Our story
The RSA has always believed in one radical idea: human ingenuity, when given the right conditions to flourish, can solve the world’s most pressing problems.
For more than 270 years, we’ve been a home for bold minds – a place where ideas spark, collide, take flight and change society. Born in the Enlightenment and reshaped for each new era, we’ve never stopped asking: how can we build a world that works better for everyone?
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Born in the Enlightenment, restless ever since
Our story began in a Covent Garden coffee house in 1754, when a group of creative reformers gathered around a shared conviction: that human ingenuity could change society for the better.
So, they built an institution – then known as the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce – that rewarded ideas over status and used creativity to serve the common good.
Within decades, the Society was shaping the world we know today: pioneering public exams, admitting women as equals, championing business for public benefit, and introducing the very idea of sustainability as we undertook plans to reforest Britain.
Part laboratory, part launchpad, part radical community – this spirit has never left us.
Our mission
Learn about what we stand for and our evolving work.
Painting by Anna Zinkeisen
A Fellowship that shapes the modern world
Our Fellowship has always attracted eclectic, astonishing minds. Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Karl Marx – all architects of opposing worldviews, and all under the same RSA roof.
From Benjamin Franklin exploring the frontiers of electricity, to Nelson Mandela giving voice to hope, to Tim Berners-Lee, Vivienne Westwood, Marie Curie, Stephen Hawking and David Attenborough setting the world alight with their ideas – all have been part of a lineage united not by ideology, but by imagination.
And then there are the thousands history didn’t record: inventors who ended child chimney-sweeping; the designers of early lifeboats whose ingenuity saved lives at sea. All of them pioneers whose ideas reshaped everyday life.
Today, our Fellowship spans more than 80 countries. Entrepreneurs, educators, designers, scientists, community organisers, artists – a global creative network built on one belief: society works better when people work together.
Join our community
Learn more about Fellowship. Be part of a legacy of Fellows shaping the modern world.
Some of our Fellows
The home of ideas in a divided world
We live in a moment of polarisation and profound challenge – to democracy, to the planet, to our bonds with one another. The RSA exists to navigate this complexity.
Through our events and research, we tackle the questions that matter most. Through our Fellows’ projects across the UK and beyond, we turn ideas into action. Through our networks and partnerships, we connect people from different disciplines to solve problems together.
From tackling school exclusions to rethinking local economies, from reimagining education to celebrating human ingenuity, our mission remains unchanged since 1754: Find brilliant ideas. Bring brilliant people together. Turn both into real change.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Read our diversity, equity and inclusion statement.
Governance
Access our bye laws & charters, our policies and our annual impact reports. Meet our trustees and Fellowship councillors.
Our archive
Dive into the Society’s historic and diverse collections and our extensive membership.
