Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust

The Catherine Cookson Charitable Trust embodies Dame Catherine Cookson's vision to transform lives in North East England communities through enduring philanthropy rooted in her experiences of deprivation. Core values prioritize community benefit, support for the disadvantaged, local empowerment, and tangible improvements via capital investments that create lasting legacy. Their grantmaking philosophy emphasizes high-impact, project-driven interventions advancing education, poverty relief, religious purposes, and holistic community wellbeing, believing sustainable change arises from enabling grassroots organizations to deliver structural enhancements fostering equity, resilience, and cultural vitality.

They fund education and training initiatives including specialised programmes for children with disabilities and learning challenges, skills development for disadvantaged young people aged 16-25 facing barriers to employment, and school enhancements promoting inclusive SEND education. Health projects encompass medical research into vascular diseases and children’s deafness, refurbishment of healthcare facilities for complex health needs, and therapeutic services addressing physical disabilities. Arts, culture, and heritage activities support community arts spaces, creative programmes for youth emotional wellbeing, and cultural venues strengthening social cohesion. Disability support includes equipment and facility upgrades enabling independence for people with physical and sensory impairments. Religious advancement backs faith-based community services providing counselling, befriending, and outreach for isolated families. Youth work prioritizes development programmes, mentoring, and after-school activities tackling social isolation, poverty, and family carer needs, while animal welfare aids therapeutic interventions for vulnerable children. Interventions favor preventative, community-led capital projects like building improvements and equipment for day services, residential enhancements, peer support groups, and holistic therapeutic activities delivering measurable local impact.

Exclusions encompass sports clubs, core funding, ongoing costs, personal appeals, foreign-linked projects, and sole funding of large initiatives. Distinctive priorities target North East regional communities with historic deprivation, favoring grassroots charities serving young people, disabled children, families in poverty, and isolated elderly through capital-focused, evidence-based approaches rooted in founder’s legacy. They seek organizations demonstrating clear community benefit, innovation in local delivery, and alignment with religion, arts, health, or education for disadvantaged beneficiaries.