Royal Aeronautical Society

Analysis

Royal Aeronautical Society is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in London. It was registered in June 1963, 63 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, 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 Aeronautical Society reported income of £6.3m and spending of £6.2m, spending 98% of its income. Across the 5 years on record, from December 2021 to December 2025, income grew from £4.4m to £6.3m (+44%), an average of +9.5% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to December 2022, when income rose by 32%. 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, Royal Aeronautical Society 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 Postal Heritage Trust (£6.3m), British Association for the Advancement of Science (£6.4m) and The London Library (£6.3m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 78%, trading 13%, donations and legacies 5.0% and investments 4.2%. Charitable activities took 87% of spending and raising funds 9.9%. Reserves of £12.4m would cover about 23 months of spending at that rate. It employed 60 people.