COMMUNITIES 1ST

Registered charity 1187164 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE FOR ST. ALBANS DISTRICT, COMMUNITY ACTION HERTSMERE, COMMUNITY CENTRAL, COMMUNITY HERTSMERE, HERTSMERE COMMUNITY TRANSPORT

Communities 1st develops, connects and supports local voluntary and community organisations, helping to improve the quality of peoples lives across the districts of Hertfordshire and neighbouring counties. We are home to the local Volunteer Centre, providing support and guidance for those who want to become volunteers and those who want to recruit volunteers.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives · Disability · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Amateur Sport · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£1.6m

Latest spending

£1.6m

Registered

2019

Accounts read

FY2025

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £49,595 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total incoming resources of £1,631,442. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £918,553, which exceeds the stated policy target of three months' running costs (£875,232). The auditors confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's 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

Highest-paid employee band: £60,001 - £70,000 — below the median for charities its size (£70k)

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: 31.3.25 1 £60,001 - £70,000” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Employees paid over £60,000: 1

“The number of employees whose employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was: 31.3.25 1 £60,001 - £70,000” — page 24

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Reserves policy: three months of running cost (held: £919k)

“It is the policy of the trustees to maintain free reserves of at least three month's running cost to enable the charity to meet all the commensurate costs in the event of extreme scenario of winding-up, the running cost reserve is £875,232 at the year end.” — page 7

Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Bradshaw Johnson. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

Registered company of the charity Companies House 11875362

Leadership, per the charity’s website

Stephen Craker — Chief Executive (source)
Juli Riley — Head of Employment and Skills (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).

Comic Relief Community Fund — “Here are some of the funders we have hosted recently: Comic Relief Community Fund” (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.

GEMMELL, Ross — director, appointed 22/03/2026on trustee list
CHALONER, Andrew — director, appointed 01/07/2025on trustee list
LANE HALLAM, Samantha Sarah — director, appointed 26/06/2025not on trustee list
BEATON, Roberta — director, appointed 26/10/2023on trustee list
CLOKE, Christopher Norman — director, appointed 12/09/2019on trustee list
ROGERS, Ann Margaret — director, appointed 06/06/2019on trustee list
YEXLEY, Sarah Helen — director, appointed 11/03/2019on trustee list
DOBBS, Joy Carolyn — director, appointed 11/03/2019on trustee list
JOHN, Jason Joseph — director, appointed 11/03/2019on trustee list
WILDING, Karl Damian — director, appointed 11/03/2019on trustee list
CRAKER, Stephen Mark — secretary, appointed 11/03/2019

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

2 registered titles 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)

Total income

£1.6m

Total spending

£1.6m

Reserves (reported)

£875k

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~6.6 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (99% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (04/03/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (17/03/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
Received assets from another charity (31/05/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

Jason Johnchair · trustee of 2 other charities
Andrew Chaloner · trustee of 2 other charities
Ann Rogers · trustee of 2 other charities
Christopher Norman Cloke · trustee of 1 other charity
Joy Carolyn Dobbs · trustee of 1 other charity
Karl Damian Wilding · trustee of 1 other charity
Roberta Beaton · trustee of 1 other charity
Ross Gemmell · trustee of 2 other charities
Samantha Sarah Lane Hallam · trustee of 1 other charity
Sarah Helen Yexley · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Barnet · Bedford · Cambridgeshire · Enfield · Essex · Harrow · Hertfordshire · Norfolk · Peterborough City · Suffolk

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/03/2025	£1.6m	£1.6m
31/03/2024	£1.4m	£1.3m
31/03/2023	£1.8m	£1.4m
31/03/2022	£1.4m	£961k
31/03/2021	£724k	£564k

Common questions

Is COMMUNITIES 1ST financially healthy?

Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity generated a surplus of £49,595 for the year ended 31 March 2025, with total incoming resources of £1,631,442. Per the trustees' report, unrestricted reserves stood at £918,553, which exceeds the stated policy target of three months' running costs (£875,232). The auditors confirmed that the financial statements give a true and fair view and identified no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Bradshaw Johnson.

What does the highest-paid employee of COMMUNITIES 1ST earn?

Per its FY2025 accounts, the highest-paid employee was in the £60,001 - £70,000 band, and 1 employees earned over £60,000.

Government & lottery funding

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

Funder	Date	Amount	Purpose
UK government	01/04/2024	£23k	Transition to eVisa Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund	12/04/2018	£2k	Community Access Transport Scheme
The National Lottery Community Fund	13/07/2016	£10k	Stronger Together Partnership Groups for the local voluntary sector
The National Lottery Community Fund	28/06/2012	£7k	Understanding Communities within our Community
The National Lottery Community Fund	25/03/2011	£10k	BLT/GPI Leeming Road/Aycliffe Road

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
Community Foundation for Staffordshire and Shropshire	1	£120k
SMALLWOOD TRUST	1	£48k
THE FRANK LITCHFIELD GENERAL CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£27k
FUSION21 FOUNDATION	1	£16k
THE 3 TS CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£10k
THE BATCHWORTH TRUST	1	£5k
FARRER AND CO CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£4k
THE EDGAR E LAWLEY FOUNDATION	1	£2k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with COMMUNITIES FIRST WESSEX.

COMMUNITIES FIRST WESSEX income £4.4m
COMMUNITY FIRST income £3.3m
HERTFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION income £10.7m
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTION HERTFORDSHIRE income £187k
COMMUNITY FIRST OXFORDSHIRE income £576k
ONE KNOWSLEY income £1.9m

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Staff >£60k	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
COMMUNITIES 1ST	£1.6m	£60,001 - £70,000	1	unclear	—	no doubt
COMMUNITIES FIRST WESSEX FY2025	£4.4m	over £60,000	1	above	—	no doubt
COMMUNITY FIRST FY2025	£3.3m	—	—	within	—	no doubt
HERTFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FY2025	£10.7m	more than £70,000	1	unclear	3.0%	no doubt
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACTION HERTFORDSHIRE FY2025	£187k	—	0	unclear	—	no doubt
COMMUNITY FIRST OXFORDSHIRE FY2026	£576k	—	0	above	—	no doubt

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