The Bangor Diocesan Board of Finance and the Bangor Diocesan Trust have today published the findings of an independent governance review, commissioned as part of their ongoing commitment to strengthening accountability, transparency and good governance across the diocese.
The review by Jim Clifford OBE and Alice Hulbert of Sonnet Advisory & Impact, charity specialists, examined the charities’ governance arrangements, financial oversight and organisational culture. It acknowledges the proactive steps taken by trustees in commissioning the assessment and sets their work within a wider effort to ensure that diocesan structures remain robust and effective.
The review describes the breakdown of good governance and proper processes within the charities over five or more years. The charities should have been led by laity, and the BDBF should have formed a counterbalance and critical friend to the Bishop’s Ministerial focus. That positive dynamic tension was lost, and the trustee boards lost sight of their function and importance. Since mid-2025, and on through the period of the review, the report recognises that significant progress has been made to redressing that situation. These improvements include new and clearer leadership, more structured board meetings, improved information flow and decision‑making processes, strengthened financial reporting, and the introduction of formal budgeting and multi‑year financial planning.
The review offers a series of practical recommendations to support the next stage of development. These include merging the two diocesan charities into a single body, updating membership and responsibilities of the trustee boards, and enhancing financial planning and reporting. It also proposes clearer arrangements for risk management, trustee training, staff structures and record‑keeping, together with consistent procedures for overseeing major projects.
Taken together, these steps form a positive and constructive way forward to ensuring that the charities’ and thereby the Diocese’s governance arrangements are fit for purpose and able to support its mission with confidence.
Hywel Parry-Smith, Chair of Trustees says “We welcome the findings of the independent review and accept its recommendations in full. Strengthening governance is an essential part of our stewardship responsibilities, and the Trustees are committed to ensuring robust oversight, effective decision‑making and transparent financial management.
“I am heartened by the improvements already made and by the commitment shown across the diocese to learning, adapting and improving. Whilst in no way underestimating the work we have to do, I am heartened by the positive response and willing support from trustees, staff and other stakeholders. With clear direction and a shared sense of purpose, we can move forward with optimism and a renewed energy.”
Jim Clifford, lead author of the review, says “Good governance and sound processes are essential to the effectiveness of any charity. Our review explains what caused these to break down, but shows how to rebuild them, on the foundations of what has already been done. At its heart a Diocesan Board of Finance is the enabler of the Mission of the Diocese, but also the critical friend of the ministry team in identifying what can be done and how. The review will also enable that role and the independent thinking that goes with it to be restored for the benefit of all.”
Notes for editors
1. The governance review concerns two principal diocesan charities: the Bangor Diocesan Board of Finance (BDBF) and the Bangor Diocesan Trust (BDT). The BDBF is responsible for administering diocesan‑wide finances, receiving central grants, overseeing the Bishop’s Ministry Fund, and employing the staff team supporting ministry across the Diocese. The BDT holds diocesan property and funds, both restricted and unrestricted, and makes grants that support ministry areas, church buildings, and statutory education functions. The review recommends that these two bodies should ultimately merge into a single, reconstituted charity with a revised governance structure to ensure clarity of accountability, a stronger skills‑based trustee body, and more effective oversight of diocesan resources.
2. Sonnet Advisory & Impact are an impact-focused research, financial, design and strategic consultancy. Regulated as a firm of chartered accountants, and structured as a social enterprise, they are part owned by Sheffield Hallam University.
3. Jim Clifford has over forty years’ experience advising charities in the UK and beyond on matters including regulatory, governance and financial reviews. An Hon. Professor at Sheffield Hallam University, and a Senior Fellow at Centre for Charity Effectiveness, City St.George’s, University of London, he was awarded an OBE in 2013 for services to Social Investment.
Read the report here: Download
