THE READER ORGANISATION

Registered charity 1126806 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also registered in Scotland as SC043054 (OSCR)

We aim to bring about a Reading Revolution making it possible for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to enjoy and engage with books on a deep and personal level. We aim to improve well-being and build communities through shared reading. Our work is driven by the heartfelt belief that literacy is not just the ability to read, but the state of being a reader.

Objects

TO PROMOTE ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSES FOR THE BENEFIT OF CITIZENS AND INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND OTHER COUNTRIES, IN PARTICULAR THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION, THE FURTHERANCE OF HEALTH, THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, DISTRESS AND SICKNESS, THE PROMOTION OF SOCIAL INCLUSION AND FURTHERANCE OF COMMUNITY ESPECIALLY THROUGH READING AND LITERATURE-BASED ACTIVITIES

Area of benefit: UNDEFINED. IN PRACTICE, LOCAL

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

Causes: Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Other Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Liverpool, North West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net expenditure of £296,422 for the year ended 31 March 2025, an improvement on the previous year's deficit of £627,238. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted, undesignated reserves stood at £306,226, which the charity notes equates to three months of core running costs against a policy target of three to six months.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Xeinadin Audit Limited. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 1 (FY2024) → 0 (FY2025).

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

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
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting 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 06607389

What the charity says about itself (2024-2025)

From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.

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

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jemma Guerrier — Managing Director (source)
• Jane Davis — Founder (source)
• Anita Marsland — Chair of the Board of Trustees (source)
• Katie Clark — Director of Literature (source)
• Tamzin Golding — Director of Development and Communications (source)
• Anton Clarke — Director of Social Enterprise (source)
• Ginny Hopton — Director of Finance, Governance and Commercial Planning (source)
• Kara Orford — Director of Delivery (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.

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.

• ANDERSON, Jamie John — director, appointed 20/11/2025not on trustee list
• HUGHES, Pauline Olivia — director, appointed 21/11/2024on trustee list
• WILLOWS, Helen, Dr — director, appointed 17/05/2021on trustee list
• ATKINSON, Neil Edward — director, appointed 17/05/2021on trustee list
• FLETCHER, Sarah Louise — director, appointed 14/09/2020on trustee list
• MARSLAND, Anita Susan — director, appointed 09/09/2019on trustee list
• HUSSEY, Ruth Mary, Dr — director, appointed 12/11/2018on trustee list
• MARTIN, Jennifer Anne — secretary, appointed 16/05/2018

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

1 registered title 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

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

Reported reserves equal ~0.8 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (41% 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: 39.2% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anita Marslandchair
• Dr Helen Willows
• Dr Ruth Hussey · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jamiejohn Anderson
• Neil Atkinson
• Pauline Hughes
• Sarah Fletcher

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · 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.

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 SCHOOLREADERS.

• SCHOOLREADERS income £940k
• READ - THE READING AGENCY income £2.8m
• ASSISTED READING FOR CHILDREN income £199k
• BOOKMARK READING CHARITY income £4.1m
• WORLDREADER income £100k
• THE NATIONAL LITERACY TRUST income £14.3m

Side by side with its peers

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