Bishnat
Nathanson-founded CIO staging Jewish music concerts in London, whose 2025 proceeds went to two unnamed charities for victims of 7 October
| Bishnat
| |
|---|---|
| Type | CIO |
| Founded | 2022-01-25 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1197647 |
| Headquarters | Bishnat, 55 Baker Street, London, W1U 8EW |
| Area served | Throughout England And Wales, Israel |
| Key people | Hilton Nathanson (chair) |
Bishnat is a charitable incorporated organisation registered on 25 January 2022, also using the name Bishnat 2021; register areas are England and Wales and Israel.[1] Its object is to promote public education in and appreciation of music through concerts and recitals and choir services, and the report describes its aim as "to use musical performances to inspire Jewish people" (PDF p.4).[1][2] The trustees are Hilton Nathanson (chair), described in the accounts as the settlor, Naomi Nevies and David Bearman, with an office at 55 Baker Street, London W1U (PDF p.2, 14).[1][2] In January 2025 it held "another sell out concert" with Shulem Lemmer, Avromi Freilich and Alby Chait at St John's Wood Synagogue, and "Donations from the concerts were distributed to two charities supporting victims of the October 7 atrocities" (PDF p.4).[2] In 2025 income was £97,045 (donations £47,016 and events £50,029) and spending £106,052, leaving a deficit in funds of £285 (PDF p.7).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "TO ADVANCE, DEVELOP AND PROMOTE PUBLIC EDUCATION IN, AND APPRECIATION OF MUSIC, THROUGH THE PRESENTATION OF PUBLIC CONCERTS AND RECITALS, PROVIDE CHOIR SERVICES TO VARIOUS COMMUNITIES FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY"[1]
The register describes its activities as: "Hold Jewish music concerts in various locations for various communities to appreciate the music and learn about the music"[1]
Register classifications: Arts/culture/heritage/science.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout England And Wales, Israel.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hilton Nathanson | 2022-01-02 | Yes | — |
| Naomi Nevies | 2022-01-02 | — | |
| David Bearman | 2022-01-02 | Foundation for Jewish Heritage (1162111); The Rosemarie Nathanson Charitable Trust (1127306); Welsh Jewish Cultural Centre (1214643) |
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-12-31 | £99,942 | £108,113 |
| 2023-12-31 | £155,008 | £152,445 |
| 2024-12-31 | £57,802 | £43,472 |
| 2025-12-31 | £97,045 | £106,052 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- FY2025: proceeds of the January 2025 concert were distributed to two charities supporting victims of the 7 October attacks; neither the charities nor the amounts are given, and no grant line appears separately from charitable events expenses of £88,493 (PDF p.4, 12).[2]
Israeli partners
Two unnamed charities supporting victims of the 7 October attacks (PDF p.4).[2]
Activity beyond the Green Line and support for the IDF
Findings are graded by confidence. "Partner" findings concern the Israeli recipient organisation, not proven use of UK funds.
| Finding | Confidence |
|---|---|
| No place in Israel is named.[2] | Not established |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated; the concert proceeds went to two unnamed charities supporting victims of the 7 October attacks (PDF p.4).[2]
Controversies and regulatory action
- No Charity Commission inquiry, Official Warning or Gazette insolvency notice naming this charity was found, and its register entry shows no regulatory alert;[3] it is not among the charities named in the Commission's cheque-cashing class-inquiry announcements (May, September and December 2025) or in the September 2026 statement of results.[4][5][6][7] The charities in the Commission's settlements class inquiry (opened August 2026) have not been named, so it is not known whether this charity is among them.[8]
- Related-party services and funding. Firefly Capital Limited, controlled by Hilton Nathanson, charged £5,400 for management services, and £46,000 of donations (2024: £55,000) came from "a charity which is under the common control of two trustees", which is not named (PDF p.14).[2]
- Recipients not named. The two charities that received the concert proceeds are not named (PDF p.4).[2]
- Reserves claim. The report says reserves of three to six months' expenditure have been "maintained throughout the year", although funds ended the year in deficit (PDF p.4, 7).[2]
- Company wording for a CIO. The report says the trustees "are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1" (PDF p.5).[2]
Other registers and records
Scotland and Northern Ireland
No entry was found on the Scottish Charity Register for this charity (register export dated 14 October 2026, searched by name).[9] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[10]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette for the charity's name returned only Companies House filing lists naming Bishnat Limited (14744371), a separate company; no notice naming the charity was found.[11]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[12]
Sanctions screening
The charity's name, its current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees and officers named in the accounts read for this profile and (for charitable companies) its Companies House officers were screened against the UK Sanctions List and the OFSI Consolidated List. No match was found. Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor (UK sanctions ID RUS1127) does not appear among this charity's trustees or officers.[13]
Land and property
The register records that the charity does not own or lease land or property.[1] No title registers were purchased; the HM Land Registry interactive search blocked automated access.[14]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Bishnat" returned 0 contributions in total.[15]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 0 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile; none were found for this charity number.
External links
- No current official website.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Charity Commission for England and Wales, Register of Charities public extract (tables charity, charity_trustee, charity_annual_return_history, charity_area_of_operation, charity_classification, charity_other_names), extract dated 14 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Charity Commission, Bishnat (1197647): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Register of Charities, charity overview page (register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/charity-search/-/charity-details/ followed by the organisation number) for each of the 25 batch-17 charities, all retrieved successfully on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" section; none was shown for any of them. Seventeen registered charities showed "Charity reporting is up to date (on time)"; Starscope Limited showed "up to date (23 days late)", UK Friends of Tzohar "up to date (18 days late)" and The Mr W and Mrs I Carrant Charitable Trust "up to date (3 days late)"; BFON Trust showed no reporting-status line; Yeshiva Gedola Zichron Michoel, Friends of Reb Sender Dominitz, Emerald Benevolence Ltd and Academic Study Group showed "Removed charity".
- ↑ Charity Commission, Serious concerns over use of £22 million triggers investigation by charity regulator GOV.UK, 14 May 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator opens next phase of investigation into 105 charities connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 1 September 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator announces next charities to be investigated as part of inquiry connected to company cashing cheques GOV.UK, 4 December 2025.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Regulator concludes investigation into 4 charities as class inquiry continues GOV.UK, 9 September 2026, with Statement of the results of a class inquiry (same date).
- ↑ Charity Commission, Charity regulator opens inquiry into charities working in illegal Israeli settlements GOV.UK, 5 August 2026 (a fact-finding statutory class inquiry initially involving 8 charities which "are not being publicly named at this time").
- ↑ Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, Scottish Charity Register download OSCR, export dated 14 October 2026; keyword search of the 25 batch-17 charity names found no matching Scottish registration.
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-17 charity names returned no matching charity).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Bishnat' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1197647 360Giving, queried 16 October 2026.
- ↑ Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK Sanctions List (CSV); Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets (ConList.csv). Batch-17 screening covered 231 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the eight charitable companies, and trustees, examiners and other people and bodies named in the accounts and sources read for this batch; matching on surname plus forename tokens, reviewed manually. No forename-and-surname match for any person was found; token matches were surname-only coincidences (for example Rotenberg, Weiss, Levy and Cohen) or generic words such as "Ltd", "International", "Group" and "Team"; lists downloaded October 2026.
- ↑ HM Land Registry, Search for land and property information GOV.UK – the service returned HTTP 403 (bot protection) to automated access in October 2026; no titles were looked up or purchased. Candidate title numbers below come from the free CCOD / OCOD datasets (October 2026 release), not from paid title registers.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Hansard search API: contributions matching the exact phrase "Bishnat" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).