BLACK COUNTRY WOMEN'S AID
Registered charity 1032298 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SANDWELL WOMEN'S AID, SANDWELL WOMEN'S REFUGE, SANDWELL WOMENS' REFUGE
Provision of support,and emergency services to vulnerable women and children experiencing rape, sexual assault and domestic abuse. Services include provision of emergency accommodation, floating support services, community support and counselling. Services also include development with agencies to raise awareness of domestic abuse and develop support systems to enable them to access SWA services.
Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that total income increased by 2.5% to £10.28m, while expenditure rose by 9.0% to £8.97m, resulting in a net income increase of £1.32m. The charity holds total funds of £9.83m, comprising £8.26m in unrestricted funds and £1.57m in restricted funds, with free reserves standing at £1.6m after accounting for designated amounts for fixed assets and future commitments.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Community based support
“Charitable activities accounted for 97.8% of total income (2024: 95.6%), with community based support now representing 49.6% of total income (2024: 46.1%).” — page 14
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: 3-year strategy with specific fund targets (Service Continuity £1.23m, Strategic Development £0.39m, Property Contingency £0.29m, Redundancy £0.18m, Capital £1.69m) (held: £1.6m)
“The Board of Trustees has agreed to support a 3-year strategy that includes: - Service Continuity Fund - where the organisation maintains costs for closure as well as 6 months’ running costs of £1.23m. - Strategic Development Fund - where the organisation undertakes research and development to inform future service provision and secure additional funds for longer term service delivery costs of £0.39m. - Property Contingency Fund - provides sufficient funds to maintain the Charity's properties to a high standard and to ensure routine repairs and maintenance are carried out of £0.29m. - Redundancy Reserve - to cover the potential costs of redundancy over the capped limit to long term employees of £0.18m. - Capital Reserve - comprises funds set aside for the organisation to invest in property in order to meet future demand for its services of £1.69m.” — page 14
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by TAG Assurance Services Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
In the news
Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).
Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Black Country Women's Aid (matched by registered charity number).
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Sara Ward — Chief Executive Officer (source)
Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.
Property (HM Land Registry)
3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (3 freehold); recorded price paid £965k. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£19k
Reported reserves equal ~2.2 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (98% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 0.2% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).
- Karen Dowmanchair
- BOZENA BENTON
- MELVENA MORTON
- Salma Parween Ali
- Victoria Harris
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Birmingham City · Coventry City · Dudley · Sandwell · Solihull · Walsall · Wolverhampton
Income and spending
Common questions
Is BLACK COUNTRY WOMEN'S AID financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that total income increased by 2.5% to £10.28m, while expenditure rose by 9.0% to £8.97m, resulting in a net income increase of £1.32m. The charity holds total funds of £9.83m, comprising £8.26m in unrestricted funds and £1.57m in restricted funds, with free reserves standing at £1.6m after accounting for designated amounts for fixed assets and future commitments. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by TAG Assurance Services Limited.
Who funds BLACK COUNTRY WOMEN'S AID?
Funders whose own accounts filings name BLACK COUNTRY WOMEN'S AID as a grant recipient include THE RATCLIFF FOUNDATION, THE WARWICKSHIRE MASONIC CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION LIMITED.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with BIRMINGHAM AND SOLIHULL WOMEN'S AID.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.