CITY OF SANCTUARY SWINDON

Registered charity 1177624 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as SWINDON CITY OF SANCTUARY

Promote a culture of welcome, inclusion and support for everyone in Swindon with a focus on those seeking sanctuary.We do this by bringing people and organisations in our community together, providing practical support through projects, running community events, raising awareness and campaigning for social justice, therefore contributing to the wider, national movement that is City of Sanctuary.

Objects

THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE:(I) TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC IN GENERAL, ESPECIALLY IN SWINDON, ABOUT THE ISSUES RELATINGTO REFUGEES AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM(II) TO PROVIDE OR ASSIST IN THE PROVISION OF FACILITIES AND ACTIVITIES FOR RECREATION OR OTHER LEISURE TIME OCCUPATIONS IN THE INTERESTS OF SOCIAL WELFARE WITH THE OBJECT OF IMPROVING THE CONDITIONS OF LIFE OF THOSE PERSONS WHO HAVE NEED OF SUCH FACILITIES(III) THE PROMOTION OF EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY PROMOTING ACTIVITIES TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING AND ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN PEOPLE FROM DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS(IV) THE PREVENTION AND RELIEF OF POVERTY AMONGST THOSE GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS AND THOSE SEEKING ASYLUM IN SWINDON

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

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Swindon, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Latest income

£67k

Latest spending

£93k

Registered

2018

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £25,761 for the year ended 30 April 2025, with total funds carried forward of £8,749. The trustees note that core funding received shortly after the year-end helps address the deficit, and they maintain reserves to cover grant commitments and budgeted costs. The charity operates with a settled team of four staff members and relies on diverse funding sources including the National Lottery Community Fund.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: adequate reserves to cover grant commitments and budgeted costs for the current financial year and maintain an appropriate budget for future years to cover longer term grant commitments (reserves figure: £9k)

“The trustees will maintain adequate reserves to cover grant commitments and budgeted costs for the current financial year and maintain an appropriate budget for future years to cover longer term grant commitments.” — page 29

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 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
Campaigns and political activity 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
Paying staff
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.

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2025

Volunteers: 25
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2024

Volunteers: 30
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Self-declared on the annual return for the financial year ending 30/04/2023

Volunteers: 35
Trustee benefits, answered Yes to: any trustee benefit; payments to trustees for services to the charity

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

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

Trustees · trustee networks

Alrazi Suliman
Ben Jackson
John Andew Lavery
Lindsay Jane Gutteridge
Moses Lubanda
Serena Juul

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

Operates in: Swindon · Wiltshire

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
30/04/2025	£67k	£93k
30/04/2024	£63k	£97k
30/04/2023	£49k	£38k
30/04/2022	£56k	£41k
30/04/2021	£49k	£31k

Common questions

Is CITY OF SANCTUARY SWINDON financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit of £25,761 for the year ended 30 April 2025, with total funds carried forward of £8,749. The trustees note that core funding received shortly after the year-end helps address the deficit, and they maintain reserves to cover grant commitments and budgeted costs. The charity operates with a settled team of four staff members and relies on diverse funding sources including the National Lottery Community Fund. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

Who funds CITY OF SANCTUARY SWINDON?

Funders whose own accounts filings name CITY OF SANCTUARY SWINDON as a grant recipient include JOFFE CHARITABLE TRUST CIO, THE MIDCOUNTIES CO-OPERATIVE COMMUNITY FUND.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
JOFFE CHARITABLE TRUST CIO	FY2021	£25k
THE MIDCOUNTIES CO-OPERATIVE COMMUNITY FUND	FY2024	£2k

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
Postcode Lottery	30/06/2025	£21k	Unrestricted Funding
Postcode Lottery	30/06/2023	£22k	Project Funding

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	£122k
JEREMY ALEXANDER SETTLEMENT	1	£95k
THE FYRISH FOUNDATION	1	£79k
THE NISBET TRUST	1	£40k
THE RAYNE FOUNDATION	1	£30k
NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£20k
THE SYLVIA AND COLIN SHEPHERD CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£16k
THE HILDEN CHARITABLE FUND	1	£15k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with CITY OF SANCTUARY UK.

CITY OF SANCTUARY UK income £495k
DURHAM CITY OF SANCTUARY income £28k
CITY OF SANCTUARY SHEFFIELD income £528k
SANCTUARY FOUNDATION income £100k
SANCTUARY MENTAL HEALTH SOCIETY income £43k
BRISTOL CITY OF SANCTUARY income £180k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
CITY OF SANCTUARY SWINDON	£67k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
CITY OF SANCTUARY UK FY2025	£495k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
DURHAM CITY OF SANCTUARY FY2025	£28k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
CITY OF SANCTUARY SHEFFIELD FY2026	£528k	—	—	unclear	—	no doubt
SANCTUARY FOUNDATION FY2025	£100k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
SANCTUARY MENTAL HEALTH SOCIETY FY2025	£43k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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