Review of Activities 2022-23

 

During the past year The Brook Trust made grants to Rape Crisis England & Wales and a number of independent charities within the rape crisis network, in the course of meetings its objective to support victims of rape and sexual abuse. The Brook Trust gave grants to specialist charities supporting survivors of domestic abuse, including Refuge at the national level, and a number of local and regional organisations. The trustees have observed growing pressure on charities supporting survivors of sexual and domestic abuse, as the need for services continues to outstrip the capacity of  front-line charities, and the funding environment continues to be extremely challenging.   

Our "early intervention" strategy is to focus grant aid primarily to charities supporting families with pre -school age children, and to programmes supporting good mental health and resilience among children in primary and secondary schools.

The Brook Trust made grants in support of core costs and front-line services. The greater part of our funding goes to support ongoing costs and sustaining or expanding existing, effective, interventions, but we have been pleased to back some innovation and piloting of new services. The Brook Trust provides multi -year or continuation funding to organisations which have shown themselves to be effective and well-managed, and with whom we have established successful relationships over time. Continuation funding is subject to appropriate conditions being met, and to charities demonstrating continued and sustainable positive outcomes and impact.

Beyond its core strategy, the Trust made some grants in support of emergency humanitarian relief during the year, primarily through the agency of the Disasters Emergency Committee. The Brook Trust continues to fund a small grants programme to organisations in Kent and Medway. This is delivered by a donation to the Kent Community Foundation which administers the application and monitoring processes. Our Trustees take an active role with the Community Foundation in grant -making decisions. The Brook Trust can and does make certain other donations at the Trustees' discretion.

During the year, the charity received donations in the form of shares to the value of £460,688. The charity made donations totalling £1,105,988.