Knowledge Hub
Practical articles and guidance to help faith-based organisations navigate accounting, governance, compliance and more — in plain language. Browse by theme below.
Accounts, Gift Aid, reserves and financial reporting.
25 July 2026
Should your reserves reflect your values? Faith organisations are often pioneers of ethical investment. A plain-English guide to what the law allows — and how to raise it well with your trustees.
23 July 2026
When a long-serving treasurer steps down, a charity's financial knowledge can walk out of the door with them. A practical guide — and a handover checklist — to make the transition smooth and safe.
22 July 2026
If your faith organisation pays anyone, payroll and workplace-pension duties follow. A plain-English guide to PAYE, automatic enrolment, and the clergy-status question that trips people up.
18 July 2026
Year-end doesn't have to be a scramble. A practical, plain-English checklist to help treasurers of faith-based organisations get their records in order and hand over a clean set of figures.
6 July 2026
How to hold and account for a waqf with integrity — honouring both its founding intention and UK charity law. A guide for Muslim organisations and the trustees who steward them.
5 July 2026
A guide for Church of England parishes on what the parish share is, how to understand its impact on your finances, and how to have honest conversations with your congregation and diocese.
4 July 2026
Having a treasurer doesn't discharge the rest of the board. A short guide to why financial oversight is a shared duty, and how every trustee can carry their part of it.
1 July 2026
In most faith organisations the treasurer is an unpaid volunteer carrying real legal and personal weight. This is a guide for boards and faith leaders on the pressures they face — and how to support, sustain and succeed them well.
30 June 2026
A plain-English guide to the financial duties every trustee carries — from the duty of prudence to the new external scrutiny thresholds arriving in late 2026.
29 June 2026
How places of worship can claim a 25% top-up on cash and contactless collections — no declarations needed — plus the matching rule and community buildings allowance that trip people up.
28 June 2026
Why every faith-based charity needs a reserves policy, how to work out the right level for your circumstances, and how to explain it in your accounts.
18 June 2026
A plain-English guide to the main types of charity fund — what each one means, why the distinction matters, and how to keep them straight.
4 June 2026
Not every charity needs a full audit. Here's how to tell whether an independent examination is enough — and what each one actually involves.
21 May 2026
Gift Aid can add 25% to eligible donations at no extra cost to the giver. Here's how it works and how to claim with confidence.
Legal structures, trustee duties and staying compliant.
1 August 2026
As AI can do more and more, the pressure to replace people grows. Why faith organisations are well placed to make a different choice — using AI with discernment to support colleagues, not to replace them.
27 July 2026
Covid tested faith communities like nothing in living memory. With the UK Covid-19 Inquiry warning the country was underprepared, here's how faith organisations can build the resilience to face the next one.
8 July 2026
AI is already in the building — in admin, communications and grant-writing. This is a guide to using it in a way that protects your beneficiaries' data, dignity and trust, and stays true to your values.
2 July 2026
Faith-based charities answer to two authorities at once — their theology and their regulator. This is a guide to holding both with integrity, and to why periodic review by a learned religious scholar alongside governance checks helps trustees serve congregation and compliance alike.
27 June 2026
An introduction to the main legal structures for faith-based organisations in the UK — trusts, charitable companies, CIOs and CICs — and how to think about which fits.
Protecting your people and your premises.
16 July 2026
With religious hate crime at record levels, faith leaders need to protect their buildings and reassure frightened congregations. A practical guide to the funded security schemes available and the pastoral response that matters just as much.
11 July 2026
Safeguarding is a living practice, not a binder on a shelf. A guide for faith-based trustees on keeping policy and practice current — and on the duty to report serious incidents.
3 July 2026
A plain-English guide to the right level of background check for roles working with children or vulnerable adults — and the faith-sector changes to regulated activity now moving through Parliament.
Leading well, caring for people and building for the future.
31 July 2026
Welcoming the stranger, the traveller and the needy is one of the oldest commands in every faith. In a polarised age, this reflects on that shared tradition — and how faith communities can live it wisely and lawfully.
30 July 2026
Faith communities long to welcome everyone — but barriers keep many disabled and Deaf people out. A practical guide to removing them, from ramps and hearing loops to BSL and a genuine culture of belonging.
29 July 2026
As heatwaves grow more frequent and deadly, faith buildings can become life-saving cool refuges — the summer counterpart to the winter warm space. A practical guide to offering shelter from the heat well.
28 July 2026
Youth services have been gutted, leaving a generation with nowhere to go. Faith communities have the buildings, people and trust to help rebuild the youth club network — here's how to put those assets to work well.
26 July 2026
Every tradition commands care for those in need — but each has developed its own distinctive wisdom. A respectful look at what faith communities can learn from each other when they respond to poverty and hardship.
24 July 2026
Four decades after Faith in the City, poverty and foodbanks are again at the centre of faith communities' work. A look at where we are in 2026 — and what every tradition can learn from the others about responding with dignity.
21 July 2026
From almshouses to food banks, faith communities have launched and platformed much of the voluntary sector. A look at that tradition — and how to help a faith-born project grow into a lasting organisation.
20 July 2026
The NHS 10 Year Health Plan moves care closer to home and leans on community partners to do it. A practical look at how faith-based organisations can support neighbourhood health — and why they're well placed to.
19 July 2026
Thinking about exploring interfaith activity and community cohesion? A practical, neutral guide to starting interfaith conversations well — the ground rules that keep them safe, honest and fruitful.
18 July 2026
Faith organisations lean heavily on a loyal, ageing band of volunteers — and the pool is shrinking. A practical guide to valuing the volunteers you have and genuinely engaging younger people.
17 July 2026
Faith-based organisations have long been engines of community life — but the work is at its best when it's done with people, not to them. A reflection on the contribution, the lessons of the past, and how to do it well.
14 July 2026
Where a tradition restricts certain leadership roles by sex, trustees must navigate equality law, governance and pastoral care. A neutral guide to the legal landscape — not the theology.
13 July 2026
Theological difference within a community is natural — but it can destabilise a board if doctrine and governance get tangled. A guide for mosques on keeping the two distinct.
12 July 2026
Faith leaders are called to steady and support divided communities — without breaching charity law on political activity. A guide to the line between speaking to the issues and party politics.
10 July 2026
Families often disengage from faith communities for practical reasons, not spiritual ones. A guide to lowering the everyday barriers that quietly keep families away.
9 July 2026
Faith organisations often run on a handful of irreplaceable people. A guide to deliberately growing, equipping and handing over to the leaders who come next — before you have to.
7 July 2026
Stewardship of creation is a shared faith value — and reaching net zero is achievable in stages. A practical, multi-faith checklist for places of worship, with recognised schemes to plug into.