The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) is an independent Quaker trust which makes grants to organisations and individuals working to produce positive social change through their charitable work.
This support is provided, primarily, through funding applied for by applicants.
Our mission is to support people who address the root causes of conflict and injustice.
Every year JRCT makes more than 100 grants for all kinds of charitable work, from grassroots community groups to well-established charities working to build a peaceful and just world.
Joseph Rowntree, the founder of JRCT, believed that you must tackle the roots of a problem to achieve any lasting benefit; treating the “superficial manifestations” of social or economic problems might provide temporary relief but won't create lasting solutions.
To create real change which challenges the existing power imbalances in society, JRCT does not shy away from supporting those working on unpopular or contentious issues.
We believe in creating dialogue to support change towards a better world. We recognise that change can take many years to achieve. We are willing to take the long view, and to take risks. We try to be flexible enough to respond to the changing needs and demands of our world.
JRCT is a responsive grant-making Quaker trust.
Programme managers and grants officers have responsibility for each grants programme and work closely with a committee made up of one or more trustees, together with co-opted members with expertise in the field, who are appointed by the Trust.
All applications and enquiries should be made directly to the Trust, not to individual committee members or trustees.
Every grant we make goes through a grant assessment process.
Once an application for funds has been submitted, we may ask for further information, seek confidential external advice or arrange to meet with applicants. If a meeting is arranged, all the people who visit will have read the application in advance and will use the meeting to find out more about the applicants, their work and the project for which they are applying for funds. These are all ways of learning more about the proposal, but they do not guarantee that a grant will be made.
Grant making committees at JRCT can approve grants of up to and including £200,000. Higher risk grants regardless of size, and larger grants are considered at full board meetings.
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.
Amount distributed per programme in 2023
Grants made to new versus returning organisations in 2023
The number of applications received in 2023, and how many grants were made