NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS FUND

Registered charity 209174 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q3519818 · Wikipedia · also known as THE ART FUND · also registered in Scotland as SC038331 (OSCR)

The Art Fund enriches museums and galleries throughout the UK with works of art of all kinds; campaigns for the widest possible access to art; and promotes the enjoyment of art through its membership scheme.

Objects

TO SECURE BY PURCHASE, GIFT, EXCHANGE, BEQUEST OR OTHERWISE WORKS OF ART, AND OBJECTS OF NATIONAL AND HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE FOR PRESENTATION OR LOAN TO PUBLIC ART COLLECTIONS IN OUR UNITED KINGDOM AND THE COMMONWEALTH AND TO THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR PLACES OF HISTORIC INTEREST OR NATURAL BEAUTY AND THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR SCOTLAND FOR PUBLIC EXHIBITION SUCH PRESENTATION OR LOAN TO BE MADE SUBJECT TO SUCH CONDITIONS AND TERMS AS ARE REQUIRED.

Area of benefit: GREAT BRITAIN AND THE COMMONWEALTH

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

Causes: Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income increased to £18.3m in 2025, driven by growth in membership and fundraising, while charitable expenditure rose to £18.9m. The charity operated at an operating deficit of £2.1m but recorded a net income of £3.8m due to strong investment returns, resulting in total funds increasing to £61.6m. The trustees confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern with no material uncertainty.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. 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
• Complaints policy and procedures
• 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
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

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

• Trading subsidiary: ART FUND SERVICES LIMITED Companies House 01487654

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £500k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (88,806 followers) · instagram (127K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.0 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 8.0% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (25/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (20/08/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (10/05/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Alexander Nairne CBEchair
• Anupam Ganguli · trustee of 2 other charities
• Claire Elizabeth Cleaver
• Clare Jennifer Gough
• Desmond Shawe-Taylor
• Dr David Dibosa
• Jeremy Deller
• Katrina Brown
• Madeleine Kennedy
• Professor Caroline Alexandra van Eck
• ROBERT ALAN GLICK · trustee of 1 other charity
• Satish Padiyar
• Sir Nigel Martyn Carrington
• Stella Abadesi Osunsade
• Susan Lambert
• Tessa Jackson

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

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 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETIES.

• THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DECORATIVE AND FINE ARTS SOCIETIES income £1.6m
• THE ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND income £843.1m
• THE NATIONAL GALLERY TRUST income £8.4m
• CAMPAIGN FOR THE ARTS income £129k
• THE INGRAM ART FOUNDATION income £152k
• THE PUBLIC CATALOGUE FOUNDATION income £2.2m

Side by side with its peers

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