Open City
Registered charity 1072104 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as LONDON OPEN HOUSE, OPEN CITY ARCHITECTURE
To champion the value of well designed place and space in making a liveable and vibrant city and the role everyone play within it
Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit for the year of £84,007, resulting in unrestricted reserves falling to £257,133. This reserve level is explicitly noted as being below the trustees' stated policy target of maintaining at least £300,000 to cover three months of expenditure. Despite this, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with adequate resources for the foreseeable future.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £257k; policy: at least £300,000 of unrestricted reserves)
“As at 31st March 2025 the charity's unrestricted reserves stood at £257,133. This is below our stated target as a tesult of increased costs and the timing of securing income.” — page 9
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Galloways Accounting (Audit) Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
What the charity says about itself (2023)
From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.
The charity states it enabled an estimated 227,000 visits during the Open House Festival.
“Over the last year we enabled an estimated 227,000 visits during the Open House Festival”
The report cites 91,623 listens/downloads for their podcast.
“achieved 91,623 listens of our podcast”
The charity reports supporting around 3,000 young Londoners through schools work.
“supported around 3,000 young Londoners to learn about the built environment via our schools work”
The charity notes reaching an audience of over one million via Instagram and TikTok.
“We have also reached an eye-watering audience of over one million through Instagram and TikTok!”
Leadership, per the charity’s website
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Funders the charity credits
Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£46k
Reported reserves equal ~2.6 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 4.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
- James William Mintonchair
- Ann Paul
- Anna Liu
- Aretha Ahunanya
- Carolyn Larkin
- Dav Bansal
- Mike Saunders
- Peter Bury
- Roland Oakshett
- Sara Habanananda Bailey
- Sarah Gold
- Selina Mason
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout London
Income and spending
Common questions
Is Open City financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit for the year of £84,007, resulting in unrestricted reserves falling to £257,133. This reserve level is explicitly noted as being below the trustees' stated policy target of maintaining at least £300,000 to cover three months of expenditure. Despite this, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity is a going concern with adequate resources for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Galloways Accounting (Audit) Limited.
Who funds Open City?
Funders whose own accounts filings name Open City as a grant recipient include JOHN LYON'S CHARITY, THE MARCHUS TRUST, EAST END COMMUNITY FOUNDATION.
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 SMART CITIZENS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.