THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY

Registered charity 328095 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5504323 · Wikipedia

Grants to British Library

Objects

THE EDUCATION OFTHE PUBLIC BY PROMOTION, SUPPORT, ASSISTANCE AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY THROUGH THE ACTIVITIES OF A GROUP OF FRIENDS.

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 · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · 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 £20,772 for the year, resulting in unrestricted reserves falling to £3,053. The trustees consider these reserves sufficient as the charity's purpose is to collect legacies and donate them to the British Library Collections Trust. The auditor confirmed there are no material uncertainties 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 Affinia. 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.

• Complaints handling
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• 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 30/06/2022 (received 21/05/2023, 21 days after the 30/04/2023 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.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dame Marina Sarah Warner · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Christopher John Wright OBE · trustee of 2 other charities
• Dr Geoffrey Richard West · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev NORMAN KEITH STEPHENSON · trustee of 1 other charity
• Stephanie Kenna Ms. · trustee of 2 other charities

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.

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 BRITISH FRIENDS OF THE CHAZON ISH INSTITUTIONS.

• BRITISH FRIENDS OF THE CHAZON ISH INSTITUTIONS income £110k
• FRIENDS OF TOTTINGTON LIBRARY income £44k
• FRIENDS OF BIRMINGHAM MUSEUMS AND ART GALLERY income £35k
• FRIENDS OF BARHAM LIBRARY income £64k
• THE BRITISH LIBRARY COLLECTIONS TRUST income £1.7m
• FRIENDS OF SOUTHWOLD LIBRARY income £46k

Side by side with its peers

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