In recent years the trust has received hundreds of applications each year, so it has to be very selective in deciding which charities to support. The general aim is of course to select charities which will make good use of a donation from the trust, i.e. where the charity’s goals align with the trust’s aims and where the charity is effective in achieving its goals. An important further consideration is that a donation from the trust should make a significant contribution to the charity’s work – which leads the trust to favour smaller charities over charities which already have a large income.

 

There are some types of charity which the trust does not support:

 

• Charities which fund medical or academic research

• Missionary Charities – which does not rule out support for religious charities

• Charities which fund  work on individual buildings, although charities which support work of this kind, such as the National Churches Trust, have been supported.

• The Trust does not make donations to individuals, such as people asking for support for gap-year projects, even if that project is associated with a charity.

 

Developing world charities 

The Trust prefers to support Charities which benefit people affected by more than just poverty, for example people disadvantaged by disability, age, gender or ethnic status, or by the poor medical, welfare or educational infrastructure in their country. Thus Charities which provide medical aid in countries with very few doctors (such as Merlin or The Impact Foundation) or which benefit street children or prevent child labour or child soldiers (such as ChildHope and Children in Crisis), or which provide education (such as Book Aid), or legal protection (such as Womankind Worldwide). We are interested in welfare projects which also help sustain the environment.

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The best guide to the types of charity which the trust supports is provided by the lists of charities which have been supported recently (see List of most recent grants). As these lists indicate, the charities which have been supported fall into two main groups – those which concern work abroad, typically in the developing world, and those which concern the needs of people in the UK. Within these two groups donations are made to charities which address needs and concerns of various types. These are reviewed every year, but they currently fall into the following categories –

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Developing world charities

• Children and Education

• Development

• Disability

• Medical

• Women and Justice

• Nature

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UK Charities

• Carers and Breaks

• Disability and Mental Health

• Deprivation

• Prisoners and Refugees

• Arts

 

Charities which have received a donation are asked to provide a report at the end of the year indicating how the donation has been used and what it might do with a further donation. But there can be no guarantee of future donations; this depends on the Trust’s income and on the applications received for the following year.

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