CATHEDRAL MUSIC TRUST

Registered charity 1187769 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as FRIENDS OF CATHEDRAL MUSIC

To advance the education of the public in the art of music with special reference to the Choral Service in Cathedrals, Collegiate Churches and Chapels and other appropriate places of worship.

Objects

The object of the CIO is to advance the art of music and the education of the public in the same, with special reference to sustaining sacred music and the cultural heritage of Cathedrals, Collegiate Churches and Chapels and other appropriate places of worship.

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

Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Camden, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the Charity reported a net deficit of £169,919 for the year ended 31 December 2025, driven by a strategic decision to maintain financial support to beneficiaries despite investment losses. Free reserves stood at £167,857, which the Trustees acknowledge is below their stated policy target of six months' operating expenditure, though they consider this appropriate temporarily while embedding their five-year strategy. The Trustees maintain that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Peters Elworthy & Moore. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Employees paid over £60,000: 0 (FY2024) → 1 (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
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• 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
• 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.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Cathedral Music Trust (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Cathy Dew — Director (source)
• Jonathan Mayes — Chief Executive/CEO (source)
• Jonathan Macdonald — Chair (source)
• Leila Alexander — Director (source)
• Dan Bishop — Director (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).

• Brereton Memorial Fund — “Brereton Memorial Fund” (source page)
• The Colenutt Family Charitable Trust — “The Colenutt Family Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Rainbow Dickinson Trust — “The Rainbow Dickinson Trust” (source page)
• The Pamela Matthews Charitable Trust — “The Pamela Matthews Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks — “The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks” (source page)
• G J Ward Charitable Trust — “G J Ward Charitable Trust” (source page)
• The Westminster Foundation — “The Westminster Foundation” (source page)
• The Dick & Charles Williams Trust — “The Dick & Charles Williams Trust” (source page)

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~2.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 17.6% of total income — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (20/12/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Jonathan Angus Macdonaldchair
• Daniel Mark Benton
• Dr David Hill MA FRCO · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr Isobel Rachel Pinder · trustee of 1 other charity
• GAVIN DOUGLAS LEWIS RALSTON · trustee of 3 other charities
• Giverny Eloise Colleen McAndry
• Graham Timothy Robinson
• Heather Morgan
• James Christopher Gurling OBE
• John Stuart Laing
• Rev Canon Rosemary Helen Woodall
• Simon Giles Toyne

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

Operates in: Ireland · Isle Of Man · Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• Dr Isobel Rachel Pinder — trustee here and at THE CPF TRUST

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.

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 CATHEDRAL CONCERT SOCIETY.

• CATHEDRAL CONCERT SOCIETY income £22k
• LEICESTER CATHEDRAL MUSIC FOUNDATION income £77k
• THE HAMPSTEAD CHURCH MUSIC TRUST income £114k
• CAMDEN CHOIR income £46k
• MONMOUTH MUSIC THEATRE income £18k
• QUESTA income £43k

Side by side with its peers

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