THE MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION

Registered charity 313024 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION · also registered in Scotland as SC041856 (OSCR)

To advance education in, and to foster and encourage the preservation and better understanding of the material heritage of mankind and the environment for the public benefit by the promotion and development of museums and galleries and encouraging the involvementof the public. To establish and advance professional standards of those employed in museums and galleries.

Objects

TO ADVANCE EDUCATION IN AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE THE PRESERVATION AND BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE MATERIAL HERITAGE OF MANKIND AND THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY THE PROMOTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES AND BY ENCOURAGING THE INVOLVEMENT OF MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC IN THEIR WORK AND TO ESTABLISH, UPHOLD AND ADVANCE THE STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION, QUALIFICATION, TRAINING AND COMPETENCE OF THOSE EMPLOYED IN MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERIES.

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 · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a negative movement in unrestricted funds of £279k before pension actuarial adjustments, driven by a 7% drop in unrestricted income to £1.925m against a 3% rise in expenditure to £1.939m. Despite this deficit, the trustees and auditors confirm the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern, with unrestricted reserves of £499k exceeding the stated policy target of £440k.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Moore Kingston Smith 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
• 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

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00252131

Funders the charity credits

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

• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation — “We gratefully receive funding support for our work from the following organisations: Esmée Fairbairn Foundation We have longstanding relatio…” (source page)
• Julia Rausing Trust — “Julia Rausing Trust The Julia Rausing Trust supports the Health and Wellbeing in Museums Fund , our programme of grant-making, networking an…” (source page)
• UK Research and Innovation — “We partnered with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) , the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and creative design agency The Liminal…” (source page)
• Arts and Humanities Research Council — “We partnered with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) , the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and creative design agency The Liminal…” (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.

• CROWDY, Hannah May — director, appointed 01/04/2026on trustee list
• MCKIRDY, Ross Oliver — director, appointed 01/04/2025on trustee list
• JARDINE PATERSON, Kinvara Margaret — director, appointed 27/01/2025not on trustee list
• YOUNG, Gerogina — director, appointed 01/04/2024not on trustee list
• DABASIA, Hasina — director, appointed 01/04/2024on trustee list
• DUGDALE, Janet — director, appointed 01/04/2024on trustee list
• STEINER, Katherine — director, appointed 01/04/2024not on trustee list
• SULEMAN, Mohammed Akhtar — director, appointed 01/08/2023on trustee list
• HEATON, Tony James — director, appointed 13/10/2022on trustee list
• MCLEAN, Christine — director, appointed 28/04/2022on trustee list
• ROGERS, Rachael Christine — director, appointed 15/10/2021on trustee list
• MILLER, Steven Richard — director, appointed 01/04/2019on trustee list
• MACKAY, Neil Patrick — secretary, appointed 19/10/2018

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (74% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (15/05/2015) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Christine McLean
• Georgina Young
• Hannah Crowdy
• Hasina Dabasia
• Janet Dugdale
• Kate Steiner
• Kinvara Margaret Jardine Patterson
• Mohammed Akhtar Suleman
• Rachael Rogers
• Ross Mckirdy
• Steven Miller
• Tony Heaton · trustee of 1 other charity

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 MUSEUM OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY.

• MUSEUM OF LONDON ARCHAEOLOGY income £19.4m
• EUROPEAN MUSEUM FORUM income £80k
• MUSEUM OF ARCHITECTURE income £145k
• THE FAN MUSEUM income £327k
• MUSEUM OF BRANDS income £851k
• SHEFFIELD MUSEUMS TRUST income £5.5m

Side by side with its peers

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