Share your stories and help build a legacy

Over the last 140 years, RSGS has endeavoured to inspire and inform people from all walks of life of the value and vitality of geography. From pushing the boundaries of polar exploration in the early 20th century to championing Scotland’s national parks in the 1920s, we have helped shape Geography as a modern and core discipline, introducing it into schools and running the first exams, alongside helping found the first lectureships and academic departments, and funding the first Chairs of Geography in the Scottish universities. We have celebrated and supported leading endeavours across land, sea and sky – from mountaineers and archaeologists to scientists, writers and explorers – all in pursuit of understanding, empathy and opportunity. 

The amount that our small charity is able to get done, and our wider impact in Scotland and further afield, always seems to surprise people. We often receive comments and correspondence expressing admiration and amazement at the amount we manage to deliver year on year. Most comments focus on the same core attributes: a small charity with a big heart, a massive reach and an impressive impact. 

What we have also come to realise more strongly than ever is that the first-hand science, storytelling and expert insights we’ve provided for over a century, not only provide a front-row seat on many topics and issues of historical significance, but the inspiration they ignite can last a lifetime. We regularly hear from members who fondly recall meeting RSGS speakers and medallists thirty or forty years ago, whose inspiration still motivates them to this day. 

But to continue this work and expand our endeavours, we need your help. In particular, by leaving a gift in your Will you have the potential to make a massive difference to a small charity like RSGS, as these gifts have been a major reason we have lasted for so long. But as a charity rooted in empathy and inspiration, we value more than just the financial aspect of legacies. We also want to honour the legacy of you, our members and supporters. 

Traveller and RSGS Medallist Freya Stark once said, “Curiosity is the one thing invincible in nature”. It is the first quote you will see if you visit our office, as we believe our members share this curiosity in the world around them, and passion for the knowledge that helps understand it better. We are keen to capture this, and build our archive with more of your experiences and stories. 

So alongside this financial legacy ask, we would like to encourage all of you to write to us with your experiences, however brief, so that we can capture more of a sense of our community, to better reflect the impact of geography on the wider world. Please let us know more about the jobs that you've done, the lives that you've lived, the places that you've visited, because it is part of our story and the story of geography too. 

As such a busy wee team, our day-to-day focus is on delivering across so many areas – the talks programme, magazine, policy and education work, and running topic-specific or high-profile events – and we work hard to ensure that we do the very best we can as champions of geography. But to truly reflect the breadth of impact that geography can have, we want to hear more of your stories. 

Looking ahead, we are particularly excited about the prospect of being able to expand our work with young people by developing our Future Generations Fund. We will continue to do everything in our power to support, inspire, mentor and encourage younger people to have an interest in all that we do, and to give them a platform in spaces where they can help shape their own future. And, to do this, we also want to celebrate the wisdom and experience of our members in so many spheres of life and work. 

So we ask that, if you are able, please help us sustain our work into the future. Right now, the only way we can do this financially is through long-term support such as legacies or gifts in Wills. While we have not received large numbers of legacies over our 140 years, those we have received have been incredibly important and deeply valued, and even small gifts can make a real difference. They have provided many of our collection items and most of our office space, and have allowed us to keep operating, continuing to inspire future generations, run our talks programme, produce our magazine, influence policy, and give a platform to scientists, geographers, explorers and adventurers. 

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to hearing from you. 

From, 
Mike, Clare, Susan, Holly, Katrina, Jo and Lindsey 

If you'd like to learn more about leaving a legacy, you can do so through our legacy page or email our Chief Executive Mike Robinson.