Common questions about The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status.
Is The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies a good charity? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies scores 78 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 96% of its spending goes to charitable activities (3-yr avg) and its accounts are up to date. 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies a legitimate charity? +
The register data used for this profile lists The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies as a registered charity (charity number 210639). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-details/?regId=210639&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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's charity number? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's charity number is 210639. 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's charity rating? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies scores 78 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies have reviews and complaints? +
CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (none flagged on this profile). 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, 96% of The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's overheads? +
Across the recent disclosed accounts used for this score, fundraising costs were about 4% of total expenditure and fundraising plus separately reported governance figures amount to about 4% of expenditure (2023–2025, disclosed years); these categories can overlap, so this is not a distinct total of all administration costs at The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 28 employees paid more than £60,000, including 7 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (2 employees). Individual salaries, including the chief executive's, are disclosed in the trustees' annual report rather than on the register.
How much income does The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies receive? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies reported £17m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: growing.
Are The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's accounts up to date? +
Filing status: up to date (last filing 2026-01-31). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score.
Where is The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies based? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's registered contact address is in London (SW1A 2ET). It tells the regulator it operates in City of Westminster, Belgium, Kenya, United States, with a focus on community.
How much is The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's chief executive paid? +
The Charity Commission register does not name individual salaries. The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports 28 employees paid more than £60,000, including 7 employees paid more than £100,000. The highest reported pay band is £150,001–£200,000 (2 employees). 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's money come from? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies reported £17m total income for the year ending 31 March 2025. The largest sources were charitable activities £14m (85%), donations and legacies £1.6m (10%), trading and fundraising events £830k (5%).
Can I claim Gift Aid on a donation to The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies? +
The register records The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies 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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's trustees paid? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies's annual return for the year ending 31 March 2025 reports that no trustee received remuneration or other benefits from the charity.
What was The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies previously called? +
The register lists this previous name for The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies: The Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies.
When was The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies registered as a charity? +
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies was entered on the register on 4 October 1962. It is also a company registered at Companies House (company number RC000531).
How does CharityCompare score The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies? +
We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies'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 Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies'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.