THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC

Registered charity 309268 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q304985 · Wikipedia

The objects of the College shall be to advance the Art of Music and promote the study of andeducation in music and musical instruction and research of the highest standard and such otherrelated academic subjects as the College may consider appropriate in the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Northern Ireland and elsewhere throughout the world.

Objects

THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE ART OF MUSIC BE MEANS OF A CENTRAL TEACHING AND EXAMINING BODY, THE PROMOTION AND SUPERVISION OF MUSICAL INSTRUCTION CONDUCIVE TO THE CULTIVATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE ART OF MUSIC IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, THE GENERAL ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROMOTION OF THE CULTIVATION OF MUSIC AS AN ART THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DOMINIONS.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus for the year of £10.7m, with unrestricted reserves standing at £60.3m and net cash of £15.4m. The trustees confirmed that there is no material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, supported by a five-year financial forecast and stress tests.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by MHA Audit Services 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
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• 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.

Corporate structure

• Trading subsidiary: RCM BUSINESS ENTERPRISES LIMITED Companies House 08750265

Funders the charity credits

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

• ABRSM — “Founding Patrons ABRSM” (source page)
• Amaryllis Fleming Foundation — “Amaryllis Fleming Foundation” (source page)
• The Estate of Sue Balston — “The Estate of Sue Balston” (source page)
• The Estate of George Frederick Burgan — “The Estate of George Frederick Burgan” (source page)
• The Estate of Basil Coleman — “The Estate of Basil Coleman” (source page)
• Victor Ford Foundation on behalf of Ramona & Trevor Swale — “Victor Ford Foundation on behalf of Ramona & Trevor Swale” (source page)
• The Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust — “The Croucher Hong Kong Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Estate of Christopher Hogwood CBE HonDMus — “The Estate of Christopher Hogwood CBE HonDMus” (source page)
• Kingdom Music Education Group — “Kingdom Music Education Group” (source page)
• Sandro & Rena Lavery HonRCM — “Sandro & Rena Lavery HonRCM” (source page)
• The Leverhulme Trust — “The Leverhulme Trust” (source page)
• The National Lottery Heritage Fund — “The National Lottery Heritage Fund” (source page)
• Geoffrey Richards HonRCM & Valerie Richards — “Geoffrey Richards HonRCM & Valerie Richards” (source page)
• The Estate of Neville Wathen — “The Estate of Neville Wathen” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

5 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £14.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (65,685 followers) · instagram (55K followers)

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~19.1 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (22/04/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (05/11/2019) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• LORD BLACK OF BRENTWOODchair
• Baroness Veronica Fleet CBE
• Catherine Clarke
• DUNCAN OWEN
• Duncan Gareth Owen
• Geoffrey Richards · trustee of 1 other charity
• Ingrid Pearson
• James Williams LVO FRCM
• Jamie Njoku-Goodwin · trustee of 1 other charity
• Kevin Porter · trustee of 1 other charity
• Nadine Thompson
• Nandkishore Patel
• Olivia Hancock
• Patricia Rozario OBE
• Paula Walter
• Peter Holgate
• Professor Shirley J Thompson OBE
• Richard Goulding
• Sarah Hanratty
• Sir Guy Weston HonRCM · trustee of 2 other charities
• Stefan Grant

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

Operates in: Kensington And Chelsea

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.

• Jamie Njoku-Goodwin — trustee here and at THE ASSOCIATED BOARD OF THE ROYAL SCHOOLS OF MUSIC

Known funders

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

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC.

• ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC income £33.2m
• THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ORGANISTS income £523k
• THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF CHURCH MUSIC income £1.3m
• THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND income £1.9m
• THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND income £4.0m
• THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF RADIOLOGISTS income £15.2m

Side by side with its peers

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