THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR
Registered charity 232177 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE ORDER OF THE FRIARS MINOR · also registered in Scotland as SC039191 (OSCR)
Support of charitable purposes connected with the Roman Catholic Religion and the support of the Order generally.
Causes: The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the charity transferred all its assets and liabilities to a newly formed CIO on 31 March 2025, resulting in a net decrease in funds of £2,621,746 for the period before the transfer. The trustees report that free reserves of £4,025,546 exceeded their stated policy target of one and a half years' unrestricted expenditure, though they noted macroeconomic uncertainties and expected future property investment needs.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: one and a half year’s unrestricted expenditure (held: £4.0m)
“The policy of the trustees towards the General Reserve is to hold an amount roughly equivalent to one and a half year’s unrestricted expenditure.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: accounts NOT prepared on a going-concern basis (closing, merging or winding up)
“We draw attention to the principal accounting policies on page 26 which states that the trustees of The Order of Friars Minor Charitable Trust have prepared the accounts on a basis other than going concern. This is due to the trustees’ decision to transfer the activities, assets and liabilities of the unincorporated charity to a newly formed Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 31 March 2025.” — page 20
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2023) → not a going concern (FY2025).
Comparing this charity’s FY2023 and FY2025 accounts as analysed by this site.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Fr David Collins OFM — Provincial Minister (source)
- Fr Aidan McGrath OFM — Minister Provincial (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.
Property (HM Land Registry)
2 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold). All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£94k
Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 5.7% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (05/03/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- Rev PATRICK LONSDALE OFMchair
- REV EDMUND HIGHTON OFM
- Rev Antony Jukes
- Rev George Smulski
- Rev Michael Copps OFM · trustee of 1 other charity
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Belgium · Essex · India · Kent · Kenya · Newham · Scotland · Somerset · South Africa
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the charity transferred all its assets and liabilities to a newly formed CIO on 31 March 2025, resulting in a net decrease in funds of £2,621,746 for the period before the transfer. The trustees report that free reserves of £4,025,546 exceeded their stated policy target of one and a half years' unrestricted expenditure, though they noted macroeconomic uncertainties and expected future property investment needs. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP.
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 O.F.M. CAPUCHIN GB CHARITABLE TRUST.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.