2025-2026 CARE Impact Report
“You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world.”
Matthew 5:13,14
Ross Hendry CEO of CARE
Perhaps most notably, in 2025/26, we have prayerfully and determinedly campaigned against the legalisation of assisted suicide across England, Wales and Scotland. We have done so on behalf of the sick, the frail, the dying, those living with disabilities, and anyone else who would feel pressure to choose an assisted suicide if it were legal.
We praise God that, for now, legislation in Scotland and at Westminster has been voted down, or ran out of time. This is a real victory for the vulnerable! But we are not complacent; we know that fresh attempts will come, and we will be ready to stand for life again and to advocate for gold-standard palliative care for everyone. But there is so much else we can be thankful for: we’ve been able to reach record new numbers of churches across the UK, and have created a series of new resources to help Christians in both the pew and the pulpit. We hope to keep expanding this work, and to continue to connect with new generations.
Another major highlight has been our project to repair, restore and renew our Head Office at 53 Romney Street. This office has served our
Everything we do at CARE is underpinned by our belief that God has a particular heart for the most vulnerable. This means speaking up for all those who lack a voice or who are far from justice (Prov. 31:8-9), from the baby in the womb to the child being exposed to pornography or the addict being exploited by the gambling industry.
mission for many years and the major work we’ve done in the last few months should mean that it will continue to be a superb, strategic base for decades to come.
All of this has only been possible thanks to the faithful generosity and partnership of tens of thousands of supporters. I’m conscious that many of you have been with us for decades (indeed, in some cases, from the very start!). But I’m also delighted to welcome an increasing number of new supporters as well.
On behalf of the whole team, thank you for partnering with us and I look forward to all God will do through CARE over the coming year, as we work to see Politics Renewed and Lives Transformed.
Vision and Mission
At CARE, our vision is simple. We want to see politics renewed and lives transformed.
In Romans 13, we read that God appoints governments and gives them responsibility. When politics is working well, and our leaders promote good and restrain evil, we can see a society where injustice is challenged and where the powerless are protected.
But how can we renew politics?
We believe that as Christians, we can speak a better story to our broken world. It’s a story which is rooted in God’s word and modelled by Jesus himself.
And it’s a story which shows us how human beings, created in the image of God, can flourish, as our Creator and Heavenly Father intends.
To do that, we do three main things:
Engaging the Church
We keep God’s church informed on key issues, help them to think about politics from a Christian perspective, and inspire them to make a difference.
Equipping Politicians
Our relational approach means we get alongside politicians and support them in their work to secure legislative change, producing briefings, writing speeches and drafting amendments.
Empowering Future Leaders
We invest in the Christian leaders of tomorrow through our Leadership Programme, giving talented graduates the opportunity to work in Parliament and access high-quality theological and leadership training.
Engaging the Church
It’s been another exciting year as we seek to engage the Church across the UK. We’ve had almost 200 church speaking engagements, many of which are new, as well as deepening our existing relationships with long-term partners, and putting on events where we’ve met hundreds of new supporters.
We continue to develop a variety of high-quality resources across a range of media, and have particularly seen traction on Instagram, where we are connecting with younger supporters.
Two Key Initiatives
We’ve continued to invest in our work on Instagram, and have seen more than 30% growth in followers for a second successive year. Whereas our Facebook strategy is tailored to an older audience, we are using Instagram to introduce CARE to younger generations: 57% of followers here are under 45, and 30% under the age of 35. We use the channel to repackage our longer form content - Friday long-reads, podcasts and topic primer videos - into a format which is accessible, and as a gateway to investing in a longer-term relationship with CARE’s work.
CARE Events
It’s been an exciting year for our Events Team as CARE has travelled around the country; in addition to almost 200 church speaking engagements, we have held supporter evenings in Nottingham, Tunbridge Wells, Torquay and Falmouth. In each of these, we were really struck by how many new people were encountering CARE’s work for the first time! We also marked CARE for Scotland’s 40th anniversary with a brilliant evening in Glasgow in September, and have continued to grow our Praying for Politics events on Zoom.
The Stats 195 church speaking engagements 80 new churches spoken at
486,374 website visits 35% growth in Instagram followers
130,000 resources distributed
CARE’s Resources
Preacher’s Toolkits
We love speaking about CARE’s key issues, but we can’t be everywhere! We want to equip church leaders to preach and teach on some of the most pressing topics facing the UK church today, whether it is assisted suicide, pornography or abortion.
Our preacher’s toolkits bring together everything into one place, including key points, statistics, Bible verses, quotes, stories, political context, pastoral scenarios, and recommendations for further reading. This year we completed our set of toolkits on CARE issues, and they are all free to download from the CARE website!
Engage Podcast
The Engage Podcast, featuring James Mildred and Peter Ladd, is now firmly established with a core audience, and continues to reach politically motivated Christians.
We release episodes twice a month and we are looking forward to using our new recording space in our renovated office. We also have plans to put on a live recording of the podcast later in 2026!
Dear MP
Sometimes we ask supporters to engage with MPs (or political candidates) at key times, such as during an election campaign, or when there is a key debate coming up, but very little guidance exists on how Christians can best form a relationship with their local representative. Our new Topic Guide in the Autumn brought
together a range of perspectives, including prayer-points, theology, practical tips, an interview with Tim Farron, and a piece from our Director of Policy Caroline Ansell on what life in Parliament is really like. Copies flew off the press, and (despite having ordered a surplus) we had to commission reprints within a month!
The Big Story, the Better Story
Our Friday long-reads seek to provide a Christian perspective on whatever the biggest story in the news has been on any given week, and are sent out with our weekly email, Impact Direct. We regularly receive feedback from supporters saying how helpful they have found them, as they seek to look at the world through a Christian lens.
This year, some of our top stories have included perspectives on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Christian Nationalism, the murder of Charlie Kirk, Bonnie Blue, war in the Middle East, and BBC Thought for the Day and immigration, all of which were read over 2,000 times.
Seeing Clearly
Our biannual topic guides are a really helpful source of information on a particular issue. Having previously released resources on the Labour Government and Assisted Suicide, we turned our attention to Pornography this year.
‘Seeing Clearly’ collects a variety of material from different authors, both internal and external, including pieces on what the Bible says about pornography and addiction, and factual articles about the use of Artificial Intelligence
“As a pastor I often find myself being pulled in so many different directions and tasked with thinking about so many different topics that it can become impossible to keep up. Having CARE join us at church for a Sunday could not have been more helpful. Their approach was biblically grounded, focussed on the glory of Christ, sober-minded about the state our fallen world and realistic about the scope of politics and political change, yet single-minded regarding the hope of the gospel and optimistic about the limited power of politics to bring good. We were all equipped to better engage with both politics and culture in thoughtful ways which might open the door to sharing our lives and Christ with our neighbours.”
Matt Lillicrap, CEO of UCCF
in the porn industry and the impact of violent pornography on young people today. You can also find prayer points, practical advice for parents, and guidance for people supporting friends who are battling pornography. So far, around 20,000 copies have been distributed.
Content Hub
We want CARE’s website to become the goto place for anyone who is wondering what a Christian perspective is on ethical issues! In the last few months, boosted by the addition of Dan Wells to our team, we have revamped all of our Topic Pages and written dozens of new articles to help you find the answers to the questions you’re asking.
Each page now features a Topic Primer video to provide you with an accessible introduction, and a wide range of articles. Interested in when does life begin, or what happened when Jesus met the prostitutes? Want to learn about the benefits of marriage for society, or whether Christian free speech is under threat? From Artificial Intelligence to Assisted Suicide, and Gambling to Gender, it’s all there!
Prayer Resources
It feels slightly unusual to talk about the impact of Prayer Resources in a report, but we know that God hears us when we pray, and that prayer is powerful. James writes, “You do not pray, because you do not ask”; but we know that CARE supporters are great at asking!
More than 17,000 supporters and churches regularly receive our prayer diary, with many more
accessing it online or through the PrayerMate app, and we regularly receive feedback saying how helpful groups have found it when planning prayer meetings. Following the success of our General Election Prayer Diary a couple of years ago, Celia Bowring also produced a new edition specifically for the Scottish and Welsh elections this year.
But we’ve also been busy updating and republishing our ‘7 ways to pray’ series, which now encompasses the full suite of topics on which we work and which is available online or in print, and we have complemented this with regular ‘Pray for Politics’ events on Zoom, which focus on recent events in the news.
Equipping Politicians
It’s been an exceptionally busy year for the Policy team, as we have particularly focused on defeating assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and Holyrood. This has involved working in coalitions with other campaign groups and equipping MPs, MSPs, MSs and Peers directly (further information can be found in the section on campaign work).
But alongside that, we’ve also campaigned against the decriminalisation of abortion, spoken up on behalf of women in prostitution in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and seen major steps forward in our laws around pornography, which will have a real impact upon women and children across the UK. And we’ve continued to invest in relationships with politicians across the political spectrum, having engaged with 13 different parties this year from all corners of the UK, as we seek to build consensus in the areas in which we work.
Two Key Initiatives
Speaking up for the unborn
At CARE, we have always believed in the value of every human life, no matter how small. We are also committed to remaining faithful to God’s word, even when, humanly-speaking, it appears like a battle is almost impossible to win.
That was the situation in which we found ourselves in the run-up to key votes - first in the Commons, and then in the Lords - about the decriminalisation of abortion, which would mean that a woman could abort a pregnancy at any time (including right up to birth) for any reason, without ever facing prosecution. While these cases are often difficult and require compassion, criminal law has historically acted as an important safeguard.
Tragically, some of the final legal protections for babies in the womb have been lost, and we are deeply grieved by the outcome, which will lead to more women considering this desperate and dangerous path, but we are so thankful to the thousands of our supporters who wrote in to Parliamentarians to express their concerns.
Supporting victims of modern slavery and the sex industry
Our team in Northern Ireland have played a pivotal role in launching a new All Party Group on human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, building on the legacy of the Human Trafficking laws CARE drafted for Northern Ireland back in 2015. The first order of business was an inquiry into pimping websites, and CARE’s press release received wall-to-wall coverage across NI media.
In Scotland, we worked closely alongside Ash Regan in support of her Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, which would have made paying for sexual services illegal in Scotland. The Scottish Government did not support the Bill, which made victory unlikely, but the Bill was only rejected by 64 votes to 54. However, we have seen a real shift in momentum, and the SNP indicated earlier this year that they were committed to returning to the issue following the Parliamentary election.
251 Parliamentary meetings attended
35 politically-neutral coalitions participated in
107 briefings sent
149 different parliamentarians met with
44 amendments worked on
Enacting the Pornography Review
In March 2025, the BBC published an article entitled: “‘He strangled me without asking’experts say choking during sex now normal for many.”
“They’re almost looking to porn to learn about sex and what to do to be good at sex…If young people are seeing that kind of messaging from pornography rather than loving or caring, respectful messages then they’ll think that’s what they need to do - whether they feel comfortable with it or not.”
Dr Kate Howells, member of the Institute of Psychosexual Medicine
Content Warning: this article contains content which some readers may find distressing, including descriptions of sexual assault. We also campaigned successfully for an amendment which will make it an offence to possess or publish pornographic content mimicking child sexual abuse material, in which performers are made to appear underage, through storylines, titles, or props in videos.
It told the story of Rachel, aged 26. She had not had sex with the man before. The sex was consensual. The act he went on to perform was not.
She said: “He was on top of me - we were kissing and having sex, then suddenly he put his forearm on my neck and pressed hard with his full weight. I just froze…I didn’t lose consciousness, but this numbness came over me and I just waited for it to stop.”
Two weeks later, a similar situation happened again, with a different man. Strangulation can cause loss of consciousness, strokes, and speech disorders. It can lead to brain damage. And it can lead to death.
The final sentence from Rachel was particularly chilling: “It felt like it was - in their minds - just a normal part of sex.”
Lobbying successes
Behaviours which are normalised in the virtual world become normalised in the actual world. Interests which were once fringe have entered the mainstream. 47% of people between the ages of 18 and 21 have experienced a violent sex act; they were 50% more likely to have experienced that if they were frequent users of pornography. 12 months ago, we shared that CARE had secured a commitment to review the online pornography industry from the previous government.
The Review, led by Baroness Bertin, makes for heavy reading, and contains sections on: Violent and Misogynistic Pornography, Strangulation & ‘Choking’ Content, Content that depicts Coercion and Exploitation, ‘Age-play’, ‘Teen Pornography’, Racism & Fetishisation of Minority Groups, and Incest & Step-Incest Pornography.
It made 32 recommendations to the Government, 30 of which we had been calling for ourselves. But recommendations and implementation are not the same thing, and we do not want to see this opportunity missed. To that end, we have been integral members of Baroness Bertin’s taskforce, seeking to bring about legislative change.
Last autumn, we were successful in lobbying for content depicting strangulation to be completely banned from pornography, which the Government added to the Crime and Policing Bill. Both possession and publication of such material will be a “priority offence” under the Online Safety Act, putting it at the same level as child sexual abuse material. Online sites will need to detect and remove such content or face enforcement by Ofcom.
Since then, we have seen many other successes. Early in 2026, we secured a commitment from the Government to ban content depicting incest. During Report Stage of the Crime and Policing Bill, this was extended to include content depicting step-incest. This was achieved even in the face of opposition from the Government: the coalition we are part of highlighted that 50% of child sexual abuse offences carried out in the UK are from a step-relative.
Protecting women and girls
We have long campaigned on behalf of women and girls at risk of sexual exploitation offline, and supported legislation criminalising the purchase of sex. The porn industry is the next frontier in this battle, for many people featured in it have not chosen to be there.
Supposed ‘performers’ have come forward as victims of human trafficking, or revealed they were filmed without consent or even while being sexually abused. We recently won a marginal vote in the Lords which will make it an offence to publish content that has not verified the age and consent of all those featured.
And we have led the fight against new technologies, such as nudification apps (which transform fully-clothed images into fake images
of people being naked), which will now be banned. The Government is ensuring that all tech which can be used to produce AI-generated intimate images is regulated, as part of their strategy combatting violence against women and girls.
For years, we have bemoaned the disparity between the online and offline worlds. People can stumble across explicit, misogynistic, and abusive content without proper checks, which would both protect them and the people featured. We are delighted to say that Baroness Bertin - closely supported by CARE - has now secured a commitment from the Government to work together to identify the best legislation to close this disparity.
A better story
CARE’s work in this area - first through the Online Safety Act, and now through the Pornography Review - has revolutionised the online landscape. Our world has degraded sex to mean little more than shadowy pleasures and cheap thrills, when it should be based around deep love and enduring commitment. Sex should not be about acting out fantasies, for it does not exist in the world of fantasy, but the world of reality. It should never be shameful or dehumanising, as so much pornography is. We will continue to speak God’s better story about sex to our broken world: as we strive to build a world where sex is about giving rather than taking, where the vulnerable are protected, and where all people are seen with the dignity and worth they deserve, as individuals created in the image of God Himself.
Empowering Future Leaders
It’s been another exciting year for the Leadership Programme, with 14 graduates being placed in the House of Commons, House of Lords or with NGOs (in a wider range of placements than ever before!).
The grads, under the guidance of Philippa Taylor, continue to receive teaching from a wide range of first-class speakers, including lectures on core theology, God and Government, and leadership training.
Two Key Initiatives
Alumni Network
Our alumni network continues to grow, with regular newsletters being sent out to advertise upcoming events, showcase the work of our current Leadership Programme cohort, and to keep alumni up to date with the work of the wider CARE team.
We have built on last year’s inaugural alumni lectures, with a talk from the American theologian Dr Matthew Kaemingk on Christianity and democracy, and an evening event with Dr Luke Bretherton, theologian at Christ Church College, Oxford, who spoke on Christianity and social change. In the summer, we also held a drinks reception for around 60 graduates, with keynote speeches from our Programme Director, Philippa Taylor, our CEO Ross Hendry, and Stephen Timms, currently the Minister of State in the Department of Business and Trade.
Grads as MPs
We continue to be encouraged by the ways in which God has used the Leadership Programme to prepare grads for a number of positions in public life, including within the House of Commons, Holyrood, Cabinet Office, Home Office, the BBC, Lambeth Palace, a national newspaper, and across the business and charity sector. We give thanks for their faithful service.
It’s been a particular highlight to see two former grads, who only became MPs in 2024, using their platforms to take a courageous stand in speaking out against assisted suicide and the decriminalisation of abortion, sometimes at personal cost, and advocating on behalf of Christians who are being persecuted around the world.
The Stats 14 graduates this year
13 grads in Parliamentary placements
5 different political parties grads are placed within
396 graduates who have come through the Programme
4 alumni serving as MPs or MSPs
“Being a grad on the Leadership Programme is intellectually stretching, spiritually convicting and practically inspiring! Every Friday we hear from speakers who have sharp minds and soft hearts — a combination not always on display in the cut-throat world of politics. The Programme provides extraordinary networking opportunities with leaders across different sectors, including business, politics, civil service, charities, Christian ministry and beyond.”
Rachel D, current graduate
Tell us about the experience of being a grad on the Leadership Programme (LP) this year.
Being a Grad has been a huge educational privilege, and I hope to have made the most of its opportunities. In particular, the people and teaching have encouraged me to grow in my love for the Lord and to seek a better vision for our society. The emphasis from Philippa on speaking out and contributing thoughtfully has helped me develop the confidence to think more critically, assemble arguments, and to express my own views, both around the table on Fridays and in my general approach to life.
What
have you learnt on the
CARE Fridays?
The political theology teaching has been phenomenal. I know I will continue to think about the questions which Nick Townsend’s sessions have brought up for a long time after our CARE Fridays finish: What is the point of political authority? Is it possible to live what we Christians see as the true ‘good life’? Can democratic governments – that have to reflect widespread opinion – really act for the people’s good?
Working for an MP who seeks to boldly live out his faith, dutifully serve his constituents, and hold a demanding role in the party, means that my Monday to Thursday are very busy! It is good to have Fridays as a time to begin unpacking some of the questions that the week’s work has raised.
An interview with Leadership Programme graduate Rachel T
Is there anything that has surprised you about the LP?
Lots! It’s been a year of wrestling; many of my existing ideas and ways of thinking have been massively unsettled, I’ve become acutely aware of how much I do not know (!), and it has given me an interest in topics that I had not encountered before, but am now hugely curious about. I love the oscillation in the LP between examining a topic in minute detail and seeing the big picture – perhaps going from something as small as discussing the meaning of a Hebrew word to thinking about how to shape culture.
Have you made lasting relationships with other grads?
Definitely. It really is a very unique year and one which I hope will bond us together for a long time to come.
What do you think
the LP
experience has added to your options as you make decisions about
your future career?
Meeting so many interesting Christians across the public square and beyond – hearing about their interests and stories – has been incredibly helpful. The year exposes us to enormous unresolved questions and issues, some of which land particularly personally and spark a new interest or an idea that undoubtedly will inform our next steps.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For through wisdom your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.”
Proverbs 9:10-11
Campaigns
The battle against Assisted Suicide
At CARE, we have made fighting against the introduction of assisted suicide our number one priority. This has been a battle on many fronts: we have been campaigning against not only the Leadbeater Bill in Westminster, but the MacArthur Bill in Scotland, and similar legislation in Jersey and the Isle of Man.
The problems with assisted suicide legislation are well-known: prognoses of six months to live (as in the legislation in both Westminster and Holyrood) are unreliable, doctors are not trained to spot coercion, and there would be implicit pressure on vulnerable people to prematurely end their lives.
However, exposing these dangers - to both politicians and the public - takes precision and perseverance. It was only a few months ago that Lord Falconer, who sponsored the Bill in the House of Lords, finally admitted the unspoken truth in the Chamber: someone could access assisted suicide if they had a terminal condition, even if their reason for choosing death was living in poverty, or not wanting to be a burden on their family.
Campaign-work has been a team effort: our Policy Team has supported Parliamentarians during speechwriting and the drafting of amendments, our Comms Team’s Topic Guide on Assisted Suicide went out to over 20,000 people, and our Events and Church Engagement Teams have run a series of events to help people learn and pray about the issue.
And we are so grateful for our partnership with
our supporters, who have engaged, prayed, and written to MPs and Peers. We give thanks for every single one of you.
Assisted Suicide in Westminster
When Kim Leadbeater first announced her intention to bring forward legislation in England and Wales, we knew this would be a very different battle.
With 350 first-time MPs in the Commons, new relationships would have to be established, new alliances formed, and arguments made to a new generation of Parliamentarians who had not had to grapple with this debate before.
The make-up of Parliament was also against us: although we work directly with figures from every party, losing so many Conservative MPs in the 2024 General Election meant that some of the Commons’ most consistent pro-life voices could no longer be called upon.
When the Bill passed at Second Reading by 330-275, many people assumed it was a done deal: never before had Parliament supported the principle of Assisted Suicide.
But through careful campaigning work, from ourselves and others, the problems with the Bill became increasingly clear throughout Committee Stage and Report Stage. During this time, we worked directly with MPs, sending them resources and playing a key role in the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well. We also asked our supporters to write in, and more than 10,000 of you did!
Although the Bill passed at Third Reading by 314291 (a smaller margin than before), momentum was firmly with us, and the problems with the Bill were brutally exposed in the House of Lords.
Despite claims of filibustering, the Lords fulfilled the role expected of it to provide scrutiny of a Private Members’ Bill, and the fact that there were more than 1,000 amendments put forward showed that the Bill was irretrievable. Throughout this, we have worked alongside Peers to table amendments and support with speech-writing.
Although this Bill has now lapsed, we know this is not the end of the battle. The Assisted Suicide lobby is extremely well-funded, and only has to succeed once. It is likely that there will be further attempts to introduce similar legislation in upcoming years.
Assisted Suicide in Scotland
It was June 2021 when Liam MacArthur, the Lib Dem MSP, made it known that he planned to bring forward a Bill to introduce Assisted Suicide in Scotland, but it took another three years for its details to become known. The legislation was expected to pass, with the SNP having generally favoured liberal policies during their time in Government.
In the interim, our Church Engagement Team ran a number of ‘Protect Life’ events across the country, bringing together theology, political expertise and practical experience from a former palliative care nurse. Our Head of Church Engagement for Scotland, Stuart Weir, also worked closely to support the Church of Scotland Moderator to publicly come out against assisted suicide.
In January 2025, CARE was the only Christian advocacy group invited to give oral evidence to the Health, Social Care & Sport Committee. Prior to the vote at First Reading in 2025, we saw a number of important political figures come out against the Bill, including First Minister John Swinney, and former First Ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf. We were also aware of hundreds of our supporters writing in to MSPs, and held regular ‘Pray for Scotland’ events on Zoom.
When the Bill passed by 70-56, it initially felt like a large margin to make up. However, in the months that followed, we saw signs for hope, as a handful of MSPs said they had withdrawn support, and the problems with the Bill became known. During this time, we provided briefings, drafted amendments, participated in demonstrations, and wrote speeches for MSPs.
We were overjoyed to see the reversal of the result in March 2026, with the Bill falling at Second Reading by 69-57. Liam MacArthur has said that he will not look to lead a similar campaign again.
What’s next
At CARE, we remain committed to standing up for the vulnerable, and advocating for a better story for humans nearing the end of life. But we do not simply want to be against something: we want to be for a better alternative.
We will continue to advocate for greater access to palliative care. As of 2022, every patient has a legal right to specialist palliative care in England and Wales, but research suggests that 215,000 people miss out on end-of-life care each year, a figure which will rise with our aging population. The APPG on Hospice and End of Life Care wrote in January 2024 that NHS commissioning of hospice services is “currently not fit for purpose”, and described a “postcode lottery”, based around economic deprivation.
We want to continue to help the church better engage in this area: we have already written a Biblical Deepdive on what the Bible says about Old Age, and updated our popular Topic Guide, ‘Assisted Suicide: Everything you need to know about the End-of-Life debate’, which we distribute for free around UK churches. We have also pioneered an event for church leaders, providing teaching on how to pastor those who are dying.
Defeating the Leadbeater and MacArthur Bills is not the end. Assisted Suicide is like a Hydra: defeat one Bill, and another grows back in its place. There will be other Parliamentary battles to fight. But for now, we can be thankful to our God, for granting His mercy on our nation and for protecting those who are vulnerable.
Campaigns
Romney Street
The Vision
CARE has been blessed in its location for over 35 years. Having begun in the basement of a redundant Mayfair Vicarage (with broken drains and mushrooms growing under the carpets!), as the ministry grew, we sought an office in Westminster, to capitalise on our network of relationships with Parliamentarians.
In 1988, a group of generous supporters came together to buy CARE a home. That home was 53 Romney Street, just five minutes’ walk from the Houses of Parliament. Along the way we’ve seen - by God’s grace - amazing things: the wording of some UK laws has its origin in 53 Romney Street!
But ageing buildings have their challenges, from lack of wheelchair access to floods in the basement, and having considered next steps for CARE, our Trustees concluded that our location provides a unique strategic opportunity, which we want to steward wisely.
It enables us to be present during Parliamentary debates, and to invest in relationships with MPs and Peers. It is also invaluable for our Leadership Programme: top-class speakers from the Commons, the Lords or the Civil Service don’t need to worry about travel and can walk across to address our graduates.
The Campaign
“As a former MP myself, I can tell you that having trusted partners is key to deciding which campaigns you run and which causes you champion. Now, as Director of Advocacy and Policy, that we have our HQ in the shadow of Westminster - I can see Victoria Tower from the Policy Office! - is of inestimable value to CARE’s engagement work in Parliament.
Formal meetings, chance conversations, random invites and serendipitous introductions are all made more possible by our proximity.”
Caroline Ansell, Director of Advocacy and Policy at CARE
and were able to raise around £600,000.
Thanks to the generosity of supporters, old carpets and dated furniture were ripped out, a kitchenette was installed, and the room was repurposed as a new, multi-functional meeting space. It now hosts our Leadership Programme graduates on a Friday (there are so many that we cannot fit them anywhere else!), external organisations and the CARE staff for team meetings.
In 2025, we embarked on our campaign to refurbish the remainder of our building, to help it become ‘fit for purpose’ in the 21st century. This was a substantial project, with its two phases costing close to £1 million cumulatively, and we were relying on the generosity of our supporters, balancing the desire to realise the building’s potential alongside maintaining general income.
During the first phase, we drew on reserves to partially fund the £288,000 cost, and fixed a number of maintenance issues, to safeguard our long-term future in Romney Street. This included a partial replacement of the roof, repairs to brick work and fixing damp, and work in our basement, to prevent future flooding.
In October 2023, we transformed our old Supporter Relations office into the ‘5:13 Room’, named after Matthew 5:13, Jesus’ call to be salt and light.
In order to fund the second phase, our Development Team explored a number of new initiatives, including matchfunding during ‘The Big Give’ in December, which raised over £100,000, and writing to a number of new trusts and foundations. We were overwhelmed by God’s kindness and the generosity of our supporters,
This allowed us to embark on a more ambitious set of redevelopments, concentrating on the inside of the building. Although some of this was maintenance work, such as rewiring, and installing a new fire alarm system, much of it will open up new opportunities for CARE to expand its future impact.
Future Plans
We want to steward what God has blessed us with, and to be generous to other organisations: many Christian groups use our office space, one of the only locations to be free of charge in Westminster.
A key goal during redevelopment was making our basement open-plan. This will be a second dedicated meeting space, meaning we will not have to choose between prioritising external or internal meetings. It will also be invaluable
in advocacy work: the ability to host meetings in our building, just a stone’s throw from Westminster, quite literally gives us a seat at the table!
The changes to the basement also provide us with a new filming space for our video resources. Previously we had to film the Engage Podcast in the kitchen! In time, we hope to develop online courses, film interviews with experts, and create new videos featuring people’s testimonies, to supplement our podcast and our Topic Primer videos.
We have also been able to redesign our ground floor to make it fully wheelchair accessible, including installing a new WC. In recent years, we have spoken about the dangers of Assisted Suicide for disabled people, but we want to advocate for people with disabilities throughout their lives. The redevelopments will ensure our office is accessible to all, and that we are practising what we preach in supporting those with disabilities.
Thank You
We want to say an enormous thank-you to everyone who has supported us, prayed with us, or given to our fundraising campaign in the last few years: we could not have done it without you! If you’re in the area and would like to see the difference your support has made, please let us know!
Your kindness has provided us with the best foundation to expand our impact as we work to see Politics Renewed and Lives Transformed, and we are so excited for all that God will accomplish in the upcoming decades in Romney Street!
Fundraising Key Initiatives
This year has been one of remarkable growth, momentum, and encouragement for our newly reshaped Development Team. Alongside sustaining our vital day-to-day income, the team has also worked tirelessly to raise an additional £600,000 towards the Romney Street redevelopment project: this is a significant milestone that reflects both the amazing generosity and shared vision of our supporters.
It has also been a year rich in connection and opportunity. We’ve had the privilege of meeting hundreds of supporters, hosting a special event at the House of Lords, and launching our new Legacies Programme, helping more people invest in CARE’s future and long-term impact. Throughout it all, we have continued to be encouraged by God’s faithful provision. One of the greatest joys of this year has been welcoming so many new supporters into the work of CARE. Your partnership, enthusiasm, and belief continue to inspire us as we look to the future with confidence and hope.
Trusts and Foundations
Over the past two years, our work with Trusts and Foundations has grown following the appointment of a dedicated Trusts and Foundations Officer. This year in particular, we have been incredibly grateful for the partnerships that have flourished through this work.
Trusts have played a vital role in supporting the Romney Street redevelopment project, championing our vision to engage younger audiences, and investing in the next generation through our Leadership Programme. Their support is enabling CARE not only to strengthen its foundations today, but also to expand its reach and impact for the future.
Regular Giving - Direct Debits
We continue to be incredibly grateful to all those who support us by Direct Debit. In the last year we have received 2,665 direct debit gifts! These are, in many ways, the bedrock of our income, and make a real and lasting difference to our work.
Legacies
Over the last year we have been both humbled and blessed by the legacies we have received from some of our dear supporters whom God has called home. We know that these gifts strengthen the sustainable support for CARE’s work, ensuring future generations continue to benefit from our mission. We have also been incredibly grateful to supporters who have been in touch with us to say they would like to include CARE in their will.
We always love hearing from supporters, so please get in touch if you’d like more information about any aspect of our work, and if you have chosen to leave a legacy gift to CARE and would feel comfortable sharing what inspired your decision, we would love to hear from you. Understanding the motivations behind supporters’ generosity is invaluable as we shape our approach, and your story could help inspire and inform others considering leaving a gift in their Will. Thank you so much!
£2.7 million raised (including the Romney Street project)
7,000 donors
2,665 Direct Debits
1,200 new donors
25 Trusts and Foundations
“I want the very valuable work of CARE to continue well into the future.” CARE supporter
How we do it
At CARE, we don’t just believe that what we do matters to God, but that how we do it is also important! We can see this in the life of Jesus, who was not simply satisfied by adherence to external rules, but to attitudes of the heart.
Although we want to be fruitful, God does not call us to have success in everything we attempt; but He does call us to be faithful, and to model our behaviour upon Jesus. With every passing day, His Spirit is at work in every Christian, to turn us into the likeness of Christ.
How we operate really matters to us, and we have three core values which we use to try and shape everything we do...
We are for people
Politics is not just theoretical: it affects real people’s lives. We care about people, rather than playing politics. We don’t just care about winning arguments: we want to effect real change. And we particularly care about the vulnerable and the voiceless, who God has a special heart for.
You can see this in:
• our alliances with politicians across the political spectrum, and the many cross-party coalitions we participate in
• our advocacy on behalf of victims, such as women and girls affected by the pornography and prostitution industries
• our work in Open, where we work to counsel women who have experienced an abortion or a miscarriage
We are for truth and grace
We think the ‘how’ is just as important as the ‘what’. Jesus was himself “full of grace and truth”. We want to model speaking with humility, civility, and generosity of spirit. We always aspire to recognise that our opponents are ‘made in the image of God’, just as we are.
You can see this in:
• our written and video resources, which are rooted in the Bible, but always seek to honour people, made in the image of God
• the way in which we correspond with people who oppose us in our advocacy work and on social media
• our Friday blogs, where we seek to apply Christian truth to what is going on in the world, and the tone we adopt
We are for hope-filled solutions
We don’t want to just be known by what we are against, but by what we are for. It is our mission to speak God’s better story to a broken world, putting forward alternative hope-filled solutions, rather than just offering criticism from the sidelines. Ultimately, we want to see everyone truly flourish as God intends them to.
You can see this in:
• our policy proposals to help people flourish at every stage of life, including support for gambling addicts and palliative care
• our investment in the next generation of Christian leaders in the public square, who we encourage not to shy away from politics, but to provide a godly example to the world
• the language we adopt in our communication with the church, where we talk about ‘a better story’, rather than simply criticising secular society
What’s next?
You’ve seen what we’ve achieved this year, but we want next year to be even better! Here are three big goals we want to have as we work for God’s Kingdom in 2026/27:
Engaging the Church:
Recruit more than 3,000 new supporters for CARE.
Equipping Politicians:
Achieve one key policy win across the UK.
Empowering Future Leaders:
Provide new training opportunities beyond the yearlong Leadership Programme.
“Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.”
Psalm 150:1-2
Thank you
We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us over the past year, whether it is in prayer, with words of encouragement, by writing to Parliamentarians, or through financial giving.
We would love to continue to partner with you as we work to see Politics Renewed and Lives Transformed.
Please do be praying with us for our nation: you can find a range of prayer resources on our website, or sign up to receive our quarterly prayer diary for free!
Or why not connect with us more regularly by signing up to receive our weekly email, Impact Direct? It’s packed full of Christian commentary, new resources and updates from our work.
And some of you might even feel prompted to give; we are so thankful to God for the generosity of our supporters, who give so that we can Engage the Church, Equip Politicians and Empower Future Leaders.
If you would like to explore making a donation, you can visit care.org.uk/donate, speak to us on the phone at 020 7233 0455, email us at mail@care.org.uk, or use the QR code.
Thank you for your partnership in the gospel! As Paul says to the Philippians, “we thank our God every time we remember you” (Philippians 1:3).
