THE SOUTH LONDON CHURCH FUND AND SOUTHWARK DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE

Registered charity 249678 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK

Resourcing the Ministry and Mission in every parish Managing the number of clergy in post against budget, and collecting Fairer Shares contributionsProviding clergy training, housing, stipends, pension supporting parish based ministryContributing to national church institutionsProviding education & social outreach fundingProviding Diocesan Retreat House

Objects

THE OBJECTS ARE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT TO ASSIST, PROMOTE AND FURTHER THE RELIGIOUS AND OTHER CHARITABLE WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE EDUCATIONAL WORK) OF THE SOUTH LONDON CHURCH FUND AND SOUTHWARK DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE WITHIN THE DIOCESE, AND ANY OTHER DIOCESE WHICH SHALL AT ANY TIME BE FORMED, WHOLLY OR IN PART OUT OF THE DIOCESE, EITHER WITH OR WITHOUT THE ADDITION OF ANY PART OR PARTS OF OTHER DIOCESES.

Area of benefit: DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK

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

Registered contact address: Southwark, London, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £5.8m for the year, driven by rising costs in stipends and the Diocesan Investment Programme, though this was partially offset by gains on property disposals. The trustees note that without significant income increases, cost reduction measures will be implemented from 2026 to remove the operating deficit. Reserves policy targets for six months of unrestricted expenditure were not achieved, with the General Fund showing a net liability position.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Buzzacott Audit LLP. Discloses 4 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

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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00236594
• Trading subsidiary: SOUTHWARK DBF TRADING LIMITED Companies House 04374984

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Christopher Chessun — Bishop of Southwark (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.

• DUMBRECK, Geoffrey James William, The Venerable Dr — director, appointed 11/01/2026on trustee list
• COOK, Helen Jane, The Reverend — director, appointed 01/01/2026on trustee list
• CALDERBANK, Peter Charles Edward — director, appointed 13/12/2025on trustee list
• WILSON, Rosemary Georgia — director, appointed 30/05/2025on trustee list
• JATHANNA, Roshan Naveenchandra — director, appointed 30/05/2025on trustee list
• PEACOCK, Nicholas James, Reverend Dr — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• SHEPHERD, Bridget Claire, The Reverend — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• BACZYK-BELL, Charles John Mackinnon, The Reverend Doctor — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• WOODS, Grahame Elliott — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• CHIKE, Chigor, The Venerable Doctor — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• GARCIA FUERTE, Antonio, The Reverend — director, appointed 05/12/2024not on trustee list
• WILLIAMS, David Anthony — director, appointed 05/12/2024not on trustee list
• WADDELL, Paul Martin — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• LEBEY, Nicholas Kwabena, The Reverend Captain — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• MACNEANEY, Jonathan Niall Agnew, The Reverend — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• BENNETT, Anne Yvonne, The Reverend — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• MANSON, Thomas Marshall — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• MURDOCH, James William — director, appointed 05/12/2024on trustee list
• GAINSBOROUGH, Jonathan Martin, Revd Dr — director, appointed 02/02/2023on trustee list
• DOCX, Sarah Frances — director, appointed 13/07/2022on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

641 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (590 freehold); recorded price paid £12.3m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook (2,966 followers) · instagram (769 followers)

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

Reported reserves equal ~116.2 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (71% 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: 0.0% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Adrian Greenwood · trustee of 3 other charities
• David Anthony Williams OBE · trustee of 1 other charity
• David Richard Beamish · trustee of 2 other charities
• Dr NICHOLAS JOHN BURT · trustee of 2 other charities
• Eve Catherine Bradshaw · trustee of 1 other charity
• Grahame Elliott Woods · trustee of 1 other charity
• James William Murdoch · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jonathan Maurice Sedgwick
• Joseph Ahosu Goswell
• PETER CHARLES EDWARD CALDERBANK · trustee of 2 other charities
• Paul Martin Waddell
• ROSEMARY GEORGIA WILSON · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rebecca Justine Chapman · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Anne Yvonne Bennett · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Antonio Garcia Fuerte · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Bridget Clare Shepherd
• Rev Edward Fraser A Scrase-Field
• Rev Gregory Stephen Prior · trustee of 1 other charity
• Rev Helen Jane Cook
• Rev Jonathan Niall Agnew MacNeaney
• Rev Nicholas James Peacock
• Right Rev. Alastair Murray Cutting · trustee of 3 other charities
• Roshan Naveenchandra Jathanna · trustee of 2 other charities
• Sarah Frances Docx
• Solabomi Anike Ogun
• The Revd Capt Nicholas Kwabena Lebey
• The Revd Dr Charles John Mackinnon Baczyk-Bell · trustee of 2 other charities
• The Rt Revd Dr Jonathan Martin Gainsborough · trustee of 2 other charities
• The Rt Revd Dr Marlene Rosemarie Mallett · trustee of 2 other charities
• The Venerable Dr Chigor Chike · trustee of 3 other charities
• Thomas Marshall Manson · trustee of 1 other charity
• VEN Simon Philip Gates · trustee of 2 other charities
• Vasantha Gnanadoss · trustee of 1 other charity
• Ven Geoffrey James William Dumbreck · trustee of 3 other charities

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

Operates in: Kent · Surrey · Throughout London

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.

• Dr NICHOLAS BURT CENG. — trustee here and at THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST. JAMES WEST STREATHAM SOUTHWARK

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 LIVERPOOL DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE.

• THE LIVERPOOL DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £14.6m
• THE SALISBURY DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £14.7m
• THE SOUTHWARK DIOCESAN BOARD OF EDUCATION (INCORPORATED) income £8.8m
• ST EDMUNDSBURY AND IPSWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £11.1m
• SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL income £1.6m
• THE CHELMSFORD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £23.0m

Side by side with its peers

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