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2026-03-31-accounts

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Registered Charity Number

1169562

Address

Collaboration House 77-79 Charlotte Street London W1T 4PW

Trustees

Date appointed Mr Benedict Samuel Rich 10[th] October 2016 Mr Michael Wakelin (chair) 10[th] October 2016 Mr Kevin Jaquiss 29[th] March 2017 Roger Bolton 27[th] June 2019 Dr Lois Lee 26[th] November 2020 Dr Hassan Abdein 27[th] March 2023 Prof Opinderjit Kaur Takhur 1[st] July 2024 (resigned 12 March 2026)

Accountant

Andrew Jennings MA FCA

Independent Examiner

Mr Keith Halstead MA (Oxon) FCA

Bank

Cooperative Bank, PO Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Contents

Page 3: Trustees Report
Page 7: Statement of Public benefits
Page 8: Receipts & Payments Account
Page 9: Notes to the Accounts
Page 10: Independent Examiners Report

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Trustees Report

The trustees are pleased to present the annual report of the Religion Media Centre from 1[st] April 2025 – 31[st] March 2026.

1. Governance

The Religion Media Centre is a Charitable Incorporated Organization, charity number 1169562, registered on 10[th] October 2016.

Its constitution states its objects are: ‘To advance education of the public in world religion, including the Baha’i faith; Buddhism; Christianity; Hinduism; Islam; Jainism; Judaism; Sikhism and Zoroastrianism by: the dissemination of accurate, authoritative, independent and impartial information and research about religious faiths to the media; and the provision of media training to religious organisations.’

It is an impartial and independent organisation aiming to help the media report and understand religion. It has no editorial line, nor does it promote any one religion, or religious belief in general. Instead, it exists to provide accurate, timely and relevant information to the media, enabling the public to be better informed.

The trustees have met five times during the year. Dr Opinderjit Takhar resigned on 12[th] March 2026 as she has new and extensive work commitments and left with thanks for contributions to the work of the charity over the past two years.

Our Trustees are responsible for compliance with charity law and with the RMC’s charitable objectives. They set the RMC’s strategic direction, oversee its work, monitor progress and prioritise the RMC’s activities. They support the team of consultants and freelancers who work on projects and content; monitor and supervise fund raising initiatives and advise on marketing.

Our advisory board this year provided advice on content and governance issues. Their names are listed in full on our website here https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/governance/

We review our safeguarding and data management policies annually. We are registered with the Independent Commissioners Office for data protection.

We evaluate our impact against KPIs measuring engagement on all social media platforms, with statistics given to trustees at each meeting. We keep our strategic objectives under review, responding to budgetary controls, changing media landscape and skills to respond.

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre

Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

2. Activities, achievements and performance:

Editorial

Our daily news bulletins of news about religion, weekly roundup of news, and information about our regular media briefings moved from Mailchimp to Substack during the year, leading to a notable increase in support and acquisition of new audiences.

Our reporting team continued to provide factsheets, explainers, timelines and original journalism. The team included Rosie Dawson, Tim Wyatt, Catherine Pepinster, Amardeep Bassey, Lianne Kolirin and Maira Butt, who is funded by the Aziz Foundation to report on Muslims in Britain.

There were significant stories from within faith traditions, and recurring headlines around war and hate crime.

The war in Gaza, with strikes on hospitals, a humanitarian disaster and attacks on Christians on the West Bank, faith leaders united in condemnation and appeals for peace, and a ceasefire was ultimately agreed. In Ukraine, there were talks at the Vatican and continued calls for an end to the war. Then in March 2026, when the US / Israel attacked Iran, there were loud calls for a ceasefire.

There were significant changes in faith leadership this year. Pope Francis died in April 2025 and we covered news on his legacy, impact and the events in Rome as the world paid tribute. In May, Pope Leo was elected and we arranged briefings and produced reports on his character and background as the first American pope. In June, King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the Pope in Rome and prayed together, a significant moment in inter-church relations.

In December, Cardinal Vincent Nichols was finally allowed to retire at the age of 80, and his successor was announced as Bishop Richard Moth, on the day he retired.

In contrast, the Church of England coped for ten months without an Archbishop of Canterbury, as the slow process progressed. Eventually, in October 2025, Bishop Sarah Mullally was chosen, the first woman to hold the role and welcomed, apart from those within the worldwide church opposed to women’s ordination as priests.

Incidents of antisemitism increased, with a deadly attack in October 2025 at Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, where two people were killed as an attacker rammed his car into worshippers and lunged out with a knife, before he was dead by armed police.

In November 2025, Reformed and Liberal Judaism movements in Britian combined to form The Progressive Judaism Movement, with values of “dignity, inclusion, justice, compassion and intellectual honesty”.

Anti Muslim hate crime continued at record levels, with spikes related to the Middle East conflict. A government appointed group finally issued new wording describing Islamophobia, removing references to race. A report from the Muslim Council of Britain concluded that 50 per cent of UK reporting on Muslims in 2025 was biased against them.

In September 2025, prominent Trump supporting evangelical preacher Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley university, provoking an outpouring of grief which illustrated the vast support for evangelical Christianity among MAGA supporters. The year also saw mainstream church leaders organising into opposition against Trump’s immigration policies and ICE raids on illegal immigrants.

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Here in the UK, Christian Nationalism became more visible after a Unite the UK march in September 2025, organised by the far right activist Tommy Robinson. It attracted people holding crosses aloft, with clergy praying, singing and using Christian language to support their politics. Mainstream Christian groups and the government responded with community cohesion projects and outspoken opposition to nationalistic views.

In April 2025, the Bible Society produced the Quiet Revival report, using data which suggested church attendance had increased by 56 per cent in the eight years to 2024. It gave rise to multiple news articles about conversions, baptisms and a renewal of Christianity, despite an incredulous response from statisticians who said the data was out of kilter with other research. In the end, the report was pulled after YouGov found issues with the data and the survey will be done all over again later this year. None the less, the Bible Society continued to maintain there is an increased interest in religion, especially amongst young people.

Among the other headlines:

The Archbishop of Wales, Andy John, resigned and retired as Bishop of Bangor after a report on sex, alcohol and financial irregularities at the Cathedral and diocese. He was replaced as archbishop by Bishop Cherry Vann, who broke the norm as a gay woman in a civic marriage.

A move to enable Muslims in Britain set up an authoritative organisation to sight the moon indicating the start and end of festivals, gathered pace.

The Met police raised a Quaker House twice, where a room had been booked by a campaign group, provoking sit down protests.

It was the 1700[th] anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, foundational for Christian doctrine. MPs agreed to remove criminal penalties for women who end their own pregnancies, a decision criticised by some church groups for removing safeguards for the unborn.

The Assisted Dying Bill progressed from the Commons to the Lords, where it attracted more than 1,000 amendments and ran out of time to be approved. Church of England bishops were among the Lords who objected to the bill.

Religious Education moved a step further to being listed as part of the national curriculum after a recommendation from the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. The final decision is expected this year.

Lord Khan, a popular faith minister, was sacked in September and was replaced by Miatta Fahnbulleh, an MP since 2024 and formerly CEO of the New Economics Foundation.

3. Events

We continued holding regular media zoom briefings covering major stories listed above. We also produced filmed interviews, conducted by journalist and broadcaster Roger Bolton, a trustee, including one with the new Archbishop of Westminster Richard Moth.

Despite the number of our online media briefings decreasing due to budget constraints, we still reached an impressive 140K people (compared to 154K the previous year) showing that the quality and reach per briefing increased. The briefings are published on YouTube, where our audience grew to 267,074 – a rise of 34 per cent on the previous year. And they are also made into podcasts where our audience grew by 52 per cent. All the sessions are produced by Oliver Bowring from Musicarta Ltd.

We put on a successful Religion Media Festival in a new venue – Methodist Central Hall, in Westminster – a central location which increased our audience by 50 per cent. Our keynote

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

interviews were with Cathy Newman, Channel 4 reporter, who won several awards for her work exposing the serial abuser John Smyth. And later, former BBC Home Editor, Mark Easton interviewed Sir Mark Thompson, CEO of CNN and formerly of The New York Times and the BBC. We are delighted to be able to hold another festival in the same venue on 29 June 2026.

4. The Creating Connections Project

This year we started planning for Creating Connections events in Wales – in Cardiff and Bangor – our first venture into staging an event outside England. A grant from Culham St Gabriel will enable this project to be completed, but there was a plea from our new partners in Wales, to deliver the events after the May 2026 Senedd elections. The dates proposed for the two events are in the autumn of 2026. We have continued to keep in touch with faith representatives and journalists from our Creating Connections events in 12 cities in England, bringing them together for zoom briefings to discuss community concerns, notably after the Unite the UK march in September.

6. Impact and communications

Despite the RMC marketing budget freeze for the 4th year running, the influence of X as a platform declining, and a reduction in the number of briefings we can afford to organise, we are pleased to report that our total reach has still risen - from 1.13 million to 1.18 million. Here are some highlights comparing totals from 2024-25 to totals in 2025-26:

This year we have been mentioned by the Sunday programme on BBC Radio 4, The Times, the Church Times, Premier Christian News, Christian Today, The Independent, The Telegraph and The Guardian. We have been asked advice on commentators from broadcasters including LBC, NBC, Reuters and the BBC. All the national religious affairs correspondents regularly take and build on our content from daily news bulletins and regular zoom briefings, often without mentioning us.

Stories which gained the most traction were our factsheets and briefings on Pope Francis, Pope Leo, Sarah Mullally, Assisted Dying, the BBC Charter review, the future of Religious Education and the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light.

Journalists are included as panellists on our briefings, they regularly read and use stories from the daily bulletin.

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Interfaith campaigners, RE teachers and academics are offering us more stories as our platform is read and widely used by people of all faith traditions, media on all platforms, thought leaders and politicians.

7. Training

We have delivered media training to leaders in the Methodist church, the Church of England, leaders of Jewish, Christian and Muslim organisations on the Faith in Leadership programme, and academics in a workshop run by Inform at King’s College, London. Our training team is our executive chairman Michael Wakelin, editorial and project consultant Ruth Peacock, and social media and marketing consultant Oliver Bowring, from Musicarta Ltd. Our training offers practical experience of media interviews and an introduction to social media. In a fast changing media landscape, we have developed a suite of courses to develop skills in communicating stories across mainstream and social media.

We believe our events – media briefings and in person meetings – are also offering training by providing knowledge and offering opportunities for discussion and learning.

8. Funding

In this financial year, we received generous donations from the Porticus Trust, Culham St Gabriel Trust, the Aziz Foundation, the Church of England, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We also received individual donations from generous supporters and others.

The RMC accepts funds from those who support our vision, values and aims and who have a clear governance structure and transparent accountability. The RMC has an appropriate anti-bribery policy.

9. Business Development

Our executive chair, Michael Wakelin, has continued to build on our network of supporters, including the media, faith organisations and trusts and foundations. We are the only place where news about all major religious traditions and none are found in one site and we have represented the organisation in many interfaith forums and events. We appeal to everyone working within religion in the public square, including religious education teachers, academics, interfaith groups and politicians and have been asked to report on research and meetings on issues of public concern.

TRS-UK

We have a Memorandum of Understanding with Theology and Religious Studies UK, which represents academics in higher education throughout the UK. Their representative who continues to be involved in our work is Dr Tim Hutchings, from the University of Nottingham. We are grateful to academics and faith leaders who support us by offering their knowledge and expertise to the media.

10. Statement of public benefit

The Trustees 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.

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Benefit has been demonstrated to journalists and media professionals who have used material for programmes and articles and built their knowledge through training. Academics and RE teachers have been able to spread their knowledge and expertise through providing insight in articles and contributions to discussions with the media. Faith leaders and media organizations have engaged with the media and each other through events, training and discussions.

Results

The Charity saw a surplus of £5,857 in the year on its general fund which was added to the reserves brought forward from prior years. The total cash reserves at the end of the year were £57,783 in liquid funds, of which £27,849 was in respect of restricted funds.

Reserves Policy

The Charity is keeping future obligations low and currently has no future commitments or overheads as contributors are freelance. The current policy is to retain enough cash reserves, taking into account donations promised, to cover costs and to build up resources to fulfil the Charity’s activities at the same level in the ensuing year.

Responsibilities of Trustees regarding the accounts

Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare a receipts and payments account and a statement of assets and liabilities for each financial year. In addition, they are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which are sufficient to show and explain the Charity transactions and to disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity. 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.

Michael Wakelin Signed on behalf of the Trustees

Date 26 June 2026

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre

Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

RELIGION MEDIA CENTRE - ACCOUNTS 2025-2026

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT 2025-26

Receipts
Grants - Charities
Grants - individuals
Training - Creating Connections
Training - media expertise
Festival 2025
Festival 2026
Reporting British Muslims
Annual Lecture (2024)
TOTAL
Expenditure
Project consultancy
Editiorial Conent & Articles		 2026
2026
2026
2025
2025
2025
Unrestricted Restricted
Total
Unrestricted Restricted
Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
78,000
78,000
90,000
-
90,000
2,097
2,098
1,717
-
1,717
15,000
15,000
-
15,500
15,500
10,601
10,601
3,092
1,000
4,092
-
10,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
8,000
8,000
-
8,000
8,000
-
1,000
1,000		 2026
2026
2026
2025
2025
2025
Unrestricted Restricted
Total
Unrestricted Restricted
Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
78,000
78,000
90,000
-
90,000
2,097
2,098
1,717
-
1,717
15,000
15,000
-
15,500
15,500
10,601
10,601
3,092
1,000
4,092
-
10,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
8,000
8,000
-
8,000
8,000
-
1,000
1,000
93,790
34,000
127,790
91,717
34,500
126,217
26,000
1,500
27,500
28,500
28,500
10,498
10,498
23,579
23,579
Social media and marketing
18,731
1,000
19,731
20,519
20,519
Reporting British Muslims
8,000
8,000
5,500
5,500
Computers / equipment
6,163
6,163
5,815
5,815
Business development
4,000
4,000
12,831
12,831
Zoom briefings, interviews etc
8,751
8,751
12,234
12,234
Insurance
487
487
498
498
Professional fees
457
457
1,360
1,360
Podcasts
-
-
510
510
Training
8,404
8,404
563
2,528
3,091
Festivals (in 2025 and 2026)
4,443
11,756
16,199
1,101
1,101
Creating Connections - Wales/Wolverhampton
-
294
294
9,230
9,230
Lecture 2024
-
1,121
1,000
2,121
TOTAL
87,933
22,550
110,483
107,530
19,359
126,889
Surplus/(Deficit) for the Year
5,857
11,450
17,307
15,813
-
15,141
672
-
Transfer between funds
1,258
-
1,258
Cash funds at the beginning of year
24,077
16,399
40,476
41,148
41,148
Cash Funds at the end of year
29,934
27,849
57,783
24,077
16,399
40,476
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES as at 31st MARCH 2026
2026
2025
Note
£
Note
£
ASSETS
57,783
40,476
Bank and cash balances
57,783
40,476
Represented by :
ACCUMULATED FUNDS
Unrestricted funds
29,934
24,077
Restricted funds 4
27,849
4
16,399
Total funds at 31 March 2025
RESTRICTED FUNDS as at 31 March 2025 :		 57,783
40,476
Creating Connections
Reporting British Muslims
Festival 2025		 19,706
5,000
-
2,500
8,143
8,899
27,849
16,399

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared on the receipts and payments basis. The receipts and payments account is a record of monies received and paid during the financial year. The accounts comply with the appropriate legal requirements.

2. FUNDS

Unrestricted funds comprise those funds which the Trustees are free to use for any purpose in furtherance of the charitable objects.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor.

3. TRANSACTIONS INVOLVING RELATED PARTIES

Included in the accounts is £4.000 (2025 - £12,000) paid to the executive chairman relating to networking, profile raising and business development. The Chairman also received repayment of £2,645 (2024/25 - £1,858) expenses incurred in supporting Creating Connections and other training projects.

4. RESTRICTED FUNDS

The restricted income received in 2025-26 was £34,000 made up of:

A £15,000 from the Culham St Gabriel’s Trust for Creating Connections events in Wales, due to take place in the autumn of 2026 of which £294 was spent in 2025-26..

B A private donation of £10,000 was given towards funding the 2026 RMC Festival of which £1,857 was spent in 2025-2026. A further donation of £1,000 was given towards the 2025 festival which was held in June 2025.

C The Aziz Foundation gave £8,000 towards a journalist specialising in reporting Muslims in Britain in 2025-26 which with £2,500 brought forward from 2024-25 was fully spent in 2025-26.

These accounts were approved by the board of Trustees on 20 June 2026 and signed on its behalf by

Signed: Michael Wakelin, chair

Date: 26 June 2026

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709

Religion Media Centre

Accounts for the year ended - 31 March 2026

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Religion Media Centre

I report to the Trustees on my examination of the accounts of Religion Media Centre (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2026.

Responsibilities and basis of report

The Charity's Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent Examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed:- .................................................

Date:- 28[th] June 2026

Keith Halstead MA(Oxon) FCA, 60 Woodcote Hurst Epsom Surrey KT18 7DT

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Religion Media Centre, Collaboration House, 77-79 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PW 020 3970 0709