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Annual Report and Accounts 31 December 2023

Charity Registration No. 1082215 Company Registration No. 1350939

Reference & Administrative Information	3
Trustees’ Report and Chair’s review of the year	5
2023 in Numbers	15
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities	22
Independent Auditors’ Report	29
Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA)	33
Balance Sheet	35
Statement of Cash Flow	36
Notes to the Accounts	37

Reference and Administrative Information

The Trustees present their Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2023, in accordance with the Companies Act 2006. The Accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in Note 1 of the Accounts and comply with the Charity’s governing document, applicable law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice, ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’, 2015. The Charity qualifies as a small entity under section 383 of the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013 and a Strategic Report is therefore not required.

Trustees / Directors:

Sajida Carr Mhairi Cross Sarah Duthie Rhiannon Goddard (Deputy Chair appointed 15 June 2023) Claire Browne (final term ended June 23) Brian Gorski MBE (resigned 15 June 2023) Nathaniel Hepburn MBE Emily Frankish Gurminder Kenth (resigned 31 July 2023) Andrew Lovett OBE (Chair) Charlotte Morgan Elizabeth Power Camilla Stewart Christine Bernath (appointed 15 June 2023) Laura Crossley (appointed 15 June 2023) Philip Dolling (appointed 15 June 2023) Alexander Ratcliffe (appointed 15 June 2023)

Director (Executive): Lisa Ollerhead

Company Incorporated: 1 February 1978

Charity Registration: 30 August 2000

Charity Registration Number: 1082215

Company Registration Number: 1350939

VAT Registration Number: 355372196

Registered and Contact Office: AIM Office c/o National Waterways Museum South Pier Road Ellesmere Port Cheshire CH65 4FW United Kingdom

Hon. President: Sir Neil Cossons OBE

Hon. Vice Presidents: Sam P Mullins OBE Michael Day CVO Matthew Tanner MBE

Reference and Administrative Information

Independent Auditors: Crowe UK LLP Chartered Accountants Black Country House Rounds Green Road Oldbury West Midlands B69 2DG United Kingdom

Principal Bankers: Barclays Bank plc (Barclays Corporate) Chesterfield Derbyshire S40 1LS United Kingdom

Aldermore Bank plc 1st Floor, Block B Western House Lynch Wood Peterborough PE2 6FZ United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0) 333 305 8060

Email: aimadmin@aim-museums.co.uk

Website: aim-museums.co.uk Social Media: @Aimuseums

Gl .HART S1iNREX BRQS, Trustees, Report and chair's review

Chair’s Review of the Year

2023 was a mixed year. For many members it was a year of recovery, with visitors enjoying their buildings, collections and events in strong numbers. For others it was a year of continued struggles. We recognise the hard work it takes to keep caring for collections and opening for audiences and appreciate the energy and focus it has taken to tackle another year.

Throughout 2023 the cost-of-living crisis and Covid-19 pandemic has continued to affect our business. For many museums patterns of volunteers, income, audience demand, and tourism are very different. In a challenging environment it is more important than ever that museums are relevant and inclusive, using the strengths of independence to make the decisions that work best for collections and audiences. The question is now emerging of when we can, or should, call this a permanent change – and what that means for our sector, our organisations, and our teams. How can we talk about these trends as a sector and work through the implications?

AIM continues to produce and promote resources to help members run and govern effective charitable businesses and we know there is ever greater need for funding support. We have seen high demand for our projects generously funded by the Pilgrim Trust and Arts Scholars Charitable Trust and we are advocating the importance of money for basics – for the collections conservation, research and interpretation tasks that make museums museums, for keeping buildings safe and in good repair, for the organisation strengthening projects that are the foundation on which audience-facing activity is built, and for the training and development that keeps trustees, museum professionals, and volunteers up to date on skills. AIM is confident about the value of museums and ready to make the case for our members as we move into an important Westminster election year.

AIM itself has had a positive year. The new Arts Council England National Portfolio, through which AIM receives core funding as an Investment Principles Support Organisation, began in April 2023, providing a welcome period of certainty. With this money behind us, the Board and AIM team have embarked on a period of strategic thinking, working towards what AIM should be and do in 2027 when we celebrate our fiftieth anniversary. We are focusing on growing for the future and later in the report we present our plans to focus on our partnerships , community , and voice over the coming years.

In 2023 AIM said goodbye to three trustees, Claire Browne, Brian Gorski, and Gurminder Kenth, and appointed four, bringing a breadth of new perspectives and experiences to the Board. Engaged and ambitious, the Board has mostly been appointed since 2021 and will oversee the recruitment of my replacement in 2025 when my final term comes to an end. I hope to leave the organisation in a strong position to support and represent independent museums, the most vibrant part of our sector, as well as add our voice to the calls for a well-supported museum ecosystem that supports and celebrates all museums - large, small, volunteer-run, Accredited and non-Accredited, and all the collections they care for.

As ever, a major part of our work this year has been grantmaking. Museums that understand their collections and communities are relevant by nature, small museums being as important and as successful at this as large, and this year we were pleased to have opened Connected Communities, supported by Arts Council England through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Know Your Neighbourhood programme. We have also continued the National Lottery Heritage Fund supported New Stories, New Audiences, now in its third and final year, and the Welsh Government Anti-Racist Wales programme-funded Re:collections.

Chair’s Review of the Year

As ever, some museums decide they are no longer able to serve their communities and this year we supported a number of museums at risk and commissioned guidance on supporting museums to close in a coordinated and dignified manner.

We also published two new research reports. One on how museums can connect emotionally with audiences, and an important and practical update of our 2016 admissions research, helping museums around the UK to set charging policies.

National conference continues to be a major part of our activities and we will build on our successful event in Edinburgh with further ways to come together, support one another, and learn from each other. In June I am excited to welcome our AIM community back to the Black Country Living Museum and promise two days of informative sessions, practical support and good humour.

Chair’s Thanks

As ever I am grateful to the AIM Board for its support for me, and newly appointed Deputy Chair, Rhiannon Goddard, and for their time, expertise, and continued enthusiasm over the course of the year. I would also like to congratulate Nathaniel Hepburn on being appointed MBE in the New Year’s Honours, demonstrating a recognition of the national value independent museum directors can bring to public life. I also wish to thank our funders for their support for AIM’s work and generosity to our members, including Arts Council England, the Welsh Government, the Pilgrim Trust, and the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars through the Arts Scholars Charitable Trust.

I would like to thank the AIM team: Lisa Ollerhead, Catrin Salvatore, Helen Farress, Margaret Harrison, Matt Smith, Christine Andrews and Fiona Woolley.

My final thank you is to AIM Members, for their continued belief in what we do. Each makes an investment in the Association, and we strive to ensure a great return on that investment. Thank you.

The goal is to be an organisation of consequence, and it is inspiring when we join the dots looking back and realise how much, together, we have achieved.

Andrew Lovett OBE Chair

Introducing AIM

AIM’s membership

Our membership is fundamental to our continuing strength and relevance in the sector. And the range of our membership is hugely important when deciding on the priorities of our work.

Today, over half of all museums in the UK are independent. Independent museums are longstanding, successful social enterprises, run in a business-like way. They play a valuable role in their communities, contributing to a sense of place and making up an important part of the tourism economy. As their representative body AIM is now widely recognised as a major heritage organisation, with a membership including nearly 1,000 institutional museum and heritage organisations of all sizes.

AIM membership is predominantly made up of small museums with fewer than 20,000 visitors annually. However, the diversity and scale of membership is remarkable, and includes some of the largest and most visited museums in the UK, many of which hold Designated collections. AIM continues to offer friendship and community to independent museums, their volunteers, leaders, and trustees, alongside professional advice, best practice, and an encouraging atmosphere in which to try things.

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Membership category Jan 2024
Small Museum 745
Medium Museum 133
Large Museum 43
Largest Museum 43
Individual / MDO / Freelancer 72
Non-Prof Supp Org/Library/Arch 24
Associate Supplier 48
Grand Total 1036
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AIM’s role and purpose

AIM’s role in the sector can be summed up as: Helping Heritage Organisations Prosper. AIM delivers public benefit through promoting a more effective and successful museums and heritage sector, wellgoverned and well-led. AIM occupies a unique position in the sector given our focus on independents and small museums – including non-Accredited museums. These are the museums that are on high streets and in town centres up and down the country: caring for, celebrating, and displaying the pasts of local areas; supporting the communities of the present; and educating and inspiring for the future.

Many of AIM’s members principally engage in the museums and heritage sector through their AIM membership. It is where they access best practice, engage in sector debate, and receive public support. AIM’s access to small museums and representation of self-sufficient larger museums operating as successful attractions is why AIM is an increasingly important stakeholder: for decisionmakers in governments across the four nations; for philanthropic funders; and for bodies giving out Lottery and public investment such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Welsh Government, and Arts Council England.

In fulfilling our role, we look back to our origins. AIM was established in 1977 to represent the interests of a booming independent museums sector. In the 1970s and 1980s new, thematic museums began to spring-up, driven by the enthusiasm of individuals and communities, who, fascinated by the history on their doorstep, decided to take things into their own hands and save it, resulting in an extraordinary blossoming of a new type of museum – the Independents; or as we remind our members each year that Sir Arthur Drew of the Standing Commission for Museums & Galleries famously put it, “the primordial slime of the museum world.”

While we are proud of our origins, we ensure that we are responsive to who our members are and what they need now. In 2023 we carried out the latest members’ survey which found that AIM’s members particularly value our advocacy, grants, and being part of a likeminded community. AIM is perceived as being knowledgeable, relevant, well informed on current issues and providing useful services.

Public investment

Arts Council England is an important partner and much-appreciated funder for AIM. We joined the National Portfolio in 2018 and in 2023 continued our membership under the new Investment Principles Support Organisation designation. AIM supports the sector with the ‘Dynamism’ Investment Principle, or governance and leadership. AIM receives £305,520 annually, the highest level of support of museums-specific IPSOs and in the top ten of the forty-strong IPSO portfolio in terms of investment amount. This money is crucial to how AIM operates, supporting core costs as well as programmes, and demonstrates the external value placed on AIM’s work as part of developing the museums sector as a whole and helping individual museums to flourish.

The Welsh Government has supported AIM for many years, with continued delivery during 2023 of two major leadership programmes, Network for Resilience Wales, which started during the pandemic for senior museum professionals to support one another, and more recently Emerging Leaders for Wales which brings earlier career museums staff together with those from aligned sectors for peer support and professional development. AIM was also delighted to be selected as a delivery partner for Anti-Racist Wales, with our Re:Collections programme helping museums to commit to anti-racist practice. The Welsh Government has also joined with AIM to produce research of UK-wide relevance to the sector.

Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) is an important partner for AIM and appeared at the 2023 National Conference in Edinburgh to speak about the new Scottish Museums Strategy. MGS was also a contributor to the funding for the research on admissions published at the end of the year.

At the end of 2023 AIM ran the third and final round of our National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) programme New Stories, New Audiences, a strategic investment in museums across the UK which

has supported small museums to explore their collections with their communities. NSNA combines peer support and capacity-building with grants, a model that supports museums to build sustainable projects, which we have rolled out across other grant streams since.

In 2023 AIM introduced a major new grant scheme, Connected Communities, part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Know Your Neighbourhood programme. This programme, which was open to all museums, offered large grants of up to £100,000 in round one, and enables museums working in specified areas to carry out projects combatting loneliness, supporting high-quality volunteering opportunities and building local partnerships and systems.

AIM’s Charitable Objects

AIM’s legal charitable objectives appear in the Articles of Association revised in 2020 as:

(a) The objects for which the Company is established are the advancement of the educational and cultural facilities for the public benefit throughout the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man provided by independent museums, galleries, and heritage organisations. In respect of this the Company defines independence as taking responsibility for your own decisions, being accountable for them, and for not being subject to another’s authority, nor dependent on another for your existence.

(b) In furtherance of the above objects but not further or otherwise the Company shall achieve these objects through advocacy, representing Members’ best interests, sharing, and promoting best practice, innovation, and acumen, creating networks and connections, raising and distributing grants, developing policy, supporting skills and workforce development, promotion, and by providing support and advice for all museums and heritage organisations.

Delivering public benefit in 2023

Supporting our members to serve their communities

What AIM does is important because what our members do is important. AIM member museums are scattered around our high streets, cities, villages, and countryside; they are the repositories of community memory and a symbol of community togetherness, whether that community is geographic, social, industrial, or topical. A strong and effective independent museums sector means that like the pioneers of this part of the sector many decades ago, people who care can take control of how to use collections to celebrate, commemorate, and educate people on the past in order to be in the present and look to the future.

Drawing on the Hallmarks of Prospering Museums, which continue to be relevant as a framework for self-reflection and ambition, the support we provide for our members is intended to help all museums do the best they can – with the freedom of self-determination of what ‘best’ means in the context of their individual collections, buildings, audiences, and programmes.

AIM’s support is designed to be pragmatic and understanding of the realities of running charitable businesses. We are aware that our membership fee, like all the money spent by independent museums, is an important choice – and that we have to earn that choice. We want AIM membership to be, as our Chair puts it, a ‘good business decision’. So like our members, AIM is constantly self-assessing and testing whether what we do works for the audiences we’re doing it for.

During 2023 the AIM Board and team spent considerable time thinking about the years ahead and over 2024 we will be discussing and testing this with our members. We want to ensure AIM is on a sound footing as an organisation, is demonstrating the good business and governance practices we encourage from our members and has a sustainable operating model with a mix of income which leverages the funding sources who understand the value of independent museums and want to support them. Over the coming years we intend to consolidate the business foundations of the organisation to focus our offer around three of the things that are most important to our members: grants and other partnerships, enabling us to offer what members need; being part of a like-minded community; and having a louder voice to advocate for independent museums’ interests and needs.

----- Start of picture text -----
Representing members better,
offering members more
To connect members To advocate louder
To generate income To attract partners
Fundraising
Governance Insight Corporatefunctions Investment Commerical
Voice
Community
Partnerships
----- End of picture text -----

One of our strengths, as a small organisation that is close to our members, is being able to try things out. Over the coming months AIM members will see a mix of new activities and ideas as we pilot and test things we think will help independent museums to flourish and we look forward to seeing what works and should be expanded and extended.

Partnerships

AIM is able to offer more to our members and to be more effective on their behalf through working with other organisations, while keeping sight of the unique value AIM offers in a crowded support landscape.

Our key partnerships continue to be with the development agencies for museums in the UK: Arts Council England, Museums Galleries Scotland, and the Welsh Government. AIM plays a major role as a supporter of and channel to small independents and non-Accredited museums in particular, and has a special part to play in improving the standard of governance in individual museums and across the sector.

More widely, we are focusing our partnerships on organisations that can enable our members to access other kinds of support and knowledge beyond where AIM specialises. We are seeking increasingly to work with other Arts Council IPSOs to promote rounded support for small museums. We work in partnership with several organisations with different specialisms and audiences to provide our offer, including the Charity Finance Group, Cultural Governance Alliance, Heritage Craft Funders Network, ICON, Museums + Heritage, and Steps to Sustainability programme. We also intend to start looking further than cultural support organisations to link our members with wider civil society.

On advocacy, we work alongside organisations including other Arts Council Sector Support Organisations, the National Museums Directors’ Council, Art Fund, the Museums Association, and Heritage Alliance to inform and influence policy and political colleagues in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Welsh Government, and Scottish Government. We also work together with delivery bodies with policy responsibilities to ensure that independent museums are understood and considered in the development and delivery of policy and support, through partnerships with Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland, Welsh Museums Federation, and Northern Ireland Museums Council.

Finally, we continue to have an important partnership with Museum Development in England and look forward to building on this with the five newly commissioned MD services from April 2024.

Other important partnerships are with our generous grant funders: the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Department for Culture, Media and Sport through Arts Council England, Pilgrim Trust, Welsh Government, and Arts Scholars Charitable Trust. With these organisations we are able to support our members to care for collections, make their organisations more inclusive and resilient, and work with local communities. We also offer training grants utilising funding from Arts Council England. In 2023 we offered two schemes (Re:collections and Connected Communities) building on the grant model we piloted with NLHF New Stories, New Audiences, which combines project grants with capacitybuilding, and we look forward to continuing work with this model which helps upskill museums and enable them to improve their practice in multiple areas as well as deliver exhibitions, research, and programming. With this model we are truly partners to our grant funders, using their funding to support museums in a more holistic way and create sustainable sector benefit. Over the coming years we expect to seek more partners to fund this kind of work, combining our support expertise and grantmaking capacity with the resources of philanthropic and other funders.

Grantmaking contributes to the achievement of our aims and charitable purpose by making resources available to support our members doing the kind of work that makes them ‘prospering museums’ – whether this is caring for their collections, as in Pilgrim Trust Conservation Grants and AIM

Arts Scholars Brighter Day programme, working with their visitors as in Connected Communities, Re:Collections and New Stories, New Audiences, or enabling staff, volunteers and trustees to upskill in ways that support the effective operating of their museums through training grants.

In 2024 AIM will be reviewing our grantmaking policy in support of plans to improve and increase our fundraising, outlined further below. Our current grants policy is to work with our funders to make funds available for the kind of work they wish to support, bringing our expertise to ensure the funding is accessible and targeted to where it can most usefully deliver the outcomes of the individual schemes. AIM is continually working to improve our grantmaking processes and make it easier for museums to access our funds, appreciating the time and energy grants take from applicants and beneficiaries, while ensuring appropriate levels of reporting and evaluation to provide assurance of how funds have been spent and the outcomes produced.

Community

AIM’s reason for being, and our strength, is in independent museums coming together to share and celebrate with one another. Over the coming years we intend to focus closely on how we will help members to come together in different ways and for different purposes.

The Hallmarks of Prospering Museums set out the areas independent museums should consider to be operating well. Much of AIM’s work is structured around the Hallmarks, which were updated in 2020 with the Tackling Inequality hallmark. In 2023 we started to test with the membership wording for the ambitions and self-assessment of museums around climate and sustainability.

For many years the flagship of AIM’s community-building has been the annual National Conference. In 2023 nearly 200 museum staff, volunteers, trustees, and sector experts came together at the Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh for two days focusing on the power of possibility. We also introduced for the first time a digital option to follow along the main room’s activities from home. AIM is aware that following the Covid-19 pandemic, how people wish to engage with events is changing and we are planning our future conferences in a spirit of testing what our members find most useful and inspiring now.

In 2023 we continued to run Hallmarks at Home, our online programme of webinars and workshops aimed at supporting small groups on a wide range of matters. These sessions bring together AIM members with experts and enable bespoke advice as well as general learning.

A key part of AIM’s growing communities are our leadership cohorts. In 2023 we again ran Spark! our leadership programme and continued to provide the Welsh Government-funded Resilient Leaders for Wales and Emerging Leaders, as well as the peer learning elements of New Stories, New Audiences and Re:Collections, which is the model Connected Communities will also follow. The hope with these schemes is they will not only provide group support during the programmes but will build relationships museums people can rely on far into the future.

2023 saw the test phase of a new offer, Heritage Trustees 101, which is intended to introduce potential trustees – who may be working in museums and heritage currently and not be confident in what they can offer the wider sector – to the nature of the role and the importance of good governance. November saw our first session, kindly hosted by the Museum of Cambridge, and in 2024 we look forward to holding further sessions around England and online.

Voice

Independent museums have particular interests and needs, as well as delivering particular benefits, and AIM is increasing our advocacy on the special value of independents as well as continuing to work alongside other sector bodies to represent museums and heritage as a whole.

AIM is increasing our focus on research, ensuring a pragmatic approach that produces actionable insights members can use to improve their work. In 2023 we were proud to launch two reports: Pleasure, Connection, Purpose: How museums can leverage emotions to build greater public support in partnership with the Art Fund, looking at how museums can deliberately increase their audience’s emotional connections which can help improve visitor experience as well as provide committed support when the museum needs it; and an update on our 2016 admissions research, Research into admissions pricing policy , with an accompanying Success Guide, enabling museums to make informed choices about admissions strategies and pricing.

In 2023 we carried out two surveys providing the information we need in order to advocate effectively for the sector. In spring we carried out a member insight survey, which enables us to track whether we are producing what members need, and in September the second ‘state of the sector’ survey. Using these we were able to provide rapid information to decision-makers about the prevalence of ‘bubbly concrete’ in museums. As we go into an election year in 2024 having this information is crucial in order to influence manifestos and other political commitments.

We have also continued to share and showcase our members’ successes through the Bulletin and eNews, as well as our website case studies.

How we operate

In 2023, AIM also started to focus on how we operate, ensuring that we are using our small staff team as well as we possibly can to deliver benefit for our members. We introduced a new member database which will improve our information capture and retention, streamline payments, and enable selfservice, with other functions such as events booking due to be explored in the future. We revamped our member survey, which we now intend to run annually to ensure we are listening to our members and understand what’s important in an ever-changing world. And we have appointed four new Board members who bring skills and experience from outside independent museums to strengthen us as an organisation, while ensuring we still have different perspectives from within museums practice to provide crucial context to our decision-making and strategic leadership.

2023 in Numbers

114 730,573 223 Awarded Value Applications

Our Grants

We awarded 114 grants worth a total of £730,573

Connected Communities

Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Know Your Neighbourhood Fund through Arts Council England (ACE), AIM’s Connected Communities scheme offers support to projects seeking to improve community connections through high-quality volunteering opportunities and/or reducing loneliness and increasing social bonds.

Pilgrim Trust Conservation Grants

Re:Collections Grants (Wales only)

Funded from the Welsh Government Anti-Racist Wales Culture, Heritage and Sport Fund to support museums to deliver the Culture, Heritage and Sport goals and actions from the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan (ARWAP) and Programme for Government, the Re:Collection programme delivers bespoke consultancy, mentoring, workshops, grants and opportunities to share experience and learning.

New Stories New Audiences

We support small museums in partnership with the Pilgrim Trust through three grant streams - Collections Care Audit, Collections Care and Remedial Conservation - providing much needed funding for basic collections care. £130,262 of funds was distributed to 39 member museums.

AIM Arts Scholars Brighter Day Grants

The AIM Arts Scholars Brighter Day grants were developed to help museums recover from the ongoing effects of the pandemic. Nine awards were made, totalling £29,369.

In our second round of the New Stories New Audiences grant, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, £169,039 was awarded to 15 member museums.

AIM Training Grants

Our popular Training Grants attracted over fifty applications in 2023, and led to the award of 43 grants to support training across the membership.

Our Programmes

Spark!

22 participants

14 participants were supported through places on the 2023 Spark! training programme which includes three action learning sets, two workshops and two individual coaching sessions.

22 applications | 14 supported (8 offered places on April 2024.)

“….time well spent, an opportunity to share challenges in a free-speaking environment, network with my peers, reflect on my own leadership behaviours and take away some ideas for improvement…”

Network for Resilience Wales (NRW)

Funded by the Welsh Government, the Network for Resilience in Wales enables participants to attend a two-day residential, full day workshops and fortnightly lunch time catch ups.

2 residentials | 18 supported

“As a new leader I found this programme very useful…meeting other leaders and learning from the experience of guest speakers and the course leader; practical advice.”

Network for Resilience in Wales Rising Leaders

Aimed at new leaders, applications are open to staff of Museums, Archives or Libraries working in Wales. 15 participants attended 12 sessions including a residential.

1 cohort finished and 1 started in 2023.

1 residential

12 sessions

AIM Higher micro-consultancies

15 supported in each cohort

‘….extremely well rounded… invaluable.’

We provided 19 AIM Higher consultancies in England and Wales supporting individual museums to identify and tackle governance challenges.

“ (This) careful assessment of our situation has been extremely helpful… enabling us to think through what constitution works for us and good governance practice”

Our Events

AIM National Conference, Edinburgh

“I had a fantastic, informative two days in Edinburgh. It was a wonderful opportunity to not only meet other professionals in the sector, but also hear their stories, trials, and triumphs. I’ve gained many ideas to try out within my own organisation, and have confidence that we, too, can make things happen.”

Welsh specialist skills workshops

12 workshops 65 supported

Grant support sessions

NSNA

3 workshops 37 attendees

Connected Communities

7 workshops 93 attendees

Pilgrim Trust 2 workshops 24 attendees

Re:Collections

6 x 3-day bespoke consultancies 7 workshops 23 attendees

“I feel more confident in taking our anti-racist work forward”

Heritage Trustees 101, Oxford

Hallmarks at Home

‘I learnt what the role of trustee can look like, and how varied it is! That there is no particular type of person who is ideal to become a trustee - everyone has something to add.’

17 online workshops 370 supported

‘Very enlightening and loads of great advice and ideas!’

Supplier Spotlights

Trustee Induction workshops

Wales 15 attendees England 15 attendees

4 workshops 23 attendees

Our Communications

AIM published two significant new reports in 2023.

Pleasure, Connection, Purpose

Pleasure, Connection, Purpose - Leveraging emotions for museums’ was the result of a co-commission with Art Fund to explore how museums can use emotion as a catalyst to action across a vast range of activities.

Research into admissions pricing policy in museums and its impact

Working with a range of sector partners AIM led on the commission of a new report by DC Research and Durnin Research on admissions pricing policy Research into admissions pricing policy in museums and its impact . Research findings were shared at AIM Conference and via a number of popular sector webinars.’

weekly enews subscribers

followers on social media channels

Growing AIM’s presence

AIM’s integration of its communications efforts again saw progress. Given a period of change in the social media space, we focused efforts on building our LinkedIn and weekly enews. LinkedIn grew by 18% in 2023 and our weekly enews now has 4600 members and more subscribed.

average monthly users of AIM website

Making our ambitions happen

Challenges for AIM

Our main challenge is our members’ challenge: a difficult economic and financial environment for cultural and visitor organisations. We are confident that AIM membership remains value for money, with members remaining at a stable level of satisfaction with this since 2016 up to the 2023 member survey, but we are conscious that every penny is precious to every museum in our membership and determined to ensure that we are delivering for all.

The crowded support landscape for museums and heritage means it is important to highlight and celebrate the support we are especially great at providing, while also building the partnerships that enable us to link our members up to partners who are especially great at providing other things.

In early 2024 the Arts Council (ACE) announced that the 2023-2026 National Portfolio will be extended to 2027. While we recognise that this may present some challenges to some members and parts of the wider sector, for AIM an additional year of core funding is very welcome. As the accounts below demostrate, AIM is reliant on ACE funding to operate at our current scale, and as noted by the challenges above, we recognise that even if we grow membership numbers significantly we cannot replace that funding from our members.

Therefore, over the coming months, as part of delivering the new strategy, AIM will seek to increase our fundraising, including looking for other funders for parts of our member offer as well as for new grant programmes. AIM currently has a number of generous funders, but this has been piecemeal and we have identified the need to create a fundraising function in the organisation and develop a funding pipeline. In early 2024 AIM began working with a fundraising consultant to help build a strategy for this. Our goal is to offer our members more than ever, produce resources that are of use to the whole sector, and keep as much of our member offer as possible included in a membership fee that continues to represent value for money. We are also planning how to sensibly use our surplus reserves to invest in our organisation and services.

As part of delivering the strategy we are also working on taking a more proactive and assertive approach to advocacy and developing ways to build the AIM community. During late 2024 and 2025 we also intend to review our governance support to ensure we are really delivering what is needed by charitable boards around the UK.

AIM is exploring new ways to hear from our members, and better ways to use the data and insight we already have: we are committed to doing and being what independent museums need to flourish. We belong to our members and their success is what makes a difference to communities around the UK and justifies AIM’s own charitable status as their supporter and champion.

A note on charitable reporting

As a charity, the Trustees recognise their legal duty to report on the Association’s public benefit in their Annual Report, as part of a requirement – given particular emphasis by the Charities Act 2011 – to clearly demonstrate that the Objects of the charity are for the public benefit, demonstrating the Trustees’ recognition that being a registered charity is a privilege, not a right. In setting out in this Annual Report how the charity currently meets this requirement and plans to in the future, the Trustees assert that the charity is compliant with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011, having due regard for the public guidance published by the Charity Commission.

The Trustees acknowledge and accept that there exists a kind of covenant between charities and society: charities bring public benefit and, in their turn, are accorded high levels of trust and confidence, as well as the benefits of charitable status. AIM continues to welcome an explicit reporting of public benefit and how it is aligned with the Objects of the Charity and believes that this will help maintain and grow public trust in the activities of the charitable sector, not least the charitable activities of the Association of Independent Museums. Part of AIM’s focus on supporting and improving governance in independent museums and heritage is to ensure that our members and the wider cultural sector also understand and are committed to delivering public benefit and transparently demonstrating this.

MUSEUM OFFICES Statement of Trustees, Responsibilities

Governing Document

The Association of Independent Museums (AIM) is a company limited by guarantee, without share capital and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 1 February 1978, as amended by resolution at the AGM on 14 June 2012. None of the model articles in the Companies (Model Articles) Regulations 2008 applies to the company. The company was registered as a charity on 30 August 2000. The Objects of the Charity are set out in this report. Throughout this Annual report the company is referred to as ‘the Charity, Association or AIM’.

A review of AIM’s Memorandum and Articles of Association was initiated by Trustees in 2019 as part of ongoing governance good practice, with proposed changes reported and approved at the EGM on 10 December 2020.

Trustees / Directors

The trustees of AIM for the purposes of charity law are also its directors for the purposes of company law, and throughout this report are collectively referred to as ‘the Trustees’. Those Trustees who served on what is now called the Board (previously the Council) during the period of this review were:

Trustee First Appointed Claire Browne 10 September 2014 to 15 June 2023 Sajida Carr 21 June 2021 Mhairi Cross 19 April 2018 Sarah Duthie 21 June 2021 Rhiannon Goddard 19 April 2018 Brian Gorski MBE 19 April 2018 to 15 June 2023 Nathaniel Hepburn 6 May 2021 Emily Frankish (nee Hope) 6 May 2021 Gurminder Kenth 21 June 2021 to 15 June 2023 Andrew Lovett OBE 23 June 2016 Charlotte Morgan 16 June 2022 Elizabeth (Liz) Power 16 June 2022 Camilla Stewart 16 June 2022 Christine Bernath 15 June 2023 Laura Crossley 15 June 2023 Philip Dolling 15 June 2023 Alexander Ratcliffe 15 June 2023

Recruitment, Appointment and Onboarding of Trustees

Trustees are recruited from a range of backgrounds, skills and experiences relevant to the work of AIM and our independent museum members. All trustees are appointed based on their experience, skills, and empathy with AIM’s vision. Vacancies are advertised on the AIM website and in the AIM Bulletin, social media channels and e-news to ensure a wide coverage across the UK.

The Trustees of the Association are supplied with induction information on joining and further guidance and training notes as required. Trustees are kept up to date with reports, briefings, social media channels and sector newsletters about relevant issues, best practice and developments affecting the museums and cultural sectors, as well as changes to charity and/or company regulation. The Board self-reflects on its effectiveness as the Association’s governing body through regular meetings, including dedicated annual awaydays.

The Trustees are aware of the Charity Governance Code and new Charity Act 2022 and discuss implications both for their own work as in AIM’s role as an exemplar of governance for the museums sector.

The Board works to ensure compliance with its legal duties to:

(i) Act in the interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.

(ii) Protect and safeguard the assets of the charity.

(iii) Act with reasonable care and skill.

(iv) Ensure the charity is accountable.

In addition, the Board recognises the need for and takes steps to:

(i) Deal with conflicts of interest.

(ii) Implement appropriate financial controls.

(iii) Manage risk.

(iv) Take appropriate advice when it needs to.

Governance Structure

The Trustees met six times during 2023, as the Board (non-executive) of the Association of Independent Museums, to consider strategic matters, monitor financial progress and performance against forecasts, consider policy and other significant developments and to monitor organisational risks. The Board experimented with hybrid meetings in early 2023 (some people online and some in the room) and subsequently decided to have either online or in-person. Two meetings including an awayday were held in person and three online in order to minimise travel requirements.

The Charity held its AGM on 15 June 2023 as part of the National Conference in Edinburgh. Members of the Board are drawn from, and elected by, the membership at General Meetings, serving a maximum of three terms of three years. The Board thereafter elects from their number (at its discretion) the Officers, including a Chair and Vice Chair(s). In 2023 three Board members stepped down, one reaching the end of her third term, and two on agreement with the Chair.

In 2023 the Board had minimal standing sub-committees to govern the organisation. There were a number of grant-awarding committees or panels. During 2023 the Board agreed to establish a Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, with terms of reference approved in September, and meetings to start properly in 2024.

AIM’s Director (the organisation’s most senior member of staff) manages and develops AIM with her staff and is accountable and reports to the Board. Together with the Trustees, the Director, Head of Communications, and Head of Programmes are considered the Key Management Personnel, as defined by Financial Reporting Standard 102. The Director is not a member of the Board but attends at the invitation of the Board.

For the first time we are publishing the attendance of Board members, which was as below in 2023. It should be noted that all absences below were either planned (with Board members on maternity leave and leaves of absence for compassionate reasons and for travel) or notified (scheduling conflicts and illness).

----- Start of picture text -----
Board 17 Jan Feb May Jul Sep Dec
member (in person) (online) (hybrid) (online) (in person) (online)
----- End of picture text -----

Board member	17 Jan (in person)	Feb (online)	May (hybrid)	Jul (online)	Sep (in person)	Dec (online)

Sajida Carr	ü		ü	ü		ü	67%
Mhairi Cross	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	83%
Sarah Duthie	ü	ü	ü		ü		67%
Rhiannon Goddard	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	100%
Claire Browne		ü	ü	-	-	-	67%
Brian Gorski	ü	ü	ü	-	-	-	100%
Nathaniel Hepburn	ü	ü	ü			ü	67%
Emily Frankish	ü	ü	ü	ü		ü	83%
Gurminder Kenth	ü	ü		-	-	-	67%
Andrew Lovett	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	100%
Charlotte Morgan	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	100%
Elizabeth Power	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	ü	100%

Camilla Stewart	ü	ü	ü		ü	ü	83%
Christine Bernath	-	-	-	-		ü	50%
Laura Crossley	-	-	-	ü		ü	67%
Philip Dolling	-	-	-	-	ü	ü	100%
Alexander Ratcliffe	-	-	-	ü	ü	ü	100%

Reserves Policy

The reserves policy is reviewed annually by the Board. AIM holds a number of restricted funds, in most cases those received from funders for the delivery of specific grant-giving activities or projects. The purpose of each of these funds is explained in note 15 of the accounts. During 2022 the Trustees agreed that, given the risks the charity currently faces, it should hold a general, free cash reserve of at least £150,000. The current level of unrestricted reserves is well in excess of this amount, at £289,901. Over the coming months the team expects to review this policy and bring forward suggestions to invest in our services and organisation.

Environmental Impact update

As part of our ACE funding AIM continues to work to an environmental responsibility policy and action plan, overseen by Julie’s Bicycle, a specialist environmental organisation appointed by Arts Council England to support their National Portfolio Organisations.

Remuneration Policy, Employment and Casual Contracts

Board members do not receive any remuneration. Expenses incurred as part of the role e.g. to attend in-person Board meetings can be paid.

The pay and remuneration of key management personnel are set by the Director (for senior staff) and the Board (for the Director). In recent years, including January 2023, the Board has agreed an across the board cost of living increase. During 2024 a revised pay and reward policy will be put to the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee to review current salaries across the team and the process for agreeing increases in order to ensure AIM is providing a fair wage as part of a competitive overall employment offer. AIM does not currently offer casual employment. AIM contracts with a number of freelancers for both programme support, to add capacity to the full-time staff, and to deliver our support– particularly providing specialist expertise in a range of charity, operational, governance and museum fields for our grant support, training and development, and consultancies.

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Trustee Indemnity

Professional liability insurance of £1m is in place.

Risk Management and Uncertainties

Trustees regularly review the principal risks facing AIM, including as part of monitoring for Arts Council public funding. In 2024 this will be the responsibility in the first instance of a newly established Finance Committee, which will report to the Board on risk.

The key risk in 2023 continued to be the potential loss of Arts Council funding, which subsidises core running costs. In 2023 this was joined by a risk to our grants, with several programmes entering their final years of the existing agreements, with the fundraising work discussed above aimed at mitigating this risk.

Our key risk is member loss, particularly as the sector is squeezed by the economic circumstances. To mitigate this risk AIM is seeking to increase and improve our understanding of our members and what delivers value to them for their membership fee. Other risks include reputational risk based on positions taken by AIM within the sector or from activities of members. It is important to maintain close links to members to understand their views and ensure we are representing them well. Operational risks include loss of key staff members, risks from diversifying activity and aiming to grow income from new activities, and risks around IT and data.

AIM is currently reviewing risk management with the objective of focusing on a small number of high risks which are being actively managed and updating the Board at every meeting.

Investment Policy

The Association, when able to do so, takes advantage of short/medium-term cash flow surpluses by placing funds with regulated financial institutions approved by the Board. It is not the policy of the Association to delegate investment management to an agent of the Charity. In making any investment decisions, including those related to permanent endowment, the Board has due regard to Charity Commission guidance, investment of Charitable Funds: Basic Principles, the Charities Act 2011, and the Trustee Act 2000.

Fundraising Policy

The charity has no fundraising activities requiring disclosure under Section 162A of the Charities Act 2011.

Financial Review

The financial activities of the Association for the year under review and the financial position at the Balance Sheet date are set out in the Accounts. The Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) is set out at page 32 and includes both unrestricted and restricted funds. The Board is satisfied with the financial position of the Association.

Unrestricted funds other than Arts Council funding (which is also unrestricted) come chiefly from subscription fees from the membership. There is also unrestricted income from advertising in the AIM Bulletin and from the trade show and sponsorship at the annual AIM Conference, as well as sponsorship of other events and programmes.

Restricted funds have been provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Biffa Award, the Pilgrim Trust, and the Welsh Government. The Net Worth at 31 December 2023 stands at £1,072,425 (2022: £423,159). Restricted funds stand at £782,525 (2022: £146,723, with the growth accounted for by Connected Communities funds held for activity in 2024 and 2025) and Unrestricted Funds at £289,900 (2022: £276,436).

The Trustees (who are also Directors of the Association of Independent Museums for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Disclosure of Information to Auditor

Each of the persons who are Trustees at the time when this Trustees’ Report is approved has confirmed that:

so far as that Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware, and
that Trustee has taken all the steps that ought to have been taken as a Trustee in order to be aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditors are aware of that information.

On behalf of the Trustees

Andrew Lovett Dated: 12 May 2024 Chair

141 Independent Auditor's Report

Independent Auditor’s Report to the members of Association Of Independent Museums

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Association of Independent Museums (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report other than the financial statements and our Auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material

Independent Auditor’s Report to the members of Association Of Independent Museums

misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the Trustees’ report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditor’s report.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of materialamounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and

Independent Auditor’s Report to the members of Association Of Independent Museums

regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Employment legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the recognition of grant income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, and the Board about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, designing audit procedures over income, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing noncompliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable Association’s members, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable Association’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Crowe U.K. LLP

Chartered Accountants Black Country House, Rounds Green Road Oldbury, West Midlands, B69 2DG

Kerry Brown Senior Statutory Auditor

Dated: 22 May 2024

Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

Statement of Financial Activities (incorporating income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 December 2023

Income from:
Charitable activities
Investments
Other income
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Total expenditure
Net gains / (losses) on investments
Net income / (expenditure)
Transfer between funds
Net movement of funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
Notes
2
3
4
5
15
15
15

Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
525,355
2,678
7,546
535,579
511,505
511,505
-
24,074
(10,610)
13,464
276,436
289,900
Restricted
funds
2023
£
1,387,039
-
-
1,387,039
761,847
761,847
-
625,192
10,610
635,802
146,723
782,525
Total Funds
2023
£
1,912,394
2,678
7,546
1,922,618
1,273,352
1,273,352
-
649,266
-
649,266
423,159
1,072,425
Total Funds
2022
£
887,363
794
5,491
893,648
983,404
983,404
-
(89,756)
-
(89,756)
512,915
423,159

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2023

Current Assets Cash at Bank and in Hand Debtors Creditors Amounts falling due with one year Net Current Assets Total Assets Less Current Liabilities Funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Total Funds Notes 10 11 12 15 15	2023 £ 584,742 565,727 1,150,469 (78,044) 1,072,425 1,072,425 782,525 289,900 1,072,425 2022 £ 401,314 158,752 560,066 (136,907) 423,159 423,159 146,723 276,436 423,159

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies act 2006 relating small companies.

These accounts were approved by the Board of Directors and authorised for issue on 23 May 2023 and signed on their behalf by:

Andrew Lovett OBE Chair

The notes on pages 35-57 form part of these financial statements.

Cashflow Statement for the year ended 31 December 2023

Cash fows from operating activities
Net cash used in operating activities
Cash fows from investing activities
Dividends, interests, and rents from investments
Net cash fow from investing activities
Net increase / (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at end of the year
Cash and cash equivalents consists of:
Cash in hand and at bank
Total cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2023

2023
£
180,750
2,678
2,678
183,428
401,314
584,742
2023
£
584,742
584,742
2022
£
(272,522)
794
794
(271,728)
673,042
401,314
2022
£
401,314
401,314

Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash fow from operating activities

Net income/(expenditure) for year (as per Statement of Financial Activities) Adjustments for: Dividends, interests, and rents from investments (Increase)/decrease in debtors (Decrease)/increase in creditors Net cash fow from operating activities	2023 £ 649,266 (2,678) (406,975) (58,863) 180,750 2022 £ (89,756) (794) (88,534) (93,438) (272,522)

-• Notes to the Accounts

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

1) Accounting Policies

General Information

The Association of Independent Museums is a company limited by guarantee (registered number 1350939), which is registered and incorporated in England and Wales. The Association is also registered with the Charity Commission under registration number 1082215. The registered office is AIM office, National Waterways Museum, South Pier Road, Ellesmere Port, CH65 4FW. The principal place of business is AIM office, National Waterways Museum, South Pier Road Ellesmere Port, CH65 4FW.

Basis of Preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Association of Independent Museums meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy

Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Association and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Association for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes of the financial statements.

Income

All income is recognised once the Association has an entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably. Income in respect of members’ subscriptions, publications, seminars, and events are recognised in the period to which it relates.

Grants are included in the Statement of financial activities on a receivable basis. The balance of income received for specific purposes but not expended during the period is shown in the relevant funds on the Balance Sheet.. Where income is received in advance of entitlement of receipt, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors as deferred income. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.

Donations are credited to the Statement of Financial Activities when received.

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

All expenditure is accounted for on an accrual basis. All expenses including support costs and governance costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure headings.

Support costs are those costs directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity. Governance costs are those costs incurred in connection with the administration of the charity and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Expenditure on assets of over £500 or associated groups of assets over £700 will be capitalised.

Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is made except in those cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions attaching are fulfilled. Grants offered subject to conditions that have not been met at the year-end are noted as commitment, but not accrued as expenditure.

Financial instruments

The Association only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Liabilities and provisions

Liabilities are recognised at the amount that the Association anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.

Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation.

Association of Independent Museums Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

2) Income from charitable activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total 2022
	funds	funds	2023	funds	funds
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Grants	315,101	1,387,039	1,702,140	304,602	367,032	671,634
Membership	121,230	-	121,230	123,991	-	123,991
Members support	89,024	-	89,024	91,738	-	91,738
	525,355	1,387,039	1,912,394	520,331	367,032	887,363
3) Investment income
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
	funds	funds	2023	funds	funds	2022
	£	£	£	£	£	£
Interest	2,678	-	2,678	794	-	794
	2,678	-	2,678	794	-	794
4) Other incoming resources
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total 2022
	funds	funds	2023	funds	funds	£
	£	£	£	£	£
Energy Commission	3,351	-	3,351	3,634	-	3,634
Publishers licensing revenue	4,195	-	4,195	1,857	-	1,857
	7,546	-	7,546	5,491	-	5,491

Association of Independent Museums Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

5) Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

Grants distributed Members Support Grants distributed Members Support	Support costs £ - 90,853 Direct costs £ 601,302 581,198 2023 Total £ 601,302 672,051 Direct costs £ 425,534 481,963 Support costs £ - 75,907 2022 Total £ 425,534 557,870
	90,853 1,182,500 1,273,353 907,497 75,907 983,404
	Restricted funds £ 591,925 169,923 Unrestricted funds £ 9,378 502,127 Total 2023 £ 601,303 672,050 Unrestricted funds £ 63,300 472,374 Restricted funds £ 362,234 85,496 2022 Total £ 425,534 557,870
	761,848 511,505 1,273,353 535,674 447,730 983,404

6) Analysis of expenditure by activities

Members support Workshop and events Memberships and subscriptions Research, publications for members AIM National Conference Website AIM Bulletin editorial and production Consultancy and freelance Staff costs Professional fees	2023 Total £ 24,343 10,280 32,725 48,368 - 26,051 154,397 278,680 6,354 2022 Total £ 11,354 31,917 21,710 43,739 301 24,229 73,400 267,620 7,693
	581,198 481,963

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

7) Auditor’s remuneration

7) Auditor’s remuneration
Auditors’ remuneration Audit Other services	2023 £ 8,000 - 2022 £ 7,600 1,500
	8,000 9,100

8) Staff costs

Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Salaries and wages Social security costs Employer’s contribution to defned contribution pension schemes Staff Training and development	2023 £ 247,695 20,395 9,840 1,581 2022 £ 236,706 20,173 9,267 -
	279,511 266,146

Staff numbers

The average number of employees (headcount based on the number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

2023	2022
No.	No.
7	7

Staff

The number of employees who received total employee benefits of more than £60,000, is as follows:

		2023	2022
		No.	No.
£60,000	- £69,999	1	1

The total employment benefits, including employer pension contributions, of the key management personnel was £172,517 (2022: £165,654).

9) Trustees’ remuneration and expenses

During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits (2022; £nil).

During the year ended expenses totalling £ £5,051 (2022: £2,169) were reimbursed or paid directly to 12 (2022: 8) Trustees. The expenses reimbursed were in relation to travel and subsistence costs.

The Charity pays an insurance premium to indemnify trustees from any loss arising from the neglect or defaults of directors and officers, the policy covers the trustees up to £1,000,000.

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

10) Cash and cash equivalents

10) Cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand	2023 £ 584,742 2022 £ 401,314
	584,742 401,314

11) Debtors Trade Debtors Prepayments and accrued income	2023 £ 60,271 505,456 2022 £ 106,603 52,149
	565,727 158,752

12) Creditors: Falling due within one year Trade creditors Other creditors Other taxation and social security Accruals and deferred income Provisions	2023 £ 29,049 1,501 7,462 40,032 - 2022 £ 17,804 4,228 6,416 95,036 13,423
	78,044 136,907

13) Deferred income

Deferred income relates to membership fees. The movement during the year is as follows:

Balance at the beginning of the year Amount released to income in the year Amount deferred in the year Balance at the end of the year	2023 £ 46,805 (46,805) 26,364 2022 £ 37,582 (37,582) 46,805
	26,364 46,805

14) Taxation

The company, as a registered charity, is not liable for Income Tax or Corporation Tax because its income falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Current Year Restricted Funds Biffa Award - History Makers Pilgrim Trust grants and workshops Welsh Gov’t projects & grants National Lottery Heritage Fund AIM & Arts Scholars Charitable Trust Brighter Day DCMS ACE Know Your Neighbourhood Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds General funds Total unrestricted funds Total Funds 15) Statement of funds	At 1 January 2023 £ - 126,801 22,084 623 (2,785) - Income £ 2,890 75,314 133,488 195,345 30,000 950,001 Expenditure £ - (129,327) (129,735) (180,839) (35,681) (286,264) Transfers £ (2,890) - - - 13,500 - At 31 December 2023 £ - 72,788 25,837 15,129 5,034 663,737
	146,723 1,387,038 (761,846) 10,610 782,525
	276,436 535,580 (511,506) (10,610) 289,900
	276,436 535,580 (511,505) (10,610) 289,900

	423,159 1,922,618 (1,273,352) - 1,072,425

Transfers between funds

Biffa Award - History Makers: The AIM Biffa Award History Makers project ended in 2022 and during 2023 AIM revoked the environmental body status with regards to the Landfill Communities Fund by permission of Entrust. In order to close this project a provision was made in 2022 to return some funds to Biffa. On final analysis this provision was slightly higher than the amount required and the 2023 movement represents the unused provision.

AIM & Arts Scholars Charitable Trust Brighter Day: during the 2023 audit AIM identified that the administrative fee for this programme had been over paid into AIM general funds and a transfer from unrestricted funds was carried out to return the overpayment into the restricted fund.

Restricted purpose funding

AIM & Arts Scholars Charitable Trust Brighter Day: Grants to support small museums with collections relevant to the work of the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars to improve their resilience through caring for collections and upskilling staff.

Pilgrim Trust Grants and Workshops: Support to small and medium sized museums in looking after and conserving their collections, through grants and workshops. Funded by the Pilgrim Trust.

Welsh Government Projects and Grants: In 2023 AIM continued to support museums in Wales with peer support and leadership programmes, as well as AIM Higher consultancies. AIM also delivered the first year of Re:Collections, funded by the Anti-Racist Wales Culture, Heritage and Sport Fund. This programme enables museums to explore and capacity build around anti-racism in their organisations and collections.

National Lottery Heritage Fund New Stories New Audiences: Grants to support small museums to increase and widen their audiences to enhance their sustainability, and to widen participation to groups that are currently under-represented. Funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

DCMS ACE Know Your Neighbourhood: Connected Communities is funded by Arts Council England through the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Know Your Neighbourhood Fund and supports museums in specified areas in England to carry out projects improving social capital through high-quality volunteering opportunities and projects tackling the risk of loneliness.

Association of Independent Museums

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Prior Year Restricted Funds Biffa Award - History Makers Esmee Fairbairn Sustainability grants and Micro-consultancies Pilgrim Trust grants and workshops Welsh Gov’t projects & grants National Lottery Heritage Fund AIM & Arts Scholars Charitable Trust Brighter Day Art Fund - Covid-19 support work Total restricted funds Unrestricted funds General funds Total unrestricted funds Total Funds At 1 January 2022 £ 29,038 991 134,786 14,379 3,025 - 350 182,569 330,346 330,346 512,915 Income £ 107,134 - 134,000 34,236 41,662 50,000 - 367,032 526,616 526,616 893,648 16) Analysis of net assets between funds Fund balances at31 December 2023are represented by: Current assets Creditors due with one year Prior Year Fund balances at31 December 2022are represented by: Current assets Creditors due with one year	At 1 January 2022 £ 29,038 991 134,786 14,379 3,025 - 350 Income £ 107,134 - 134,000 34,236 41,662 50,000 -	Expenditure £ (182,365) - (141,985) (26,531) (44,064) (52,785) - Transfers £ 46,193 (991) - - - - (350) At 31 December 2022 £ - - 126,801 22,084 623 (2,785) -
	182,569 367,032	(447,730) 44,852 146,723
	330,346 526,616	(535,674) (44,852) 276,436
	330,346 526,616	(535,674) (44,852) 276,436

	512,915 893,648	(983,404) - 423,159
		Restricted funds £ 845,692 (63,167) Unrestricted funds £ 304,777 (14,877) Funds Total £ 1,150,469 (78,044)
		782,525 289,900 1,072,425
		Restricted funds £ 135,162 (24,285) Unrestricted funds £ 424,904 (112,622) Funds Total £ 560,066 (136,907)
		110,877 312,282 423,159

17) Pension commitments

The Association operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Association in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the Association to the fund and amounted to £9,840 (2022 - £9,267). Contributions totalling £1,501 (2022 - £4,195) were payable to the fund at the balance sheet date.

18) Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions for the current year.

Ill Grants Awarded

In 2023 AIM was proud to award a total of £730,573 to 114 recipients across our six live grant schemes. This support of almost three quarters of a million pounds, provided by AIM with responsive and flexible grantmaking processes, makes an important difference to museums and their communities across the UK, enabling them to care for their collections, serve their audiences, and improve their skills and knowledge.

Pilgrim Trust = 40 Brighter Day = 9 New Stories New Audiences = 14 Connected Communities = 5 Training Grants = 43 Re:Collections (Wales) = 3

Pilgrim Trust Conservation Grants

In 2023, we received 84 applications to the Pilgrim Trust collection care and conservation grant scheme and awarded 40 grants, with 39 being accepted. In total the funding commitment across the spring and autumn round amounts to £130,262.50 across the 39 grants.

Pilgrim Trust Collection Care Audit Grants x 18 = £21,600.00 Pilgrim Trust Collection Care Grants x 10 = £57,498.50 Pilgrim Trust Remedial Conservation Grants x 12 = £54,709.00 (1 returned @ £3,545)

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Pilgrim Trust Audit Grants Awarded Spring 2023
Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Ref.	Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

101	Hospital of William Browne, Lincolnshire	The Hospital of William Browne is an almshouse in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The building opened to the public in 1984. There is a small amount of historic material onsite and the honorary curator is seeking advice on how to best to care for the wall paintings, artefacts, and archives.	£1,200
103	Woodhall	The museum is seeking specialist conservation support to conduct an audit of the museum and its two stores. The museum has damp and pest issues which they are tackling and would appreciate a conservator’s opinion to workable short term and long-term solutions to help them resolve the problems.	£1,200
106	Stamford Town Council, Lincolnshire	The recommendations received in the audit report will be used to improve collections care and inform a conservation management plan.	£1,200
107	Clyne Heritage Society, Scotland	The society wish to use the audit to identify any conservation and collection care priorities within the collection. There are long term plans to re-locate the museum and collections to a disused school building and create a new purpose- built store. The audit will help the volunteers and seasonal staff plan for the society’s future.	£1,200
108	Send & Ripley Historical Society, Surrey	The local history society have an active membership, who founded and run the local accredited museum. They would like to receive an audit to help them with their accreditation renewal documentation.	£1,200
110	REME, Wiltshire	REME moved to Wiltshire in 2017. They are seeking an audit with a focus on their off-site store which is located on the adjacent MOD base.	£1,200

111	David Parr House, Cambridgeshire	David Parr House is a domestic dwelling with a hidden secret. The historic interior forms the collection and includes intricate wall paintings. The trust is seeking support for an audit that will provide a snapshot of the condition of the wall paintings. The need is timely as they have been open for fve years to the public and have seen damage due to wear and tear and humidity.	£1,200
112	Brunel Museum, London	The museum is working towards renewing their accreditation status. An audit now will help support this work and inform their volunteer training and collections care practices.	£1,200
113	Museum of Human Diseases, London	The museum is based on a university housed study collection. They provide access to the collection online and are on a journey towards opening to the public. An audit now will help the staff to understand how best to care for and display the wet and dry pathology collections, as they work towards their aim to open and become accredited.	£1,200
114	Brixham, Devon	The museum is run by dedicated volunteers and is free to enter. They would like to receive an audit so that the recommendations can be fed into a review of their strategic plans and policies.	£1,200
116	Caerphilly - Winding House Museum Trust, Wales	The museum opened in 2008 and are looking for a conservator to advise them on their stored collections. They are working towards re-accreditation, so the audit report will support them in developing their collections care practices.	£1,200
		TOTAL	£13,200

Pilgrim Trust Audit Grants Awarded Autumn 2023

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Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Ref.	Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

117	King Edward Mine Museum, Cornwall, Southwest	The museum was founded in 1987 and is situated within the Cornish World Heritage Site. It is run by enthusiastic and skilled volunteers who have been joined by one paid member of staff who looks after education. They are seeking a full audit of the site and collections, that they can use to inform future disposals and conservation needs. The audit will help the museum to use time and resources cost effectively.	£1,200
120	Three Rivers Museum, Hertfordshire	The small museum is housed in a council owned listed building and space for display and storage is tight. Founded in 1988 and run by a team of 30 volunteers, they are seeking an audit to help them understand the collections care needs of the collections. They would like the audit to focus on organics; paper archives which form 20% of the collection and textiles. Guidance from a professional conservator led audit will help to inform the conservation needs of the collection and identify any weaknesses in their current practices as they work towards achieving accreditation in 2025.	£1,200
121	West Highland Museum, Scotland	The museum has been open to the public for 101 years. Since 1986 the museum has employed a professional curator, whose role has expanded to include museum management. The museum has plans to expand, which has reduced the time available to the small staff team to dedicate to collections care. The staff are aware of issues caused by high humidity and objects that require professional conservation. In their own words, “The collections audit will be invaluable, as the assessment will enable us to plan for collections care as we begin our museum expansion.”	£1,200

122	The Royal Irish Regiment Museum, Northern Ireland	The collections are due to be consolidated as part of a move to combine three museums and form a charitable collections trust. The focus of the audit will be on one collection based in Enniskillen. The audit will help the new trust establish the collections care needs of the collection and inform their decision-making process.
123	Sidney Sime Gallery, Surrey, Southeast	The Sime Gallery is a unique collection of one artist, which tells his rags to riches story. Established in 1956, but mothballed for 40 years, the gallery has been undergoing a transformation since 2009 and is currently in receipt of NHLF funding to help widen its audience. An audit now will help them understand the collections care needs of the artwork while they plan for future exhibitions, both at their village hall location and externally at partner venues.	£1,200
127	Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust, Berkshire, Southeast and Devon, Southwest	The charity was founded in 2008 and cares for a collection of vehicles and complimentary objects and archives. They would like the focus of the audit to be on the collection that is displayed and stored in Devon, approximately 40% of the collection. The organisation is in its infancy and with a large group of volunteers, view the audit as an opportunity to gain guidance on sector standards to be able to improve collections care.	£1,200
128	St Ives Museum, Cornwall, Southwest	The museum was founded in 1924. The museum is open 6 days a week and is entirely volunteer run by a group of 70 dedicated volunteers. A new management team has been created from the volunteer pool, and they have put together a collection of priorities. There are a lot of challenges ahead and the audit will help guide the volunteers and prioritise collections management as the museum evolves and modernises.	£1,200
		TOTAL	£8,400

Pilgrim Trust Collection Care Grants Awarded Spring 2023 (£28,500)

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Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
330 The Whithorn Conserving the Whithorn Ferrous Metalwork Assemblage - Application includes £10,000.00
Trust, Scotland costs for a conservator to support the audit work and training for staff as part of
a larger project £25k project.
331 Cyfarthfa Castle Mould Survey of Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery Collections - Costs for £6,037.50
Museum & Art phase one of a project that will enable a specialist to survey and isolate objects
Gallery, Wales affected by mould and/or pests.
337 The Stained- Caring for our Stained Glass Heritage - Following a Pilgrim Trust funded audit in £5,200.00
Glass Museum, 2022; the museum is applying for funding to purchase environmental monitors
Cambridgeshire and work with a conservator to conduct cleaning trials and reframe the oldest
panel in the collection.
341 Isles of Scilly, Temporary Storage: Shipping Container Pilot - The museum and the collections £7,500.00
Cornwall, have been ‘On the Move’ since 2019. They require temporary storage while
Southwest building work is completed on a new museum and cultural centre. The grant is
for the refurbishment of a storage container, so that it can be used for temporary
collections storage and then long-term exhibition storage.
TOTAL £28,737.50
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Pilgrim Trust Collection Care Grants Awarded Autumn 2023 (£28,500)

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Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
344 Stromness Seaweed Collection Conservation & Rehousing at Stromness Museum The £10,000.00
Museum (Orkney museum has seen an increased interest in their seaweed collection. There is a
Natural History need to upgrade the storage and housing of the collection, so that the material
Society Museum) can be accessed by researchers. They require a conservator to work with them to
mount and prepare the collection and train volunteers and staff. (£8,380.69)
345 Totnes Museum Effective Storage and Cataloguing of the Collection This project follows up on £6,037.50
the recommendations from a PT funded audit conducted in August 2021. The
museum is aware that the storage of the collections is inadequate and wish to re-
pack the complete collection of circa 8,000 objects. (£3,353.04)
346 The Apsley Paper Space to recover - a new store after the fire / part funding Funding is sought to £5,200.00
Trail/ Frogmore alter two unused rooms into storage facilities, suitable for framed artwork and
Paper Mill flat work. (£5,500)
349 Malton Museum Implementing recommendations from the Collections Care Audit Following a £7,500.00
Pilgrim Trust funded audit in 2020, the museum was advised to improve their
collections care. Funding is sought to buy environmental monitoring equipment
and UV film to implement the recommendations. (£2,744.99)
351 Ushaw Historic Securing Ushaw’s Collections Future: Creating a permanent collection store A £7,500.00
House and
Pilgrim Trust funded audit has highlighted the need to control large fluctuations
Gardens in humidity and to upgrade aspects of collections care. (£5,830)
356 The Keep Monitoring and Storage Uplift Project Following a Pilgrim Trust funded £7,500.00
Military Museum, collections audit and an audit of their archives, the museum has applied for
Dorchester funding to purchase monitoring equipment and storage materials to improve
collections care based on the recommendations of the conservators. (£10,000)
TOTAL £28,761.00
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Pilgrim Trust Remedial Conservation Grants Awarded Spring 2023 (£25,000)

----- Start of picture text -----
Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Ref.	Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

390	Salcombe Maritime Museum, Devon	Salcombe Maritime Museum Metal Conservation Project The conservator, Peter Meehan, conducted a Pilgrim Trust funded audit in 2021. This project follows up on the recommendations of the audit to address active corrosion on metal objects in the collection. The conservator will work with volunteers to and clean the affected objects.	£1,500.00
391	Inverness Museum & Art Gallery, Scotland	Conservation and re-framing of ‘Battle of Culloden’ by Peel Ross The early 20th century painting was on display at the museum for a long time before being removed in 2006. In 2010 the work was photographed by the PCF which allows for a comparison with how the work is today. Following a conservation assessment signifcant conservation work is required to prevent irreparable damage to the work.	£4,910

394	Cowper & Newton Museum	Conservation of William Cowper’s Counterpane Conservation work is required to allow the counterpane to remain on display. An assessment of the work has taken place, and the treatment is expected to cost circa £12,000, of which half has been raised by the museum.	£5,000
395	Museum in the Park, Gloucestershire	Fossil Fishing - The Conservation Phase The museum is seeking funding to pay for a natural history conservator to spend 20 days preparing fossils for display. The fossils date from the Early Jurassic period and were excavated locally in July 2022.	£7,500
397	Epping Forest District Museum, London	Walter Spradbery’s Posters: Preservation and Accessibility 15 works have been prioritised for treatment and future use in a scheduled exhibition planned for winter 2024.	£3,000
398	The Old Operating Theatre, London	Return, Restore, redisplay: Bringing home the lost amputation painting The Old Operating theatre has one oil painting in its collection, which due to its condition cannot be displayed. The piece once conserved and hung, would help interpret the operating theatre. (Grant returned, the painting is owned by another museum.)	£3,545
399	Groam House Museum, London	The Bronze Age Burial Urns The museum has recently received a collection of burial urns and associated fnds through the Scottish fnds disposal system. The urns need conservation to stabilise them so that they can be displayed safely.	£4,464
		TOTAL	£29,919

Pilgrim Trust Remedial Conservation Grants Awarded Autumn 2023 (£25,000)

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Ref. Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Ref.	Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

403	Dunkeld Archives, Chapter House Museum	Conservation work of Dr Gutch’s Photographic Album Dr John Wheeley Gough Gutch (b1809-d1862) was a surgeon, amateur naturalist, geologist, and pioneer photographer. The photograph album that the museum is seeking funding to conserve dates from 1857 and contains the earliest known images of Dunkeld. The salted paper photographs are of international interest/signifcance and conservation work is required to stabilise the album and enable it to be displayed and stored safely.	£1,200.00
405	Comunn Eachdraidh Nis	Donald Macleod Landscape Painting 1908 The painting was gifted to the museum in 2011. The focus of the museum has been on renovating the museum and store and the volunteers are now looking at the collections needs and selecting signifcant pieces for conservation treatment.	£4,590.00
406	Radstock Museum	The Coleford Banner - Conservation & Display Once conserved the banner will help to bring to bring to life the areas mining and methodist heritage. There are plans to display the piece alongside two other banners and introduce interpretation via flm and text to explain its conservation.	£5,000.00
410	The Armitt Library and Museum Centre	Refreshing the Tuckers To conserve two large, framed watercolours and their historic frames. The watercolours have been selected for display in 2025. (Applied for £6,720, panel were only able to award £4,000)	£4,000.00

415	The Scottish Crannog Centre	A Space to Grow: Remedial Crannog Timber Conservation The Scottish Crannog Centre holds within its collection fve 2500-year-old Crannog foundation timbers: these wonderful and unique pieces are rarely found and display clear Iron Age old tool marks. They have been an integral part of the museum story for the past 20 years and are a tangible representation of the Iron Age structures and ways of life that the Crannog Centre explores. Funding to conserve the pieces out of the water is sought.	£10,000.00
		TOTAL	£24,790

AIM Arts Scholars Brighter Day Round 2 Grants 9 Brighter Day Grants were awarded in 2023 with a funding commitment of £29,369 made.

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Organisation Purpose/Project Award
Nantgarw China Works Nantgarw China Works Museum Collections Documentation. A project that £3,000.00
Museum begins with training led by the Collections Trust, to provide the volunteers with
the skills to produce a complete digital catalogue of the collections.
Warrington Museum & Art ‘Cabinets of Curious Costume: A project to improve Collections Care’. New £2,500.00
Gallery storage materials for a 1/3 of the collection and new mannequins to enable the
collections to be displayed correctly.
Frogmore Paper Mill Into the Light - illuminating the hidden art of watermarks. The project involves £2,706.00
staff costs, equipment purchases and exhibition costs.
Dulwich Picture Gallery Collections disaster, emergency and salvage equipment and training. Purchase £4,090.00
of emergency response equipment and the creation of an enhanced emergency
plan and bespoke training for museum staff and volunteers.
Elizabeth Gaskells House Permanent Collection Storage Project The project combines the purchasing of £3,500.00
racking and storage materials with additional staff hours to manage the audit
and reorganisation of the collections store.
Letchworth Arts & Crafts Treasures – re-invigorating Collections Care in Letchworth A £4,500.00
collaborative project that will train volunteers in collections care and interpret
an important collection.
Thames Valley Omnibus Art and Design on the Buses Digitisation of 50 pieces of ephemera to form the £1,650.00
Trust basis for an online exhibition of early 20th century posters and timetables.
Braintree District Museum Potty About Our Pottery! A project to digitise the 200+ items in the collection, £4,708.00
Trust upskill staff and volunteers, create an exhibition and new learning opportunities.
Museum of East Asian Art, Collection Care: Environmental Monitoring & Improvements Small building £2,715.00
Bath improvements and collections care equipment purchases.
TOTAL £29,369
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New Stories New Audiences 14 NSNA projects were awarded funding in 2023 totalling £169,039.

----- Start of picture text -----
Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

Museum of Royal Worcester	Taste, touch and smell: exploring Worcester porcelain’s food and drink stories through sensory experiences including workshops, performances, feld trips and the website.	£15,000.00
Royal Engineers Museum	Celebrating 75th Anniversary of the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers by increasing content, material and the relationship with the local Nepali community through workshops with the QGR.	£15,000.00
Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation	Addressing a substantial gap in collections, which overlooks the representation of global majority communities within Letchworth - particularly Caribbean - with permanent online resources, including for local schools.	£12,294.00
St George’s Hospital Medical School	Deadly Diseases: themed workshops, co-run with local artists Meet & Make, for local community groups in Tooting, to encourage its rich and diverse communities to engage with our collections and shared heritage.	£14,990.00
The Mixed Museum	Targeting 13-18 years by co-establishing a digital resource for TMM – a digital museum archiving the history of racial mixing in Britain – that shares Manchester’s history of racial mixing through a focus on SuAndi’s (poet / artist) life and creative work.	£14,850.00
Groundwork South and North Tyneside	Sessions (incl. carbon literacy) for young people focussed on the climate emergency to develop blogs, social media content and a digital exhibition hosted on the Jarrow Hall website, also making use of a temporary exhibition space to project images and content.	£9,088.00
Hundred Heroines	Exhibition of Dorothy Wilding’s work and legacy, including a series of podcasts and creative workshops, marking 130 years since her birth in Gloucester	£11,274.00
Bawdsey Radar Trust	Creating a unique national collection of stories and details of some of the many thousands who worked, trained or served at RAF Bawdsey 1936 to 1991, including online and f-2-f community events.	£6,980.00
Englesea Brook Chapel & Museum of Primitive Methodism	A travelling exhibition beginning at Englesea, covering the other three Methodist Heritage sites (London, Bristol and Epworth, Lincs), as well as universities, faith settings such as mosques, gurdwaras and other places of worship, and the NAPO annual conference.	£14,458.00
Ledbury Places – The Heritage Centre	Linking existing displays and artifacts covering education from the 17th to 19th centuries with experiences of local older residents and current school children through flmed interviews.	£11,850.00
Teign Heritage	Looking to appeal to 18–30-year-olds by partnering with Teignmouth Rugby Football Club to trace the origins of their sport from earliest times to the present-day using artefacts and memorabilia on loan from the club, original research and a digitised record of the result.	£9,000.00
Turner’s House Trust	Capturing and sharing memories and experiences of the travels of JMW Turner. Working with local refugee centres and residents to share stories, improve wellbeing and bring them closer together.	£10,280.00

Wiltshire Museum	Working with local race equality council and the army to tell stories of the black community’s experiences in WW1, WW2 and after through oral testimony, creative projects and an exhibition.	£14,475.00
Foxfeld Light Railway Society	To create displays and handling collection exploring the roles of women, children and animals in the colliery. Will create AV tech content for use on site and resource pack.	£9,500.00
	TOTAL	£169,039.00

Connected Communities

In the first round of the grant, there were 21 applications, and 5 grants were awarded. £336,413 was distributed to the projects, a little over the £325,000 allocated to round one.

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Organisation Purpose/Project Award
Bowes Museum New coordinated volunteer programme aimed at disadvantaged young people. £54,053.00
Wolverhampton Arts & Building on existing relationship with Strengthening Families Hubs, creative £94,000.00
Culture activities for isolated families, legacy.
Powell Cotton Trust Expanding on existing work with adult services and others. Small £56,960.00
refurbishments works to room. Staff role to support.
Peckover House & Gardens Extension of existing dementia programme. Extended hours, more programme £81,400.00
variety, attendee support, staff costs, supporting training, new volunteering
opps.
Barnsley Museums & Expansion of existing independent progs for both Barnsley and Doncaster, plus £50,000.00
Heritage Doncaster new pilot programme tackling social isolation among elders
TOTAL £336,413
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AIM Training Grants

43 Training grants were awarded in 2023, with a commitment of £11,189.60.

----- Start of picture text -----
Organisation Purpose/Project Award
----- End of picture text -----

Organisation	Purpose/Project	Award

City of Norwich Aviation Museum Limited	Food Hygiene Training	£300.00
Stourbridge Glass Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 1 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Trimontium Museum	First Aid Training	£300.00
Glenesk Folk Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 2 (Tickets Only)	£150.00
Keswick Museum	MA Conference: The Power of Museums (7-9 November 2023)	£300.00
Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust	AIM National Conference Bursary 3 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
West Highland Museum	Sealladh - Highland Heritage Conference	£300.00
Linlithgow Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary – RETURNED DUE TO A/L	0
The Keep Military Museum	First Aid Training	£300.00
Yorkshire Museum of Farming	AIM National Conference Bursary 4 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Petersfeld Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 5 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Buckingham Old Goal Trust	Modes Training – CANCELLED/RETURNED	0
Elizabeth Gaskells House	AIM National Conference Bursary 6 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Pilsudski Institute of London	AIM National Conference Bursary 7 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Court Barn – A Museum of Craft & Design	AIM National Conference Bursary 8 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Maid of the Loch	AIM National Conference Bursary 9 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
We are the Minories	AIM National Conference Bursary 10 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
David Parr House	AIM National Conference Bursary 11 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Holst Victorian House	AIM National Conference Bursary 12 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Tring Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 13 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Biggin Hill Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 14 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Grampian Transport Museum	AIM National Conference Bursary 15 (Tickets + £150 for expenses)	£300.00
Foundling Museum	InDesign Training	£288.00
The Peace Museum	Support to attend an international conference in Stockholm	£300.00
The Centre for Computing History	Manual Handling Training	91.00
St Ives Museum	Modes Management Training – CANCELLED/RETURNED	0
Insurance Museum	AIM Trustee Induction Course	£300.00

Peoples History Museum	Mental Health First Aid Training	£300.00
Frogmore Paper Mill	MA Course, Breaking Barriers: Radical Curatorial Practice	£60.00
Coldharbour Mill Trust	First Aid at work training	£300.00
Bishop Bonner’s Cottage	Modes Training - RETURNED	0
Jacobite Heritage Museum	Volunteer Guide Training	£250.00
Creswell Crags Museum	IOSH Managing Safely	£300.00
Society of Exmouth Museum	Modes Training – CANCELLED/RETURNED	0
Crich Tramway Village	Online Fundraising Training	£190.00
Beth Shalom Ltd	CFG Finance Training	£300.00
Welshpool & Llanfail Railway	Health & Safety Training	£300.00
Brunel Museum	Lone Working and Manual Handling	£300.00
The Sussex Yeomanry Museum Trust	AMOT Conference – CANCELLED/RETURNED	0
MV Balmoral	Emergency First Aid Training	£300.00
Army Flying Museum	AMA Digital Copywriting Training	£117.60
Transport Museum Wythall	Passenger Service Vehicle (PSV) Inspection training for volunteers	£300.00
Eskdale Mill	Rope Access – IRATA Level 1 course	£108.00

Grants awarded in Wales

Eight applications were received from organisations in Wales seeking funding from the Re:Collections grant. Following the panel meeting, three museums were selected to receive project support, a further three were awarded mentor support to refine their projects, and one organisation was offered a fundraising consultancy. The projects all completed in Spring 2024 and came in underbudget at £52.5K.

----- Start of picture text -----
Organisation Purpose/Project Award
Ceredigion Museum Voices from the Edge Creative will be delivered in collaboration with members £54,053.00
of Llwy Gariad (LG) - a group of people from the global majority living in west
Wales, and Aberystwyth University students from the global majority. A key aim
is to build mutual trust and understanding as a foundation for future projects.
Conwy Culture Centre Re-Imagining Colwyn Bay’s African Institute. The project offers an exciting £94,000.00
opportunity to explore a story beyond the normal white saviour narrative
which will challenge Eurocentric perspectives. An opportunity to develop co-
production relationships and meaningful involvement of Global Majority people.
Engagement project which includes workshops led by a Cameroonian North
Wales artist and by the animation team at TAPE Community Music and Film.
Y Gaer Museum, Art Gallery A Representative Collection for Brecon. Although the Gurkhas first came to Brecon £56,960.00
& Library, Powys in 1974, the museum has no objects reflecting their lives here. It is impossible
to tell the story of the Gurkhas and the Nepalese community in Brecon with the
current museum collection. This project will address the balance.
TOTAL £54,300
(uplift
£54,980)
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Image Credits

Cover/P16 | Specialist conservator working on collection at Stained Glass Museum - P5 | Andrew Lovett OBE at Black Country Living Museum P10 | Object cleaning at David Livingstone Birthplace Museum P14 | AIM team P15 | Image by Darren Andrew showing artist Lela Harris looking at her work at the opening of the Facing the Past exhibition at Judges’ Lodgings Museum P16 | Schoolchildren at Facing the Past exhibition P17 | Royal Engineers Museum Making African Connections workshop P21 | Eve rehearsing, Milton’s Cottage

Charity Registration No. 1082215 Company Registration No. 1350939 aim-museums.co.uk

2023-12-31-accounts

Annual Report and Accounts 31 December 2023

Contents

Reference and Administrative Information

Reference and Administrative Information

Chair’s Review of the Year

Chair’s Thanks

Introducing AIM

AIM’s role and purpose

Public investment

AIM’s Charitable Objects

Delivering public benefit in 2023

Supporting our members to serve their communities

Partnerships

Community

Voice

How we operate

Our Grants

We awarded 114 grants worth a total of £730,573

Connected Communities

Pilgrim Trust Conservation Grants

Re:Collections Grants (Wales only)

New Stories New Audiences

AIM Arts Scholars Brighter Day Grants

AIM Training Grants

Our Programmes

Spark!

22 participants

Network for Resilience Wales (NRW)

Network for Resilience in Wales Rising Leaders

AIM Higher micro-consultancies

‘….extremely well rounded… invaluable.’

Our Events

AIM National Conference, Edinburgh

Welsh specialist skills workshops

Grant support sessions

NSNA

Connected Communities

Re:Collections

Heritage Trustees 101, Oxford

Hallmarks at Home

Supplier Spotlights

Trustee Induction workshops

Our Communications

Pleasure, Connection, Purpose

Research into admissions pricing policy in museums and its impact

Growing AIM’s presence

average monthly users of AIM website

Making our ambitions happen

Challenges for AIM

A note on charitable reporting

Governing Document

Trustees / Directors

Recruitment, Appointment and Onboarding of Trustees

Governance Structure

Reserves Policy

Environmental Impact update

Remuneration Policy, Employment and Casual Contracts

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2023

Trustee Indemnity

Risk Management and Uncertainties

Investment Policy

Fundraising Policy

Financial Review

Disclosure of Information to Auditor

Independent Auditor’s Report to the members of Association Of Independent Museums

Opinion

Basis for opinion

Conclusions relating to going concern

Other information

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Responsibilities of trustees

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Use of our report

Crowe U.K. LLP

Andrew Lovett OBE Chair

Cashflow Statement for the year ended 31 December 2023

Association of Independent Museums

1) Accounting Policies

General Information