THE BOWES MUSEUM

Registered charity 1079639 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Latest income

£3.9m

Latest spending

£3.5m

Registered

2000

We have not yet analysed this charity’s accounts. Register data shown below.

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

Total income

£3.9m

Total spending

£3.5m

Cost of raising funds

£1.2m

Reserves (reported)

£287k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (21/11/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees

Alison Thain · trustee of 1 other charity
Christina Pascoe
Cllr Karen Allison · trustee of 2 other charities
DEBBIE LEIGH
Deborah Corbett · trustee of 1 other charity
Dr Ken Partington
Dr Steve Howell
Eliot Smith
Gordon Morrison
Jennie Collingwood
Jennifer Frances
Michelle Brown
Peter Mothersill
Rebecca Jane Blackwood

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

Operates in: Durham

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£3.9m	£3.5m
31/03/2024	£4.3m	£3.3m
31/03/2023	£2.2m	£2.5m
31/03/2022	£3.0m	£2.7m
31/03/2021	£2.1m	£1.9m

Common questions

Who funds THE BOWES MUSEUM?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE BOWES MUSEUM as a grant recipient include THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST, JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION, ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS, THE PAUL MELLON CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN BRITISH ART, THE STEVENSON FAMILY'S CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£100k
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION	FY2024	£90k
ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS	FY2025	£55k
ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT MUSEUMS	FY2023	£54k
THE PAUL MELLON CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN BRITISH ART	FY2025	£30k
THE ARDEOLA CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£25k
THE STEVENSON FAMILY'S CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£10k

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	26/06/2025	£645k	"#LC Landscape Connections : North Pennines"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	08/08/2024	£250k	"Towards Bowes 2092"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	03/10/2023	£250k	"Adders Up"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	02/08/2023	£146k	"The Silver Swan Â– 2023 Project"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	29/06/2020	£103k	"COVID19: The Bowes Museum"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	23/08/2016	£10k	"Linking children to local heritage: Sharing The Bowes Museum's WW1 Roll of Honour with schools"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	24/05/2016	£2.0m	"Acquisition of St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child by the Workshop of Dieric Bouts"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	20/12/2013	£66k	""To Serve King and Country": From 1914 to 2018 - Teesdale's First World War Legacy"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	21/05/2013	£455k	"Caring for collections - creating conservation capacity"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	13/06/2012	£1.0m	"The Heritage Lottery Fund/Department for Culture, Media and Sport Catalyst: Endowments Fund"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	22/09/2006	£3.4m	"Access to Collections"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	24/01/2003	£26k	"The Bowes Museum - Project Planning"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	15/03/2002	£20k	"Sugar Moulds, Bowes Museum - Acquisition"