Harris Charity

Harris Charity, a historic Lancashire philanthropic funder rooted in Preston's legacy of community service, exists to relieve hardship, distress, and disadvantage among young people under 25 by promoting educational advancement, social development, physical training, community wellbeing, and positive life transitions toward self-sufficiency. Core values emphasize individual potential, local equity, tangible opportunity creation, and trustee-led discretion to target deprivation, fostering resilience through practical, outcomes-driven support that empowers youth via direct aid and organizational partnerships prioritizing measurable local impact and enduring personal growth.

The charity prioritizes youth employment training, apprenticeships, and skills development for disadvantaged young people aged under 25 facing barriers to education and work, funding essential equipment like books, musical instruments, clothing, and tools to enable entry into skilled trades and employment. It supports educational advancement including social training and physical activities to build confidence and capability, alongside recreational and leisure programs such as sports, creative arts, and outdoor pursuits designed to alleviate isolation, enhance mental health, and improve life conditions for youth in hardship. Interventions target key transitions like leaving formal education or care systems, backing youth work organizations delivering mentoring, after-school clubs, employability workshops, and community-led activities that prevent exclusion, promote inclusion, and cultivate self-reliance among local young people experiencing poverty, family crisis, or social disadvantage, with a focus on holistic development through person-centred, preventative support.

Exclusions encompass general living expenses, core operational costs, rates, taxes, public funds, overseas group travel, or ongoing running expenses, ensuring resources deliver targeted impact rather than broad sustenance. Distinctive for its unwavering Preston-centric localism serving Lancashire youth in deprived communities, it favors grassroots organizations demonstrating direct benefits to disadvantaged young people at employment or education thresholds, embodying traditional values of relational grantmaking, documented need-response, and practical assistance rooted in historical commitment to local children's welfare and opportunity equity.