THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND

Registered charity 504948 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To apply its income to the education of students of the Royal Northern College of Music by the award of prizes, exhibitions, grants for travel or for the purchase of musical instruments, maintenance allowances or similar benefits.

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.9m

Latest spending

£2.7m

Registered

1976

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £1.2m, which is above the stated policy minimum of £500,000. The charity reported a net deficit for the year of £519,035, primarily driven by charitable expenditure exceeding income, though this was offset by significant investment gains. The trustees confirmed the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Largest income source: Investments (51% of income)

“Unrestricted income for the year ended 31 July 2025 was £1,135,850. Of this, £17,529 was derived from legacies and donations and the balance of £1,118,321 arose from investments and bank balances held as part of the permanently endowed capital of the charity.” — page 6

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: minimum level of £500,000 (held: £1.2m)

“Whilst the Trustee seeks to maintain undesignated unrestricted funds at a minimum level of £500,000 to cover any unplanned expenditure, they do not deem it necessary to hold a specific amount in reserve to cover short term declines in income.” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/07/2025)

Total income

£2.2m

Total spending

£2.7m

Cost of raising funds

£120k

Reserves (reported)

£1.2m

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~5.3 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 5.5% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (09/03/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Manchester City

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/07/2025	£1.9m	£2.7m
31/07/2024	£2.2m	£2.1m
31/07/2023	£1.6m	£2.1m
31/07/2022	£1.2m	£1.6m
31/07/2021	£914k	£1.7m

Common questions

Is THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £1.2m, which is above the stated policy minimum of £500,000. The charity reported a net deficit for the year of £519,035, primarily driven by charitable expenditure exceeding income, though this was offset by significant investment gains. The trustees confirmed the charity has adequate resources to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by HaysMac LLP.

Who funds THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND as a grant recipient include THE OLDHURST TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount
THE OLDHURST TRUST	FY2024	£2k
THE OLDHURST TRUST	FY2023	£2k
THE OLDHURST TRUST	FY2025	£2k
THE OLDHURST TRUST	FY2022	£0

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 LEVERHULME TRUST	2	£1.2m
MARIA BJORNSON MEMORIAL FUND	2	£855k
HENRY WOOD ACCOMMODATION TRUST	2	£236k
THE LONDON WOMEN'S CLINIC FOUNDATION	2	£207k
FISHMONGERS' COMPANY'S CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£186k
ST MARYLEBONE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION	2	£100k
DRAPERS CHARITABLE FUND	2	£70k
THE HARBOUR FOUNDATION	2	£61k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND.

THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND income £4.0m
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC income £41.1m
EARLY MUSIC AS EDUCATION income £137k
ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY LIMITED income £285k
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA LIMITED income £11.8m
ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC income £33.2m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC AWARDS FUND	£1.9m	—	0	above	—	no doubt
THE ROYAL NORTHERN COLLEGE OF MUSIC ENDOWMENT FUND FY2025	£4.0m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF MUSIC FY2025	£41.1m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
EARLY MUSIC AS EDUCATION FY2025	£137k	—	0	within	—	no doubt
ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY LIMITED FY2025	£285k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA LIMITED FY2025	£11.8m	—	—	unclear	5.0%	no doubt

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