ENGLISH FOLK DANCE AND SONG SOCIETY

Registered charity 305999 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5378261 · Wikipedia · also known as CECIL SHARP HOUSE, E F D S S, ENGLISH FOLK DANCE & SONG SOCIETY, Folk England, VAUGHAN WILLIAMS MEMORIAL LIBRARY

A centre of excellence for the study, practice and dissemination of traditional English Folk song, dance and music at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library and Cecil Sharp House. Providing national and local outreach services to enable and increase access, celebrate diversity and promote equality

Objects

2.1.1 TO PRESERVE ENGLISH FOLK DANCES AND SONGS AND OTHER FOLK MUSIC (INCLUDING SINGING GAMES), FOLK TALES AND FOLK DRAMA, TO MAKE THEM KNOWN AND TO ENCOURAGE THE PRACTICE OF THEM IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORMS;2.1.2 TO PROMOTE THE KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF ENGLISH FOLK DANCES, SONGS AND MUSIC, TALES AND DRAMA BY MEANS OF DANCES, SCHOOLS CLASSES , EXAMINATIONS, LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS, FESTIVALS AND OTHER LIKE METHODS;2.2.3 TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE RESEARCH INTO AND STUDY OF THE ORIGINS DEVELOPMENT AND TRADITIONAL PRACTICE OF ENGLISH FOLK DANCES, SONGS AND MUSIC TALES AND DRAMA AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THOSE OF OTHER COUNTRIES.

Area of benefit: NATIONAL

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 · Amateur Sport · Environment/conservation/heritage · 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 the charity reported a net expenditure of £99,976 for the year ended 31 March 2025, resulting in a decrease in total funds from £2,720,242 to £2,620,266. The trustees have assessed the going concern assumption and concluded there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue operations. Unrestricted general funds stood at £420,611, providing a buffer against the current year's deficit.

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
• 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
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• 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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/03/2022 (received 16/02/2023, 16 days after the 31/01/2023 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — English Folk Dance And Song Society (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jo Freya — Artistic 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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Weston Culture Fund — “In autumn 2022 EFDSS commissioned Folk Dance Remixed to produce Hope , their first stage show for indoor theatrical spaces, funded by the We…” (source page)
• Cockayne Foundation — “Within the Waves was co-commissioned with Serious and premiered at Cecil Sharp House as part of the EFJ London Jazz Festival 2015; it was su…” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 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 ~2.9 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (19/05/2025) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (17/09/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (14/01/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (05/09/2013) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Andrew Hill
• Angharad Eve Cooper
• Fiona Margaret Butcher · trustee of 1 other charity
• James Edward Fishwick
• Jeremy Paul Iles
• Lisa Saper
• Marcie-Jane Hopkins
• Robyn Wallace Chicot

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

Operates in: 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 EAST ANGLIAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC TRUST.

• EAST ANGLIAN TRADITIONAL MUSIC TRUST income £29k
• THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY income £249k
• BROADSTAIRS FOLK WEEK income £395k
• EALING CHORAL SOCIETY income £61k
• ALL ENGLAND DANCE income £136k
• ENGLISH CHAMBER CHOIR income £54k

Side by side with its peers

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