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2024-12-31-accounts

Charity registration number 1162762 (England and Wales) Company registration number 09021881

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

CONTENTS

Page
Trustees' report 1 - 7
Independent examiner's report 8
Statement of financial activities 9 - 10
Balance sheet 11
Notes to the financial statements 12 - 20

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Foundation's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and "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 2019)".

Objectives and activities

The Foundation's objects are to:

a. Policies and objectives

The objects of the Foundation are to advance education and promote research for the public benefit in particular but without limitation by accelerating, promoting, and facilitating research data sharing and exchange and (save for purposes incidental and ancillary to those objects) no other purposes.

b. Activities undertaken to achieve objectives

This is done through facilitating the operations of the Research Data Alliance (RDA), a global volunteer organisation under the auspices of the Foundation. The mission of the RDA is to "build the social and technical bridges that enable the open sharing and re-use of data." To conduct this work, the RDA reviews, endorses, and convenes short-term Working Groups and longer-term Interest Groups, and since December 2020, Communities of Practice (CoP) a forum and knowledge exchange platform, where both specific and generic data challenges can be discussed and resolved by experts from the community itself as proposed by members of the global research community.

The Recommendations and Supporting Outputs (https://www.rd-alliance.org/recommendations-and-outputs/ outputs/) delivered by these groups are the primary deliverables of the RDA and are publicly and openly available. The Trustees who act as the Council for RDA formally endorse these recommendations based on the advice of the community elected Technical Advisory Board (TAB) Regional Advisory Board (RAB) and Organisational Advisory Board (OAB) and an assessment of whether the Recommendation is actively being used by organisations.

RDA conducts two plenary meetings each year at different locations around the world and on-line, since 2020, for the Communities of Practice, Working and Interest Groups to convene, conduct their work and present their results. new group ideas and proposals are facilitated at these meetings through Birds of a Feather sessions.

The Trustees meet together at least four times per year in virtual meetings, and occasionally in a face-to-face context, to ensure the objectives of the Foundation are being met in a productive and responsible manner. Minutes from the Trustee meetings are publicly available on the RDA's website (rd-alliance.org) under the RDA Council page (https://www.rd-alliance.org/council/).

In setting objectives and planning for activities, the Trustees have given due consideration to general guidance published by the Charities Commission relating to public benefit and in particular to its supplementary public benefit guidance.

The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the Foundation should undertake.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Achievements and performance

a. Review of activities

As of 31 Dec 2024, RDA had 15.214 individual volunteer members, 61 dues paying Organisational Members, and 12 Organisational Affiliate members. They work collectively in 46 active Working Groups, 56 active Interest Groups and 1 active Community of Practice.

During the period of 1 January 2024 through 31 December 2024, members created 11 new and currently endorsed Working Groups, and 3 Interest Groups.

New, currently endorsed Working Groups:

  1. Harmonised terminologies and schemas for FAIR data in materials science and related domains WG

  2. Wind Energy Community Standards WG

  3. Building Immune Digital Twins WG

  4. Small Uncrewed Aircraft and Autonomous Platforms Data WG

  5. Ethics in Agricultural (Ag) Data WG

  6. FAIRification of Genomic Annotations WG

  7. Alignment of multilingual vocabularies in the Social Sciences and Humanities

  8. Coordinating Earth, Space, and Environmental Science Data Preservation and Scholarly Publication Processes WG

  9. Community-based catalogue of requirements for trustworthy TRSPs WG

  10. Optical Radiation Exposure and Visual Experience Data

  11. Health Data Commons GORC Profile WG

New, currently endorsed Interest Groups

  1. Collections as Data IG

  2. Salmon Research and Monitoring IG

  3. Research Tools and Data Curation Workflows IG

  4. 2 -

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

b. Review of activities (continued)

During that same period, existing groups produced 4 further formal Recommendations and 6 supporting outputs (https://www.rd-alliance.org/recommendations-and-outputs/outputs/)

Formal Recommendations:

  1. RDA Common Descriptive Attributes of Research Data Repositories

  2. The Global Open Research Commons International Model, Version 1.1

  3. Guidance on Data Granularity: Report of the RDA Data Granularity WG

  4. Mapping the Landscape of Digital Research Tools

The previous formal recommendations are listed below:

  1. Health Research Performing Organisations (HRPOs) FAIR Guidelines 2. Metadata Standards Directory WG Recommendations

  2. Metadata Standards Catalog WG Recommendations

  3. RDA National PID Strategies Guide and Checklist

  4. Metadata Schema for the Persistent Identification of Instruments

  5. Data Usage Metrics WG Recommendations

  6. InteroperAble Descriptions of Observable Property Terminologies (I-ADOPT) WG Outputs and Recommendations

  7. FAIR Principles for Research Software

  8. 10 Things for Curating Reproducible and FAIR Research

  9. Guidelines for Publishing Structured Metadata on the Web

  10. Recommendations and Capacity Development Resource Kit

  11. Basic Vocabulary of Foundational Terminology

  12. Data Description Registry Interoperability Model

  13. Data Type Model and Registry

  14. Machine Actionable Policy Templates

  15. Metadata standards directory WG

  16. PID Information Types (PIT) WG Recommendations

  17. CODATA/RDA Summer Schools in Data Science and Cloud Computing in the Developing World

  18. RDA/TDWG Attribution Metadata Working Group: Final Recommendations

  19. A curriculum for Foundational Research Data Science Skills for Early Career Researchers

  20. RDA/WDS Publishing Data Services WG Recommendations: The Scholix initiative

  21. RDA/WDS Publishing Data Workflows

  22. Recommendation on PID Kernel Information

  23. Repository Audit and Certification Catalogues

  24. Research Data Collections WG Final Recommendations

  25. Wheat Data Interoperability Guidelines, Ontologies and Use Cases

  26. Scalable Dynamic-data Citation Methodology

  27. The FAIRsharing Registry and Recommendations: Interlinking Standards, databases, and data

  28. policies.

  29. RDA DMP Common Standard for Machine-actionable Data Management Plans

  30. 39 Hints to Facilitate the Use of Semantics for Data on Agriculture and Nutrition

  31. A Curriculum for Foundational Research Data Science Skills for Early Career

Researchers

  1. RDA COVID-19 Recommendations and Guidelines on Data Sharing

  2. FAIR Data Maturity Model: specification and guidelines

  3. Scholix Metadata Schema for Scholarly Communication Links

  4. 3 -

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Formal supporting outputs:

  1. RDA Professionalising Data Stewardship - What does a career track for data stewardship look like?

  2. Research Hardware Definition

  3. Recommendations on Open Science Rewards and Incentives -Guidance for multiple stakeholders in Research

  4. RDA Value for the Evaluation of Research

  5. Ten Principles to Improve Dataset Discoverability

  6. Data Granularity Use Cases

The previous formal supporting outputs of RDA are:

  1. GORC IG Typology and Definitions

  2. The Global Open Research Commons International Model Report

  3. A Collection of Crosswalks from Fifteen Research Data Schemas to Schema.org

  4. Recommendations for a minimal metadata set to aid harmonised discovery of learning resources

  5. Core Characteristics of Learning Resource Collectors

  6. 23 Things Physical Samples

  7. Models of Data Stewardship Survey Initial Report

  8. Models of Data Stewardship Survey Output Data

  9. Data Stewardship Landscape Initial Report

  10. Data Stewardship Landscape Report Resource Matrix

  11. 23 Things: Libraries For Research Data

  12. A survey of current practices in data search services

  13. Addressing the Gaps: Recommendations for Supporting the Long Tail of Research Data

  14. Data Discovery Paradigms: User Requirements and Recommendations for Data Repositories

  15. Eleven Quick Tips for Finding Research Data

  16. Federated Identity Management for Research Collaborations

  17. Income Streams for Data Repositories

  18. Matrix of use cases and functional requirements for research data repository platforms

  19. Persistent identifiers: Consolidated assertions

  20. Research Data Repository Interoperability Primer

  21. Summary of Virtual Layer Recommendations

  22. WDS/RDA Assessment of Data Fitness for Use

  23. Engaging Researchers with Data Management: The Cookbook

  24. Tromsø Recommendations for Citation of Research Data in Linguistics

  25. Principles and Best Practices in Data Versioning for all Data Sets Big and Small

  26. Compilation of Data Versioning Use Cases from the

  27. Top 10 FAIR Data & Software Things

  28. RDA COVID-19 WG Zotero Library

  29. Persistent Identification of Instruments

  30. Sharing COVID-19 Epidemiology Data

  31. Developing a Research Data Policy Framework for all Journals and Publishers

  32. Use Cases and Identifier Schemes for Persistent Source Code Information

  33. Challenges of Curating for Reproducible and FAIR Research Output

  34. Member survey on bridging the gap between funders and communities.

  35. Results of an analysis of existing FAIR Assessment Tools

  36. RDA & CODATA Legal Interoperability of Research Data

  37. Developing a Research Data Policy Framework for all Journals and Publishers

  38. Use Cases and Identifier Schemes for Persistent Source Code Information

  39. Challenges of Curating for Reproducible and FAIR Research Output

  40. Member survey on bridging the gap between funders and communities.

  41. Results of an analysis of existing FAIR Assessment Tools

  42. RDA & CODATA Legal Interoperability of Research Data

  43. 4 -

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Financial review

Total income during the period amounted to £494,849 (2023: £665,211) and total direct charitable expenditure amounted to £627,522 ( 2023: £598,865) including expenditure on support and governance costs of £8,805 (2023: £7,335), resulting in a net deficit of £132,703 (2023: net surplus of £66,346). At year end, amounts held in unrestricted reserves were £187,792 (2023: £321,003) and restricted funds were £31,798 (2023: £31,290).

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for a period not less than 12 months. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Reserves Policy

The Trustees reserve policy is to hold reserve of one year's anticipate expenditure based on the last Annual Budget.

Currently funds are below this level and the Trustees have taken steps to improve this position.

Supplier payment policy

The company's current policy concerning the payment of trade creditors is to:

Trade creditors of the company at the year end were £nil (December 2023: £15,411).

Structure, governance and management

a. Constitution

The Foundation is a charitable company limited by guarantee . The company was incorporated under a Memorandum of Association on 1 May 2014 and is a registered charity, charity number 1162762. It received charitable status on 21 July 2015.

The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

Dr J Haga (Resigned 15 May 2024) Prof. C M B Mederios (Resigned 15 May 2024) Ms J E Benn Ms H J Hanahoe Dr J G Maphanyane Mr L Wilson Ms A L Nurnberger Prof. W Horstmann Dr J C Bicarregui Ms S Garavelli (Appointed 20 June 2024)

Dr. M Marques De Barros Cruz (Appointed 16 May 2024) Dr. P A Munoz Palma (Appointed 16 May 2024) Dr. M Tanfuji (Appointed 16 May 2024) Ms E Herczog (Resigned 1 January 2024) Ms I Dillo (Resigned 1 January 2024)

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

b. Methods of appointment or election of Trustees

The Foundation is governed in accordance with its Articles of Association as a Company limited by guarantee and not having share capital (company number 9021881). The Foundation is governed by its trustees who are also directors of the company and act as the Council for RDA.

Council currently consists of nine members who serve rotating three-year terms, so that three members are appointed each year. The RDA legal entity headquarters are hosted by UKRI STFC (Host organisation). The Host Organisation, as outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding, nominates a representative of STFC to be a non-voting consensus forming member of the RDA Council. The main role and responsibility of this representative is to liaise between the Foundation’s hosting organisation and RDA Council to ensure good ethical, financial, legal and organisational conduct of the RDA Foundation in the UK. Furthermore, this representative is a member of the RDA Financial Subcommittee (FSC) to provide access and insights to the financial aspects of the legal entity. Each year, a Nomination Committee appointed by Council determines a slate of three candidates. The slate is presented to the RDA Membership, and the recommendation of the Nomination Committee is either accepted or rejected by simple majority.

The RDA Governance Document and RDA Organisational and Process Plan lay out the processes for determining the Nominations committee and Council election and appointment. The documents are available on RDA's website (rd-alliance.org).

None of the Trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the Trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.

Company Registered Number

09021881

Charity Registered Number

1162762

Registered Office

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Harwell Oxford Didcot Oxfordshire OX11 0QX

Company Secretary

H J Hanahoe

Independent Examiner

Fiona Haro CA Thomson Cooper Accountants 3 Castle Court Carnegie Campus Dunfermline KY11 8PB

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

TRUSTEES' REPORT (INCLUDING DIRECTORS' REPORT) (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Statement of Trustees' responsibilities

The Trustees, who are also the directors of Research Data Alliance Foundation for the purpose 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 which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Foundation and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Foundation 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 Foundation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

..............................

Dr J Bicarregui

Trustee

18-09-25 Date: .............................................

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Research Data Alliance Foundation (the Foundation) for the year ended 31 December 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the Trustees of the Foundation (and also its directors for the purposes of company law), you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the Foundation are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the Foundation’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act 2011.

Independent examiner's statement

Since the Foundation’s gross income exceeded £250,000, the independent examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ICAS, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Fiona Haro CA

Thomson Cooper Accountants 3 Castle Court Carnegie Campus Dunfermline Fife KY11 8PB

18-09-25 Dated: .........................

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Current financial year
Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
funds
funds
2024
2024
2024
Notes
£
£
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies
2
32,249
31,993
64,242
Charitable activities
3
430,607
-
430,607
Total income
462,856
31,993
494,849
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
596,067
31,485
627,552
Total expenditure
596,067
31,485
627,552
Net income/(expenditure)
(133,211)
508
(132,703)
Net movement in funds
6
(133,211)
508
(132,703)
Reconciliation of funds:
Fund balances at 1 January 2024
321,003
31,290
352,293
Fund balances at 31 December 2024
187,792
31,798
219,590		 Total
2023
£
-
665,211
665,211
598,865
598,865
66,346
66,346
285,947
352,293

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

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED) INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

Prior financial year
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2023
2023
Notes
£
£
Income from:
Charitable activities
3
543,805
121,406
Total income
543,805
121,406
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
4
502,228
96,637
Total expenditure
502,228
96,637
Net income
41,577
24,769
Transfers between funds
(6,521)
6,521
Net movement in funds
6
35,056
31,290
Reconciliation of funds:
Fund balances at 1 January 2023
285,947
-
Fund balances at 31 December 2023
321,003
31,290		 Total
2023
£
665,211
665,211
598,865
598,865
66,346
-
66,346
285,947
352,293

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2024

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
10
Current assets
Debtors
11
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due within
one year
12
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Income funds
Restricted funds
14
Unrestricted funds		 2024
£
41,954
214,649
256,603
(38,887)		 £
1,874
217,716
219,590
31,798
187,792
219,590		 2023
£
56,121
357,703
413,824
(64,446)		 £
2,915
349,378
352,293
31,290
321,003
352,293

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the period ended 31 December 2024.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 with respect to accounting records and the preparation of financial statements.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

18-09-25

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on .........................

..............................

Dr J Bicarregui

Trustee

Company registration number 09021881

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1 Accounting policies

Charity information

Research Data Alliance Foundation is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Oxford, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX. .

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Foundation's Memorandum and Articles, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "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 2019). The Foundation is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

Research Data Alliance meets the definition of public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.

There were no significant estimates or judgements made by management in preparing these financial statements.

1.2 Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Foundation has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for a period of at least 12 months from the date of signing the accounts. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Endowment funds are subject to specific conditions by donors that the capital must be maintained by the Foundation.

1.4 Income

Income is recognised when the Foundation is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the Foundation has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Grant income is recognised by the Foundation when there has been notification of the amount and the settlement date. In the event that a grant is subject to conditions that require a level of performance before the Foundation is entitled to those funds, the income is deferred. If a grant is subject to strict terms as to the use of those funds , the grant is treated as a restricted fund and accounted for accordingly. Where the receipt of grant income is contingent on certain aspects, such that the Foundation does not have full entitlement and is not able to accurately establish measurement of the income, it is disclosed as a contingent asset in the accounts.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

Membership income is recognised in the period to which it relates. Membership income owing to the Foundation at the year end is included in debtors. Different levels of membership attract different fees and carry different rights for the members.

1.5 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.

Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

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

Governance costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the Foundation and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

1.6 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

Fixtures and fittings

25% Straight Line

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

1.7 Impairment of fixed assets

At each reporting end date, the Foundation reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

1.8 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

1.9 Financial instruments

The Foundation has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the Foundation's balance sheet when the Foundation becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the Foundation’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

1.10 Employee benefits

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the Foundation is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

1.11 Retirement benefits

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

1 Accounting policies

(Continued)

1.12 Foreign exchange

Transactions in currencies other than pounds sterling are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing at the dates of the transactions. At each reporting end date, monetary assets and liabilities that are denominated in foreign currencies are retranslated at the rates prevailing on the reporting end date. Gains and losses arising on translation in the period are included in profit or loss.

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at rates of exchange ruling at the reporting date.

Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate ruling on the date of the transaction.

Exchange gains and losses are recognised in the statement of financial activities,

2 Donations and legacies

Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
2024
2024
£
£
Donations and gifts
32,249
31,993
3
Charitable activities
Membership income
Regional Engagement
Plenary Income
Other income
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds		 Total
2024
£
64,242
2024
£
229,129
122,009
32,669
46,800
430,607
430,607
-		 Total
2023
£
-
2023
£
235,478
137,528
23,062
269,143
665,211
543,805
121,406

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

4 Charitable activities

Staff costs
Depreciation and impairment
Contract costs
Travel costs
Professional fees
Irrecoverable VAT
Foreign exchange differences
Bank charges
Sundry costs
Website costs
Bad Debts
Share of support costs (see note 5)
Share of governance costs (see note 5)
Support costs allocated to activities
Basis of allocation
Book-keeping
Direct
Governance costs
Direct
Governance costs comprise:
Independent examination fees		 2024
£
194,579
1,041
200,971
71,730
18,089
15,452
11,996
691
35,773
68,425
-
618,747
7,805
1,000
627,552
2024
£
7,805
1,000
8,805
2024
£
1,000
1,000		 2023
£
181,603
949
167,820
85,047
13,500
13,334
11,476
551
12,742
104,404
104
591,530
6,435
900
598,865
2023
£
6,435
900
7,335
2023
£
900
900

5 Support costs allocated to activities

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

6 Net movement in funds 2024 2023
£ £
Net movement in funds is stated after charging/(crediting)
Fees payable to the company's accountant for the examination of the
company's financial statements 1,000 900
Depreciation of owned tangible fixed assets 1,041 949

7 Trustees

None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the Foundation during the year.

The charity consider its key management personnel to be the Trustees and Company. All of the Trustees give their time and expertise without any form of remuneration or other benefit in kind (2023 - £nil). The Company Secretary's costs are recharged from a third party and amounted to £168,734 for the period (2023 - £113,859).

8 Employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

Admin staff
Employment costs
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
The number of employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000
is as follows:
£60,001 to £70,000		 2024
Number
3
2024
£
174,194
16,406
3,979
194,579
2024
Number
2		 2023
Number
3
2023
£
163,957
14,434
3,212
181,603
2023
Number
1

9 Taxation

The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

10
Tangible fixed assets
Cost
At 1 January 2024
At 31 December 2024
Depreciation and impairment
At 1 January 2024
Depreciation charged in the year
At 31 December 2024
Carrying amount
At 31 December 2024
At 31 December 2023
11
Debtors
Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
12
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Other taxation and social security
Accruals and deferred income
13
Retirement benefit schemes
Defined contribution schemes
Charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes		 Fixtures and
fittings
£
6,937
6,937
4,022
1,041
5,063
1,874
2,915
2024
2023
£
£
22,345
19,637
19,609
36,484
41,954
56,121
2024
2023
£
£
-
15,411
17,777
2,003
21,110
47,032
38,887
64,446
2024
2023
£
£
3,979
3,212		 Fixtures and
fittings
£
6,937
6,937
4,022
1,041
5,063
1,874
2,915
2024
2023
£
£
22,345
19,637
19,609
36,484
41,954
56,121
2024
2023
£
£
-
15,411
17,777
2,003
21,110
47,032
38,887
64,446
2024
2023
£
£
3,979
3,212
6,937
4,022
1,041
5,063
1,874
2,915
2023
£
19,637
36,484
56,121
2023
£
15,411
2,003
47,032
64,446
2023
£
3,212

The Foundation operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Foundation in an independently administered fund.

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

14 Restricted funds

The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.

At 1
Restricted - Plenary
Sarah Jones Award
Previous year:
At 1
Restricted - P20
Restricted - RDA Tiger Fund		 January
2024
Incoming
resources
Resources
expended
Transfers
At 31
December
2024
£
£
£
£
£
31,290
-
(31,290)
-
-
-
31,993
(195)
-
31,798
31,290
31,993
(31,485)
-
31,798
January
2023
Incoming
resources
Resources
expended
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£
£
£
£
£
-
52,332
(21,042)
-
31,290
-
69,074
(75,595)
6,521
-
-
121,406
(96,637)
6,521
31,290

RDA Tiger Project

For website development

RDA P20

For P20 Congress and future plenary meetings.

Sarah Jones Award Fund

These funds are dedicated to ‘The Sarah Jones Award for exceptional contribution to fostering collaboration in Open Science‘. These funds are the result of individual and organisation donations towards a fund for an annual award, instituted in 2024, to be given, every 2 years, to a nominee that is recognised for outstanding contribution to Open Science.

15 Unrestricted funds

The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used.

At 1 January Incoming Resources Transfers At 31
2024 resources expended December
2024
£ £ £ £ £
General funds 321,003 462,856 (596,067) - 187,792

RESEARCH DATA ALLIANCE FOUNDATION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024

15 Unrestricted funds (Continued)
Previous year: At 1 January Incoming Resources Transfers At 31
2023 resources expended December
2023
£ £ £ £ £
General funds 285,947 543,805 (502,228) (6,521) 321,003
16 Analysis of net assets between funds
Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds
2024 2024 2024
£ £ £
At 31 December 2024:
Tangible assets 1,874 - 1,874
Current assets/(liabilities) 185,918 31,798 217,716
187,792 31,798 219,590
Unrestricted Restricted Total
funds funds
2023 2023 2023
£ £ £
At 31 December 2023:
Tangible assets 2,915 - 2,915
Current assets/(liabilities) 318,088 31,290 349,378
321,003 31,290 352,293

17 Related party transactions

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).