PORCHLIGHT

Registered charity 267116 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as CANTERBURY CYRENIANS LIMITED, EAST KENT CYRENIANS LIMITED

Porchlight is an independent registered charity working across Kent, East Sussex and Bexley. We help vulnerable and isolated people get support with their mental health, housing, education and employment. We provide children, young people and adults with the advice, guidance and skills to live independently in the future, play an active role in their local community and fulfil their potential.

Objects

A) THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, SICKNESS AND OLD AGE IN PARTICULAR (BUT WITHOUT IN ANY WAY LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING WORDS) FOR THE RELIEF OF THE POVERTY OF PERSONS WHO BY REASON OF MENTAL OR PHYSICAL INFIRMITY ARE UNABLE TO FULFIL THEIR DUTIES AS CITIZENS OR THEIR OBLIGATIONS TO THEIR EMPLOYERS.B) THE RELIEF OF THOSE IN NEED BY REASON OF YOUTH, AGE, ILL-HEALTH, DISABILITY OR FINANCIAL HARDSHIP IN PARTICULAR BY THE PROVISION OF HOUSING, HOSTELS, OTHER HOUSING ACCOMMODATION AND ANY ASSOCIATED AMENITIES, SERVICES, ADVICE, ADVOCACY, TRAINING OR ASSISTANCE.C) THE ADVANCEMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION IN (INCLUDING RESEARCH AND DISSEMINATING THE USEFUL RESULTS OF THAT RESEARCH INTO) THE PROVISION OF HOUSING AND HOUSING RELATED SERVICES TO THOSE IN NEED.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED

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 · Accommodation/housing · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Canterbury, South East, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net deficit of £1.4 million for the year, resulting in a reduction of total net assets to £2.6 million. The trustees have confirmed the going concern basis is appropriate, citing secure long-term contracts and property assets, with forecasts predicting a return to surplus in the following year.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by RSM UK 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
• Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
• 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.

Annual return filing dates (Charity Commission record)

Of its last 5 annual returns with a recorded received date, 1 was received after the due date: year ending 31/03/2024 (received 27/03/2025, 55 days after the 31/01/2025 due date).

Due and received dates as recorded in the Commission’s annual-return data; the data does not say whether an extension was agreed. Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Public fundraising profile: JustGiving — Porchlight (matched by registered charity number).

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

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~1.9 months of spending — below the median for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (79% 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: 5.1% of total income — above the median for charities its size (3.7%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (24/02/2026) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (22/10/2024) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (07/02/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Anna Linstead
• Anne Chapman · trustee of 1 other charity
• Claire Ellis-Waghorn
• Danica McLean
• Dr Jenny Robson
• Dr Nicholas Ward
• Emily Vince
• Patrick Fuller
• Stephanie Goad
• Thomas Abbott
• Timothy Child

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

Operates in: Bexley · East Sussex · Kent

Income and spending

Common questions

Known funders

Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.

Grants marked “Unverified read” were flagged by automated checks as possibly misread from the funder’s filed accounts. They are listed, but left out of the totals, counts and funder relationships this site computes.

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 STREETLIGHT UK.

• STREETLIGHT UK income £456k
• CROSSLIGHT ADVICE income £807k
• SUNDERLAND HEADLIGHT income £127k
• SearchLight Counselling & Therapy income £481k
• THE DASHLIGHT FOUNDATION income £169k
• BRIGHT LIGHTS PROJECTS income £310k

Side by side with its peers

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