THE ELY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE

Registered charity 245456 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To promote, facilitate and assist with the work and purposes of the Church of England, for the advancement of the Christian faith in the Diocese of Ely and elsewhere.

Objects

TO PROMOTE AND ASSIST THE WORK AND PURPOSES OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN THE DIOCESE OF ELY, AND IN PARTICULAR TO ORGANISE AND PROVIDE FUNDS IN AID OF THE WORK OF THE CHURCH AND FOR THE ESSENTIAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE CHURCH'S WORK. (FOR FURTHER DETAILS SEE MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION).

Area of benefit: DIOCESE OF ELY

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

Causes: 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 reported a net surplus of £874k before investment gains, with total income rising to £11.4m. The charity holds unrestricted reserves of £34.6m, which significantly exceeds its stated minimum policy requirement of £5.6m. The trustees and auditors confirm that the charity has adequate resources to continue operating as a going concern.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Top pay band moved from £180,001 - £190,000 (FY2024) to £80,001 - £90,000 (FY2025).
• Employees paid over £60,000: 10 (FY2024) → 9 (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
• 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

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 — The Ely Diocesan Board Of Finance (matched by registered charity number).

Funders the charity credits

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

• Growing Faith Foundation — “We Hear You has been released for 2025 by the Growing Faith Foundation, in conjunction with the 30k Project.” (source page)

Property (HM Land Registry)

346 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (333 freehold); recorded price paid £15.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Reported reserves equal ~8.0 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (61% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.

Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 3.5% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (11/05/2023) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (17/01/2022) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (25/01/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Canon Dr Mary Felicity Cooke · trustee of 2 other charities
• Canon Simon John Kershaw · trustee of 1 other charity
• Christopher Denis Anton Falvey
• Christopher Jeffrey Jonathan Smith · trustee of 1 other charity
• Christopher John Townsend · trustee of 1 other charity
• Dr CHRISTOPHER ANDREW STANFORD-BEALE
• Dr Jonathan Paul Chaplin
• Elain Margaret Levitt
• Felicity Ann Watson
• Francis William Miles Burkitt · trustee of 2 other charities
• Janet Rosemary Perrett
• John Pigott
• Lindsay Jane Davies · trustee of 1 other charity
• REV DANIEL JOHN DRIVER
• Rev Canon Robert Mackley
• Rev Daniel John Driver · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Dr Elizabeth Ruth Cope · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev NEIL JAMES BLANDFORD-BAKER · trustee of 4 other charities
• Rev Natalie Janis Andrews
• Rev Philip Michael Howson · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Richard Harlow · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Sarah Catherine Gower · trustee of 2 other charities
• Sarah Margaret Robinson · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Cambridgeshire · Norfolk

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 THE DIOCESE OF ELY RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL TRUST.

• THE DIOCESE OF ELY RELIGIOUS EDUCATIONAL TRUST income £88k
• THE FRIENDS OF ELY CATHEDRAL CIO income £941k
• DEWSBURY EVANGELICAL CHURCH income £193k
• THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF CAMBRIDGE ST. BARNABAS income £442k
• THE TRURO DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED income £8.3m
• CARLISLE DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £11.5m

Side by side with its peers

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