THE SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST

Registered charity 289850 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST, SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST LIMITED, SALISBURY MUSEUM

Salisbury museum collects, preserves and presents collections that illustrate Salisbury and South Wiltshires past (including archaeology of national status). It encourages learning, research, publication and enjoyment of those collections through services which include display, educaiton and events.

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

Latest income

£1.8m

Latest spending

£1.7m

Registered

1985

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £23,363 for the year, primarily driven by an unexpected £70,000 roof repair cost. However, the trustees report that free reserves stood at £640,000, which is significantly above the stated policy target of £225,000, and investment values have recovered to previous levels.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: £225,000 (held: £640k)

“The free reserves policy of Salisbury Museum is to hold liquid reserves in the form of cash or readily convertible investments of £225,000; this being the equivalent to approximately six months of operational expenditure.” — page 8

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Payments to trustees: Mr Adrian Green (Trustee and Director) received £49,000 salary and £10,290 pension contributions.

“Mr Adrian Green, the Museum Director, is a trustee of the charity. During the year ended 31 December 2024, Mr Green received a gross salary of £49,000 (2023: £49,000) and the Museum paid £10,290 (2023: £10,290) in employer’s pension contributions.” — page 27

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Trustee remuneration

“Mr Adrian Green, the Museum Director, is a trustee of the charity. During the year ended 31 December 2024, Mr Green received a gross salary of £49,000 (2023: £49,000) and the Museum paid £10,290 (2023: £10,290) in employer’s pension contributions.” — page 27

“During the year, the Museum paid £5,780 (2023: £425) to Sarah Howard for professional conservation support. Sarah Howard is a sole trade business owned by the wife of C H Elmer, a trustee of the Museum.” — page 27

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Trustee-connected business payment

“Mr Adrian Green, the Museum Director, is a trustee of the charity. During the year ended 31 December 2024, Mr Green received a gross salary of £49,000 (2023: £49,000) and the Museum paid £10,290 (2023: £10,290) in employer’s pension contributions.” — page 27

“During the year, the Museum paid £5,780 (2023: £425) to Sarah Howard for professional conservation support. Sarah Howard is a sole trade business owned by the wife of C H Elmer, a trustee of the Museum.” — page 27

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Trading subsidiary: Salisbury Museum Replicas Limited

“The consolidated financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the Museum Trust and its subsidiary undertakings, The Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum and Salisbury Museum Replicas Limited.” — page 16

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Fletchers & Partners. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Salisbury Museum (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Michael Wade — Chair of the Board of Trustees (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.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £125k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Total income

£1.8m

Total spending

£1.7m

Cost of raising funds

£9k

Reserves (reported)

£225k

Employees

14

Reported reserves equal ~1.6 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

ADRIAN XAVIER THOMAS GREEN · trustee of 1 other charity
CHRISTOPHER ELMER
Harvey Lloyd Slater
Katharine Blackwood
Marcus Somerled Thorpe
Michael John Wade · trustee of 1 other charity
Sam Mullins
Thomas Charles Kendal Knox Wright
Tim Moulding
Valerie Anne Greathead

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

Operates in: Wiltshire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£1.8m	£1.7m
31/12/2023	£3.4m	£1.8m
31/12/2022	£1.4m	£889k
31/12/2021	£1.4m	£951k
31/12/2020	£803k	£1.1m

Common questions

Is THE SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £23,363 for the year, primarily driven by an unexpected £70,000 roof repair cost. However, the trustees report that free reserves stood at £640,000, which is significantly above the stated policy target of £225,000, and investment values have recovered to previous levels. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Fletchers & Partners.

Who funds THE SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST as a grant recipient include THE HEADLEY TRUST, THE FOYLE FOUNDATION, THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED, NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS FUND, THE GOLSONCOTT FOUNDATION.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE HEADLEY TRUST	FY2023	£150k	Towards the Past Forward redevelopment at Salisbury Museum.
THE FOYLE FOUNDATION	FY2023	£100k
THE HOBSON CHARITY LIMITED	FY2024	£10k	Museum
NATIONAL ART COLLECTIONS FUND	FY2023	£2k	Acquisition grant
THE GOLSONCOTT FOUNDATION	FY2024	£1k

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	02/10/2024	£237k	"Fashioning Our Future: Working with young people and volunteers to look after and co-curate fashion collections"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	04/07/2024	£63k	"Teffont Archaeology Project: Sustaining Pathways to Access"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	05/07/2023	£45k	"Teffont Archaeology Project 2023: Engaging and Training New Audiences in Archaeology, Building Resilience and Sustainability in Community Ar"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	13/07/2022	£10k	"Coombe Bissett Landscape Research Project - Building Capacity and Inclusion"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	12/06/2019	£4.3m	"Past Forward: Salisbury Museum for Future Generations"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	08/06/2016	£33k	"City Story: Historic Past, Creative Future"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	02/04/2014	£10k	"Salisbury and The Great War: Fighting on the Home Front"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	23/03/2010	£1.9m	"Archaeology of Wessex Gallery"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	12/02/2008	£40k	"Inspired by Stonehenge"
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	02/08/2006	£6k	"This Is An Initiative To Involve Young People From Outlying Areas Around Salisbury In Aspects Of Local History And Increasing Access By Youn"
The National Lottery Community Fund	02/08/2006	£6k	school holiday workshops for children
The National Lottery Heritage Fund	16/04/1999	£56k	"Warminster Anglo-Saxon Jewel"

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 REED FOUNDATION	1	—
THE WOLFSON FOUNDATION	1	£80k
Salisbury Hospice Charity Limited	1	£61k
THE VALENTINE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£25k
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£20k
THE ALICE ELLEN COOPER-DEAN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£15k
ELLINGHAM AND RINGWOOD AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY	1	£7k
THE STEPHENSON JAMES CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£5k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with WESSEX MUSEUMS TRUST.

WESSEX MUSEUMS TRUST income £488k
SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTS DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL income £191k
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL CHORAL FOUNDATION income £407k
Salisbury Hospice Charity Limited income £2.7m
WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY income £637k
THE SALISBURY POOL CHARITY COMPRISING THE FIRST MOIETY ESTABLISHED BY CLAUSE 2 OF THE DEED OF DECLARATION DATED 23RD MARCH 1976 income £131k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTSHIRE MUSEUM TRUST	£1.8m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
WESSEX MUSEUMS TRUST FY2025	£488k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
SALISBURY AND SOUTH WILTS DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL FY2025	£191k	—	0	below	—	noted
SALISBURY CATHEDRAL CHORAL FOUNDATION FY2025	£407k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
Salisbury Hospice Charity Limited FY2025	£2.7m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY FY2025	£637k	more than £60,000	1	unclear	—	no doubt

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