JRSST-CT

JRSST-CT logo

The JRSST Charitable Trust (JRSST-CT) is a charitable trust independent of, but connected to, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT).

In 2025, JRSST-CT agreed a new strategy to address political inequality, the uneven distribution of power and influence in the UK, and how it fuels low trust in democracy, disengagement with politics, and the sense that most people have too little influence within our democratic system.

Central to addressing this is the work of the UK Democracy Fund, which JRSST-CT hosts, to engage the millions of citizens who do not register or vote and advocates for system reform that makes voting easier.

What we want to fund

JRSST-CT’s four priorities are:

1. Voter participation and election system reform

2. Democratic education

The above priorities are supported by the UK Democracy Fund. For more information see the UK Democracy Fund Funding Guide.

3. Diversity of representation in politics

4. Participation in democracy between elections

For more information on these priorities, see the JRSST Charitable Trust Funding Guide.

Diversity of representation in politics

Improving diversity of representation in politics helps to ensure that parliaments and other elected bodies look more like the publics they serve.

Our priority is on improving diversity of representation in politics through system reform. We want to fund research, advocacy and campaigns that either:

1. Improves diversity of elected representatives, by tackling the barriers that prevent people from standing for election or working in politics. These might include financial costs, party selection procedures, working hours, facilities, work-place culture or safety concerns.

2. Improve understanding and uptake of interventions that support all elected representatives to pursue meaningful policy outcomes for people or groups who share certain characteristics, particularly those that experience injustice, inequity or discrimination because of these characteristics.

We do not fund direct interventions to support candidates or groups of candidates that share characteristics to get elected.

For more information on our diversity of representation priorities, see our Funding Guide.

Participation in democracy between elections

Participation in democracy between elections can have many benefits if processes are well designed and run. There are many kinds of participatory processes, including citizen assemblies, deliberative polling and participatory budgeting.

Our priority is interventions aimed at building support of decision makers for participatory tools and embedding in policy and legislation the use of such processes by public authorities.

This includes research and learning to understand the barriers to participation including by people from communities experiencing racial inequity and how participatory processes can be improved to engage them.

We do not fund the running of deliberative or other participatory processes themselves or initiatives that do not take account of the need for well-designed, inclusive processes.

For more information on our participation in democracy between elections priorities, see our Funding Guide.

Who we fund

We accept applications from organisations and individuals who are hosted by an organisation.

The Trust particularly welcomes applications from organisations working at the intersection of our democracy priorities and racial justice.

We do not fund:

Partisan activities
Work outside the UK
Individual campaigners or researchers without a host organisation
Work that has already taken place
Legal fees or costs
Personal support for individuals in need
Educational bursaries
General appeals

We are unlikely to fund academic research without clear learning or campaign impact, by-election or local election activity or small scale campaigns or outreach work.