£4.4m donation gives RI breathing room

The Royal Institution (RI) has received a £4.4 million bailout that will allow the organisation to remain in its iconic home in Albemarle Street in London, for now. As Chemistry World reported earlier this year, the 200-year-old scientific institution was in danger of losing its Grade I listed building after financial difficulties caused the board of the RI to secure a loan against it. 

The donation, from an anonymous foundation, will pay off the immediate loan and overdraft but will not address the current shortfall that the organisation currently suffers from, currently £1 million a year, nor a second loan of £2 million that is due in 2015. The cash does, however, provide the board with breathing room so that the RI’s buildings will not have to be sold immediately.