About us

The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd is a limited company, paying tax on its income, enabling it to:

  • give grants for political, campaigning or lobbying purposes;
  • support projects that are ineligible for charitable funding.

 It does so to promote political and democratic reform and defend civil liberties.

It does not make grants for work outside the UK, research or projects eligible for charitable funding.

Aims

The Trust seeks to:

  • correct imbalances of power;
  • strengthening the hand of individuals, groups and organisations who are striving for reform;
  • foster democratic reform, civil liberties and social justice.

The Trust is not committed to the policies of any one political party although it has been a long term funder of the Liberal Democrats (and predecessor parties) in order to redress the balance of financial inequality between parties and to foster political developments central to a healthy democratic process.  It has also supported individual politicians or groups promoting new ideas and policies from all the major parties in the UK.

The Trust has also helped a large number of non-party pressure groups needing short-term assistance: however, the Trust will not normally provide long-term funding. Such groups need not be national organisations, but the national relevance of local campaigns is a crucial factor that Directors will consider.

Spending Power

The Trust's assets are invested in equity investments and a limited amount of property.

From the Trust's present capital of about £30m, Directors allocate a potential grant budget of around £1m each year, excluding administrative expenses and tax.