THE CONTEMPORARY ART SOCIETY

Registered charity 208178 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q16951207 · Wikipedia

The Contemporary Art Society is a national charity that encourages an appreciation and understanding of contemporary art in the UK. With the help of our members and supporters we raise funds to purchase works by new artists which we give to museums and public galleries across the UK where they are enjoyed by a national audience now and for the future.

Objects

OBJECTS ARE, FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT, TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THE EDUCATION IN, AND THE APPRECIATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND TO SECURE BY PURCHASE, GIFT, EXCHANGE, BEQUEST OR OTHERWISE CONTEMPORARY WORKS OF ART FOR PRESENTATION OR LOAN TO PUBLIC COLLECTIONS, MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES WHEREVER SITUATED

Area of benefit: NATIONAL AND OVERSEAS

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: Islington, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a total surplus of £222,518 for the year ended 31 March 2025, driven by a significant increase in donations and fundraising event income. The trustees consider the free reserves of £770,941, representing approximately eight months of running costs, to be a resilient position despite sector-wide pressures. The auditor confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting is appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Sayer Vincent LLP. Discloses 4 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 handling
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• 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.

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

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00255486

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Caroline Douglas — Director (source)
• Sophia Bardsley — Deputy Director (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.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• KINGSLEY, Sophie Nichola Ann — director, appointed 24/07/2026on trustee list
• ADEBAJO, Oluwafikayo Motunrayo — director, appointed 19/05/2026on trustee list
• HENKELL VON RIBBENTROP, Isabelle Maria Anna — director, appointed 01/10/2024not on trustee list
• WARDER, Ruth — director, appointed 01/10/2024on trustee list
• MARLOW OBE, Timothy John — director, appointed 18/06/2024not on trustee list
• PREMPEH-BONSU, Charlene Akyiaa — director, appointed 18/06/2024on trustee list
• ROBERTSON, James Findlay — director, appointed 29/04/2024on trustee list
• FICHARDT, Liesl Frida — director, appointed 24/04/2024on trustee list
• SUSS, Robert Marc — director, appointed 02/01/2024on trustee list
• MEAD, Suling — director, appointed 18/02/2023on trustee list
• OUTRED, Francis Nader — director, appointed 02/01/2020on trustee list
• FRANKS, Timothy — director, appointed 03/12/2018on trustee list
• SHIELD, John — director, appointed 19/06/2018on trustee list
• BLAKE, Nicola Ann — director, appointed 02/06/2017on trustee list
• GOLTZ, Emma Joan — director, appointed 12/12/2016on trustee list
• LUPTON, Beatrice Marie, The Lady — director, appointed 01/10/2015on trustee list
• WILLS, Catherine Martha — director, appointed 24/11/2011not on trustee list
• MORRIS, Keith John — director, appointed 24/02/2011on trustee list
• CORVI-MORA, Tommaso — director, appointed 09/10/2007on trustee list

Official officers record.

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)

Reported reserves equal ~4.9 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (63% 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: 9.6% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Robert Susschair
• CATHY WILLS · trustee of 1 other charity
• Charlene Prempeh-Bonsu
• Emma Goltz · trustee of 1 other charity
• Francis Outred
• Isabelle Henkell von Ribbentrop
• James Robertson
• John Shield · trustee of 1 other charity
• Keith Morris · trustee of 2 other charities
• Liesl Fichardt
• Nicola Blake · trustee of 1 other charity
• Oluwafikayo Motunrayo Adebajo
• Ruth Warder
• Sophie Nichola Ann Kingsley · trustee of 1 other charity
• Suling Mead
• THE LADY BEATRICE LUPTON
• TOMMASO CORVI-MORA
• Timothy Franks
• Timothy Marlow OBE
• Valeria Napoleone

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• CATHERINE WILLS — trustee here and at CATHY WILLS CHARITABLE TRUST

Known funders

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

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 NEW CONTEMPORARIES (1988) LIMITED.

• NEW CONTEMPORARIES (1988) LIMITED income £875k
• OUTSET - CONTEMPORARY ART FUND income £328k
• CONTEMPORARY APPLIED ARTS income £421k
• THE ARTS SOCIETY, CORINIUM income £53k
• Hastings Contemporary income £1.3m
• ART INSTITUTIONS OF THE 21ST CENTURY income £51k

Side by side with its peers

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