Katherine McPherson, Chair, Annual Report 2023

Dear friends and supporters of Church Urban Fund,

Thank you for reading this report about our work.

I count it a privilege and blessing to chair the Board of Trustees of Church Urban Fund (CUF). The Board comprises a skilled and experienced group of people who quietly and materially contribute to the mission and work of CUF. I am regularly blown away by their thoughtful resourcefulness and wisdom in the face of challenges and opportunities.

Thanks also to the Trustees who left us in the past year including Robert Hallam, Bishop Anderson Jeremiah, Alec Spencer and the Revd Christina Rees CBE for their invaluable contributions to CUF over many years. A special thanks to the previous Chair, Andrew Barnett OBE, who led CUF through the very challenging COVID period, enabling CUF to come through stronger and more focused on its mission. I also want to thank our extraordinary Senior Leadership Team, now led by the visionary and energetic +Rob Wickham, who get things done in a collaborative and partnering manner.

Set up nearly 40 years ago in response to the publication of the then controversial Faith in the City report, Church Urban Fund continues to work with local communities in the battle against poverty. To continue to be impactful, we have revised and refocussed our objectives to encourage and support faith based social action in the most deprived areas in England. We do this through working in partnership with local churches, government agencies and other charities. We draw on the experience of those with lived experience and are guided by those who best understand local communities.

Church Urban Fund works mainly through equipping and enabling local people and churches, and by providing training and other resources to assist in our goal to end poverty together. To this end, CUF works with more than 21 faith-based partnerships tackling local issues such as food poverty and homelessness across England through the Together Network; has nurtured Near Neighbours, which provides training and resources for community-based groups; and incubated the Just Finance Foundation, which provides financial education to primary schools and supports parents and families. Our impact reports provide further insights into our work, emphasizing not only what we do but also how we do it and the importance of collaboration.

We are looking ahead with clarity of vision and a focus on three key objectives that together will have a significant impact in the communities with whom we engage. To that end, we continue to seek the collaboration of the Church of England and other faith groups, the government of Britain, and many other charities and organisations who are also focussed on alleviating and ending poverty.

We continue to have hope for a better world. Our hope is our unwavering belief that together, positive change for the benefit of human flourishing and well-being is possible. This is what drives us – to end poverty together.

Many people support the work of CUF in different ways and I extend my heartfelt thanks to them for all for their work, encouragement, financial support and prayers. Your work is often not visible, but we are immensely thankful for all that you do.
Reader, if you are willing and able, please support our work through partnership, skills sharing, prayer or through making a financial gift to support our work.