About the LMS

The Society was founded in 1865 for the promotion and extension of mathematical knowledge and was granted a Royal Charter in 1965. The Society is registered as a charity with the United Kingdom Charity Commissioners. It is the major British learned society for Mathematics, with a nationwide membership and several hundred overseas members.

The affairs of the Society are managed by a Council and Officers. Officers are elected annually, and other Council members biennially, by the Society membership.

The Administration of the Society is headed by the Executive Secretary. There is a total of 18 staff, most based at the Society’s headquarters at De Morgan House, 57–58 Russell Square, London, WC1B 4HS.

The London Mathematical Society Charter and Statutes
The London Mathematical Society By-Laws
The Objectives of the Society
Election Results from the Annual General Meeting of 23 November 2007
The Council diary, which has an overview of each Council meeting (Please note that diaries post-June 2003 can be found via the on-line version of the Society's Newsletter.)
The future of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications & the London Mathematical Society

Trustees’ Annual Reports and Reports on Activities

The Society is a membership society with some 2,400 members across the UK and overseas. Members are able to join various overseas Mathematical Societies on advantageous terms under Reciprocity Agreements. More

The provision of grants to support mathematics, especially conferences and joint research activities linking groups at different Universities. It is particularly concerned to provide help for young mathematicians (including research students). It also has schemes to support educational outreach activities and assistance to those with home commitments who wish to attend conferences, etc. More
Society Meetings are held at least five times during the year, including the Annual General Meeting of the Society which takes place each November. Meetings comprise a business section, when formal business of the Society such as elections and admissions takes place, accompanied by several lectures. More
The Society publishes the Proceedings (est. 1865), the Journal (est. 1926), the Bulletin (est. 1969), three book series: LMS Lecture Notes, LMS Student Texts and LMS Monographs and the electronic journal LMS Journal of Computation and Mathematics. The Society also publishes Nonlinearity jointly with the Institute of Physics and Compositio Mathematica on behalf of the Dutch Foundation that owns the journal. It collaborates with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Turpion Ltd to publish translations of three leading Russian mathematical periodicals and with the American Mathematical Society to publish the English translation of Transactions of the Moscow Mathematical Society and a book series on the History of Mathematics. More
The Society's Library consists of a substantial collection of periodicals obtained in exchange for the Society's publications, copies of books and journals published by the Society and items acquired by the Society as review copies or gifts. The LMS Library is housed in the Library of University College, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT. More
The award of medals and prizes for outstanding contributions to mathematics. These include the De Morgan Medal, the Pólya Prize and the Whitehead Prizes. The Society jointly with the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications awards the David Crighton Medal. More
The appointment of several lecturers in the UK, including the Hardy and Mary Cartwright Lecturers, and overseas, including the Forder Lecturer. More

Support and overhead costs include the staff costs, other employment costs and costs of running and maintaining buildings attributable to those activities, as is required under SORP2005, the principles by which the Society as a charity presents its accounts.

The Society's assets at 31 July 2009 were £11.54M, invested to provide income for activities and as working capital for the Society to operate effectively and efficiently in pursuit of its objectives.

The Society has a broad-ranging programme of activities in support of its strategic objectives (see the Annual Report on Activities). While some activities are supported from restricted funds, all need continuity of funding. The scale and future risks to the main income streams have led Council to conclude that it is prudent to hold a General Fund from which income can be drawn to maintain and extend its charitable activities. The General Fund, therefore, is invested so as to provide income for activities (particularly the grant schemes) not funded from Designated or Restricted Funds while also acting as a ‘free reserve’ to provide adequate working capital for the Society to operate effectively and efficiently and to be used in pursuit of the Society’s objectives as Council may from time to time determine.

The information presented above is intended to give a brief overview of the financial activities of the Society during the last financial year and of its financial position at that date. Although it is based on the statutory trustees' report and audited financial statements, they are not summarized financial statements. For a fuller understanding of the Society's finances, refer to the Trustees’ Reports.

The Society has been fortunate, over its history, to receive several significant donations and legacies – among these are those from Rayleigh, Larmor and Hardy. They have been enormously valuable in enabling the Society to extend its support for mathematics and mathematicians. The Society has an increasing number of calls on its funds and Council is keen to maintain, or preferably increase, its level of support for mathematics. That requires increasing the funds available to it and Council is always grateful for donations or if the Society is remembered through legacies.

Legacies and donations are a tax-efficient way of giving to the Society. If you are contemplating making a donation or remembering the Society in your Will, please contact either the Treasurer, Dr Brian Stewart (brian.stewart@exeter.ox.ac.uk) or the Executive Secretary, (ivor.goddard@lms.ac.uk, 020 7291 9970). Further information on making donations or leaving a legacy to the Society is available here.

General Information