Brown Source Trust

The Brown Source Trust is a UK-registered family charity established in 2016, chaired by Alan John Brown with several family members among its seven trustees, embodying a personal philanthropic vision rooted in independent grant-making. Guided by broad charitable objects under England and Wales law, it pursues generalist priorities across diverse causes without thematic specialism, emphasizing trustee-led stewardship and proactive identification of beneficiaries through internal research rather than open applications.

It supports registered charities and voluntary bodies with unrestricted or general-purpose grants, favoring small and medium-sized organizations for core or project needs, while showing no evidence of funding individuals, communities directly, or specific programs like capital projects.

Eligible applicants must be UK-registered charities based in the UK (primarily England and Wales), with no strict income thresholds but a preference for smaller entities; there are no religious restrictions or geographic sub-priorities within the UK. The Trust does not accept unsolicited applications—recipients are approached directly after trustee vetting.

Grants typically range from £5,000 to £40,000, with annual expenditure between £22,000 and £132,000 distributed among select recipients on a rolling basis via unpublished trustee meetings. This closed, non-competitive process, combined with its family governance and generalist remit, distinctly differentiates it from open-application funders, prioritizing operational stability and direct, discreet support for charities aligned with trustee-discovered opportunities.