The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust

Registered charity 1186986 · since 2019brightonmuseums.org.uk·Brighton and Hove·Updated 29 October 2026

Key takeaways

The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust is principally an operating museum and heritage charity, and its annual report says it does not normally make grants to third parties, so a general request from a small nonprofit is unlikely to fit.
Its only described grant support is minor, for students and international museums through the James Henry Green Charitable Trust, so a project of that kind is the one narrow route worth checking.
If your organisation is a museum in the South East, the South East Museum Development Programme that the Trust leads with partners offers grassroots support, advice, development funds and skills-building, and it is worth contacting the Trust to ask how it reaches museums.
The Trust's stated geographic focus is The Brighton And Hove Area, and no application process or grant range is published, so use only the contact it shows and do not expect a timetable.
Organisations seeking general grants should not apply.

Overview

The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1186986).

The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage and science, the advancement of education in heritage, culture and the arts, and the provision of land and facilities for recreation or leisure for the general public. It is principally an operating museum and heritage charity that manages museums and collections, and it holds over a million objects in its collections. Through the South East Museum Development Programme, which it leads with partners, it supports museums in the South East. It does not under normal circumstances make grants to third parties.

What they fund

Priority Areas

The Trust is principally an operating museum and heritage charity, rather than a general grant funder. It manages museums and collections for public enjoyment and benefit, and its work includes public events and educational sessions, research, sharing knowledge and loans to other museums. Through the South East Museum Development Programme, which it leads with partners, it provides museums in the South East with grassroots support, advice, funds for development and skills-building opportunities. Its annual report says it does not normally make grants to third parties; the limited support it describes is for students and international museums through grants from the James Henry Green Charitable Trust.

Themes

Museum development

Geographic Focus

The Brighton And Hove Area.

What they don't fund

The Trust does not under normal circumstances make grants to third parties

How to apply

No application process is published in the charity's annual report, its register entry or its website. The contact shown is for getting in touch.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

Brighton and Hove

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust.

Wavestone UK TrustNo public processGave £79,621 The Ian Askew Charitable TrustRollingGave £127k The Bowerman Charitable TrustRollingGave £71,700 The Alan Sugar FoundationInvitation onlyGave £6.1M The Ofenheim Charitable TrustRollingGave £511k John Jackson Charitable TrustFixed deadlinesGave £201k The Pople Charitable TrustNo public processGave £229k The Ninesquare TrustNo public processGave £483k The Roger and Ingrid Pilkington Charitable TrustRollingGave £436k The Adrian Swire Charitable TrustNo public processGave £1.6M

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 March 2021	£5,897,640	£3,521,188	£164,777	Accounts for year to 31 March 2021
year to 31 March 2022	£6,668,477	£8,031,419	£246,448	Accounts for year to 31 March 2022
year to 31 March 2023	£7,478,841	£8,781,033	£340,524	Accounts for year to 31 March 2023
year to 31 March 2024	£9,161,834	£9,267,158	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2024
year to 31 March 2025	£9,256,426	£9,877,575	—	Accounts for year to 31 March 2025

Income vs grants paid

IncomeGrants paid

Total value each financial year

YE 2021

£165k grants

YE 2022

£246k grants

YE 2023

£341k grants

Grants paid stayed within income across the 3 years shown.

Grants paid, year to 31 March 2021; year to 31 March 2022; year to 31 March 2023: grants to institutions, as reported on the charity register (Part B).

— No grants figure for those years.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.