About Us
We are an independent charity regulated by the Charity Commission.
Our funds come from our ownership of the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, a specialist insurance and financial services company.
Since we were founded in 1972, we’ve given more than £180 million to churches, Christian organisations and other charitable causes.
How we work
Our Trustees
Our Team
We have a small, dedicated team with a broad range of skills and expertise.
Reports and policies
You would like a copy of a full annual report, or a report for a year not listed above, please click here to email us.
Our History
In 1887, the Ecclesiastical Buildings Fire Office was founded by two MPs, three clergymen, a barrister and a clerk of the House of Lords and its directors comprised five clerics and five laymen.
They were determined, after a series of fires had left parishes with ruined churches and no means of restoring them, that there should be a reliable insurance service for parishes in their time of need.
When, through good business acumen, profits started to accrue, the decision was taken to donate this money to charity as grants. The expertise Ecclesiastical built up through insuring churches allowed it to expand into insuring other large, complex, historic buildings. Soon Ecclesiastical was insuring heritage organisations, schools and charities.
Profits and grant-making also increased until, in 1972, Ecclesiastical’s ownership was transferred to a separate grant-making trust, Allchurches Trust, an independent charity. To this day the Trust continues to dispense profits from Ecclesiastical to support good causes throughout the UK and Ireland.