BOOKMARK READING CHARITY

Registered charity 1177681 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q138327009 · also known as BOOKMARK READING LIMITED

We're helping children develop the reading skills they need to succeed in school and beyond, by creating flexible volunteering at the heart of our communities.

Objects

THE OBJECT OF THE CHARITY IS TO ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, IN PARTICULAR BY PROMOTING OR SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERACY, AND (SAVE FOR PURPOSES INCIDENTAL AND ANCILLARY TO THAT OBJECT) NO OTHER PURPOSES.

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

Causes: Education/training · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity finished the year with a deficit of £0.1m and total reserves of £5.0m. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted free reserves of £2.6m represent seven and a half months of forecast operational expenditure, which is within the stated reserves policy of six months plus or minus 25%. The charity reports a robust balance sheet and no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Hazlewoods LLP. Discloses 3 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 11104438 · Financial health read from its filings
• Trading subsidiary: BOOKMARK READING TRADING LIMITED Companies House 11483047 · Financial health read from its filings

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

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Emily Jack — Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Frankie Smith — Interim Chief Executive Officer (source)
• Sharon Pindar — Patron (source)
• Daniel Oliver — Director of Marketing and Communications (source)
• Laura Burke — Director of Fundraising (source)
• Emily Mace — 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.

Funders the charity credits

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

• Addleshaw Goddard — “We’d also like to thank our highly engaged and committed Corporate Partnerships Board, with members from companies such as Addleshaw Goddard…” (source page)
• CVC Capital Partners — “We’d also like to thank our highly engaged and committed Corporate Partnerships Board, with members from companies such as Addleshaw Goddard…” (source page)
• Goldman Sachs — “We’d also like to thank our highly engaged and committed Corporate Partnerships Board, with members from companies such as Addleshaw Goddard…” (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.

• CROWHURST, Rebecca Reach — director, appointed 01/07/2026on trustee list
• BROWN, Catherine Joan — director, appointed 01/07/2026on trustee list
• SIMPSON, Helen Elizabeth — director, appointed 01/07/2026on trustee list
• BRODIE, Rachel Clare — director, appointed 19/03/2025on trustee list
• BYRNE, Mark — director, appointed 01/09/2024on trustee list
• JONES, Helen Teresa — director, appointed 01/04/2024on trustee list
• FLETCHER, Paul Richard — director, appointed 08/12/2017on trustee list
• NEAL, Philip — director, appointed 08/12/2017on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/08/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~7.5 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (97% 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: 15.6% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (18/03/2019) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Rachel Brodiechair
• Catherine Brown
• Helen Jones
• Helen Simpson
• Mark Byrne
• PHILIP NEAL
• Paul Richard Fletcher
• Rebecca Crowhurst

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.

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
• READING EDUCATION TRUST income £1.1m
• BOOKTRUST income £12.4m
• THE NATIONAL LITERACY TRUST income £14.3m
• THE READER ORGANISATION income £4.6m
• READ FOR GOOD income £1.5m

Side by side with its peers

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