Skip to content

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research

62 /100

Clarity score

Needs improvement

Charity accounts, evidence & financial rating

62/100 Clarity Score · 3 stars · Charity Commission filings · How we score

Register checked 4 October 2026 · latest accounts 2025

Official regulator data
Compare this charity View accounts

Work at The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research? Claim this profile free to add your charity’s description. Claiming never changes the score.

Quick answer

Is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research a good charity?

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research scores 62/100 (3 stars, Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£655k total income, 92% cause spend, latest year). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown.

Income

£655k

Accounts 2025-09-30

Spending

£325k

Accounts 2025-09-30

Charitable activities

92%

latest year · share of spending

Accounts filing

Late

Check register

On this pageJump to a section
London · UK-wide · W14 0RL Reg 207325 Registered charity Official website Charity Commission register

What does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research do?

Publication of informative journals. Operation of lending and reading library. Holding of lectures and conferences. Provision of education and advice. Award of grants in aid of research.

Activities reported by the charity on the official register · extract . This is separate from the accounts data used for its rating.

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research hasn't added a description directly to CharityCompare yet. Work here? Add it free →

How much does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research raise and spend?

Accounts period 2024-10-01 to 2025-09-30 · Source: Charity Commission filings

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research revenue and expenses for 2025
Category Amount % of spend
Total income £655k —
Total expenditure £325k —
Charitable activities £300k 92%
Fundraising £25k 8%
Reported governance £15k 5%

Governance can already be allocated within other expenditure categories. It is not a separate measure of all administration costs; do not add these rows without checking the accounts notes.

What changed in The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research’s latest accounts?

Reported totals for 2025 compared with 2024. Changes can reflect the accounting period, restricted grants or restructuring as well as the charity’s work.

Reported income changes from £163k to £655k. We do not show a growth percentage across this large discontinuity: check whether the two accounts cover comparable activities and periods. Read the evidence and context.

These are annual figures. The Clarity Score may use averages across several disclosed years. Source: official accounts.

92%On charitable activities

Where does the money go?

Latest accounts (2025) · £325k spent

  • Charitable activities92%
  • Fundraising8%

Charities usually allocate governance costs across their other spending categories, and these reported figures add up to more than total spending, so governance is not drawn as a separate slice. The accounts table shows it separately.

From the annual return

What does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research pay its staff, and where does its money come from?

Answers The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research gave in its annual return to the Charity Commission for the year ending 30 September 2025, plus its register entry. These are the charity's own disclosures, not part of the Clarity Score.

How much are The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's highest-paid staff paid?

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports no employees paid more than £60,000.

The register reports headcounts in salary bands, not names. The chief executive's pay is normally disclosed in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report.

Where does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's money come from?

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research reported £655k total income for the year ending 30 September 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £513k (78%), investments £69k (11%), trading and fundraising events £51k (8%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £7,982.

  • Donations and legacies £513k · 78%
  • Investments £69k · 11%
  • Trading and fundraising events £51k · 8%
  • Charitable activities (fees and contracts) £21k · 3%

Cash at year end: £61k · unrestricted funds: £2.4m · restricted funds: £1.9m. Restricted funds can only be spent on purposes set by the donor.

Can I claim Gift Aid, and are the trustees paid?

The register records The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration. Work out your Gift Aid

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for providing services). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

Registration details

Registered as a charity
Company number
00044861 (Companies House)
Also known as
Society for Psychical Research; Spr
Where it says it operates
Throughout England and Wales

Source: Charity Commission register and annual return data, Open Government Licence v3.0. A blank answer in the return is shown as not reported, never as “no”.

How have The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's finances changed over five years?

Income rose 52% from £431k in 2021 to £655k in 2025; spending was £325k in 2025.

£0 £200k £400k £600k £800k 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Income 2021: £431k Spending 2021: £235k Income 2022: £113k Spending 2022: £226k Income 2023: £117k Spending 2023: £276k Income 2024: £163k Spending 2024: £296k Income 2025: £655k Spending 2025: £325k Cause spend 2025: £300k
  • Income
  • Spending
  • Cause spend
The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research income and spending by accounts year
Year Income Spending Charitable activities
2025 £655k £325k £300k
2024 £163k £296k Not disclosed
2023 £117k £276k Not disclosed
2022 £113k £226k Not disclosed
2021 £431k £235k Not disclosed

Cause spend is plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission filings

Financial context

How do its finances compare with similar charities?

Compare The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research with 122 other education charities in our detailed dataset: the same regulator, £500k–£1m income band and accounts ending in 2025. Each period covers 50–54 weeks. These are reference points, not targets or a ranking of impact.

Swipe across the table to see the peer median and coverage.

Latest annual figures, accounts ending 2025-09-30. Peer medians exclude this charity; the median is the middle value.
MeasureThis charityPeer medianPeer coverage
Annual income £655k £744k 122 of 122
Annual spending £325k £699k 122 of 122
Charitable activities share 92.4% 98.0% 105 of 122

The annual spending share can differ from the multi-year average shown elsewhere. Missing disclosures are excluded, never counted as zero. We show a median only with at least ten peer disclosures. Different year-end months, restricted funding and delivery models can still limit comparisons.

How does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research compare?

The share of each group scoring at or below The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research, including tied scores. A group matched on cause, income band and accounts year appears when at least ten records qualify. Broader groups below may mix reporting periods and operating models. Groups include this charity; percentiles measure our financial rating, not impact.

Same cause, income band and accounts year (2025) 20thpercentile

Scores at or above 20% of 123 charities with the same primary cause, income band and latest accounts year · 62/100 vs 76 peer average.

Income band (£500k–£1m) 14thpercentile

Scores at or above 14% of 2,127 charities in its income band · 62/100 vs 78 peer average.

Education charities 26thpercentile

Scores at or above 26% of 566 charities in this cause · 62/100 vs 72 peer average.

Where The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research sits

The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby.

Similar education charities

Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score

Evidence and interpretation

What the evidence says about The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research

In 2025, reported income was £654,625 and expenditure was £324,964. Income exceeded expenditure by £329,661. This annual balance is not the charity’s available cash or unrestricted reserves.

More financial context

Reported income changes sharply between 2024 and 2025. A numerical jump alone does not establish growth, decline or a restructuring. Read both sets of accounts to establish whether their periods and reporting boundaries are comparable.

Calculated from our dated accounts dataset, refreshed 2026-09-06. This is not an audit or a manual review of every filing. Original register and accounts · How calculations work.

Find the right support

Who it supports and how to access its work

Reported beneficiaries: The General Public/mankind.

How it works: Makes Grants To Individuals; Sponsors Or Undertakes Research; Acts As An Umbrella Or Resource Body.

Use the official contact details to check eligibility, referrals, waiting lists and current service coverage. Broad register classifications and a contact address do not confirm that a particular service is available to you.

Explore source-checked support routes

Classifications supplied to the register; extract 2026-10-04. Register contact and activity details · Website listed for this charity

Look beyond the score

Results and impact evidence

We have not added a source-checked programme outcome for this charity. That is a gap in this profile, not evidence that the charity has no impact. Its annual report may contain results that have not been assessed here.

Reported grants to institutions: £0 (2025-09-30). This is spending reported in the annual return, not a measure of beneficiary outcomes or an open grant opportunity. It may already be included in charitable expenditure. Check the source accounts.

What these results can tell you

Counts of services delivered describe activity. They do not by themselves establish lasting change, what would have happened without the programme, or cost-effectiveness. Results with different definitions, populations or years should not be ranked against each other.

How to judge charity impact evidence

Linked funds and trusts

These 2 linked records sit under parent registration 207325. They are not separate charity registrations in our directory. Source extract 2026-10-04.

View linked records

What is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's Beacon report?

Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report.

Accountability & Transparency

Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies.

75/100

Accountability & Transparency metrics for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research
Metric Score Value
Filing history (5 years)

No recorded lateness in available history = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more or unknown status = 0 pts. Missing data is not proof of late filing.

33% 5/15 pts
Trustee oversight

Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three).

100% 27 trustees · 15/15 pts
Declared policies

Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return.

100% 10/10 pts

Financial Health

Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts.

17/100

Financial Health metrics for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research
Metric Score Value
Reserves (months of expenditure)

3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years = 0 pts. Reserves are not necessarily cash; needs vary by operating model.

0% 98 months · 0/15 pts
Income stability / growth

+20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between.

0% Comparability review needed · 0/10 pts
Liabilities to assets

0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt.

100% 2% · 5/5 pts

Financial Efficiency

How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios.

100/100

Financial Efficiency metrics for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research
Metric Score Value
Program expense ratio

90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below.

100% 92% · 10/10 pts (Latest year)
Fundraising efficiency

≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income).

100% 4p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (Latest year, disclosed years)

Community Support

Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff.

70/100

Community Support metrics for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research
Metric Score Value
Volunteer-to-staff ratio

Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between.

70% 10 volunteers / 7 staff · 7/10 pts

How we calculate beacon scores →

What trust indicators does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research have?

Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported.

  • Accounts filed on time

    Filing status: late

  • Trustee board size (3–12)

    27 trustees on the Charity Commission register

  • Workforce on register

    7 employees · 10 volunteers (1:1 volunteer-to-staff)

Fundraising Regulator

Status not yet checked

Separate from our financial scores. Registration records a commitment to the Code of Fundraising Practice; it does not certify every fundraising activity.

Check Fundraising Regulator →

Official register

Reg 207325

Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission.

View on Charity Commission →

Trustees & officers

  • Dr RICHARD STANLEY BROUGHTON
  • Professor Bernard John Carr Ma, Phd since 1974
  • John Fraser
  • Alan Murdie since 1999
  • Julie Anne Rousseau since 2002
  • Dr DAVID NICHOLAS ROUSSEAU since 1997
  • Dr THOMAS HARRY RUFFLES PHD since 1990
  • Professor Chris Roe
  • Dr MELVYN JOHN WILLIN since 1997
  • Adrian Ryan since 2002
  • Robert Mcluhan since 2012
  • Dr BARRIE GEORGE COLVIN since 2014

How reliable is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's data?

Source
Charity Commission (England & Wales)
Accounts year
2025
Filing date
Data refreshed

Medium confidence — some data missing or late

Scores reflect the accounts in our dated data extract. The live register may contain newer filings. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact.

Check the current register entry · Report a data correction

Financial source extract: 2026-09-06. Organisation identifier: 207325. Method version: 1.1. View method changes.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: Charity Commission for England and Wales, Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Open Government Licence v3.0 .

Your donation decision

What should you check before donating to The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research?

  1. 1. Match the name and charity number

    Check 207325 on the official register. A real charity number alone does not prove that a fundraiser or appeal is authentic.

    Verify the registration →
  2. 2. Read the accounts in context

    Our latest accounts data covers 2025. Compare the accounts period, spending and reserves. An administration cost ratio alone cannot tell you how effective a charity is.

    Explore the financial evidence →
  3. 3. Look for evidence of results

    Read the trustees’ annual report for activities, outcomes and limitations. The Clarity Score measures public reporting; it does not establish the impact of a donation.

    How to read charity accounts →
  4. 4. Compare charities serving your cause

    Compare up to four charities, check the dates behind their figures, and decide which work you want to support. Complete your donation through a verified charity channel.

    Start a comparison with The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research →
How we score charities +

The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically.

Full methodology →

Accountability & Transparency

Scored from filings

40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10).

Financial Health

Scored from filings

30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises).

Financial Efficiency

Scored from filings

20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below).

Community Support

Scored from filings

10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio.

Overall score

Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated.

How can you share The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's rating?

Share: XLinkedInFacebookBluesky

Opens a printer-friendly view of this profile for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research.

For this charity

How do you add The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's rating to your site?

Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our methodology.

What red flags does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research have?

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.

Is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research a good charity? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research scores 62 out of 100 (3 stars — Needs improvement) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 92% of its spending goes to charitable activities (latest year) and its accounts are late. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate.

Is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research a legitimate charity? +

The register data used for this profile lists The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research as a registered charity (charity number 207325). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=207325&subId=0. Check the current entry and the identity of anyone requesting money. Registration does not verify a particular appeal; Clarity Score summarises filing transparency, not programme impact.

What is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's charity number? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's charity number is 207325. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals.

What is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's charity rating? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research scores 62 out of 100 on CharityCompare (3 stars — Needs improvement). The Clarity Score (method v1.1) sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking.

Does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research have reviews and complaints? +

CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (2 red flags on this profile: late accounts filing; very high reserves). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate.

How much of my donation reaches The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 92% of The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's total spending went to charitable activities. That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift.

What are The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's overheads? +

Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 8% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 12% of expenditure (2025); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research. The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports no employees paid more than £60,000. Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.

How much income does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research receive? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research reported £655k total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: check comparability.

Are The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's accounts up to date? +

Filing status: late (last filing 2026-06-02). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.

Where is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research based? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's registered contact address is in London (W14 0RL). It tells the regulator it operates in England and Wales, with a focus on education.

How much is The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's chief executive paid? +

The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports no employees paid more than £60,000. Charities normally disclose the chief executive's pay, or the pay of their highest-paid staff, in the remuneration note of the trustees' annual report and accounts.

Where does The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's money come from? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research reported £655k total income for the year ending 30 September 2025. The largest sources were donations and legacies £513k (78%), investments £69k (11%), trading and fundraising events £51k (8%). Legacies (gifts in wills) contributed £7,982.

Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research? +

The register records The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research as registered with HMRC for Gift Aid, so a UK taxpayer can usually add 25p to every £1 they give by making a Gift Aid declaration.

Are The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's trustees paid? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's annual return for the year ending 30 September 2025 reports that one or more trustees received payments or other benefits (payments for providing services). Charity law allows this only in limited circumstances; the trustees' annual report should explain it.

When was The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research registered as a charity? +

The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research was entered on the register on 31 December 1962. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number 00044861).

How does CharityCompare score The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research? +

We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought.

How often is this page updated? +

This profile was last updated on 6 September 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and The Incorporated Society for Psychical Research's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.