SAILORS' SOCIETY

Registered charity 237778 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as B I S S, BRITISH AND INTERNATIONAL SAILORS' SOCIETY, BRITISH SAILORS' SOCIETY, BRITISH SAILORS' SOCIETY AT HOME AND ABROAD INCORPORATED, BSS

We provide international welfare support for seafarers. Our charitable objectives are:Advancement of the Christian religion (through chaplaincy)EducationRelief of poverty and distress

Objects

THE OBJECTS FOR WHICH THE CHARITY IS ESTABLISHED ARE TO BENEFIT SEAFARERS, EX-SEAFARERS AND INTENDING SEAFARERS AND THEIR FAMILIES AND DEPENDANTS AND THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH THOSE PEOPLE LIVE OR WORK BY THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION AND THE RELIEF OF POVERTY AND DISTRESS AND THE PROMOTION OF ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSE BY SUCH WAYS AND MEANS AS THE CHARITY SHALL THINK FIT AND FOR SUCH PURPOSES TO DO ALL SUCH LAWFUL THINGS AS ARE NECESSARY TO THE ATTAINMENT OF THE FOREGOING OBJECTS. .

Area of benefit: NATIONAL AND OVERSEAS

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 · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Accommodation/housing · Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Southampton, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity recorded a net deficit of £162,000 for the year ended 31 December 2025, resulting in a decrease in total net assets. However, the filing notes that free reserves stood at £1,929,000, which equates to 22 months of unrestricted expenditure, slightly below the stated policy target of 24–36 months. The auditor confirmed that the financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Azets Audit Services. 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
• Investment
• 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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/12/2021 (received 30/11/2022, 30 days after the 31/10/2022 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Sailors' Society (matched by registered charity number).

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Sara Baade — CEO (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)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (1 freehold); recorded price paid £663k. 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 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~13.1 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 34.2% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (16/10/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (25/04/2019) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (09/10/2012) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (29/12/2011) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr PETER MICHAEL SWIFTchair
• Anna Grace Shrimplin Evangelidis
• CATHARINE MARGARET MORTON
• Christopher John Farrell
• Heidi Rosemary Heseltine
• Jonathan Holloway · trustee of 1 other charity
• Joshua Paul Hutchinson
• Michael Peter Bunton
• Michele Rinette White
• Peter Charles Broadhurst

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

Operates in: Australia · Belgium · Brazil · Ghana · India · Indonesia · Liberia · Madagascar · Mozambique · New Zealand · Philippines · Russia

Income and spending

Common questions

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 Seafarers' Christian Friend Society.

• Seafarers' Christian Friend Society income £334k
• SEAFARERS HOSPITAL SOCIETY income £544k
• INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN MARITIME ASSOCIATION income £231k
• ROYAL ALFRED SEAFARERS' SOCIETY income £5.3m
• LIVERPOOL SEAFARERS CENTRE income £518k
• CICELY SAUNDERS INTERNATIONAL income £424k

Side by side with its peers

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