ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE MANCHESTER

Registered charity 1068084 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

French Language and Cultural centre

Objects

TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC GENERALLY BUT PARTICULARLY WITHIN GREATER MANCHESTER AND ITS ENVIRONS CONCERNING FRENCH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, CULTURE AND ASSOCIATED MODES OF THOUGHT AND TO ADVANCE CULTURAL HARMONY AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY BY ENCOURAGING LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL EXCHANGES, AND TO DO SO IN A MANNER THAT IS CONSISTENT WITH THE CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS OF THE ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE PARIS FOUNDED IN 1883, THE WORK OF WHICH HAS BEEN CONTINUED, SINCE 2008, BY THE FOUNDATION ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE.THE ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE DE MANCHESTER IS FOUNDED FOR CHARITABLE PURPOSES AND HAS NO POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS AND PROHIBITS ANY FORM OF DISCRIMINATION.

Area of benefit: NO LIMITS BUT PARTICULARLY WITHIN GREATER MANCHESTER AND ITS ENVIRONS

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£480k

Latest spending

£458k

Registered

1998

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted funds increased to £209,734, with the trustees noting that reserves remain sufficient to enable the charity to continue its activities. However, the trustees acknowledge that government support has been declining and that running costs are increasing, creating a need to identify new premises before September 2026.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Payments to trustees: Rodolphe Soulard pays rent of £60/month for office space provided by the Alliance.

“Rodolphe Soulard acts as honorary French consul in Manchester and the Alliance provides him with office space for two periods of two hours per week, for which he pays a rent of £60 per month.” — page 4

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: French government grants

“The French government which sponsors this company has made grants totalling £27,384 (2024: £30,034) towards operational costs.” — page 12

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Investing charity funds policy and procedures
Paying staff
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

French Embassy in the UK — “We are proud to have been supported by the French Embassy in the UK since we were founded in 1997 .” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 freehold). 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

Trustees · trustee networks

Fred Blesser
Isabelle Vanderschelden
RODOLPHE SOULARD
Romain Sebastien BARDOT
Sirka Moore
Stephen Chegwin
Virginie Fayolle

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Bolton · Bury · Manchester City · Oldham · Rochdale · Salford City · Stockport · Tameside · Trafford · Wigan

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2025	£480k	£458k
31/12/2024	£441k	£440k
31/12/2023	£404k	£362k
31/12/2022	£330k	£315k
31/12/2021	£335k	£357k

Common questions

Is ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE MANCHESTER financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted funds increased to £209,734, with the trustees noting that reserves remain sufficient to enable the charity to continue its activities. However, the trustees acknowledge that government support has been declining and that running costs are increasing, creating a need to identify new premises before September 2026. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE D C TRUST	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE LONDRES LIMITED.

ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE LONDRES LIMITED income £152k
ENSEMBLE MANCHESTER income £108k
COLLEGE FRANCAIS BILINGUE DE LONDRES LTD income £11.1m
MANCHESTER CHARITABLE TRUST LTD income £154k
AL-MANAR CENTRE TRUST income £161k
PETITE ECOLE D'EALING income £159k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE MANCHESTER	£480k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
ALLIANCE FRANCAISE DE LONDRES LIMITED FY2025	£152k	—	0	unclear	—	noted
ENSEMBLE MANCHESTER FY2025	£108k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
COLLEGE FRANCAIS BILINGUE DE LONDRES LTD FY2025	£11.1m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
MANCHESTER CHARITABLE TRUST LTD FY2025	£154k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
AL-MANAR CENTRE TRUST FY2024	£161k	—	0	within	—	no doubt

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.