THE SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST

Registered charity 270726 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

Providing grants and donations to other charities in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Causes: General Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

Latest income

£7.3m

Latest spending

£8.3m

Registered

1976

Accounts read

FY2024

Financial health, per its FY2024 accounts

The accounts state that the charity's unrestricted reserves stood at a surplus of £37,873, which is below the stated policy of retaining no reserves as overheads are low. The charity reported a net decrease in funds of £685,517 for the year, driven by charitable expenditure of £8,321,386 against total income of £7,329,607. The auditor confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting was appropriate with no material uncertainties identified.

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

What the accounts disclose

Reserves policy: no reserves are required (held: £38k)

“It is the Trustees’ policy not to retain reserves within the unrestricted fund as overheads are low and the grants that are made vary according to the income generated. As such no reserves are required to ensure the Trust’s continued operations.” — page 6

Per its FY2024 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.

Accounts audited by Dixon Wilson Audit Services LLP. Discloses 5 of 6 completeness components.

Funders the charity credits

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

John Swire & Sons Ltd — “We receive our funding from John Swire & Sons Ltd, the parent company of the Swire Group .” (source page)

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

Total income

£7.3m

Total spending

£8.3m

Cost of raising funds

£26k

Reserves (reported)

£0

Employees

Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (96% 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: 0.4% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.2%) (benchmarks).

Register events

Received assets from another charity (07/01/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

SAMUEL COMPTON SWIREchair · trustee of 3 other charities
Eleanor Juliet Swire
MARTHA ALLFREY
MR B. SWIRE · trustee of 3 other charities
Rupert Hogg

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

Operates in: Northern Ireland · Scotland · Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Financial year end	Income	Spending
31/12/2024	£7.3m	£8.3m
31/12/2023	£5.3m	£6.1m
31/12/2022	£4.3m	£5.0m
31/12/2021	£3.5m	£4.1m
31/12/2020	£5.1m	£4.3m

Common questions

Is THE SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST financially healthy?

Per its FY2024 accounts: The accounts state that the charity's unrestricted reserves stood at a surplus of £37,873, which is below the stated policy of retaining no reserves as overheads are low. The charity reported a net decrease in funds of £685,517 for the year, driven by charitable expenditure of £8,321,386 against total income of £7,329,607. The auditor confirmed that the use of the going concern basis of accounting was appropriate with no material uncertainties identified. Its FY2024 accounts were audited by Dixon Wilson Audit Services LLP.

Who funds THE SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST?

Funders whose own accounts filings name THE SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST as a grant recipient include BACK ON THE MAP LIMITED, THE HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY, NORTHUMBERLAND NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION, UNSEEN (UK).

Known funders

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

Funder	Year	Amount	Purpose (as stated by the funder)
BACK ON THE MAP LIMITED	FY2024	£30k	Hendon Eco programme staffing
THE HAPPY BABY COMMUNITY	FY2025	£28k	Breaking cycles of disadvantage.
BACK ON THE MAP LIMITED	FY2025	£22k	Swire Charitable Trust - Funding was provided towards staffing requirements for our Hendon Eco programme.
NORTHUMBERLAND NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION	FY2025	£10k	Volunteer programme in the National Park
UNSEEN (UK)	FY2025	£7k	Wellbeing Café

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.

Funder	Similar charities funded	Amount to them
THE JORDAN CHARITABLE FOUNDATION	1	£60k
THE HDH WILLS 1965 CHARITABLE TRUST	1	£3k
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF HOLY TRINITY HURDSFIELD	1	£3k

Charities like this

Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST.

JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST income £3.3m
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST income £1.9m
SWIRE 2765 income £2.2m
THE SCS TRUST income £166k
SWAZILAND CHARITABLE TRUST income £137k
THE STOCKWELL/CLIFFE CHARITABLE TRUST income £565k

Side by side with its peers

Charity	Income	Top pay band	Reserves vs policy	Fundraising cost	Going concern
THE SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST	£7.3m	—	unclear	—	no doubt
JOHN SWIRE 1989 CHARITABLE TRUST FY2024	£3.3m	—	unclear	—	no doubt
THE ADRIAN SWIRE CHARITABLE TRUST FY2024	£1.9m	—	above	—	no doubt
SWIRE 2765 FY2024	£2.2m	—	above	—	no doubt
THE SCS TRUST FY2024	£166k	—	within	—	no doubt
SWAZILAND CHARITABLE TRUST FY2025	£137k	—	above	—	no doubt

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