The Church Commissioners for England published their annual report for 2025 last week. There was an accompanying press release (copied below) which concentrated on the endowment fund’s 8% return.
Church Commissioners for England endowment fund delivers 8% return in 2025
25/05/2026
The Church Commissioners for England, which manages the Church of England’s endowment fund, delivered an 8% return in 2025, marking the seventeenth consecutive year of positive returns.
The in-perpetuity endowment fund delivers long-term financial support for the Church’s mission and ministry, contributing approximately a fifth towards the total annual running costs of the Church of England. The latest result helps meet funding commitments for the 2026-2028 triennium, agreed last year.
“We know that the support provided by the Church Commissioners’ distributions is important right across the Church of England, providing key funds that support frontline parish ministry in a wide variety of ways,” said Rosie Slater-Carr, interim Chief Executive Officer. “We are committed to providing long-term funding into the future for dioceses, Cathedrals, Bishops and much needed funding for one off areas, such as Net Zero Carbon and the National Redress Scheme. Our long-term view ensures that the Church continues to inspire the many generations to come.
“Achieving an 8% return, above our long-term target, was primarily due to strong absolute performance in public markets. At the same time, we were able to successfully manage portfolio liquidity in order to fund near term distributions,” said Poppy Allonby, Chief Investment Officer. “We achieved these results whilst maintaining a focus on responsible investment and last year we were recognised for our work on both human rights data and sustainability across our real estate portfolio.”
“Our 2025 result is testament to the skill and dedication of our investment team, who not only deliver marker-beating returns, but do so while staying true to the Church of England’s values,” said Alan Smith, First Church Estates Commissioner. “It is thanks to that responsible, long-term investment approach that we can support the mission and ministry of the Church, year in year out.”
The Church Commissioners provides funding to a range of areas that support the Church of England’s mission and ministry, particularly in areas of need. In 2025, the final year of the 2023-2025 triennium, the Church Commissioners contributed £202.8m to supporting dioceses and local churches in England, and £52.9m for supporting Bishops’ and Archbishops’ ministry. The funding supported local parishes, including advancing the Net Zero Carbon programme across church buildings and schools. It formed part of a charitable expenditure of £282.4m, which also included £17.8m for cathedrals. In addition, the Church Commissioners has provided funding to the National Redress Scheme and pre-1998 clergy pensions.
The return exceeded the long-term target return of CPIH (Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs) +4% per annum; at the end of 2025, the fund was valued at £11.6bn.
The annual report is available for download here.
The fund was worth £7bn at the end of 2015. To keep pace with inflation over the last 10 years, it needed to grow by 39.9%, to £9.79bn. Big congratulations are due to the fund managers for outperforming this to the tune of £1,800,000,000 over the last 10 years. There’s a bit more of this coming to parishes in the next triennium, but most of it still comes with strings attached. Just for comparison, if each CofE parish were given an equal share of that surplus from the last 10 years, that would be £144,000 per parish. We can keep… Read more »