The National Football Museum

Analysis

The National Football Museum is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Manchester. It was registered in November 1995, 31 years ago. Its declared purposes cover education/training, arts/culture/heritage/science, amateur sport and environment/conservation/heritage, which this site groups under arts, culture, heritage and science. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 03070670). It says it provides advocacy/advice/information and sponsors or undertakes research.

In the financial year ending March 2025, The National Football Museum reported income of £4.8m and spending of £4.4m, spending 91% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from March 2021 to March 2025, income grew from £2.6m to £4.8m (+83%), an average of +16% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to March 2024, when income rose by 30%. Over the whole period it spent 88% of the income it received.

Among 17,634 England and Wales charities whose main cause is arts, culture, heritage and science and that reported income, The National Football Museum sits at the 98th percentile: it is larger than about 98% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 98th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Kings Place Music Foundation (£4.8m), The Berkshire Young Musicians Trust (£4.9m) and Watermill Theatre Limited (£4.7m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 74%, trading 19%, donations and legacies 3.1% and investments 1.0%. Charitable activities took 83% of spending and raising funds 13%. Reserves of £2.6m would cover about 7 months of spending at that rate. It employed 76 people.