Finance Score: -13
Governance Score: 5
Support Score: 14
  • Liabilities <10%: +3
  • Excess reserves: -3
  • Accounts overdue -5
  • Accounts filed more than 5 days late: -3 times
  • Fundraising costs high: -5
  • No volunteer policy: -2
  • No conflicts policy: -1
  • 12+ Trustees: -1
  • Good trustee age range: +3
  • Dynamic board: +3
  • Gender balanced board: +3
  • Grant maker support: +14
Overall GiG Score: 6 ?

THE BOWES MUSEUM 

The Bowes Museum has an attractive programme of permanent and temporary displays and exhibitions, interpretation and educational events, special events, family activities and outreach work.
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • This charity has a robust balance sheet
  • There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
  • A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government and there are significant future grants due to be received
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • Although this charity works with volunteers it does not have a Volunteer Management policy
  • This charity does not have a Conflict of Interests policy
  • There are 16 trustees whereas the Charities Commission recommends a maximum of 12

Financial issues to consider:

  • This charity has substantial assets and unrestricted reserves of £7,353,784 available, equivalent to 33 months of spending and so may not be able to utilise additional funding
  • Latest accounts are overdue for filing and returns have been filed late on 3 occasions over the last 5 years
  • Fundraising costs are extremely high relative to funds raised
Established: 24 years

www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk

info@thebowesmuseum.org.uk

01833 690606

Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
?

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/03/22*£2,989£2,653£335£836£13,870£7,35433.36825
31/03/21£2,086£1,911£175£601£13,106£6,86443.18690
31/03/20*£2,794£2,483£312£931£12,385£6,38630.98690
31/03/19*£2,831£2,855£-24£929£12,309£6,20226.17590
31/03/18£2,188£2,525£-337£803£11,952£6,01828.67490
31/03/17*£4,530£2,521£2,009£1,243£12,250£6,27229.8650
31/03/16*£5,803£2,976£2,827£1,510£9,166£6,16324.9740
31/03/15*£2,551£2,545£6£1,138£5,401£3,01114.2510
31/03/14*£3,813£2,213£1,600£1,199£5,392£3,28117.8490
31/03/13*£3,849£2,174£1,675£1,082£2,917£1,4528730
31/03/12*£2,284£2,455£-172£1,042£1,312£-129-0.6740
31/03/11*£2,254£2,077£177£988£1,711£-37-0.2770
31/03/10£1,922£2,112£-190£1,041£1,487£-323-1.8750
31/03/09*£1,682£1,743£-61£680£1,651£-13-0.1400
31/03/08£2,418£2,488£-70£864£1,244£3271.6600
31/03/07£3,308£3,564£-256£801£1,394£2971500
31/03/06£2,778£2,404£375£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/05*£1,951£1,965£-14£0£0£0n/a00
31/03/04*£1,654£1,624£30£0£0£0n/a00

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 50.9%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 31.5%
Highest pay band: Less than £60,000
Liabilities/Assets: 2%
Liabilities/Income: 10%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 53%
Reserves/Spending: 33.3 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 4 months
Quick Ratio: 3.1
Asset Split ?
Listed activities
  • Arts/Culture/Heritage/Science
  • Education/Training
  • Environment/Conservation/Heritage
  • General Charitable Purposes
How it operates
  • Provides buildings/facilities/open space
  • Provides services
Where it operates
  • Durham,
Who it helps
  • Children/Young People
  • Elderly/Old People
  • The General Public/Mankind
Who works here?
  • 68 employees
  • 25 volunteers

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
DCMS£2,073,409
National Lottery Heritage Fund£387,036
The Foyle Foundation£155,000
John Ellerman Foundation£89,646
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to Durham County Council
£235,000 04/10/2023
Adders Up
The Foyle Foundation - Learning (MGS)
£65,000 18/09/2023
to repurpose basement vault spaces to create new flexible galleries, specifically for capital costs from October 2023 onwards
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£48,736 02/08/2023
The Silver Swan – 2023 Project
John Ellerman Foundation - Co-production Curator salary to embed a new community centred approach, working collaboratively across all collections, skills development and management costs.
£89,646 25/05/2023
Co-production Curator salary to embed a new community centred approach, working collaboratively across all collections, skills development and management costs.
DCMS - Museum Estate and Development fund
£974,673 16/02/2023
This is an open-access capital fund targeted at non-national Accredited museums and local authorities based in England to apply for funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance ....more
County Durham Community Foundation - Warm Spaces at The Bowes Museum
£1,000 20/12/2022
To offer Warm Spaces at The Bowes Museum.
Wolfson Foundation - Grant to Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle
£0 07/12/2022
'Inspiring Communities - Collections, Curiosity and Conversations'. Grant of £127,450 under DCMS Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund (round 14, grant ref. 21866). (WF contributing 50% of ....more
DCMS - The Bowes Museum
£15,000 04/01/2021
Undertake a condition survey. The wider aim of the scheme is: This scheme is part of the Culture Recovery Fund, the Governments £1.57 billion support package to protect the countrys cultural, arts ....more
DCMS - The Bowes Museum
£5,000 04/01/2021
Undertake a condition survey. The wider aim of the scheme is: This scheme is part of the Culture Recovery Fund, the Governments £1.57 billion support package to protect the countrys cultural, arts ....more
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£103,300 21/07/2020
COVID19: The Bowes Museum
DCMS - National Portfolio Organisation 2018-2022
£374,575 01/04/2020
The wider aim of the scheme is: We are the national development agency for creativity and culture. By 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given ....more
DCMS - The Bowes Museum - Transition to Viable and Sustainable Operations 2021
£704,161 01/04/2020
To support Arts and Culture throughout England
The Foyle Foundation - Learning (MGS)
£90,000 02/07/2019
towards improving financial resilience at The Bowes Museum, specifically the building security improvements and the ticketing/EPOS software
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£163,000 19/03/2019
The Bowes Museum: Resilience Through Investment in People and Business
County Durham Community Foundation - Darlington Building Society Partnership 2018
£15,000 13/07/2018
To support engagement with exhibition.
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND - NPO 2018-22: Band 2
£367,807 01/04/2018
11
National portfolio organisation- are leaders in their areas, with a collective responsibility to protect and develop our national arts and cultural ecology.
County Durham Community Foundation - Fish Dance
£5,000 27/02/2018
To support the Fish Dance project.
County Durham Community Foundation - Junk Fashion
£3,500 18/12/2017
To support the Junk Fashion project.
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£10,000 23/08/2016
Linking children to local heritage: Sharing The Bowes Museum's WW1 Roll of Honour with schools
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£1,995,400 24/05/2016
Acquisition of St Luke Drawing the Virgin and Child by the Workshop of Dieric Bouts
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£65,900 20/12/2013
"To Serve King and Country": From 1914 to 2018 - Teesdale's First World War Legacy
Esmee Fairbairn - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£180,693 31/10/2013
Towards the salaries of staff supporting a key collection which contributes to sustaining the museum’s long-term viability.
National Lottery Heritage Fund - Grant to The Bowes Museum
£454,900 21/05/2013
Caring for collections - creating conservation capacity
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (16)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 33-73
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 01/03/2000, number: 1079639
  • Registered at Companies House on 18/11/1999, number: 03879872
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Complaints handling
  • Paying staff
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Filing Record
19 returns made; AR22: 6 days late, AR20: 59 days late, AR19: 119 days late, AR17: 2 days late, AR16: 1 days late, AR15: 2 days late, AR14: 1 days late, AR13: 2 days late, AR12: 6 days late, AR11: 1 days late, AR09: 0 days late, AR05: 1 days late, AR04: 1 days late,
Main office

The Bowes Museum
Newgate
Barnard Castle
DL12 8NP

Objectives

TO ADVANCE THE PUBLIC'S EDUCATION AND UNDERSTANDING OF ART, CRAFT, DESIGN AND HISTORY, IN PARTICULAR BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY BY ACQUIRING, OPERATING AND MAINTAINING THE BOWES MUSEUM, ITS COLLECTIONS AND ASSOCIATED GROUNDS AT BARNARD CASTLE, COUNTY DURHAM

Defined Area of Benefit:

BARNARD CASTLE, COUNTY DURHAM

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving
CharityBase
Authorised officials of this charity can add information to this page (including a Donate Now button) for no cost

Tips for Selecting Charities

Which areas of philanthropy are most effective?
The text of this post is taken from an article on the Effective Altruism forum. It suggests that you can achieve the most impact by supporting causes that fight extreme poverty, improving animal welfare....more
Our Top Tips for Philanthropy
Here are some ideas to help you gain more satisfaction from your philanthropy and confidence that the causes you have selected are impactful. Engage your brain, as well as your heart You....more
How to become a Philanthropist
In this Blog we outline a strategy to help people who are new to philanthropy and for those who feel dissatisfied with the impact they are having. Effective philanthropy is immensely rewarding for donors,....more

Giving is Great