The West Yorkshire Racial Justice programme closed in March 2016 after 23 years.
The Trust is proud of what was achieved by grantees in West Yorkshire over 23 years in terms of advancing racial justice. For more information about the history of the programme see the report The Quest for Racial Justice: a reflection on JRCT's West Yorkshire Racial Justice programme 1993-2011.
The last grants were awarded in July 2012 to twelve organisations promoting race equality and addressing Islamophobia. Alongside funding for projects, these organisations also benefited from significant ‘grants-plus’ activities aimed at developing their capacity to be effective and contribute to a strong, cohesive and articulate movement promoting racial justice. This enabled the grantees to learn collaboratively, incorporate new approaches to day-to-day practice, develop shared strategies, and work together for change.
We were pleased that the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation collaborated with us on this programme and was able to boost the financial contribution for grant-making.
Throughout its history, JRCT has made grants to support the work and witness of individual Quakers and Quaker organisations.
From 1999 onwards, many of these grants were made through the Quaker Concerns programme of the Trust, which latterly concentrated on initiatives to bring Quaker values to the wider community and to strengthen Quakers’ shared identity. The Quaker Concerns programme was the smallest grant programme of the Trust and a programme review in 2012 suggested that this area of funding required a more proactive approach if it was to thrive.
In 2013, as part of a strategic review, the Trust took the difficult decision to close the Quaker Concerns programme in order to enable the Trust to focus resources on our new funding priorities.
Quaker organisations and individuals are invited to apply to the main programmes of the Trust where their work is relevant to our published grant policies.
In 2005 JRCT marked the centenary of the Trust by funding a number of Centennial projects.
Seven individuals were freed up to pursue their ideas for making the world - or just a part of it - more just and more peaceful. Chosen from more than 1600 applicants, the project provided the recipients with the support necessary to pursue their vision for five years. The scheme came to an end in 2010 and is recorded in the book Visions of the Future: Six Stories
The six visionaries are:
A joint centenary project of Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, the POWER Inquiry sought to address the question - how can political participation and involvement in the UK be increased and deepened?
Through public engagement, research and a high profile commission, the Inquiry set out to explore the causes of disillusionment with the political system and examine new approaches to political participation. The findings are published in the report Power to the People
In preparation for the centenary, the Trust funded four one-year post-doctoral fellowships at the University of York to undertake the first independent academic studies of the Trust's history and work. The fellowships were:
Jonathan Davies: Democracy programme
Mark Freeman: The first 50 years
Lisa O'Malley: JRCT and social policy