THE MESSAGE TRUST

Registered charity 1081467 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as Community Grocery, The Message, The Message Community Centre · also registered in Scotland as SC045838 (OSCR)

The Message Trust is a worldwide movement with a passion to share the love of Jesus Christ in words and actions with the hardest-to-reach young people and vulnerable adults, through creative mission, community transformation, Christ-centred enterprise and programmes working with those who are poor.

Causes: Education/training · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity achieved a net surplus of £1.3m for the year, driven by a £1.4m gain from property revaluations, resulting in total net assets of £8.6m. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £8m, with £850k freely available, which exceeds the new policy target of £663k. The charity reports no material uncertainties regarding its 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 Menzies LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Top pay band moved from unclear (FY2024) to £80,001 - £90,000 (FY2025).

Comparing this charity’s FY2024 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.

In the news

Recent coverage mentioning this charity by name (automated match; headlines belong to their publishers).

• Message Community Grocery: Cheap food shop for hard-up families planned for Sheffield church site thestar.co.uk · 23/10/2025
• Replacing a foodbank with a community grocery offering food at low prices is North Finchley’s contribution to easing hardship and helping keep families fed barnetsociety.org.uk · 15/10/2025
• Darlington community grocery opens 'to help with cost of living' bbc.com · 04/12/2024
• New community grocery store where Teesside families can get weekly shop for £5 opens its doors gazettelive.co.uk · 21/04/2024
• Newcastle's second community grocery store opens amid ongoing cost-of-living crisis chroniclelive.co.uk · 28/11/2023
• Community grocery store opens doors to Stoke-on-Trent families bbc.com · 04/10/2022
• New community grocery store opens in Warrington to help with the cost of living crisis warringtonguardian.co.uk · 25/05/2022
• “It’s a place where people can come with a sense of dignity” – New community grocery offers £3 food shops to Salford families salfordnow.co.uk · 19/02/2021

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03961183

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Message Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• BRUCE, Fiona Claire — director, appointed 03/12/2025on trustee list
• NEILSON, Laura, Dr — director, appointed 14/12/2023on trustee list
• ORR-EWING, Amy Louise, Dr — director, appointed 25/03/2022on trustee list
• LEAKEY, Andrew Christopher — director, appointed 15/03/2017on trustee list
• HAYNES, Gordon Joseph — director, appointed 15/03/2017on trustee list
• WHITE, Robert David — director, appointed 30/03/2000on trustee list
• ROWBOTTOM, Ian — secretary, appointed 24/08/2011

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles 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 · linkedin

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 2.7% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (07/06/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (31/01/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (24/01/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (13/03/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• GORDON HAYNESchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• ANDREW LEAKEY
• Amy Orr-Ewing · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Laura Neilson · trustee of 1 other charity
• Fiona Claire Bruce · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev ROBERT WHITE · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• ANDREW LEAKEY — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST
• Amy Orr-Ewing — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST
• Dr Laura Neilson — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST
• Fiona Claire Bruce — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST
• GORDON HAYNES — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST
• Rev ROBERT WHITE — trustee here and at THE MESSAGE TRUST

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 The Movements Trust Limited.

• The Movements Trust Limited income £631k
• THE MATTHEW 25 35 TRUST income £107k
• QUANTUM TRUST income £200k
• THE SEVENTY-THIRD TRUST income £127k
• THE MEDIA TRUST income £1.9m
• REVELATION TRUST income £212k

Side by side with its peers

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