2023 was a record year for grant-making at JRCT. In total we made new grants of £16.4 million – £3 million more than the previous year – and additional funding of £3.8 million in cost of living and other discretionary payments.
As an organisation with a mission to support people who address the root causes of conflict and injustice, we continued to advance our purpose primarily through making grants to charities and other not-for-profit organisations.
JRCT has six grant programmes: Peace and Security, Power and Accountability, Rights and Justice, Sustainable Future, Northern Ireland, and Grassroots Movements. We also have a number of ‘crosscutting’ grants which address multiple areas of focus across these priorities.
John Fitzgerald, our chair, said in the foreword to our annual report for 2023: “As the most vulnerable and marginalised people and groups in our society continue to suffer the greatest harms, the work of those JRCT fund has never been more critical.
“The relationships we have with grant-holders is important to us and we continue to do what we can to be a supportive and responsive funder. Organisations and their leaders have been under enormous pressure in a challenging context; we are privileged to support the work of so many who show unwavering dedication to creating lasting change.”
JRCT ran three application cycles during 2023, although some grant programmes did not operate in every round. Demand for the Trust’s funding remained strong, and we received 381 applications during the year (up from 286 in 2022).
The Trust made new grants totalling £16.4 million in 2023, up from £13.4 million in 2022.
You can read about who grants went to, and about our recent grants here.
2023 saw the first grants made by our Grassroots Movements pilot programme.
JRCT is guided by the Quaker values of peace, truth, integrity, simplicity, sustainability, equality and justice.
In order to engage in philanthropy that effects real change, we recognise that change can take many years to achieve and we are willing to take the long view in our grant-making.
We were delighted to make grants to 35 new organisations, while also continuing to offer further funding to 84 groups that had already received support from the Trust.
You can read more about our grant-making in 2023 in our annual report.