THE ROYAL SCHOOL OF NEEDLEWORK

Registered charity 312774 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as RSN

The RSN comprises three core activities; the Education programme, the Collection and the Studio. These three activities are integrally linked; Studio staff teach on the courses; students work in the Studio; students work on items from the Collection and the collection informs work in the Studio and the courses.

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £654,912 for the year, driven by investment losses and restructuring costs, resulting in free reserves falling to £1,168,912. This figure is explicitly noted as being £520,088 below the trustees' stated policy target of five months' total expenditure. Despite the recurring deficit and reserves being below target, the trustees and auditors confirm there is no material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00012192

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Royal School of Needlework (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Pip Wood — Chair (source)
• Rhian Harris — CEO (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).

• The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust — “We would like to acknowledge and thank the following Charitable Trusts and Foundations that support the RSN, our vision and values. The D’Oy…” (source page)

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.

• PUNAKS, Zoe — director, appointed 15/07/2026not on trustee list
• HIMSWORTH, Alice — director, appointed 15/07/2026not on trustee list
• PALMER, Linda Anne — director, appointed 11/02/2026on trustee list
• MILA, Peter — director, appointed 09/10/2024on trustee list
• MUMFORD, Sarah Jane — director, appointed 04/05/2023on trustee list
• LEFTWICH, Paula, Dr — director, appointed 04/05/2023on trustee list
• PICKARD, Keith William — director, appointed 01/02/2023on trustee list
• RICHARDS, Julie Ann — director, appointed 28/07/2022on trustee list
• WOOD, Pauline Elizabeth — director, appointed 05/10/2021on trustee list
• RITCHIE, Eleri Lynn — director, appointed 05/10/2021on trustee list
• CULLEN, Patricia Barbara, Professor — director, appointed 23/06/2020on trustee list

Official officers record.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~3.8 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (61% 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: 31.1% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (14/07/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Paula Leftwich
• Eleri Lynn Ritchie
• Julie Ann Richards
• Keith William Pickard · trustee of 1 other charity
• Linda Anne Palmer · trustee of 1 other charity
• Louisa Christofidou
• Patricia Barbara Cullen
• Pauline Elizabeth Wood
• Peter Mila
• Sarah Jane Mumford

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

Operates in: Bristol City · Durham · Japan · Richmond Upon Thames · Scotland · United States · Warwickshire

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 ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTER-PRINTMAKERS.

• ROYAL SOCIETY OF PAINTER-PRINTMAKERS income £123k
• THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND income £1.9m
• LONDON TRANSPORT MUSEUM LIMITED income £19.9m
• THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE income £13.7m
• THE GUILD OF ST GEORGE income £176k
• THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS income £37.1m

Side by side with its peers

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