THE BENJAMIN FOUNDATION

Registered charity 1124936 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Our aim is to provide high quality services and opportunities that significantly improve the lives of vulnerable children and young people. We provide advice, support, counselling, information, supported accommodation, positive activities, parenting support, out of school and youth projects and re-use schemes.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Disability · Accommodation/housing · Economic/community Development/employment · Recreation · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a surplus for the year with unrestricted reserves increasing to £1,462,306, although free reserves fell to £145,889, which is below the trustees' stated policy target of £800,000 to £1,200,000. The trustees confirmed the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least twelve months, with no material uncertainties identified by the auditors.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Larking Gowen LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

In the news

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

• Lord Mayor of Norwich formally hands over funds to local charity: The Benjamin Foundation norwich.gov.uk · 02/12/2024
• Church and Benjamin foundation join forces to give young people a brighter future dioceseofnorwich.org · 16/01/2024
• Charity Focus: The Benjamin Foundation provides hope for communities edp24.co.uk · 25/02/2022
• Carrow Road to host The Benjamin Foundation's 'Sleep Out' canaries.co.uk · 14/09/2021
• UVI Receives Bennie and Martha Benjamin Foundation Gift to Support School of Nursing and COVID-19 Response viconsortium.com · 06/10/2020
• Hundreds helped by Benjamin Foundation’s Heart and Home eveningnews24.co.uk · 04/07/2016
• Benjamin Foundation’s supported accommodation helps young people gain independence edp24.co.uk · 27/06/2016
• Norfolk charity the Benjamin Foundation names new chief executive edp24.co.uk · 09/06/2015

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 03825425
• Trading subsidiary: BEN'S SOCIAL ENTERPRISES LTD Companies House 07188016

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — The Benjamin Foundation (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Kirsty Pitcher — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• James McCulloch — Chair of Trustees (source)
• Max McGarvey-Leggett — Finance Director (source)
• Ali Battersby — Director of Operations (Housing and Compliance) (source)
• Matt Garrod — Director of Operations (Housing and Homelessness) (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.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• Brewin Dolphin — “We are grateful to have had Brewin Dolphin's support through a variety of enthusiastic ways. From inviting us to their office for a presenta…” (source page)

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.

• MATTHEWS, Samuel Charles — director, appointed 31/01/2024on trustee list
• TOWNSEND, Matthew — director, appointed 19/07/2023on trustee list
• MASSINGHAM, Samantha Mary — director, appointed 14/04/2021on trustee list
• MCCULLOCH, James — director, appointed 30/04/2019on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

20 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (13 freehold); recorded price paid £2.4m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

CQC provider record: The Benjamin Foundation — Deregistered, 1 registered location.charity number confirmed by CQC CQC record

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

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

Reported reserves equal ~2.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (78% 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: 17.2% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (02/07/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (25/01/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (07/09/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (28/01/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (15/01/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• James McCulloch
• Matthew John Townsend · trustee of 1 other charity
• Samantha Mary Massingham
• Samuel Charles Matthews

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

Operates in: Cambridgeshire · Norfolk · Suffolk

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.

• Matthew John Townsend — trustee here and at HOPESTEAD

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 BEN SAUNDERS FOUNDATION.

• BEN SAUNDERS FOUNDATION income £187k
• FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE income £1.5m
• BENYIMO LIMITED income £167k
• THE BROWNLEE FOUNDATION income £296k
• LIVNOS BAYIS LIMITED income £162k
• YOUNG CAMDEN FOUNDATION income £1.4m

Side by side with its peers

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