Donation Prices: Should You Pay Them?

I’ve you’ve visited any historic monument in England you’ll know that usually it isn’t a one price affair. There are varying costs including adults, children, and group tickets. There are sometimes also donation prices. These prices are supposed to go towards the costs of maintenance and operations of the historic buildings you’re visiting. So … should you pay them?

I’ll be honest I thought my anwer was going to be no! I personally never paid the donation prices. Why should I? I’m not rich, the institutions (be they royal, governmental, or corporate) which pay for the upkeep of these palaces are richer than I am. Why ask the poor to fund the poor?

That said, I can’t in good conscience suggest that you, gentle reader, do something without having first experienced it for myself or researching it. So into the internet I went, looking for my answers.

The first bit is easy. Start with English Heritage.

A great many monuments are run by English Heritage. This organization uses a mixture of profits from ticket sales, venue rentals, and the occasional government grant to help preserve the sites. The public owns these sites, however English Heritage has been granted governmental permission to manage them. They work with other organizations such as Cadw (Wales), Heritage New Zealand, Historic Scotland, the Office of Public Works in Northern Ireland, Manx National Heritage and the Isle of Man to give discounts to their members when visiting these international historic spaces.

In their 2018-2019 report, their annual expenditures were £112.0 million, while their income was 120.8 million. They calculate donations as being worth 7% of their income for the year, which is £8.4 million. Their net profit is about £8.8 million. That’s only £400,000 of wiggle room a year, and those profits help to fund a pention plan for their employees and serve as an emergency fund any unpredictable catastrophes such as fires.

Knowing what I do of English Heritage, I would say that if you have the budget, the wish, and the time to donate, do it. They do good work, and the palaces I’ve visited which they keep are always warm and welcoming. Especially during Covid, they will probably be using that emergency fund to mitigate what income loss they can, and if a fire should break out it might be quite a while before it can be repaired.

English Heritage doesn’t run all of England’s historical sites though, in fact Royal Historical Palaces is a charity which manages six royal homes. Queen Elizabeth still owns a majority of them, and although she does not to my knoweldge receive any of the profits, she does pay for a portion of the upkeep of one of the palaces; Kensington Palace where her grandchildren and extended family live. The portion she pays comes out of the Sovereign Grant, which in 2020 totalled £107 million. This Sovereign Grant, which is itself only a portion of Queen Elizabeth’s annual income, comes out of the government budget. Royal Historical Palaces is reporting an income decrease of £100 million this year due to Covid.

Some places like the Rochester Guildhall run entirely on grants and donations, and offer free admission. Others, like the Royal Pavillion in Brighton, do accept donations but are owned by the towns they’re in.

So we’re back to the question of whether or to pay the donation fees. Research, as always, is the necessary. Do you want to donate? How much can you afford to on your trip? Do you know how your donation is spent? Are you satisfied with all these answers?

My personal opinion is that historical buildings are worth protecting for the stories and lessons they hold, for good or ill. English Heritage can probably benefit from a donation, but smaller, cheaper museums like the Rochester Guildhall could benefit a great deal more. They don’t receive as many visitors, don’t charge as much admission, and don’t have the same financial support from a monarchy or charity.

My general rule is to ask myself if 1000 visitors didn’t make any donation at all, would this museum or historical monument have to consider itself in trouble? If the answer is yes, I try to contribute what I can. If the answer is no but they wouldn’t be comfortably out of danger, then I consider making a donation. If the answer is a clear and resounding yes they’ll be fine, then I don’t trouble myself with worrying about the buildings.

For the most part, these buildings that I’ve grown to love are in excellent hands, and my admission fee will be just fine.