Queensberry House Trust

Queensberry House Trust is a Scottish charitable foundation established in 1996 from the sale of Queensberry House Hospital on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, tracing its roots to the 1830s House of Refuge for poverty and health relief. Its core mission is to enhance the health, wellbeing, and welfare of older people and their carers in Edinburgh and the Lothians—particularly disadvantaged, disabled, or vulnerable individuals facing poverty, ill health, or isolation—through practical compassion, social inclusion, and measurable impact. Trustees prioritise grants demonstrating clear need and significant benefit, favouring smaller local charities and innovative grassroots efforts linked to the Trust’s historic locality in Edinburgh’s Old Town.

The Trust funds projects improving older people’s lives, including healthcare, wellbeing education, social care, welfare services, arts and creative initiatives combating loneliness, day centres, rehabilitation, respite care, transport for the elderly or infirm, pet fostering, and intergenerational programmes. Support extends to capital grants for infrastructure, equipment, and repairs; revenue funding; and core costs if aligned with priorities, with a focus on unmet needs, collaboration, and capacity-building for social inclusion.

Eligible applicants are UK charities and community groups (primarily smaller or newly established ones based in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, or West Lothian) with no strict income limits but a preference for local organisations serving vulnerable older people or carers; unsolicited applications are welcome via email using the website’s form. Typical grants range from £5,000 to £15,000, awarded biannually after deadlines of 15 March and 15 September, with trustee meetings in spring and autumn and decisions within 1-3 months. Exclusions include projects outside the Lothians or not clearly benefiting older people/carers; distinctive traits are its singular elder-focus, historic Edinburgh legacy, and pragmatic support for innovative, locality-rooted philanthropy addressing immediate and structural ageing challenges.