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INTRODUCTION
Traditionally religious institutes have been “asset rich, cash poor”. Much of their wealth has been tied up in large buildings that were used either as convents, monasteries or properties in which to house religious, or as properties to accommodate traditional works such as schools, care homes and health projects. Over the past two decades the age pro le of many religious institutes in Great Britain has led to a need to reassess the strategy and direction of the institute’s work and its needs in terms of resources (including property).
For many, such detailed strategic questions and related discussions continue – the answers will be different for each religious institute and will be informed,
in part, by the type of work traditionally carried out by the institute in Great Britain, its speci c age pro le, its geographic location and whether or not the institute in Great Britain is part of a larger international institute. What is clear is that there are no magic answers or solutions. Detailed discernment and communication across the institute will be essential to help determine the path ahead in terms of mission and in terms of caring for older members. The tools which will help with this are good governance and nancial planning.
The aim of this and the next few chapters is to look at nancial matters in more detail. In particular, the role of nancial management and budgeting and the derivation of robust reserves policies to help assess the real nancial position
of the institute. Having done this, for many institutes, the need to retain investments over the next few years will be key and so we will explore the key aspects to good governance in respect to investment portfolios. While for many the income generated by portfolios will be essential to the care and upkeep
of the members of the institute in Great Britain, for some it will become clear that the funds are in excess of longer term needs and so we will consider the question of donating funds to others (including the wider institute) and grant making more generally.
In this chapter we begin by looking at the requirements for religious institute charities to maintain accounting records and produce annual accounts, accompanied by a trustees’ report, in order to meet the legal requirements of the Charities Act 2011. After considering brie y what those statutory accounts should comprise, we then move on to nancial planning for the future and the need to ensure that the charity has the resources needed to meet its future obligations and enable the members to pursue the missions to which they have committed.
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