EXETER CITY OF LITERATURE

Registered charity 1196686 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as EXETER UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE

ExCoL was established to steward the UNESCO Creative City designation granted to Exeter in 2019 and to improve cultural & creative programming throughout Exeter & Devon. We believe in the power of literature to enable us to better know ourselves and others, and to imagine new possibilities for this world.

Objects

THE CIO HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT FOR THE FOLLOWING PURPOSES:(A) 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(B) SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES THAT BENEFIT THE PUBLIC CONSISTENT WITH THE OBJECT ABOVE AS THE CHARITY 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: General Charitable Purposes · Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Exeter, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity operated at a net expenditure of £21,962 for the year, reducing its total funds from £147,278 to £125,316. Unrestricted reserves stood at £115,095, which the trustees report is equivalent to approximately three months' operating costs plus additional contingency. The trustees confirm there are no material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 5 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

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.

Funders the charity credits

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

• Arts Council England — “After becoming a charity and independent organisation in late 2021, Arts Council England have awarded Exeter UNESCO City of Literature Natio…” (source page)
• Great Western Railway’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund — “The artwork, created by local artists Billy Ruffian (an artist alias of Isabel Keen) and Jack Ratcliff , honours Devon’s rich literary histo…” (source page)

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

Trustees · trustee networks

• Sharifa Milford Al Hashemychair
• DEE ROWETT
• Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
• Frances Farley
• Hannah Victoria Miller
• May Argyle
• Rob Bosworth
• Thomas Staniford

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

Operates in: Devon

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

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

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 NOTTINGHAM CITY OF LITERATURE.

• NOTTINGHAM CITY OF LITERATURE income £191k
• MANCHESTER CITY OF LITERATURE income £265k
• THE DEVON AND EXETER INSTITUTION income £124k
• EXPERIENCE OXFORDSHIRE CHARITABLE TRUST income £40k

Side by side with its peers

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