Downside Abbey General Trust

Analysis

Downside Abbey General Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales, based in Radstock. It was registered in September 2014, 12 years ago. Its declared purposes cover general charitable purposes, education/training, religious activities and arts/culture/heritage/science, which this site groups under religion. Legally it is a charitable company (Companies House number 09124570). It says it makes grants to individuals, makes grants to organisations and provides other finance.

In the financial year ending September 2025, Downside Abbey General Trust reported income of £1.3m and spending of £2.9m, spending 234% of what it took in. Across the 5 years on record, from September 2021 to September 2025, income fell from £1.9m to £1.3m (-34%), an average of -9.8% a year. The sharpest change came in the year to September 2022, when income dropped by 35%. Over the whole period it spent 166% of the income it received.

Among 20,496 England and Wales charities whose main cause is religion and that reported income, Downside Abbey General Trust sits at the 97th percentile: it is larger than about 97% of them. Against every charity in England and Wales with reported income it ranks in the 95th percentile. Charities of a similar size with the same main cause include Counties (£1.2m), Soas Students' Union (£1.3m) and The Methodist Church - Chester and Stoke-On-Trent District (£1.2m).

In its latest detailed accounts, income came from charitable activities 38%, investments 34% and donations and legacies 15%. Gifts in wills alone brought in £10k. Charitable activities took 94% of spending and raising funds 0.1%. Grants to other organisations totalled £1.3m. Reserves of £19.0m would cover about 73 months of spending at that rate. It employed 7 people.

Data notes from the register: Spending has exceeded income in each of the last three reported years, so the charity has been drawing on reserves or other funds.