THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY

Registered charity 328095 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Grants to British Library

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.6m

Latest spending

£1.7m

Registered

1989

Accounts read

FY2025

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

Reserves policy: sufficient as the Friends of the British Library exists simply to collect legacies and donations and then use them to make grants to the British Library Collections Trust (held: £3k)

“At 30 June 2025, reserves held were £3,053. The reserves are considered sufficient as the Friends of the British Library exists simply to collect legacies and donations and then use them to make grants to the British Library Collections Trust.” — page 5

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Affinia. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

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

Total income

£1.6m

Total spending

£1.7m

Reserves (reported)

£3k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (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

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/06/2025	£1.6m	£1.7m
30/06/2024	£78k	£68k
30/06/2023	£200k	£203k
30/06/2022	£11k	£3k
30/06/2021	£10k	£78k

Common questions

Is THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY financially healthy?

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. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Affinia.

Who funds THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY as a grant recipient include THE GUY AND ELINOR MEYNELL CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE GUY AND ELINOR MEYNELL CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£10k	New lens for conservation department

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
ACHISOMOCH AID COMPANY LIMITED	1	£954k
HEICHAL HATORAH FOUNDATION	1	£355k
NNS FOUNDATION	1	£193k
PRISM THE GIFT FUND	1	£185k
BEIS MENACHEM CHABAD LUBAVITCH	1	£183k
JNF CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£93k
CHASDEI YITZOK CHARITIES LIMITED	1	£74k
BROOM FOUNDATION	1	£49k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE BRITISH MUSEUM FRIENDS.

THE BRITISH MUSEUM FRIENDS income £6.9m
THE BARBOUR FOUNDATION income £2.6m
YAD VEACHISOMOCH L'CHAIM income £834k
FRIENDS OF GALANTA income £727k
BRITISH FRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH ISRAEL income £2.6m
BRITISH FRIENDS OF DARCHE NOAM income £139k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE FRIENDS OF THE BRITISH LIBRARY	£1.6m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE BRITISH MUSEUM FRIENDS FY2025	£6.9m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE BARBOUR FOUNDATION FY2025	£2.6m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
YAD VEACHISOMOCH L'CHAIM FY2025	£834k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
FRIENDS OF GALANTA FY2025	£727k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
BRITISH FRIENDS OF UNITED HATZALAH ISRAEL FY2024	£2.6m	—	—	above	—	no doubt

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