Three Oaks Trust

The Three Oaks Trust, established in 1987 by an individual donor, is a UK-based charitable trust dedicated to alleviating hardship and promoting wellbeing for individuals and families in distress through targeted grant-making. Guided by values of compassion, social care, and pragmatic impact, its trustees—mostly retired professionals from social work, engineering, and community welfare—prioritize cost-effective support for vulnerable groups facing mental health issues, learning difficulties, physical disabilities, chronic illness, poverty, single-parent challenges, and long-term sickness. Distinctively, it blends funding for registered charities with small grants directly benefiting individuals via professional intermediaries like social workers, health visitors, councils, and housing associations.

It funds practical relief such as household appliances, clothing, phones, education costs, counselling, and organizational core costs, projects, or salaries, with a UK focus on West Sussex, Surrey, and Lambeth, alongside overseas projects in Brazil, Ecuador, India, Malawi, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Zambia. Eligible applicants are UK-registered charities (small to medium-sized, preferably known to trustees via personal/professional networks) or professionals referring individuals; no income thresholds apply, but statutory funding must be exhausted first.

Unsolicited organizational applications are not accepted—invitation or referral only—with email submissions reviewed at ad hoc trustee meetings (no fixed deadlines; decisions in weeks). Typical grants: £2,000–£20,000 annually for organizations (multi-year possible), £100–£750 for individuals; total disbursement £200,000–£500,000 yearly. Exclusions include gap years, debts, rent deposits, direct individual payments, and non-referred cases, setting it apart through trustee site visits, repeated funding for proven partners, and swift, intermediary-driven aid for acute needs.