THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE ROYAL SOCIETY)
Registered charity 207043 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE ROYAL SOCIETY
The Royal Society has three roles: A learned society; The UK's Academy of Science; And as a funding agency. We- Promote science and its benefits- Recognise excellence in science- Support outstanding science- Provide scientific advice for policy- Foster international and global cooperation- Provide education and public engagement
Causes: Education/training · Other Charitable Purposes · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that free reserves were £35.8 million, which is well above the target level of £16.0 million. The defined benefit pension scheme holds a surplus of £2.4 million, and the total investment portfolio was valued at £563.7 million. The Trustees confirm there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Employees paid over £60,000: 52
“The following numbers of employees of the Royal Society earning £60,000 per annum or more received total emoluments within the bands shown.” — page 80
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Dame Julie Maxton is a Trustee Board member of The Foundation for Science and Technology (FST). The Royal Society provides an annual grant to FST. The grant paid this year was £44,000.
“Dame Julie Maxton, Executive Director of The Royal Society, is a Trustee Board member of The Foundation for Science and Technology (FST). The Royal Society provides an annual grant to FST to support its activities. The grant paid this year was £44,000” — page 84
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by BDO LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Corporate structure
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Paul Nurse — President (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.
Electoral Commission register entries
Entries on the Electoral Commission’s public register where this charity (or its company) appears as the source — typically sponsorship of an APPG or an overseas visit provided to an MP, which charities may lawfully do. Shown with the Commission’s own reference; this is a transparency record, not an allegation.
- Non Cash: Steve Yemm (MP - Member of Parliament) — £3k · 16/03/2026 · ref NC0836473
Other
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (372,337 likes) · instagram (194K followers)
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£3.1m
Reserves (reported)
£35.8m
Reported reserves equal ~2.8 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 2.7 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (86% 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: 2.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (2.9%) (benchmarks).
- Anne Ridley · trustee of 1 other charity
- Colin Peter Smith FRS FREng
- Dame Nancy Rothwell · trustee of 1 other charity
- Professor Carlos Frenk CBE FRS
- Professor Dame Frances Mary Ashcroft DBE FRS
- Professor Eric William Wolff FRS
- Professor Gideon Davies FRS
- Professor Ian Walmsley FRS
- Professor Jonathan Felix Ashmore FRS
- Professor Jonathan Keating FRS
- Professor Julia Alison Noble OBE FRS
- Professor Krishnaswamy Vijayraghavan FRS
- Professor Marta Kwiatkowska FRS
- Professor Miles Padgett FRS
- Professor Robin Allshire FRS
- Professor Sarah Darby FRS · trustee of 1 other charity
- Professor Sheila Rowan CBE FRS
- Professor Sir Andrew Pollard FRS · trustee of 1 other charity
- Professor Sir Colin John Humphreys CBE FRS
- Professor Sir Paul Maxime Nurse OM CH FRS
- Professor Stephen West CBE
- Professor Tim Palmer CBE FRS
- Sir David Charles Baulcombe FRS
- Sir Mark Walport
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE ROYAL SOCIETY) financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that free reserves were £35.8 million, which is well above the target level of £16.0 million. The defined benefit pension scheme holds a surplus of £2.4 million, and the total investment portfolio was valued at £563.7 million. The Trustees confirm there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by BDO LLP.
Who funds THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE ROYAL SOCIETY)?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON FOR IMPROVING NATURAL KNOWLEDGE (COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE ROYAL SOCIETY) as a grant recipient include THE JULIA RAUSING TRUST, THE SINO-BRITISH FELLOWSHIP TRUST, DEVELOPMENTS IN LITERACY UK (UK), THE JOHN S COHEN FOUNDATION, Friends of the Nations' Libraries.
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 THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.