This year has once again been one full of activity. It is good to see that the Inspiring People Talks programme continues to flourish across our 13 centres located from Dumfries in the south to Inverness in the north. Attendances continue to grow, albeit slowly, but are still to get back overall to where they were pre-Covid and the Board encourages Local Groups to develop innovative ways to bring more attendees into the talks. We also had a couple of additional events, perhaps notably the very successful Wild Night In event in December which featured Gordon Buchanan, Mandi Stark, Libby Penman and Doug Allan. We are saddened to learn subsequently of the recent passing of Doug, a good friend of RSGS, and we extend our sympathy to his family.

We were delighted to welcome Ros Atkins, the BBC journalist, to Perth in one of our Evening With… events where he engaged in conversation with Vanessa Collingridge before receiving the Shackleton Medal. We were further delighted to host Jacinda Ardern, the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, in Glasgow to receive the Shackleton Medal, and we were very grateful to her to find the time in her busy schedule to meet us. As it turned out, the Shackleton Medal was a highly appropriate award to her, as she confessed that Shackleton had been a hero of hers since her teens. We were also honoured to co-host a visit by Satya Tripathi, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, in collaboration with Action for a Fairer World. During the visit, as well as giving schools talks, he made presentation on the future of the Sustainable Development Goals at the Scottish Parliament, a well-attended event by a range of stakeholders which was chaired by our Deputy Chief Executive, Clare Hamilton.

During the year, the Society continued its successful publications strategy. Four editions of The Geographer were produced, ranging across such diverse topics as The Growing Value of Gardens; Sustainable Heat and the Future Energy of Scotland; Voices of the Earth: Champions for Nature and the Planet; and Keeping Us Posted: Geography, Justice and Joy of Post. As well as being enjoyed by RSGS members, The Geographer is increasingly reaching politicians and decision-makers in both the private and public sectors. We were also delighted to see the publication of the 2025 edition of the Young Geographer, edited by Margaret Chingos, a third year Geography student at the University of St Andrews, on the theme of Health in a Changing Climate. Our Writer in Residence, Jo Woolf, launched her latest book, Voices of the Earth, at Perth HQ, once again drawing on the rich resources of our Archives.

In last year’s report, the increased success of the Scottish Geographical Journal (SGJ) gave particular pleasure, and it is good to report that this growth of success continues. During the year, SGJ had the highest number of downloads of papers ever recorded for SGJ at just under 100,000, as well as its highest ever Impact Factor. It is fast becoming one of the leading journals in influencing the nature and direction of the discipline of Geography professionally.

These are just a snapshot of some of the activities. However, it needs to be acknowledged that the Society’s activities require significant resourcing and for a number of years the Society has faced financial challenges to ensure the generation of sufficient resource. We have been very reliant on the receipt of legacies, and we continue to be hugely grateful for these, and in more recent times on income from Climate Solutions programmes. However, the former is by its very nature irregular from one year to the next, and the latter has been affected by increasing climate change scepticism, as well as organisations feeling the pinch of economic pressures, thus seeing investment in Climate Solutions more as a desirable rather than core activity. The Board, therefore, has decided that a strategy will be developed to produce a more sustainable core income for the Society. There will be more to report as the Board develops its thinking in conjunction with the Society’s Executive. However, an immediate action is to increase our membership numbers. Currently, only about 18-20% of our revenue comes from members’ subscriptions which is low for a member-driven Society. The Board has no appetite to increase subscription levels beyond periodic inflation corrections as the Board considers this to be a counter-productive approach. Rather, we invite our membership to think about what they might do to help. Perhaps bring a friend along to one of the Inspiring People talks to encourage them to join the Society?

Two final items. Firstly, we bid farewell to two staff members and one Board member during the year. Susan Watt retired after 16 years at RSGS, and we wish her well in her retirement. Lindsey Gibb has moved on and we also wish her well in the future. Thank you to both for all your efforts and input to the Society over a good number of years. We are hugely grateful. In addition, Barry Hextall stood down from the Board and as Treasurer. We are very grateful to Barry for his service, and not least for overseeing the long overdue upgrade of our financial and contact management systems. We welcome Gavin Grant to the Board as replacement for Barry. Gavin will also take over the role of Treasurer, and we look forward to working with Gavin going forward.

Secondly, on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Mike Robinson and the team at Perth HQ for all their sterling efforts over the last year. They are a wonderful team and RSGS members are fortunate to have such a committed and hard-working group of people to lead and manage RSGS. Final thanks, of course, go to all the volunteers who support RSGS, from the Local Group committees, to the Collections team at HQ, to the Fair Maid’s House guides, to my fellow Board members, and to all those unsung heroes who do many other tasks and help keep the Society going. Many thanks indeed.

John Briggs

Chair

The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025.

Governing Document 

The governing document of the Society is the Memorandum & Articles, which determines the actions of the Board, the ruling body of the Society. This document was last reviewed by the Board at its meeting on 11th March 2025 and last amended at the AGM in 2024. 

Members of the Board 

The Board members who held office during the year were: Elected Trustees – John Briggs, Gavin Grant (from 4th June 2025), David Henry, Barry Hextall (until 13th September 2025), David Howe, Meredith McDonald, Kenneth Muir, Alan Wilson; Appointed Trustees – Joanne Sharp (Geographer Royal for Scotland, and Research Committee Chair), Margaret Wilkes (Collections Committee Chair), Lorna Ogilvie (Local Groups Committee Chair); Co-opted Trustee – Gavin Grant (from 20th March to 4th June 2025). The office-bearers were: Chair – John Briggs; Vice-Chair – Kenneth Muir; Treasurer – Barry Hextall (to 4th June 2025) and Gavin Grant (from 4th June 2025). 

President and Vice-Presidents 

The Society’s President is Professor Dame Anne Glover. The Vice-Presidents are HRH The Princess Royal, The Duke of Buccleuch, Erica Caldwell, Dr Vanessa Collingridge; Professor Roger Crofts, Sir David Hempleman-Adams, Baron Nickson, Dr Frederik Paulsen, Professor John Rowan, Professor Iain Stewart, Professor David Sugden, Lord Wilson of Tillyorn (to 4th June 2025). 

The overall aim of the Society is stated in its Memorandum & Articles as “the study and wider awareness of Geography and its contribution to the understanding of environmental, cultural and social issues in both Scotland and internationally.” This is achieved by pursuing the following objectives:

1) inspiring people to want to know more about geography and the world around them, through a vibrant programme of activities, a lively regular quarterly newsletter, and popular events with inspiring and high-profile figures;

2) increasing the membership of the Society and generating sufficient income to support its educational activities, administration, maintenance of its headquarters, and management of its heritage collections;

3) promoting a greater understanding of the wider world through a community-based programme of nearly 100 illustrated talks and other events;

4) promoting the teaching of geography in Scottish schools and other institutions of higher and further education through support for the provision of learning resources, educational initiatives and teaching;

5) promoting high-quality geographical research in the universities of Scotland and other research institutions through the provision of research and expedition grants, support for training and support for conferences and seminars;

6) promoting the dissemination of geographical knowledge and understanding through the development of a website and the publication of an academic journal, newsletter and periodic publications;

7) recognising achievement in the field of geography through the award of medals, fellowships and other prizes;

8) supporting geography, in particular geographical teaching and research, by responding to consultation papers and by lobbying appropriate organisations and authorities;

9) conserving, listing and making more accessible to the wider public the Society’s heritage collection of books, journals, maps, archives, photographs and artefacts;

10) maintaining a service providing geographical information to the wider public; and

11) liaising with other like-minded national and international organisations involved in the promotion of geography.

Medals and Prizes Policy

The Society annually receives and reviews nominations for medals, Honorary Fellowships and other prizes, each of which is awarded for a clearly defined contribution to geographical endeavour, the work of the Society, or work of public benefit that involves geography. The RSGS University Medal is awarded to the best geography graduate at each Scottish university on the basis of recommendations made by Heads of Departments.

Health & Safety Policy

The Society continues to review its Health and Safety Policy and implement recommendations made.

Within the financial year, we delivered 90 public talks through our normal programme of Inspiring People talks, in 13 different towns and cities, with an overall audience of circa 8,500 visitors.  Attendances are fairly steady year on year, but have not bounced back to pre-covid levels, and maybe now never will unless we can find new audiences or a lot more members. 

We organised several special one-off public events, attracting some capacity audiences. In May 2025, Lance Oditt of US conservation organisation, Friends of Pando, visited Perth and delivered a talk on the Pando Tree in Utah. In August Aldo Kane spoke to a full house in Perth about his experiences. In September RSGS Shackleton Medallist Ros Atkins spoke to a full house in Perth library about his work in communicating complex news stories and trying to ensure balance and scientific integrity in an age of disinformation. 

In December 2025, we held a Wild Night In at Perth Concert Hall, where 900 people enjoyed an ambitious programme bringing together Scotland’s leading wildlife photographers, Mandi Stark, Gordon Buchanan, Doug Allen and Libby Penman. 

We welcomed nearly 800 members of the public – some in groups, some as individuals, and many from overseas – to our visitor centre in the Fair Maid’s House during 2024-2025; it is fascinating and uplifting to browse through the overwhelmingly positive comments in our Visitors Book. 

We continued our work of facilitating discussions, both in-person and online, between various governmental, business and voluntary sector representatives. These focused particularly on key issues of climate change, sustainability and agriculture; climate campaigning cooperation between faith, science and NGO communities; and secondary school educational reform and the teaching of Geography, for which we ran a consultation session linked to the curriculum review process. 

We ran several online Meet the Experts discussion groups, through which Climate Solutions course graduates could delve deeper into the subject and ask specific questions of experts in particular fields.  We also developed a suite of resources to help the Scottish Government to promote its draft Climate Change Plan.

We produced four themed editions of The Geographer, on gardens, heat, champions for nature and the planet and postal services. We are grateful to all of those who contribute and make the magazine so popular and well regarded. It has been an important period for our peer-reviewed Scottish Geographical Journal, which reached its highest-yet number of downloads and Impact Factor during 2024–25. 

Over the year, we supported several young people with one-to-one mentoring advice, in particular supporting our Young Geographer Committee to publish a ‘Young Geographer’ magazine, themed on health and climate, which was distributed in early 2025.  We also worked with the Scottish Association for Marine Science to bring live online sessions with explorer and RSGS Honorary Fellow Mark Evans from his latest expedition, kayaking around the coastline of Oman, direct to primary schools across Scotland.

Our social media presence and engagement continued to grow, although as with all social and external media it is difficult to gauge genuine engagement. Our key online platforms are Facebook (7,000 followers) and Linkedin (4,000 followers) alongside Instagram (2,000 followers) and YouTube (1,600 subscribers).  We still have a strong following on X (7,000 followers) but the activity on this platform has fallen off almost completely and we are no longer actively posting here. For an organisation with fewer than 3,000 members, it is encouraging to see such wider engagement, and it does help increase our impact and give us some confidence that interest is broader than purely the membership numbers might suggest. 

Our established Explorers-in-Residence – Craig Mathieson, Luke and Hazel Robertson, and Karen Darke – continued in their roles, helping RSGS to engage with different audiences. Our Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf continued her invaluable work of exploring and explaining more aspects of the RSGS’s past, writing articles for our magazine and our blog and giving occasional talks. Excitingly, Jo’s new book, Voices of the Earth, was published in September with a launch event at HQ. The book contains 30 stories of inspirational individuals who have helped us understand our natural environments, some of whom were able to attend the launch. 

Geographer Royal for Scotland, Professor Jo Sharp, delivered a lecture at the Winter Words Festival in Pitlochry in February 2025, chaired sessions at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, participated in a panel discussion on Scotland’s Place in the World at the St Andrew’s Book Festival and interviewed Nicola Sturgeon at the same festival on her book Frankly.

RSGS Awards were presented as follows: Scottish Geographical Medal – Margaret Wilkes; Livingstone Medal – Little Amal and Team; Shackleton Medal – Frank Taaffe, Ros Atkins; Geddes Environment Medal – John Gordon; President’s Medal – Dr Adrian Hall, Dr Martin Hurst, Dr Emma Laurie, Dr Rhian Thomas.

RSGS Honorary Fellowships were awarded to John Gordon, Fraser Stewart, Judith Robertson, Little Amal & Team, Hugh Raven, Polly Murray, Frank Taaffe, The Hon. Alexandra Shackleton, Jeremy Fish, Ros Atkins, Dr Adrian Hall, Dr Martin Hurst, Dr Emma Laurie, and Dr Rhian Thomas. 

RSGS University Medals were awarded to:

2024 : Innes Manders - University of St Andrews; Rebecca Olaleye - Heriot-Watt University; Alasdair Worrell - University of Dundee; Aneke Janentzky - University of Stirling.

2025 : Abby McAllister - University of Aberdeen; Flora Baker - University of St Andrews; Jenna Parkhill - University of Dundee; Kirsty Ross-Baker – University of the Highlands and Islands. 

There were significant changes to the small team of staff during the financial year. We were very sorry to lose Development Manager Susan Watt in September 2025. After more than fifteen years with the Society, she had a considerable amount of experience and understanding of RSGS operations and was central to the production of our quarterly magazine. Susan’s support and attention to detail are very sorely missed. We were also very sorry to say goodbye to Lindsey Gibb, our Climate Solutions Manager, in August 2025 after five years with RSGS, initially as an external contractor and more recently as an employee. Lindsey played a key role in the development and delivery of our climate solutions courses. 

As ever, we are grateful for the contribution of our many volunteers, who add so much to our work, through their time, expertise and enthusiasm. 

Collections Committee Report 

It is perhaps of interest to start this report by outlining the calibre and diversity of the team of twelve RSGS Volunteers who worked on our collections over this period and contributed hundreds of hours overall of worktime in doing so.

Our work this year continued the tasks of processing map and book donations, listing, revising and recording work, the setting aside of duplicate items and subsequent dispersal of these to schools through the good offices of RSGS Vice Chairman, Ken Muir and Deputy RSGS CEO, Clare Hamilton, via the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers (SAGT).  Subsequent reports have indicated this has been a very welcome process. Incoming maps too were added to our inventory of map drawer and shelf contents, and then been subjected to fine-tuning in terms of the drawer layout of our map and atlas storage in the Cuthbert Room. A similar process is taking place with incoming donations of books and atlases, and the better placement and storage of such. Work also continued on the revision of our Maps & Images Database (MID).  The much-needed cleaning and minor repair of map sheets also continued, with a parallel task on the examination and recording of our glass plate slides continuing by another Volunteer. The added use this year of the results of the glass slides analysis led to a meaningful display in our Education Room 2025 summer display and in written articles for The Geographer.

There were a number of donations of material over the report period, including from the Scottish Arctic Club, to add to its existing collection donated to us, and of recent Canadian-produced copies of official Canadian hydrographic charts relating to the North West Passage.

Special visitors to the Society, necessitating careful selection and research beforehand by Collection Team members, to produce displays created individually in their honour, included two Officers of the Scottish Arctic Club on 27 January 2025, the family of the distinguished French Geographer, the late Emeritus Professor Jean Malaurie, on 30 August 2025, forty-five Postgraduate students from all over the world reading GIS at the University of Edinburgh on 20 October 2025; the BBC News' Analysis Editor, Ross Atkins, on 25 October 2025; and the RSGS SGJ's Editorial Team on  11 December, amongst others.  Special displays were also produced for Perth and Kinross Doors Open Day on 13 September 2025 on the theme of Architecture. We also continued our input to RSGS Discovery Days, with specially created displays and talks for Discover Maps on 26 April 2025 and Discover South Georgia Day in 20 June 2025.  Additionally, a selection from our Collections was taken to the headquarters of the Royal Society of Edinburgh on 27 May 2025 as part of a special evening for RSE Members. As well, we welcomed visits by researchers on our Collections, and continued our displays of interesting and topical maps and other Collections items in our Cuthbert Room, and in our Fair Maid's House Reception Hall display case which displayed a carefully chosen and revealing map centred on Greenland of the lands and seaways round the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

Members of the Team also contributed articles to The Geographer, and Blogs and Memorable Maps texts for the Society's website and its Facebook page, including on The Parallel Roads of Glen Roy; the 2025 Island Games; the 200th Anniversary of the Stockton -Darlington Railway; Haikou: Chinese city on Honan twinned with Perth; and Where Christmas Day is late every year: the Island of Foula.   

Education Committee Report 

Education Committee: Darren Bailey (Ordnance Survey); Jim Bruce; Liz Crisp; Shiv Das; Bruce Gittings; Stuart Kennedy; Marjorie Kerr; Alastair McConnell; John McKendrick; Steve McLeister; Ken Muir (Interim Chair); Addy Pope; Ian Selmes; Jo Sharp; Sarah Wilson; Emma Wotherspoon (SAGT President); Alex Wylie; Bec Youens.

The Committee met only once, in September. The meeting took place online and was attended by nine members, with three invited guests from Education Scotland. Apologies were received from four members. The meeting was chaired by Ken Muir as there had been no volunteers from the Committee coming forward to take on role as Chair. The meeting covered a wide range of topics, including an update on the Curriculum Improvement Cycle from Education Scotland; Statistics around geography uptake; Mapping the Landscape of Scottish Geography; and an update on RSGS activities.

Following the inability to attract a Chair for the Education Committee, the RSGS Board is now looking at options to ensure that the functions of the Committee are maintained and possibly enhanced.

Draft Terms of Reference for the Education Committee were drawn up by Clare Hamilton and Ken Muir. These will be considered as part of a future Board discussion on RSGS Governance.

Clare Hamilton and Ken Muir attended the SAGT Committee annual conference in October. At this event, duplicate maps and aerial photographs held in the RSGS collection, were made available free of charge to conference participants. This proved to be a much-welcomed gesture by RSGS and is likely to be repeated at SAGT’s 2026 conference. Further duplicate maps and aerial photographs are being made available to secondary Geography, History and Modern Studies teachers, as well as primary and pre-school practitioners, who make up the Social Studies Curriculum Improvement Cycle group.

RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson and Ian Selmes from RSGS’ Education Committee attended the Council of British Geography meeting, held in November. Minutes and various attachments from this meeting were circulated to RSGS Education Committee members.

The report, The State of Geography in UK Higher Education by Professor Jenny Pickerill, School of Geography and Planning, University of Sheffield, and Vice President of Research and Higher Education, RGS, was published in February 2026.

Local Groups Committee Report 

Lorna Ogilvie (Local Groups Committee Chair and Perth); David Green (Aberdeen until August 2025); David Haro (Aberdeen from August 2025); Ian Snodgrass (Ayr); Gary White and Gordon Dalziel (joint chairs Borders); Colin Mitchell (Dumfries); Dr Ed Hall (Dundee until August 2025); Ailsa Guild (Dundee from August 2025); Addy Pope and Dr Anthony Newton (joint chairs Edinburgh); Alison Thompson (Dunfermline with ‘acting’ chair Isobel Smart); Gordon Macfarlane (Glasgow); Dr David Forrest (Helensburgh); Morven Neil (Inverness); Claire McLeod (‘acting’ chair from January 2025 until appointed August 2025); Dr Eileen Tisdall (Stirling)

During 2025 the RSGS Local Groups Committee met twice in HQ in Perth. Firstly, in April at the close of the 2024-5 Inspiring People talks season, and then in August prior to the start of the 2025-6 talks in September. The talks programme was very well received, with especially good audiences for high profile speakers. Attendances were up on the previous year in 10 of 13 groups, and it was particularly pleasing to note that speaker scores were predominantly 9/10 and 10/10. The variation in catchment areas, and preference for some topics, linked to such scores is invaluable for future planning.

From September 2025 booking for talks moved from Eventbrite to the RSGS website and this has proved much easier for members and visitors to use. Additionally, the use by teams of Zettle for payments, including memberships, has been welcomed by visitors, and is useful in feeding a summary direct to HQ.

The hard work and commitment of all Local Group Committee members in the 13 locations around Scotland is acknowledged by all RSGS Board members, especially the Local Groups Committee Chair. Thanks also go to all HQ staff, led by Mike Robinson, in particular Katrina Strachan, for her work in booking and organising speakers who regularly express their personal gratitude for her input. 

Research Committee Report 

Committee Chair, Professor Jo Sharp, has been working on revised terms of reference for the Committee to (a) encourage stronger engagement between academic geography researchers and the RSGS, and (b) clarify the division of responsibility between the research and education committees. While some aspects of higher education are covered by the education committee as a devolved matter, some are not, and it is important to reinforce links with the RGS for strategic UK-wide issues affecting higher education (such as the REF and QAA Benchmark Statements). After consultation, the Terms of Reference of the Research and Higher Education Committee were brought to and approved by the December Board Meeting.  

Funders and Supporters 

We are grateful for all the support we received from many individuals and organisations during this reporting year. We would like to thank everyone for their membership subscriptions and donations, and to thank our many volunteers for their continued support and help. We are particularly grateful to those RSGS members who kindly remembered the Society with legacies in their Wills, making a significant difference to what we can achieve in the years ahead: James Suttie, Neil Ramsay Kermack, Gerald John Bontoft, and Elizabeth Fernie Mitchell. We would also like to acknowledge the generous support given by a range of organisations: Baillie Gifford, The Open University, and Ordnance Survey. 

Over the year 2025–26, our priorities are: 

• to raise additional funds to support the core work of the Society, particularly by promoting donations and legacies; 

• to raise the priority and profile of geography in schools, and create new resources; 

• to enhance links with the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers (SAGT);

• to enhance the collective influence of the community of academic geographers, particularly to better inform policy development in Scotland and further afield; 

• to build the overall community of geography, by better convening our Fellows and Medallists, and by capturing more of the stories of our members and supporters; 

• to develop and deliver projects which address key policy needs, particularly in relation to climate change through continued engagement in Government policy and working groups where opportunities arise; 

• to increase participation in the Climate Solutions programme of training, refresh the content and broaden its offer into ‘bolt-ons’ like adaptation; 

• to raise the profile of RSGS and increase our impact, particularly through high-profile events and effective media and social media engagement; 

• to maintain and develop international links with other geographical societies, and convene another gathering;

• to promote and improve the collections, and access to them; 

• to support a Young Geographers Committee, launch another Young Geographer magazine, build the Future Generations Fund, and carry out relevant policy work; 

• to refresh our visitor centre to take account of recent donations; 

• to continue to rebuild and grow the number of members and supporters. 

In June 2024, the Society changed its accounting year end to 31 December to improve the ease of communicating performance in calendar years. This is therefore the first 12-month reporting period since that change, running from 1 January to 31 December 2025. Unless otherwise stated, 2023-24 figures provided below for comparison purposes are for the 17-month transitional financial year.

During the period ended 31 December 2025, the Society's income decreased to £319,238 (2023-24: £620,170) due to the adjustment back to a 12-month reporting period and lower legacy receipts of £20,000 (2023-24: £190,000). Legacies are, by definition, unpredictable sources of income that are very welcome and are deployed by the Society across multiple reporting periods to allow for consistent delivery of our charitable objects. Such a cyclical pattern of income can lead to surpluses and deficits year-to-year and the Trustees look to manage these cycles over a 3-to-5-year period to avoid a feast and famine approach to charitable delivery. We are exceptionally grateful to the members of our community of geographers who continue to support us through their ongoing subscriptions, one-off donations and legacies. The financial strength of the Society is, in large part, due to the generous support of our members.

Expenditure decreased to £516,603 (2023-24: £614,030) primarily reflecting the 12-month reporting period. The expenditure represents an increase of approximately 20% on a pro-rata 12-month like-for-like basis (2023-2024: approximately £433,000) attributable, in part, to the rise in administration and office costs, such as postage and utilities. The Society continues to deliver an informative and entertaining programme of membership talks, events and Geographer magazine publications. Our Climate Solutions educational programme continues to expand understanding of the drivers and impacts of climate change, and our core team actively support public policy engagement and the work of our various committees. As ever, the Society's expenditure is augmented by the considerable efforts of our volunteer local groups, collections team and Fair Maid's House volunteers, and we are again very appreciative of their support.

To ensure financial resilience and to enable consistency of charitable delivery over time we hold a portfolio of investments as described below. Net gains on our investment portfolio in the period were £34,736 (2023-24: gain of £73,901) reflecting continued strong performance in world stock markets. The portfolio also generated £13,243 in investment income (2023-24: £19,885). The Trustees are mindful that stock markets can be volatile as seen in recent months. The Trustees take regular advice from a professional investment manager and hold the Society’s assets at a reasonably conservative risk category.

Overall, despite the reduced expenditure, the significantly reduced income generated a negative movement in funds of £162,629 (2023-24: net inflow of £80,041).

The Society's funds are a mix of freehold and leasehold property plus cash and investments. The Society maintains healthy levels of unrestricted funds to support its core objectives. In addition, much of the non-property funds are designated for specific purposes by the Trustees or are restricted by the donors. In the 2022-2023 reporting period, we reviewed previous classifications of funds in line with OSCR guidance and an internal review of fund documentation. There were no new reclassifications in the current reporting period.

Total funds decreased to £1,218,698 (31 December 2024: £1,381,327) of which £540,414 are illiquid property funds (31 December 2024: £555,908). The Society is not immune to the current inflationary pressures impacting charities and businesses across the country. We continue to review our cost base under what is already a lean operating model, whilst recognising the need to continue to support our future capacity for growth and furtherance of our charitable objects. We also do not underestimate the value of time and expertise given to the Society on a pro-bono basis by volunteers and other advisers in a professional capacity and are incredibly grateful to them.

Unrestricted Funds

The Main unrestricted fund reflects the principal financial movements in the core operations of the Society during the period.

Unrestricted income into the Main fund for the period, including membership subscriptions, income from lectures and other events, training course participation, investment income and unrestricted grants, legacies and donations decreased to £294,905 (2023-24: £562,344). Unrestricted charitable and other expenditure, effectively the core costs of running the Society and delivering membership benefits also decreased to £449,349 (2023-24: £513,871).

The Society's investment portfolio in the reporting period benefited from continued strong equity markets, but the value of the portfolio declined due to a drawdown of £150,000 during the reporting period. At 31 December 2025 the value of the portfolio was £590,482 (31 December 2024: £710,626).

The various inflows, outflows, transfers and revaluations in the period to 31 December 2025 resulted in a net outflow of £128,244 (2023-24: net inflow of £122,374). The Main fund balance at 31 December 2025 was £343,608 (31 December 2024: £471,852).

Designated Funds

The Society Trustees have designated a number of funds with specific purposes as described in the notes to the accounts. Other designated funds are a contingency fund, approximately equal to 12 months' minimum expenditure to enable the Society to survive emergency expenses or a drastic fall in income, and the Inspiring People fund which is specifically targeted to promote, among others, inspiring talks and outstanding achievements in geography.

Two property funds are also deemed to be designated and reflect the investments made by the Society in Lord John Murray House and the Fair Maid's House. After the accounting depreciation on the properties, the balances on these funds at the year-end were equal to the net book values of each property: the Lord John Murray House fund was valued at £163,905 (31 December 2024: £168,646), and the Fair Maid's House fund was valued at £376,509 (31 December 2024: £387,262).

Overall, continued satisfaction of the respective designated fund objectives led to a net outflow in the reporting period of £32,385 (2023-24: outflow of £28,192). The aggregate balance of designated funds at 31 December 2025 was £862,987 (31 December 2024: £895,372).

Restricted Funds

The restricted funds represent the income and expenditure on moneys provided to the Society by third parties for specifically defined purposes. Income into restricted funds in the reporting period comprised a grant towards the production of the Young Geographer magazine, contributions towards a project on Tactics In a Time of Change and work on behalf of the Scottish Government regarding the draft Climate Change Plan. The total income in restricted funds was £23,500 (2023-24: £37,500) with expenditure of £27,850 (2023-24: £51,641) leaving a total balance at 31 December 2025 of £12,103 (31 December 2024: £14,103), which represent funds in hand still to be spent on the two remaining open funds.

Collections and Heritage Assets

As in previous years, no recognition is made in the financial statements of the substantial collection of books, maps, photographs and other artefacts belonging to the Society because of the difficulty and expense of obtaining a sufficiently reliable estimate of their value. For transparency, we do include an estimated valuation in Note 16, but this is not reflected in the financial statements. Due to the difficulty in obtaining reliable valuations there is a risk that some items may not be insured up to their full replacement cost, if indeed they are replaceable.

The principal funding sources for operational activities during the period remained membership subscriptions, training course participation, talks income, donations, and investments, with additional income from books and publications. There was also some legacy income received in the reporting period and as noted above, this source of funds is as welcome as it is unpredictable. The Trustees remain focused on developing sustainable ongoing income sources to cover operational running costs and to expand our charitable delivery.

The Society's investable assets are invested with the objective of growing the value of the capital over the long term and to generate a positive level of natural income from the investments to help fund the Society's various charitable activities. Given its international leadership on climate change education, the Society also actively targets its investment portfolio towards positive environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes alongside desired financial outcomes.

The Trustees have appointed Brewin Dolphin Limited to manage the investable assets on a discretionary basis. This requires the Investment Manager to make the day-to-day decisions regarding investments within the portfolio, with the Trustees setting out the overall objectives and parameters.

The Society's Trustees will review this Investment Policy at least annually to ensure it remains appropriate to the Society's objectives, and in particular to monitor the volatile global economy at the present time.

The Board and its Committees constantly keep under review the major risks to which the Society is exposed, in particular those relating to the operations and finances of the Society. We are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks. Professional advice is made available to the Board.

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 Charity’s Memorandum & Articles, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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)”.

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

I report on the financial statements of the Charity for the year ended 31 December 2025, which are set out on pages 14 to 37.

The charity trustees (who are also the directors of The Royal Scottish Geographical Society for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.The Charity Trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1)(a)-(c) of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 does not apply.

It is my responsibility to examine the financial statements as required under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the financial statements presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the financial statements, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the financial statements.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the charity has prepared financial statements in accordance with Accounting and reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has now been withdrawn.

I understand that this has been done in order for the financial statements to provide a true and fair view in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice effective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015.

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention

1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1)(a) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulation 4 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, and

• to prepare financial statements which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006

have not been met, or

2. to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Income from charitable activities

Grants

Investments

Raising funds

Expenditure on charitable activities

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

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 31 December 2025.

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.

The Royal Scottish Geographical Society is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Scotland. The registered office is Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU, United Kingdom.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charity's Memorandum & Articles, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) 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)". The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

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 the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

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

Designated funds have been determined by the Trustees for the purposes of segregating key activities. Any

transfers between designated funds or from a designated to an unrestricted fund must be decided by a suitably convened meeting of the Trustees. A description of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

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 Charity. The Society does not currently have any endowment funds.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the Charity 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.

Annual subscriptions are accounted for in the subscription year to which they relate, which can result in deferred income where a subscription year runs across more than one financial reporting period. Life membership subscriptions are accounted for when received. The subscription entitles the member to receive certain benefits from the Charity and is non-refundable.

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 included on an accruals basis and includes attributable VAT which cannot be recovered. Expenditure is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation to pay for expenditure. All costs have been directly attributed to one of the functional categories or resources expended in the SOFA.

- Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the Society in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

- Grants and awards are charged to the SOFA in the period they are awarded.

- Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the Society and include the independent examiner's fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the Society.

- All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories of the SOFA on a basis designed to reflect the use of the resource. Costs relating to a particular activity are allocated directly, whilst others are apportioned on an appropriate basis.

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:

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.

The Society has extensive book, journal, map, and photographic collections which are available for inspection or research by members. These collections are constantly updated and the Society welcomes donations of relevant material.

In the opinion of the Board of Directors reliable information on cost or valuation is not available for the Society's collections owing to a lack of information on initial costs; the lack of comparable market values; the diverse nature of the items within the collections; and the volume of items held. The collections are therefore currently not reported as assets in the balance sheet.

Where reliable cost information is available in respect of any newly donated assets, these are capitalised. Where it is impractical to obtain such a valuation, disclosure is provided of the nature and extent of any significant donations of heritage assets.

Expenditure required to preserve or prevent further deterioration of the collections is recognised in the SOFA as incurred.

Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.

At each reporting end date, the Charity 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).

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.

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered.

Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the Society has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

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 Charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

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

Grants

Raising funds

Expenditure on charitable activities

Staff training

Travel, subsistence and recruitment

Talks

Grants, medals and trophies

'The Geographer' costs

Other printing and publications

Administration costs

Office costs

Project costs

Miscellaneous and bank charges

Consultancy fees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

The charity is exempt from taxation on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

The Society has extensive book, journal, map, and photographic collections which are available to members. These collections are constantly updated and the Society welcomes donations of relevant material.

A small budget is available each year to repair, maintain and bind the items in most need of repair and to maintain the quality of the collection. We have a team of retired experts who volunteer to work on the collection every week, and who clean, catalogue and maintain the collection on an on-going basis.

The collections comprise four main categories - the Book and Journal collection, the Photographic collection, the Map collection and the Archives.

The Book and Journal collection is mostly housed in the Anderson Library of the University of Strathclyde, to which access is free for members of the Society. The collection houses over 25,000 books and 20,000 journal volumes together with 180 foreign language serials and all material can be accessed via the online catalogue of the Anderson Library. The more significant of these are held in secure temperature controlled storage at the University of Strathclyde and can be accessed by appointment and approval only. We also hold a further 3,000 plus books in the office in Perth, though these are not part of the online catalogue.

The Photographic collection comprises over 100,000 colour slides, over 8,000 antique glass slides and a collection of historic photographs.

The Map collection comprises a contemporary and historic collection of over 200,000 items housed in 35 map (or 'plan') chests which offer robust, spacious and lockable storage for maps.

Finally, the Society has a small but important archive of material relating to past expeditions, voyages and the work of famous explorers, together with records of activities of the Society since its founding. Key items are restored or repaired as required, such as the most recent work with the Burn-Murdoch Globe.

The Directors have carefully considered the accounting for valuation of the collection and, while they note that certain specific item values are available, the valuation of the much larger non-specific collection items has required to be estimated. In the opinion of the Directors it is not currently possible to obtain a sufficiently reliable estimate of their value to enable recognition of the Collections within the Society's balance sheet, however the Collections Committee considers that the valuation of the respective collections are in the region of:

This valuation was drawn together by the Chief Executive with guidance from our expert volunteer Collections team, headed by the now retired Head of Map Division from the National Library of Scotland, and is reviewed annually to take account of inflationary effects and any significant additions or disposals.

A number of items were again kindly donated to the Society during the year and these have been added to the respective collections. However, in the opinion of the Directors, the value of the donated assets is not significant and is not considered reasonably measurable. Therefore these assets have not been reflected within donations for the year and are therefore also not reflected within the balance sheet of the Society.

One item was purchased in the previous reporting period, a book that the Directors determined would enhance the Society’s collection. This purchase has been capitalised as a non-depreciating heritage asset at its purchase cost.

Deferred income is included in the financial statements as follows:

All subscriptions deferred at 31 December 2024 were released and recorded as incoming resources in the current financial period. No subscriptions require to be deferred as at 31 December 2025.

The Charity makes contributions into defined contribution pension schemes for its employees, either a default stakeholder pension scheme or schemes of the individual's choosing. The assets of the schemes are held separately from, and are entirely independent of, those of the Charity. Contributions totalling £nil (2024 - £30) were payable to the funds at the balance sheet date and are included in creditors.

At the reporting end date the Charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:

The key management personnel of the Society are the Trustees, the Chief Executive and the Deputy Chief Executive, whose total employee benefits were £138,499 (2023 - £141,103).

During the period the Charity entered into the following transactions with related parties.

Board members are not remunerated but can receive reimbursement of expenses for attending meetings. No such expenses were reimbursed to any Board member during the year, nor the previous financial period.

During the year two (2024: two) directors made donations, of which £nil (2024: £nil) were designated donations and £61 (2024: £2,540) were unrestricted donations including gift aid tax relief to the Society. Two trustees were also reimbursed £11 in aggregate for expenses incurred on the Society's behalf (2024 - £454). There were no other transactions or contracts entered into by the Society in which any director or other person related to the Society had any personal interest in the year (2024 - nil).

The Charity had no material debt during the year.