Royal Geographical Society (With the Institute of British Geographers)

Analysis

Royal Geographical Society (With the Institute of British Geographers) is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in February 1963, 63 years ago. Its declared purposes cover education/training, arts/culture/heritage/science and environment/conservation/heritage, which this site groups under arts, culture, heritage and science. It says it makes grants to individuals, makes grants to organisations and provides buildings/facilities/open space.

In the financial year ending December 2025, Royal Geographical Society (With the Institute of British Geographers) reported income of £6.9m and spending of £7.2m, spending 104% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from December 2021 to December 2025, income grew from £4.6m to £6.9m (+48%), an average of +10% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to December 2022, when income rose by 30%. Over the whole period it spent 102% 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, Royal Geographical Society (With the Institute of British Geographers) sits at the 99th percentile: it is larger than about 99% 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 Hull University Students' Union Limited (£6.9m), The British Museum Friends (£6.9m) and Baltic Flour Mills Visual Arts Trust (£6.8m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from donations and legacies 43%, trading 34%, charitable activities 15% and investments 8.2%. Gifts in wills alone brought in £253k. Charitable activities took 76% of spending and raising funds 4.8%. Grants to other organisations totalled £138k. Reserves of £7.7m would cover about 13 months of spending at that rate. It employed 64 people.

Data notes from the register: Spending has exceeded income in each of the last three reported years, so the charity has been drawing on reserves or other funds.