THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Registered charity 1062400 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE DORSET COUNTY MUSEUM, THE DORSET NATURAL HISTORY AND ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

The advancement of education for the benefit of the public in the areas of archaeology, natural sciences, literature, the fine and decorative arts, antiquities and local history relating to the County of Dorset.The acquisition, preservation, conservation, exhibition and development of collections relating to the areas outlined above.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a small surplus of £51,936 for the year ended 31 March 2025, having reduced expenditure by more than £42,000. However, the Trustees report that the charity's financial crisis remains present and long-term sustainability is challenged by unpredictable income from grants and legacies. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £543,107, which are reduced by a defined benefit pension deficit of £110,000.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Scott Vevers Ltd. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 1 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

Property (HM Land Registry)

6 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (5 freehold); recorded price paid £220k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~4.1 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (07/08/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Claire Dixon
• David French
• Dr ANN ABRAHAM
• Hazel Ormrod
• Jonathan Charles Cotton
• Laura Danielle Martin
• Laura Southall
• Morag Wood
• Professor Paul James Gough · trustee of 2 other charities
• Tracey Marie Parsons
• Tracy Chevalier

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Dorset

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funders of similar charities

Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY.

• WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY income £637k
• THE SUSSEX ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY income £1.6m
• DORCHESTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY income £908k
• SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON income £2.6m
• EAST DORSET HERITAGE TRUST income £201k
• YORK ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRUST FOR EXCAVATION AND RESEARCH LIMITED income £11.6m

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.