Jecda Foundation

The Jecda Foundation is a UK-registered charitable foundation established in 2006 (charity number 1117914), governed by a board of trustees primarily from the Freud family, chaired by Lord David Freud. While its objects encompass broad charitable aims like poverty relief, advancing education and health, environmental protection, and public benefit, Jecda's mission centers on tackling social disadvantage among young people through innovative intergenerational mentoring. It pioneered and sustains the Grandmentors programme, pairing vulnerable teenagers—especially care leavers—with retired mentors for life skills and emotional support, emphasizing personal relationships and experience to aid transitions to adulthood.

In practice, Jecda exclusively funds Volunteering Matters to deliver and expand Grandmentors across urban England, reflecting a laser-focused priority on youth development for at-risk youth rather than diverse causes.

Eligibility is highly restrictive: it accepts no unsolicited applications, operating by invitation only with pre-selected partners like Volunteering Matters, a large national charity; no specified entity types, income limits, or geographic mandates beyond England's programme sites, though objects allow worldwide scope.

Grants are strategic, multi-year, restricted to Grandmentors at £70,000–£75,000 annually, decided ad hoc at trustee meetings with no public deadlines, rounds, or application process. Jecda avoids core funding, capital, emergency aid, or broad portfolios, distinguishing itself through high-engagement philanthropy that seeds, refines, and durably underwrites a single high-impact intervention, leveraging family convening power for scalable social change.