Baron Davenport'S Charity CIO
Charity 1209342
http://www.barondavenportscharity.org/
Overview
Summary
Baron Davenport'S Charity CIO appears to function primarily as a flexible, endowed grant-maker rather than a direct service provider. Its role is defined less by a narrow thematic mission than by trustees’ discretion to support charitable purposes across its area of benefit, while safeguarding permanent funds. It may therefore be an enabling institution within local civic life: able to support people and voluntary organisations across generations, but difficult to understand strategically without evidence of its grants, geography and decision-making.
Operational geography
Coverage: Regional
Operational areas:
- City Centre
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
City Centre
Confidence: high
The charity’s official contact page describes an office in Birmingham, and the latest available trustees’ report records completion of a lease for offices there in February 2025. This is direct evidence of an operational office in Birmingham.
- Baron Davenport's Charity — Contact Us
The charity states that its office is open on a rota basis and gives an office address in Birmingham. - Charity Commission — former Baron Davenport's Charity trustees' report for period ended 30 June 2025
The report records that a new lease of offices in Birmingham was completed on 10 February 2025.
Remaining uncertainties
- The evidence establishes a Birmingham City Centre office, but does not identify particular Birmingham wards in which grants have recently been awarded or services delivered.
- The charity is a grant-maker rather than a direct service provider. Its grants may support organisations and individuals across Birmingham, but the available evidence does not show the current location, scale or continuity of activity in individual neighbourhoods.
- Referring organisations administer and supervise emergency grants on the charity's behalf, which extends practical reach through local support bodies; however, no current named referral partners or their Birmingham locations are published in the evidence reviewed.
- The Charity Commission records Birmingham City among the places where the CIO operates, while the charity’s own eligibility criteria extend to West Midlands counties within 60 miles of Birmingham Town Hall. This supports a regional operational footprint overall, but does not evidence a citywide physical presence or direct delivery network within Birmingham.
Additional evidence needed
- A current grants or impact report listing funded organisations, projects or beneficiary locations within Birmingham.
- A current list of referral bodies or delivery partners used for emergency grants, with the areas they serve.
- Confirmation from the charity of whether its Birmingham office is its only Birmingham operational site and whether staff work regularly from it.
- Ward- or locality-level data on recent grant awards, if the charity can publish this without compromising beneficiaries' privacy.
Areas of work
- General Charitable Purposes
Who they help
- Children/young People
- Elderly/old People
- Other Charities Or Voluntary Bodies
How they help
- Makes Grants To Individuals
- Makes Grants To Organisations
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A flexible local funding vehicle
The charity appears designed to respond to a broad range of charitable needs within an unspecified area of benefit, rather than operating around one fixed issue or beneficiary group.
Why it matters
This suggests its potential value may lie in adapting to overlooked needs or supporting activity that falls between more specialised funders’ priorities.
Show evidence
“To advance such charitable purposes in the area of benefit as the trustees shall in their absolute discretion think fit.”
Source:Charity Commission“General Charitable Purposes.”
Source:Charity Commission
Its main civic role is likely indirect
The available evidence indicates that the charity creates impact by resourcing others—individuals and voluntary bodies—rather than by delivering services itself.
Why it matters
Understanding it as civic infrastructure directs attention to who receives grants, which local capabilities it sustains, and whether it connects otherwise isolated needs and organisations.
Show evidence
“Makes grants to individuals and organisations meeting criteria as set out in the Charity's Governing Document.”
Source:Charity Commission“Makes Grants To Individuals, Makes Grants To Organisations.”
Source:Charity Commission
Permanent endowment may favour continuity over visibility
The requirement to hold two permanently endowed funds suggests that preserving charitable capital is a core part of the organisation’s role, potentially enabling long-term support but constraining how funds can be used.
Why it matters
This distinguishes the charity from short-term project funders: its strategic importance may be stability and stewardship, though its annual grant-making capacity cannot be inferred.
Show evidence
“To hold on trust the BDC permanently endowed funds.”
Source:Charity Commission“To hold on trust the KWO permanently endowed funds.”
Source:Charity Commission
- The area of benefit, grant criteria, grant amounts and recipients are not provided.
- It is unclear how support is divided between children and young people, older people, individuals and voluntary bodies.
- No evidence shows whether the two endowed funds have distinct purposes or beneficiary groups.
Remaining uncertainties
- Recent annual reports, accounts and grant lists showing recipients, amounts, locations and purposes.
- The governing document or grant-making policy setting out eligibility, trustee discretion and fund restrictions.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
Makes grants to individuals and organisations meeting criteria as set out in the Charity's Governing Document
Charity objects
THE OBJECTS OF THE CIO ARE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PUBLIC: (A) TO ADVANCE SUCH CHARITABLE PURPOSES (ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF ENGLAND AND WALES) IN THE AREA OF BENEFIT AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION FROM TIME TO TIME THINK FIT. (B) TO HOLD ON TRUST THE BDC PERMANENTLY ENDOWED FUNDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH CLAUSE 5.1; AND (C) TO HOLD ON TRUST THE KWO PERMANENTLY ENDOWED FUNDS IN ACCORDANCE WITH CLAUSE 5.2.