SPREAD THE WORD

Registered charity 1088890 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as London Writers Centre

Spread the Word promotes and develops literature and creative writing within London. We work with writers of all levels, from beginners to published authors, and across all genres, including fiction, poetry and playwriting, to enable them to reach their full potential.

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

Latest income
£592k
Latest spending
£538k
Registered
2001
Accounts read
FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £50,648 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £591,531 and resources expended of £538,296. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £203,541, which is above the stated policy target of maintaining £100,000 in excess of three months' running costs.

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

What the accounts disclose

Fundraising cost ratio: 2.3% of fundraised income — near the median for charities its size (4.9%)
Fundraising costs 10,955
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves policy: £100,000 in excess of three months running costs (held: £204k)
It is Spread the Word’s Policy to ensure that a reserve of £100,000 is maintained in excess of three months running costs.
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

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

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

Total income
£592k
Total spending
£538k
Cost of raising funds
£11k
Reserves (reported)
£204k
Employees
4

Reported reserves equal ~4.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

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

Operates in: Throughout London

Income and spending

Financial year endIncomeSpending
31/03/2025£592k£538k
31/03/2024£598k£466k
31/03/2023£427k£471k
31/03/2022£495k£494k
31/03/2021£421k£327k

Common questions

Is SPREAD THE WORD financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £50,648 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total income of £591,531 and resources expended of £538,296. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £203,541, which is above the stated policy target of maintaining £100,000 in excess of three months' running costs. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Government & lottery funding

Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).

FunderDateAmountPurpose
The National Lottery Heritage Fund07/04/2010£50k"My Old China"
The National Lottery Community Fund22/07/2008£5kPeninsula Words
The National Lottery Community Fund09/02/2007£5kStories To Build Bridges
The National Lottery Community Fund21/12/2004£5kBody images

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 WORD FOR THE WORLD, UK.

Side by side with its peers

CharityIncomeTop pay bandStaff >£60kReserves vs policyFundraising costGoing concern
SPREAD THE WORD£592k0unclear2.3%no doubt
THE WORD FOR THE WORLD, UK FY2025£307k0unclearno doubt
POETRY LONDON LTD FY2025£130k0unclearno doubt
WORD OF LIFE MINISTRIES (LONDON AND BIRMINGHAM) FY2024£150k0aboveno doubt
LLENYDDIAETH CYMRU - LITERATURE WALES FY2024£1.3m0aboveno doubt
THE SERVANTS OF THE WORD TRUST FY2025£367k0aboveno doubt

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