John Andrews Charitable Trust

The John Andrews Charitable Trust advances art, preserves industrial heritage, and delivers practical benefits for those unable to help themselves through targeted philanthropy rooted in cultural transformation and social welfare. Established with a vision of artistic enrichment, historical safeguarding, and community resilience, its values emphasize heritage preservation, creative expression, and empowerment of disadvantaged individuals via thoughtful, relationship-driven partnerships. Funding decisions prioritize grassroots charities demonstrating clear theories of change, local connections, and capacity for tangible, lasting impact through modest catalytic support, believing change arises from hands-on cultural and welfare interventions fostering self-reliance and communal strength.

Thematic priorities center on visual arts programs including sustained gallery support for exhibitions, workshops, and creative arts activities enriching children and young people aged 5-19, industrial heritage preservation through museums safeguarding artefacts, machinery, and historical sites for educational outreach and community pride, and social welfare initiatives addressing marginalised groups such as imprisoned women, their families facing crisis, young people at risk of exclusion via practical skill-building, employability training, mentoring, and youth work schemes. Supported activities encompass direct service delivery like arts education for vulnerable children, peer support groups for families in hardship, capacity building for small charities enabling therapeutic arts, community-led heritage projects promoting social cohesion, and interventions tackling isolation, poverty, and limited opportunities among disadvantaged residents, with impact sought through resilient local networks, cultural access, and skill development preventing cycles of disadvantage.

Exclusions include research-only projects, purely national charities lacking local ties, top-down bureaucracy, or interventions without measurable community benefit. Distinctive focus lies on place-based renewal in Welsh communities—rural peninsula areas, industrial heartlands, and urban locales around key cities—prioritizing beneficiaries like care-experienced youth, families of incarcerated parents, isolated vulnerable adults, and children needing creative outlets. Unique philosophy integrates arts-heritage-social welfare for grassroots organizations with lived-experience leadership, proven local impact, and commitment to holistic, preventative community empowerment over segregated services.