Colfe's Charitable Trust

Colfe's Charitable Trust, established in 1978, serves as the dedicated funding vehicle for Colfe’s School, a historic independent school in Lewisham, south east London, founded in 1652 by Reverend Abraham Colfe and governed by the Leathersellers’ Livery Company. Its core mission is to advance educational opportunities for current and future pupils by managing donations, endowments, and gifts in line with donors' intentions, upholding values of opportunity, accessibility, community, and excellence. Distinctively, it channels all resources exclusively into the school to fulfill Colfe’s socially-minded vision of enabling children from all backgrounds—especially disadvantaged ones—to access high-quality, transformative education.

The Trust prioritizes scholarships, including the Leatherseller Scholarship Programme offering five fully-funded Sixth Form places annually for high-achieving pupils from local state schools, alongside bursaries, hardship funds for financial barriers, and the Headmaster’s Discretionary Fund for urgent pupil needs. It supports academic excellence, co-curricular enrichment, physical/social development, and widening access, with a £2.7m endowment and £2.3m in pledged legacies ensuring sustained impact on pupil diversity and life chances.

Unsolicited applications from external organizations are not accepted; funding is solely for Colfe’s School activities, with no specified entity types, income limits, or geographic reach beyond Lewisham/south east London. Pupil-focused applications occur via internal school processes, such as November deadlines for Sixth Form scholarships, with no public grant rounds or meeting frequency. Notably, it excludes external charities, projects, or wider causes, standing out as a hyper-focused, institution-specific funder emphasizing stewardship, donor intent, and direct school-pupil benefits over broad philanthropy.