Morris Leigh Foundation
Grant-making trust of the Leigh family; trustees include Lord Leigh of Hurley and Martin Paisner
| Morris Leigh Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable trust |
| Logo | |
| Founded | Registered 2 September 1980 |
| Founder(s) | |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | |
| Status | |
| Headquarters | |
| Location | 43A Trewsbury Road, London SE26 5DP |
| Area served | |
| Services | |
| Registration | |
| Key people | Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley (trustee) Martin Paisner (trustee) |
| Website | |
| Remarks | |
Morris Leigh Foundation (charity number 280695) is an English grant-making charitable trust registered on 2 September 1980. Object: “To pay monies to any charity or for any charitable object for the purposes or any of the purposes of that charity or charitable object.” It makes grants to organisations, operates throughout England and Wales, owns no land, and is not recognised by HMRC for Gift Aid. There is no public application process.[1][2][3]
Morris Leigh
The foundation takes its name from Morris Leigh (20 February 1907 – 11 April 1996), East End-born furniture manufacturer (Sterling Furniture) and Anglo-Jewish philanthropist. The Independent obituary recorded gifts to music and education in Britain and Israel: Furniture Guild and Jews' Free School scholarships; Tel Aviv University (honorary doctorate, 1982; Manja and Morris Leigh Avenue); Royal College of Music; the Institute of Jewish Affairs (predecessor of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research); the Tel Aviv Foundation; the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem; and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Memorial service at the Central Synagogue, Great Portland Street.[4]
Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley has said his grandfather and then his mother ran the family reproduction-furniture business. He later funded a school carpentry workshop through the Jerusalem Foundation because of that trade.[5][6]
Trustees
Two trustees, unpaid. Giving is Great lists Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley (other listed trusteeships: The John Freeman Charitable Trust; The Henley Festival Trust). The 2024 accounts of The Jerusalem Foundation (UK charity 258306) state that both Martin Paisner and Lord Leigh, directors of Jerusalem Foundation Trustees Limited, are also trustees of the Morris Leigh Foundation.[3][7]
Paisner is a charity solicitor (latterly Payne Hicks Beach) and long-serving director/secretary of the Jerusalem Foundation’s UK corporate trustee.
The 2024 Jerusalem Foundation accounts record that the Morris Leigh Foundation made restricted donations of £50,000 in 2023 and £nil in 2024 to The Jerusalem Foundation.[7]
Annual expenditure in recent years has been of the order of £47,000–£137,000. Year-end 5 April; accounts to 5 April 2025 were filed on time in January 2026.[3][8]
See also
- Howard Leigh, Baron Leigh of Hurley
- Martin Paisner
- Jerusalem Foundation Trustees Limited
- The Jerusalem Foundation
- Institute for Jewish Policy Research
External links
Notes
- ↑ Charity Commission, MORRIS LEIGH FOUNDATION governance charity 280695, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission, What, who, how, where charity 280695, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Giving is Great, Morris Leigh Foundation charity 280695, accessed 9 September 2026.
- ↑ Obituary: Morris Leigh The Independent, 11 May 1996.
- ↑ Why the £1bn salesman is getting political The Jewish Chronicle, 4 April 2008.
- ↑ Marcus Dysch, The peer raising millions for Jerusalem The Jewish Chronicle, 25 January 2016.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Jerusalem Foundation, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2024, Charity Commission filing for 258306.
- ↑ Charity Commission, Accounts and annual returns charity 280695, accessed 9 September 2026.