BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS

Registered charity 1179442 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

BCM provides small community and voluntary groups with peer to peer, face-to-face support, enabling them to be more effective in their communities. To do this surgeries are held in informal venues across Birmingham where anyone with an idea to improve their community are welcome to visit. Additionally, workshops focused on topics such as funding and wider networking events take place.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Economic/community Development/employment · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£172k

Latest spending

£155k

Registered

2018

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £69,313, which is above the stated policy target of £19,833 (14 weeks of overheads plus redundancy costs). The charity received an independent examination with no material matters reported, indicating stable financial administration and adequate resources for the reporting period.

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

What the accounts disclose

Highest-paid employee band: Under £60,000 — in the top quarter for charities its size (median £60k)

“No employee received emoluments of £60,000 or above (2024: nil).” — page 29

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: 14 weeks of overhead costs plus redundancy costs for existing staff (held: £69k)

“The current reserves policy is to hold to 14 weeks of overhead costs plus redundancy costs for existing staff. For the period 2024/2025 this would be a total of £19833 as a total.”

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

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

Funders the charity credits

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

Heart of England Community Foundation — “A Comic Relief Core Strength award, which was administered by the Heart of England Community Foundation, enabled us to access the skills and…” (source page)
The National Lottery — “The National Lottery’s Reaching Communities fund is our core funding, enabling us to run BCM, grow our team, and develop the support we offe…” (source page)
Birmingham City Council — “Early in BCM’s journey, Birmingham City Council supported us to hold sessions in Bournville. We do ongoing work with the Neighbourhood Deve…” (source page)
Severn Trent Community Fund — “In 2023, Severn Trent Community Fund awarded us with £11,300 of funding towards our core costs. This helped us with our work in supporting s…” (source page)
The Dulverton Trust Fund — “In February 2023, the Heart of England Community Foundation awarded us with a small grant from The Dulverton Trust Fund, towards our core co…” (source page)
Barrow Cadbury Trust — “A grant from independent charitable foundation Barrow Cadbury Trust enabled us to develop our peer learning model. With this grant, we commi…” (source page)
Grimmitt Trust — “A huge ‘thank you’ also to the Grimmitt Trust , Lillie Johnson Charitable Trust and WE Dunn Trust for small grants towards BCM’s core costs.” (source page)
Lillie Johnson Charitable Trust — “A huge ‘thank you’ also to the Grimmitt Trust , Lillie Johnson Charitable Trust and WE Dunn Trust for small grants towards BCM’s core costs.” (source page)
WE Dunn Trust — “A huge ‘thank you’ also to the Grimmitt Trust , Lillie Johnson Charitable Trust and WE Dunn Trust for small grants towards BCM’s core costs.” (source page)

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

Trustees · trustee networks

EMMA WOOLF MBEchair · trustee of 1 other charity
Catherine Sarah De Soyza
Claudie Izai Lynn Richardson
DIPALI CHANDRA
David James Dudley Broome
Karen Louise Cheney
Lorna Yvonne Wallace-Davis

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

Operates in: Birmingham City

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£172k	£155k
31/03/2024	£195k	£181k
31/03/2023	£163k	£143k
31/03/2022	£139k	£108k
31/03/2021	£84k	£70k

Common questions

Is BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that unrestricted reserves stood at £69,313, which is above the stated policy target of £19,833 (14 weeks of overheads plus redundancy costs). The charity received an independent examination with no material matters reported, indicating stable financial administration and adequate resources for the reporting period. Its FY2025 accounts were independently examined.

What does the highest-paid employee of BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the Under £60,000 band.

Who funds BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS?

Funders whose own accounts filings name BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS as a grant recipient include THE DULVERTON TRUST, C B AND H H TAYLOR 1984 TRUST.

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
THE DULVERTON TRUST	FY2023	£5k	Infrastructure support to small and micro community groups.
C B AND H H TAYLOR 1984 TRUST	FY2023	£2k

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	29/01/2026	£494k	Support to Birmingham’s small and local community groups
Birmingham City Council	25/09/2023	£5k	Capacity Building for Assets in Perry Barr
Birmingham City Council	25/09/2023	£5k	Capacity Building for Perry Barr assets
Birmingham City Council	12/12/2022	£8k	BCM Capacity Building
The National Lottery Community Fund	20/10/2022	£252k	Peer support for small groups in Birmingham
Birmingham City Council	24/06/2022	£10k	Capacity Building for Selly Oak NNS Assets 22/23
The National Lottery Community Fund	22/03/2019	£217k	Birmingham Community Matters

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 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL INSTITUTION FOR THE BLIND	1	£1.1m
THE HARBORNE PARISH LANDS CHARITY	1	£322k
LOCAL TRUST	1	£306k
HARBORNE AND SMETHWICK CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£239k
FUSION21 FOUNDATION	1	£81k
THOMAS POCKLINGTON TRUST	1	£32k
MILLENNIUM POINT TRUST	1	£10k
THE EDWARD AND DOROTHY CADBURY TRUST	1	£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with BCM INTERNATIONAL UK (ANCHOR) TRUST.

BCM INTERNATIONAL UK (ANCHOR) TRUST income £128k
BIRMINGHAM VOLUNTARY SERVICE COUNCIL income £17.0m
FOCUS BIRMINGHAM income £4.3m
BIRMINGHAM EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP LIMITED income £2.3m
BIRMINGHAM CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU SERVICE LTD income £2.2m
CHINESE COMMUNITY CENTRE - BIRMINGHAM income £207k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
BIRMINGHAM COMMUNITY MATTERS	£172k	Under £60,000	0	unclear	—	no doubt
BCM INTERNATIONAL UK (ANCHOR) TRUST FY2025	£128k	—	0	above	—	no doubt
BIRMINGHAM VOLUNTARY SERVICE COUNCIL FY2025	£17.0m	£80,001 - £90,000	—	unclear	—	no doubt
FOCUS BIRMINGHAM FY2025	£4.3m	—	1	above	—	no doubt
BIRMINGHAM EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP LIMITED FY2025	£2.3m	—	—	above	—	no doubt
BIRMINGHAM CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU SERVICE LTD FY2025	£2.2m	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt

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