The Blue Thread
Grabiner family grant-making charity in London (registered charity 1130704)
| The Blue Thread
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Unincorporated charitable trust (grant-making family foundation) |
| Founded | 22 June 2009 |
| Founder(s) | Grabiner family |
| Registration ID | 1130704 (Charity Commission for England and Wales) |
| Status | Registered (since 23 July 2009) |
| Headquarters | 17 Portland Place, London W1B 1PU |
| Location | London |
| Area served | United Kingdom and Israel |
| Services | Grants to small organisations working with migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, women experiencing abuse, and Jewish community organisations in the UK and Israel |
| Registration | England and Wales |
| Key people | Stephen Grabiner (chair of trustees); Hannah Hoare (executive director) |
| Website | thebluethread.org.uk |
The Blue Thread is a London-based grant-making charity, registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales as charity number 1130704, which describes itself as "the Grabiner family foundation".[1][2] It was set up under a trust deed dated 22 June 2009 and registered on 23 July 2009. It is chaired by the media executive and investor Stephen Grabiner, and all seven of its trustees bear the Grabiner or Grabiner-Wolfson surname.[3][4]
Its website says the foundation "was established with resources gained over the last 30 years through work in the media and private equity industries".[1] Its accounts say it is "principally being funded by members of the Grabiner family".[3] Its annual grant-making rose from £379,821 in 2020–21 to £4.65 million in 2022–23, and stood at £3.34 million in 2024–25, mostly for refugee work. Part of this was funded through a partnership with another foundation, This Day.[5][3]
Aims and grant-making
The governing document's objects are "for any purposes which are charitable in the law of England and Wales for the benefit of the public".[2] The 2025 trustees' report says the charity "predominantly makes grants to small organisations and grassroots groups doing frontline work". It focuses on UK organisations working with "migrants, refugees and asylum seekers" and "women experiencing disadvantage and abuse", and says, "We also support organisations in the Jewish Community in the UK and in Israel." It favours organisations with annual income below £1 million, and its grants are usually unrestricted.[3] The register states that the charity "does not accept unsolicited applications for support".[2]
On its work in Israel, the 2025 report says: "Most of our funding in Israel supports human rights organisations and those working towards peace and shared society." It adds that the charity also supports organisations helping refugees and asylum seekers there.[3] The report lists the political environment for its grantees as a risk: "organisations supporting refugees, vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers both in the UK and in Israel, where the global context of rising far/right politics is particularly challenging", and "organisations in Israel defending human rights, democracy and shared society". It says the charity mitigates this "by funding 'quietly,' with a view to minimizing the publicity for the Foundation".[3]
The website explains the name by reference to the blue thread in the tassels described in the Hebrew Bible. It says the foundation's "approach to philanthropy is based on the Jewish obligation to pursue justice by acting ethically in one's personal and professional life".[1]
The charity does not publish the names of its grant recipients. Each set of accounts states that it "has taken the statutory exemption under Charity law from disclosing the names of grant recipients during the lifetime of the settlor of the Trust". It reports grants only by category.[3] In 2024–25 it made 232 grants to 202 grantees.[3] The 2025 accounts disclose one recipient as a related party: grants of £9,720 to Our Second Home, "where the Trustees are also Trustees of The Blue Thread".[3]
Trustees and staff
The Charity Commission register lists seven trustees, but records appointment dates for only four of them.[4] The 2021 accounts list five trustees (Stephen, Miriam, Daniel and Sarah Grabiner, and Joseph Grabiner), and the 2022 accounts record Amy Grabiner and Emily Grabiner-Wolfson as appointed on 28 March 2022.[5][6] The 2022 and later accounts name Stephen Grabiner as chair.[6][3] The 2025 report was signed for the board by Daniel Grabiner.[3]
| Trustee | Role | Appointed | Source notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Grabiner | Trustee; chair | Not stated on register | Chair in the 2022–2025 accounts[4][3] |
| Miriam Grabiner | Trustee | Not stated on register | Listed in the 2021–2025 accounts[4][5] |
| Sarah Grabiner | Trustee | Not stated on register | Listed in the 2021–2025 accounts[4][5] |
| Daniel Grabiner | Trustee | 16 April 2012 | Signed the 2025 report[4][3] |
| Joseph Grabiner-Wolfson | Trustee | 16 April 2012 | Listed as "Joseph Grabiner" in the 2021 accounts[4][5] |
| Amy Grabiner | Trustee | 28 March 2022 | [4][6] |
| Emily Rose Grabiner-Wolfson | Trustee | 28 March 2022 | [4][6] |
The website says Hannah Hoare joined as executive director in early 2020.[1] The 2022 accounts list Lucie Graham as acting executive director from October 2022 to October 2023, while Hoare was on leave.[6] The 2025 accounts list Hoare as executive director and Karen Lam as senior associate until October 2025.[3] The 2025 report gives the principal office as 17 Portland Place, London W1B 1PU, the auditors as Buzzacott Audit LLP and the bankers as Royal Bank of Scotland.[3]
The trustees' own gifts are reported each year as related-party transactions. The accounts also record that Grabiner Management Company Ltd, "a company whose directors are also Trustees of the charity", recharged the charity's payroll costs: £91,606 in 2020–21, £187,926 in 2023–24 and £173,629 in 2024–25.[5][3] Companies House records Stephen Grabiner as a director of Grabiner Management Company Ltd (03162888) since 20 February 1998.[7] The 2024–25 report states that on 5 September 2025, after the financial year ended on 5 April 2025, the trustees donated shares valued at £2.63 million "to bring the Charity’s unrestricted reserves back into surplus"; the gift is not part of the 2024–25 income figures.[3] In 2020–21, 250,000 quoted shares "were gifted to the charity by a Trustee and by the Stephen Grabiner Children's Trust, whose beneficiaries are also Trustees of the charity", and were sold for £533,790.[5] In 2024–25 the charity borrowed £100,000 interest-free from a trustee between 5 August and 25 September 2024. On 5 September 2025, after the year end, trustees donated shares worth £2.63 million to restore unrestricted reserves to surplus.[3]
| Year ended 5 April | Donated by trustees |
|---|---|
| 2020 | £160,000[5] |
| 2021 | £308,103[5] |
| 2022 | £1,321,000[6] |
| 2023 | £790,000[8] |
| 2024 | £927,600[9] |
| 2025 | £857,500[3] |
Partnership with This Day
The 2023 report says that "In March 2022, The Blue Thread began working with This Day, a new charitable foundation", from which it received restricted income "to grant to the migration sector". It says The Blue Thread also helped the new foundation "develop its grantmaking approach, strategy and relationships".[8] Restricted income was £4,036,000 in 2021–22, £2,102,200 in 2022–23 and £3,000,000 in 2023–24.[6][8][3] The 2024 accounts say that This Day had decided to review its strategy, so its donation for 2024–25 would be "revised downwards".[9] The 2025 trustees' report records £60,000 of restricted income from "our partner foundation to be disbursed to migration-focused organisations". The 2025 statement of funds, however, books £60,000 to a "Family courts fund", described as pooled funding from a group of funders. After the year end, in July 2025, the charity was notified of £2.18 million from This Day covering July 2025 to December 2027.[3]
Finances
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total income | £917,315 | £5,491,431 | £2,940,789 | £4,015,544 | £953,885 |
| of which donations | £917,250 | £5,484,217 | £2,890,000 | £3,927,600 | £917,500 |
| Total expenditure | £474,170 | £846,590 | £4,890,000 | £3,244,383 | £3,605,959 |
| Grants made | £379,821 | £743,928 | £4,654,512 | £3,038,738 | £3,337,059 |
| Total funds at year end | £707,389 | £5,352,229 | £3,361,342 | £4,150,250 | £1,400,779 |
Sources: the register's financial history,[2] with exact figures from the accounts where they are given.[5][6][8][9][3] Figures that the register gives only in rounded form (2021 and 2022 expenditure, and 2023 donations and expenditure) are shown as rounded.
| Category | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refugees | £22,250 | £82,951 | £271,750 | £2,689,780 | £2,540,663 | £2,511,053 |
| Women | £5,600 | £77,500 | £151,538 | £410,325 | £219,500 | £254,500 |
| Welfare | – | £29,765 | £35,000 | £222,176 | £176,360 | £371,000 |
| Community | £153,676 | £62,034 | £152,237 | £352,939 | £55,870 | £133,300 |
| Peace and dialogue | £21,768 | £32,600 | £40,000 | £17,000 | £21,545 | £67,206 |
| Education | £24,787 | £65,565 | £60,927 | £287,923 | £18,500 | – |
| Miscellaneous | £880 | £16,798 | £32,476 | £674,369 | £6,300 | – |
| Healthcare | £51,230 | £12,608 | – | – | – | – |
| Environment | £3,000 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Covid | £23,750 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | £306,941 | £379,821 | £743,928 | £4,654,512 | £3,038,738 | £3,337,059 |
The 2022 accounts restate the 2021 figures without a healthcare line, giving "Miscellaneous" as £29,406. This equals the £16,798 miscellaneous plus £12,608 healthcare shown in the 2021 accounts.[5][6][8][9][3]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 The Blue Thread, The Blue Thread – London Based Family Foundation (official website), accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Blue Thread – 1130704: Charity overview, governance, governing document and financial history (register), accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 The Blue Thread, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 5 April 2025, filed with the Charity Commission 21 January 2026, accounts and annual returns page, accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Charity Commission for England and Wales, The Blue Thread – 1130704: Trustees (register), accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 The Blue Thread, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 5 April 2021, filed with the Charity Commission 22 December 2021, accounts and annual returns page, accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 The Blue Thread, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 5 April 2022, filed with the Charity Commission 26 January 2023, accounts and annual returns page, accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ Companies House, Stephen GRABINER personal appointments, accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 The Blue Thread, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 5 April 2023, filed with the Charity Commission 1 February 2024, accounts and annual returns page, accessed 8 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 The Blue Thread, Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 5 April 2024, filed with the Charity Commission 17 January 2025, accounts and annual returns page, accessed 8 November 2026.