The Board of Trustees appreciate that not all members were able to join us at our Annual General Meeting this year, and wanted to share the Chair’s address.
In this, our centenary, year, The Trust is pleased to report that once again it has had a very successful year. We do have some announcements that will be of interest to all of our members, and we hope that at the end of the evening some non-members will be interested in joining us!
Each year, we aim to give everyone a clearer understanding of how the Trust is funded, why decisions are made, and how the Board is working to move the charity forward. We will continue that process, but first let’s look at last year’s results.
The SNU Trust has continued to ensure that the credit interest rates paid on our accounts remains competitive and has held rates steady for the whole of 2025 despite rates dropping with high street banks. Even with this approach the SNU Trust showed a surplus of £42,339 before any gain on our investments.
As the SNU Trust is not funded by membership fees, its annual income remains relatively stable, is focussed on sustainable financial returns, and comes from four main sources:
• The rental income from investment properties and from Palmerston Place in Edinburgh which is held for charitable purposes
• The interest earned on loans to members. This is the smallest part of our income at 2.84%. This figure will continue to reduce as churches repay outstanding balances and is a trend the Trust is pleased to see continue.
• Management charges to the SNU for accounting work carried out by our staff
• Investment income from our portfolio held with Quilter Cheviot who ensure that the funds are diversified across a range of equities, bonds and other investments.
Management charges to the Union increased during the year but are expected to fall again in 2026 as the changes made on the Union’s behalf begin to take effect.
We carefully manage the Trust’s outgoings and plan ahead. We try to ensure that the main cost to the charity is the interest paid to the members who invest with us.
The largest single cost to the charity is the interest paid out to members which increased by 3.4% during 2025. This reflects our commitment to offering competitive interest rates to member churches on their deposits.
As you are probably aware, rates fell throughout 2025 and into 2026. The Board has reviewed these market changes carefully and has decided, for now, to maintain our current rates. While we cannot promise that this position will continue indefinitely, we are satisfied that the rates on our products remain appropriate at present.
Support costs, which includes staff salaries, repairs, office overheads and other administrative costs showed a reduction in the year. This was as a direct result of a reduction in repair costs relating to Palmerston Place.
In this, our centenary year, the Board is concentrating more than ever on ways to move the charity forward and remains focussed on rewarding member churches for their loyalty to the charity.
Last year, we spoke about the importance of the Trust carefully reviewing income from all sources to ensure that the charity’s assets are being used effectively and appropriately. The impact of this approach can be seen in the increase in income from investment properties during 2025.
During 2026, the Board also agreed to review the way in which the portfolios held with Quilter Cheviot are managed. While the Trustees are pleased with the returns achieved, it is hoped that the fees charged on the portfolio can be managed more effectively, providing better value for the charity as a whole.
In our annual report, we reported that Palmerston Trust made the difficult decision to leave Palmerston Place, and since the start of this year we have been working closely with the Edinburgh Association of Spiritualists and the Union to find a way to ensure the long term future of the Centre.
One of the challenges the SNU Trust has faced since acquiring the Centre is that the Trust’s charitable objects do not permit it to operate activities directly from the building. This was the reason for establishing Palmerston Trust; however, unfortunately, this arrangement did not prove to be successful.
Following extensive discussion and careful consideration, the Board has agreed that, from the beginning of 2027, the SNU Trust will use Higginson Securities, a company currently used to hold legal charges, to establish a trading subsidiary. This company will be able to operate activities from the Centre, with any profits generated being donated back to the SNU Trust.
This structure will allow the Board to maximise the use of the Centre while continuing to support both the Church and the promotion of SNU Spiritualism, ensuring that any surplus generated is used to further the Trust’s charitable objectives.
Over the years the Trust has developed a range of accounts offering generous rates that it thinks will appeal to all SNU churches. As already mentioned, the Board works hard to ensure that our rates are competitive and we are confident that they compare favourably to any rates you are currently getting from your high street bank.
Each year the Trust has offered a one-year account to all members paying a very generous rate of interest for investing either £1,000 or £500 of new money with the Trust, and we are pleased to confirm that this is once again available to our members.
The accounts are:
5-5-1 this allows churches to invest £500 at 5% for 1 year
1-6-1 this allows churches to invest £1,000 at 6% for 1 year
Members can only open one of the accounts and should therefore select which is best for them. Please remember that this is for new investment into the Trust and money cannot be transferred from accounts already held, apart from District Councils who hold no funds outside of the Trust.
All churches have been sent the information however application forms are available from our website, from our stand here this weekend, or direct from our office.
One final note – we would encourage all churches to check the accounts they have to ensure they are best suited to their needs. If you would like any help or guidance, then please just get in touch. We are a charity, not a bank, and we will always encourage you to make the most of any savings you hold with us.
As you have heard, the Trust continues to go from strength to strength and we want all of our member churches to share in the success of our charity.
Therefore, we are pleased to announce that a deposit of £100 will be placed into the investment account of each of our member churches on 1 October. This is a thank you from the SNU Trust for the support and faith you have shown in our organisation. All churches will be receiving a thank you card from the Board in the coming week.
We are sure that any church who has a loan with the Trust would agree that having to meet the monthly repayments is something that its members are mindful of every month. It is a huge commitment and not something that is undertaken lightly.
In line with the Trust’s continued commitment to supporting churches, the Board has reviewed the arrangements currently in place for churches who have loans with the Trust. The Trustees wanted to ensure that arrangements for loans remain fair and appropriate.
LOAN INTEREST IN 2026
We are pleased to announce that in 2026, the interest rate for all loans that are currently outstanding with the SNU Trust will be reduced to 0%. No interest will be charged this year.
LOAN INTEREST IN 2027
From 1 January 2027, interest on all loans will be set at 1.5%. This lower rate is intended to provide continued support to churches who have borrowed from the Trust.
SECURITY DEPOSITS
Churches have historically been required to have a security deposit of 10% of the value of the loan taken, to be held in a Deposit Account with the Trust. This represents a large amount of cash which earns minimal interest, and this seems unfair.
The original intention of the deposit was to provide further security to the Trust and would be returned to the church on full repayment however the reality is much different. Once the amount owed by a church is less than the security deposit, it is normal for us to contact the church and suggest that the funds are used to repay the loan, releasing the members from finding those monthly repayments much earlier.
Whilst reviewing the way in which the Trust administers loans, the Board agreed that the requirement to retain a 10% deposit should be waived if the church agrees that the money held is used to reduce the amount outstanding on the loan. This will have the effect of reducing the time the church needs to find repayments and release the church from the burden of debt much sooner.
These changes are intended to recognise the support of member churches, make practical use of the Trust’s reserves, and provide meaningful assistance to churches with loan arrangements.
All churches who will be impacted by these changes will be contacted by our team at the office next week.
The Trust continues to be available to churches who might be considering taking out a loan to finance a project at their church.
It is important that churches taking out loans are able to comfortably afford the repayments over the full term, and we work closely with any church to ensure that they are able to repay without difficulty. The SNU Trust takes care to not put any church committee or its members under financial pressure.
We realise that this means it is likely that the 2026 accounts for the SNU Trust will show a deficit but this is something that the Board is comfortable with. This simply means we are distributing some of the reserves that have been built up over the last few years and that is something we are happy to do.
