MANCHESTER CITY OF LITERATURE

Registered charity 1189456 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as MCOL

Our vision is to create an innovative, distinctive, equitable, globally connected city of reading and writing. We want Manchester to be a city where diverse voices are celebrated, creative talent is nurtured and where literary activity changes lives. We do this by uniting the collective strength and voice of writers and all those involved in literary activities across Manchester.

Objects

THE CHARITY HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:(1) THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE ARTS, BY PROVIDING OR ASSISTING IN THE PROVISION OF OPPORTUNITIES TO DISCOVER, ACCESS, ENGAGE IN, LEARN ABOUT, UNDERSTAND AND ENJOY LITERATURE, WRITING, CREATIVITY, CULTURE AND HERITAGE; AND(2) SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES THAT BENEFIT THE PUBLIC CONSISTENT WITH THE OBJECT ABOVE AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL DETERMINE.

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 · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity's unrestricted reserves stood at £15,200,000 at the end of the financial year, representing a significant increase from the previous year. The Trustees report that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future, with no material uncertainties identified regarding its going concern status.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Deloitte 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
• 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

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 12002661

Funders the charity credits

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

• Manchester City Council — “Manchester City Council is one of our Funding Partners, and we work closely with the Councillors and teams there, such as Libraries and Cult…” (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.

• CRAGGS, Louisa Eleanor Redshaw — director, appointed 17/06/2026on trustee list
• BASSAN, Danielle — director, appointed 17/06/2026on trustee list
• SAUNDERS, Rochelle — director, appointed 01/07/2024on trustee list
• COLLIER, Michelle — director, appointed 01/07/2024on trustee list
• RUIA, Reshma — director, appointed 01/07/2024on trustee list
• MCAULIFFE, John — director, appointed 29/09/2021on trustee list
• POPPERWELL, Katherine — director, appointed 09/03/2021not on trustee list
• MURPHY, Mike — director, appointed 09/03/2021on trustee list

Official officers record.

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

Trustees · trustee networks

• Katie Popperwellchair
• Danielle Bassan
• John McAuliffe · trustee of 1 other charity
• Louisa Craggs
• Michelle Collier
• Mike Murphy
• Reshma Ruia
• Rochelle Saunders

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

Operates in: Manchester City

Income and spending

Common questions

Government & lottery funding

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

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 MANCHESTER CHARITABLE TRUST LTD.

• MANCHESTER CHARITABLE TRUST LTD income £154k
• MANCHESTER CAMERATA LIMITED income £1.9m
• MANCHESTER CITY GALLERIES TRUST income £1.6m
• MANCHESTER BAROQUE income £123k
• CITIZENS ADVICE MANCHESTER income £8.3m
• CITY OF MANCHESTER AQUATICS SWIM TEAM income £402k

Side by side with its peers

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