THE BLUECOAT
Registered charity 700862 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register · also known as BLUECOAT ARTS CENTRE LIMITED
The Bluecoat is Liverpool's Centre for the Contemporary Arts.Our purpose is to open up creative possibilities for individuals and communities. We do this through a programme of exhibitions, live art and participation projects; through support to artists; by opening our 18th Century building to makers, traders and visitors; and by creating connections between Liverpool and the rest of the world.
Causes: Arts/culture/heritage/science · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts
The accounts state that the group incurred a net expenditure of £166,851 for the year, resulting in unrestricted general reserves of £235,387. This reserve level is below the charity's stated policy target of approximately £500,000, which represents three months of operating expenditure. The trustees confirm the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, citing funding commitments from core funders and careful cash flow management.
Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves policy: three months of unrestricted expenditure (held: £235k)
“The Directors have agreed that the reserves level should aim to cover at least three months’ operating expenditure, this being approximately £500,000.”
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Trading subsidiary: Trading at the Bluecoat Ltd
“The charity's wholly owned subsidiary , Trading at The Bluecoat Ltd, operates the cafe, the bistro, events and conferencing facilities at Bluecoat.” — page 11
Per its FY2025 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Mitchell Charlesworth (Audit) Limited. Discloses 4 of 6 completeness components.
Leadership, per the charity’s website
- Mary Cloake — Chief Executive (source)
- Bryan Biggs — Director of Cultural Legacies (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.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram · linkedin
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2025)
Cost of raising funds
£1.3m
Reported reserves equal ~1.1 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Charitable activities (60% 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: 57.4% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Knowsley · Liverpool City · Sefton · St Helens · Wirral
Income and spending
Common questions
Is THE BLUECOAT financially healthy?
Per its FY2025 accounts: The accounts state that the group incurred a net expenditure of £166,851 for the year, resulting in unrestricted general reserves of £235,387. This reserve level is below the charity's stated policy target of approximately £500,000, which represents three months of operating expenditure. The trustees confirm the accounts are prepared on a going concern basis, citing funding commitments from core funders and careful cash flow management. Its FY2025 accounts were audited by Mitchell Charlesworth (Audit) Limited.
Who funds THE BLUECOAT?
Funders whose own accounts filings name THE BLUECOAT as a grant recipient include THE FIDELITY UK FOUNDATION, THE PAUL MELLON CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN BRITISH ART, DR RADCLIFFE'S TRUST, HAYS TRAVEL FOUNDATION, SIR ROBERT GEFFERY'S ALMSHOUSE TRUST.
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 BLUE COAT PRE-SCHOOL UNIT AND BUSY BEES.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.