--- title: "Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts… rating | CharityCompare" description: "Bishop" source: https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/bishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio retrieved: 2026-08-18T03:22:19.304Z license: "Charity data © Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0" --- Quick answer ## Is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO a good charity? Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO scores 83/100 (4 stars, Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, calculated from its UK regulator filings. Its latest accounts year is 2025 (£1.3m total income, 91% of spending on charitable activities). This reflects financial transparency and stewardship on paper — not the real-world impact of its programmes. See the full breakdown. United Kingdom | Reg [1189853](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/bishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio) | Registered charity | [Official website](https://southmillarts.co.uk/) | [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1189853) Donate ## How can you give to BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO? You leave CharityCompare to complete a donation on the official BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO form. We do not process payments or take commission. Opens their official online donation form. [Donate](https://southmillarts.co.uk/?utm_source=charitycompare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=donate&utm_content=1189853) ## What does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO do? Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO is a registered charity (no. 1189853) working in heritage in United Kingdom. Its latest Charity Commission filing directs 91% of spending to charitable activities, holding roughly 35 months of reserves, though its recent accounts were filed late. Reported income changed sharply in 2023 (likely a merger, transfer or reporting change) — year-on-year trend labels are not meaningful across that step. CharityCompare's Clarity Score rates the organisation only from public Charity Commission accounts — accountability, financial health, efficiency and community support — not the quality or impact of its programmes. Summarised from public filings — Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO hasn't added its own description yet. [Work here? Add it free →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/claim?charity=bishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio) **In short:** BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO scores 83 out of 100 (4 stars). 91% average program spend (3-year average). Review the pillar breakdown below. ## What is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO? Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO has a Clarity Score of 83 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars, Good). Charity Commission registration number 1189853. Status: Registered. Primary cause area: Heritage. Latest accounts year 2025: total income £1.3m, with 91% of expenditure on charitable activities. Accounts filing: late. Reserves: approximately 35 months of operating costs. 1 filing concern(s) noted on this profile. Scores are independent and based on official filings — not a donation recommendation. Data from [Charity Commission register](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), last updated 17 July 2026. Overall score 83/100 4★ · Good Cause spend 91% 3-yr avg · charitable activities Accountability 75/100 Finance beacon Income £1.3m Latest year 2025 Reserves 35 mo Months of running costs Accounts filing Late Check register £10.8 raised per £1 fundraising (3-yr avg) · 11% overhead · Website on register · Confidence: medium ## How does BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO compare? Clarity Score percentile against similar UK charities — the share of peers BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO scores higher than. Income band (£1m–£5m)62ndpercentile **Scores higher than 62% of 2,776 charities in its income band** · 83/100 vs 78 peer average (marker). Heritage charities64thpercentile **Scores higher than 64% of 151 charities in this cause** · 83/100 vs 77 peer average (marker). ## How reliable is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's data? Source Charity Commission (England & Wales) Accounts year 2025 Filing date 24 June 2026 Profile reviewed 17 July 2026 Medium confidence — some data missing or late Scores reflect the latest annual accounts on the register. Clarity Score measures how clearly the charity accounts for money in those filings — not programme impact. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Sources: [Charity Commission for England and Wales](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/), [Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator](https://www.oscr.org.uk/) and [Charity Commission for Northern Ireland](https://www.charitycommissionni.org.uk/). [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/). ## What is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's Beacon report? Detailed accountability and finance metrics from UK regulator filings — structured for transparency in our four-beacon report. ### Accountability & Transparency Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies. 75/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Filing history (5 years) 100% on-time over five years = 15 pts · one late filing = 5 pts · two or more = 0 pts. | 33% | 5/15 pts | | Trustee oversight Three or more trustees on the register = 15 pts, scaled down for fewer (governance red flag below three). | 100% | 9 trustees · 15/15 pts | | Declared policies Safeguarding (4) · conflict of interest (3) · volunteer management (3) — from Charity Commission annual return. | 100% | 10/10 pts | ### Financial Health Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts. 77/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Reserves (months of cash) 3–24 months = full marks, tapering on both sides · 0 months or 4+ years (hoarding) = 0 pts. | 53% | 35 months · 8/15 pts | | Income stability / growth +20% or more over the window = 10 pts · flat = 5 pts · −20% or worse = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 10/10 pts · 3-year average | | Liabilities to assets 0% liabilities-to-assets = 5 pts, scaling down to 0 pts at 60%+ debt. | 100% | 5% · 5/5 pts | ### Financial Efficiency How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios. 100/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Program expense ratio 90%+ on charitable activities = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 50% or below. | 100% | 91% · 10/10 pts (3-year average) | | Fundraising efficiency ≤10p to raise £1 = full marks, scaling down to 0 pts at 40p or above (fundraising cost ÷ income). | 100% | 9p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) | ### Community Support Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff. 100/100 | Metric | Score | Value | | --- | --- | --- | | Volunteer-to-staff ratio Volunteers at 2x staff or more = full marks · no volunteers = 0 pts, scaled between. | 100% | 52 volunteers / 15 staff · 10/10 pts | [How we calculate beacon scores →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) ## What is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's Clarity Score? 83/100 total · Good · 4 of 5 stars Four pillars (40 + 30 + 20 + 10 points) from Charity Commission filings — see methodology for full weightings. 75/100 Accountability & Transparency 77/100 Financial Health 100/100 Financial Efficiency 100/100 Community Support ### Accountability & Transparency Baseline trust from filing discipline, board oversight, and declared governance policies. 75/100 Filing history (5 years)5/15 pts Trustee oversight9 trustees · 15/15 pts Declared policies10/10 pts ### Financial Health Stability and solvency — reserves, revenue trend, and debt from Charity Commission accounts. 77/100 Reserves (months of cash)35 months · 8/15 pts Income stability / growth10/10 pts · 3-year average Liabilities to assets5% · 5/5 pts ### Financial Efficiency How efficiently funds reach the cause — program spend and fundraising cost ratios. 100/100 Program expense ratio91% · 10/10 pts (3-year average) Fundraising efficiency9p per £1 income · 10/10 pts (3-year average) ### Community Support Grassroots backing from Charity Commission workforce data — volunteers vs paid staff. 100/100 Volunteer-to-staff ratio52 volunteers / 15 staff · 10/10 pts ## How much does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO raise and spend? Latest filed year 2025 · Source: Charity Commission filings | Category | Amount | % of spend | | --- | --- | --- | | Total income | £1.3m | — | | Total expenditure | £1.3m | — | | Charitable activities | £1.2m | 91% | | Fundraising | £126k | 9% | | Governance & admin | £32k | 2% | 91%On charitable activities ## Where does the money go? Latest accounts (2025) · £1.3m spent - Charitable activities91% · £1.2m - Fundraising9% · £126k - Governance2% · £32k ## What trust indicators does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO have? Pulled from the Charity Commission register — filing behaviour, board size, and workforce where reported. - — Accounts filed on time Filing status: late - ✓ Trustee board size (3–12) 9 trustees on the Charity Commission register - ✓ Workforce on register 15 employees · 52 volunteers (3:1 volunteer-to-staff) Fundraising Regulator Status not yet checked Separate from our financial scores — shows whether the charity follows the Code of Fundraising Practice. [Check Fundraising Regulator →](https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/members/) Official register Reg 1189853 Full trustee list, accounts, and regulatory history on the Charity Commission. [View on Charity Commission →](https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1189853) ### Trustees & officers - Steven Connors since 2020 - Deirdre Glasgow since 2020 - Graham Pettit since 2021 - Michelle Brinklow since 2023 - Yvonne Roger Estop since 2023 - Elizabeth Jane Phillips since 2023 - Teresa Di Falco since 2023 - Jonathan Gregory since 2024 - Dr Sarah Patricia Tatham since 2025 100 How we score charities +The Clarity Score is a 100-point rating from UK regulator filings (Charity Commission for England and Wales, OSCR and CCNI). Four pillars — Accountability & Transparency (40), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10) — each scored on a continuous scale, not pass/fail cutoffs. A statutory inquiry sets the score to 0 automatically. [Full methodology →](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) Accountability & Transparency Scored from filings 40 points — filing history (15), trustee oversight (15, scaling up to a board of three or more), declared policies (10). Financial Health Scored from filings 30 points — reserves (15, full marks 3–24 months, tapering on both sides), income stability (10), liabilities to assets (5, scaling down as debt rises). Financial Efficiency Scored from filings 20 points — program expense ratio and fundraising cost, each on a graduated scale (not a single cutoff). Kept at 20% of the total: financial-ratio scoring alone is not a reliable effectiveness signal (see "why not just an overhead ratio?" below). Community Support Scored from filings 10 points — volunteer-to-staff ratio from Charity Commission workforce data, scaling continuously up to a 2:1 ratio. Overall score Sum of all pillar points. Display stars use the same bands as the labels: 90–100 → 5★ Exceptional; 75–89 → 4★ Good; 60–74 → 3★ Needs improvement; 1–59 → 2★ Poor; 0 → not rated. ## How have Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's finances changed over five years? - Income - Spending - Cause spend Values in £ thousands · Cause spend plotted only when the filing discloses a split · Source: Charity Commission accounts ## What are the key facts about Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO? Overall score 83/100 (4★) Income £1.3m Cause spend 91% of expenditure Reg number 1189853 Scope Local (—) Reserves 35 months Trustees 9 Accounts year 2025 Filing late ## How does BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO compare, and where else can you look? [Compare BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO with others](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/compare-charities?ids=bishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio) [More heritage charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/heritage) [How we score charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology) ### Where BISHOP'S STORTFORD MUSEUM AND ARTS CIO sits The causes this charity is classified under, and other charities working nearby. - [heritage charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/heritage) - [arts charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/arts) - [education charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/education) - [community charities](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/browse/community) ### Similar heritage charities Top-rated peers by CharityCompare score - [HARTLEBURY CASTLE PRESERVATION TRUST](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/hartlebury-castle-preservation-trust) 100/100 · £612k - [ST BARTHOLOMEW'S HERITAGE](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/st-bartholomew-s-heritage) 99/100 · £5.7m - [JANE AUSTEN'S HOUSE MUSEUM](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/jane-austen-s-house-museum) 98/100 · £2.0m - [MILTON KEYNES MUSEUM TRUST LIMITED](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/milton-keynes-museum-trust-limited) 98/100 · £763k ## How can you share Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's rating? Share: [X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Bishop)[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.charitycompare.org.uk%2Fcharity%2Fbishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio)[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.charitycompare.org.uk%2Fcharity%2Fbishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio)[Bluesky](https://bsky.app/intent/compose?text=Bishop) Copy link Print / save as PDFOpens a printer-friendly view of this profile for Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO. For this charity ## How do you add Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's rating to your site? Free to use — a lightweight HTML badge or an embeddable score widget, each linking back to this independent profile and our [methodology](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/methodology). BadgeScore widget [♥ CharityCompare Clarity Score 83/100 ★★★★★](https://www.charitycompare.org.uk/charity/bishop-s-stortford-museum-and-arts-cio) Lightweight HTML badge (no iframe) — paste anywhere ♥ CharityCompare Clarity Score 83/100 ★★★★★ Copy code ## What red flags does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO have? ## Frequently asked questions Common questions about Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's rating, finances, and Charity Commission status. Is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO a good charity? + Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO scores 83 out of 100 (4 stars — Good) on CharityCompare's Clarity Score, our independent read of its UK regulator filings. Around 91% of its spending goes to charitable activities and its accounts are late. That reflects how transparent and financially healthy it looks on paper — it does not measure the real-world impact of its work, so treat it as one factor alongside the cause you care about. CharityCompare never tells you where to donate. Is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO a legitimate charity? + Yes — Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO is a legitimate registered charity (charity number 1189853). Verify it on the official register: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/1189853. Registration proves status; Clarity Score then summarises filing transparency on paper, not programme impact. What is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's charity number? + Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's charity number is 1189853. Check that number on the official register (Charity Commission, OSCR or CCNI) or this CharityCompare profile before you donate — scammers sometimes reuse real numbers on fake appeals. What is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's charity rating? + Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO scores 83 out of 100 on CharityCompare (4 stars — Good). The Clarity Score V1 sums four pillars from UK regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 pts), Financial Health (30), Financial Efficiency (20), and Community Support (10). Stars use the same bands as those labels — 90+ is 5★ Exceptional. It is not an impact ranking. Does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO have reviews and complaints? + CharityCompare does not host public user reviews for Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO. Instead you get a filing-based Clarity Score, cause spend, reserves and red flags such as late accounts (1 filing concern(s) noted on this profile). For formal complaints about a charity, contact the Charity Commission, OSCR, CCNI or the Fundraising Regulator as appropriate. How much of my donation reaches Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, 91% of Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's total spending went to charitable activities (3-yr avg across disclosed years). That is the closest official figure to "how much of your donation reaches the cause" — it is an average across all spending in the filing, not a pound-by-pound breakdown of an individual gift. What are Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's overheads? + According to its 2025 regulator filing, fundraising costs were about 9% of total expenditure and combined overheads (fundraising plus governance) were about 11% of total expenditure at Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO. The filings CharityCompare uses do not publish CEO or senior-staff pay, so we cannot say what Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's chief executive is paid — where disclosure rules apply, senior pay appears in the trustees' annual report on the Charity Commission register. How much income does Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO receive? + Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO reported £1.3m total income in its 2025 accounts, based on UK regulator filings. Five-year trend: restructured. Are Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's accounts up to date? + Filing status: late (last filing 2026-06-24). CharityCompare flags late or missing accounts separately from the financial score. Where is Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO based? + Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO is listed at United Kingdom, focused on heritage. How does CharityCompare score Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO? + We calculate a Clarity Score of 0–100 from four pillars in Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's regulator filings: Accountability & Transparency (40 points — filing history, trustees, policies), Financial Health (30 — reserves, income trend, debt), Financial Efficiency (20 — cause spend and fundraising cost, on a graduated scale) and Community Support (10 — volunteer-to-staff ratio). An open statutory inquiry scores 0. The score measures reporting on paper, not programme impact. CharityCompare is free for donors, takes no commission on donations, and scores cannot be bought. How often is this page updated? + This profile was last updated on 17 July 2026 from the latest UK regulator data available to CharityCompare, and Bishop's Stortford Museum and Arts CIO's most recent accounts cover 2025. Scores and figures refresh whenever we re-ingest the register, so the page reflects our latest data pull rather than a one-off review.