Nancy Kenyon Charitable Trust

The Nancy Kenyon Charitable Trust, established in 1973 and registered in England and Wales, is a family-led grant-making trust managed by Kenyon family trustees with a core mission to advance general charitable purposes by providing direct grants to individuals and small organisations. Its ethos emphasizes prudent financial stewardship, flexibility, and empowering those overcoming disadvantage to realise their potential, exemplified by sustained support for initiatives like The Nehemiah Project's Supported Housing Programme addressing homelessness and addiction. As a generalist funder, it prioritises social mobility through personal development, opportunity creation, and social inclusion, offering unrestricted grants, core funding, and project support without narrow sectoral focus.

It targets smaller UK-registered charities and community groups operating in England and Wales, showing a clear preference for grassroots organisations helping individuals fulfil their potential, though no strict income thresholds apply. Unsolicited applications are not accepted; grant-making is entirely discretionary and trustee-led, with recipients proactively identified based on alignment with the trust's values of low-bureaucracy, pragmatic philanthropy.

Typical grants range from £5,000 to £20,000 annually, often multi-year, drawn from investment income to maximise impact rather than accumulation. With no deadlines, application processes, or published guidelines—and no religious or other overt restrictions—the trust stands out for its quiet, consistent family stewardship, direct unrestricted aid to small-scale interventions, and aversion to bureaucracy, distinguishing it among UK generalist funders as a legacy of personalised, high-trust giving.