NATIONAL SPITFIRE PROJECT

Registered charity 1158286 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Advance the education of the public in the history of the design and development of the Spitfire aircraft and its role, including the erection and maintenance of a memorial to the Spitfire.

Objects

TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN THE HISTORY OF THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPITFIRE AIRCRAFT AND ITS ROLE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR INCLUDING, BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE ERECTION AND MAINTENANCE OF A MEMORIAL TO THE SPITFIRE AND IT'S DESIGNER R J MITCHELL IN THE CITY OF SOUTHAMPTON.

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

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Southampton, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£1.5m

Latest spending

£407k

Registered

2014

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity holds unrestricted reserves of £671,633, which exceeds its stated policy target of approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The trustees report a healthy financial position with significant cash balances and pledged donations, confirming the entity is a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure (held: £672k)

“The Trustees aim to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to a minimum of approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

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 31/10/2025

Government income: £925,763 — grants £925,763 (1); 60% of the £1,535,489 total gross income on the same return

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/10/2023

Government income: £532,500 — grants £532,500 (2); 100% of the £532,791 total gross income on the same return

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 31/10/2023 (received 25/09/2024, 25 days after the 31/08/2024 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 — National Spitfire Monument (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

John Hannides — Chairman (source)
Paul Beaver — Chairman of Aces (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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

UK Government — “Supported by UK Government funding, the National Spitfire Project is fundraising to create a monument and a public engagement programme that…” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/10/2025)

Total income

£1.5m

Total spending

£407k

Cost of raising funds

£74k

Reserves (reported)

£672k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~19.8 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (93% 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: 4.8% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

JOHN MICHAEL HANNIDESchair
George Patrick Egbert Cadbury
Jamie Barrett
Michael Richard James Mr
PAUL ELI BEAVER · trustee of 1 other charity
Paul Lester
Royston Smith

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

Operates in: Hampshire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/10/2025	£1.5m	£407k
31/10/2024	£175k	£563k
31/10/2023	£533k	£101k
31/10/2022	£78k	£58k
31/10/2021	£2k	£2k

Common questions

Is NATIONAL SPITFIRE PROJECT financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity holds unrestricted reserves of £671,633, which exceeds its stated policy target of approximately three months of unrestricted charitable expenditure. The trustees report a healthy financial position with significant cash balances and pledged donations, confirming the entity is a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds NATIONAL SPITFIRE PROJECT?

Funders whose own accounts filings name NATIONAL SPITFIRE PROJECT as a grant recipient include THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£50k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	amount not stated

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 SIR PETER RIGBY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£170k
THE BRITTEN FOUNDATION	1	£39k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with AVIATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIMITED.

AVIATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIMITED income £34k
FLY NAVY HERITAGE TRUST LIMITED income £3.0m
RAF MANSTON SPITFIRE & HURRICANE MEMORIAL MUSEUM income £152k
FLY HARRIER TRUST income £431k
THE HERITAGE AIRCRAFT TRUST income £251k
The Schools' Aerospace Careers Programme income £42k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
NATIONAL SPITFIRE PROJECT	£1.5m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
AVIATION HERITAGE FOUNDATION LIMITED FY2025	£34k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
FLY NAVY HERITAGE TRUST LIMITED FY2025	£3.0m	—	—	above	—	noted
RAF MANSTON SPITFIRE & HURRICANE MEMORIAL MUSEUM FY2025	£152k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
FLY HARRIER TRUST FY2025	£431k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE HERITAGE AIRCRAFT TRUST FY2025	£251k	—	0	above	—	no doubt

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