Dover Sholem Community Trust

Dover Sholem Community Trust, established in 2010 as a UK-registered charity (formerly Children Ahead), advances the Orthodox Jewish faith, education, and poverty relief exclusively within Hackney and Haringey’s Orthodox Jewish communities. Overseen by trustees Mordechai Jaakov Wind and Haim Dov Francoz, it embodies faith-led values of inclusion, educational equity, and community support, delivering targeted interventions funded by donations and legacies, with annual spending exceeding £2 million on charitable activities despite a 2025 Charity Commission inquiry into financial controls.

The Trust prioritizes special educational needs (SEN) support for children and young people with mild to moderate learning difficulties, funding intervention services, teacher training, and multi-disciplinary educational collaboration in Orthodox Jewish schools. It also provides grants for student bursaries, family hardship relief, and core costs to institutions, emphasizing culturally tailored aid that enables full participation in faith-based education and community life.

Eligibility is highly specific: pre-selected Orthodox Jewish schools, educational organizations, and individuals in Hackney or Haringey only—no unsolicited applications, open calls, or external entities. It favors small to medium local groups rooted in the community, with no formal income thresholds but a clear preference for mission-aligned recipients identified via trustee networks.

Grants typically range from £10,000–£50,000 for projects and institutions (lower for individual aid), awarded at trustees’ discretion without deadlines or public processes. Distinctively, it avoids capital funding, generalist causes, or non-local/non-Orthodox efforts, standing out as a niche, values-driven funder committed to SEN equity and poverty alleviation in a tightly defined faith community.