Friends Trusts

Registered charity 237698 · since 1964·Germany, Poland, United Kingdom·Updated 29 October 2026

At a glance

£155k

Annual giving, year to 31 December 2025

From filed accounts

Key takeaways

Friends Trusts' distributions go primarily to Quaker organisations, so a charity that is not a Quaker body should expect its work to fall outside what it normally funds.
If your organisation is a Quaker body, its themes list puts you within its area of interest.
The annual report publishes no application process and states no grant range, so use the contact shown to ask whether an approach fits and what size of request would be considered before you write anything.
Its stated geographic focus is the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland, and its grants are made in line with donors' and legators' wishes, so check both points against your own work.

Overview

Friends Trusts is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 237698).

Friends Trusts Limited is the denominational trust corporation for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and its principal activity is acting as custodian trustee. As managing trustee of charitable trusts, it makes grants for charitable purposes in accordance with each trust's terms. It holds the legal title to over 450 Quaker properties and manages over £6m of endowment funds for Quaker bodies and purposes. Its distributions go primarily to Quaker organisations, and it also provides individual assistance across the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.

What they fund

Profile based on the charity's Charity Commission register entry and annual report (year to 31 December 2025) only: no website or other web source for the charity was found. Every statement is checked against them. Sources read on 25 October 2026.

Priority Areas

Friends Trusts Limited’s principal role is to act as custodian trustee or nominee for the Religious Society of Friends in Britain and bodies connected with it; it also administers certain trusts as managing trustee. For those trusts, it distributes grants for charitable purposes according to their terms. Its distributions go primarily to Quaker organisations and are made in line with donors’ and legators’ wishes. For some managed trusts where income distribution is at the directors’ discretion, its policy is to direct the funds to central Quaker work. For legacies without a binding obligation, the directors endeavour to respect wishes expressed in the will; if none are expressed, the funds are directed to central Quaker work. The company also provides individual assistance, with distributions recorded across the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.

Themes

Quaker organisations

Geographic Focus

The United Kingdom; Germany; Poland.

How to apply

No application process is published in the charity's annual report, its register entry or other pages about it. The contact shown is for getting in touch.

Where they fund

Where it says it funds

Germany
Poland
United Kingdom

Similar funders

Funders supporting work similar to Friends Trusts.

Andrew Anderson TrustRollingGave £426k The Lister Charitable TrustRollingGave £334k The Gertner Charitable TrustRollingGave £608k The Cross TrustNo public processGave £798k The Andrew Balint Charitable TrustNo public processGave £60,250 Cannon Charitable TrustNo public processGave £602k The A S Charitable TrustInvitation onlyGave £937k Bais Rizhin TrustNo public process C B and H H Taylor 1984 TrustFixed deadlinesGave £592k The Bothwell Charitable TrustInvitation onlyGave £275k

Five years of accounts

Financial year	Income	Expenditure	Grants paid	Accounts document
year to 31 December 2021	£217,143	£372,058	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2021
year to 31 December 2022	£259,685	£162,327	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2022
year to 31 December 2023	£624,539	£230,325	£144,425	Accounts for year to 31 December 2023
year to 31 December 2024	£210,239	£257,583	—	Accounts for year to 31 December 2024
year to 31 December 2025	£229,565	£270,941	£154,567	Accounts for year to 31 December 2025

Income vs grants paid

IncomeGrants paid

Total value each financial year

YE 2023

£144k grants

YE 2025

£155k grants

Grants paid stayed within income across the 2 years shown.

Grants paid, year to 31 December 2023: grants to institutions, as reported on the charity register (Part B).
Grants paid, year to 31 December 2025: the accounts do not say whether this is grants awarded or paid.

Figures from the charity’s filed accounts and its register entry. The document icon links to the charity’s entry on the Charity Commission register, where its filed accounts can be found.