The Right Reverend Rob Wickham, Group Chief Executive, Annual Report 2023

Dear friends,

In 2023 we continued to support churches and communities emerging from COVID and the cost-of-living crisis. We are very grateful to The Rev’d Adam Edwards, who was interim CEO following Rachel Whittington’s departure at the end of 2022 (Adam remains as Deputy CEO).

On my arrival as CEO in July, there was an intensive period of listening to staff, diocesan teams, stakeholders, bishops and church and project leaders, and those who use the projects. Already by the end of 2023 it became clear that there was a growing need for a confident and simplified Church Urban Fund to work with and learn from churches and community groups who are responding to growing inequality and poverty in their contexts.

As a result of this, two significant pieces of work have been put in place. The first of this is a Governance Review that will look at the structure of the CUF Group, and provide recommendations for how we can improve and simplify our governance to ensure that we are fully compliant with charity law and best practice, but that our structures allow us to get on with the vital work of supporting churches and communities to respond to the issues of poverty in their local areas.

The second piece of work is a reshaped vision, mission statement, values and strategy that will underpin and guide the work of CUF for the next three years.

2023 saw significant changes in our Trustee body. Andrew Barnett stood down as Chair in October, and has been replaced by Katherine McPherson, Chief Strategy Officer at Fieldfisher. During 2023, three other CUF Trustees stepped down, and five new Trustees joined our Board.This has created an exciting Board to help take CUF on the next stage of its journey.

At Just Finance Foundation, Sir Douglas Flint stood down as Chair, and was replaced by Chris Cummings, Chief Executive of the Investment Association.

This report demonstrates the amazing work that has happened across the CUF Group in 2023, and I would like to thank all of our staff, Trustees, partners and groups with which we work for doing such important work to tackle poverty in all of its forms.

This is a strong base from which CUF will continue to serve in 2024 and beyond.