THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION

Registered charity 327571 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as NATIONAL LIFE STORIES NLS

The charity was established in 1987 to 'record first-hand experiences of as wide a cross-section of present-day society as possible'. Its key focus and expertise has been oral history fieldwork and for thirty years it has initiated a series of innovative interviewing programmes.

Objects

TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC BY THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDON OF A NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY IN SOUND CONSISTING OF A NATIONAL COLLECTION OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND OTHER LIFE STORY RECORDS.

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: Camden, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£306k

Latest spending

£368k

Registered

1987

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that total income for the year was £306,343 against total expenditure of £367,729, resulting in a net deficit before investment gains. However, unrestricted funds increased to £726,809, and the charity holds total reserves of £953,411, which the Trustees consider sufficient to continue activities for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: sufficient resources to maintain the general activities of the charity (reserves figure: £727k)

“Unrestricted funds are intended to provide sufficient resources to maintain the general activities of the charity.” — page 9

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: The charity purchased services from the British Library.

“During the year the Charity purchased services eg printing, travel, office consumables, staff training and hospitality from the British Library amounting to £7,905.” — page 27

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Parker Cavendish. Discloses 5 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.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2025

Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2024

Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 31/12/2023

Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

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

Trustees · trustee networks

DAME JENNY ABRAMSKY DBEchair
Amanda Game
BOB BOAS · trustee of 4 other charities
Bill Knight
Dr Andrew David Flinn
Dr Janet Constance Topp Fargion
Dr ROB PERKS
Mary Stewart · trustee of 1 other charity
Prof Jon Agar
Professor Fareda Banda · trustee of 1 other charity
Professor Nelarine Estella Cornelius · 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

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2025	£306k	£368k
31/12/2024	£299k	£319k
31/12/2023	£289k	£347k
31/12/2022	£275k	£253k
31/12/2021	£164k	£222k

Common questions

Is THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income for the year was £306,343 against total expenditure of £367,729, resulting in a net deficit before investment gains. However, unrestricted funds increased to £726,809, and the charity holds total reserves of £953,411, which the Trustees consider sufficient to continue activities for the foreseeable future. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Parker Cavendish.

Who funds THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION as a grant recipient include THE MARCHUS TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE MARCHUS TRUST	FY2025	£5k

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 SVH Foundation	1	£10.2m
THE MASTER CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£6.0m
PRISM THE GIFT FUND	1	£1.7m
THE ROTHSCHILD FOUNDATION	1	£1.3m
THE PILGRIM TRUST	1	£240k
THE JOHN R. MURRAY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£179k
THE VASEPPI TRUST	1	£150k
JOHN ELLERMAN FOUNDATION	1	£120k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with LIVING HISTORY (NORTH EAST) LIMITED.

LIVING HISTORY (NORTH EAST) LIMITED income £69k
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES TRUST income £538k
THE NATIONAL HIV STORY TRUST income £126k
THE NATIONAL GALLERY TRUST income £8.4m
THE AFRICAN NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH TRUST income £744k
THE NATIONAL MANUSCRIPTS CONSERVATION TRUST income £228k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE NATIONAL LIFE STORY COLLECTION	£306k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
LIVING HISTORY (NORTH EAST) LIMITED FY2025	£69k	—	below	—	no doubt
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES TRUST FY2026	£538k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE NATIONAL HIV STORY TRUST FY2025	£126k	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE NATIONAL GALLERY TRUST FY2025	£8.4m	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE AFRICAN NATURAL HISTORY RESEARCH TRUST FY2025	£744k	—	above	—	no doubt

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