Grant-making trust or foundation · Registered charity 210183
The Wellcome Trust: grants and who they fund
The Wellcome Trust published 1,335 grants to organisations from 8 Oct 2023 to 31 Aug 2026, worth £3,285m in total. The typical (median) grant was £833k.
Stated aims
What the charity says it does (Charity Commission register):
Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive.We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation.
Charitable objects (governing document):
(1) to protect, preserve and advance all or any aspects of the health and welfare of humankind and to advance and promote knowledge and education by engaging in, encouraging and supporting: (a) research into any of the biosciences; and (b) the discovery, invention, improvement, development and application of treatments, cures, diagnostics and other medicinal agents, methods and processes that may in any way relieve illness, disease, disability or disorders of whatever nature in human beings or animal or plant life; …
Where it operates (Charity Commission register):
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Burkina Faso
- Cameroon
- Canada
- China
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cyprus
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
Grant sizes
Grants to organisations from 8 Oct 2023 to 31 Aug 2026. Smallest £3,368, largest £466m, average £2.5m.
| Grant size | Grants | Share |
|---|---|---|
| £1,000 to £4,999 | 1 | 0% |
| £5,000 to £9,999 | 6 | 0% |
| £10,000 to £49,999 | 81 | 6% |
| £50,000 to £99,999 | 65 | 5% |
| £100,000 to £249,999 | 161 | 12% |
| £250,000 or more | 1,021 | 76% |
| Year | Grants | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 244 | £418m |
| 2025 | 511 | £1,269m |
| 2024 | 549 | £1,549m |
| 2023 | 31 | £49m |
Grant programmes
Programmes named most often in the published grants.
| Programme | Grants | Median grant |
|---|---|---|
| Discretionary Award | 403 | £462k |
| Early-Career Award | 197 | £713k |
| Discovery Award | 182 | £3.3m |
| Career Development Award | 150 | £2.2m |
| Open Access Award | 113 | £92k |
| Wellcome Accelerator Awards | 65 | £227k |
| Bioimaging Technology Development Award | 28 | £505k |
| Climate Impacts Award | 25 | £2.5m |
Example recipients
Registered organisations that received grants, largest first. Organisations only: grants to individuals are never shown.
| Organisation | Grants | Total | Latest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellcome Leap Inc. | 1 | £466m | 10 Jun 2024 |
| University of Oxford | 126 | £403m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| University College London | 76 | £176m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine | 19 | £134m | 7 Jul 2026 |
| King's College London | 63 | £114m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| University of Cambridge | 56 | £114m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| University of Edinburgh | 41 | £85m | 16 Jun 2026 |
| Imperial College London | 38 | £65.4m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| University of Dundee | 15 | £58m | 21 May 2026 |
| Boston University | 2 | £47.5m | 30 Sept 2025 |
| Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organization | 1 | £46.1m | 16 Sept 2024 |
| India Alliance (DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance) | 1 | £45m | 30 Sept 2024 |
| University of Glasgow | 23 | £44.9m | 14 Jul 2026 |
| World Health Organization Switzerland | 19 | £44.7m | 15 Jul 2026 |
| London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine | 31 | £43.1m | 25 Jun 2026 |
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Source: grants data published by The Wellcome Trust through 360Giving (GrantNav data, fetched 23 Oct 2026), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Figures are our own summary of that data: 1,335 grants to organisations awarded 8 Oct 2023 to 31 Aug 2026 (from the most recent records published). Stated aims, charity number and areas of operation are from the Charity Commission register.
Licence: Contains public sector information from the Charity Commission for England and Wales, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Open Government Licence v3.0. Grants data from The Wellcome Trust, CC BY 4.0.
Last updated: 23 October 2026. Information only, not funding advice; check the funder's own guidance before applying. Brightbench is not connected to The Wellcome Trust.