ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM
Registered charity 1197541 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
Our purpose is to share the story of the Royal Air Force, past, present and future, using the stories of its people and our collections, to engage, entertain, inspire and encourage learning. Our overall vision is to inspire everyone with the RAF story, the people who shape it and its place in our lives.
Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the Museum operates on a going concern basis with total net assets of £140,925,000 and cash reserves of £16,365,000. The trustees maintain a reserves policy targeting approximately two months of operational expenditure, which they confirm is currently met. Although the Museum reported an unrestricted operational surplus of £15,000 after depreciation, it recorded an overall net loss of £1,220,000 driven by significant depreciation charges on property and exhibitions.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Accounts audited by Comptroller and Auditor General. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — RAF Museum (matched by registered charity number).
Property (HM Land Registry)
1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£601k
Reported reserves equal ~1.4 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (73% 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: 3.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).
- Anita Bernie
- Caroline Rolfe · trustee of 1 other charity
- David Cooper CBE
- Dean McCumiskey
- Hemma Gooljar · trustee of 1 other charity
- John Banks
- Jonathan Ian Field
- Josh Chana
- Matthew Gilpin
- Sir Stephen Hillier
- Waseem Mahmood OBE · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the Museum operates on a going concern basis with total net assets of £140,925,000 and cash reserves of £16,365,000. The trustees maintain a reserves policy targeting approximately two months of operational expenditure, which they confirm is currently met. Although the Museum reported an unrestricted operational surplus of £15,000 after depreciation, it recorded an overall net loss of £1,220,000 driven by significant depreciation charges on property and exhibitions. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Comptroller and Auditor General.
Who funds ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM?
Funders whose own accounts filings name ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM as a grant recipient include THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST, NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS FUND, THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED, DEVELOPMENTS IN LITERACY UK (UK), THE PHILLIPS AND RUBENS CHARITABLE TRUST.
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 ROYAL ARTILLERY MUSEUM.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.