THE BALSAM CENTRE

Registered charity 1080719 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BALSAM CENTRE, THE BALSAM PROJECT, WINCANTON COMMUNITY VENTURE

The charity exists to reduce inequalities and provide health, social, educational and cultural opportunities for individuals and communities in its area of benefit. The work is delivered from the Balsam Centre.

Objects

I) TO WORK TOGETHER WITH STATUTORY AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS, GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES FOR EDUCATION, LEISURE, ARTS AND SOCIAL WELFARE WITH THE OVERALL OBJECT OF IMPROVING THE HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE AREA OF BENEFIT.HEALTH INCLUDES THE ABSENCE OF DISEASE AND DISTRESS AS NECESSARY BUT NOT SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS AND ALSO INCLUDES OPTIMISING THE INDIVIDUAL'S SOCIAL AND CREATIVE POTENTIAL. THE AREA OF BENEFIT IS THE AREA WITHIN A TEN MILE RADIUS OF WINCANTON TOWN HALL REGARDLESS OF COUNTY OR ANY OTHER ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARY;I) TO IMPROVE ANY OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSE THAT WILL IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND/OR QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE INHABITANTS OF THE AREA OF BENEFIT.

Area of benefit: THE AREA WITHIN A TEN MILE RADIUS OF WINCANTON TOWN HALL REGARDLESS OF COUNTY OR ANY OTHER. ADMINISTRATIVE BOUNDARY

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

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Somerset, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The charity reported a net income increase of £118,043, bringing total funds to £1,603,535. Unrestricted funds stood at £632,695, which is below the stated policy target of six months' expenditure. The auditor confirmed the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by David Owen & Co. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Ofsted (Office For Standards In Education). This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

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
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Risk management
• 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
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Michael Bainbridge — Chair of Trustees (source)
• Lu Jones — Deputy CEO/Finance Manager (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.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (66% 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: 0.1% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (26/04/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Michael Francis Bainbridgechair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Anna Marie Lance
• Emily Showering · trustee of 3 other charities
• Frances Elizabeth De Bosdari
• Frances da Cunha · trustee of 1 other charity
• Helen J Smith
• Jane Stella Knowles
• Michael James Kelly
• Neil Guy Trepess Polley

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

Operates in: Dorset · Somerset · Wiltshire

Income and spending

Common questions

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 BALHAM MOSQUE.

• BALHAM MOSQUE income £1.1m
• BALVIMAA CHARITY TRUST income £77k
• Sangam Foundation income £238k
• BACE income £48k
• BALHAM BAPTIST CHURCH income £370k
• PALMER AND SEABRIGHT CHARITY income £62k

Side by side with its peers

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