THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY

Registered charity 1099295 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Promotes use and understanding of the Book of Common Prayer centrally to worship and doctrine of the Church of England (and other Anglican tradition Churches) and its use for regular worship including main Sunday services and occasional services e.g. Baptism, Confirmation, weddings, funerals. Works to ensure that all ordinands are familiar with it and to introduce it to children and young people.

Objects

THE CHARITY IS ESTABLISHED FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AS SET FORTH IN THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER; AND, IN FURTHERANCE OF THIS OBJECT, FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE WORSHIP AND DOCTRINE ENSHRINED IN THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER AND ITS USE FOR SERVICES, TEACHING AND TRAINING THROUGHOUT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND OTHER CHURCHES IN THE ANGLICAN TRADITION.

Area of benefit: WORLDWIDE

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

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

Registered contact address: South Oxfordshire, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net incoming resource of £281,433 for the year, driven by a significant increase in donations and legacies alongside investment gains. Unrestricted reserves stood at £1,876,975 at year-end, providing a substantial buffer against unpredictable income sources as outlined in the reserves policy. The auditor confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting was appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Richardsons. Discloses 5 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
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Investment
• Paying staff
• 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 04786973

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.

• KERSHAW, Johanna, The Rev'D Dr — director, appointed 30/08/2025on trustee list
• SWYER, Rebecca Jane, The Reverend Canon — director, appointed 23/02/2021on trustee list
• GAUNT, Adam, The Reverend — director, appointed 26/09/2020on trustee list
• HANCOCK, Christopher Michael Jefferies — director, appointed 26/09/2020on trustee list
• SMITH, Bradley Francis — director, appointed 26/09/2020on trustee list
• RIDING, Jonathan David — director, appointed 16/08/2019on trustee list
• MILNE, Iain Richard Johnson — director, appointed 08/09/2017on trustee list
• NEWMAN, Daniel Robert, The Revd Dr — director, appointed 09/09/2016on trustee list
• EDMONDS, Stephen, The Revd Dr — director, appointed 09/09/2016on trustee list
• MEITNER, Paul Jonathan — director, appointed 17/09/2011on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~49.0 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 7.8% of total income — above the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• BRADLEY FRANCIS SMITHchair · trustee of 1 other charity
• Christopher Hancock
• Iain Richard Johnson Milne
• Johanna Kershaw
• Jonathan David Riding
• PAUL MEITNER · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Adam Gaunt · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Rebecca Jane Swyer
• Rev Stephen Edmonds · trustee of 1 other charity
• The Revd Dr Daniel Robert Newman

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

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 PRAYER GARDEN CHURCH.

• PRAYER GARDEN CHURCH income £121k
• INTERNATIONAL PRAISE CENTRE income £762k
• MERCYGATE GOSPEL CHURCH income £30k
• THE PRAYER FOUNDATION income £6k
• A CHURCH income £53k
• 24-7 PRAYER income £5.3m

Side by side with its peers

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