Charity number: 1164021
The Blagrave Trust CIO Report and financial statements For the year ended 31 December 2025
Reference and administrative information for the year ended 31 December 2025
Charity number 1164021 Registered address The Blagrave Trust Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS Trustees Trustees who served during the period and up to the date of this report were as follows: Segun Olowookere Chair Samuel Tarff Finance Lead Trustee Clare Cannock Safeguarding Lead Trustee (resigned Jan 2025) Troy Norbert Co-Vice Chair (joined Sep 2025) Jo Campling Co-Vice Chair (joined Sep 2025) Becca Weighell Safeguarding Lead Trustee (joined Sep 2025) Daze Aghaji Boudicca Pepper Edward Jacobs (resigned Feb 2026) Barbara Ojei Agwaziam Naomi Ambrose (resigned Oct 2025) Hannah Paterson (resigned Jun 2025) Nasra Ayub Reema Desai (joined Nov 2025) Senior Management Team Eli Manderson Evans CEO Tessa Hibbert Head of Grants Valeria Tavares Chief Operating Officer Marie Benton Head of Communities and Partnerships (joined Apr 2025) Staff Team Geraldine Warren Finance and Governance Manager Rochell Rowe Youth Engagement and Inclusion Manager Callum Pethick Youth Led Change Manager Amatullah Blain Grants Officer Danny Newton Climate and Policy Manager Hannah Ogundana Comms Officer Jhemar Jonas Challenge & Change Officer (joined Apr 2025, resigned Sep 2025) Amrita Patel Executive Assistant and Team Manager (joined May 2025) Demetri Addison Challenge & Change Officer (joined Nov 2025) Gray Hutchins Regional Programme Manager (joined Nov 2025)
Auditor
Sayer Vincent LLP, Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor, 110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG
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Reference and administrative information for the year ended 31 December 2025
Chair’s Introduction
2025 for Blagrave was a year where the whole organisation (trustees, staff and advisers) went on a learning journey to help us develop a new strategy that we plan to launch in 2026.
The focus remains the same - investing in and empowering young people, but with more intention and longevity. Our learning took us back, looking at Blagrave’s past, the present where we continuously try to listen and reflect. This has been all to help us make brave and bold decisions about what we see as being vital for young people in the future.
We hope to build on our last strategy where we shared our learnings and review publicly . This review highlighted and reflected on Blagrave supporting over 250 partners during the strategy period (2022 - 2025), where youth led change was a key impact area of focus. We hope that Blagrave has been able to influence other funder’s approaches through listening and being more flexible with funding for partners. We took away some honest reflections around the gaps our support did not reach. Young people would have liked us to do more around climate and reaching the most marginalised people and communities. Young people continue to lead the way, reminding us that justice is not abstract. It is lived, local and urgent.
The learning journey has been insightful, challenging and fun, but it has required honesty, humility and a willingness to sit with some discomfort. This is something that we have and continue to acknowledge as we prepare to guide the Trust to and through its next strategic horizon.
Over the year we were able to support 138 partners and pay out £2,097,000 in grants across several different programmes. We worked with Ten Years Time around our community of practice which has become a space for learning, unlearning and collective action. The audit recommendations encouraged us to build confidence in “having challenging conversations that will progress the journey” Whilst we are seeing this confidence grow across staff, trustees and partners it remains an area where we need to sit in discomfort until the discomfort becomes comfortable.
In 2025, the third iteration of the Challenge & Change Fund was co-created with young advisers, launched and gained some traction, funding 38 young leaders with £10,000 grants with a strong - emphasis on lived experience. We were also able to include 13 climate justice grants as part of the Fund.
We said goodbye to trustees Naomi Ambrose and Eddie Jacobs who had both served on the board since 2021, as well as Hannah Paterson who served as a trustee for two years. We welcomed our two Co-Vice Chairs, Troy Norbert and Jo Campling, alongside our new Trustee Safeguarding Lead Becca Weighell. Finally, Independent Member of the Finance and Investment Committee Reema Desai became a trustee as well.
Thank you to all my fellow trustees, the Blagrave team, our advisers all — the young people who continue to shape our purpose.
Segun Olowookere Chair of Trustees
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
The Blagrave trustees present their tenth report and the audited financial statements as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) for the charity’s year ended 31 December 2025.
Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the charity’s trust deed and the Statement of Recommended Practice Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.
Objectives and activities
The Blagrave trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year in January. This report looks at what the charity has achieved and the outcomes of its work in the reporting period. The Blagrave Trust reports the success of each key area of work and the benefits the charity has brought to the young people that it supports.
The trustees have referred to the advice contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.
Our vision is:
A world where all young people have hope, access to the support they need, a stake in society and influence over their futures.
Our mission is:
To bring lasting change to the lives of young people; investing in them as powerful forces for change; acting upon their right to be heard in pursuit of a just and fair society.
Our strategic objectives for 2021 were:
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Increasing civil society’s accountability to young people,
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Investing directly in young people to create change, and
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Ensuring better youth policy directly informed by young people.
At the end of 2021 at the November board meeting, the trustees signed off on our strategy for 2022 2026 with the above objectives continuing as we move forward.
In the pursuit of these objectives our 2022-2026 strategy, developed with young people, identifies several further outcomes that our commitments aim to achieve:
Increasing civil society's accountability to young people
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Young people have their rights respected and needs met by the services that exist to support them.
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Young people have influence on the organisations, systems and institutions that exist to serve them.
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A responsive and collaborative youth sector emerges post-Covid-19.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Investing in young people to create change
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Young people mobilising to create change in their communities have a tried and tested route to access both funding and support for their work.
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Increased numbers of impactful youth-led campaigns.
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The UK field of youth-led change grows and builds over time, as distinct and separate from the wider youth sector.
Investing in better youth policy
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Young people that are the most likely to be excluded from policy decisions are better represented.
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Young people with experience of social injustice gain agency and power as part of policymaking.
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Increased sector knowledge about how to enable young people to influence policy on local and national levels.
Achievements and performance
The charity’s main activities and who it seeks to support are described below. All its charitable activities focus on young people and are undertaken to further the Blagrave Trust’s charitable purposes for the public benefit. Year on year, the Blagrave Trust’s approved grants have been steadily increasing since we became a CIO. The Blagrave Trust does not focus on specific themes of work – rather, we recognise the interconnected nature of issues and their relevance to young people’s lives. This means we fund a wide range of organisations focusing on many different areas, some of which are described in what follows.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Strategic objective 1: Increasing civil society’s accountability to young people
Throughout the year we continued our work towards our strategic objective to increase the voluntary and community sector’s ability to support, listen, and be held accountable by young people.
In our Regional Programme, we fund outstanding youth organisations in the Southeast of England to ensure that young people facing multiple challenges have their rights and needs met. Activities In this programme enable partners to act in collaboration: with each other, within their local areas and sectors, and with the young people they serve.
Regional programme:
Our Regional Programme supports a variety of grassroots and growing youth organisations in the counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, and Wiltshire. Youth sector organisations were able to apply for unrestricted grants via our website up until the end of September 2025. Following initial eligibility checks, these Expressions of Interest were shared with our Regional Advisers for feedback, with their input part of our delegation process. Success rates in the programme increased slightly to 13% (2024: 9%). This resulted in the programme welcoming 12 new partners [7 of these on their second tenure], bringing our total to 51.
The average time to respond to Expressions of interest was just over a month, and across 100% of responses (2024: 94%), we continue to be widely recommended by partners as both a proportionate and supportive funder. Partners joining the Regional Programme throughout 2025 were all in receipt of 3-year funding, with the majority of funding in this area being
unrestricted. With most of our Partners on this programme falling into the £100k-£500k income bracket, many were facing Increased financial risk and shared concerns over drastically increasing core costs. Our flexibility to provide unrestricted grants continues to be warmly welcomed by the youth sector. Grants ranged from £10,000-£35,000, with the average grant issued being just over £19,000 per annum, for 3 years.
Leading themes across the programme continued to evolve based on the ever-changing climate for the young people we seek to serve. Throughout 2025, significant areas of focus included projects that supported young people experiencing economic disadvantage, organisations supporting migrants, refugees and young people going through asylum process, and projects which centred Black & Racially Minoritised communities. Our funding of LGBTQ+ projects also continued to grow, as did the number of our partners supporting young people with disabilities.
Geographical distribution of grant partners across the region stayed approximately the same as the previous year, with a leading presence in Sussex and Hampshire/IOW. The programme continued to serve areas ranked highest on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD, 2019), influenced by the input from our Regional Advisers who held both professional and lived experience across the region. Their input over the year was significant, as they highlighted areas under-served In the region, alongside considerations for reaching young people living in rural communities and working communities facing challenges exacerbated by the wider political climate.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Responding to external climate
Alongside grant funding, the Regional Programme continued to offer additional support to partners recognising the additional challenges that come with being led by lived experience. During 2025, we were pleased to be able to offer additional wellbeing support to groups working on migrant and refugee justice. On a separate occasion, we also offered a 10% uplift to partners working with young trans and non-binary people, in recognition of the escalating impact of the UK Supreme Court ruling.
Wellbeing support
Throughout the year, all Regional Programme partners were given a well-being grant of £1,000 to be used towards team support offering and/or activities that them bring joy. Partners told us that this recognition and responsive support provided reassurance in times of need, often when sector leadership can feel most stretched, alongside practical resource to enable a way forward for their teams.
Additional support
Throughout the year we support our partners to share experience and learning. We continued to run our popular peer learning group into Spring 2025, bringing partners together to discuss practical action to promote youth voice within their organisations. Beyond this, we organised a successful Partners Day for over 40 partners in Portsmouth, which was co-curated with input from Regional Advisers and feedback from previous years. Workshops covered included income generation and fundraising and developing innovative approaches to team well-being. Panels throughout the day centred young leaders in partner organisations Blossom LGBT+ and Youth The Gap CIC, alongside allied supporters including the National Lottery Community Fund.
The work we are funding is both varied and dynamic, with a significant focus on supporting organisations to centre youth voice and leadership. Activities include provision of youth work, day centres for insecurely housed, options for respite from care responsibilities and access to information or advice. Second to this, many partners offer upskilling and development opportunities, such as access to alternative education and/or skills that support employment or volunteering. We work closely with our partners to understand how they continue to evolve services in response to need, and what difference this makes to the hundreds of young people they continue to support.
Highlights of our funding this year included:
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New funding for African Activities CIC : Based near Southampton, they are a Black-led organisation that aims to enrich cultural understanding and foster inclusivity through dynamic artistic experiences including drumming, storytelling, dance and visual arts.
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Continued funding for Hummingbird Project , who support young migrants, refugees and those going through the asylum process. Based in Brighton & Hove, they offer empowerment opportunities for youth voice alongside well-being activities.
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New funding was agreed for Winchester & District Young Carers who offer information and joyful activities to young carers aged 18-25 in their area.
In addition, the three endowment funds made by Blagrave in the region to three regional Community Foundations – Wiltshire, Berkshire, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight – continue to generate small grants used to benefit local people.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Closure to new applications
In the light of Blagrave's incoming strategy in 2026, we announced the closure of the programme to new applicants In September 2025. In preparation for this, we communicated both directly with partners, alongside developing a public-facing FAQ for our website. We continue to welcome queries, signpost to our list of fellow funders and arranged online Q&A sessions with allied funders such as The National Lottery Community Fund. Autumn also saw the conclusion of our panel of Regional Advisers, who joined us for a celebration and evaluation event. Advisers shared the impacts of being a part of the advisory panel included developed their understanding of diversity and inclusion, alongside building confidence in professional skills, and their understanding of grantmaking.
Challenge and Transform
We continued to reserve specific funding stream for grassroots groups led by and for Black and racially minoritised communities. This year we worked with youth organisation Politely Rebellious In Portsmouth, who recruited a panel of youth advisers to make nominations for funding of four groups making an Impact for young people in the area. We funded four new partners supporting a range of work Including arts, heritage, and physical activity. In addition, we commissioned some research into the needs of Black and racially minoritised groups In Hampshire, which demonstrated significant gaps that we Intend to address in the coming year.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Strategic Objective 2: Investing directly in young people to create change
In our 2022-2026 strategy, we made a clear commitment to deepening and scaling our investment in youth-led change with the second of our three strategic objectives focused on investing in young people to create change (SO2). We committed to do this by funding young people directly and building the infrastructure support they need. In 2025, we continued with the same annual priorities for this strategic objective: improving how we fund young people and investing in building the field of youth led change.
Challenge and Change
2025 has been a busy year for Challenge and Change (C&C), We worked alongside The Centre for Knowledge Equity and our 5 incredible advisers to finalise the plans for the programme, rebrand the programme to better reach who we’re here to serve, launch, make decisions on who to fund and ran the welcome day.
We ended up funding 37 partners in total (after agreeing to fund 38 but one applicant’s
communication stopped and we couldn’t then award them the grant and did not have enough time to reallocate to another applicant).
Whilst we had initially planned to award 13 grants to Climate justice related work, due to limited applications relating to climate justice, we only ended up awarding 7 climate justice related grants, with trustees agreeing to reallocate the climate related money towards other social justice themes so we could continue to fund strong youth led work.
In November 2025, we ran the welcome day for the partners to receive relevant training and information ahead of signing terms and conditions and all payments/first instalments being released in December 2025.
Pathways Fund
“The Pathways Fund was the first time we were given a chance to show we could manage money, plan, deliver, and grow. That chance should be the norm, not the exception.” Radical Body Arts
The Pathways Fund was created by the Blagrave Trust to fill a critical gap in the funding landscape for youth-led and lived-experience-led organisations. Launched publicly in 2023, the Pathways Fund provides core, flexible funding of £20,000–£30,000 per year for three years to youth-led groups across England. The programme supports the “Grow” stage of the changemaker journey: organisations that have demonstrated impact, built credibility, and now need time, trust and multiyear investment to strengthen their infrastructure, expand their reach, and develop their leadership.
This year, we refined our support offer in response to feedback from last year to include:
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An in-person cohort meet up (attended by 22 partners and building on last year by piloting a successful surgery session with expert consultants covering campaign, charity law, fundraising, programme management, and accounting)
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Quarterly catch ups with our Youth Led Change Manager (with 55 catch-up calls taking place throughout the year)
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£1,000 Organisational Development Budget (which was accessed by 14 partners and supporting them to develop their teams, fundraise, strengthen their internal operations and develop strategic plans)
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
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£1,000 Wellbeing Grant (which was accessed by all 20 partners and enabled partners to go on team retreats, access therapy and counselling, and give their team discreet wellbeing allowances)
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Safeguarding Support (which was accessed by 3 partners who now all have their own robust and compliant safeguarding policies and procedures in place)
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Storyteller Support (which was accessed by 10 partners and included blogs on our website, and specialist comms support for their own platforms)
We also funded three new grant partners, through direct approach following desk research and consultation with the field, aimed at redressing the lack of trans and disability justice groups in the cohort. Our three new partners have now taken the total number of grant partners funded through the Pathways Fund to 20 partners, with core grant commitments totalling £1.33m.
As this year marked our pilot cohort of leaving the programme, we wanted to take stock and review the programmes impact. This led to us commissioning a Pathways Fund Storyteller who produced a qualitative impact report titled Pathways Fund: A Route for Youth Led Change to Flourish showcasing partners stories, themes and learning, and the impact of the programme, as well as videographer to produce an impact video titled Introduction to the Pathways Fund.
Climate Justice Accelerator
The Climate Justice Accelerator (CJA) is an invitation-only programme which represents our first steps into funding for youth-led climate justice work. In 2025, we began delivery of our support offer which consisted of £2,500 of development budget, a £1,000 wellbeing grant, and £500 budget for attendance at events. Partners used their support budget for governance training and recruitment of a non-executive director, safeguarding support and training, Anti-racism training, and mental health first aid training. All partners gave feedback that the support offer was very welcome, in particular the wellbeing grant.
The CJA cohort met in May of 2025, alongside the Pathways fund cohort in an event held at Toynbee Hall. This was a great event, and we had people from all 4 organisations in attendance. As a reminder, the groups we funded are: Youngwilders, Fossil Free Pride, Grow To Know, and UK Youth Climate Coalition.
Finally, the CJA cohort have significantly grown, in line with the goals of the programme. 3 of the partners now report higher staff count and revenue than they did when they entered the programme. From their quarterly catch ups, all partners report that their resilience has grown.
Roots & Routes
Roots & Routes, a collaboration between The Blagrave Trust , OVO Foundation, The Co-op Foundation, The Energy Saving Trust Foundation, and Impatience Earth, was created to ensure that young people working on climate justice from communities least served and most impacted by it are resourced adequately to do their work. In 2025, we funded 5 new youth-led partners, which are: AWETHU, The Land Collective, Time to Grow, MAFIA Weekend, Earth Tenders, and Youth Climate Collaborative.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Roots & Routes was designed to support the whole infrastructure of youth-led climate changemaking. We funded 3 climate justice changemakers through our Challenge and Change programme and also made a contribution towards the infrastructure of climate justice changemaking.
Our contribution to infrastructure was informed by young people’s nominations. The eligibility criteria were strength of fit to climate justice and focus on providing infrastructure to young people. All funded organisations also had to be nominated by one of the youth-led partners listed above to be eligible for funding. This meant we ensured that the infrastructure provided to young people was relevant to them. The nominated infrastructure organisations were: Organic Lea, Centre For Sustainable Energy (Bright Green Future), Youth Environment Service, The Movements Trust, and Climate Majority Project
Youth Led Change Day
The Youth Led Change Day is our flagship annual event for young changemakers. As it states in the name, youth leadership and social change is at its core. It is a day led by and for changemakers aged 18-30 years old.
We decided to not deliver a Youth Led Change Day in 2025, following a review in early 2025 which led to us moving the date from the end of the year to springtime. This was due to staff and attendee illness and weather problems associated with previous years. The next Youth Led Change Day, will take place on Saturday 11[th] April in Birmingham. Themed “The Future is Ours”, the event will gather 120 - young changemakers and lived experience leaders from across England to connect, learn, and celebrate the work they are leading in their communities. We launched applications for the 2026 Youth Led Change Day at the end of 2025.
In 2025, we worked hard to refine the purpose of the day and make strategic moves to position the event as a sector-wide opposed to Blagrave only event, seeing the Youth Led Change Day as core infrastructure for building the field. We successfully secured funding partnerships with Esmée Fairbairn Foundation , Global Fund for Children , Paul Hamlyn Foundation , The National Lottery Community Fund , Tudor Trust , and Young Gamechangers Fund to support this shift. Allowing us to reach a wider range of young changemakers for the event beyond our own network.
Alliance for Youth Organising
In 2025, we made our second instalment of £100,000 to the Alliance for Youth Organising. The Alliance for Youth Organising is supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation , Esmée Fairbairn Foundation , and The Blagrave Trust and hosted by the Civic Power Fund .
The Alliance are an intergenerational group of organisers and campaigners from across the UK shifting power and money to young people, so they can work together to create change and organise towards social, economic, racial, disability, gender and environmental justice. They do this through funding and connecting groups and networks who provide the tools and support to strengthen the wider organising community for the long term. For example, those who provide training, mentorship, physical space, tech, research, campaign support, knowledge-sharing and who bring people together = the ‘infrastructure’.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
At the start of 2025, the Alliance made 10 grants to grassroots youth organising groups across England. During the year, they learnt from these grants and further refined their strategy and at the end of 2025, the Alliance launched their website and opened applications for two new funds, the Anchor Fund and Explore Fund, which closed in the first quarter of 2026 and grants will be announced in the Summer.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Strategic Objective 3: Ensuring better youth policy directly informed by young people
In 2024 we made the decision to stop new funding for SO3 so the focus in 2025 was on supporting our existing partners in the young people in policy cohort, as their grant periods came to an end. Their work includes democratic participation for young care leavers, participation in local consultations for neurodivergent young people and enabling access to home office policymaking for young migrants.
The partner support included providing each partner with a £1,000 Wellbeing grant which were used to seek further fundraising and to support staff wellbeing during difficult economic conditions. This ‘offboarding’ support also included a 1:1 chat with their Grant Manager to discuss other funding options as well as the provision of a document that outlined other funders of policy in the sector. This approach was influenced by learning we had done on ‘ending relationships well’. We wanted to ensure that partners received exactly the same quality of support at the end of their grants as they did at the start. We received good feedback from our partners about this, and learning was also fed into ending relationships in the regional programme too.
Other cross-organisational areas of progress
Anti oppression, and centring those we seek to serve in our work
In 2025 we continued our learning on anti-oppressive practice and in centring the people we seek to serve in all our work. Key progress and achievements include:
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Continued participation In the Ten Years Time Community of Practice. This programme aims to support Trusts and Foundations working on racial justice, and has provided us with masterclasses, learning resources and the opportunity for Black and racially minoritised staff to join regular wellbeing sessions. Our Internal Change Team led on embedding the learning within the staff team and Trustees.
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During the year we commissioned research into the origins of Blagrave wealth, which identified links with past extractive practices In England and abroad. Trustees are considering appropriate response to this as part of Blagrave's new strategy.
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Our new grants strategy, developed during the year, commits to embedding participatory practice in grant making wherever possible. Our advisers come from a range of backgrounds and bring stakeholder perspective on multiple issues including race, disability, neurodiversity, and mental health into our decision making.
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During the year we joined the Funder Racial Equity Alliance’s audit, which we completed last year, covering grants from July 2024 to July 2025.
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Following the conclusion of the first year of use of the DEI data standard to our application process, we're now able to analyse trends in our funding. We learned that, 55 out of 106 partners specified that their work targets specific groups of young people (the remainder said their work was open to all). Of these partners, 31 out of 55 have leadership that is represented by at least one of the groups their work targets.
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Our funding programme for young changemakers, Challenge & Change, serves a significantly diverse cohort. 58% of partners identified as being from a black and racially minoritised background with the same proportion of partners reporting to come from a working-
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
class background. As the Challenge & Change fund is led by and for, data collected on partners also offers insights into the beneficiaries of their work.
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Annual diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) monitoring of employees, trustees and advisers with results published on our website . Results are reviewed annually and feed into staff policies and procedures.
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Continued care around how we communicate externally, primarily via our website but also our public facing documents, to ensure that they appeal and are accessible to a diverse audience including young people.
Collaborating for wider change
We have been fortunate to continue working with a host of funders during this financial year, many of whom have made substantial or strategic financial contributions to our work. In particular, we were thrilled to receive substantial contribution to our unrestricted funding from the Nineteen Eighty-Nine Charitable Trust. This generous grant continues to enable us to scale our work and ambition appropriately and is making a significant difference to our ability to be ambitious in our strategy.
We also continued working closely with The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Paul Hamlyn Foundation on the Alliance for Youth Organising, which is detailed above. In addition, we continued our support for and hosted a pooled climate justice fund which launched in June 2025 and is called Roots & Routes. This new and exciting partnership brings together Blagrave, The Co-op Foundation, The Energy Saving Trust and OVO Foundation to bring much needed philanthropic resources to the intersection of young people and climate justice. We look forward to seeing how this work develops to meet the needs of young people fighting the climate crisis.
2025 truly was a powerful year of collaboration for Blagrave; we continued to work with many funders across our programmes of funding and we worked with a number of learning partners. We also convened several events such as the quarterly Peer Learning sessions we resource for our regional partners which are facilitated independently, enabling partners to collaborate with each other. We also worked hard to share our practice with other funders when it came to how to fund young people directly, sharing insights and top tips so that they can too develop funding programmes to resource young changemakers. We look forward to continuing this focus on collaboration across all of our work in 2026.
Climate
In 2025 we continued to act on our commitment to climate change which was established in 2019 when we became a founding signatory of the Funder Commitment on Climate Change . This agreement publicly commits us to play our part in climate change, whether it be through educating and learning; committing resources; stewarding our investments for a post-carbon future; or de-carbonising our own operations.
As mentioned, our pooled fund, Roots & Routes, aims to bring much needed levels of investment to young people working to address the climate crisis across England. We hope to influence the funding sector as a whole to focus more on funding for youth-led climate justice. Roots & Routes is an open-source programme, sharing learning and good practice with the wider sector at regular
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
intervals to influence this change. We have already started to see this change happen within our funding partners. Alongside t written reporting, we share this learning at events, including y the Association for Charitable Foundations, New Philanthropy Capital, and the Funder Collaborative Hub.
This fund has influenced our practice internally and even brought additional dedicated resource to our Challenge and Change fund to ensure that we dedicate spaces for young people working on climate justice issues to participate in the programme with tailored support to help their development. We look forward to learning more about how we can ensure more resource and support exists to support young people working for climate justice.
Safeguarding
In 2025, we built on our commitment to safeguarding by embedding learning, strengthening accountability, and deepening the support we offer to partners. Our approach remained grounded in the belief that effective safeguarding must reflect the lived realities of young people and the organisations working alongside them.
Safeguarding Learning & Development
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We delivered three internal safeguarding training sessions, and our due diligence and safer recruitment processes are now firmly embedded in organisational practice.
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New trustees received a comprehensive safeguarding induction, covering their responsibilities as trustees and Blagrave’s approach to safeguarding.
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Our Designated Safeguarding Officer completed a two-day designated safeguarding lead level training programme delivered by the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative, focused on safeguarding for funders.
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We maintained an active role within the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative, sharing with and learning from our peers.
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The Safeguarding Team continued to actively engage in external learning opportunities, including peer learning circles and collaborations with safeguarding leads from other organizations, helping ensure our approach remains reflective and responsive.
Safeguarding support offer for partners
- We continued to provide tailored safeguarding support to our youth led change partners. This intentional, relationship-based approach centres partners’ realities and avoids one-size-fits-all solutions. By the end of 2025, 38 partners were operating under Blagrave’s safeguarding arrangements, including all Challenge and Change partners. These shared arrangements help partners deliver their work as safely as possible while building confidence and capacity over time.
Safeguarding Committee
We welcomed a new Trustee Safeguarding Lead in 2025. The Committee met twice during the year, providing space for thoughtful discussion and joint reflection between trustees and the safeguarding team. Its work supported the shaping of our safeguarding priorities for 2025, including how Blagrave can use its role as a funder to influence better safeguarding practice both within the sector and among partners.
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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
Safeguarding challenges faced by partners and our response
In 2025, we introduced a new request for grant managers to report safeguarding and wellbeing trends emerging across their portfolios. This strengthens our ability to identify risks early and offer support that is timely, proportionate, and grounded in the realities partners are navigating. Key themes included:
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Shifts in the wider social context , with increased hostility directed at LGBTQIA+ communities, migrant justice groups, and Muslim-led organisations.
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Adaptations to programme delivery , with partners adjusting activities, locations, and methods to better protect staff and participants.
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A rise in online abuse , particularly targeting organisations working on social justice issues.
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Deteriorating staff mental health , leading to increased sickness absence and higher turnover across several organisations.
A central challenge raised by many partners is how to respond when state actors are the source of harm . This creates complex, and at times unsafe, environments for leaders and participants. These experiences reinforce the necessity of Blagrave’s contextual approach to safeguarding — one that understands risk as embedded in wider systems and seeks to support partners in navigating those systems safely.
One of Blagrave’s key responses to the wellbeing and safeguarding pressures faced by partners is the provision of dedicated wellbeing grants. These grants aim to ensure staff and volunteers have the space, support, and resources needed to work safely and sustainably. In 2026, we will review how best to continue and strengthen this support.
Staffing
2025 was another year of growth for the Blagrave staff team, as we prepared to launch our new strategic direction.
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As the Head of Grants took on broader responsibility for overall grant programmes strategy and team oversight, we introduced a Regional Programme Manager role to guide that programme through its transition toward our new strategic priorities.
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We also appointed a Head of Communities and Partnerships to deepen our work with local communities and cultivate new relationships that strengthen our impact on the young people we exist to serve.
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One of our flagship initiatives, Challenge and Change 3, was developed and launched during the year by the Youth Engagement Manager, supported by a newly created Challenge and Change Officer role and six advisers, previous Challenge and Change partners.
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Finally, we welcomed an Executive Assistant to the CEO and Team Manager, providing essential organisational support and enabling the CEO to focus on long-term direction and organisational leadership.
Feedback
In line with our commitment to being a funder that models transparent, open communication, minimal bureaucracy and a spirit of partnership, we continue to gather anonymous feedback from both rejected and successful applicants that gives partners an important opportunity to ‘speak truth to power’. We are proud to report that from partners that are receiving funding from us, all our responses to a range of questions relating to our application and reporting processes and approach
15
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
of the staff team, were scored a nine out of 10 and above. Across several questions we received 10 out of 10. Full feedback is available on our website including from charities who we were not able to fund and we encourage people to read the whole for the narrative reflections within.
Plans for the future
With our 2022 to 2026 strategy soon coming to an end, 2025 was a year of further consolidating our learning from the four years of our current strategy and using the insights to inform the development of our next organisational strategy. We worked with a number of external experts covering a wide variety of sectors and disciplines under the banner of ‘Strategy Navigators’. The Strategy Navigators alongside a strategy consultant supported us to refine our objectives moving forward, leaning into what we do well and reflecting on areas we found more challenging to advance change and support for changemakers in. We also worked closely with our funder peers to align our thinking and to ensure that Blagrave and the wider sector works as collaboratively as possible to ensure we meet the needs of the young people we exist to serve.
In 2025 we also ringfenced resource for a Strategic Fund through which we supported aligned work that takes forward our learning towards our long-term strategic goals. Our funding supported organisations or individuals who are demonstrating the changes we want to make, road clearing, or working outside our current funding priorities. We gave £123k in grants to Footwork Trust, Unloc , Rise365 , No Limits , Hive (Portsmouth Youth Alliance) , Hastings Commons and Coffee Afrik CIC for their inspiring and sector leading work.
For example:
-
Hastings Commons takes derelict and difficult buildings around the White Rock area of Hastings into community custody, transforming them into social spaces, homes and workspaces that will always be affordable and open to all.
-
Rise 365 is a Hackney based CIC changing young lives within their communities through a youth led approach. Their services are run by and for the community, providing mentorship, community, and support services to prevent youth violence and improve life skills.
We look forward to sharing our 2026 onwards strategy publicly in June 2026, when full information will become available on the Blagrave website .
In the meantime, here are a few examples of the many exciting plans we have for 2026:
-
Landing our incoming strategy in the summer.
-
Working with the funder community to work collaboratively on efforts to reduce the harm of our investment practices, grow transparency in this area and to create genuine opportunities for underrepresented communities to inform our investment decision making processes.
-
We will work to increase the engagement and support from across the funding sector for the Youth Led Change Day (YLCD)
16
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
- We will continue to work closely with our partners and aligned organisations to ensure that our resources and support offers are as useful as possible and nuanced to the needs of young people in 2026.
In addition to our funding offers we continue to build on our commitment to develop a culture of care at Blagrave in which we live our organisational values in all that we do. This work has been further propelled forward through the establishment of review and planning weeks which happen once a month as an opportunity for team member to reduce external meetings and focus on more strategic work and learning to support the development of 2026 and onwards strategy. This change in our approach felt fundamental to ensure we have the space to reflect and work more strategically in the strategy development process given that we made a decision to not pause our funding or ‘business as usual’ to develop our incoming strategy given the realities facing young people and organisations that support them and the importance of Blagrave’s work being sustained.
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission in exercising their powers and duties. The public benefit of the Charity’s activities is the support and enablement of vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people and these are achieved principally by the award and monitoring of grants.
Structure, governance and management
The Blagrave Trust CIO was established in October 2015, becoming operational from the 24[th] of March 2016 with assets transferred from the previous charity with effect from that date.
The board meets five times a year, in January, April, June, September and November, and gives detailed consideration to monitoring the progress of the Charity in achieving its performance and quality objectives. This includes reporting on returns from investments in securities and properties, grant strategies, approving grant applications and any other adjustments to costs, as well as the identification and management of risk. The board also meet an additional couple of times during the year for specific learning and reflection sessions.
The trustees and the Trust CEO have developed a budget for the year to achieve the objectives of the Charity and the Trust CEO has been charged by the board to be responsible for the delivery of this plan, reporting to the board on performance.
The trustees delegate responsibility for the day-to-day operation and management of the Charity to the Trust CEO. The Trust CEO attends charity networking events and meets with colleagues so that any relevant information, such as new Charity Commission requirements, and sectoral developments relating to good practice and impact measurement, are reported to the trustees.
Where necessary, the Trust seeks out other external professional and legal advice.
17
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
The Board Finance and Investment Committee (FIC) also continues to meet at least three times a year to ensure strong oversight and scrutiny of key aspects of our financial management and investments where necessary.
The Safeguarding Committee was introduced in 2023 as an advisory committee to the board of trustees with the objective to promote a culture where all those involved with Blagrave are kept safe from harm and have their welfare promoted. The Committee also considers how, as a funder, we can influence and support better practice in safeguarding in the sector and within our partners. The Safeguarding Committee meets twice a year and is composed of trustees and employees.
Financial review
Income for 2025 totalled £3,001,268 with £1,752,395 from the investment portfolio and rent on the investment properties. Expenditure totalled £3,485,398. After the net gain on listed investments of £1,056,494 and no net change on investment properties, the net position was a gain of £1,056,494.
Income from our property portfolios remains strong, producing a total income for the period of £880,151. Investment income was also strong, totalling £872,244, improving once again on the previous year’s performance. The overall value of our investments has grown but investment property value has fallen by £630,000 reflecting localized declines, driven by evolving stamp duty rules and changing buyer preferences.
Remuneration policy for key management personnel
Executive pay is determined by the trustees, with decisions being informed by comparison to salaries within the sector, and subject to a “value for money” test. Trustees review salaries, terms and conditions at the November board meeting, and on recommendation from the CEO implement any rises or changes.
Investment policy
The trustees pursue an investment policy designed to support current charitable expenditure while preserving and enhancing the long-term real value of the Trust’s assets. The investment objective is to achieve a total return, combining income and capital growth, that exceeds inflation over the medium to long term.
The Trust’s listed investments are managed by two appointed investment advisers, each operating within a medium-to-high risk mandate in order to achieve above-average returns over the long term. The commercial property portfolio is managed actively with the dual objective of generating a sustainable income stream alongside capital appreciation.
During the year, investment performance was regularly reviewed against the Trust’s objectives and relevant benchmarks. While market conditions remained challenging, the trustees consider that the diversified approach to asset allocation and active management contributed to a satisfactory overall return, with performance broadly in line with the Trust’s expectations of CPI +4%/+3.5% across the two investment portfolios respectively, compared with a net return of 11%/9% for the year. In terms of the property portfolio, income (£880k) exceeded projections (£732k). The trustees continue to monitor performance closely and will make changes where appropriate to ensure alignment with the Trust’s long-term objectives.
18
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
In addition, the trustees are actively engaging with peer foundations and investment specialists to explore how the Trust’s assets can better support its charitable mission, including consideration of future strategic changes to the investment approach.
Fundraising policy
The Blagrave Trust does not engage in public fundraising and does not use professional fundraisers or commercial participators. We, nevertheless, monitor the relevant fundraising regulations and codes to ensure compliance if relevant. During the year there was no non-compliance of these regulations and codes and the Trust received no complaints relating to its fundraising practice.
Reserves policy and going concern
We have agreed to maintain a liquid balance of Trust income equal to no less than six months of annual expenditure to meet forward grant commitments and provide stability in the event of any deterioration in returns from our investments (perhaps resulting from a downturn in the economy) and provide a safeguard against the need to draw on Trust capital. Six months of annual expenditure for the current period equates to £1.74million to ensure our cash flow and reserves are healthy.
The Finance and Investment Committee continue to review this regularly and are satisfied that we are maintaining an appropriate level of liquidity whilst ensuring that excessive funds are not accumulated. To maintain this balance, we have a dedicated cash account with one of our investment managers (Cazenove) which is utilised to both allow for short-term returns and the draw down of cash to fund activities. At 2025 year end the balance for this cash account was £1.65million
The trustees have identified no significant short- or medium-term financial risks to the charity’s continued operations, and, therefore, the accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis.
Risk
We broadly minimise investment risk through the maintenance of a diverse stock market and property portfolio; finance risk by the preparation and monitoring of budgets and clear financial process; strategic risk by the maintenance of good practice in the allocation of grants; and operational risk and regulation compliance risk through the regular review of activities and the use of professional advisers where necessary.
Throughout 2025 Blagrave Trustees reviewed risk and our risk matrix. This risk matrix is an internal document designed to be used as a live document to understand the risks of our work at any time. Given the many shifting realities that inform our work, which also have significant impacts upon the risk as we perceive it as a Trust, we sought to spend more time thinking about risk beyond the risk matrix. We understand that risk is constantly changing and evolving and that some areas require more space and time to better understand the full spectrum of associated risk, mitigation and our risk tolerance as an organisation.
In 2025, we continued to actively identify and manage safeguarding risks across the organisation and in our work with partners. The Board’s Safeguarding Committee met twice over the course of the year and provided oversight of our safeguarding approach and practices. All new trustees received safeguarding training as part of their induction, covering both their governance responsibilities and Blagrave’s specific safeguarding context. We strengthened our safeguarding due diligence
19
Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 December 2025
processes and upskilled grants manager to have better conversations with grants partners on safeguarding processes and culture.
Risk in relation to our grants is an area in which the Trust is extremely active in our risk analysis. We continue to regularly report to our board on an ongoing basis regarding the risk analysis of any new or existing grant partners. All high-level risk grants that are identified automatically go straight to the Board of Trustees for their consideration and potential approval or rejection.
Statement of trustees’ responsibilities
Law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the charity’s financial activities during the period, and of its financial position at the end of the period. In preparing financial statements, giving a true and fair view, the trustees should follow best practice and:
-
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
-
observe the methods and principals in the Charities SORP;
-
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
-
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
-
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and, hence, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Independent auditor
Sayer Vincent LLP were re-appointed as the charity’s auditor during the period and has expressed its willingness to continue in that capacity.
This report was approved by the trustees on the 30[th] of June 2026 and signed by:
Segun Olowookere Chair of Trustees
20
Independent auditor’s report for the members of The Blagrave Trust
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of The Blagrave Trust (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
-
Give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended
-
Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice
-
Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on The Blagrave Trust’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other Information
The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with
21
Independent auditor’s report for the members of The Blagrave Trust
the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
-
The information given in the trustees’ annual report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements;
-
Sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
-
The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
-
We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit
Responsibilities of trustees
As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in
22
Independent auditor’s report for the members of The Blagrave Trust
respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.
Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:
-
We enquired of management and the Finance and Investment Committee, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to:
-
Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
-
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;
-
The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
-
We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
-
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience.
-
We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
-
We reviewed any reports made to regulators.
-
We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
-
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
-
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities . This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
23
Independent auditor’s report for the members of The Blagrave Trust
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity's trustees as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
3 July 2026
Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor 110 Golden Lane, London, EC1Y 0TG
Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006
24
The Blagrave Trust
Statement of financial activities
For the year ended 31 December 2025
| Restricted £ 240,000 - - - 5,000 |
Unrestricted £ 1,000,000 880,151 872,244 3,089 784 |
2025 Total £ 1,240,000 880,151 872,244 3,089 5,784 |
Restricted £ 161,667 - - - - |
Unrestricted £ 1,021,568 890,627 668,191 3,514 261 |
2024 Total £ 1,183,235 890,627 668,191 3,514 261 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 245,000 | 2,756,268 | 3,001,268 | 161,667 | 2,584,161 | 2,745,828 |
| - - 512,860 99,606 - |
335,079 174,811 2,092,303 261,422 9,857 |
335,079 174,811 2,605,163 361,028 9,857 |
- - 232,185 45,171 - |
390,253 151,641 2,297,344 249,612 3,255 |
390,253 151,641 2,712,837 111,475 3,255 |
| 612,466 | 2,873,472 | 3,485,938 | 277,356 | 3,092,105 | 3,369,461 |
| (367,466) - - |
(117,204) (630,000) 1,686,494 |
(484,670) (630,000) 1,686,494 |
(115,689) - - |
(507,944) - 398,672 |
(623,633) - 398,672 |
| (367,466) 464,574 |
939,290 (464,574) |
571,824 - |
(115,689) 86,105 |
(109,272) (86,105) |
(224,961) - |
| 97,108 80,000 |
474,716 39,530,497 |
571,824 39,610,497 |
(29,584) 109,584 |
(195,377) 39,725,874 |
(224,961) 39,835,458 |
All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Expenditure allocation has been restated for the prior year. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 15 to the financial statements.
25
The Blagrave Trust
Balance sheet
As at 31 December 2025
| As at 31 December 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note Fixed assets: 9 10 11 Current assets: 12 Liabilities: 13 15 Tangible assets Investment properties Investments Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Unrestricted funds: Total charity funds The funds of the charity: Restricted funds Total net assets Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net current assets |
£ 85,957 833,424 |
31 December 2025 £ 29,667 11,670,000 27,995,514 |
£ 88,720 1,169,415 |
31 December 2024 £ 37,321 12,300,000 26,315,224 |
| 39,695,181 487,140 |
38,652,545 957,952 |
|||
| 919,381 (432,241) |
1,258,135 (300,183) |
|||
| 40,182,321 | 39,610,497 | |||
| 177,108 40,005,213 |
80,000 39,530,497 |
|||
| 40,182,321 | 39,610,497 |
Approved by the trustees on 30 June 2026 and signed on their behalf by
S Olowookere Chair of Trustee
26
The Blagrave Trust
Statement of cash flows
For the year ended 31 December 2025
| For theyear ended 31 December 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Note 16 Movement in cash held by investment manager Cash flows from operating activities Net cash used in operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends, interest and rents from investments Proceeds from sale of investments Purchase of investments Net cash provided by investing activities Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year |
£ £ (2,097,679) 1,755,484 20,009,768 (19,650,571) (352,993) 1,761,688 (335,991) 1,169,415 833,424 31 December 2025 |
£ £ (2,159,726) 1,559,079 8,726,722 (7,177,291) (1,307,873) 1,800,637 (359,089) 1,528,504 1,169,415 31 December 2024 |
||
| (335,991) 1,169,415 |
(359,089) 1,528,504 |
|||
| 833,424 | 1,169,415 |
27
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
- 1 Accounting policies
a) Statutory information
The Blagrave Trust is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission in England & Wales. The registered office and operational address Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS.
b) Basis of preparation
The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) - (Charities SORP FRS 102) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.
The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair view’. This departure has involved following Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.
Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note. The accounts are prepared using values but presented in the financial statements to the nearest £1. This may cause small discrepancies in the financial statements.
c) Public benefit entity
The charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.
d) Going concern
The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the CIO's ability to continue as a going concern.
The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting year.
e) Income Income is recognised and included in the accounts when the CIO has entitlement, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met or are fully within the control of the CIO, receipt of the income is probable and the amount can be measured reliably.
f) Interest receivable Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
- g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT
All expenditure is included on an accruals basis and is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
-
Costs of raising funds relate to the professional costs incurred by the charity in managing the investment portfolios, and the associated support costs.
-
Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of grants undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs
-
Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
h) Fund accounting Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets their criteria is charged to the fund. Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes of the entity.
i) Grants payable Provision for grants are made once the CIO has made a commitment at a meeting of the Trustees and this has been communicated to the grantee. The CIO uses annual reviews to determine whether funding is provided in the subsequent years of a recurring obligation and retains the discretion to terminate a grant. For this reason, an immediate liability arises only for the first year of the funding commitment.
- j) Tangible fixed assets Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost or donated value less depreciation. The agreed threshold at which transactions are recognised as fixed assets is when the cost of a single item exceeds £2,000.
Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset over its expected useful life as follows:
-
Leasehold property improvements over the term of the lease
-
Plant and machinery 20% reducing balance
-
k) Investment properties
Investment properties are included in the balance sheet at their market value and are not depreciated.
Listed investments
Listed investments are included in the balance sheet at their market value and realised and unrealised gains and losses are shown net in the statement of financial activities.
28
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
1 Accounting policies (continued)
l) Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
m) Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
n) Creditors and provisions
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the CIO has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
o) Pensions
The Blagrave Trust operates a defined contribution scheme for its employees.
p) Financial instruments
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measure at their settlement value.
p) Operating leases (Lessor)
Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.
2 Income from donations
| Esmeé Fairbairn Charitable Trust Energy Saving Trust Nineteen Eighty Nine Charitable Trust Children England Ellis Campbell Charitable Foundation Children in Need Co-op Foundation Global Fund for Children Tudor Trust Paul Hamlyn Foundation Ovo Charitable Foundation Total income from |
Restricted £ 5,000 40,000 - - - - 80,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 100,000 240,000 |
Unrestricted £ - - 1,000,000 - - - - - - - - |
2025 Total £ 5,000 40,000 1,000,000 - - - 80,000 5,000 5,000 5,000 100,000 |
Restricted £ - - - - 80,000 66,667 15,000 - - - - |
Unrestricted £ - - 1,000,000 21,568 - - - - - - - |
2024 Total £ - - 1,000,000 21,568 80,000 66,667 15,000 - - - - |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | 1,240,000 | 161,667 | 1,021,568 | 1,183,235 |
29
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
3a Analysis of expenditure (current year)
| Analysis of expenditure (current year) the yearended 31 December 2025 |
|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants awarded (note 4) Charitable support costs for partners Staff costs (note 6) Investment manager fees Investment property manager fees Investment property expenses Consultancy Linkenholt Countryside Adventure lease costs Travel and subsistence Rental and IT Administrative costs-general Conference and networking Subscription and membership costs Governance Depreciation Loss on assets written off Audit, accountancy and legal Support costs Governance costs Total expenditure 2025 |
Raising funds- investment properties £ - - - - 99,719 137,574 - - - - - - - - - - - |
Raising funds- listed securities £ - - - 77,025 - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Charitable activities | Governance costs £ - - - - - - 19,498 - - - - - - 22,779 - - 16,200 |
Support costs £ - - 531,956 - - - - - 27,714 102,862 18,921 11,999 12,758 1,892 7,332 - 8,379 |
2025 Total £ 2,096,674 177,474 531,956 77,025 99,719 137,574 124,823 9,857 27,714 102,862 18,921 11,999 12,758 24,671 7,332 - 24,579 |
2024 Total £ 2,093,950 111,475 411,442 79,044 103,627 214,029 183,308 3,255 19,839 61,754 25,085 9,753 10,067 4,557 7,412 482 30,382 |
||
| Grant making £ 2,096,674 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Charitable support costs for partners £ - 177,474 - - - - 105,325 - - - - - - - - - - |
Linkenholt Countryside Adventure £ - - - - - - - 9,857 - - - - - - - - - |
|||||||
| 237,293 90,477 7,309 |
77,025 90,477 7,309 |
2,096,674 470,478 38,011 |
282,799 72,381 - 5,848 |
9,857 - - |
58,477 - (58,477) |
723,813 (723,813) - |
3,485,938 - - |
3,369,461 - - |
|
| 335,079 | 174,811 | 2,605,163 | 361,028 | 9,857 | - | - | 3,485,938 | 3,369,461 |
Consultancy costs have been moved from ‘Grant making’ to ‘Charitable support costs for partners’ in the current and prior year figures in acknowledgement that these represent support for partners which is not always in direct relation to a grant, but rather a wider, more holistic package of support’
30
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
- 3b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)
| Analysis of expenditure (prior year) heyear ended31 December 2025 |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grants awarded (note 4) Charitable support costs for partners Staff costs (note 6) Investment manager fees Investment property manager fees Investment property expenses Consultancy Linkenholt Countryside Adventure lease costs Travel and subsistence Rental and IT Administrative costs-general Conference and networking Subscription and membership costs Governance Depreciation Loss on assets written off Audit, accountancy and legal Support costs Governance costs Total expenditure 2024 |
Raising funds- investment properties £ - - - - 103,627 214,029 - - - - - - - - - - - |
Raising funds- listed securities £ - - - 79,044 - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Charitable activities | Governance costs £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2,901 - - 13,080 |
Support costs £ - - 411,442 - - - - - 19,839 61,754 25,085 9,753 10,067 1,656 7,412 482 17,302 |
2024 Total £ 2,093,950 111,475 411,442 79,044 103,627 214,029 183,308 3,255 19,839 61,754 25,085 9,753 10,067 4,557 7,412 482 30,382 |
||
| Grant making £ 2,093,950 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Charitable support costs for partners £ - 111,475 - - - - 183,308 - - - - - - - - - - |
Linkenholt Countryside Adventure £ - - - - - - - 3,255 - - - - - - - - - |
||||||
| 317,656 70,599 1,998 |
79,044 70,599 1,998 |
2,093,950 423,594 11,985 |
294,783 - - - |
3,255 - - |
15,981 - (15,981) |
564,792 (564,792) - |
3,369,461 - - |
|
| 390,253 | 151,641 | 2,529,529 | 294,783 | 3,255 | - | - | 3,369,461 |
31
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
| For theyear ended 31 December 2025 | For theyear ended 31 December 2025 | For theyear ended 31 December 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| 4 2025 2024 Unrestricted grants: £ £ 1625 Independent - 15,000 432 Nomads 11,000 - African Activities 20,000 - Allsorts Youth Project 22,000 20,000 Amaze - 20,000 Aspire Ryde 21,000 - Beat Routes 16,000 15,000 Black and Minority Ethnic Young People's Project (BMEYPP) - 11,000 Blossom LGBT CIC 17,684 17,077 Breakout Youth 22,000 21,000 Centre for Education and Youth - 1,000 Centre for Sustainable Energy - 30,000 Chain Net Apparel 11,000 - Changing Suits - 13,885 Clock Tower Sanctuary 21,000 21,000 Citizens Advice Solent East (previously Citizens Advice Havant) 11,000 10,000 Conversations Over Borders 21,000 23,000 Dash Charity 18,500 17,500 Energise Me 21,000 20,000 Esteem 16,000 15,000 Friends Families and Travellers 26,000 26,000 Hastings Advice and Representation Centre (HARC) - 15,147 Hummingbird Refugee Project 31,000 19,700 Impact Initiatives 36,000 35,000 Insync (previously Educating Individuals Empowering Families) 11,000 10,000 In Focus Education and Development 22,000 20,000 Love 4 Life - 13,000 Motiv8 South 31,000 31,000 No5 Young People 21,000 21,000 No Limits 21,000 - Off the Record (South) - 21,000 Parenting Network 21,000 14,000 Pendragon Project 21,000 - Politely Rebellious Next Gen CIC 11,000 - Pomodzi Creatives 11,000 - Portsmouth City of Sanctuary 11,000 - Positive Attitudes Yield Positive Results (PAYPR) Org - 13,000 Project Art Works 21,000 - Project Rewild 11,000 - Reach Inclusive Arts 18,500 17,500 Readipop 21,000 20,000 Refugee Youth Service 21,000 23,000 Rowner Community Trust 1,000 30,000 SMASH (Swindon Mentoring) 21,000 20,000 Sovereign Network Group - 46,000 Split Banana 21,000 - Sussex Nightstop 17,830 17,830 Sussex Prisoners' Families 21,000 15,000 Team Domencia 21,000 20,000 Techresort 21,000 10,000 The Devonshire Collective 16,000 16,000 The Harbour Project 21,000 23,000 Unite Foundation 25,000 25,000 Unloc 20,000 40,000 URBOND 16,000 16,000 Increasing civil society's accountability to young people - Sub-total C/fwd 837,514 848,639 The Charity undertakes its charitable activities predominantly through grant making and awarded grants to the following organisations during the year ended 31 December 2025. All grants were to institutions, with the exception of those Challenge and Change which were primarily to individuals and collectives: Grants awarded Increasing civil society's accountability to young people |
||
| 837,514 | 848,639 |
32
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
- 4 Grants awarded (continued)
| heyear ended 31 December 2025 Grants awarded (continued) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted grants Sub-total (continued from previous page) WAY (gateway Church Swindon) Wealden Works Wiltshire Citizens Advice Winchester Young Carers Winchester Youth Counselling Xtrax Yellow Door Young People and Children First (YPACF) Youth the Gap ZoieLogic Dance Theatre Increasing civil society's accountability to young people - Sub-total Avocados Impact (previously Avocados Advocacy) Babylon Migrants Project Change in Youth CIC Choked Up Civic Power Fund Coventry Youth Activists Disabled Students UK Fossil Free Pride Grow to Know Launch It Migrant Democracy Project Motivez Muslim Northern Women Not a Trend One With the Village Our Streets Now Radical Body Skate Pals and Gals The Advantage Group The Care Experienced Movement The Halo Collective The Shelia McKechnie Foundation Transilience Ubele Initiative UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC) Young Justice Advisors Young Wilders Yucan Investing in young people to create change - Sub-total 4Front Project Become Challenging Behaviour Foundation Leicestershire Cares Mancroft Advice Project (MAP) Polish Migrants Organise for Change Reclaim Warren Youth Project We Belong Investing in better youth policy - Sub-total Investing in young people to create change Investing in better youth policy |
2025 £ 837,514 |
2024 £ 848,639 |
| 11,000 12,000 21,000 11,000 - 21,000 31,000 21,000 - 16,000 |
10,000 - - - 21,000 12,000 - 20,000 11,000 15,000 |
|
| 981,514 1,000 30,000 21,000 21,000 - 21,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 18,500 23,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 1,000 1,000 23,000 21,000 29,000 21,000 10,000 21,000 20,000 21,000 1,000 21,000 2,000 |
937,639 31,000 31,800 21,000 21,000 100,000 - - 20,000 20,000 - 23,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 21,000 11,060 31,000 21,000 21,000 29,000 21,000 10,000 - 1,000 20,000 31,000 20,000 21,000 |
|
| 474,500 | 588,860 | |
| 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 5,300 - - - 2,000 |
44,000 38,700 44,000 41,276 44,000 32,000 44,000 40,000 31,000 |
|
| 11,300 | 358,976 |
33
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
- 4 Grants awarded (continued)
| Grants awarded (continued) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Advocacy Academy Coffee Afrik CIC Creative Opportunities CIC Footwork Trust Hastings Commons Hive (Portsmouth Youth Alliance) National Survivor Users Network Pelican Collective Rise365 Stir to Action Sector wide initiatives - Sub-total Creative Opps CIO Emotion Dysregulation in Autism In Charleys Memory Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA) Little Green Pig Sounds Like Chaos The Birch Collective UK Youth Climate Coalition Centre for Sustainable Energy Earth Tenders MAFIA Weekend Organic Lea The Land Collective Time to Grow! Youth Climate Collaborative Sector wide initiatives Total unrestricted grants Sub-total carried forward Restricted grants: Challenge and Change Fund The Listening Fund Big Leaf Foundation Boundless Theatre Total grants at the end of the year: AWETHU 37 Grants to individuals Roots and Routes Total restricted grants |
2025 £ - 21,000 - 10,000 11,000 21,000 28,500 - 20,000 5,000 |
2024 £ 15,000 - 10,000 - - - 28,500 15,000 - - |
| 116,500 | 68,500 | |
| 1,583,814 | 1,953,975 | |
| 1,583,814 | 1,953,975 | |
| - - - - - - - - - - |
3,265 33,000 13,000 12,710 13,000 13,000 13,000 13,000 13,000 13,000 |
|
| - | 139,975 | |
| 370,000 | - | |
| 370,000 | - | |
| 20,000 19,800 20,000 14,000 19,800 9,500 19,760 20,000 |
- - - - - - - |
|
| 142,860 | - | |
| 512,860 | - | |
| 2,096,674 | 2,093,950 |
34
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
5 Net income/(expenditure) for the year
| Net income/(expenditure) for the year | ||
|---|---|---|
| This is stated after charging: | 2025 | 2024 |
| £ | £ | |
| Depreciation | 7,332 | 7,412 |
| Loss or profit on disposal of fixed assets | 322 | 482 |
| Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT): | ||
| Audit | 11,650 | 11,200 |
- 6 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel
Staff costs in the year were as follows:
| Staff costs in the year were as follows: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Salaries and wages Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes Social security costs |
2025 £ 466,513 47,590 17,853 |
2024 £ 365,833 32,339 13,270 |
| 531,956 | 411,442 |
| The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year | The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year | The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year |
|---|---|---|
| between: | ||
| 2025 | 2024 | |
| No. | No. | |
| £60,000 - £69,999 | - | 1 |
| £80,000 - £89,999 | 1 | - |
The trustees received no remuneration for their role as trustees in the year (2024: £Nil). Related party transactions with trustees are disclosed in note 7 below. During 2025, 10 trustees (2024:7) were reimbursed expenses totalling £2,301 (2024: £2,613).
The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 11.2 (2024: 8.3).
The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £226,079 (2024: £188,964). In 2025 there were 4 individuals included in the key management personnel, in 2024 there were 3.
7 Related party transactions
In 2025, Boudicca Pepper a trustee received renumeration of £207 (2024: £Nil). She received this renumeration for her travel to and as a Panel Host at the Regional Partner Day, this was the same fixed fee as other Hosts at the event.
In 2024, she received £306 renumeration for her travel to and spoken word performance at the Youth Led Change event, this was the same fixed fee as other performers at the event.
There were no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business. There were no restricted donations from related parties.
8 Taxation
The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.
35
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
9 Tangible fixed assets
| Tangible fixed assets | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Net (loss) on change in fair value Fair value at the end of the year Charge for the year Disposal proceeds Fair value at the start of the year At the start of the year At the end of the year Depreciation Disposals in year At the start of the year At the start of the year Disposals in year Cost Additions in year At the end of the year Investment properties At the end of the year Net book value All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes. |
Plant and Machinery £ 981 - (981) |
£ 146,648 - - Leasehold improvements |
2025 Total £ 147,629 - (981) |
| - | 146,648 | 146,648 | |
| 659 - (659) |
109,649 7,332 - |
110,308 7,332 (659) |
|
| 116,981 | 116,981 | ||
| () | 29,667 | 29,667 | |
| 322 | 36,999 | 37,321 | |
| 2025 £ 12,300,000 - (630,000) |
2024 £ 12,300,000 - - |
||
| 11,670,000 | 12,300,000 |
10 Investment properties
A 2025 desktop valuation was undertaken by Arkwrights property on our behalf and on the instructions of the trustees. The property investments are all held in England. Property valuation is undertaken on the basis of rental yields and taking into account market conditions. The valuation was submitted to the Lead Finance Trustee and CEO for review.
11 Listed investments
| Listed investments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Additions at cost Disposal proceeds Cash held by investment broker pending reinvestment Fair value at the start of the year Fair value at the end of the year Total investments comprise: Net gain on change in fair value The gain of £1,686,494 includes equalisations of £Nil (2024: £Nil) |
2025 £ 24,700,315 19,650,571 (20,009,768) 1,686,494 |
2024 £ 25,851,074 7,177,291 (8,726,722) 398,672 |
| 26,027,612 | 24,700,315 | |
| 1,967,901 | 1,614,908 | |
| 27,995,513 | 26,315,223 | |
| Listed investments Cash held for investment Investment in dormant subsidiary |
2025 £ 26,027,612 1,967,901 1 |
2024 £ 24,700,315 1,614,908 1 |
| 27,995,514 | 26,315,224 |
| Total investments comprise: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | |
| £ | £ | |
| Listed investments | 26,027,612 | 24,700,315 |
| Cash held for investment | 1,967,901 | 1,614,908 |
| Investment in dormant subsidiary | 1 | 1 |
| 27,995,514 | 26,315,224 |
36
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
12 Debtors
| 12 Debtors |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 14a 14b Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Trade debtors Grant commitments Trade creditors Prepayments Net assets at 31 December 2024 Net assets at 31 December 2025 Net current assets/(liabilities) Accruals Taxation and social security Investment properties Analysis of net assets between funds (current year) Investment properties Investments Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year) Tangible fixed assets Investments Tangible fixed assets Net current assets |
Unrestricted £ 29,667 11,670,000 27,995,514 310,032 |
2025 £ 29,073 56,884 |
2024 £ 47,279 41,441 |
| 85,957 | 88,720 | ||
| 2025 £ - 39,412 367,177 25,652 |
2024 £ 8,996 37,724 233,000 20,463 |
||
| 432,241 | 300,183 | ||
| Restricted £ - - - 177,108 |
Total funds £ 29,667 11,670,000 27,995,514 487,140 |
||
| 40,005,213 | 177,108 | 40,182,321 | |
| Unrestricted £ 37,321 12,300,000 26,315,224 877,952 |
Restricted £ - - - 80,000 |
Total funds £ 37,321 12,300,000 26,315,224 957,952 |
|
| 39,530,497 | 80,000 | 39,610,497 |
37
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
15a Movements in funds (current year)
| Movements in funds (current year) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted Funds Roots and Routes Youth Led Change Event Challenge and Change Total restricted funds Total funds Restricted funds The Listening Fund |
At 1 January 2025 £ - - 80,000 - |
Income & gains £ - 25,000 - 220,000 |
Expenditure & losses £ (9,556) (5,200) (450,818) (146,892) |
Transfers £ 9,556 - 370,818 84,200 |
At 31 December 2025 £ - 19,800 - 157,308 |
| 80,000 39,530,497 |
245,000 2,756,268 |
(612,466) (1,816,978) |
464,574 (464,574) |
177,108 40,005,213 |
|
| 39,610,497 | 3,001,268 | (2,429,444) | - | 40,182,321 |
The transfers from unrestricted funds relate to agreed contributions to the relevant restricted funds which the Trustees authorised for grant making and restricted expenditure within each restricted fund. In 2025, the transfer of £336,618 from the Blagrave Unrestricted Fund to Challenge & Change Fund represents a Blagrave Trust budgeted commitment towards the programme costs during the year. The transfer of £34,200 from the Roots and Routes Fund to the Challenge & Change Fund represents a contribution to the programme agreed by all Roots and Routes funders. The comparative figures for 2024 have been restated.
15b Movements in funds (prior year)
| Movements in funds (prior year) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds The Opportunity Fund Restricted funds The Listening Fund Total funds Total restricted funds Challenge and Change |
At 1 January 2024 £ 109,584 - - |
Income & gains £ 66,667 15,000 80,000 |
Expenditure & losses £ (232,185) (23,405) (21,766) |
Transfers £ 55,934 8,405 21,766 |
At 31 December 2024 £ - - 80,000 |
| 109,584 | 161,667 | (277,356) | 86,105 | 80,000 | |
| 39,725,874 | 2,584,161 | (2,693,433) | (86,105) | 39,530,497 | |
| 39,835,458 | 2,745,828 | (2,970,789) | - | 39,610,497 |
Purposes of restricted funds
The Listening Fund - a pooled fund to enhance listening and drive accountability to young people.
The Opportunity Fund - a collaboration to invest directly in young entrepreneurs and campaigners. Challenge and Change - a fund to support young people activating their Lived experience to create change.
Youth Led Change Day - an annual event held in collaboration to support the growth of the field of youth led change in the UK. Roots & Routes - a collaboration of youth-led organisations, who are fighting for climate justice in England.
16 Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities
| Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) Depreciation charges Loss on assets written off (Gains) on listed investments Revaluation losses on investment properties Dividends, interest and rent from investments Decrease/(Increase) in debtors Increase in creditors Net cash used in operating activities |
2025 £ 571,824 7,332 322 (1,686,494) 630,000 (1,755,484) 2,763 132,058 |
2024 £ (224,961) 7,412 482 (398,672) - (1,559,079) (20,319) 35,411 |
| (2,097,679) | (2,159,726) |
38
The Blagrave Trust
Notes to the financial statements
For the year ended 31 December 2025
17 Operating lease commitments
Amounts receivable under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows for each of the following periods
| Amounts receivable under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows for each of the following periods | ||
|---|---|---|
| Over five years Less than one year One to five years |
2025 2024 £ £ 725,370 716,703 2,246,535 2,373,345 2,307,194 2,395,021 5,279,099 5,485,069 Property |
|
| 5,279,099 | 5,485,069 |
39