Ormiston Trust

Ormiston Trust, established in 1969 in memory of Fiona Ormiston Murray, is a grant-making charitable trust dedicated to empowering children and young people to fulfil their potential through education, well-being, and family resilience, primarily across England. Guided by core values of nurture, empower, innovate, and impact, it blends grant-making with direct operation of major initiatives like Ormiston Academies Trust (a leading multi-academy sponsor), Ormiston Families (early intervention in the East of England), Gateway Learning Community, and Birmingham Ormiston Academy. This distinctive hybrid model fosters long-term systemic change, youth social action (#WeWill movement), and partnerships emphasizing measurable outcomes for disadvantaged youth and families.

The Trust funds youth-led social action programmes addressing thematic priorities such as mental health, life skills, family relationships, employability, youth agency, arts/creativity, and community leadership. Beneficiaries include vulnerable children, young people facing challenges like parental imprisonment, and their families, with support for school-based wellbeing, creative enrichment, prison visitor centres, and employability projects—impacting over 38,000 since 2015 via £12 million+ in grants.

Eligibility is strictly limited to individual mainstream primary/secondary schools or academies in England; it excludes voluntary organisations, charities, independent/special schools, multi-academy trusts applying for groups, and non-English entities. Grants are fixed at £2,000 per school for project delivery (at least 10% for direct community benefit; remainder for staff), via email-submitted forms with student consultations and docs during rare open rounds—no unsolicited, rolling, capital, core, unrestricted, or emergency funding. The 2024-25 Youth Social Action Fund closed February 2024; future deadlines unpublished.