Governance
Access our Annual Impact report, meet our trustees and find out more about how we are governed.
Royal Charter and Bye-laws
Royal Charter
The RSA is established by Royal Charter as its formation pre-dated the establishment of modern company law. A Royal Charter establishes a collection of individuals as a single legal entity - predating more modern legal ways to do this, such as companies and corporations. We continue to maintain a connection with the Royal Household; our Patron is Queen Elizabeth II and our President is the Princess Royal.
The RSA’s charitable purposes are enshrined within its Royal Charter. Our Royal Charter was last updated in 2015.
Our current charitable purposes are: ‘The encouragement of the Arts Manufactures and Commerce... . advancement of education in and the encouragement and conduct of research into the sustainable context within which the said Arts Manufactures and Commerce may prosper and be managed efficiently including research on all Commerce Design Industry Public Services Science Technology Social Enterprises Voluntary and other Arts to make both such research findings available to the public as well as all other exclusively charitable purposes’
Fellows' Charter
The RSA is a membership organisation whose members (Fellows) make a charitable subscription which contributes to the charitable work of the RSA (unless waived).
All Fellows are expected to follow the RSA Fellows Charter and the code of conduct as part of their commitment.
Bye-laws
Additionally, the RSA is governed by agreed bye-laws amendments to which are approved by the Trustee Board and voted on by its members (Fellows).
