THE HEREFORD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE

Registered charity 249685 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as HDBF

Promotion of Christianity

Objects

TO PROMOTE, AID, AND FURTHER THE RELIGIOUS AND OTHER CHARITABLE WORK, OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND (HEREAFTER CALLED "THE CHURCH") IN THE DIOCESE OF HEREFORD (WHATEVER FOR THE TIME BEING SHALL BE THE AREA OF THE DIOCESE CALLED THE DIOCESE OF HEREFORD, OR CALLED BY ANY NAME WHICH SHALL HEREAFTER BE SUBSTITUTED FOR THE PRESENT NAME OF THE DIOCESE, AND WHICH AREA IS HEREAFTER REFERRED TO AS "THE DIOCESE"), BUT AT THE DISCRETION OF THE TRUSTEES ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD INCLUDING THROUGH: I. SUPPORTING FINANCIALLY OR OTHERWISE TRAINING FOR MINISTRY, CLERICAL AND LAY II. THE MAINTENANCE AND SUPPORT OF CLERGY AND OTHER PERSONS CONNECTED WITH MINISTRY OR THE WORK OF THE CHURCH III. THE PROVISION OF PENSIONS FOR MINISTERS, TEACHERS AND WORKERS OF THE CHURCH, AND OF PERSONS WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY HELD ANY SUCH POSITION, AND DEPENDENTS OF THEM OR ANY OF THEM AND THE OVERSIGHT OF SUCH DEPENDENTS IN ACCORDANCE WITH AND SUBJECT TO THE CLERGY PENSIONS MEASURE 1961

Area of benefit: DIOCESE OF HEREFORD

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

Causes: Education/training · The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty · Religious Activities · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Environment/conservation/heritage · Human Rights/religious Or Racial Harmony/equality Or Diversity · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Herefordshire, County of, West Midlands, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported an operating deficit of £1.72m for the year ended 31 December 2025, driven by a structural gap between income and expenditure. While unrestricted reserves stood at £1.0m, this was below the stated policy target of four months' operating expenditure, though the trustees anticipate realizing £0.9m from a property sale in 2026 to address this. The charity remains well-placed to continue as a going concern, supported by significant endowment assets and investment gains that offset the operating losses.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crowe UK 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
• 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.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 00144467 · Financial health read from its filings

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Richard Jackson — Bishop of Hereford (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.

Funders the charity credits

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

• Herefordshire Council — “Hereford Diocese has now finished its third year of work supporting Ukrainian refugees, the last two of which have been funded by Herefordsh…” (source page)

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.

• HUSTWAYTE, Samantha Jane, The Venerable — director, appointed 10/05/2026on trustee list
• TEALE, Andrew Terence, Canon — director, appointed 16/01/2025on trustee list
• SHUTTLEWORTH, Marion Shirley — director, appointed 16/01/2025on trustee list
• HOUSTON, Charles Robson Hamilton — director, appointed 16/01/2025on trustee list
• HILL, Emily Lauren — director, appointed 16/01/2025on trustee list
• KINGSMILL-VELLACOTT, Anna — director, appointed 19/11/2024on trustee list
• FOUNTAIN, Stephanie Ann Cecilia, Reverend — director, appointed 19/11/2024on trustee list
• MOORE, Christopher Kevin William, Reverend — director, appointed 19/11/2024on trustee list
• CLEMENTS, David James — director, appointed 02/12/2023on trustee list
• WOOD, Andrew Charles — director, appointed 25/03/2023on trustee list
• COLE, Guy Spenser, Reverend — director, appointed 12/10/2021on trustee list
• BROWN, Sarah Romilly Denner, Revd Canon — director, appointed 02/10/2021on trustee list
• JACKSON, Richard Charles, Right Reverend — director, appointed 07/01/2020on trustee list
• SELLAR, Nigel Anthony — director, appointed 01/01/2019on trustee list
• BUCK, William Ashley, Revd Preb — director, appointed 01/01/2019on trustee list
• CHEDZEY, Derek Christopher, The Venerable — director, appointed 09/10/2018on trustee list
• PRATLEY, Samuel Robin — secretary, appointed 18/08/2016

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

257 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (246 freehold); recorded price paid £4.1m. 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 ~1.6 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (74% 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: 4.3% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Andrew Charles Wood
• Andrew Terence Teale · trustee of 1 other charity
• Anna Kingsmill-Vellacott
• Charles Robson Houston
• David James Clements
• Emily Lauren Hill
• Marion Shirley Shuttleworth
• Nigel Anthony Sellar
• Rev CHRISTOPHER KEVIN WILLIAM MOORE · trustee of 2 other charities
• Rev Guy Spenser Cole
• Rev Stephanie Ann Cecilia Fountain
• Rev William Ashley Buck · trustee of 2 other charities
• The Right Reverend Richard Charles Jackson · trustee of 1 other charity
• The Venerable Samantha Jane Hustwayte · trustee of 1 other charity
• Venerable Derek Christopher Chedzey · trustee of 2 other charities
• Very Revd Sarah Romilly Denner Brown · trustee of 4 other charities

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

Operates in: Herefordshire · Shropshire

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 SHEFFIELD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE.

• SHEFFIELD DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £12.1m
• THE PETERBOROUGH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £10.1m
• WORD OF FAITH MISSION income £57k
• RETFORD BAPTIST CHURCH income £312k
• ST EDMUNDSBURY AND IPSWICH DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE income £11.1m
• FOUNDATION MATTERS income £366k

Side by side with its peers

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