NARTHEX SPARKHILL

Registered charity 1100358 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Narthex Sparkhill seeks to promote inter cultural harmony within the inner-city area of Sparkhill, Birmingham by provision of community facilities and education opportunities. Current regular activities offered are:Foodbank, one stop advice centre, domestic violence support, friendship cafe, youth club, lunch club for the elderly and refugee drop-in and resource centre.

Causes: Education/training · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£912k

Latest spending

£899k

Registered

2003

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £12,984 for the year ended 31 December 2024, with free unrestricted reserves of £135,247. The trustees confirm there are no uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: three months (held: £135k)

“The Trustees aim to ensure that the Charity will be able to continue to fulfil its charitable objectives for a period of three months even if there is a temporary shortfall in income or unexpected expenditure.”

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: A related party to Trustee L Wiseman (her spouse) received remuneration (including employer national insurance and employer pension contributions) totalling £13,922 (2023: £31,656) for his role as Strategic Project Manager.

“A related party to Trustee L Wiseman (her spouse) received remuneration (including employer national insurance and employer pension contributions) totalling £13,922 (2023: £31,656) for his role as Strategic Project Manager.” — page 24

“A related party to Trustee G Holt (his son) received remuneration (including employer national insurance contributions) totalling £28,099 (2023: £25,265) for his role as Foodbank Co-Ordinator.” — page 24

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: A related party to Trustee G Holt (his son) received remuneration (including employer national insurance contributions) totalling £28,099 (2023: £25,265) for his role as Foodbank Co-Ordinator.

“A related party to Trustee L Wiseman (her spouse) received remuneration (including employer national insurance and employer pension contributions) totalling £13,922 (2023: £31,656) for his role as Strategic Project Manager.” — page 24

“A related party to Trustee G Holt (his son) received remuneration (including employer national insurance contributions) totalling £28,099 (2023: £25,265) for his role as Foodbank Co-Ordinator.” — page 24

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Related-party transaction: Contractor fees of £38,992 were also paid to a limited company of which one member of key management personnel is a director, for their professional services rendered.

“A related party to Trustee L Wiseman (her spouse) received remuneration (including employer national insurance and employer pension contributions) totalling £13,922 (2023: £31,656) for his role as Strategic Project Manager.” — page 24

“A related party to Trustee G Holt (his son) received remuneration (including employer national insurance contributions) totalling £28,099 (2023: £25,265) for his role as Foodbank Co-Ordinator.” — page 24

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

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

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Narthex Sparkhill (matched by registered charity number).

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Total income

£912k

Total spending

£899k

Cost of raising funds

£3k

Reserves (reported)

£100k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~1.3 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 5.2 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (94% 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: 0.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (4.9%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

Rev Toby Nicholas Crowechair · trustee of 3 other charities
GEOFFREY JOHNSTON HOLT · trustee of 4 other charities
JAMES WALSH
JEWEL AHUMIBE

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

Operates in: Birmingham City

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£912k	£899k
31/12/2023	£866k	£855k
31/12/2022	£907k	£914k
31/12/2021	£731k	£761k
31/12/2020	£856k	£621k

Common questions

Is NARTHEX SPARKHILL financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus of £12,984 for the year ended 31 December 2024, with free unrestricted reserves of £135,247. The trustees confirm there are no uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2024 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds NARTHEX SPARKHILL?

Funders whose own accounts filings name NARTHEX SPARKHILL as a grant recipient include THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOUNDATION, THE E H SMITH CHARITABLE TRUST, THE EDWARD GOSTLING FOUNDATION, THE HARAMEAD TRUST, THE MONTAL CHARITABLE TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOUNDATION	FY2024	£73k	Grants
THE E H SMITH CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£15k
THE E H SMITH CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£15k
THE E H SMITH CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£15k
THE EDWARD GOSTLING FOUNDATION	FY2022	£10k
THE HARAMEAD TRUST	FY2022	£10k
THE MONTAL CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£5k
GEORGE FENTHAM BIRMINGHAM CHARITY	FY2024	£4k
THE GRIMMITT TRUST	FY2023	£3k
THE GRIMMITT TRUST	FY2024	£3k
THE MICHAEL MARSH CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£3k	Relief of Poverty
THE MICHAEL MARSH CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£3k	Relief of Poverty
THE GRIMMITT TRUST	FY2025	£3k
THE EDWARD AND DOROTHY CADBURY TRUST	FY2024	£2k	Community Inclusion and Engagement
MILLS AND REEVE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£1k
THE MONTAL CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£1k
GOWLING WLG (UK) CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£1k
THE W E DUNN TRUST	FY2024	£1k
THE COLE CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2025	£1k	Care and Social Welfare
GOWLING WLG (UK) CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2023	£500
GOWLING WLG (UK) CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2022	£500
DUMBRECK CHARITY	FY2023	£500	Social Welfare
GOWLING WLG (UK) CHARITABLE TRUST	FY2024	£500

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
The National Lottery Community Fund	01/04/2026	£375k	Journey to Change
The National Lottery Community Fund	26/08/2025	£18k	Arabic/Persian expert advisor
The National Lottery Community Fund	22/03/2024	£20k	Equipment & Staff for IAG
The National Lottery Community Fund	15/07/2022	£10k	Refugee Resource Centre
The National Lottery Community Fund	16/04/2021	£10k	Money & Debt Advice Project
UK government	15/09/2020	£42k	Coronavirus Community Support Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund	18/01/2019	£10k	Foodbank Cafe
The National Lottery Community Fund	10/08/2016	£449k	Sparkhill Foodbank and Crisis Intervention Centre
The National Lottery Community Fund	25/11/2015	£7k	Good Companion Gentle Exercise Club
The National Lottery Community Fund	20/08/2014	£9k	Foundations for the Future
The National Lottery Community Fund	09/08/2012	£9k	A-Head Start
The National Lottery Community Fund	10/08/2011	£425k	Sparkhill Food Bank
The National Lottery Community Fund	20/10/2008	£9k	Narthex Sparkhill Community Projects
The National Lottery Community Fund	07/12/2005	£5k	Equipment costs

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 A B CHARITABLE TRUST	2	£84k
THE 29TH MAY 1961 CHARITY	2	£30k
THE CITY OF LONDON OCTOBER CLUB	1	£810k
IMPETUS - THE PRIVATE EQUITY FOUNDATION	1	£446k
THE YOUTH ENDOWMENT FUND CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£445k
BERNARD LEWIS FAMILY CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£343k
THE DAWES TRUST	1	£228k
SOMERSET NHS FOUNDATION TRUST CHARITABLE FUNDS	1	£174k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with Spark2Life.

Spark2Life income £1.5m
SPARK COMMUNITY SPACE income £162k
SPITFIRE ADVICE AND SUPPORT SERVICES LTD income £1.2m
SPARK INSIDE income £1.5m
SPARK SOMERSET income £1.6m
STOCKPORT PROGRESS AND RECOVERY CENTRE income £295k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
NARTHEX SPARKHILL	£912k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
Spark2Life FY2025	£1.5m	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
SPARK COMMUNITY SPACE FY2025	£162k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
SPITFIRE ADVICE AND SUPPORT SERVICES LTD FY2025	£1.2m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
SPARK INSIDE FY2025	£1.5m	£80,001 - £90,000	—	within	—	no doubt
SPARK SOMERSET FY2025	£1.6m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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