About us
Welcome to our website!
Founded in 2022, Cedar House Charitable Trust (CHCT) each year supports ten frontline organisations which directly work with people who are or have been in custody, or who are at risk of offending.
CHCT achieves this by providing financial grants to registered charities and CICs that have this particular focus.
CHCT has supported the following charitable organisations:
helps prisoners serving sentences in prison in Buckinghamshire by meeting and advising them, and by supporting them with small grants.
located in Westminster, helps people facing poverty and the threat of homelessness with support. It also provides immigration and asylum advice.
trains prisoners and prison leavers in skilled textiles production and provides prison leavers with work experience and mentoring, employment and resettlement support on release.
helps improve the food served in prisons across England & Wales by delivering holistic food education, training prison catering teams and developing healthier recipes and menus.
aims to reduce reoffending by training and employing women with lived prison experience in horticulture, installing and maintaining indoor plants for clients across London.
supports men and women on long sentences take their next step in life by making financial awards and by publishing a Directory of support services.
buys books for those attending courses in prison, dictionaries for prisoners whose first language is not English, and large print books for those with dyslexia.
provides free family law advice and representation to mothers in prison to help them re-establish and maintain contact with their children during their sentence and upon release.
helps free those who have been in prison from the cycle of reoffending. O&U's first project, XO Bikes, trains men to refurbish, refinish and sell used bikes.
aims to deliver the world's leading sports-based mentoring programme for young men in the criminal justice system.
aims through its Good Jobs Project to transform ways businesses consider the recruitment of marginalised groups - including those who have been in prison.
supports men in prison via intensive courses which help in the development of key life skills, communication, leadership, CV preparation, and mock job interviews.
helps vulnerable men, including those who have been in prison, get into employment by providing suitable interview clothing, interview advice, and mentoring.
Who can apply
Eligibility criteria
Can you answer, “Yes” to each of the following questions?
If you can, you are eligible to apply for a grant.
- Are you a UK registered charity or CIC?
- Do you assist prisoners or prison leavers or people who are at risk of offending?
- Do you have cash reserves equal to less than your last year’s total expenditure?
CHCT would particularly like to encourage applications from charities that:
- help with education, training, employment and strengthening social/family networks
- have annual expenditure under £300,000
Guidelines
The Trustees make grants typically in the region of £10,000 per charity/CIC per annum.
We operate a simple four-stage process.
Stage 1 – Email a brief expression of interest outlining the work you do and the difference it makes.
Having read your email we may send you an invitation to apply.
Stage 2 – Completion of a short online application form
We will review your application and then let you know whether or not we would like to take your application to Stage 3.
Stage 3 – Discussion during a meeting
This is where we ask for a face-to-face or virtual meeting with the person running your organisation and possibly also one of your trustees.
This gives us the opportunity to ask further questions and to answer any you may have.
Prior to the meeting we will ask you to email us:
- a copy of your most recent accounts
- your budget for the current year
Stage 4 – Success!
If you are successful, you will be emailed a ‘grant agreement’ for you to sign and return.
Shortly after the signed agreement has been returned to us, the grant money will be transferred to your nominated account via electronic bank transfer.
How to apply
If, having read the eligibility criteria and the guidelines, you believe you would be eligible to apply for funding, please ensure you send an email to cedarhousetrust@gmail.com expressing your interest in applying, before you submit an application.
We can only respond to those organisations that meet our criteria and that follow our guidelines.