The Meir Golda Trust
North-west London trust that granted £134,255 to Orthodox institutions in 2024/25 against income of £32,549, and is owed £25,000 by R I Gutstein
| The Meir Golda Trust
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Trust |
| Founded | 1994-10-05 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1041256 |
| Headquarters | London NW4 |
| Area served | Throughout London, Israel, United States |
| Key people | Joseph Gutstein (chair) |
The Meir Golda Trust is a charitable trust constituted by a trust deed of 24 June 1994 and registered on 5 October 1994, for general charitable purposes; its address is in London NW4 and its areas of operation are London, Israel and the United States.[1][2][3] Its stated objective is "to raise funds and donate these funds to other registered charities".[2] The trustees are Joseph Gutstein (chair), who the register shows is also a trustee of British Friends of Ramoth Jerusalem (299010), and Joel Cohen (from 14 January 2024).[1] In the year to 5 April 2025 income was £32,549 (2024: £63,468) and spending £137,496 (2024: £72,569), of which grants were £134,255 (2024: £69,727); funds fell to £46,042 (2024: £150,989).[2] The accounts were signed by Mr J Gutstein on 11 December 2025 and examined by Berish Hoffman FCA of Landau Morley LLP.[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "GENERAL CHARITABLE PURPOSES"[1]
The register describes its activities as: "To raise funds and donate these funds to other registered charities."[1]
Register classifications: General Charitable Purposes, Education/training, The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives, The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty, Religious Activities.[1]
Areas of operation recorded on the register: Throughout London, Israel, United States.[1]
Trustees
Current trustees, with other charities on which the same register trustee ID appears:[1]
| Trustee | Appointed | Chair | Other trusteeships |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Gutstein | not recorded | Yes | British Friends of Ramoth Jerusalem (299010) |
| Joel Cohen | 2024-01-14 | — |
Historical trustees (UK Government Web Archive)
| Capture date | Trustees listed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-01-16 | Joseph Gutstein (chair) – also trustee of Kolel Pardes Trust, British Friends of Ramoth Jerusalem; Anita Gutstein (from 11 January 2019) | [4] |
The archived full print of January 2021 lists Anita Gutstein as a trustee from 11 January 2019, and shows British Friends of Ramoth Jerusalem's reporting as "1418 days late".[5]
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-04-05 | £14,198 | £48,129 |
| 2022-04-05 | £68,759 | £32,170 |
| 2023-04-05 | £23,161 | £53,928 |
| 2024-04-05 | £63,468 | £72,569 |
| 2025-04-05 | £32,549 | £137,496 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Archived accounts
Accounts no longer on the live register were found in the UK Government Web Archive:
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2015[6]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2018[7]
- Accounts for the year ended 05/04/2019[8]
Funding in Israel
- Year to 5 April 2025 (2024): grants of £134,255 (£69,727), including American Friends of Kever Dovid £27,557 (£8,105); Bais Yaakov Chofetz Chaim of Pomona £23,554 (£7,980); Yeshiva of Greater Monsey £12,873 (£7,980); Ezras Achim UK £11,950; Machon Sara Yerushalayim £10,216; Shir Chesed Beis Yisroel £9,520 (£1,480); Macknovka Kollel Ramat Beit Shemesh £6,970 (£11,055); The Menorah School for Girls Foundation Trust £4,560 (£5,580); other grants £11,521 (£6,114).[2]
Israeli partners
Machon Sara Yerushalayim and Macknovka Kollel Ramat Beit Shemesh; the accounts give no address for either.[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 |
|---|---|
| Places appear only within grantee names ("Yerushalayim", "Ramat Beit Shemesh").[2] | Not established (places in grantee names only) |
Support for the IDF: Not established.[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;[9] 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.[10][11][12][13] 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.[14]
- Money owed by a family member. The related-party note says: "At the year end, £25,000 (2024 £25,000 ) was due from R I Gutstein." The note does not state R I Gutstein's relationship to the trustees or the terms. It also records donations of nil (2024: £35,000) from a company in which a trustee is a director.[2]
- Template text. The accounting-policy note keeps the template wording "[modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties ...]", although the charity holds no property.[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).[15] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[16]
The Gazette
Searches of The Gazette notice feeds (all notices, insolvency and company) for the charity's name found no insolvency, winding-up or strike-off notice.[17]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
No grants received or made by this charity are recorded in 360Giving data.[18]
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.[19]
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.[20]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "Meir Golda Trust", "The Meir Golda Trust" returned 0 contributions in total.[21]
Web archive
The UK Government Web Archive holds 2 archived Charity Commission register pages used in this profile (cited in the sections above). The 2021 archived full print showed the status "Charity reporting is up to date" and "Other regulators: No information available".[4]
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 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Charity Commission, The Meir Golda Trust (1041256): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ Charity Commission, The Meir Golda Trust (1041256): full print Register of Charities, retrieved 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Register entry 1041256, full print (capture of 20210116) UK Government Web Archive.
- ↑ Charity Commission, The Meir Golda Trust (1041256): full print UK Government Web Archive, capture of 16/01/2021.
- ↑ The Meir Golda Trust accounts, year ended 2015-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
- ↑ The Meir Golda Trust accounts, year ended 2018-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
- ↑ The Meir Golda Trust accounts, year ended 2019-04-05 UK Government Web Archive (capture of 20200108).
- ↑ 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-25 charities, all retrieved on 16 October 2026 and checked for a "Regulatory alerts" notice; none showed one.
- ↑ 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-25 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-25 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Meir Golda Trust' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1041256 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-25 screening covered 459 name strings: the 25 charity names and their other names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, trustees, officers, examiners and other people and organisations named in the accounts and websites read for this batch, every person and organisation linked in the profiles, and the Companies House officers of the charitable companies and of the related companies Renco Properties, Conlatuse and Landmead; the only hits were generic words (the word "QA" in the names of corporate formation agents) and surname-only matches, which were rejected; no person matched. Screened 16 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 "Meir Golda Trust" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).