Kitchen Table Charities Trust: Grants for Global Development

OVERVIEW: UK-based Kitchen Table Charities Trust awards modest grants to organizations working in the global development fields of primary education, water, sanitation, hygiene, poverty alleviation, and maternal and child healthcare.

IP TAKE: This is an approachable funder who supports small, local, and grassroots groups with the ability to have a significant impact using relatively small amounts of money. This funder prioritizes small organizations that work at the local level. Kitchen Table Charities Trust offers modest, but impactful grants that work at the grassroots level. This funder is transparent about it’s financials and staff are approachable.

Note that Brian Donaldson, a British diplomat who has served in various African countries, oversees initial enquiries, which should be sent to him by e-mail only at: donaldsonatKTCT1@yahoo.co.uk. Make sure your email has a concise, brief outline of your organization and scope of work. While approachable, this is a smaller funder that will need to take some time to get back to you given it’s small staff.

It’s also important to highlight that this funder prioritizes organizations with a UK presence or office, so if that doesn’t apply to your organization, you will not get past the inquiry stage.

PROFILE: The UK-based Kitchen Table Charities Trust’s giving is based on its ethos of “[c]hanging lives by thinking small.” Founder John Humphreys says, “The charities we give money to are tiny. You probably, almost certainly have never heard of them. But they do a brilliant job.”

Grants for Global Development

This funder’s website is limited and does not outline grantmaking strategies in-depth. However, the foundation prioritizes helping children, particularly orphans, and families who are among the poorest in the world. Kitchen Table’s giving priorities include primary education, water, sanitation, and hygiene, poverty alleviation and maternal and child healthcare. While the foundation will award grants to projects operating in least developed countries around the world, its geographic region of focus is Africa.

Important Grant Details:

Grants amounts rarely, if ever, exceed £10,000 and are awarded for specific projects or programs. The foundation does not award grants for general operating or overhead costs. For a deeper sense of what organizations Kitchen Table supports, browse through its Beneficiaries webpage. Nonprofits registered in the UK or with their country’s regulating body are eligible to apply for a grant from Kitchen Table Charities Trust.

Although this is an all-volunteer nonprofit and does not employ a paid staff, it has a grant committee that reviews unsolicited grant applications that meet the foundation’s funding criteria. At the same time, foundation volunteers seek worthy organizations to support. As a result, grantmaking is competitive. 

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