BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

Registered charity 297716 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · Wikidata: Q5001883 · Wikipedia · also known as B I T C · also registered in Scotland as SC046226 (OSCR)

Business in the Community is the oldest and largest business-led membership organisation dedicated to responsible business. We champion responsible business as essential for long term economic growth and resilience.

Objects

2.1 THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE: 2.1.1 THE RELIEF OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY BY PROMOTING THE PRACTICAL INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT OF COMPANIES, FIRMS, VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES, IN ADVANCING INDUSTRY AND COMMERCIAL AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE BY CREATING OR ASSISTING IN THE CREATION OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR EMPLOYMENT IN AREAS WHERE INVOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT IS CAUSING POVERTY, HARDSHIP AND DISTRESS OR PHYSICAL OR MENTAL ILL HEALTH; 2.1.2 TO ADVANCE EDUCATION BY THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH AND THE PUBLICATION OF THE USEFUL RESULTS THEREOF RELATING TO THE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE; 2.1.3 OTHERWISE TO RELIEVE POVERTY, ADVANCE EDUCATION, PROMOTE EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY AND FURTHER OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES WHICH ARE BENEFICIAL TO THE PUBLIC BY PROMOTING THE PRACTICAL INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT OF COMPANIES, FIRMS, VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS, LOCAL AUTHORITIES AND INDIVIDUALS IN SUCH PURPOSES PARTICULARLY IN THE COMMUNITIES IN WHICH THEY HAVE OPERATIONAL INTERESTS. 2.1.4 THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY PROMOTING THE PRACTICAL INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT OF COMPANIES, FIRMS, VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS, AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN PROTECTING AND PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE COURSE OF THEIR ACTIVITIES.

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: General Charitable Purposes · website · Get email alerts

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

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity reported a net decrease in total funds of £985k for the year ended 30 June 2025, driven by a lack of equivalent large donations compared to the prior year and reduced membership and advisory income. Per the trustees' report, free unrestricted reserves of £253k are significantly below the policy-required minimum of £2,179k, though the charity maintains a going concern status through cost reductions and strategic partnerships.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Crowe U.K. LLP. Discloses 5 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
• 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 01619253
• Trading subsidiary: BITC TRADING & ADVISORY LTD. Companies House 02210750 · Financial health read from its filings

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.

• LEWIS, Paul Gareth — director, appointed 12/01/2026on trustee list
• HARRISON, Peter — director, appointed 08/12/2023on trustee list
• BAHROLOLOUMI, Zahra Shiva — director, appointed 15/11/2023not on trustee list
• DAVIES, Victoria Anne — director, appointed 15/11/2023on trustee list
• BHATIA, Raman — director, appointed 04/11/2021on trustee list
• CHARLES-JONES, Lucinda Claire — director, appointed 29/04/2020on trustee list
• ROSE, Alison, Dame — director, appointed 06/02/2020on trustee list
• HUTTON, Richard John — director, appointed 12/07/2016on trustee list
• WOLFENDEN, Lesley Ann — secretary, appointed 25/04/1997

Official officers record.

Property (HM Land Registry)

3 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (0 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 30/06/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~0.2 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.6 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (92% 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).

Register events

• Received assets from another charity (05/02/2020) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
• Received assets from another charity (26/04/2017) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.

Trustees · trustee networks

• Peter Harrisonchair
• Dame Alison Rose
• Lucinda Charles-Jones
• Paul Gareth Lewis · trustee of 1 other charity
• RICHARD HUTTON
• Victoria Anne Davies
• Zahra Shiva Bahrololoumi CBE

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

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

Income and spending

Common questions

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 SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUST.

• SOCIAL BUSINESS TRUST income £7.1m
• THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION income £313k
• THE PRODUCTIVITY GROUP income £3.0m
• BEIGHTON COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP income £28k
• BETTER COMMUNITY BUSINESS NETWORK LIMITED income £148k
• OSPREYS IN THE COMMUNITY income £714k

Side by side with its peers

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