Gibbons Family Trust

The Gibbons Family Trust advances the education, training, recreation, welfare, and wellbeing of children and young people up to age 25 facing disadvantage, hardship, or barriers to development, rooted in founders David and Vera Gibbons' vision of enhancing life opportunities through localism, inclusion, and responsive support. Core values emphasize empowering the most disadvantaged youth via practical interventions fostering aspiration, social inclusion, personal growth, and social mobility. Their grantmaking philosophy prioritizes high-trust, relational partnerships with grassroots organizations and individuals, believing tangible change arises from flexible, community-aware actions enabling access to enriching opportunities and overcoming isolation or exclusion.

They fund youth development activities including educational resources and extracurricular enrichment for disadvantaged children, after-school clubs, sports, creative arts, and outdoor recreation building resilience and skills; mental health programmes such as peer-to-peer support fostering emotional wellbeing and anxiety management for vulnerable young people; disability support encompassing specialist equipment, therapeutic activities, and respite care for children with physical disabilities, learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, or complex health needs; residential and day care services for disabled or vulnerable youth promoting independence and social connection; hardship relief addressing financial need, poverty, and family crises through direct beneficiary aid; training and mentoring for employability and personal development targeting care leavers or those at risk of exclusion; inclusive community-led interventions like enrichment schemes preventing social isolation and boosting confidence via holistic, preventative approaches.

They exclude private school fees, prioritizing acute-need youth including disabled children, those in financial hardship, or with limited support access within local Devon and Kent communities. Distinctive for funding both grassroots charities and referred individuals, their niche lies in urgent, small-scale responses to youth mental health, disability inclusion, recreation access, and welfare crises, valuing evidence of immediate local impact, relational referrals, and person-centred services from organizations demonstrating community-embedded, need-led delivery.