COMMUNITY FIRST

Registered charity 288117 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as COMMUNITY COUNCIL FOR WILTSHIRE

An independent charity working to improve the quality of life and the economic well-being of people in Wiltshire and Swindon.Community First provides technical advice, practical support and grant aid for a range of community based projects.

Objects

A (1) TO PROMOTE ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY IN THE WILTSHIRE AND SWINDON BY ASSISTING THE WORK OF STATUTORY AUTHORITIES AND VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS ENGAGED IN ADVANCING EDUCATION, FURTHERING HEALTH, RELIEVING POVERTY DISTRESS OR SICKNESS, IMPROVING THE SKILL OF COUNTY CRAFTSMEN, OR IN PURSUING ANY OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES. (2) TO PROMOTE AND ORGANISE CO-OPERATION IN THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE SAID PURPOSES AND TO THAT END TO BRING TOGETHER IN COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AUTHORITIES AND ORGANISATIONS ENGAGED IN THE FURTHERANCE OF THE SAID PURPOSES WITHIN THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNTY OF WILTSHIRE.TO PROTECT AND PRESERVE THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC BY:B (1) THE PROVISION MAINTENANCE OR IMPROVEMENT OF PUBLIC PARKS RECREATION GROUNDS OR OPEN SPACES; OR(2) THE MAINTENANCE REPAIR OR RESTORATION OF BUILDINGS OR STRUCTURES WHICH ARE PLACES OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP OR OF HISTORIC, SCIENTIFIC OR ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST; OR(3) THE PROVISION OF SOME OTHER PUBLIC AMENITYIN EACH CASE IN THE VICINITY OF A LANDFILL SITE, AND "LANDFILL SITE" SHALL HAVE THE MEANING ASCRIBED TO IT BY SECTION 66 OF THE FINANCE ACT 1996; AND BY(4) EDUCATING THE PUBLIC IN THE BENEFITS TO THE ENVIRONMENT OF SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES; OR(5) CARRYING OUT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INTO SUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND DISSEMINATING THE USEFUL RESULTS OF THAT RESEARCH; ANDSUSTAINABLE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES INCLUDING WASTE MINIMISATION, MINIMISATION OF POLLUTION AND HARM FROM WASTE, REUSE OF WASTE, RECYCLING OF WASTE, WASTE RECOVERY ACTIVITIES AND THE CLEARING OF POLLUTANTS FROM CONTAMINATED LAND.

Area of benefit: COUNTY OF WILTSHIRE

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 · Education/training · Economic/community Development/employment · Grant history (this charity is a funder) · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Wiltshire, South West, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2026 accounts

The accounts state that the charity ended the year with unrestricted free reserves of £345,335, which equates to seven months of central running costs, placing it above its stated policy target of three to six months. Although the charity reported a net deficit for the year due to the expenditure of restricted funding received in advance, the trustees confirm that resources are adequate to continue as a going concern with no material uncertainties identified.

Automated summary of the FY2026 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by David Owen & Co. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Year-over-year changes

• Reserves position vs the charity's own policy moved from "within" (FY2025) to "above" (FY2026).

Comparing this charity’s FY2025 and FY2026 accounts as analysed by this site.

In its annual return the charity told the Commission it is also regulated by: Financial Conduct Authority. This is the charity’s own declaration; it is not a rating and has not been verified by the Commission or by this site.

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
• 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 01757334 · Financial health read from its filings
• Trading subsidiary: COMMUNITY FIRST TRADING LIMITED Companies House 08360063

What the charity says about itself (2024/25)

From its own voluntary annual review / impact report — the charity’s account of its work, distinct from the statutory accounts analysed above.

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Lynn Gibson — Chief Executive (source)
• Harry Tipple — Deputy CEO (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.

• PHILLIPS, Catherine, Dr — director, appointed 18/06/2025on trustee list
• SLEVIN-BROWN, Fiona Catherine — director, appointed 15/11/2024on trustee list
• HUMPHREYS, Timothy — director, appointed 06/09/2024on trustee list
• BROOKS, Michael Henry — director, appointed 06/09/2024on trustee list
• SYLVESTER, Merope — director, appointed 01/06/2021on trustee list
• MOODY, James Richard — director, appointed 28/11/2016on trustee list
• BOOCOCK, Steven Derek — director, appointed 07/10/2015on trustee list
• HEARD, Edward William — director, appointed 12/09/2012on trustee list
• DIBBEN, Piers Farquhar — director, appointed 25/07/2007on trustee list

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

4 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (2 freehold). 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 31/03/2026)

Reported reserves equal ~1.4 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (82% 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: 2.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (26/10/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (14/10/2021) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (07/05/2019) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (26/04/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (06/05/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (24/02/2016) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Dr Catherine Phillips
• EDWARD WILLIAM HEARD
• Fiona Slevin-Brown
• JAMES MOODY
• Merope Sylvester
• Michael Brooks
• PIERS FARQUHAR DIBBEN
• Timothy Humphreys · trustee of 1 other charity

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

Operates in: Swindon · Wiltshire

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 COMMUNITIES 1ST.

• COMMUNITIES 1ST income £1.6m
• COMMUNITY FIRST OXFORDSHIRE income £576k
• COMMUNITIES FIRST WESSEX income £4.4m
• COMMUNITY FIRST YORKSHIRE LTD income £1.0m
• COMMUNITY FIRST IN HEREFORDSHIRE & WORCESTERSHIRE income £265k
• THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR WILTSHIRE & SWINDON income £3.1m

Side by side with its peers

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