THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD
Registered charity 247828 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as COVENTRY DIOCESE - DIOCESE OF COVENTRY
The activities of the Coventry Diocesan Board of Finance Limited are wide but its primary activity is to support the clergy of the Diocese through the payment of stipends, the management and maintenance of parsonages and other ministerial housing and provide training and other support to both clergy and lay people in parishes across the Diocese.
Causes: Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts
The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit before investment gains of £1.2m, which was offset by investment revaluations and asset sales to produce an overall increase in total funds. The trustees note that financial sustainability remains a concern due to rising costs and static parish share income, but the diocese currently benefits from healthy reserves to meet short- to medium-term obligations. Reserves at year-end were £102.1m, with the General Fund balance of £2.6m being marginally below the policy target range of two and a half to three and a half months' operating costs.
Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Largest income source: Parish Share (47% of income)
“The principal sources of funding in 2024 came from Parish Share £5.2m, 47% (2023: £5.1m, 49%)” — page 14
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £102.1m; policy: two and a half to three and a half months' worth of operating costs)
“The balance in the General Fund at 31 December 2024 was £2.6m which represents approximately 2.2 months of planned spending and is therefore marginally below the bottom of the policy target range.” — page 16
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: The DBF provided the DBE with grants of £169,004 (2023: £159,000) in the year towards the costs of the DBE’s statutory obligations.
“The DBF provided the DBE with grants of £169,004 (2023: £159,000) in the year towards the costs of the DBE’s statutory obligations.” — page 54
“Costs incurred by the DBF on behalf of the Diocesan Trustees were £24,500 (2023: £25,350). These costs were for secretarial support and accounts preparation fees.” — page 54
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Costs incurred by the DBF on behalf of the Diocesan Trustees were £24,500 (2023: £25,350). These costs were for secretarial support and accounts preparation fees.
“The DBF provided the DBE with grants of £169,004 (2023: £159,000) in the year towards the costs of the DBE’s statutory obligations.” — page 54
“Costs incurred by the DBF on behalf of the Diocesan Trustees were £24,500 (2023: £25,350). These costs were for secretarial support and accounts preparation fees.” — page 54
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: Grants of £100,000 were awarded in the year (2023: £33,000) to Together for Change.
“The DBF provided the DBE with grants of £169,004 (2023: £159,000) in the year towards the costs of the DBE’s statutory obligations.” — page 54
“Costs incurred by the DBF on behalf of the Diocesan Trustees were £24,500 (2023: £25,350). These costs were for secretarial support and accounts preparation fees.” — page 54
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Related-party transaction: There were £250 other related transactions during the year with the company Potential Plus. The transaction related to Curates training services provided by Sarah Jackson who is a Director/Owner of Potential Plus and the wife of Barry Jackson, Trustee.
“The DBF provided the DBE with grants of £169,004 (2023: £159,000) in the year towards the costs of the DBE’s statutory obligations.” — page 54
“Costs incurred by the DBF on behalf of the Diocesan Trustees were £24,500 (2023: £25,350). These costs were for secretarial support and accounts preparation fees.” — page 54
Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Sophie Jelley — Bishop of Coventry (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)
153 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (149 freehold); recorded price paid £15.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)
Cost of raising funds
£693k
Reported reserves equal ~2.5 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (63% 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: 6.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Coventry City · Warwickshire
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD financially healthy?
Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity reported a deficit before investment gains of £1.2m, which was offset by investment revaluations and asset sales to produce an overall increase in total funds. The trustees note that financial sustainability remains a concern due to rising costs and static parish share income, but the diocese currently benefits from healthy reserves to meet short- to medium-term obligations. Reserves at year-end were £102.1m, with the General Fund balance of £2.6m being marginally below the policy target range of two and a half to three and a half months' operating costs. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Crowe U.K. LLP.
Who funds THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE COVENTRY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LTD as a grant recipient include TOGETHER FOR CHANGE COVENTRY AND WARWICKSHIRE.
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 THE CHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.