the development of global public health policy relevant to cancer prevention. This year we submitted our application to renew our WHO official relations status for our continued collaboration from 2025-2027, this was approved at the WHO Executive Board meeting in February 2025.

As part of our relationship with WHO, we held eight key meetings with WHO officials working on nutrition, physical activity, cancer control and commercial determinants of health, and by actively participating in WHO Executive Board (EB) and World Health Assembly (WHA) meetings and meeting key contacts in and around official business.

At EB 154, we delivered two individual statements on social determinants of health (SDoH) and maternal, infant and youth nutrition. We signed three constituency statements (developed and signed jointly by several civil society organisations) on the follow up to the political declaration of the third high level meeting of the general assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs, universal health coverage (UHC), the WHO’s draft 14[th] general programme of work. We also signed two joint statements on wellbeing and health promotion and social determinants of health.

At WHA 77, we co-signed three constituency statements on UHC, on the follow up to the political declaration of the third high level meeting of the general assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs and on social determinants of health. We also delivered 3 individual statements on social determinants of health, health promotion and wellbeing, and maternal, infant and youth nutrition.

We developed a mission briefing for the first time for all Member States outlining our policy asks, which was warmly received by member states for its clarity and conciseness. We were also able to share a draft of our forthcoming Policy Blueprint for cancer prevention which garnered warm initial reactions.

We also attended and promoted the launch of the WHO EURO’s report on Commercial determinants of health (CDOH) in Brussels which we contributed two case studies, and we supported the dissemination of other WHO products across our social media channels and monthly newsletter.

We have also increased our focus on directly engaging with Member States to influence their work on cancer prevention. At the WHA, we met with representatives from Mexico, Slovenia and France. Later in the year, we met with Canada, Brazil, Argentina, United States and Ireland.

Expanding our Policy portfolio

We have continued to strengthen our existing policy work and expand our policy portfolio into new areas. We have also developed several collaborations thanks to our policy work with international organisations.

European Code Against Cancer (ECAC)

The PPA team continues to contribute to the ECAC Lifestyles Working Group to develop policy recommendations to accompany the code, which will be launched in October 2025.

Alcohol

We have expanded our policy portfolio more formally into alcohol and launched an alcohol policy section on our website. We developed a policy position on Alcohol and Cancer Risk which was reviewed by international experts from WHO and civil society. We have met with key International and UK alcohol stakeholders including WHO, Movendi International, the CEO of Alcohol Action UK, Alcohol Balance and Fresh Balance. We also supported European Awareness Week on Alcohol related harm through social media engagement. Our Alcohol and Cancer Risk policy position was launched at the World Cancer Congress (WCC) 2024 in a rapid-fire presentation and a strong social media dissemination plan. It was also shared with key stakeholders and through our online channels. It has been downloaded over two thousand times. The new policy position was also covered in a podcast with alcohol focussed NGO Movendi International.

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Ultra processed foods (UPFs)

Recognising the increasing interest in UPFs, we developed a comprehensive organisational position, collating evidence on the links to cancer, including policy recommendations. We joined the Soil Association’s civil society interest group to exchange insights and published a blog about UPF and myths. An FAQs was created to guide website content. We also joined the UK Chief Medical Officer’s funders forum to discuss research investments in UPFs and were interviewed by TIME magazine on promoting healthier food choices.

Policy research collaborations

Building on our CO-CREATE project success, we’ve supported various policy research initiatives. We advised the EU-funded Healthy W8 Consortium on food-based dietary guidelines and contributed to the Food Systems Countdown Initiative’s Dashboard using our NOURISHING framework. We also reported our progress on increasing numbers in our NOURISHING databases part of our commitment to the Global Nutrition Report’s (GNR) Nutrition Accountability Framework, which meet and exceeded our committed target. We have also participated in a meeting of the advisory group for a Cochrane systematic review of social and economic policy intervention and their impact on food insecurity. Estonian policymakers reproduced our nutrition policy snapshot in their national Public Health yearbook.

Policy Blueprint for Cancer Prevention

This new project was under development throughout 2024 and launched in January 2025 – a new advocacy tool that organises our policy recommendations against our cancer prevention recommendations. The new resource has been through several rounds of expert review by our trusted contacts and our Policy Advisory Group.

Meeting and engaging with Policymakers in the UK

Alongside the international policy work, we have expanded our UK policy and public affairs activities. This has seen a significant increase in engagement in obesity and health policy spaces and increased engagement with policymakers.

We attended the New Statesman Future of Health Conference, with sessions on Labour party health missions, NHS reform in England, health inequalities, innovation and in the life science sector – all of which were helpful introductions to policies of the Labour party. We responded to the Autumn Budget statement on social media guided by the Association of Medical Research Charities and supported a brand advertising project review with Obesity Health Alliance (OHA) and BiteBack 2030.

As part of Cancer Prevention Action Week (CPAW), we contacted all UK Parliamentarians as well politicians in devolved administrations with a two-page briefing, a social media toolkit and other resources encouraging them to support the campaign. We had a very good response to the campaign with support on social media from:

We also met with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity to learn about their work and future priorities, and we made a submission of written evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee inquiry on Food, diet and obesity to outline our position on UPFs.

Once the UK General Election was called, we developed our “Policy Priorities to prevent cancer”, which outlined our key asks across five priority areas, including making cancer prevention a priority for government, improve the nation’s diet and get everyone moving more. This was shared across our digital platforms and with supporters. Copies were also sent to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Minister for State on Prevention and Public Health.

We also met with our CUP Global Panel Chair, Lord Krebs to discuss the latest obesity policy developments as well as how disseminate our research to policy makers. For the first time we attended the Labour Party Conference and attended a range of fringe events on a range of issues including healthy and sustainable diets, forthcoming Labour Health mission and met a range of stakeholders including the Public Health and Prevention Minister Andrew Gwynne MP.

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We attend regular meetings and undertake other activities with:

We responded to four government consultations:

We have co-signed 7 letters to the chancellor and PM by the OHA, AHA, Biteback 2030, Sustain and Food Active, and supported initiatives such as Sugar Awareness Week. We contributed to the House of Lords POST Science briefing on Diet and Cancer.

Communicating healthy lifestyle messages

Our communications, health education programmes and campaigns aim to enable a better understanding of the links between diet, weight, physical activity and cancer. We aim to encourage behaviour change to reduce the occurrence of preventable cancers and to support people living with and beyond cancer to live well after their diagnosis. We do this by offering high-quality evidence-based information and services to empower people to make healthy choices.

Our team of health information experts has continued to support cross-charity projects, ensuring all our content is upto-date and in line with our Cancer Prevention Recommendations.

Our projects cover the areas of cancer prevention, ensuring that as many people as possible not only know that 40% of cancers can be prevented but also what they can do to reduce their risk. We also support people living with and beyond cancer, providing practical guidance on diet and exercise. We connect with the public directly and with health professionals so that they can give the most up-to-date information to their patients.

Reaching people with our publications

Each year we try to increase the reach of our healthy living publications so we can support more people to reduce their risk of developing a preventable cancer or live well after a cancer diagnosis.

This year, we sent out 3% more free healthy living publications, 62,431 copies compared to 61,616 in 2022-23. Health professional orders remain key to our health information dissemination. Since our publications became free to order in small quantities in 2021, we have gradually increased the size of the bulk orders we send at no cost to health professionals. This is in recognition of the valuable role they play in getting our health messages and practical tips out to the general public. We also know that few professionals have a publications budget and we want to avoid creating barriers to using our information.

Helping people living with and beyond cancer

In May 2023, we launched a pilot for our Cancer and Nutrition Helpline with the aim of helping more people living with and beyond cancer to cope with the side-effects of treatment or of their cancer itself. Helpline enquiries are answered by freelance Oncology Specialist Dietitians.

We aimed to support 1,100 people through the Cancer & Nutrition Helpline in its pilot year, May 2023 to May 2024. Sadly we did not reach that target, the helpline was operational for 212 hours and received 192 enquiries – 169 emails and 23 calls. However 88% of helpline users rated their experience of the helpline ‘excellent’ and 12% rated it ‘good’ and these ratings were echoed in the highly appreciative comments we received.

This feedback, and feedback from oncology professionals, demonstrated that the helpline is meeting a clear need for reliable nutritional information for people living with cancer, a group who often face long waits to see a specialist dietitian or who cannot access this support at all. No changes are needed to its operating model, but we are now scaling up our marketing of the helpline, particularly to oncology staff, as signposting by healthcare professionals is the most common way that helpline users hear about the service.

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Engaging with healthcare professionals

We provide education and information for professionals who are either supporting people to reduce their cancer risk or to live well during and beyond cancer treatment. This work is important to improve their clinical practice and update their research knowledge. Their trusted role also makes them a valuable conduit to reaching the general public and people living with cancer with our information and services.

By using healthcare professional conferences to encourage sign-ups to our health professional membership package, we have been able to further develop greater awareness of WCRF’s support for professionals and build our reputation with relevant professional groups.

Building on the success of our first conference speaking slot in 2023, we invested in a high-profile presence at Oncology Professional Care, a 2-day conference in London, and delivered a talk which attracted over a hundred delegates from a wide range of oncology roles. WCRF staff outlined key findings from our new reports on breast cancer and colorectal cancer survivorship and an Oncology Specialist Dietitian gave practical insight on how nutritional advice for cancer patients can vary throughout their cancer journey. At this conference, we gained 160 sign-ups to our professionals’ network, distributed over 1,000 health resources and had numerous productive conversations. Many professionals had heard of WCRF, but not of the extent of our offer.

We also exhibited at Nursing in Practice, London; NHS Oncology South Forum and the Nutrition Society Winter Conference.

To provide nutrition education to health professionals and raise awareness of the support we offer, we delivered a webinar on nutrition and cancer myths in partnership with MyNutriWeb, watched by 654 professionals, and ran an online session attended by 43 professionals and members of the public as part of London Global Cancer Week. This featured a panel of Oncology Specialist Dietitians and people living beyond cancer as well as a demonstration of one of our recipes. We also ran five cancer prevention workshops, attended by 278 professionals, with all attendees reporting increased confidence in cancer prevention and dietary knowledge.

Enabling behaviour change

902 people signed up for Activ8, our eight-week behaviour change email support programme. Now in its second year, Activ8 aims to inspire and support subscribers to build healthy habits to help lower their risk of cancer. In our most recent analysis, at the end of the 8-week programme, 93% of those who completed our feedback survey said they had been able to stick to their original behaviour change goal. 89% were able to follow our advice over the 8 weeks and 90% said that Activ8 had made them more aware of WCRF’s Cancer Prevention Recommendations.

Providing information to different communities

Funded by Love Hope Strength Foundation, we produced a Bengali translation of one of our most popular cancer prevention resources, 5 simple steps to a healthier you. We chose this booklet to translate into Bengali because its brevity makes it suitable for readers with lower health literacy. Our original plan was to disseminate the translated booklet in the North East of England, the region with the highest number of cancer cases, with Bengali chosen as the most used South Asian language in the North East. However, our dissemination work with contacts from the Nutrition Society Special Interest Group on Diet and Health for Ethnic Minority Groups presented a number of opportunities to reach Bengali speakers via existing community events in the North West and South Coast. This work is ongoing.

Collaborating with key players to educate the next generation of medical and healthcare professionals

WCRF has a strategic partnership with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Cancer and Nutrition Collaboration focused on more widely delivering consistent, credible information and training about the links between cancer and diet.

Supported by NIHR, we are embarking on work with Lincoln Medical School to address the lack of nutrition content in the undergraduate medical curriculum. This builds on the Association for Nutrition (AfN) Undergraduate Curriculum in Nutrition for Medical Doctors, launched in 2021, and will involve the development of learning materials for lectures and independent study.

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specialise in mapping support for cancer patients across the UK. Taking part in this charities group has also provided us with contacts who are happy to promote our living with cancer services to their audiences.

Working with the Media to reach the public and raise awareness

The media here in the UK and also around the world, play a key part in helping us to raise awareness of charity and our messages. Our dedicated Press and Communications team have relationships with a number of national news outlets and we are often called upon for quotes on relevant stories on cancer prevention and related statistics.

There were 8,969 pieces of press and broadcast media coverage in the period October 2023 - September 2024, around 10% down compared to the previous year. However, this picked up over the 6-month period April-September 2024, with more than 5,400 articles – a 3% increase in coverage compared to April - Sept 2023.

The team secured press coverage through press releases of WCRF network-funded research, providing expert quotes from WCRF to external stories and pitching feature stories.

Highlights included:

The team continues to develop strong relationships with journalists across major media outlets, including the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Press Association, and Time magazine. Our aim is to continue to develop these partnerships to proactively place more content in these outlets over the 2024/25 period.

Engaging the public with Cancer Prevention Action Week

Held in February 2024, the theme of Cancer Prevention Action Week 2024 was ‘Make Your Move’. Our key message was that even small amounts of physical activity throughout the day can reduce the risk of cancer.

During Cancer Prevention Action Week 2024, the media team proactively galvanised support with over 100 organisations across the UK actively promoting the campaign. We received a good response across different social media channels, including high profile individuals extensively sharing the campaign (including Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York). 15 MPs and 5 MSPs shared or mentioned the campaign on social media. Engagement on all platforms was up by over 200% on the previous year and link clicks on posts increased by over 500%. We had over 30 radio interviews across the UK including with the Press Association, ITN Business Hub, BBC Radio and Sky News.

Bringing together our websites and branding

Following a brand refresh last year, 2024 saw us develop a new website that consolidated the websites of WCRF and WCRF International into one, reducing overlapping content and hopefully increasing our brand awareness.

The project involved a complete redesign and overhaul of the Information Architecture – structuring the site in a way that works best for its users. We amalgamated a combined 1,600 pages across the site and took the opportunity

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to carry out a substantial rewrite of our Health Information content, as well as ensuring that our Research and Policy content is represented in a meaningful and helpful way for all stakeholders. The new site went live in November 2024.

Making digital channels work for us

Websites and social media are key information providers and influencers and it’s important that we don’t fall behind in these areas, they give us a platform to disseminate our healthy lifestyles messages, share information on our life saving research and to encourage supporters to give.

During 2024, we have been undergoing a project to improve our email marketing with the help of an external consultant. We carried out a survey with more than 1,100 of our eNews subscribers to help understand what we’re doing well and where we can improve. Based on the feedback, we’re now overhauling our automated journeys and planning more targeted campaigns over the next 12 months, based on subscribers’ preferences.

Social media is an important tool for our public reach and in 2024, we have been developing our presence on social media channels and embracing regular paid activity in support of our products. These included promotions for Activ8, the Cancer & Nutrition (C&N) Helpline, Cook Through Cancer and online cookery classes, HP webinars and workshops, fundraising events for sign-ups (e.g. challenge and running events, skydiving, lottery), general brand awareness. Testing took place for some of the programmes to ascertain which content (imagery and supporting text) had the greatest click-through/conversions.

During the year, we grew our total social media followers to 61,500 – an increase of 3,500, compared with the figure as of 30 September 2023, representing a 6.5% increase. This figure has been achieved in spite of challenges with X, where we have seen our audience flatline.

Conversely, our audiences (and engagement) on LinkedIn and Instagram have gone from strength to strength, with increases of 28% and 18% respectively.

We have supported various campaigns and promotions with both longer-form and short-form video outputs that we’ve shared via social media channels and on the website. Including: C&N Helpline TV advert, CPAW 24 – production of a series of short videos with social media influencer (Kate Oakley) on exercise snacking, responding to the media interest in coffee and colorectal cancer research (interviews with researchers) and shorter videos for social media: mocktail recipes, activity tips, HI booklet and events promo, awareness days.

Engaging and supporting our supporters

Getting to know our loyal supporters better and diversifying our supporter base has been a key strategic objective for us in 2023/24. We know that growing loyalty and increasing the lifetime value of our supporters will be key to us being able to achieve the £15m target by 2030.

We have continued to focus on building meaningful relationships where we can and this has been particularly evident in our growing legacy, in memory, digital and community fundraising income streams.

However, the fundraising environment continues to provide us with challenges. Across the sector we understand that fewer people are giving to charity due to the continuing cost of living crisis and global conflict and humanitarian emergencies remain high on the media agenda impacting the causes that people choose to give to. The next generation of supporter is supporting charities in a different way, with less disposable income available to them, they are more inclined to hand raise in support, than give financially.

We must continue to respond to the changes in the environment with a view on the future if we want to create sustainable income growth. We need to develop new ways of fundraising, being bolder in our messaging and tapping into the risk of cancer as a global crisis if we want to compete in the UK fundraising market. While investment may be necessary to achieve our income growth goals we also continue to focus on the return on investment of our fundraising activities.

However, we continue to enjoy great loyalty from our existing and older supporters and so provide opportunities for them to be more deeply engaged in our work and meet them face-to-face at events across the UK.

As always thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters we have raised £12.4 million this year, to invest into our cancer prevention and survivorship research and health education programmes.

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Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is an important tool for us as a charity, increasing awareness of our Recommendations, raising vital funds for our cause and explaining how donations are used. We continue with our wider aim for DM campaigns to provide healthy living messages and advice to our supporters and the public. This provides cancer prevention information as directly as possible and helps readers to better understand the links between diet, weight, exercise and the risk of cancer, whilst raising vital funds and increasing our brand awareness.

Making connections with trusts, foundations and the commercial sector

We have seen income growth of 92% year on year in Trusts, despite the trust and foundation landscape being a challenging environment, with large grant-giving bodies closing or taking a break from funding while reviewing their strategies.

Our Trusts team secured 110 donations during the year. Here are some highlights:

We hosted our first corporate breakfast at 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel in Kensington in April. We had 26 attendees from 13 companies who came to find out more about our work and in particular our Cancer and Nutrition Helpline. We are still in the process of cultivating some of the relationships developed as a result of this event and in the coming year, we will focus more on converting these relationships and already have proposals to the value of £600k pending response for 2024/25. Examples of significant gifts received this year include £11k from Sapiens and £5,5k from Merch Traffic as a result of the support from Robert Smith of The Cure and the sale of Bunny Lake design cards and t-shirts.

Meeting our supporters face to face

We held a Supporter Engagement event in Manchester in April 2024 and our second in Exeter in September both focussing on long-term donors. Both events were well responded to and allowed us to showcase our work past and present, as well as our ambitions for the future and underlined the importance of gifts in Wills to make this happen. Due to the age of many of our supporters, we received a lot of acknowledgements saying that they would have liked to attend but were unable to. We are working on a follow-up newsletter to showcase and present the contents from the day to maximise income and secure longer-term support of our work.

Our Head of Legacy and In-Memory Development went to Glasgow to meet and visit Janis and her family, who have supported WCRF in memory of her partner, Ian. Ian’s story has featured in our supporter magazine, Healthy You, and in a campaign for gifts in Wills. This has resonated with our audience and already led to more than 100 existing supporters contacting us about supporting us with a gift in their Will.

Working with supporters taking part in events

The London Marathon continues to be a great income generator for us, achieving £76k against a target of £67k. With the London Marathon making changes to the way they allocate Golden Bond places so that every charity has a reduced allocation and very limited scope or opportunity to buy more, we can only grow this income stream through ‘own place’ runners which will rely on our brand awareness and strategic recruitment processes. It is therefore imperative that we respond by diversifying our portfolio. We are trialling different events such as; the Paris, Berlin or Chicago Marathons and other UK runs and challenges.

Our community fundraising income has grown this year thanks to a modest mailing to community groups and churches asking for their support and a great response to our Christmas card mailing which went to 7,500 people. We sold a record-breaking 1,650 packs of cards and raised £6k.

Creating new fundraising products to appeal to new audiences

We continue to build on the successes of last year’s digital fundraising challenges. We held our second Walk100 Facebook fundraiser in February 2024 and raised £48k.

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We took a much bolder approach to our Facebook Challenges this Summer and ran a test of propositions. We trialled Dump the Junk and Run 50km in August, running ads simultaneously throughout July.

Overwhelmingly the Run 50km challenge outperformed Dump the Junk in terms of income and raised £48k against the £11k raised by Dump the Junk. Dump the Junk performed well in terms of recruiting leads with over 6.6k people joining the Facebook group.

This test has been very helpful and the learnings we have will help us as we further develop this income stream. We need to use much bolder language and messaging to engage a new audience and create some differentiation in what is an increasingly competitive market.

Securing longer-term, restricted funding to ensure a sustainable future for WCRF

As a team we work collaboratively across the organisation so that we can help our supporters fully understand the impact of their donations.

This year we have supported our colleagues in the Health Information team to develop their programmes so that we can increase our reach with our work. We have secured significant gifts (noted below) to increase the reach of our Cook through Cancer classes and Cancer and Nutrition Helpline. We hope to develop the strategies for these programmes even further so that we can support more people living with and beyond cancer and secure multi-year gifts to provide sustainability and opportunities for development.

We have also been working with the Research team to develop a case for support for a large multi-year programme of research together with the University of Southampton Hospital, the CANDO programme will transform care for people with breast cancer and spans 5 years. Costing just under £1.2M this is the first time we have been able to go out to companies with a project of this size to ask for multi-year funding.

Looking forward we will need to consider how we can develop our Health Information programmes and package our research work so that we can secure larger sums from Corporates and Trusts and Foundations.

Supporting our Supporters

Our Supporter Care team, who respond to enquiries and feedback from supporters, the general public and health professionals every day, continue to go from strength to strength. Their remit is to build meaningful, long-term relationships with our supporters as well as working closely to support other departments with initiatives and on-going projects. They are the ‘voice’ of WCRF on the telephones. This year they answered 9,682 telephone calls and also responded to and followed up on 2,600 email queries.

Future Plans

In March 2020, we developed a Theory of Change model to propel us through the next 3-5 years. This was created to help us to understand ourselves better and to ensure we are more able to focus resources on the most important activities. Little did we know at that point that the world would change so dramatically due to the pandemic.

Luckily we were not adversely affected by the pandemic but our plans and strategies did need to change. We reviewed our Theory of Change and associated strategy documents that accompany it each year with a more in-depth review in 2023, where the Theory of Change was found to still be valid. The accompanying strategies were updated to remove items that had been achieved and to add any new opportunities that had arisen.

Starting in March 2025, we will be kicking off a new strategic planning cycle to update the Theory of Change and to set our strategic plans for the next 3 years.

In summary

This year saw WCRF experience another year of steady progress from both a programme and financial perspective. Alongside our network affiliates, we were able to fund all the grants that our Grant Panel deemed fundable, as well as invest further in our CUP Global programme and our other science and policy programmes. We also realised some long-term goals by partnering with Southampton University on the CANDO project which has the potential to improve outcomes for breast cancer patients across the country and by launching our Cancer and Nutrition helpline which can help people living with cancer improve their quality of life and their ability to enjoy food. Financially, we kept a sound bottom line, increased our income and also invested in new technologies that should help bring in more money in the future.

We thank our staff and our supporters for their tremendous dedication and flexibility and look forward to achieving more successes next year.

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FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Management of risk

The Trustees have approved, implemented and regularly reviewed WCRF’s risk management plan, which is operated by staff on a day-to-day basis. Senior staff, heads of department and Trustees work together to revise the risk management plan annually, identifying emerging risks, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence.

The risk management plan covers governance, financial, operational, IT, and other risks. Internal control procedures are in place to provide assurance against identified risks in order to uphold the integrity and reputation of the charity. These include: a 3-year Strategic Plan reviewed periodically through the year annual operational plans and budgets which are approved by the Trustees; regular review by the Trustees of financial results, variance from budgets and financial targets; risk management, segregation of duties, policies and procedures. Additionally, Trustees are kept up to date with any changes in governance requirements to ensure they are fully informed of best practice.

During the financial year, we identified the potential impact of economic recession and rising cost of living as a major risk to WCRF. As a result, we reviewed our annual budget compared to actual performance, strategic plans and the reserves policy during the year to ensure we can maintain our research funding projects over a long-term period. Prompt financial reporting procedures were followed in order to respond to shifts in the economic environment.

Financial Review

Income

Total income in 2023/2024 increased by £2,040,025 to £12,679,739 ( 2022/2023: £10,639,714 . Legacies were £2,769,761 (2022/2023: £2,156,119) an increase of £613,642. Donations from individual donors increased by £425,567 to £5,608,567 ( 2022/2023: £5,183,000 ).

Our headline KPIs for the year were to raise £11,177,213 in income and to fund over £1 million in research grants, both of these were exceeded.

Investment income consists solely of interest earned on cash held in interest-bearing accounts.

Trading activities, if any, represent revenue produced by WCRF’s wholly owned subsidiary, WCRF (Trading) Ltd. The company did not trade during the year.

Expenditure

In financial year 2023/2024, total expenditures increased by £464,732 to £11,569,496 ( 2022/2023: £11,104,765 ).

Expenditure on raising funds increased by £221,564 to £2,959,561 ( 2022/2023: £2,737,997 ). Charitable expenditure on research increased by £76,294 to £3,939,791 ( 2022/2023: £3,863,497 ). Charitable expenditure on information and education increased by £166,874 to £4,670,144 ( 2022/2023: £4,503,270 ).

Net Income

Net movement in funds in 2023/2024 was a profit of £1,108,597, an increase of £1,517,180 ( 2022/2023: (£408,583) ).

Investment Policy

Currently WCRF holds no investments. All reserves are held in cash, split between easy access accounts and higher interest longer term accounts.

Reserves

WCRF is a dynamic organisation relying almost entirely on voluntary giving. We need to hold adequate reserves to react both to challenging economic shortfalls and unexpected opportunities to fund research and support the educational programmes. A review of the policy and reserves is conducted each year by the trustees to ensure adequate reserves are maintained based on the annual budget and actual results. The Trustees may from time to time spend reserves on additional programme activities based on the reserve policy having been met or exceeded.

In the interest of prudent management, WCRF aims to maintain a minimum reserve at one half the total annual expenditures. By holding a reserve, WCRF would be able to continue its work during periods of reduced income that may result from an economic downturn or a recession. WCRF will maintain its free reserves (free reserves include investments, debtors and cash in the bank less creditors) by providing a goal in the annual budget.

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As of 30 September 2024, unrestricted reserves increased by £1,100569 to £7,086,618 (2022/2023: £5,948,433) . Free reserves at 30 September 2024 are £5,597,096 (2022/2023: £5,597,096). This equates to 7 months of the current year's expenditure ( 2022/2023 : 6 months).

In June 2023, the landlords of the WCRF office at 140 Pentonville Road went into administration. In early 2024, the office was offered for sale by the administrators at a purchase price of “offers over £4,000,000 excluding VAT”. In May 2024, we were advised by the agent acting for the sale that they would accept lower offers due to no interest in the property. At the WCRF Board meeting in May 2024, the Trustees asked management to negotiate to try to purchase the property.

After protracted negotiations and legal discussions, we purchased the property on 8[th] January 2025 for the reasonable price of £3,200,000 plus £640,000 in VAT paid from free reserves. The purchase has been secured on a 999-year leasehold.

In September 2024, the Board of Trustees approved the budget for financial year 2024/2025 which did not include a surplus meaning the total free reserves were planned to remain at £7,086,618. The minimum reserve target of 6 months of the budget year’s expenditure equates to approximately £5.5 million. WCRF UK’s goal of a minimum of 6 months of expenditures in reserve can be met by monitoring expenses if revenue targets fall short. As of 30 September 2024, total reserves were £7,086,618 ( 2022/2023: £5,978,022). These reserves have been reduced by our January property purchase however we now have a fixed asset that if, ever needed, could be used as collateral for any line of credit.

Going Concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The financial position of WCRF, its surplus for the year and cash flows are set out and demonstrate the overall net cash position of WCRF and its reserves position. The Trustees believe that WCRF is well placed to manage the business risks successfully. WCRF was not adversely impacted by recent economic uncertainty, increased inflation and cost of living increases. However, management is monitoring current fundraising activities, programme spending, and staff needs and making adjustments as necessary. In addition, the financial forecast for the 2024/2025 financial year and budget planning for the year 2025/2026 take into consideration the possibility of declining revenues due to inflation and/or economic turndown. The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the annual report and accounts.

In summary

Despite continued uncertain economic conditions, WCRF experienced another year of steady progress. WCRF will continue to strive to maximize fundraising opportunities, monitor expenditures and fund our vital work in cancer research to benefit the public.

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Disclosure of information to auditor

The Trustees who held office at the date of approval of this Trustees’ Report confirm that so far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which WCRF’s auditor is unaware, and each Trustee has taken all steps that ought to have been taken as Trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

Pursuant to section 487 of the Companies Act 2006, the auditors will be deemed to be reappointed and RSM UK Audit LLP will therefore continue in office.

The Board approves the Trustees’ report and Strategic Report in its capacity as company directors, signed on its behalf by

Roderick Power Trustee 28 May 2025

140 Pentonville Road London N1 9FW

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Statement of responsibilities of the Trustees of World Cancer Research Fund

The trustees (who are also directors of World Cancer Research Fund for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report (incorporating the strategic report and directors’ report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102: The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for maintaining proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of World Cancer Research Fund

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of World Cancer Research Fund (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 30 September 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Trustees’ Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Directors’ Report or the Strategic Report included within the Trustees’ Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities set out on page 22, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

The extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.

In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.

However, it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity's operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.

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In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team:

As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, Charities SORP (FRS 102), Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011, the charitable company’s governing document, tax legislation and Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. We performed audit procedures to detect non- compliances which may have a material impact on the financial statements which included reviewing the financial statements including the Trustees’ Report, remaining alert to new or unusual transactions which may not be in accordance with the governing documents.

The most significant laws and regulations that have an indirect impact on financial statements are those in relation to the General Data Protection Regulations. We performed audit procedures to inquire of management whether the charitable company is in compliance with these laws and regulations.

The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls and the recognition of legacy income as the areas where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to testing journal entries and other adjustments, evaluating the business rationale in relation to significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside the normal course of business and challenging judgments and estimates.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at http://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

NICHOLAS SLADDEN (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of RSM UK AUDIT LLP, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants 25 Farringdon Street London EC4A 4AB

Date 16 June 2025

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating income and expenditure account) for the year ended 30 September 2024

Income and endowments from:
Donations, legacies,
grants and other income
3
Investment income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
4
Charitable activities
5
Total expenditure
Net losses on investments
11
Currency (loss)/gain
Net surplus/ (deficit)
Transfer to Unrestricted
Fund balances brought forward at
1 October 2023
Fund balances carried forward at
30 September 2024
21		 Unrestricted
funds
2024
Total
£
12,193,040
264,189
12,457,229
2,959,561
8,510,970
11,470,531
-
(1,646)
985,052
115,118
5,948,433
7,048,603		 Restricted
funds
2024
Total
£
222,510
-
222,510
-
98,965
98,965
-
-
123,545
(115,118)
29,589
38,016		 Total funds
2024
Total
£
12,415,550
264,189
12,679,739
2,959,561
8,609,935
11,569,496
-
(1,646)
1,108,597
-
5,978,022
7,086,619		 Total funds
2023
Total
£
10,472,772
166,942
10,639,714
2,737,997
8,366,768
11,104,765
-
56,468
(408,583)
-
6,386,605
5,978,022

WCRF has not recognised gains or losses other than the net movement of funds in the year.

The notes on pages 29 of 40 form part of these financial statements.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Balance sheet at 30 September 2024

2024 2023
£ £
Fixed assets:
Tangible assets 10 266,918 351,337
Investments 11 - -
Total fixed assets 266,918 351,337
Current assets:
Debtors 12 2,697,143 2,313,899
Cash at bank and in hand 8,958,024 8,423,022
Total current assets 11,655,167 10,736,921
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 13 (2,596,270) (2,377,107)
Net current assets 9,058,897 8,359,814
Total assets less current liabilities 9,325,815 8,711,151
Creditors:amounts falling due after one year 14 (2,239,197) (2,733,129)
Total net assets at 30 September 7,086,618 5,978,022
The funds of the charity:
Unrestricted funds 20 7,048,603 5,948,433
Restricted funds 21 38,015 29,589
Total funds 7,086,618 5,978,022

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 28 May 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

Roderick Power Trustee

The notes on pages 29 to 40 form part of these financial statements.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Statement of Cash Flows

For the year ended 30 September 2024

Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by/ (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends and interest from investments
Purchase of equipment
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period
Reconciliation of net Income/(Expenditure) to net cash flow
Net expenditure for the reporting period
Depreciation charges
Dividends and interest from investments
Loss on sale of fixed assets
(Increase) in debtors
(Decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by investing activities
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period		 2024
£
282,992
264,189
(12,178)
252,011
535,003
8,423,022
8,958,025
1,108,597
96,597
(264,189)
-
(383,244)
(274,769)
282,992		 2023
£
(1,930,872)
166,921
(29,801)
137,120
(1,793,752)
10,216,774
8,423,022
(408,583)
102,254
(166,921)
940
(1,248,788)
(209,774)
(1,930,872)

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements

World Cancer Research Fund (“WCRF”) is a charitable company limited by guarantee, and incorporated in England and Wales, Charity registration number 1000739, Company registration number 2536180. The registered office is 140 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9FW.

1 Accounting policies

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the financial statements of WCRF.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost accounting convention in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Charities SORP second edition effective 1 January 2019 (FRS 102)) and the Financial Reporting Standard 102 applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019.

Functional and presentation currency

These consolidated financial statements are presented in British Pound, which is the Company’s functional currency. All amounts have been rounded to the nearest pound, unless otherwise indicated.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The financial position of WCRF, its surplus for the year and cash flows are set out and demonstrate the overall net cash position of WCRF and its reserves position. Due to the charity’s structure, future plans and strong cash position, the Trustees believe that WCRF is well placed to manage the business risks successfully. Management monitor current fundraising activities, programme spending, staff needs. Much of the income from individual donations comes from direct marketing and legacies, both of which show trends that can be monitored, should those trends show cause for concern, management make adjustments as necessary.

In addition, the financial forecast for the 2024/2025 financial year takes into consideration the possibility of declining revenues due to inflation and/or economic turndown by being conservative with income estimates and associated spending. Budget planning for the year 2025/2026 will follow a similar path. The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charitable company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the annual report and accounts.

Company status

WCRF is a company limited by guarantee and the Trustees are named on page 3. In the event of WCRF being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per founding member.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of WCRF and which have not been designated for any other purpose. Restricted funds consist of grants or donations made for specific research and education projects.

Income

Donations

Donations are included in full in the SOFA when WCRF is entitled to the donation, its receipt if probable and the amount is measurable with sufficient reliability.

Gift aid income recognition policy

Gift aid claims are filed approximately every other month and income is recognised in the year the original donations were received.

Legacy income

Legacies are included in the SOFA when WCRF is legally entitled to the income, it is probable that WCRF will receive the income and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability. Entitlement is the earlier of notification of a quantifiable impending distribution or the legacy being received. Legal and administrative costs for managing legacy income are budgeted each year and are kept to a minimum by having an in house Legacy management team.

29

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Investment income and interest

Investment income and interest is accrued monthly in the SOFA.

Liabilities

Liabilities are recognised on an accrual basis.

Value added tax

WCRF is not registered for VAT purposes and all costs and expenditure are inclusive of VAT where applicable.

Expenditures

Expenditures are accounted for on an accruals basis and are listed under headings that aggregate all the costs related to that activity. Direct costs are attributed directly to the activities listed. Support costs are allocated on a basis consistent with the use of the resources and include human resources, premises and other costs.

Human resource costs include salaries, payroll taxes, pension, employee benefits and recruitment expenses. Premises costs are office rent, building maintenance, utilities, telephone, and insurance. Other costs include travel, dues & subscriptions, taxes and fees and a contribution to WCRF International (see note 19).

Grants are awarded in line with WCRF’s objectives and policies and are accounted for on a payable basis. Grant expense and the related liability are recognized in the year the recipient is entitled to the irrevocable use of the funds.

Tangible Fixed Assets and Depreciation

Tangible fixed assets with a cost of more than £2,000 are capitalised and included at initially at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful life. Tangible fixed asset purchases of less than £2,000 are written off to the Statement of Financial Activities.

Depreciation is provided to write-off the cost less the estimated residual value of machinery and equipment, and fixtures and fittings by equal instalments over its estimated useful life of five years, except for computers which are written off over three years. Leasehold improvements are depreciated over the life of the lease, which is ten years.

Cash and liquid resources

Cash, for the purpose of the cash flow statement comprises cash in hand and deposits repayable on demand less overdrafts payable on demand. Liquid resources are current asset investments which are disposable without curtailing or disrupting the business and are either readily convertible into known amounts of cash at or close to their carrying values or traded in an active market.

Financial instruments

WCRF has applied the provisions of Section 11 'Basic Financial Instruments' and Section 12 'Other Financial Instruments issues' of FRS 102 to all its financial instruments. Financial instruments are recognised in the balance sheet when WCRF becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument and are valued at fair value through profit or loss.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial asset classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods and services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Foreign currencies

Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded using the rate of exchange ruling at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated using the contracted rate or the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date and the gains or losses on translation are included in the SOFA

Termination benefits

Termination benefits are payable when employment is terminated and recognised when management is committed to incurring these costs.

Pension costs

WCRF operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately in an independently administered fund. The amount charged to the SOFA represents the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the accounting period.

Taxation

WCRF is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. The trading subsidiary, WCRF (Trading) Ltd, ceased trading operations in 2015. If operations resume in the future, the subsidiary will donate its profits by way of gift aid to WCRF. Consequently, WCRF UK has no liability to tax and no deferred tax.

2 Key judgements and estimations

Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Legacy income

The preparation of the financial statements requires judgements, estimations and assumptions to be made that affect the reported values of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The nature of estimation and judgement means that actual outcomes could differ from expectation. Significant areas of estimation and judgement include accrued legacy income, which is estimated based on the best information available at the balance sheet date. Management’s estimate is prudent in respect of illiquid asset to be accrued.

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Donations
Legacy income
Committed giving
Gift Aid
Grants from affiliates
Grant revenue
Other income		 Unrestricted
Funds
£
5,492,501
2,772,208
1,300,738
1,155,850
1,133,004
338,729
9
12,193,039		 Restricted
Funds
£
116,066
-
-
-
-
106,444
-
222,510		 2024
2023
Total
Total
£
£
5,608,567
5,183,000
2,772,208
2,156,119
1,300,738
1,271,088
1,155,850
773,919
1,133,004
1,030,612
445,173
55,816
9
2,218
12,415,549
10,472,772

Restricted income in 2024 is £222,510 (FY23:£84,316).

4 Expenditure on raising funds

Fundraising actvities
Direct mail fundraising
Human resources
Premises
Other		 Direct
costs
£
260,850
1,658,916
-
-
-
1,~~919,766~~		 Support
costs
£
-
-
719,068
140,676
180,051
1,~~039,795~~		 2024
Total
£
260,850
1,658,916
719,068
140,676
180,051
2,~~959,561~~		 2023
Total
£
177,074
1,681,069
614,995
131,439
133,420		 2023
Total
£
177,074
1,681,069
614,995
131,439
133,420
1, 1,~~0~~ 2, 2, ~~737,997~~

32

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

5
Expenditure on charitable activities
Direct
costs
£
Research:
Research grants
2,122,909
Other direct costs
218,160
Human resources
-
Premises
-
Other
-
2,~~341,069~~
Information & education:
Programme grants to affiliates
389,354
Publications
1,992,176
Consulting fees
439,319
Other direct costs
337,232
Human resources
-
Premises
-
Other
-
3,158,081
Total costs of charitable activities
5,499,150
includes grant refunds		 Support
costs
£
-
-
1,122,535
222,773
253,414
1,~~598,722~~
-
-
-
-
1,035,459
224,018
252,586
1,512,063
3,110,785		 2024
Total
£
2,122,909
218,160
1,122,535
222,773
253,414
3,~~939,791~~
389,354
1,992,176
439,319
337,232
1,035,459
224,018
252,586
4,670,144
8,609,935		 2023
Total
£
2,204,847
267,260
976,799
208,126
206,465		 2023
Total
£
2,204,847
267,260
976,799
208,126
206,465
3,~~863,497~~
373,051
2,064,071
389,890
290,928
973,742
208,199
203,390
4,503,271
8,366,768

Expenditure on charitable activities was £8,609,935 (2023: £8,366,768) of which £8,510,970 (2023: £8,144,602) was unrestricted and £98,965 (2023: £222,166) was restricted.

33

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

6 Grants and grants payable

The below grants were awarded in the year to 30 September 2024 to institutions:

2024
£
University of Iceland Can we prevent multiple myeloma through lifestyle and
nutrition?
 340,297
University of Oxford ProMAP: Mapping diet to cancer through the proteome
 317,552
University of Bristol How does adiposity distribution influence risk of obesity-related
caners? - Exploring causality and mechanisms
 288,578
The CANDO Programme
Southampton University		 Nutrition, body composition, metabolic health and clinical
outcomes in breast cancer
 251,486
Collaborative project between IARC and WCRF International:
IARC Evaluation of biological mechanisms linking diet, lifestyle and
 77,756
cancer within the new phase of the CUP
Instituto Technologico y de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey		 Online mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention for
patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy
 75,000
University of Hong Kong Gut microbiota and cancer risk in East Asians: A two-sample
Mendelian randomization study
 75,000
National Institute for Health and Care
Research		 NIHR Cancer and Nutrition Collaboration
 67,827
Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute Weight Management in obese cancer patients during curative
active treatment (CANOBESE study)
 60,000
Union for International Cancer Control Partnership for Advocacy Support
 39,325
International Union of Nutritional Sciences
(IUNS)		 International Collaboration on Nutrition in relation to Cancer
(ICONIC)
 4,471
Total research grants
 1,597,292
Imperial College London Global Cancer Update Programme
 526,407
Grant Refunds
 (790)
Total grants
 2,122,909

34

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

7
Support costs
Beginning grants payable
New grant funding
Grant adjustment
Grant payments
Ending grants payable
Due within one year (note 13)
Due after one year (note 14)
Fundraising
Human resources
719,068
Premises
140,676
Other
180,051
1,039,795		 Information
& education
1,035,459
224,018
252,586
1,512,063		 Research
1,122,535
222,773
253,414
1,598,722		 2024
£
4,384,893
2,057,893
(22,005)
(2,128,806)		 2023
£
4,088,982
1,562,790
-
(1,266,879)
4,384,893
1,651,764
2,733,129
2023
£
2,565,536
547,764
543,275
4,291,975
2,052,778
2,239,197
2024
£
2,877,062
587,467
686,051
4,150,580
3,656,575

7 Support costs

Support costs are allocated based upon time spent on each function – fundraising, information & education and research. Each employee’s position is reviewed and job responsibilities are allocated by the amount of time spent on each function.

Governance costs - audit fees of £44,000 (2023: £45,833) include fees in respect of WCRF Trading Ltd of £3,1 (2023: £3,100) and board meeting expenses of £25,745 (2023: £ 11,535 ) are included in Other above.

35

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

8 Operating costs


Human resources
Net expenditure is stated after charging:
Depreciation and other amounts written off tangible fixed assets:
Owned
Hire of plant and machinery
Hire of other assets - office lease
Hire of other assets - office equipment leases
Auditor's remuneration:
Audit of these financial statements
Audit of financial statements of subsidiaries
Salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs - defined contribution scheme		 2024
£
96,597
15,359
364,292
43,761		 2023
£
100,163
7,592
323,062
38,987
2024
£
40,869
3,131		 2023
£
42,733
3,100
44,000 45,833
2024
2,469,869
253,851
113,804		 2023
2,167,474
234,917
98,044
2,500,436
2,837,524

9 Human resources

The average number of persons employed during the year, analysed by category, was as follows:

Fundraising
Research
Education
Administration
Total		 2024
2023
15
10
15
15
15
15
9
12
54
52

The emoluments in excess of £60,000, excluding pension contributions, of staff employed by the group were within the following ranges:

2024 2023
£70,000 - £80,000 0 3
£80,000 - £90,000 1 1
£90,000 - £100,000 1 1
£100,000 - £110,000 1 1
£140,000 - £150,000 1 0

In respect to staff paid over £60,000, the pension contribution was £72,256 (2023: £75,735).

The key management personnel of the WCRF are the trustees, the President and the CEO.

The Trustees, who are considered the key management personnel, received no remuneration (2023 nil). Board meeting expenses include out-of-pocket travel, lodging, meals and room rental. Six Trustees (2023: five) received an out-ofpocket travel reimbursement totalling £8,749 (2023: £7,808) for expenses incurred directly. In 2024 and 2023 there were no related party transactions with the Board of Trustees and WCRF. The President was compensated by affiliate organisations.

36

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

10
Tangible fixed assets
11
Investments
12
Debtors
Cost
At 1 October 2023
Additions
At 30 September 2024
Depreciation
At 1 October 2023
Charge for year
Disposals
At 30 September 2024
Net book value
At 30 September 2023
At 30 September 2024
Investment in subsidiary
At 1 October
Accrued legacies
Amounts owed by affiliates*
Prepayments
Amounts owed by group undertakings
Trade debtors
Other debtors		 Leasehold
improvements
£
482,449
-
482,449
199,338
49,237
-
248,575
283,111
233,874		 Fixtures
and
fittings
£
64,676
-
64,676
50,184
10,582
-
60,766
14,492
3,910		 Machinery
and
equipment
£
225,487
12,178
237,665
171,754
36,777
-
208,531
53,733
29,134
2024
£
2		 Total
£
772,612
12,178
784,790
421,276
96,596
-
517,872
351,336
266,918
2023
£
2
2 2
2024
£
1,296,523
659,564
399,634
6,479
238,343
96,600		 2023
£
1,245,031
535,525
274,293
6,599
161,251
91,200
2,313,899
2,697,143

*amounts owed by affiliates are interest free.

37

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

13 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

13
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Grant payable
Amounts owed to affiliates*
Other creditors
Deferred Income		 2024
2023
£
£
265,086
404,609
2,052,778
1,651,764
0
106,732
71,973
205,595
206,433
8,407
2,596,270
2,377,107

*amounts owed to affiliates are interest free.

14 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

15
Guarantees and other financial commitments
Operating lease commitments - land, building and equipment
Grant payable
Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable
opereating leases for each of the following periods:
-not later than one year
-later than one year and not later than five years
-later than five years
Total*		 2024
£		 2023
£
2,239,197 2,733,129
2024
£
257,400
1,930,500
-		 2023
£
312,000
1,801,800
386,100
2,499,900
2,187,900

16 Pension

WCRF operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The pension costs charged for the period represents contributions payable to the scheme and amounted to £113,804 (2023: £75,735).

17 Members

WCRF is a company limited by guarantee. The liability of the members of the company is limited to £1 each.

38

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World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

18 Related Parties

WCRF has a wholly owned trading subsidiary, WCRF (Trading) Ltd, which is incorporated in the UK. WCRF (Trading) Ltd ceased operations in 2015. WCRF (Trading) Ltd carried on trading activities to raise net revenues which are contributed to the WCRF UK. The registered address is 1 Blossom Yard, London, E1 6RS.

Summary balance sheet is as follows:

ummary balance sheet is as follows:
2024 2023
£ £
Cash 6,479 6,599
Due to WCRF:
Beginning balance (6,597) (6,657)
Net value of transactions 120 60
Amounts owed by subsidiary (6,477)
 (6,597)
Total net assets 2
 2

19 Affiliated Charities WCRF is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund global network, which is an international alliance of organisations dedicated to the prevention and control of cancer through healthy diets and lifestyles. The network comprises World Cancer Research Fund International AISBL (WCRF International), an umbrella association and its member organisations - national charities based in different countries. Members operate in the United States of America, American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR); the United Kingdom, World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF); the Netherlands, Stichting Wereld Kanker Onderzoek Fonds (WKOF); and in the Far East, World Cancer Research Fund Limited (WCRF HK).

Linked by a common vision and mission, each member organisation works with the strategic headquarters, WCRF International, to ensure national and global effectiveness and economies through shared analysis, publications, and best practices. With strategically placed member organisations, the WCRF global network is able to raise awareness that cancer is largely preventable, fund innovative scientific research and stimulate new public initiatives for cancer prevention and control throughout the world. WCRF International is funded by contributions and dues from the Charity and its affiliates.

When necessary, WCRF may make sterling payments on behalf of WCRF affiliates. In turn, WCRF affiliates may make payments on behalf of WCRF to creditors requesting payments in other currencies. WCRF is reimbursed and/or will make reimbursements to the respective affiliates for these payments. The affiliate transactions described above are recorded in Amounts owed by affiliates in note 12.

The summary activity in these accounts for the years ended 30 September 2024 and 2023 is as follows:

Description
Beginning balance
£
Net value of transactions
Amounts owed by affiliates
£		 2024
WCRF
International		 AICR WCRF
NL		 WCRF
Hong Kong		 Totals
492,583
(92,763)		 (106,732)
323,534		 -
-		 42,942
-		 428,793
230,771
399,820 216,802 - 42,942 659,564
Description
Beginning balance
£
Net value of transactions
Amounts owed by affiliates
£		 2023
WCRF
International		 AICR WCRF
NL		 WCRF
Hong Kong		 Totals
382,609
109,974		 (532,887)
426,155		 -
-		 42,942
-		 (107,336)
536,129
492,583 (106,732) - 42,942 428,793

39

Docusign Envelope ID: 479A2F2D-82E7-4DF3-A82B-32D5B52D772E

World Cancer Research Fund Registered number 2536180 Trustees’ report, strategic report and financial statements 30 September 2024

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

20 Analysis of Net Assets between Funds

Unrestricted funds
£
Restricted funds
Total funds
£		 2024
Tangible
fixed assets		 Investments Net current
assets		 Long term
liabilities		 Totals
266,918
-		 -
-		 9,020,881
38,016		 (2,239,197)
-		 7,048,602
38,016
266,918 - 9,058,897 (2,239,197) 7,086,618
Unrestricted funds
£
Restricted funds
Total funds
£		 2023
Tangible
fixed assets		 Investments Net current
assets		 Long term
liabilities		 Totals
351,337
-		 -
-		 8,330,225
29,589		 (2,733,129)
-		 5,948,433
29,589
351,337 - 8,359,814 (2,733,129) 5,978,022

21 Restricted Donations and Grants

In May 2017, WCRF received restricted funds with a consortium of 13 other organisations to deliver a European Commission project. The restricted fund relates to a five-year, €10 million study ‘Confronting Obesity: Co-Creating policies with youth’ – CO-CREATE – which focused on preventing childhood obesity in Europe by actively involving adolescents in the policymaking process.

In financial year 2023/2024, a final closing payment of £106,444 was received. A portion of that payment was spent (£5,915) and at the end of financial year 2023/2024, the unspent balance of that grant was £115,118. As the project completed in October 2023 and there was no requirement for this balance to be returned, those funds were transferred to unrestricted funds.

Donations from 20 Trusts and Foundations were received in financial year 2023/2024 (£116,066). Of these £37,850 were for research projects at universities around the country, the remaining £78,216 is to be used for health information outreach projects. In financial year 2023/2024, £15,000 was from prior year restricted donations.

As of financial year 2023/2024, the restricted fund balance is £38,016 (2022/2023: £29,589).

Balance at 1
Oct 2023
EC Co-Create Grant
£
14,589
Grants from Trusts & Foundations
Cancer & Nutrition Helpline
£
15,000
Cook Through Cancer Cookery Classes
-
Research - Professor Adam Frampton, University of Surrey
-
Research - Dr Aravinda Guntupalli, University of Aberdeen
-
Research - Dr Tilman Kuhn, Queen’s University Belfast
-
Research - Dr Simon Lord, University of Oxford
-
Research - Dr Jill Mckay, Northumbria University
-
Research - Dr Raoul Reulen, University of Birmingham
-
Research - Dr James Thorne, University of Leeds
-
£
29,589		 Balance at 1
Oct 2023		 Income Expenditure Transfer to
Unrestricted		 Balance at 30
Sept 2024
106,444
31,200
47,015
1,350
15,000
2,000
1,500
2,000
6,000
10,000		 (5,915)
(46,200)
(9,000)
(1,350)
(15,000)
(2,000)
(1,500)
(2,000)
(6,000)
(10,000)		 (115,118)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 -
-
38,015
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
222,509 (98,965) (115,118) 38,015

22 Post Balance Sheet Events

In January 2025, WCRF purchased their premises at 140 Pentonville Road, London. The purchase price was £3,840,000, including VAT. This was purchased from unrestricted cash funds.

40