THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 1120261 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The Historical Association brings together people who share an interest in, and love for the past and it furthers the study and teaching and enjoyment of history in all guises and forms: professional, public and popular. Through publications, web activity and events we support the teaching and learning of history at all levels.

Objects

TO ADVANCE THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF HISTORY.

Area of benefit: UNDEFINED. IN PRACTICE NATIONAL

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Southwark, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£1.2m

Latest spending

£1.3m

Registered

2007

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £115,308 for the year, resulting in a decrease in total funds to £1,018,668. The trustees note that unrestricted reserves of £206,373 fall below the adopted policy target of just over £300,000, though they maintain adequate resources to continue operations.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: £80,001 - £90,000 — above the median for charities its size (£70k)

“One employee earned between £80,000-90,000 during the year” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“One employee earned between £80,000-90,000 during the year” — page 28

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £206k; policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure)

“The amount of the General Fund at the year-end was £206,373 [note 17], which falls below the amount required by the reserves policy.” — page 14

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2025

Volunteers: 150
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2024

Volunteers: 180
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/09/2023

Volunteers: 180
Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (£80,001–£90,000: 1)

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 30/09/2023 (received 31/07/2024, 1 day after the 30/07/2024 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Historical Association (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Rebecca Sullivan — CEO (source)

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.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/09/2025)

Total income

£1.2m

Total spending

£1.3m

Cost of raising funds

£20k

Reserves (reported)

£206k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (94% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 1.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (17/07/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (03/12/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (03/12/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (03/12/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Professor James Daybellchair
Dr Alex Fairlamb
Dr Elizabeth Matthews
Dr Katharine Burn
Dr Michael Maddison
Dr Peter Hounsell FHA · trustee of 3 other charities
Kerry Somers
Matthew Smith
Professor Alexandra Walsham · trustee of 1 other charity
Professor Daniel Laqua
Professor Peter Mandler
Richard Walker · trustee of 2 other charities
Sarah Elizabeth Wilson
Steve Mastin
Sue Temple · trustee of 1 other charity
Tom Allen

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/09/2025	£1.2m	£1.3m
30/09/2024	£1.3m	£1.4m
30/09/2023	£1.2m	£1.2m
30/09/2022	£1.3m	£1.1m
30/09/2021	£1.0m	£887k

Common questions

Is THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £115,308 for the year, resulting in a decrease in total funds to £1,018,668. The trustees note that unrestricted reserves of £206,373 fall below the adopted policy target of just over £300,000, though they maintain adequate resources to continue operations. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Moore Kingston Smith LLP.

What does the highest-paid employee of THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £80,001 - £90,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Who funds THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION as a grant recipient include SCOULOUDI FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
SCOULOUDI FOUNDATION	FY2024	£10k
SCOULOUDI FOUNDATION	FY2025	£5k	History
SCOULOUDI FOUNDATION	FY2023	£5k	Environment & Humanities
SCOULOUDI FOUNDATION	FY2022	£1k	Environment & Humanities

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council	—	£20	Museum Education Officer Expenditure Expenses Supplies And Services Museums Education Museums & Arts
Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council	—	£20	Museum Education Officer Expenditure Expenses Supplies And Services Museums Education Museums & Arts

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE NATIONAL GALLERY TRUST	1	£1.0m
THE JULIA RAUSING TRUST	1	£761k
THE MASTER CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£733k
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION	1	£25k
MARC FITCH FUND	1	£2k
THE COMPANY OF ARTS SCHOLARS CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£2k
FUSION21 FOUNDATION	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR LOCAL HISTORY.

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR LOCAL HISTORY income £142k
ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY income £545k
ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY income £684k
Association of Higher Education Professionals income £761k
THE HISTORIC TOWNS TRUST income £110k
THE MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION income £2.2m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION	£1.2m	£80,001 - £90,000	1	below	—	no doubt
BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR LOCAL HISTORY FY2025	£142k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY FY2025	£545k	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY FY2025	£684k	£60,001 - £70,000	2	above	—	no doubt
Association of Higher Education Professionals FY2025	£761k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE HISTORIC TOWNS TRUST FY2025	£110k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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