Finance Score: -3
Governance Score: 5
Support Score: 6
  • Poor Liquidity: -1
  • Good Reserves: +1Reasonable growth: +1
  • Fundraising costs high: -4
  • Good trustee age range: +3
  • Dynamic board: +3
  • Mainly male board: -1
  • Overall weighted support: +6
Overall GiG Score: 8 ?

BLENHEIM PALACE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation operates a visitor business which simultaneously raises funds for vital restoration and preservation whilst sharing the Palace and Park's extensive history and beauty to the public.
Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

  • The charity has received backing from several prominent grant makers recently
  • There has been reasonable growth in spending over the last 3 years relative to the previous period
  • The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

  • The Board is predominantly male

Financial issues to consider:

  • Liquidity appears to have been slender at the latest year end but unrestricted reserves are available
  • Fundraising costs are extremely high relative to funds raised

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?
Sources of Income ?
Y/E Income
£k
Spending
£k
Surplus/
Deficit £k
Fundraising
Cost £k
Total
Funds £k
Unrestricted
Funds £k
Mths
Rsrvs
Staff Volun-
teers
31/03/23£22,440£21,553£887£5,785£21,819£21,81912.14040
31/03/22£27,210£17,572£9,638£4,672£20,933£20,93314.33370
31/03/21£17,580£14,210£3,370£2,677£11,294£11,2949.53200
31/03/20£16,939£18,175£-1,236£5,759£7,924£7,9245.24160
31/03/19£17,764£15,063£2,701£4,160£9,160£8,4576.73990
31/03/18£15,498£13,515£1,983£3,974£6,459£5,9925.33490
31/03/17£8,536£4,136£4,399£1,680£4,477£4,473133220

Financial Ratios
Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 43.9%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 26.8%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 4%
Highest pay band: £150,000-£200,000
Liabilities/Assets: 35%
Liabilities/Income: 53%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 100%
Reserves/Spending: 12.1 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 8 months
Quick Ratio: 0
Asset Split ?
Balance Sheet History
Established: 9 years
Charity Commission for England and WalesCompanies HouseFacebookInstagramX
UN SDGs
?
Listed activities
  • Arts/Culture/Heritage/Science
  • Environment/Conservation/Heritage
GiG Classification
  • Museums, parks, historical sites
How it operates
  • Makes grants to organisations
  • Provides buildings/facilities/open space
Where it operates
  • Oxfordshire,
Who it helps
  • The General Public/Mankind

Who supports them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Major supporters in last 5 years
DCMS£3,290,061
Garfield Weston Foundation£350,000
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy£8,461
Specific Donations
Amount When
Months
To be used for
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - Oxford Brookes University and Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation
£8,461 01/04/2022
Full Grant details (including summaries) can be found on the Gateway to Research website: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=511919
Garfield Weston Foundation - Major Grants award
£350,000 11/03/2022
WHS Preservation
DCMS - CRF21 Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation
£825,700 19/03/2021
Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage 2020-21
DCMS - Blenheim Palace
£18,750 25/01/2021
Roof, lead flashing and gutter repairs.. The wider aim of the scheme is: This scheme is part of the Culture Recovery Fund, the Governments £1.57 billion support package to protect the countrys ....more
DCMS - Blenheim Palace
£6,250 25/01/2021
Roof, lead flashing and gutter repairs.. The wider aim of the scheme is: This scheme is part of the Culture Recovery Fund, the Governments £1.57 billion support package to protect the countrys ....more
DCMS - CRF20 Blenheim Palace
£1,896,000 14/10/2020
Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage 2020-21
DCMS - ALB-Historic England-Blenheim Palace World Heritage Site
£543,361 01/04/2020
This is an 80% grant from the Programme of Major Works to Blenheim Palace to help conserve an preserve the Grand Bridge within the World Heritage Site
Show more rows

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (5)
Current Trustees appointed
Gender Split

Age Range of Trustees: 49-71
  • CHRISTOPHER JONATHAN JAMES GROVES Appointed: 2015, Occupation: Solicitor
  • DOMINIC MICHAEL HARE Appointed: 2017, Occupation: Chief Executive
  • LORD EDWARD SPENCER-CHURCHILL Appointed: 2015
  • RICHARD ELLWOOD Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Head Of Marketing
  • SARAH ELIZABETH STANIFORTH Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Retired
Legal constitution
  • Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 22/03/2016, number: 1166164
  • Registered at Companies House on 09/02/2015, number: 09430048
Gift Aid
  • Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid
Policies in force
  • Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
  • Complaints handling
  • Complaints policy and procedures
  • Conflicting interests
  • Financial reserves policy and procedures
  • Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
  • Internal risk management policy and procedures
  • Investing charity funds policy and procedures
  • Investment
  • Paying staff
  • Risk management
  • Safeguarding policy and procedures
  • Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
  • Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
  • Social media policy and procedures
  • Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
  • Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Filing Record
7 returns made; all on time
Main office

Estate Office
Blenheim Palace Grounds
WOODSTOCK
OX20 1PP

Objectives

3.1 THE OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY ARE :(A) RESTORING AND PRESERVING BLENHEIM FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT;(B) PROMOTING FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT THE STUDY AND APPRECIATION OF BLENHEIM AS APLACE OF HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL INTEREST AND NATURAL BEAUTY; AND(C) DEVELOPING AND IMPROVING THE KNOWLEDGE, UNDERSTANDING AND PRACTICE OF THE ARTS, PRINCIPALLY THROUGH THE EXHIBITION AND PERFORMANCE OF ARTISTIC WORKS.3.2 THIS ARTICLE 3 MAY BE AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION BUT ONLY WITH THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE COMMISSION.

Data Sources

Charity Commission for England and Wales
360 Giving

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