THE ROCHESTER DIOCESAN SOCIETY AND BOARD OF FINANCE

Registered charity 249339 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER, ROCHESTER DIOCESE

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN THE AREAS OF WEST KENT AND SOUTH EAST LONDON, WITH SUPPORT BEING GIVEN TO PARISHES, PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS IN THOSE AREAS

Causes: Religious Activities · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that total net assets rose to £82.2 million, with free reserves in the Common Fund standing at £1.2 million. The trustees note that while aggregate reserves have risen, the Common Fund has not recorded an annual surplus for over 10 years, indicating that the current financial position is not generationally sustainable without strategic intervention.

Automated summary of the FY2024 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by HaysMac LLP. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00140656

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jonathan Gibbs — Bishop of Rochester (source)
• Tia Ndu — Head of Programmes (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.

Company officers (Companies House)

Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.

• MCCALLA, Sandra Sheron, The Ven — director, appointed 23/02/2025on trustee list
• CORNELL, Nicholas Simon, The Ven — director, appointed 23/02/2025on trustee list
• TAYLOR, Gordon Edward James, The Rev — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• MCKENZIE-BOYLE, Diane Joan — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• BATLEY-GLADDEN, Dane Christopher, The Rev — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• HARLOW, Peter Anthony — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• MCCLELLAN, Andrew David, The Rev — director, appointed 01/01/2025on trustee list
• SMITH, Stephen — director, appointed 01/07/2024on trustee list
• KERR, Alison Mary, The Ven — director, appointed 23/04/2023on trustee list
• GIBBS, Jonathan Robert, The Rt Reverend — director, appointed 24/09/2022on trustee list
• BLUNDEN, Jeremy Augustine, The Revd Canon — director, appointed 13/11/2021on trustee list
• FITZPATRICK, David Roy — director, appointed 01/01/2019on trustee list
• HESKETH, Philip John, The Very Rev Dr — director, appointed 19/06/2016on trustee list
• POOLE, Sarah Penelope — director, appointed 01/01/2016on trustee list
• BURTON-JONES, Simon David, Venerable — director, appointed 24/01/2010on trustee list
• GIRT, Matthew — secretary, appointed 01/06/2019

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

419 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (403 freehold); recorded price paid £13.5m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2024)

Reported reserves equal ~1.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (84% 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: 4.7% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.8%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• David Roy Fitzpatrick · trustee of 1 other charity
• Diane Joan McKenzie-Boyle · trustee of 1 other charity
• PETER ANTHONY HARLOW · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Alison Mary Kerr · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Andrew David McClellan · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Dane Christopher Batley-Gladden
• Rev Gordon Edward James Taylor
• Rev JEREMY BLUNDEN · trustee of 5 other charities
• Rev Nicholas Simon Cornell · trustee of 1 other charity
• Sarah Poole · trustee of 1 other charity
• Stephen Smith
• The Right Reverend SIMON DAVID BURTON-JONES · trustee of 1 other charity
• The Rt Rev Dr Jonathan Robert Gibbs
• The Ven Sandra Sheron McCalla
• The Very Rev. Dr. Philip John Hesketh · trustee of 2 other charities

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

Operates in: Bexley · Bromley · Kent · Medway

Income and spending

Common questions

Shared trustees with funders

Register facts shown side by side: a person serves as trustee of both this charity and a funder whose accounts record grants to it. Shared trusteeship is lawful and common; well-run charities manage it through declared-interest procedures.

• Diane Joan McKenzie-Boyle — trustee here and at THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST NICHOLAS, SEVENOAKS
• PETER ANTHONY HARLOW — trustee here and at THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST NICHOLAS, SEVENOAKS

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 INCORPORATED ROCHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF EDUCATION.

• INCORPORATED ROCHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD OF EDUCATION income £1.7m
• THE SALISBURY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £13.9m
• THE SOUTH LONDON CHURCH FUND AND SOUTHWARK DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £28.5m
• THE NORWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED income £13.4m
• SHEFFIELD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £12.1m
• THE ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL TRUST income £166k

Side by side with its peers

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