Simon Gibson Charitable Trust

The Trust funds work across four main themes: youth development services, elderly care initiatives, heritage preservation and environmental conservation. This includes activities such as education programmes, after-school clubs, skills training and mentoring for young people; day services, befriending schemes, respite care and wellbeing activities for older residents; church repairs, community heritage projects and historic building restorations; and habitat restoration, wildlife safeguarding and community-led stewardship of green spaces. Grants can support core costs or project delivery. Geographically, the Trust focuses on East Anglia, covering Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire, and South Wales, including Glamorganshire, Gwent, Powys and Carmarthenshire.

Registered charities are eligible to apply. The Trust has a stated preference for charities supporting the young, the elderly, heritage or the natural environment, and for those that demonstrate clear local impact. Beneficiaries include children, young people and older residents. The Trust favours grassroots organisations serving rural and community-focused populations. Community Interest Companies and individuals are not eligible, and charities whose reporting to the Charity Commission has been late in either of the last two years are also excluded.

The Trust does not fund individuals or organisations applying on behalf of individuals, nor students seeking sponsorship for educational or gap-year purposes. Conferences, seminars and workshops are excluded, as are overseas charities, other than conservation charities or those known to the Trustees. Community Interest Companies are not supported, and registered charities with late reporting to the Charity Commission in the last two years are also ineligible.

The Trust offers both core costs and project delivery grants, and values long-term partnerships with the charities it supports. Its approach is practical and relationship-based, aiming to build capacity and improve life chances. The Trust welcomes unsolicited applications and is known for a modest, bureaucracy-light grantmaking style.