JRCT - Rights and Justice Grants

JRCT - Rights and Justice Grants

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Amount: Up to £150,000
Last Updated: November 05, 2025

Summary

The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) focuses on promoting human rights and justice for marginalized communities, particularly racial and religious minorities. It supports advocacy and campaigns that aim to hold authorities accountable and foster public understanding of these issues. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, JRCT is particularly interested in funding projects that address the intertwined challenges of systemic racism and public health crises, encouraging innovative solutions that empower affected communities.

Overview

NOTE: Account registration deadline refers to pre-proposal deadline above. Vision As part of the Quaker tradition, JRCT is committed to the creation of a world that guarantees equal treatment for all people. We believe that human rights play a vital role in protecting the most vulnerable and in turn benefit the whole of society. We need to grow public support and empathy for the rights of racial and religious minorities, to hold governments to account and to strengthen the hand of those advocating with and for these communities. The Trust is interested in supporting long-term work to achieve these changes, both incremental reform to effect policy and legislative change, and more transformational approaches to change the public debate. We articulate our policy in three strands but recognise and are interested in funding the overlapping nature of each of these. At this time of crisis, JRCT is also keen to support work that responds to the dual harms of the Covid-19 pandemic and systemic racism. We have amended our funding policy below to reflect this. Funding priorities Protection and promotion of human rights and their enforcement in the UK JRCT welcomes applications for: policy advocacy and campaigning to protect and promote the overarching framework of human rights for the most vulnerableholding government and public bodies to account for their implementation of human rights commitmentswork to build public support for human rights, particularly amongst more sceptical audiences and in communities disconnected from political power and influencenew voices in the human rights sphere and work to create connections between human rights and social justice issues. We do not fund work on individual Convention rights, nor do we fund work to address discrimination or under-representation under the Equalities Act, except in the case of race, religion and belief. Promoting rights and justice for minorities who face the most severe forms of racism JRCT welcomes applications from civil society organisations that tackle injustices faced by racial and religious minorities, in particular, by Muslim communities, Roma, Gypsies and Travellers, as well as broader anti-racist work. This includes: monitoring and advocacy for legislation and policies to promote rights for these communitiesactivities to promote political empowerment, in particular, amongst and led by women within these communitiesefforts to build solidarity amongst advocacy organisations and between advocacy organisations and wider civil societywork to challenge ideologies, attitudes and movements that encourage racism and xenophobia. Promotion of rights and justice for refugees and other migrants by identifying and tackling structures and systems that may deny them their rights JRCT welcomes applications to strengthen the ability of refugees and migrants to assert and defend their rights through: support for alliance building and grassroots organisation, including engagement with non-traditional alliesadvocacy and campaigning to prevent the abuse of rightspromoting access to justice through civil society organisations which spread knowledge of rights and judicial procedures and embed advances in the enforcement of rights. Responding to the dual harms of Covid-19 and systemic racism At this time of crisis, JRCT is keen to support work that responds to the dual harms of the Covid-19 pandemic and systemic racism. Specifically, we wish to encourage work that scrutinises the responses and policies of powerful institutions and actors, and which envisions and builds support for transformative social change based on justice, peace and sustainability, including work which: Collates evidence of lived experience of structural inequalities arising from the impact of or responses to Covid-19 for black and minority ethnic communities, refugee and other migrants;Holds the government to account for systemic inequalities, injustices or abuses of power arising from its responses to Covid-19;Builds the foundations for collective action, including resources for networks of activists to be effective, and the development and showcasing of long-term systemic alternatives. Other factors JRCT focuses on work at both a national and European level, although work at a European level is limited and must have direct relevance to communities living in the UK. Funding for European work related to asylum and migration is primarily channelled through the European Programme on Integration and Migration. Whilst our focus is to support national advocacy and campaigning, the Trust is open to applications which aim to effect structural change at local and regional levels of policy-making, provided the applicant can demonstrate the wider significance of the work. Across the policy, JRCT places an emphasis on supporting those who have direct experience of racism and oppression.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. JRCT is interested in funding work which:is about removing problems through radical solutions, and not simply about making problems easier to live withhas a clear sense of objectives, and of how to achieve themis innovative and imaginativeand where the grant has a good chance of making a difference.Within its areas of interest, the Trust makes grants to a range of organisations and to individuals.If your organisation is a registered, excepted or exempt charity based within any of the four jurisdictions of the UK and all of your work fits within our published programmes, we encourage you to consider applying for unrestricted or core support, although you may apply for programme or project funding if you prefer.If you are based outside the UK and you are registered as a charitable organistion in your local jurisdiction, you may apply for general support if all of your work fits within our published programmes, and the following criteria are also met:your organisation is governed by an unpaid boardyour organisation is not for profityour organisation's formal purposes fall within the list of charitable purposes recognised within English law.For all other organisations or individual applicants, you may apply for a specific project or defined programme of work that would provide public benefit and further our aims as set out in our published policies.

Ineligibility

General exclusionsThe Trust will not fund:Organisations:larger, older national charities which have an established constituency of supporters and substantial levels of reservesstatutory bodiesfor-profit organisationsProjects:medical researchacademic research, except as an integral part of policy and campaigning work that is central to our areas of interestbuilding, buying or repairing buildingsbusiness development or job creation schemesservice provision, including providing care, support or training services, such as for elderly people, children and young people, people with learning difficulties, people with physical disabilities, mental health service users, refugees or asylum seekershousing and homelessnessthe arts, except where a project is specifically concerned with issues of interest to the Trust.Individuals:travel or adventure projectseducational bursaries, including graduate and post-graduate studiesthe personal support of individuals in need.Types of funding:general appealswork which we believe should be funded from statutory sources, or which has been in the recent pastwork which has already been undertakenPlace:the Trust funds individuals or groups based in the UK to undertake work at a national level. This means work that seeks to make positive change across the UK as a whole, or across one or more of its member countries - England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Irelandunder some of our programmes, we make a small number of grants for work at a pan-European level, in relation to international institutions, or to replicate or amplify local work in the UK with wider significance. Please see individual grant policies for detailsthe Trust does not fund local or national work anywhere outside the UK.Specific exclusionsIn addition to the Trust’s general exclusions above, JRCT will not fund:work concerned with relationships between communities rather than tackling structural injusticesservice provision or training projects.We cannot fund organisations or work that is party political (eg supporting or opposing a political party) or which is commercial in nature or otherwise intended for private benefit.