The Royal Town Planning Institute

Analysis

The Royal Town Planning Institute is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in September 1971, 55 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, education/training, environment/conservation/heritage and economic/community development/employment, which this site groups under environment and conservation. It says it provides human resources, provides services and provides advocacy/advice/information.

In the financial year ending December 2025, The Royal Town Planning Institute reported income of £9.2m and spending of £10.3m, spending 112% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from December 2021 to December 2025, income grew from £6.8m to £9.2m (+35%), an average of +7.7% a year. Over the whole period it spent 104% of the income it received.

Among 4,574 England and Wales charities whose main cause is environment and conservation and that reported income, The Royal Town Planning Institute 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 99th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include North Yorkshire Moors Railway Trust (£9.1m), The Lancashire Wildlife Trust (£9.2m) and Kent Wildlife Trust (£9.0m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 97% and investments 2.7%. Charitable activities took 98% of spending and raising funds 0.1%. Grants to other organisations totalled £447k. Reserves of £3.5m would cover about 4 months of spending at that rate. It employed 97 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.