We’re pleased to have welcomed three new trustees to our board. Avila Kilmurray, Fatima Rajina and Michael Gidney (pictured below l-r) bring extensive expertise to the board spanning academia, charity leadership, and the community, voluntary, and peace-building sectors. Huw Davies, interim chair of the board of trustees at JRCT, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Avila, Fatima and Michael who will play a vital role in shaping our strategic direction and ensuring the effective governance of JRCT. “Their fresh perspectives, insights and experience will guide our grant-making approach, enabling us to support transformative initiatives that address the root causes of injustice and promote sustainable change. “They join a team of trustees, staff, and co-optees who are strongly committed to promoting social justice, tackling inequality, and responding to a changing society.”
This is the first time recruitment to the JRCT board has included trustees from beyond the Quaker faith. In 2022, JRCT committed to broadening board recruitment to ensure a more inclusive and equitable organisation which reflects the diversity of the communities it serves. The Quaker values of equality, truth, peace and sustainability continue to be central to JRCT’s work. JRCT backs vital organisations bringing about genuine systemic change in the fields of Peace and Security, Rights and Justice, Power and Accountability, Sustainable Future and peace and human rights in Northern Ireland. The Trust also recently launched a participatory grant-making pilot fund to support Grassroots Movements. A grant-making Quaker trust, JRCT has been operating for nearly 110 years and has made hundreds of millions of pounds of grants since 1904. In 2023, our total grant expenditure was around £20 million.
Our March board meeting also marked the end of the trusteeship of Hannah Torkington and John Fitzgerald, who were trustees for JRCT for 13 and nine years respectively. Huw said: “Hannah and John have given so much to the Trust in their many years of dedicated service as trustees. “We, the board and staff team, extend our deepest thanks for all they have done to support us and the work of those we fund.”