UK Friends of Keren Ohr
Gateshead CIO funding respite breaks in Israel for couples affected by infertility and pregnancy loss; its National Lottery grants were for UK community support
| UK Friends of Keren Ohr
| |
|---|---|
| Logo |  Moshav Neve Michael, listed by Keren Ohr as a respite location (2021) |
| Type | CIO |
| Founded | 2021-11-19 (registered) |
| Registration ID | Registered charity 1196694 |
| Headquarters | Gateshead NE8 |
| Area served | Throughout England And Wales, Israel |
UK Friends of Keren Ohr is a charitable incorporated organisation registered on 19 November 2021; its principal office is in Gateshead NE8 (PDF p.4).[1][2] Its object is to "preserve and protect the health of couples living in Israel suffering from the emotional effects of infertility, pregnancy loss and miscarriage" through "respite breaks, well-being packages and comforts" (PDF p.4).[2] The trustees are A M Guttentag, D Goldberg and Samuel David de Jong (PDF p.3).[2] In the year to 30 September 2025 donations were £49,744 (2024: £64,849) and a restricted grant from "The National Lottery" £19,760; spending was £48,960, of which £34,134 was on "Infertility Support & Respite Centres" and £11,950 on a "Fertility Support Event" (PDF p.5, 12–13).[2] The report says: "In 2025, Keren Ohr hosted 280 couples, totalling 560 nights occupancy. Keren Ohr also provided 281 care packages"; "There were no grants made in the year" (PDF p.4–5).[2]
Objects and activities
The charity's registered objects read: "TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT THE HEALTH OF COUPLES LIVING IN ISRAEL SUFFERING FROM THE EMOTIONAL EFFECTS OF INFERTILITY, PREGNANCY LOSS AND MISCARRIAGE, IN PARTICULAR (BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION), BY PROVIDING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TOWARDS THE COST OF PROVIDING RESPITE BREAKS, WELL-BEING PACKAGES AND COMFORTS."[1]
The register describes its activities as: "As detailed in the charity objects"[1]
Register classifications: The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives.[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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel David de Jong | 2021-12-19 | SDR Charitable Trust (327149) | |
| David Goldberg | 2021-12-19 | — | |
| Avram M Guttentag | 2021-12-19 | — |
Samuel David de Jong is also a register trustee of SDR Charitable Trust (327149).[1]
Finances
| Financial year end | Income | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-09-30 | £23,494 | £422 |
| 2023-09-30 | £25,955 | £43,227 |
| 2024-09-30 | £64,849 | £69,852 |
| 2025-09-30 | £69,504 | £48,960 |
Source: register annual-return history.[1]
Funding in Israel
- Year to 30 September 2025: Infertility Support & Respite Centres £34,134 (unrestricted £26,325; restricted £7,810); Fertility Support Event £11,950 (restricted) (PDF p.13). The accounts do not say where the centres are.[2]
Israeli partners
Keren Ohr, whose website lists respite locations at "Neve Michael near Bet Shemesh", "Ashkelon Beach Front", "Tzfat Old City", "Netanya Beach Front" and "Tzfat Mountains".[3]
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 |
|---|---|
| Keren Ohr's listed respite locations (Neve Michael, Ashkelon, Tzfat, Netanya) are all inside the Green Line; the UK accounts do not link payments to particular locations.[3][2] | Medium (partner) |
Support for the IDF: No IDF or military funding is stated.[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;[4] 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.[5][6][7][8] 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.[9]
- Lottery funding for UK activities. 360Giving records two National Lottery Community Fund grants, £10,000 (22 July 2022) for a "support service and care package for local Jewish families" and £19,760 (19 September 2024) for monthly support workshops and community events, whereas the charity's object is couples living in Israel; the accounts do not say where the restricted £19,760 was spent (PDF p.12–13).[2]
- Mis-described constitution. The report calls the charity a CIO but says trustees are recruited "in line with the trust deed", and note 1 calls it "unincorporated"; 2024 spending is given as £68,574 in the report and £69,852 in the statement of financial activities (PDF p.4–5, 7, 9).[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).[10] No entry was found on the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland register (API name searches returned zero results).[11]
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.[12]
Grants recorded by 360Giving
| Date | Funder | Amount (£) | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-22 | The National Lottery Community Fund | 10,000 | The funding will be used to provide a sensitive befriending help support service and care package for local Jewish families challenged by in |
| 2024-09-19 | The National Lottery Community Fund | 19,760 | This funding will be used to host monthly support workshops together with two larger scale community events for people who are living with i |
No grants made by the charity are published in 360Giving data, so flows between linked charities could not be traced there.[13]
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.[14]
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.[15]
Parliament
Hansard exact-phrase searches for "UK Friends of Keren Ohr", "Keren Ohr" returned 0 contributions in total.[16]
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 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, UK Friends of Keren Ohr (1196694): accounts and annual returns Register of Charities; latest accounts downloaded 16 October 2026 ("PDF p." = page of the PDF file).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Keren Ohr, Respite kerenohr.com, viewed 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 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-20 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)"; the other eight (Friends of Milbat, British Friends of Atid, River Progress Foundation, Morris Family Israel Trust, Afikim, the Cohen Charitable Trust, the Adrienne and Leslie Sussman Charitable Trust and Encompass) 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-20 charity names found no matching Scottish registration (a name-only hit for "Sheila & Denis Cohen Charitable Trust" was not established to be connected with the Cohen Charitable Trust and is disregarded).
- ↑ Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Register of charities search API CCNI, searched 16 October 2026 (keyword searches for each of the 25 batch-20 charity names returned zero results).
- ↑ The Gazette: notices matching 'Keren Ohr' The Gazette, searched 16 October 2026.
- ↑ 360Giving API: grants received by GB-CHC-1196694 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-20 screening covered 272 name strings: the 25 charity names, current register trustees, trustees named on archived register pages, Companies House officers of the five 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 Weiss, Sara, Masri, Cohen) or generic words in organisation names (Limited, Company, Trust).
- ↑ 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 "Keren Ohr" Hansard, queried 16 October 2026 (Spoken and Written endpoints; quoted-phrase search).